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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14496 ***
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD OF BURGUNDY (1433-1477) (FROM MS.
+STATUTE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, VIENNA) PAINTED
+BETWEEN 1518-1531]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+1433-1477
+
+
+BY
+
+
+RUTH PUTNAM
+
+AUTHOR OF "WILLIAM THE SILENT," "A MEDIÆVAL PRINCESS," ETC.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+
+The Knickerbocker Press
+
+1908
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+COPYRIGHT 1908,
+
+BY
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy into the series of Heroes
+of the Nations, is justified by his relation to events rather than by
+his national or his heroic qualities. _"Il n'avait pas assez de sens
+ni de malice pour conduire ses entreprises,"_ is one phrase of Philip
+de Commines in regard to the master he had once served. Render _sens_
+by _genius_ and _malice_ by _diplomacy_ and the words are not far
+wrong. Yet in spite of the failure to obtain either a kingly or an
+imperial crown, the story of those same unaccomplished enterprises
+contains the germs of much that has happened later in the borderlands
+of France and Germany where the projected "middle kingdom" might have
+been erected. A sketch of the duke's character with its traits of
+ambition and shortcomings may therefore be placed, not unfitly, among
+the pen portraits of individuals who have attempted to change the map
+of Europe.
+
+The materials for an exhaustive study of the times, and of the
+participants in the scenes thereof, are almost overwhelming
+in quantity. Into this narrative, I have woven the words of
+contemporaries when these related what they saw and thought, or at
+least what they said they saw or thought, about events passing within
+their sight or their ken. The veracity attained is only that of a
+mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth. And the rim in which
+these bits are set is too slender to contain all the illumination
+necessary. The narrative is, of necessity, partial and fragmentary,
+for a complete story would require a series of biographies presented
+in parallel columns. My own preliminary chapter to this book--a
+mere explanation of the presence of the dukes of Burgundy in the
+Netherlands--grew into an account of a sovereign whom they deposed and
+was published under the title of _A Mediæval Princess._
+
+John Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record of Charles the Bold,
+Duke of Burgundy. Forty years have elapsed since that publication
+appeared and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the subject
+has been given out to the public, while separate phases of it have
+been minutely discussed by competent critics, so that at every point
+there is new temptation for the biographer to expand the theme where
+the scope of his work demands brevity.
+
+In using the later fruit of historical investigation, it is delightful
+for an American to find that scholars of all nations do justice to
+Mr. Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they may differ from his
+conclusions. It has been my privilege to be permitted free access to
+this scholar's collection of books, and I would here express my deep
+gratitude to the Kirk family for their generosity and courtesy towards
+me.
+
+After some preliminary reading at Brussels and Paris and in England,
+the work for this volume has been completed in America, where the
+opportunity of securing the latest results of research and criticism
+is constantly increasing, although these results are still lodged
+under many roofs. I have had many reasons to thank the librarians of
+New York, Boston, and Washington, and also those of Harvard, Columbia,
+and Cornell universities for courtesies and for serviceable aid; and
+just as many reasons to regret the meagreness of what can be put
+between two covers as the gleanings from so rich a harvest.
+
+One word further in explanation of the use of _Bold_. The adjective
+has been retained simply because it has been so long identified with
+Charles in English usage. I should have preferred the word _Rash_ as
+a better equivalent for the contemporary term, applied to the duke in
+his lifetime,--_le téméraire_.
+
+R.P.
+
+WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHAPTER I
+CHILDHOOD
+
+CHAPTER II
+YOUTH
+
+CHAPTER III
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+CHAPTER IV
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+CHAPTER V
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+CHAPTER VI
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+CHAPTER VII
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+CHAPTER IX
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+CHAPTER X
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+CHAPTER XI
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+CHAPTER XII
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+CHAPTER XV
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+GUELDERS
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+CHAPTER XX
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 AND 1476
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+INDEX
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY          _Frontispiece_
+From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date
+of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This
+portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed
+to Roger van der Weyden. That, however,
+shows a much stronger face.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brussels.
+
+A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON
+OF LETTERS
+From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a
+beautiful MS. copy in Brussels Library of Jacques
+de Guise's _Annales_. The author is depicted
+presenting his book to the duke, who is attended
+by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is
+attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden, to
+Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans
+Memling.
+
+A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK
+
+COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER
+From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, _Les
+ducs de Bourgogne_,
+
+THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRÃœCK
+
+LOUIS XI
+From an engraving by A. Boilly after a drawing by
+G. Boilly.
+
+PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+From a drawing in a MS. at Arras.
+
+BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY (JULY 16, 1465)
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE
+WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY
+After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery.
+
+CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A
+CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at
+Brussels.
+
+PHILIP DE COMMINES
+
+OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in
+_Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale de Belgique,_
+xlix.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Barante, _Les ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES
+From Toutey, _Charles le téméraire_.
+
+MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS
+
+ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS
+From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+After design by C. Laplante.
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By
+permission of J. J. Löwy, Vienna.)
+
+MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA
+Medal.
+
+A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_,
+
+KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+(These characters in Maximilian's poem of _Theuerdank_
+represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.)
+From a reproduction of a wood engraving by
+Schäufelein in edition of 1517.
+
+A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY
+After a design by Matthey reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+the J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+From contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY
+From Barante, _Let ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+Church of Notre Dame, Bruges
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+1433-1440
+
+
+On St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good people of Dijon were
+abroad, eager to catch what glimpses they might of certain stately
+functions to be formally celebrated by the Duke of Burgundy. The mere
+presence of the sovereign in the capital of his duchy was in itself
+a gala event from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions
+agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions successively. His
+residence was now here and now there, without long tarrying anywhere.
+His coming was usually very welcome. In times of peaceful submission
+to his behest, the city of his sojourn reaped many advantages besides
+the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond their wont. In the
+outlay for the necessities and the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal
+court, the expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary commercial
+activity enjoyed by the merchants, the fact that the burghers' own
+contributions to this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary
+oblivion.[1]
+
+This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon was more significant
+than usual. It had lasted several weeks, and among its notable
+occasions was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden Fleece for the
+third anniversary of their Order. On this November 30th, Burgundy was
+to witness for the first time the pompous ceremonials inaugurated at
+Bruges in January, 1430. Three years had sufficed to render the new
+institution almost as well known as its senior English rival, the
+Order of the Garter, which it was destined to outshine for a brief
+period at least. Its foundation had formed part of the elaborate
+festivities accompanying the celebration of the marriage of Philip,
+Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal. As a signal honour to his
+bride, Philip published his intention of creating a new order of
+knighthood which would evince "his great and perfect love for the
+noble state of chivalry."
+
+Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the duke's real motives. It
+was whispered that a certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished
+by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair by a few merry
+courtiers, whereupon Philip declared that her tresses should be
+immortally honoured in the golden emblem of a new society.[2] But that
+may be set down as gossip. Philip's own assertion, when he instituted
+the Order of the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create a
+bulwark
+
+    "for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our Christian
+    faith, and to honour and enhance the noble order of chivalry, and
+    also for three reasons hereafter declared; first, to honour the
+    ancient knights ...; second, to the end that these present.... may
+    exercise the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve; third, that
+    all gentlemen marking the honour paid to the knights will exert
+    themselves to attain the dignity." [2]
+
+The special homage to the new duchess was expressed in the device
+
+  _Aultre n'aray
+   Dame Isabeau tant que vivray[4]_
+
+This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella was, indeed, utterly
+disregarded by the bridegroom, but in outward and formal honour to her
+he never failed.
+
+The new institution was, from the beginning, pre-eminently significant
+of the duke's magnificent state existence, wherein his Portuguese
+consort proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet. Again and again
+during a period of thirty years, rich in diplomatic parleying, did
+Isabella act as confidential ambassador for her husband, and many were
+the negotiations conducted by her to his satisfaction.[5]
+
+But it must be noted that whatever lay at the exact root of Philip's
+motives when he conceived the plan of his Order, the actual result of
+his foundation was not affected. He failed, indeed, to bring back into
+the world the ancient system of knighthood in its ideal purity and
+strength. Rather did he make a notable contribution to its decadence
+and speed its parting. What was brought into existence was a house
+of peers for the head of the Burgundian family, a body of faithful
+satellites who did not hamper their chief overmuch with the criticism
+permitted by the rules of their society, while their own glory added
+shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian court.
+
+Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the original number appointed
+to form the chosen circle of knights. This was speedily increased to
+thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the session of 1433, was
+the election of new members to fill vacancies and to round out the
+allotted tale.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN
+FLEECE]
+
+In their manner of accomplishing the appointed task, the new
+chevaliers had, from the outset, evinced a readiness to cast their
+votes to the satisfaction of their chief, even if his pleasure
+directly conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to obey. No
+candidate was to be eligible whose birth was not legitimate,[6] a
+regulation quite ignored when the duke proposed the names of his sons
+Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient knights did not refuse to open
+their ranks to these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a bar
+sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too, others of Philip's many
+illegitimate descendants were not rejected when their father proposed
+their names.
+
+Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new member should have
+proven himself a knight of renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one
+of the candidates proposed for election, though nominally a knight,
+had assuredly had no time to show his mettle. The dignity was his only
+because his spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle before
+his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength to grasp a rattle, and
+before he was even old enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his
+teeth upon.[7]
+
+Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was Charles of Burgundy,
+Count of Charolais, son of the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the
+previous St. Martin's Eve, November 10th.[8]
+
+    "The new chevaliers, with the exception of the Count of
+    Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accustomed oath at the hands
+    of the sovereign in a room of his palace."
+
+
+So runs the record. Jean le Févre, Seigneur de St. Remy, present on
+the occasion in his capacity of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle
+more communicative.[9] According to him, all the gentlemen were very
+joyous at their election as they received their collars and made their
+vows as stated. He excepted no member in the phrase about the joy
+displayed, though, as a matter of inference, the pleasure experienced
+by the Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat problematical.
+
+The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age of just twenty days
+when thus officially listed among the chevaliers present at the
+festival. Born on November 10th of this same year, 1433,[10] he had
+been knighted on the very day of his baptism, when Charles, Count of
+Nevers, and the Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former gave
+his name to the infant while the latter's name was destined to be
+identified with many unpleasant incidents in the career of the future
+man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason for the further item
+in the archives of the Golden Fleece:
+
+    "As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into the same room.
+    There the sovereign, his father, and the duchess, his mother, took
+    the oath on his behalf. Afterwards the duke put the collars upon
+    all." [11]
+
+
+Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction that Charles of
+Burgundy was of different metal than the rest of the world. The great
+duke of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history of chivalry
+when he conferred its dignities upon a speechless, unconscious infant.
+The theory that knighthood was a personal acquisition had been
+maintained up to this period, the Children of France[12] alone being
+excepted from the rule, though in his _Lay de Vaillance_ Eustache
+Deschamps complains that the degree of knighthood is actually
+conferred on those who are only ten or twelve years old, and who do
+not know what to do with the honour.[13] That plaint was written not
+later than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the poet's
+prediction that ruin of the institution was imminent when affected by
+such disorders seemed justified if, in 1433, even the years of the
+eligible age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not received the
+accolade until he was twenty-five.
+
+How his predecessor in Holland, Count William VI., had acquitted
+himself valiantly the moment that he was dubbed knight is told by
+Froissart, and the tales of other accolades of the period are too well
+known to need reference.
+
+It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished by his own mother.
+Having lost her first two infants, Isabella was solicitous for the
+welfare of this third child, who also proved her last. He was,
+moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle of France and Bonne of
+Artois, his first wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
+expended on the boy were repaid. Charles became a sturdy child who
+developed into youthful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
+his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather than the English
+Lancastrians, from whom she was equally descended.
+
+His dark hair and his features were very different from the fair type
+of his paternal ancestors, the vigorous branch of the Valois family.
+Possibly other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese origin were
+intensified by close association with his mother, who supervised the
+education directed by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at The
+Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and official adviser to the
+duke's stadtholder in the administration. [14]
+
+Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe his contemporaries,
+surprisingly so, considering his early taste for all martial pursuits
+and his intense interest in military operations.
+
+At two years of age he received his first lesson in horsemanship, on
+a wooden steed constructed for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a
+saddler of Brussels.
+
+His biographers repeat from each other statements of his proficiency
+in Latin. This must be balanced by noting that the only texts which
+he could have read were probably not classic. In the inventory of the
+various Burgundian libraries of the period, there are not six Greek
+and Latin classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not a
+single Roman historian in the original.[15] There was a translation
+of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi and late abridgments of Sallust,
+Suetonius, Lucan, and Cæsar,[16] with a French version of Valerius
+Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless these versions and a volume
+called _Les faits des Romains_ were used as text-books to teach the
+young count about the world's conquerors. The last mentioned book
+shows what travesties of Roman history were gravely read in the
+fifteenth century.
+
+There are stories[17] that the bit of history most enjoyed by the
+pupil was the narrative of Alexander. Books about that hero were easy
+to come by long before the invention of printing, though Alexander
+would have had difficulty in recognising his identity under the
+strange mediæval motley in which his namesake wandered over the land.
+No single man, with the possible exception of Charlemagne, was so
+much written about or played so brilliantly the part of a hero to
+the Middle Ages and after.[18] The simplicity and universality of his
+success were of a type to appeal to the boy Charles, himself built on
+simple lines. The fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip
+stimulated his imagination and instilled in his breast hopes of
+conquering, not the whole world perhaps, but a good slice of territory
+which should enable him to hold his own between the emperor and the
+French king. Tales of definite schemes of early ambition are often
+fabricated in the later life of a conqueror, but in this case they may
+be believed, as all threads of testimony lead to the same conclusion.
+
+The air breathed by the boy when he first became conscious of his
+own individuality was certainly heavy with the aroma of satisfied
+ambition. The period of his childhood was a time when his father stood
+at the very zenith of his power. In 1435, was signed the Treaty of
+Arras, the death-blow to the long coalition existing between Burgundy
+and England to the continual detriment of France. Philip was
+reconciled with great solemnity to the king, responsible in his
+dauphin days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy. After
+ostentatiously parading his filial resentment sixteen long years,
+Philip forgave Charles VII. his share in the death of John the
+Fearless, on the bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support to
+keep the French monarch on the throne whither the efforts of Joan of
+Arc had carried him from Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile.
+
+England's pretensions were repudiated. To be sure, the recent
+coronation of Henry VI. at Paris was not immediately forgotten, but
+while the Duke of Bedford had actually administered the government as
+regent, in behalf of his infant nephew, it was a mere shadow of his
+office that passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435, was
+almost coincident with the compact at Arras when the English Henry's
+realms across the Channel shrank to Normandy and the outlying
+fortresses of Picardy and Maine. Later events on English soil were to
+prove how little fitted was the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any
+kind.
+
+Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy rose triumphant
+with a seal set upon his personal importance.[19] His recognition of
+Charles VII. as lawful sovereign of France, and his reconciliation did
+not pass without signal gain to himself.
+
+The king declared his own hands unstained by the blood of John of
+Burgundy, agreed to punish all those designated by Philip as actually
+responsible for that treacherous murder, and pledged himself to erect
+a cross on the bridge at Montereau, the scene of the crime. Further,
+he relinquished various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained by the
+crown from the moment when the junior branch of the Valois had been
+invested with the duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne,
+Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to the French sovereign on
+both banks of the Somme. To this last cession, however, was appended
+the condition that the towns included in this clause could be redeemed
+at the king's pleasure, for the sum of four hundred thousand gold
+crowns. Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of homage to
+himself, promised to demand no _aides_ from the duke's subjects
+in case of war, and to assist his cousin if he were attacked from
+England. Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted with the
+emperor to Philip's disadvantage.[20]
+
+One clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness towards the
+powerful vassal. It provided that in case of Charles's failure to
+observe all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects would be
+justified in taking arms against him at the duke's orders. A similar
+clause occurs in certain treaties between an earlier French king and
+his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of the suzerain, not
+to that of the lesser lords.
+
+The duke was left in a position infinitely superior to that of the
+king, whose realm was terribly exhausted by the long contest with
+England, a contest wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's
+foot. French prosperity had been nibbled off like green foliage before
+a swarm of locusts, and the whole north-eastern portion of France
+was in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the other hand, the
+territories covered by Burgundy as an overlord had greatly increased
+during the sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
+aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships formed his domain,
+loosely hung together by reason of their several titles being vested
+in one person--titles which the bearer had inherited or assumed under
+various pretexts.
+
+Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy and county of Burgundy,
+came to him from his father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he
+bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself heir to his cousins in
+Brabant and Limbourg when Duke Anthony's second son followed his
+equally childless brother into a premature grave, and the claims were
+made good in spite of all opposition. Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut
+became his through the unwilling abdication of his other cousin,
+Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of her husband, Frank van
+Borselen, the last representative of the Bavarian House then
+formally resigned her titles, which she had already divested of all
+significance five years previously, when Philip of Burgundy had become
+her _ruward_, to relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of
+responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.[21]
+
+Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended in having
+the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added to his other
+designations. Also there were various places where his predecessor's
+name had to be effaced to make room for his. (Laborde, i., 345).]
+
+Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Brabant. Luxemburg was a later
+acquisition obtained through Elizabeth of Görlitz.
+
+There were very shady bits in the chapters about Philip's entry into
+many of his possessions, but it is interesting to note how cleverly
+the best colour is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche and
+other writers who enjoyed Burgundian patronage. Very gentle are the
+adjectives employed, and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the
+naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary criticism
+did occasionally make itself heard, especially from the emperor, who
+declared that the Netherland provinces must come to him as a lapsed
+imperial fief. For a time Philip denied that any links existed between
+his domain and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it convenient
+to discuss the question with Frederic III. at Besançon; still he never
+came to the point of paying homage.
+
+All these territories made a goodly realm for a mere duke. But
+they were individual entities centred around one head with little
+interconnection.
+
+Philip thought that the one thing needed to bring his possessions into
+a national life, as coherent as that of France, was a unity of legal
+existence among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain this
+unity was the one thought dominating the career of his successor,
+whose pompous introduction to life naturally inspired him with a high
+idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of greater dignities for
+himself and his successor than a bundle of titles,--a splendid, vain,
+fatal dream as it proved.
+
+As a final cement to the new friendship between Burgundy and France,
+it was also agreed at Arras that the heir of the former should wed a
+daughter of Charles VII. When the Count of Charolais was five years
+old, the Seigneur of Crèvecoeur,[22] "a wise and prudent gentleman"
+was despatched to the French court on divers missions, among which
+was the business of negotiating the projected alliance. A very joyous
+reception was accorded the envoy by the king and the queen, and his
+proposal was accepted in behalf of the second daughter, Catherine,
+easily substituted for an older sister, deceased between the first and
+second stages of negotiation.
+
+A year later, a formal betrothal took place at St Omer, whither
+the young bride was conducted, most honourably accompanied by the
+archbishops of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Vendôme,
+Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the Duke of Bourbon, named the
+Lord of Beaujeu, and various other distinguished nobles, besides a
+train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance on the
+princess, and an escort of three hundred horse.
+
+At the various cities where the party made halt they were graciously
+received, and all honour was paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of
+France. At Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and as she
+travelled on towards her destination, all the towns of Philip's
+obedience contributed their quota of welcome.
+
+At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming. When her approach was
+announced he rode out in person to greet her, attended by a brilliant
+escort.
+
+[Illustration: A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON]
+
+Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready to burst into tune;
+the betrothal was confirmed amid joyousness and the ceremony was
+followed by tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.
+
+What a series of pompous betrothals between infant parties the
+fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can show! Poor little puppets, in
+whose persons national interests were supposed to be centred, were
+made to lisp out their roles in international dramas whose final acts
+rarely were consistent with the promise of the prologue.
+
+Catherine did not live to become Duchess of Burgundy nor to temper the
+duel between her husband and her brother Louis. The remainder of
+her short existence was passed under the care of Duchess Isabella,
+sometimes in one city of the Netherlands, sometimes in another.
+
+La Marche[23] records one return of Philip to Brussels when his
+arrival was greeted by Charles of Burgundy, honourably accompanied
+by children of high birth about his age or less, some only eleven or
+twelve years old. There were with him Jehan de la Trémoille, Philip
+de Croy, Philip de Crèvecoeur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others. All
+were mounted on little horses harnessed like that of their governor, a
+very honest and wise gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et Ber
+d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man, well known, of good lineage,
+ready of speech and able to discuss matters of honour and of state.
+
+He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all exercise and sport.
+
+    "Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman better adapted
+    to supervise the education of a young prince than he.... Among his
+    pupils were also Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy,[24] son of Philip,
+    and the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were older than the
+    first mentioned."
+
+La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt in this youthful band
+of horse, and then tells how, within Brussels,
+
+    "he was received by the magistrates and conducted to his palace,
+    where the Duchess of Burgundy awaited him holding by the hand
+    Madame Catherine of France, Countess of Charolais. She was about
+    twelve and seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and
+    well conditioned for her age."
+
+At various state functions the Count and Countess of Charolais
+appeared together in public, and witnessed certain of the gorgeous
+and costly entertainments which were almost the daily food of the gay
+Burgundian court. One of these occasions was calculated to make a deep
+impression on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle of a
+proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep humiliation.
+
+In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges, when the animosity of
+the burghers had caused the duchess to flee from their midst, holding
+her little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal safety. Philip
+suppressed the revolt, but, in his anger at its insolence, declared
+that never again would he set foot within the gates unless in company
+with his superior.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERS
+
+THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND WITH ONE OF PHILIP'S
+SONS FROM MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "HIST. DES DUCS DE
+BOURGOGNE"]
+
+Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella played a prominent part
+as her husband's representative, were those concerning the liberation
+of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in England, a prisoner, after
+the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The last advice given by Henry V.
+to his brothers was that they should make this captivity perpetual.
+Therefore, whenever overtures were made for his redemption, a strong
+party, headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them vehemently.
+
+In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide of sentiment. Possibly
+the low state of the English exchequer made the duke's ransom more
+attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000 golden crowns were
+accepted as his equivalent, and the exile of twenty-five years
+returned to France, having pledged himself never to bear arms against
+England.
+
+Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome him, and to escort him
+to St. Omer, where high revels were held in his honour and in that of
+his alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece.
+
+The week intervening between the betrothal and the nuptials was
+passed in a succession of banquets and tourneys, gorgeous in their
+elaboration. Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just then,
+the new Burgundian Order was convened and the Duke of Orleans was
+elected a Knight of the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented
+his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the Porcupine. Lord
+Cornwallis and other English gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans
+across the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor were they among
+the least favoured guests, adds Barante.
+
+Amity was triumphant, and there was a general feeling abroad that the
+returned exile was henceforth to be the ruling power in France. People
+began to look to him to act as the go-between in their behalf, to be
+their mediator with Charles VII., still little known at his best. Many
+towns turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend, and among them
+was Bruges. But it was not royal favours that Bruges sought. Her
+burghers felt great inconvenience from the breach with their sovereign
+duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his grace, they seized the
+opportunity of reminding Philip of his assertion, and they besought
+him to enter their gates in company with the Duke of Orleans, a
+prince of the blood, closer to the French sovereign than the Duke of
+Burgundy.
+
+After some demur, Philip consented to grant their petition. Possibly
+he was not loth to be persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges
+to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and to prepare a
+reception for their appeased sovereign, calculated to make him content
+with the late rebels.
+
+Before the grand cortège, composed of the two dukes, their consorts,
+and the dignitaries who had assisted in the feasts of marriage and of
+chivalry, reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were ready with a
+touching spectacle of humility and repentance.[25]
+
+A league from the gates, the magistrates and burghers stood in the
+road awaiting the travellers from St. Omer. All were barefooted and
+bareheaded. Under the December sky they waited the approach of the
+stately procession. When the duke arrived, they all fell upon their
+knees and implored him to forgive the late troubles and to reinstate
+their city in his favour. Philip did not answer immediately--delay was
+always a feature of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Orleans,
+both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined their entreaties to the
+citizens' prayers. Again a pause, and then, as if generously yielding
+to pressure, Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes and their
+hats while he accepted at their hands the keys of all the gates. Then
+the long procession moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were the
+clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and beguins of the various
+convents and foundations, bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and
+many precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were the gilds
+and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent accoutrements freshly
+burnished to do honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
+overlord.
+
+Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, platforms and stages
+were erected, whereon were enacted dramatic performances, given
+continuously, to provide amusement for the collected crowds. Sometimes
+the presentation carried significance beyond mere entertainment. Here
+a maid, garbed as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which wore the
+collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine. This last beast was to
+symbolise the Orleans device, _Near and Far_, as the creature was
+supposed to project his spines to a distance.
+
+One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house with gold and the
+roof with silver leaves to betoken his satisfaction. Indeed, if we
+may believe the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had any city
+incurred so much expense to honour its lord. The duke permitted his
+heart to be touched by these proofs of devotion, and on the very
+evening of his arrival he evinced that his confidence was restored by
+sending the civic keys and a gracious message to the magistrates. At
+the news of this condescension the cries of "_Noël_" re-echoed afresh
+through the illuminated streets.
+
+Charles was not present at this entry, which took place on Saturday,
+December 11th, but Philip was so much entertained with the performance
+that he sent for his son, and on the following Saturday he and the
+Countess of Charolais came from Ghent to join the party. The Duke of
+Orleans and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the young couple,
+who were formally escorted to the palace by magistrates and citizens
+in a body. On the Sunday there were repetitions of some of the plays
+and every attention was offered by the Bruges burghers to their young
+guests. When Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December
+14th, what wonder that the lady wept in sorrow at leaving these gay
+Burgundian doings!
+
+While Charles did not actually witness the humiliation of the
+citizens, the seven-year-old boy would, undoubtedly, have heard and
+known sufficient of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware that
+the citizens who had dared defy his father were glad to buy back his
+smiles at any cost to their pride and purse. He would have known, too,
+that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, and elsewhere joined the
+Bruges burghers in the welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a
+spectacle of the relations between a city and the ducal father not to
+be easily forgotten by the son.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of
+Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. _(Collection des voyages
+des souverains des Pays Bas_, i., 71.) Unfortunately, owing to
+the destruction of papers, only a few years are complete. Between
+1428-1441, there is nothing. But the itinerary for 1441 and for other
+years shows how often the duke changed his residences. Sometimes he
+is accompanied by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de
+Charolais.]
+
+[Footnote 2: It was also said that the woollen manufactures of
+Flanders were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Reiffenberg, _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or,_ p.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _ Hist. de I'Ordre,_ etc., p. i.]
+
+[Footnote 5: All the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to
+the public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from the
+accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity:
+
+"To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber, for delivering
+to a certain person for certain causes and for secret matters of which
+Monseigneur does not wish further declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17
+sous."
+
+(Laborde _Les Ducs de Bourgogne_, etc., "Preuves," i. xiii.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: "Vingt-quatre chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
+et sans reproches nés et procrées en léal mariage" _(see_ description
+of the first list).--_Hist. de l'Ordre,_ p. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Jacquemin Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living at
+Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich cloth of black
+silk draped about the baptismal font. Why mourning was used on this
+joyful occasion does not appear. (Laborde, i., 321.)]
+
+[Footnote 8: Summary of a register containing the acts of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece quoted in _Histoire de l'Ordre,_ pp. 12, 13.]
+
+[Footnote 9: St. Remy, _Chronique_, ii., 284. St. Remy is usually
+called _Toison d'Or._]
+
+[Footnote 10: His full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone
+remains of the palace where he was born.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Hist, de l'Ordre,_ p. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Selden _(Titles of Honor_, p. 457), however, says he
+knows not by what authority this statement is made and that he knows
+nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by Gautier for
+receiving knighthood.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Deschamps, _OEuvres Complètes_, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of
+Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one notable occasion,
+to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared in public accompanied
+by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan of the Hooks, and by Frank van
+Borselen, himself a Cod, the widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess
+of Holland.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Barante, _Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne_, vi., 2, note
+by Reiffenberg.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _Catalogue des manuscrits des Ducs de Bourgogne,_
+"Résumé historique," i., lxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Barante, vi., 2, note.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Loomis, _Medieval Hellenism_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Pirenne, _Histoire de Belgique_, ii., 231.]
+
+[Footnote 20: It was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made.
+Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant, Holland,
+Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were lapsed fiefs, of the
+empire.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Putnam, _A Medieval Princess_.
+
+[Footnote 22: Monstrelet, _La Chronique_, v., 344.]
+
+[Footnote 23: La Marche, _Mémoires_, ii., 50.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Reiffenberg, _Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe
+de Bourgogne._]
+
+[Footnote 25: Meyer, _Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum, _
+p. 296.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+YOUTH
+
+1440-1453
+
+
+The heir of Burgundy was still in very tender years when he began to
+take official part in public affairs, sometimes associated with one
+parent, sometimes with the other.
+
+There was a practical advantage in bringing the boy to the fore by
+which the duke was glad to profit. With his own manifold interests, it
+was impossible for him to be present in his various capitals as often
+as was demanded by the usage of the diverse individual seigniories. It
+was politic, therefore, to magnify the representative capacity of his
+son and of his consort in order to obtain the grants and _aides_ which
+certain of his subjects declared could be given only when requested
+orally by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was Count Charles
+and the duchess who appeared in Holland to ask an _aide_.[1] In the
+following year, Charles accompanied his father when Philip made one
+of his rare visits--there were only three between 1428 and 1466--to
+Holland and Zealand.
+
+[Illustration: A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY]
+
+Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants on this occasion, and he
+describes with great detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have
+their absentee count in their land.[2] Many matters could only be
+set aright by his authority. Among the complaints brought to him at
+Middelburg were accusations against a certain knight of high birth,
+Jehan de Dombourc. Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once and
+brought before him for trial. This was easier said than done. Warned
+of his danger, Dombourc, with four or five comrades, took refuge in
+the clock tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary that
+could not be taken by storm.[2] He was provided with a good store of
+food, this audacious criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There he
+remained three days, because, for the honour of the Church, they could
+not fire upon him.
+
+"And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun come out and call to
+Jehan Dombourc, her brother, advising him to perish defending himself
+rather than to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands of
+the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced to surrender to
+his prince, and he was beheaded in the market-place at Middelburg,
+but, at the plea of his sister, the said nun, his body was delivered
+to her to be buried in consecrated ground."
+
+In this same visit Philip presided over the Zealand estates and the
+young count sat by his side, not as an idle spectator, but because
+usage required the presence of the heir as well as that of the Count
+of Zealand.
+
+When Charles was twelve he was present at an assembly of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece held in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind
+witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his description of the
+lavish magnificence of the affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the
+citizens into complying with the requests of their Count of Flanders.
+
+Charles played a prominent part in all the functions, and assisted in
+the election of his tutor, Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. Another candidate
+of that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Ostrevant, widower of
+Jacqueline, late Countess of Holland.
+
+In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at Brussels.
+"Honourably as befitted a king's daughter" was she buried at Ste.
+Gudule.[4]
+
+    "Tireless in their devotion were the duke and duchess in her last
+    illness, and Charles VII. despatched two skilled doctors to her
+    aid but all efforts were vain.
+
+    "Much bemourned was the princess for she was virtuous. God have
+    pity on her soul"
+
+piously ejaculates La Marche.
+
+A little item[5] in the accounts suggests that a pleasant friendship
+had existed between the two young people:
+
+    "To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Countess of Charolais,
+    for a harp which she had bought from him and given to Ms. the
+    Count of Charolais for him to play and take his amusement, xii
+    francs."[6]
+
+It is easy to surmise that music was not, however, the young count's
+favourite amusement. In Philip's court, tournaments were still held
+and afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad whose bent was
+undoubtedly towards a military career.
+
+One valiant actor in these tourneys where were revived the ancient
+traditions of knighthood, was Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all
+the characteristics of times past, fighting for fame in the present.
+In his youth, this aspirant for reputation swore a vow to meet thirty
+knights in combat before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated by
+a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the court of Burgundy,
+because the Netherlands were on the highroad between England and many
+points in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had the best
+chance of falling in with all the prowess that might be abroad. For
+stay-at-home prowess he cared naught. A delightful personage is
+Messire Jacques and a brave rôle does he play in the series of jousts,
+sporting gaily on the pages of the various Burgundian chroniclers,
+who recorded in their old age what they had seen in their youth. One
+description, however, of these encounters reads much like another and
+they need not be repeated.
+
+During his childhood Charles was a spectator only on the days of mimic
+battle. In his seventeenth year he was permitted to enter the lists
+as a regular combatant, a permission shared by his fellow pupils all
+eager to flesh their maiden spears. The duke arranged that his son
+should have a preliminary tilt a few days before the public affair in
+order to test his ability. All the courtiers--and apparently ladies
+were not excluded from the discussion on the matter--agreed that no
+better knight could be found for this purpose than Jacques de Lalaing,
+who, on his part, was highly honoured by being selected to gauge the
+untried capabilities of the prince.[7]
+
+In the park at Brussels with the duke and duchess as onlookers, the
+preliminary encounter took place. At the very first attack, Charles
+struck Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his lance into many
+pieces. The duke was displeased because he thought that the knight
+had not exerted his full strength and was favouring his son. He
+accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must play in earnest and not
+hold his force in leash. Fresh lances were brought; again did
+the count withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances were
+shattered. This time the boy's mother was the dissatisfied one,
+thinking that the knight was too hard with his junior, but the duke
+only laughed.
+
+    "Thus differed the parents. The one desired him to prove his
+    manhood, the other was preoccupied with his safety. With these
+    two courses the trial ended amid rounds of applause for the
+    prince."[8]
+
+The actual tourney was held on the market-place in Brussels before a
+distinguished assembly. Count Charles was escorted into the arena by
+his cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles. Seigneur d'Auxy,
+his tutor, stood near to watch the maiden efforts of the prince and
+his mates. He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for his bearing
+and his skill. He gave and received excellent thrusts, broke more
+than ten lances, and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening he
+received the prize from two princesses, and "Montjoye" was cried
+by the heralds in his honour. From that time forth, the count was
+considered a puissant and rude jouster and gained great renown.
+
+    "And that is the reason why I commence my memoirs about him and
+    his deeds[9] [continues La Marche, on concluding his description
+    of the tournament], and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour.
+    As one who has been brought up with him from his youth in his
+    father's service and in his own, I will touch upon his education,
+    his morals, his character, and his habits from the moment when I
+    first saw him as appears above in my memoirs.
+
+    "As to his character, I will commence at the worst features. He
+    was hot, active, and impetuous: as a child he was very eager to
+    have his own way. Nevertheless, he had so much understanding and
+    good sense that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no
+    one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he. He did not
+    take the name of God or the saints in vain, and held God in great
+    fear and reverence. He learned well and had a retentive memory. He
+    was fond of reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot
+    and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and boats. Falconry,
+    too, he loved and he hunted whenever he had leave. In archery he
+    early excelled his comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was
+    the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did he devote
+    himself to good and excellent exercise."
+
+That the report of the lavishness and extravagance of the Burgundian
+court was no idle rumour, exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is
+attested to by every bit of contemporary evidence. Enthusiastic and
+loyal chroniclers dwell on the magnificence, and the arid details of
+bills paid show what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while
+the protests from taxpayers prove that this splendour did not grow
+like the lilies of the field.
+
+[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE OF AN ACCOUNT-BOOK XVTH CENTURY]
+
+Philip's treasury had many separate compartments. There were many
+quarters to which he could turn for his needed supplies, but there
+were times when his exchequer ran very threateningly low, and his
+financial stress led him to be very conciliatory towards the burghers
+with full purses.
+
+In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the celebration of the feast of
+the Order of the Golden Fleece within her gates. Two years later,
+Philip appeared in person at a meeting of the _collace_, or municipal
+assembly, and delivered a harangue to the Ghentish magistrates and
+burghers, flattering them, moreover, by using their vernacular. The
+tenor of this speech was as follows[10]:
+
+    "My good and faithful friends, you know how I have been brought
+    up among you from my infancy. That is why I have always loved you
+    more than the inhabitants of all my other cities, and I have
+    proved this by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that
+    I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon me to-day when
+    I have need of your support. Doubtless you are not ignorant of the
+    condition of my father's treasury at the period of his death. The
+    majority of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were
+    in pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate vengeance
+    compelled me to undertake a long and bloody war, during which the
+    defence of my fortresses and of my cities, and the pay of my
+    army have necessitated outlays so large that it is impossible to
+    estimate them. You know, too, that at the very moment when the war
+    on France was at its height, I was obliged, in order to assure the
+    protection of my country of Flanders, to take arms against the
+    English in Hainaut, in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding
+    costing me more than 10,000 _saluts d'or,_ which I raised with
+    difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed against Liege, in
+    behalf of my countship of Namur, which sprang from the bosom of
+    Flanders? It is not necessary to add to all these outlays those
+    which I assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jerusalem,
+    and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+    "It is true, however, that, yielding to the persuasions of the
+    pope and the Council, I have now consented to put an end to the
+    evils multiplied by war by forgetting my father's death, and by
+    reconciling myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this
+    treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in preserving
+    to my subjects during the war the advantages of industry and of
+    peace, they had submitted to heavy burdens in taxes and in
+    voluntary contributions, and that it was my duty to re-establish
+    order and justice in the administration. But everything went on as
+    though the war had not ceased. All my frontiers have been menaced,
+    and I found myself obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so
+    useful to the defence of my other lands, especially of Brabant and
+    Flanders.
+
+    "In this way, my expenses continued to increase; all my resources
+    are now exhausted, and the saddest part of it all is that the good
+    cities and communes of Flanders and especially the country folk
+    are at the very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many of
+    my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obliged to emigrate.
+    Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty that I have little
+    advantage from them. Nor do I reap more from my hereditary lands,
+    for all are equally impoverished.
+
+    "A way must be found to ease the poor people, and at the same time
+    to protect Flanders from insult, Flanders for whose sake I would
+    risk my own person, although to arrive at this end, important
+    measures have become imperative."
+
+After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally states that, in order
+to raise the requisite revenues, no method seemed to him so good and
+so simple as a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a term of
+twelve years. He promised to dispense with all other subsidies and to
+make his son swear to demand nothing further as long as the _gabelle_
+was imposed.
+
+    "Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you consent to it I
+    will renounce it if others prove of a different opinion, for I do
+    not desire that the communes of Flanders be more heavily weighted
+    than any other portion of my territory."
+
+The duke might have spared his trouble and his elaborate
+condescension. The answer to his conciliatory request was a flat
+refusal to consider the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to
+Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not be increased to the least
+degree without serious inconvenience. The Flemings were wroth at his
+imitating the worst custom of his French kinsmen.
+
+Philip departed from Ghent in great dudgeon. After a time he was
+persuaded that the indisposition of the town to meet his reasonable
+wishes was not due to the citizens at large, but to the machinations
+of a few unruly agitators among the magistrates. In 1449, therefore,
+he took a high-handed course of trying to direct the issue of the
+regular municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of magistrates
+on whose obedience he could rely. The appearance of Burgundian troops
+in Ghent, before the election of mid-August, aroused the wrath of the
+community, who thought that their most cherished franchises were in
+jeopardy.
+
+This was the beginning of a bitter struggle between Ghent and Philip.
+The duke found it no light matter to coerce the independent burghers
+into remembering that they were simply part of the Burgundian state.
+"_Tantæ molis erat liberam gentem in servitutem adigere_!" ejaculates
+Meyer in the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen months
+of active hostilities.[11] Matters were long in coming to an outbreak.
+Various points had been contended over, when Philip had endeavoured
+to change the seat of the great council, or to take divers measures
+tending to concentrate certain judicial or legislative functions for
+his own convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the autonomy of
+Ghent. His centripetal policy was disliked, but when his policy went
+further, and he attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike
+grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in open revolt.
+
+For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's estimation as mere
+insignificant unruliness. By 1452, however, the date of the tourney
+above described, it became evident that a vital issue was at stake.
+The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to mediate between overlord and
+town, but without success. Owing to Philip's interference in the
+elections, the results were declared void, and when a new election was
+appointed, the Burgundians accused the city of hastily augmenting its
+number of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation laws. The gilds,
+too, evinced a readiness to be very lenient in their scrutiny of
+candidates for admission to their cherished privileges, preferring,
+for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy of furnished rooms was
+declared sufficient for enfranchisement, and there were cases where
+mere guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the lists as
+full-fledged citizens.
+
+By these means the popular party waxed very strong numerically. The
+sheriffs found themselves quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit
+of democracy in check. The regular government was overthrown, and the
+demagogues succeeded in electing three captains _(hooftmans)_
+invested with arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees of
+the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of very radical measures
+promulgated and joyfully confirmed by the populace, assembled on the
+Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the town meeting that
+ruled, not deputed authority. One ordinance stipulated that at the
+sound of the bell every burgher must hasten to the market-place, to
+lend his voice to the deliberations.
+
+For a time various negotiations went on between Philip and envoys from
+Ghent. The latter took a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable
+terms that if the duke refused an accommodation with them, they would
+appeal to their suzerain, the King of France. No act of rebellion,
+overt or covert, exasperated Philip more than this suggestion. Charles
+VII. was only too ready to ignore those clauses in the treaty of
+Arras, releasing the duke from homage, and virtually acknowledging his
+complete independence in his French territories. The king accepted
+missives from his late vassal's city, without reprimanding the writers
+for their presumption in signing themselves "Seigneurs of Ghent."[12]
+His action, however, was confined to mild attempts at mediation.
+
+It was plain to the duke that his other towns would follow Ghent's
+resistance to his authority if there were hopes of her success.
+Therefore he threw aside all other interests for the time being, and
+exerted himself to levy a body of troops to crush Flemish pretensions.
+His counsellors advised him to sound the temper of other citizens and
+to ascertain whether their sympathies were with Ghent. Answers of
+feeble loyalty came back to him from the majority of the other towns.
+Undoubtedly they highly approved Ghent's efforts. They, too, could
+not afford to pay taxes fraught with danger to their commerce, nor to
+relinquish one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive crises
+throughout a long period of years. The only doubt in their minds was
+as to the ultimate success of the burghers to stem the course of
+Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first hedged, and then
+consented to aid the duke. This course was pursued by the Hollanders
+and the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted.
+
+The Ghenters succeeded in possessing themselves of the castle of
+Poucque by force, and of the village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking
+advantage in the latter case of the castellan's absence at church.
+
+When every part of his dominions had been canvassed for troops, and
+Philip was prepared for his first active campaign against Ghent, he
+was anxious to leave his heir under the protection of the duchess,
+conscious that the imminent contest would be bitter and deadly. A
+pretence was made that the young count's accoutrements were not ready,
+and that, therefore, he would have to remain in Brussels.
+
+    "But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the completion of his
+    accoutrements, and swore by St. George, the greatest oath he ever
+    used, that he would rather go in his shirt than not accompany his
+    father to punish his impudent rebel subjects."[13]
+
+The approaching hostilities were watched by foreign merchants in dread
+of commercial disaster.
+
+    "On May 18th, the _nations_[14] of the merchants of Bruges
+    departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make peace between that
+    city and the Duke of Burgundy, and there were _nations_ of Spain,
+    Aragon, Portugal, and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese,
+    Genoese, and Luccans."[15]
+
+But the men of Ghent were beyond the point where commercial arguments
+could stem their course. The very day that this company arrived in the
+city, the burghers sallied forth six or seven thousand strong, fully
+equipped for offensive warfare.
+
+Both the actual engagements and guerilla skirmishes that raged over
+a minute stretch of territory were characterised by an extraordinary
+ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip was determined to
+relieve, men were beheaded like sheep.
+
+In the first regular engagement in which Charles took part, he showed
+a brave front and learned the duties of a prince by rewarding others
+with the honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the course of the
+war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Burgundy, and the gallant Jacques
+de Lalaing. Philip grieved deeply over the death of the former, his
+favourite among his natural sons, and buried him with all honours in
+the Church of Ste-Gudule in Brussels. The title by which he was known,
+hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his brother Anthony.
+Lalaing, too, was greatly mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his
+thirty-third year.
+
+There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legitimate heir might also
+perish in these conflicts where there was no mercy, that Charles was
+persuaded to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would keep
+him by her side. She made a feast in his honour, but, to the surprise
+of all, the duchess, who had wished to protect her son from the mild
+perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with brave words to return
+to fight in all earnest for his inheritance.[16] He himself was very
+indignant at the efforts to treat him as a child.
+
+The first truce and negotiations for peace, initiated in the summer of
+1452, were broken off because the conditions were unbearable to the
+Ghenters. Another year of warfare followed before the decisive battle
+of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced them sadly to succumb. There was
+no other course open to them. Not only were they defeated but their
+numbers were decimated.[17] With full allowance for exaggeration, it
+is certain that the loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at
+an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every humiliating detail.
+More, the defeated rebels were bidden to be grateful that their kind
+sovereign had imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to abating
+the severity of the articles, he declared that he would not change an
+_a_ for a _b_.[18]
+
+The chief provisions were as follows: The deans of the gilds were
+deprived of participation in the election of sheriffs. The privileges
+of the naturalisation laws were considerably abridged. No sentence of
+banishment could be pronounced without the intervention of the duke's
+bailiff, whose authorisation, too, was required before the publication
+of edicts, ordinances, etc. The sheriffs were forbidden to place their
+names at the head of letters to the officers of the duke. The banners
+were to be delivered to the duke and placed under five locks, whose
+several keys should be deposited with as many different people,
+without whose consensus the banners could not be brought forth to lead
+the burghers to sedition. One gate was to be closed every Thursday in
+memory of the day when the citizens had marched through it to attack
+their liege lord, and another was to be barred up in perpetuity or
+at the pleasure of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his
+enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid by the city.
+
+July 30th was the date appointed for the final act of submission, the
+_amende honorable_ of the unfortunate city. The scene was very similar
+to that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand citizens headed by the
+sheriffs, councillors, and captains of the burgher guard met the
+duke and his suite a league without the walls of Ghent. Bareheaded,
+barefooted, and divested of all their robes of office and of dignity,
+clad only in shirts and small clothes, these magistrates confessed
+that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly rebellion, and
+begged his pardon most humbly.
+
+The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gaveren, prepared to march
+out in the morning with his whole army in handsome array. Philip was
+magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same horse which he had used
+on the day of battle, with the various wounds received on that day
+ostentatiously plastered over to make a dramatic show of what the
+injured sovereign had suffered at the hands of his disloyal subjects.
+
+The civic procession was headed by the Abbot of St. Bavon and the
+Prior of the Carthusians. The burghers who followed the half-clad
+officials were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and
+ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust and cried, "Mercy on
+the town of Ghent." While they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman
+of the council made an elaborate speech in French, assuring the
+duke that if, out of his benign grace. he would take his loving and
+repentant subjects again into his favour, they would never again give
+him cause for reproach.
+
+    "At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and the Count of
+    Charolais, there present, pardoned the petitioners for their evil
+    deeds. The men of Ghent re-entered their town more happy and
+    rejoiced than can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille,
+    having disbanded his army, that every one might return to their
+    several homes." [19]
+
+The joy experienced by the conquered, here described by La Marche, as
+he looked back at the event from the calm retirement of his old age,
+was not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of this war was
+watched eagerly from other parts of Philip's dominion. His army was
+full of men from both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports to
+their own homes. Some passages from one of these reports by an unknown
+war correspondent run as follows:
+
+    "As to news from here, Monday after St. Magdalen's Day,
+    Monseigneur the duke got the better of the Ghenters near Gaveren
+    between ten and eleven o'clock. They attacked him near his
+    quarters.... The duke risked his own person in advance of his
+    company in the very worst of the slaughter, which lasted from the
+    said place up to Ghent, a distance of about two leagues. The slain
+    number three or four thousand, more or less, and those drowned in
+    the river of Quaux about two hundred.... This Tuesday, the date of
+    writing, the army departs from their quarters to advance on Ghent
+    to demand the conditions lately offered them, and the bearer of
+    this letter will tell you what is the result. M. the duke and
+    his army marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of the
+    citizens. They are very bitter and despondent. M. the marshall has
+    been parleying. I hear that matters have been settled. I hear that
+    the Ghenters' loss is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I
+    cannot write more for I have no time owing to the haste of the
+    messenger."
+
+This was written July 23d. There is another despatch of July 31st,
+giving the last news, which was "very joyous." The public apology had
+just been enacted--
+
+    "and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as a confession
+    that my said seigneur was victorious, those of Ghent have
+    delivered up all their banners to the number of eighty. And on
+    this day my said lord has created seven or eight knights and
+    heralds in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable."[20]
+
+The duke's victory was certainly "inestimable" in its value to him,
+yet, in spite of the rigour enforced on this defeated people, they
+were not as crushed as they might have been had they submitted in
+1445. Philip was clever enough to be more lenient than appeared at
+first. Ancient privileges were confirmed in a special compact, and the
+duke swore to maintain all former concessions in their entirety except
+in the points above specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed, and
+it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff refused to sustain the
+sheriffs in their exercise of justice, or tried to arrogate to himself
+more than his due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly, and
+more important than all, the duke made no attempt to revive the demand
+for the _gabelle_--salt was left free and untaxed. As a matter of
+fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfilment of every item
+of the treaty and, two years later, he increased certain privileges.
+He had cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to pit his strength
+again with Flemish communes. He had taught the audacious rebels a
+lesson and that sufficed him.[21]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Blok, _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg.
+Oostenrijksche Heerschappij,_ p. 84.]
+
+[Footnote 2: La Marche, ii., 79, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See also _Chronijcke van Nederlant,_ p. 76, and
+_Vlaamsche Kronijk,_ p. 203. Ed. C. Piot.]
+
+[Footnote 4: D'Escouchy, _Chronique_, i., 110.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The items of the funeral expenses can be found in
+Laborde, i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In that same year, 1440, in which this gift is recorded,
+there is another item showing how Charles took his amusement not only
+on the harp but in planning some of the elaborate surprises regularly
+introduced between courses in the banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter,
+for making the cover of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present
+to Monseigneur on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v
+francs" (Laborde, i., 381).]
+
+[Footnote 7: La Marche, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's
+outfit cost 360 livres.]
+
+[Footnote 9: La Marche, i., ch. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv. Kervyn quotes from
+the _Dagboek des gentsche collatie_, M. Schayes.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Meyer, xvi., 303.]
+
+[Footnote 12: They were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says
+that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of
+sheriffs and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their
+seignories.--(La Marche, ii., 221. _See also_ d'Escouchy, ii., 25.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: La Marche, ii., 230.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Associations of merchants in foreign cities.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, _OEuvres_, ii., 221.]
+
+[Footnote 16: La Marche, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278. See also
+_Chronique d'Adrian de Budt_, p. 242, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Meyer, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313. Lavisse, _Histoire
+de France_, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain (ii., 375)
+puts the number at 22-30,000, including those drowned by the duke's
+order. Du Clercq lets a certain sympathy for the rebellious people
+escape his pen. Chastellain and La Marche treat the antagonism to
+taxes as unreasonable.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Chastellain, ii., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 19: La Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for
+this event.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Revue des sociétés savantes des départements_, 7me.
+série, 6, p. 209.
+
+These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated July 31 and
+August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont to the magistrates
+of Baume. The former was one of the highest officials in the
+Franche-Comté. The reporter might have been one of his secretaries.
+The two notes with their unsigned enclosures were discovered (1881)in
+the archives of the town of Baume-les-Dames.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv., 494.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+1454
+
+
+After the fatigues of this contest with Ghent, followed a period of
+relaxation for the Burgundian nobles at Lille, where a notable
+round of gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph of Cleves
+inaugurated the series with an entertainment where, among other
+things, he delighted his friends by a representation of the tale of
+the miraculous swan,[1] famous in the annals of his house for bringing
+the opportune knight down the Rhine to wed the forlorn heiress.
+
+When his satisfied guests took their leave, Adolph placed a chaplet on
+the head of one of the gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a new
+amusement for the company; and under the invitation lurked a tacit
+challenge to make the coming occasion more brilliant than the first.
+Again and again was this process repeated. Entertainment followed
+entertainment, all a mixture of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose
+preparation the successive hosts vied with each other to attain
+perfection.
+
+The hard times, the stress of ready money, so eloquently painted when
+the merchants were implored to take pity on their poverty-stricken
+lord, were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest tide for skilled
+craftsmen and artisans. Any one blessed with a clever or fantastic
+idea easily found a market for the product of his brain. He could see
+his poetic or quaint conception presented to an applauding public with
+a wealth of paraphernalia that a modern stage manager would not
+scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be inferred from the ducal
+accounts, which are eloquent with information about the creators of
+all this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the wage earned by a
+painter, while the plumbers received eight. These latter were called
+upon to coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often more
+grotesque than graceful.
+
+One fête followed another from the early autumn of 1453 to February,
+1454, when "The Feast of the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was
+called, crowned the series with an elaborate magnificence that has
+never been surpassed.
+
+Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dramatic effect and it is
+more than possible that he instigated the progressive banquets for the
+express purpose of leading up to the occasion with which he intended
+to dazzle Europe.[2]
+
+[Illustration: COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER]
+
+For the duke's thoughts were now turned from civic revolts to a great
+international movement which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost
+coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Philip's will had been
+the capitulation of Constantinople to the Turks. The event long
+dreaded by pope and Christendom had happened at last (May 29, 1453).
+Again and again was the necessity for a united opposition to the
+inroads of the dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve of St.
+Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bringing an official letter
+from the pope, setting forth the dire stress of the Christian Church,
+and imploring the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her saviour,
+and to assume the leadership of a crusade in her behalf against the
+encroaching Turk.[2]
+
+Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer. Whatever the exact
+sequence of his plans in relation to the court revels, the result was
+that his own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for blazoning
+forth to the world with a flourish of trumpets his august intention of
+dislodging the invader from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.
+
+The superintendence of the arrangements for this all-eclipsing fête
+was entrusted, as La Marche relates,
+
+    "to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of the Golden
+    Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman, and to one Squire Jehan
+    Boudault, a notable and discreet man. And the duke honoured me so
+    far that he desired me to be consulted. Several councils were held
+    for the matter to which the chancellor and the first chamberlain
+    were invited. The latter had just returned from the war in
+    Luxemburg already described.
+
+    "These council meetings were very important and very private, and
+    after discussion it was decided what ceremonies and mysteries were
+    to be presented. The duke desired that I should personate the
+    character of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at this
+    assembly."
+
+As in many half amateur affairs the preparations took more time than
+was expected. At the first date set, all was not in readiness and the
+performance was postponed until February 17th. This entailed serious
+loss upon the provision merchants and they received compensation for
+the spoiled birds and other perishable edibles.[4]
+
+The gala-day opened with a tournament at which Adolph of Cleves again
+sported as Knight of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers. After
+the jousting, the guests adjourned to the banqueting hall, where fancy
+had indeed, run riot, to make ready for their admiring eyes and their
+sagacious palates. _Entremets_ is the term applied to the elaborate
+set pieces and side-shows provided to entertain the feasters between
+courses, and these were on an unprecedented scale.
+
+Three tables stood prepared respectively for the duke and his suite,
+for the Count of Charolais, his cousins, and their comrades, and for
+the knights and ladies. The first table was decorated with marvellous
+constructions, among which was a cruciform church whose mimic clock
+tower was capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers. The
+enormous pie in which twenty-eight musicians were discovered when the
+crust was cut may have been the original of that pasty whose opening
+revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar plight. Wild animals
+wandered gravely at a machinist's will through deep forests, but in
+the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at least one live lion,
+for Gilles le Cat[5] received twenty shillings from the duke for the
+chain and locks he made to hold the savage beast fast "on the day of
+the said banquet."
+
+Again there was an anchored ship, manned with a full crew and rigged
+completely. "I hardly think," observes La Marche, "that the greatest
+ship in the world has a greater number of ropes and sails."
+
+Before the guests seated themselves they wandered around the hall
+and inspected the decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration
+exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the toothsome dainties
+provided for their delectation.
+
+During the progress of the banquet, the story of Jason was enacted.
+Time there certainly was for the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight
+dishes to every course, though he qualifies his statement by the
+admission that his memory might be inexact. These dishes were wheeled
+over the tables in little chariots before each person in turn.
+
+"Such were the mundane marvels that graced the fête," is the
+conclusion of La Marche's[6] exhaustive enumeration of the
+masterpieces from artists' workshops and ducal kitchen.
+
+    "I will leave them now to record a pity moving _entremets_ which
+    seemed to be more special than the others. Through the portal
+    whence the previous actors had made their entrance, came a giant
+    larger without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long
+    green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in Granada.
+    His left hand held a great, old-fashioned two-bladed axe, his
+    right hand led an elephant covered with silk. On its back was a
+    castle wherein sat a lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of
+    black cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse.[7]
+
+    "Once within the hall and in sight of the noble company, like one
+    who had work before her, she said to the giant, her conductor:
+
+      "'Giant, prithee let me stay
+        For I spy a noble throng
+        To whom I wish to speak.'
+
+     "At these words her guide conducted his charge before the ducal
+    table and there she made a piteous appeal to all assembled to come
+    to rescue her, Holy Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving
+    miscreants. As soon as she ceased speaking a body of officers
+    entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms, bringing up the rear.
+    This last carried a live pheasant ornamented with a rich collar of
+    gold studded with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maidens,
+    Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the duke, and Isabelle
+    of Neufchâtel, escorted by two gentlemen of the Order. They all
+    proceeded to the host. After greetings, Toison d'Or then said:
+
+    "'High and puissant prince and my redoubtable lord, here are
+    ladies who recommend themselves very humbly to you because it is,
+    and has been, the custom at great feasts and noble assemblies to
+    present to the lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird
+    whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am sent hither with
+    these two demoiselles to present to you this noble pheasant,
+    praying you to remember them.'
+
+    "When these words were said, Monseigneur the duke, who knew for
+    what purpose he had given the banquet, looked at the personified
+    Church, and then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his
+    bosom a document containing his vow to succour Christianity, as
+    will appear later. The Church manifested her joy, and seeing that
+    my said seigneur had given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst
+    forth forth into rhyme:
+
+      "'God be praised and highly served
+        By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France.
+        Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed
+        Until it seemed thou wert reserved
+        To bring me my deliverance.
+        Near and far I seek alliance
+        And pray to God to grant thee grace
+        To work His pleasure in thy place.
+
+      "'0 every prince and noble, man and knight,
+        Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed.
+        Abandon ease, abjure delight,
+        Lift up your hand, each in his right,
+        Offer God the savings from thy greed.
+        I take my leave, imploring each, indeed,
+        To risk his life for Christian gain,
+        To serve his God and 'suage my pain.'
+
+    "At this the giant led off the elephant and departed by the same
+    way in which he had entered.
+
+    "When I had seen this _entremets_, that is, the Church and a
+    castle on the back of such a strange beast, I pondered as to
+    whether I could understand what it meant and could not make it out
+    otherwise except that she had brought this beast, rare among us,
+    in sign that she toiled and laboured in great adversity in the
+    region of Constantinople, whose trials we know, and the castle in
+    which she was signified Faith. Moreover, because this lady was
+    conducted by this mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished
+    to denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had chased her away
+    and sought her destruction.
+
+    "As soon as this play was played out, the noble gentlemen, moved
+    by pity and compassion, hastened to make vows, each in his own
+    fashion."
+
+    The vow of the Count of Charolais was as follows: "I swear to God
+    my creator, and to His glorious mother, to the ladies and to the
+    pheasant, that, if my very redoubtable lord and father embark on
+    this holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I accompany him,
+    I will go and will serve him as well as I can and know how to do."
+
+Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fantastic conditions being
+appended according to individual fancy. One gentleman decided never to
+go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were accomplished. Another
+that he would eat nothing on Fridays that had ever lived until he
+had had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand to hand, and of
+attacking, at peril of his life, the banner of the Grand Turk.
+
+Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tuesday and to wear no
+protection on his right arm. This last the duke refused to permit.
+Hugues de Longueval vowed that when he had once turned his face to the
+East he would abstain from wine until he had plunged his sword in an
+infidel's blood, and that he would devote two years to the crusade
+even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople were not
+recovered. Louis de Chevelast swore that no covering should protect
+his head until he had come to within four leagues of the infidels,
+and that he would fight a Turk on foot with nothing on his arm but a
+glove. There was the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets and
+many of the self-imposed penalties were as bizarre as the side-shows.
+
+There were so many chevaliers eager to bind themselves to the
+enterprise that the prolonged ceremony threatened to become tedious.
+The duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would be equally valid
+as the day.[8]
+
+The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made his going
+dependent on the consent of the King of France, a condition very
+displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]
+
+    "To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the banquet was
+    finished and the cloth removed and every one began to walk
+    around the room. To me it seemed like a dream, for, of all the
+    decorations, soon nothing remained but the crystal fountain.
+    When there was no further spectacle to distract me, then my
+    understanding began to work and various considerations touching
+    this business came into my mind. First, I pondered upon the
+    outrageous excess and great expense incurred in a brief space by
+    these banquets, for this fashion of progressive entertainments,
+    with the hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time. All
+    had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all, especially my
+    said lord, had spent so much that I considered the whole thing
+    outrageous and without any justification for the expense, except
+    as regarded the _entremets_ of the Church and the vows. Even that
+    seemed to me too lightly treated for an important enterprise.
+
+    "Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a gentleman,
+    councillor and chamberlain, who was in my lord's confidence and
+    with whom I had some acquaintance. To him I imparted my thoughts
+    in the course of a friendly chat and his comment was as follows:
+
+    "'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet entertainments
+    would never have occurred except by the secret desire of the duke
+    to lead up to this very banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy
+    purpose and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three years
+    now since the distress of our Church was presented to the Knights
+    of the Golden Fleece at Mons. My lord there dedicated his person
+    and his wealth to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion
+    of Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and money. Thanks
+    be to God, he has attained there a good and honourable peace, as
+    every one knows. Now it has chanced that, during this very period,
+    the Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in their
+    capture of Constantinople. The need of succour is very pressing
+    and all that you have witnessed to-day is proof that the good duke
+    is intent on the weal of Christendom.'"
+
+During the progress of this conversation, a new company was ushered
+into the hall, preceded by musicians. Here came _Grâce Dieu_, clad
+as a nun followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and black velvet
+ornamented with jewels. Not alone did they come. Each gentleman
+escorted a dame wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged
+round skirt _à la Portuguaise. Grâce Dieu_ declared in rhyme that God
+had heard the pious resolution of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had
+forthwith sent her with her twelve attendants to promise him a happy
+termination to his enterprise. Her ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice,
+Reason, Prudence, and their sisters, were then presented to him.
+_Grâce Dieu_ departs alone and no sooner has she disappeared than
+Philip's new attributes begin to dance to add to the good cheer. Among
+the knights was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among the ladies
+was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy, and the others were all of high
+birth. Not until two o'clock did the revels finally cease.
+
+It must be noted that La Marche's reflections upon the extravagance of
+the entertainment occur also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both
+drew their moralising from another author. It is stated by several
+reputable chroniclers that Olivier de la Marche himself represented
+the Church. That he merely wrote her lines is far more probable.
+Female performers certainly appeared freely in these as in other
+masques, and there was no reason for putting a handsome youth in this
+rôle of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans that La Marche
+claims to have heard discussed in the council meeting, he says plainly
+that he was to play the rôle of Holy Church, but as he makes no
+further allusion to the fact, it may be dismissed as one of his
+careless statements.
+
+This pompous announcement of big plans was the prelude to nothing! Yet
+it was by no means a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to
+make this crusade the crowning event of his life, and his proceedings
+immediately after the great fête were all to further that end. To
+obtain allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to ensure a peaceful
+succession for his son in case of his own death in the East--such were
+the cares demanding the duke's attention.
+
+The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was entrusted with the regency
+for the term of his father's sojourn abroad in quest of allies, and
+he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of government, but he was
+speedily recalled to Lille to submit once more to paternal authority
+before being left to his own devices and to maternal bias.
+
+For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the subject of their son's
+second marriage. Isabella wished that a bride should be sought in
+England, and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles himself. The
+important topic was discussed with more or less freedom among the
+young courtiers, until the drift of the conversations, whose burden
+was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came to Philip's ears,
+together with the information that one of his own children was among
+those who incited the count to independent desires about his future
+wife. Very stern was the duke in his reprimand to the two young men.
+He acknowledged that force of circumstances had once led him into
+friendly bonds with the foes of his own France, but never had he been
+"English at heart." Charles must accept his father's decision on pain
+of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip added, turning to the
+other son, destitute of status in the eyes of the law, "if I find that
+he counsels you to oppose my will, I will have him tied up in a sack
+and thrown into the sea."[9]
+
+The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of Bourbon, daughter
+of the duke's sister, and the betrothal was hastily made. Even the
+approval of the bride's parents was dispensed with. This passed the
+more easily as the young lady herself was conveniently present in the
+Burgundian court under the guardianship of her aunt, the duchess,
+who had superintended her education. A papal dispensation was more
+necessary than paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far as
+the betrothal was concerned. To that extent was Philip obeyed. Then
+Charles returned to Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to
+obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enterprise.
+
+The duke's departure from Lille was made very privately at five
+o'clock in the morning. He was off before his courtiers were aware of
+his last preparations. That was a surprise, but not the only one in
+store for those left behind. In order to save every penny for his
+journey, Philip ordered radical retrenchment in his household
+expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his retainers were abolished
+and all alike found themselves forced to restrict their appetites to
+the dainties they could purchase with the table allowance accorded
+them. "The court's leg is broken," said Michel, the rhetorician.[10]
+
+In his own outlay there was no stinting; the duke's progress was
+pompous and stately as was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland,
+Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and obtained permission to show
+their friendship with ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of
+"_Vive Bourgogne_." Equally hospitable were the German cities. Game,
+wine, fodder, were offered for the traveller's use at every stage, as
+he and his suite rode to the imperial diet.
+
+At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The emperor whom he had come
+so far to see in person failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the
+plan of co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic
+simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially lazy, he shrank from
+committing himself to a difficult enterprise, nor was his ambition
+tempted by possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the crown
+of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had he been personally ambitious
+he might still have been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's
+project, in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing renown of the
+greatest duke of the Occident might throw a poor emperor as ally
+into the shade. The very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had
+chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he sent his secretary,
+Æneas Sylvius, to represent him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from
+pleasing to the visitor.
+
+There were other defections, too, from the diet. None of those present
+was in a position to aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter
+was brought forward and laid on the table to be discussed at the next
+diet, appointed to meet in November at Frankfort. But Philip would
+not wait for that. Germany did not agree with him. He was not well.
+Rumours there were of various kinds about his reasons for returning
+home. They do not seem to require much explanation, however. He had
+not been met half way in Germany and was highly displeased at the
+failure. Declining all further entertainment proffered by the cities,
+he travelled back to Besançon by way of Stuttgart and Basel. In the
+early autumn he was at Dijon.
+
+During this summer, negotiations about Charles's marriage had
+continued. The Duke of Bourbon was inclined to chaffer about the dowry
+demanded by Philip. One of the estates asked for was Chinon, and it
+was urged that it, a male fief, was not capable of alienation. Philip
+was not inclined to accept this reason as final and the negotiations
+hung fire, much to the distress of the Duchess of Bourbon, who feared
+a breach between her husband and brother. Naïve are the phrases in one
+of her letters as quoted by Chastellain[11]:
+
+    "MY VERY DEAR SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,
+
+    "I have heard all Boudault's message from you ... To be brief,
+    Monseigneur is content and ready to accede the points that you
+    demand. It seems to me that you ought to give him easy terms and
+    that you ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against
+    him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as done, I beg you to
+    celebrate the nuptials as soon as possible although not without me
+    as you have promised me."[12]
+
+The king, too, was interested in the matter, and wrote as follows to
+Duke Philip:
+
+    "DEAR AND MUCH LOVED BROTHER:
+
+    "Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed me of the
+    negotiations for the marriage of my cousin of Charolais, your son,
+    to my cousin Isabella of Bourbon, his daughter, which marriage
+    has been deferred, as he writes me, because he does not wish to
+    alienate to his daughter the seignory of Château-Chinon. It is not
+    possible for him to do this on account of the marriage agreement
+    of our daughter Jeanne and my cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein
+    it was stipulated that Château-Chinon should go to them and their
+    heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female line, and in
+    default of heirs male it must return to the crown as a true
+    appanage of France.
+
+    "Lest, peradventure, you may doubt the truth of this, and imagine
+    that the point is urged by our cousin of Bourbon simply as an
+    excuse for not ceding the estate, we assure you that it is true,
+    and was considered in arranging the alliance of our daughter so
+    that it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to make any
+    alienation or transfer of the territory at the marriage of his
+    daughter. We never would have permitted the marriage of our
+    daughter without this express settlement. With this consideration
+    it seems to me that you ought not to block the marriage in
+    question, especially as my cousin says he is offering you an
+    equivalent. He cannot do more as we have charged our councillor,
+    the bailiff of Berry, to explain to you in full. So pray do not
+    postpone the marriage for the above cause or for any cause, if
+    by the permission of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be
+    lawfully completed.
+
+    "Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17.
+
+    "CHARLES.[13]
+
+    CHALIGAUT."
+
+
+As the marriage was an event of importance, and the circumstances
+are simple historic facts, it is strange that there should be any
+uncertainty regarding the details of its solemnisation. But there is a
+certain vagueness about the narratives. One version is so amusing that
+it deserves a slight consideration.[14] The chronicler relates how
+Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay in the negotiations.
+Conscious of the sentiments of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared
+lest her well-known sympathies for England might prevail in the final
+decision.
+
+When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff of Berry came as the
+king's special envoy to discuss some aspects of the subject with him.
+The mission was gladly undertaken as the messenger had never seen
+Philip nor his court and he was pleased at the chance of meeting a
+personage whose fame rang through Europe. Very graciously was he
+received by the duke, who read the king's letters attentively and
+replied to the envoy's messages in general terms of courteous
+recognition, without making his own intention manifest. The bailiff
+waited for an answer, finding, in the meanwhile, that his days passed
+very agreeably.
+
+As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon Philip Pot had set
+out for the Netherlands, bearing the duke's orders to his son to
+celebrate his nuptials without further delay. The duke did not intend
+to be influenced by any one. It was his will that his son should
+accept the bride selected and that was all sufficient. The reason why
+the duke detained the king's messenger was that he "awaited news from
+Messire Philip de Pot, whom he had sent in all speed to his son to
+hasten the wedding."[15] The said gentleman found the count at Lille
+with the duchess, his mother, and he was so diligent in the discharge
+of his mission that he made all the arrangements himself and saw the
+wedding rites solemnised immediately. The bridegroom did not even know
+of the plan until the night preceding the important day. Then Philip
+Pot rode back to Dijon.
+
+When the duke was assured that the alliance was irrevocably sealed
+he was quite ready to answer the king's messenger, whom he at once
+invited to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip remarked:
+
+"Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a matter which I am
+humbly grateful for his interest in. You know my opinion. I had no
+desire to dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from Flanders; ask him
+his news and note his reply."
+
+"What tidings, Monsieur, do you bring us?
+
+Prithee impart it" said the bailiff to the chevalier. And the
+gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my faith, Monsieur bailiff, the
+greatest news that I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is
+married!"
+
+"Married! to whom?"
+
+"To whom?" responded the chevalier, "why, to his first cousin,
+Monseigneur's niece."
+
+Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's blank amazement. Again the
+latter had to be reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip Pot
+told him that it was so true that the wedded pair had spent the night
+together according to their lawful right.
+
+The bailiff did not know which way to turn. "So he acted out his
+two rôles. Returning thanks to the duke in the king's name with all
+formality, he then joined in the general laugh over the unsuspected
+trick. He was a man of the world and knew how to take advantage of
+sense and of folly."
+
+It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the wedding knot that the
+Countess of Charolais sent a messenger to announce the fact to her
+parents. They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made no further
+objection to any point, and the mooted territory of Chinon made part
+of the dower in spite of the reasons urged against it.
+
+As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at Dijon, Philip presented
+him with a round dozen stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks,
+and he went home a surprised and delighted man.
+
+    "About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Monsieur de Charolais
+    married Mademoiselle de Bourbon and he married her on the eve of
+    All Saints[16] at Lille, and there was no festival because Duke
+    Philip was then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the
+    duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the ladies of
+    Lille, but they were seated all together, as is usually done at
+    an ordinary banquet, without mesdames holding state as would have
+    been proper for such an occasion."
+
+It is evident from all the stories that Charles protested against his
+father's orders as much as he dared and then obeyed simply because he
+could not help himself.
+
+Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom proved a faithful
+husband in a court where marital fidelity was a rare trait.
+
+Philip's plans for the international union against the Turk were less
+easily completed than those for the union of his son and his niece. In
+November, the diet met at Frankfort; the expedition was discussed and
+some resolutions were passed, but nothing further was achieved.
+
+Charles VII. would not even promise co-operation on paper. He had
+gradually extended his own domain in French-speaking territory and had
+dislodged the English from every stronghold except Guisnes and Calais.
+Under him France was regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose,
+therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by Philip and he was
+wholly unwilling to risk it. From him Philip obtained only expressions
+of general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and more definite
+suggestions of the dangers that would menace Western Europe if all her
+natural defenders carried their arms and their fortunes to the East.
+
+When the anniversary of the great fête came round not a vow was yet
+fulfilled!
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The chroniclers are not at one on this point.]
+
+[Footnote 3: DuClercq, _Mémoires_, ii., 159.]
+
+[Footnote 4: This banquet at Lille was the subject of several
+descriptions by spectators or at least contemporary authors.
+
+The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript copied from an
+older one which contains the order of proceedings together with the
+text of all vows. There is a minute description in Mathieu d'Escouchy,
+who claims to have been present, and in a manuscript coming from
+Baluze, whose anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of
+the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most original.
+One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon, called Dion du Cret,
+received, in 1455, a sum of five francs and a half for having, at the
+order of the accountants, copied and written in parchment the history
+of the banquet of my said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453,
+containing fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note).
+It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with this
+account, which seems to have been merely a copy.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Laborde, i., 127.]
+
+[Footnote 6: II., 361.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion.
+_Béguine_ is probably the right reading.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Mathieu d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as
+though made then, and differs in many unessential points from La
+Marche's account.
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clerq, ii., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 10:'"Michel dit que le gigot de la cour était rompu."--La
+Marche, i., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Chastellain, iii., 20, note.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "Toute fois que ce ne soit pas sans moy."]
+
+[Footnote 13: The original, signed, is in the _Archives de la
+Côte-d'Or,_ B. 200. _See_ Du Fresne de Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
+VII_., v. 470.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Chastellain, iii., 23, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 24]
+
+
+[Footnote 16: The chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain
+(iii., 25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch.
+cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallowe'en _(Les
+Honneurs de la Cour_, p. 187). The last was one of Isabella's ladies
+in waiting.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+1455-1456.
+
+
+The duke's journey failed in accomplishing its object, but it proved
+an important factor in the development of the character of Charles of
+Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the government in his father's
+absence changed him from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he
+was, was plain to see.
+
+His character was built on singularly simple lines. Vigorous of
+body, intense of purpose, inclined to melancholy, he was profoundly
+convinced of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke in
+Christendom, as future successor to an uncrowned potentate, who could
+afford to treat lightly the authority of both king and emperor whose
+nominal vassal he was.
+
+The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an immense effect in enhancing
+the count's belief in his father's power, in causing him to forget
+that the communes of Flanders did not owe their existence to their
+overlord. As yet, Charles of Burgundy had not met a single check to
+his self-esteem, to his family pride. As a governor, he probably
+exercised his brief authority with the rigour of one new to the helm.
+
+    "And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well and so virtuously
+    in the task, that nothing deteriorated under his hand, and when
+    the good duke returned from his journey, he found his lands as
+    intact as before."
+
+Such, is La Marche's testimony.[1] Intact undoubtedly, but possibly
+the satisfaction was not quite perfect. Du Clercq[2] declares that
+Count Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge and made
+himself respected as a magistrate. Above all, he insisted that justice
+should be dealt out to all alike. The only danger in his methods was
+that he acted on impulse without sufficiently informing himself of the
+matter in hand, or hearing both sides of a controversy. As a result,
+his decisions were not always impartial and the father was preferred
+to the strenuous and impetuous son. "Not that Philip was often
+inclined to recognise other law than his own will, but he was more
+tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more guided by reason," adds
+a later author.[2] There was an evident dread as to what might be the
+outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour.
+
+The duke's chief measures after his return in February, 1455, seemed
+hardly calculated to arouse any great personal devotion to himself or
+a profound trust that his first consideration was for the advantage of
+his Netherland subjects. His thoughts were still turned to the East,
+and his main interest in the individual countships was as sources of
+supply for his Holy War. Considerable sums flowed into his exchequer
+that were never used for their destined purpose, but the duke cannot
+be justly accused of actual bad faith in amassing them. His intention
+to make the Eastern campaign remained firm for some years.
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF CHARLES THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK]
+
+In another matter, his despotic exercise of personal authority, far
+without the pale of his jurisdiction inherited or acquired, shows no
+shadow of excuse.
+
+In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical head was also lay
+lord. Here the counts of Holland possessed no voice. They were near
+neighbours, that was all. Philip ardently desired to be more in this
+tiny independent state in the midst of territories acknowledging his
+sway.
+
+In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and Philip was most anxious
+to have it filled by his son David, whom he had already made Bishop of
+Thérouanne by somewhat questionable methods. The Duke of Guelders
+also had a neighbourly interest in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet
+candidate, Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged. The chapter
+resolutely ignored the wishes of both dukes and the canons were almost
+unanimous in their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.[4]
+
+A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria, but not a single
+one for David of Burgundy.
+
+Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral and an eminently
+worthy choice, both for his attainments and for his character. He was
+proclaimed in the cathedral, installed in the palace, and confirmed,
+as regarded his temporal power, by the emperor.
+
+Philip, however, refused to accept the returns, although not a single
+suffrage had been cast by the qualified electors for his son. He
+despatched the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new pope,
+Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late election and to confer
+the see upon David, out of hand. Philip's tender conscience found
+Gijsbrecht ineligible to an episcopal office because he had
+participated in the war against Ghent, certainly a weak plea in an age
+of militant bishops!
+
+The pope was afraid to offend the one man in Europe upon whose
+immediate aid he counted in the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift
+of four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys, the customary
+gift in asking papal confirmation for a bishop-elect, but secretly
+he delivered to Philip's ambassador letters patent creating David of
+Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.[5]
+
+The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically that David was elected
+to the see, and the Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
+Philip had to levy an army and come in person to support the new
+bishop.[6] Du Clercq puts a different colour on the story and
+d'Escouchy[7] implies that the whole trouble arose from party strife
+which had to be quelled in the interests of law and order.
+
+Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters by imposing upon
+them a spiritual director of acknowledged base birth, the right of
+choice lay with them and the emperor had confirmed their choice as far
+as the lay office was concerned. While the issue was undecided, the
+Estates of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and defender of the
+see to assure him a legal status pending the papal ratification. The
+people were prepared to support their candidate with arms, a game that
+Philip did not refuse, and the force of thirty thousand men with which
+he invaded the bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two and
+able to carry David of Burgundy to the episcopal throne, upon which he
+was seated in his father's presence, October 16, 1455.
+
+Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advantages from the situation.
+Alkmaar and Kennemerland redeemed certain forfeited privileges by
+means of their contributions to the duke's army. The city of Utrecht
+preferred a compromise to the risk of war. The bishop-elect,
+Gijsbrecht, consented to withdraw his claim, being permitted to retain
+the humbler office of provost of Utrecht and an annuity of four
+thousand guilders out of the episcopal revenues.
+
+Deventer was the only place which was obstinate enough to persist in
+her rebellion and Philip was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms
+by a siege when news was brought to him that a visitor had arrived at
+Brussels under circumstances which imperatively demanded his personal
+attention.
+
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since the Treaty of Arras, there
+had been great changes in France in the character both of the realm
+and of the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved himself to
+be a very different person from the inert king of Bourges.[8] Old at
+twenty, Charles VII. seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers
+were replaced by others better chosen and his administration gradually
+became effective. Fortune favoured him in depriving England of the
+Duke of Bedford (1435), the one man who might have maintained English
+prestige abroad and peace at home during the youth of Henry VI. It was
+at a time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles VII. succeeded
+in assuming the offensive on the Continent and in wresting Normandy
+and Guienne from the late invader.
+
+But this territorial advantage was not all. Distinct progress had been
+made towards a national existence in France. The establishment of
+the nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid in curbing the
+depredations of the "_écorcheurs_," the devastating, marauding
+bands which had harassed the provinces. There was new activity in
+agriculture and industry and commerce.[9] The revival of letters and
+art, never completely stifled, proved the real vitality of France in
+spite of the depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal justice was
+reorganised, public finance was better administered. By 1456, misery
+had not, indeed, disappeared, but it was less dominant.
+
+The years of growing union between king and his kingdom were, however,
+years of discord between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis had
+not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his Burgundian cousin. Very
+poor and forlorn was his father at the time of the birth of his heir
+(1423).[10] There was nothing in the treasury to pay the chaplain who
+baptised the child or the woman who nourished him. The latter received
+no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of fifteen pounds.
+The first allowance settled on the heir to his unconsecrated royal
+father's uncertain fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every feature of
+his infancy was a marked contrast to the early life of the Count of
+Charolais.
+
+From his seventeenth year Louis was in active opposition to the
+king, heading organised rebellion against him in the war called
+the _Praguerie_. Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his charge the
+administration of Dauphiné, thus practically banishing him honourably
+from the court where he was, evidently, a disturbing element. The only
+restrictions placed upon him in his provincial government were such
+as were necessary to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown. To
+these restrictions, however, Louis paid not the slightest heed. He
+assumed all the airs of an independent sovereign. He made wars and
+treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded to arrange his own
+marriage.
+
+At this time Louis was already a widower, having been married at the
+age of thirteen to Margaret of Scotland, who led a mournful existence
+at the French court, where she felt herself a desolate alien. Her
+death at the age of twenty was possibly due to slander. "Fie upon
+life," she said on her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
+the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk to me no more of it."
+
+Her husband cared less for her life than did Margaret herself. He took
+no interest in the inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
+charges against the princess, and was more than ready to turn to a new
+alliance. At the date of his widowerhood he was in Dauphiné and his
+own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Savoy.
+After negotiations in his own behalf he informed his father of his
+matrimonial project. It did not meet the views of Charles VII., who
+ordered his son to abandon the idea immediately.
+
+A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambéry to stop the
+dauphin's nuptials.[11] The duke evaded an interview and the envoy was
+forced to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy. On the morrow
+of his arrival, he was taken to church, where the wedding ceremony was
+performed (March 10, 1451), but his seat was in such a remote place
+that he could barely catch a glimpse of the bridal procession, though
+he saw that Louis was clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two
+days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to the king, expressing
+regrets on the part of the Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made
+before the paternal prohibition arrived.
+
+Nine years were spent by Louis in Dauphiné. He introduced many
+administrative and judicial reforms, excellent in themselves but not
+popular. There were various protests and when he dared to impose taxes
+without the consent of the Estates, an appeal was made to the king
+begging him to check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles
+summoned his son to his presence. Instead of obeying this order in
+person, Louis sent envoys who were dismissed by his father with a curt
+response: "Let my son return to his duty and he shall be treated as a
+son. As to his fears, security to his person is pledged by my word,
+which my foes have never refused to accept."[12]
+
+Louis showed himself less compliant than his father's foes. As Charles
+approached Dauphiné, and made his preparations to enforce obedience,
+Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the Duke of Burgundy,
+and of the King of Castile, beside sending offerings to all the chief
+shrines in Christendom, imploring aid against parental wrath. Then
+his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He called the nobles of his
+principality to arms and bade the fortified towns prepare for siege,
+while he loftily declared that he would not trouble his father to seek
+him. He would meet him at Lyons.
+
+Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was directed by the king to take
+military possession of Dauphiné and to put the dauphin under arrest.
+As he was _en route_ to fulfil these orders, the count heard that
+a day had been set by Louis for a great hunt. That an excellent
+opportunity might be afforded for securing his quarry in the course
+of the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's lieutenant. So
+there might have been had not the wily hunter received timely warning
+of the project for making _him_ the game.
+
+At the hour appointed for the meet, the dauphin's suite rode to the
+rendezvous, but the prince turned his horse in the opposite direction
+and galloped away at full speed, attended by a few trusty followers.
+He hardly stopped even to take breath until he was out of his father's
+domain, and made no pause until he reached St. Claude, a small town
+in the Franche-Comté, where he threw himself on the kindness of the
+Prince of Orange.
+
+How gossip about this strange departure of the French heir fluttered
+here and there! Du Clercq[13] tells the story with some variation from
+the above outline, laying more stress on the popular appeal to the
+king for relief from Louis's transgressions as governor of Dauphiné,
+and enlarging on the accusation that Louis was responsible for the
+death of _La belle Agnès_, "the first lady of the land possessing the
+king's perfect love." He adds that the dauphin was further displeased
+because the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de Villeclerc,
+was kept at court after her aunt's death. Wherever the king went he
+was followed by this lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
+this conduct of his father that had forced the son to absent himself
+from court life for twelve years and more, during which time he
+received no allowance as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
+obliged to make his own requisitions from his seigniory.
+
+There were other reports that the king was quite ready to accord his
+son his full state; others, again, that Charles drove Louis into exile
+from mere dislike and intended to make his second son his heir and
+successor. At this point Du Clercq's manuscript is broken off abruptly
+and the remainder of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where the
+text begins again, the author dismisses all this contradictory hearsay
+and says in his own character as veracious chronicler, "I concern
+myself only with what actually occurred. The dauphin gave a feast
+in the forest and then departed secretly to avoid being arrested by
+Dammartin."
+
+This flight was the not unnatural termination of a long series of
+misunderstandings between a father whose private conduct was not above
+criticism, and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute of respect for
+any person or thing except for the superstitious side of his religion.
+
+Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man whose mental development
+occurred during the later years of his life. When his son was under
+his personal influence his character was not one to instil filial
+deference, and Louis certainly cherished neither respect nor affection
+for the father whose inert years he remembered vividly.
+
+Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in Agnes Sorel's death which
+gave him especial reason to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
+of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he travelled as rapidly
+as his steed could go, and from that spot on Burgundian soil he
+despatched the following exemplary letter to his father:
+
+    "MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LORD:
+
+    "To your good grace I recommend myself as humbly as I can. Be
+    pleased to know, my very redoubtable lord, that because, as you
+    know, my uncle of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade
+    against the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because my
+    desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting, considering that
+    our Holy Father the Pope bade me so to do, and that I am standard
+    bearer of the Church, and that I took the oath by your command, I
+    am now on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that I can
+    take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith.
+
+    "Also, I wish to implore him to find means of reinstating me in
+    your good grace, which is something that I desire most in the
+    world. My very redoubtable lord, I pray God to give you good life
+    and long.
+
+    "Written at St. Claude the last day of August.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient son,
+
+    "LOYS."[14]
+
+
+This letter hardly succeeded in carrying conviction to the king.
+He characterised the projected expedition to Turkey as a farce, a
+pretence, and a frivolous excuse.[15] Probably, too, he did not
+contradict his courtiers when they declared that the project had
+been in the wind a long time, and that the Duke of Burgundy would
+be prouder than ever to have the heir to France dependent on his
+protection.
+
+The epistle despatched, Louis continued his journey under the escort
+of the Seigneur de Blaumont, Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of
+thirty horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit of Tristan
+l'Hermite. The prince needed no spurs to make him flee. Even if his
+father did not intend to have him drowned in a sack his immediate
+liberty was certainly in jeopardy. "In truth this thing was a
+marvellous business. The Prince of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy
+were the two men whom the dauphin hated more than any one else,
+but necessity, which knows no law, overcame the distaste of the
+dauphin."[16]
+
+Louvain was the next place where Louis felt safe enough to rest. Here
+he wrote to the Duke of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his
+territory. The letter found Philip in camp before Deventer. It is
+evident that he was entirely taken by surprise, and was prepared to be
+very cautious in his correspondence with the French king. He assured
+him that he was willing to receive and honour Louis as his suzerain's
+heir, but he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the duke, for
+that heir's flight to his protection.
+
+His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many reassuring messages in
+addition to the epistle. Before he reached the French court, his
+news was no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The messenger was very
+eloquent in his assurances to the king that Philip was wholly innocent
+in the affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet
+
+    "stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do not know what
+    they discussed, but during that time news came that the king had
+    garrisoned Compiègne, Lyons, and places where his lands touched
+    the duke's territories. When the envoy returned to the duke, he
+    published a manifesto ordering all who could bear arms to be in
+    readiness."[17]
+
+Philip sent messages of welcome to Louis with apologies for his
+own inevitable absence, and the visitor was profuse in his return
+assurances to his uncle that he understood the delay and would not
+disturb his business for the world. "I have leisure enough to wait and
+it does not weary me. I am safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town
+which I have long wished to see." He showed his courtesy when the
+Count d'Étampes, Philip's nephew-in-law, presented his suite, by
+pronouncing each individual name and assuring its bearer that he had
+heard about him.[18]
+
+The count was commissioned to conduct the dauphin to Brussels and we
+have the story of an eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the
+ducal family:
+
+    "I saw the King of France, father of the present King Charles,
+    chased away by his father Charles for some difference of which
+    they say that the fair Agnes was the cause, and on account of
+    which he took refuge with Duke Philip, for he had no means of
+    subsistence.[19]
+
+    "The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to Brussels accompanied
+    by about ten cavaliers and by the Marshal of Burgundy. At this
+    time Duke Philip was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to
+    receive the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and Madame
+    de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant with Madame Mary of
+    Burgundy, since then Duchess of Austria.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where were the ladies,
+    at eight o'clock in the evening, about St. Martin's Day.[20] When
+    the ladies heard that he was in the city they hastened down to the
+    courtyard to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted and
+    saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charolais and Mme. de
+    Ravestein. All kneeled and then he kissed the other ladies of the
+    court."
+
+Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter of an hour was
+consumed by a friendly altercation between Isabella and her guest as
+to the exact way in which they should enter the door, the dauphin
+resolute in his refusal to take precedence and Isabella equally
+resolute not even to walk by the side of the future king. "Monsieur,
+it seems to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for you wish
+me to do what befits me not." To this the dauphin replied that it was
+incumbent upon him to pay honour for there was none in the realm of
+France so poor as he, and that he would not have known whither to flee
+if not to his uncle Philip and to her.
+
+Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess and guest finally
+proceeded hand in hand to the chamber prepared for the latter and
+Isabella then took leave on bended knee.
+
+When the duke returned to Brussels this contention as to the proper
+etiquette was renewed. Isabella tried to retain the dauphin in his own
+apartment so that the duke should greet him there as befitted their
+relative rank. She was greatly chagrined, therefore, when Louis
+rushed down to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival. This
+punctilious hostess actually held the prince back by his coat to
+prevent his advancing towards the duke.
+
+Throughout the visit the minor points of etiquette were observed with
+the utmost care. Both duchess and countess refrained from employing
+their train-bearers when they entered the dauphin's presence. When he
+insisted that his hostess should walk by his side, she managed her own
+train if possible. If she accepted any aid from her gentlemen she was
+very careful to keep her hand upon the dress, so that technically she
+was still her own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess ate in the
+dauphin's presence, there was no cover to her dish and nothing was
+tasted in her behalf.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis with every requisite, but he,
+too, never forgot for a moment that this dependent visitor was future
+monarch of France. Without doors as within, every minor detail of
+etiquette was observed. The duke never so far forgot himself in the
+ardour of the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance beyond
+the tail of the prince's steed.
+
+In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary of Burgundy was born.
+Our observant court lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed
+in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and at the baptism.
+Brussels rang with joyful bells and blazed with torches, four hundred
+supplied by the city ahd two hundred by the young father. Each torch
+weighed four or five pounds.
+
+The Count of Charolais was his own messenger to announce the birth of
+his daughter to the dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joyful
+was Louis to accept the invitation and to bestow his mother's name on
+the baby-girl. Ste. Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church
+of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony and richly adorned
+with Holland linen, velvet, and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her
+grandchild to the font,--a font draped with cramoisy velvet.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I heard it said that
+    there was no one on the left because there was none his equal. On
+    that day, the duchess wore a round skirt _à la Portuguaise_, edged
+    with fur. There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot
+    state who carried it,"
+
+sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic.
+
+Later events made later chroniclers less enthusiastic about the honour
+paid to Mademoiselle[21] Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La
+Marche's _Mémoires_ at The Hague, the words "Lord! what a god-father!"
+appear in the margin of the page describing the baptism.[22] But in
+these early days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have been
+a pleasant person and to have posed as the ruined poor relation,
+entirely free from pride at his high birth and delighted to repay
+hospitality by his general complaisance.
+
+Charles VII. received all the reports with somewhat cynical amusement.
+He had no great trust in his son. "Louis is fickle and changeable and
+I do not doubt that he will return here before long. I am not at all
+pleased with those who influence him," are his words as quoted by
+d'Escouchy.[23]
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI FROM THE ENGRAVING BY A. BOILLY, AFTER THE
+DRAWING BY J. BOILLY]
+
+Undoubtedly, though, the king was much surprised at his son's action.
+He had rather expected him to take refuge somewhere but he never
+thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his protector--a strange
+choice to his mind. "My cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will
+eat his chickens" is reported as another comment of this impartial
+father.[24] Like many a phrase, possibly the fruit of later harvests,
+this is an excellent epitome of the situation.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: I.,ch. xxxi.]
+
+[Footnote 2:II.,204.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Barante, vi.,50.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Some of the canons wrote their reasons after their
+recorded vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate member
+of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which office
+Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all the Sticht nobles
+were his relations," etc.--(Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Historie,_ iv.,
+50.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: Du Clercq, ii., 210.]
+
+[Footnote 6: _Mémoires_, i., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 7: II., 315.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 317.]
+
+[Footnote 9: For the effects of operations on a large scale see
+_Jacques Coeur and Charles VII_., by Pierre Clémart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Duclos_, "Hist. de Louis XI.," _OEuvres Complètes_ v.,
+8.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Duclos, iii., 78.]
+
+[Footnote 12: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 292.]
+
+[Footnote 13: II.,223.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Lettres de Louis XI_., i., 77.
+
+According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter shows
+that _September 2nd_ was written first and erased.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 185.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Du Clercq, ii., 228.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Chastellain iii., 197.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Séjour de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas;_ Reiffenberg:
+Nouveaux mem. de l'Acad. Royale, 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Alienor de Poictiers, _Les Honneurs de la Cour_, ii.,
+208. It was early in October.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This date, November 11th, does not agree with the
+others.]
+
+[Footnote 21: "At that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was
+not the son of a sovereign."--La Marche, ii., 410, note.]
+
+[Footnote 22: La Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain!"]
+
+[Footnote 23: II., 343.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iii., 185; Lavisse iv^{ii}., 299.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+1456-1461
+
+
+The picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing in happy unison over the
+advent of an heiress to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with the
+dauphin participating in the family joy, shows the tranquil side of
+the first months of the long visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an
+incident had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin and Charles
+VII. were not the only father and son between whom relations were
+strained, and that a moment had arrived when the attitude of the Count
+of Charolais to the duke was no longer characterised by unquestioning
+filial obedience.
+
+Charles was on his way to Nuremberg[1] to fulfil a mission with
+certain German princes when the dauphin alighted in Brabant, like "a
+bird of ill omen," as he designated himself on one occasion. The count
+did not return to Brussels until January 12, 1457. Thus he took no
+part in the hearty welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than
+possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly pleased with the
+state of affairs placidly existing by mid-winter.
+
+Instead of resuming the first position which he had enjoyed during his
+brief regency, or the honoured second that had been his after Philip
+came back, Charles was now relegated to a third place. Further,
+without having been consulted as to the policy, he found that he
+was forced into following his father's lead in treating a penniless
+refugee like an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and a joy. It
+is more than probable that Charles was already feeling somewhat hurt
+at the duke's warmth towards Louis when a serious breach occurred
+between father and son about another matter.
+
+It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant in his own household,
+and the count assumed that the appointment of a successor was
+something that lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the duke
+interfered in a peremptory fashion and insisted that the appointment
+should be made at his instance, the son refused to accept his
+authority, especially as his father's nominee was Philip de Croy, one
+of a family already over-dominant in the Burgundian court. At least,
+that was Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed his father's
+commands to bring his _ordonnance_, or household list, to the duke's
+oratory, he unhesitatingly carried the document which contained the
+name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d'Émeries, in place of Philip de Croy.
+
+The duke was very angry at this apparent contempt for his expressed
+wishes. Indignantly he threw the lists into the fire with the words,
+"Now look to your _ordonnances_ for you will need new ones[2]."
+
+There was evidently a succession of violent scenes in which the
+duchess tried to stand between her husband and son. But Philip was
+beside himself with wrath and refused to listen to a word from her or
+from the dauphin, who also endeavoured to mediate[2].
+
+Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself, ordered a horse,
+and rode out alone into the forest of Soignies. When he became calmer
+it was dark and he found himself far from the beaten tracks, in the
+midst of underbrush through which he could not ride. He dismounted and
+wandered on foot for hours in the January night until smoke guided him
+to a charcoal burner, who conducted him to the more friendly shelter
+of a forester's hut. In the morning he made his way to Genappe.
+
+Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned. Search parties seeking
+their sovereign were out all night. No one, however, was in such a
+state of dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he would be counted
+at fault when family dissensions followed so soon on his arrival.
+Delighted he was, therefore, to act as mediator between father and
+son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified state to listen to
+reason. Charles betook himself to Dendermonde for a time until the
+duke was ready to see him[4]. His young wife made the most of her
+expectations to soften her father-in-law's resentment, and between
+her entreaties and those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his
+gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over.
+
+There was one marked difference between this family dispute and the
+breach between the French king and the dauphin. In the latter case no
+feeling was involved. In the former, the son was really deeply wounded
+by what he deemed lack of parental affection for his interests. At the
+same time he was shocked by the bitter words and was, for the moment,
+so filled with contrition that he was eager to make any concession
+agreeable to the duke. He dismissed two of his servants[5], suspected
+by his father of fomenting trouble between them, and he showed himself
+in general very willing to placate paternal displeasure.
+
+Reconciliation between duke and duchess was more difficult. Isabella
+resented Philip's reproaches for her sympathy with Charles. She said
+she had stepped between the two men because she had feared lest the
+duke might injure his son in his wrath[6]. This was in answer to the
+Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of Philip's displeasure.
+She concluded her dignified defence with an expression of her utter
+loneliness. Stranger in a strange land she had no one belonging to her
+but her son.
+
+She was certainly present at the baptism of her grandchild, but
+shortly afterwards she retired to a convent of the Grey Sisters,
+founded by herself, and rarely returned to the world or took part in
+its ceremonies during the remainder of her life.
+
+The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It is not probable that
+he had much personal liking for the guest upon whom his father heaped
+courtesies and solicitous care. On one occasion, when the two young
+men were hunting they were separated by chance. When Charles returned
+alone to the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his son's
+careless desertion of the guest in his charge. Again the court was
+organised into search parties and there was no rest until the dauphin
+was discovered some leagues from Brussels[7]. Here, also, it is an
+easy presumption that the Count of Charolais was a trifle sulky over
+his father's preoccupation in regard to the prince.
+
+The transient character of the dauphin's sojourn in his cousin's
+domains soon changed. In the summer of 1457, when news came that
+Dauphiné had submitted to Charles VII., when the successive embassies
+despatched by Philip to the king had all proved fruitless in their
+conciliatory efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent
+arrangements for the fugitive's comfort.
+
+    "Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased to deprive you
+    of Dauphiné ... you are to-day lord and prince without land. But,
+    nevertheless, you shall not be without a country, for all that I
+    have is yours and I place it within your hand without reserving
+    aught except my life and that of my wife. Pray take heart. If God
+    does not abandon me I will never abandon you[8]."
+
+The duke made good his words by giving his guest the estate of
+Genappe, of which Louis took possession at the end of July. Then as a
+further step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip sent for
+Charlotte of Savoy who had remained under her father's care ever since
+the formal marriage in 1451. She was now eighteen.
+
+It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe. Louis's favourite
+amusement of the chase was easy of access. "The court is at present
+at Louvain," wrote a courtier[9] on July 1st, "and Monseigneur the
+Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good hunting and falconry and
+a great number of rabbits within and without the city." With killing
+of every kind at his service, what greater solace could a homeless
+prince expect?
+
+From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance, and the sum of 1200
+livres, furnished by Philip for the dauphin's journey to his new
+abode, seemed a large provision. The pension then settled on him was
+36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness arrived 1000 livres a month
+were provided for her private purse[10].
+
+Pleasant was existence in this château. There was no dearth of company
+to throng around the prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no
+prejudice of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of duty towards
+his host to hamper him in making useful friends. A word here and
+a word there, aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had
+exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate, were very potent
+in intimating to many a Burgundian servant that there might come a
+time when a new king across the border might better appreciate their
+real value than their present or future sovereign.
+
+Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the dauphin did not confine his
+invitations to sportsmen. The easy accessibility of the little court
+attracted men of science and of letters as well as others capable of
+making the time pass agreeably. When there was nothing else on foot,
+it is said that the company amused themselves by telling stories,
+each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collection of the _Cent
+Nouvelles Nouvelles_[11], named in imitation of Boccaccio's _Cento
+Novelle_.
+
+The first printed edition of this collection was issued in Paris, in
+1486, by Antoine Verard, who thus admonishes the gentle reader: "Note
+that whenever _Monseigneur_ is referred to, Monseigneur the Dauphin
+must be understood, who has since succeeded to the crown and is King
+Louis. Then he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy." Another
+editor asserts that _Monseigneur_ is evidently the Duke of Burgundy
+and not Louis, and later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale
+wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio, and that the
+names of the narrators were as imaginative or rather as editorial as
+the rest of the volume.
+
+If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author would have given an
+appearance of verisimilitude to his fiction by mentioning the actual
+habitués of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count of Charolais
+does not appear at all. The duke tells three or more stories according
+to the interpretation given to _Monseigneur_. With three exceptions
+the tales are very coarse, nor does their wit atone for their
+licentiousness. Possibly Charles held himself aloof from the kind of
+talk they suggest. All reports make him rigid in standards of morality
+not observed by his fellows. That he had little to do with the court
+is certain, whatever his reason.
+
+Louis did not confine himself to the estate assigned him. There were
+various court visits to the Flemish towns where he was afforded
+excellent opportunities for seeing the wealth of the burghers and
+their status in the world of commerce.
+
+Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring his guest within her
+gates and give her an opportunity of displaying her regret for the
+past unpleasantness. "In his goodness," Philip at last yielded to
+their entreaties to make them a visit himself, but he decided not to
+take the prince or the count with him.[12] He was either afraid for
+their safety or else he did not care to bring a future French king
+into relation with citizens who might find it convenient to remember
+his suzerainty in order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign
+duke.[13]
+
+Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this state visit of
+reconciliation. The duke took the precaution to send scouts ahead to
+ascertain that the late rebels were sincere in their contrition, and
+that there was no danger of anarchist agitations. The report was
+brought back that all was calm and that joyful preparations were
+making to show appreciation of Philip's kindness.
+
+On April 22d, the duke slept at l'Écluse, and on the 23d he was gaily
+escorted into the city by knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland,
+Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor priests were in his
+train." As a further assurance to him of their peaceful intention,
+the citizens actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as to
+leave open exits.
+
+Once within the walls, the duke found the whole community, who had
+shown intelligent and sturdy determination not to endure arbitrary
+tyranny, ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical and
+classical parable whose one purpose was to prove how evil had been
+their ways. A pompous procession sang _Te Deum_ as the duke rode in,
+and the first "mystery" that met his eyes within the gates was a
+wonderful representation of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, while the
+legend "All that the Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to
+refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to the Ghenters'
+perfect submission to Philip. A young girl stood ready to greet him
+with the words of Solomon, "I have found one my soul loves."[14]
+
+All the legends were in Latin. _Inveni quem diligit anima mea._]
+
+Farther on there were various emblems all designed to compare
+Philip now to Cæsar, now to Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most
+humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed in a lion's skin,
+thus personifying the Lion of Flanders, leading Philip's horse by the
+bridle. "_Vive Bourgogne_ is now our cry," was symbolised in every
+vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent.
+
+Not altogether explicable is this extreme self-abnegation. Civic
+prosperity must have returned in four years or there would have been
+no money for the outlay. Apparently, Philip's countenance was worth
+more to them than their pride.
+
+The birth and death of two children at Genappe gave the duke new
+reasons for showering ostentatious favours on his guest, and furnished
+the dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his own father, who
+answered him in kind.
+
+The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles[l5]:
+
+  _The King to the Dauphin_, 1459.
+    "VERY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED SON:
+
+    "We have received the letters that you wrote us making mention
+    that on July 27 our dear and much loved daughter, the dauphiness,
+    was delivered of a fine boy, for which we have been and are very
+    joyous, and it seems to me that the more God our Creator grants
+    you favour, by so much the more you ought to praise and thank
+    Him and refrain from angering Him, and in all things fulfil His
+    commandments.
+
+    "Given at Compiègne, Aug.7th.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+
+During these five years, Charles was more or less aloof from the
+courts of his father and of their guest. He spent part of the time in
+Holland and part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The Count of St.
+Pol was one of his intimate friends, and a friend who managed to
+make many insinuations about the duke's treatment of his son and
+infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated with increasing
+fervency.
+
+There is a story that Charles went from Le Quesnoy to his father's
+court to demand a formal audience from the duke in order to lodge his
+protest against the Croys. Evidently relations were strained when such
+a degree of ceremony was needed between father and son.
+
+Gerard Ourré was commissioned to set forth the count's grievances, and
+he was in the midst of his carefully prepared statement when the duke
+interrupted him with the curt observation: "Have a care to say nothing
+but the truth and understand, it will be necessary to prove every
+assertion." The orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few
+moments, and then excused himself from completing his harangue.
+There were only a few nobles present and all were surprised at this
+embarrassment, as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then, seeing that
+his deputy was too much frightened to proceed, Charles took up the
+thread of his discourse. In a firm voice he continued the list of
+accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short in his turn.
+Peremptory was the duke in his command to his son to be silent and
+never again to refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip
+added "see to it that my son is satisfied with you," and withdrew from
+the audience chamber.
+
+Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be conciliatory. "When you
+have repaired the ill you have wrought I will remember the good you
+have done," was the count's only reply. He took leave of his father
+with an outward show of love and respect and returned to his wife at
+Le Quesnoy, escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of Brussels,
+but with no better understanding between them.
+
+St. Pol found good ground to work on. He inflamed the count's
+discontent and his distrust of the duke's favourite until Charles
+despatched him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascertain what
+Charles VII. would do for the heir of Burgundy should he decide to
+take refuge in the French court.[16]
+
+At the first interview "I was not present," states the unknown
+reporter, but on succeeding occasions this man heard for himself that
+the king was ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais who
+"has no ill intentions against his father. All he wants to do is to
+separate him from the people who govern him badly."
+
+The conferences were held in the lodgings of Odet d'Aydie. Among those
+present was Dammartin and the matter was discussed in its various
+aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous witness were charged with
+drawing up a report of the discussion. When this was presented to the
+king it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good faith of the
+count's message. He had been assured that it was all a fiction
+especially designed by the Sieur de Burgundy.
+
+Certain general promises were made in spite of this royal distrust,
+quite natural under the circumstances. If he decided to espouse the
+cause of Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given a command.
+It was evident that the count was by no means ready to go to all
+lengths, for St. Pol states in one of his conferences with the "late
+king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him that for two realms
+such as his he would not do a deed of villainy.
+
+Nothing came of this talk. It would have been a singular state of
+affairs had the heirs of France and Burgundy thus changed places in
+their fathers' courts. Spying and counterspying there were between
+the courts to a great extent and rumours in number. A certain Italian
+writes to the Duke of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he
+had been at Genappe and at Brussels:[17]
+
+    "M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand that the
+    reconciliation of the dauphin with the King of France would not be
+    with the approval of the Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince
+    laments that since he received the dauphin into his states,
+    and treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred the
+    implacable hatred of the king added to his ancient grievances. On
+    the other hand, the affairs of England, on whose issue depends war
+    or peace for the duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to
+    him honest to make advances to the king at this moment.
+
+    "M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem to have carried
+    into this affair the circumspection and reflection befitting a
+    prince of his quality. He has maintained towards the duke the
+    most complete silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition
+    concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is anything in it,
+    but if the thing were so it ought not to be secret. He does not
+    believe that peace will be made between the dauphin and his
+    father, and mentioned that his brother was on the embassy from
+    duke to king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the
+    bottom.
+
+    "The dauphin it seems has been out of humour with the Duke of
+    Burgundy on account of the luke-warmness shown for his interests
+    by the ambassador sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy.
+
+    "The silent agreement which reigns between the dauphin and Monsg.
+    de Charolais is one of the causes which has chilled this great
+    love between the dauphin and the duke which existed at the
+    beginning.
+
+    "Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely, especially in
+    almsgiving without considering his purse finds himself very hard
+    pressed. He has only two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of
+    Burgundy and that seems to force him into peace with the king. The
+    duke expects nothing during the king's lifetime.
+
+    "Everything makes me want to wait here for the arrival of news
+    from England. It is expected daily, good or bad the last play must
+    be made. The duke fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason
+    is going to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of celebrating
+    there the fête of the Toison d'Or he has ordered all his escort to
+    be armed."
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD. FROM A
+CONTEMPORARY SKETCH IN MS.]
+
+For a long time before his final illness the death of Charles VII. was
+anticipated. When it came it was a dolorous end.[18] At Genappe, the
+dauphin had been making his preparations for the wished-for event in
+many ways, all in exact opposition to his father's policy. In Italy
+and in Spain he sided with the opponents of Charles VII. In England,
+his sympathies were all for the House of York because his father was
+favourable to Henry of Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned
+with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV., and was more than
+willing to see him invade France. With certain princes of Germany he
+entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while his father's own
+agents disclosed secrets to him from time to time.
+
+In his exile he kept reminding official bodies at Paris that he was
+heir to the throne. As dauphin he claimed the right to give orders to
+the _parlement_ at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that he had a
+hand in the conspiracies which troubled the last year of his father's
+reign, but it is certain that he managed to win to himself a party
+within the royal circle.
+
+Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate, did not hesitate to
+suggest that Louis should be disinherited and his brother Charles put
+in his stead, but this Charles VII. would not accept. He kept hoping
+for Louis's submission. The latter, however, had no idea of this. He
+was sure that his father would not live to grow old. A trouble in his
+leg threatened to be cancerous. In July, there was a growth in his
+mouth. He died July 22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him.
+
+After July 17th constant bulletins from the king's bedside came to
+Louis. Genappe was too far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes
+in order to receive his messages more speedily. Our chronicler
+Chastellain[19] begins his story of Louis's accession as follows:
+
+    "Since I am not English but French, I who am neither Spanish nor
+    Italian but French, I have written of two Frenchmen, the one king,
+    the other duke. I have written of their works and their quarrels
+    and of the favour and glories which God has given them in their
+    time.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and meritorious works
+    serve man on his bier and gain him eternal glory. O you Frenchmen,
+    see the cause and the end in my labours!"
+
+The guest who had displayed so much humility and thankfulness when he
+arrived, who had deprecated honours to his high birth and desired to
+offer all the courtesies, departed from the residence so generously
+given him for five years in a very cavalier manner.
+
+    "Now the king left the duke's territories without having taken
+    leave nor said adieu to the Countess of Charolais,[20] although he
+    was in her neighbourhood, and he left behind him the queen, his
+    wife. The said queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which
+    to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered her to borrow
+    the hackneys of the countess and chariots, too. Heartily did the
+    countess accede to this request in spite of the fact that the
+    thing seemed to her rather strange that a noble king, and one who
+    had received so much honour and service from the House of Burgundy
+    and had promised to recognise it when the hour came, should thus
+    depart thence without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the
+    countess would gladly have given the queen the hackneys as a gift
+    if they had been asked, and she sent them to her by one of her
+    equerries named Corneille de la Barre, together with chariots and
+    waggons. And thus the queen left the country just as her husband
+    had done without saying a word either to the duke or the countess,
+    and Corneille went with her on foot to bring back the hackneys
+    when the queen had arrived at the place of her desire."
+
+Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam guest to show outward
+respect to his father's memory. The duke clad himself and his suite
+in deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at Avesnes, whither
+representatives from the University of Paris and from all parts of the
+realm had flocked to greet their new sovereign.
+
+It was a great concourse that marched from Avesnes as escort to the
+uncrowned king. Philip was magnificent in his appointments as he
+entered Rheims, and behind him came his son,
+
+    "the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble company of
+    knights and squires, attracted hearts and eyes in admiration of
+    his rich array wherein cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and
+    embroidery were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten pages
+    and twenty-six archers, and this whole company numbered three
+    hundred horse."[21]
+
+This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had waited at St. Thierry. On
+the actual day of the coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
+that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims until seven o'clock. The
+king passed his night in a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no
+repose until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied at their toilets he
+slipped off alone to church.
+
+Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony. Very magnificent were
+the duke's robes and ermine when, as chief among the peers, he
+escorted his late guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
+simple was Louis. After the consecration, the king and his friends
+listened to an address from the Bishop of Tournay, in which he
+described in Latin the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion. He felt that all
+future power was in his hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
+to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And for a time Louis was
+quite ready to foster this belief. When they entered Paris, the peer
+so far outshone the sovereign that there was general astonishment.[22]
+Moreover, whatever the latter did have was a gift. The very plate used
+on the royal table was a ducal present.[23]
+
+Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude of grateful humility.
+When he met the _parlement_ of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about
+its reformation. It was to Philip that all the petitioners flocked.
+But Louis was conscious, too, that there would be a morrow in
+Burgundy, and he took care to be friendly with the count even while he
+was flattering the duke. For this purpose he found Guillaume de Biche
+a very useful go-between.[24] This was one of the retainers dismissed
+in 1457 by Charles at his father's request. He had then passed into
+Louis's service. This man quickly insinuated himself into the king's
+graces, was admitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked arm in
+arm with the returned exile through Paris.
+
+The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries of the city well in
+his four years' residence. Louis found him an amusing companion and
+skilfully managed to flatter the count by his favour towards the man
+whom he had liked.
+
+For six weeks Philip remained in the capital and astonished the
+Parisians with the fêtes he offered. Equally astonished were they
+with their new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not attractive in
+person. His eyes were piercing but his visage was made plain by a
+disproportionate nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
+uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an old pilgrim's hat,
+ornamented by a leaden saint. As he rode into Abbeville in company
+with Philip, the simple folk who had never seen the king were greatly
+amazed at his appearance and said quite loud, "Benedicite! Is that a
+king of France, the greatest king in the world? All together his horse
+and dress are not worth twenty francs."[25]
+
+From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI. never lived very long in
+any one place. He did not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had
+the palace of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine became by
+preference his residence, where he lived alternately at Amboise and
+in his new château at Plessis-lès-Tours. But his sojourns were always
+brief. He wanted to know everything, and he wandered everywhere to
+see France and to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts, the
+chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian ambassador, show him on a
+perpetual journey.
+
+He would set out at break of day with five or six intimates dressed in
+grey cloth like pilgrims; archers and baggage followed at a distance.
+He would forbid any one to follow him, and often ordered the gates of
+the city he had left to be closed, or a bridge to be broken behind
+him. Ambassadors ordered to see him without fail, sometimes had to
+cross France to obtain an interview, at least if their object was
+something in which he was not much interested. Then he would often
+grant them an audience in some miserable little peasant hut.
+
+In the cities where he stopped he would lodge with a burgomaster or
+some functionary. To avoid harangues and receptions he would often
+arrive unannounced through a little alley. If forced to accept an
+_entrée_ he stipulated that it should not be marked with magnificence.
+There never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies, balls, banquets,
+and tourneys. At his court young people were bored to death. He never
+ordered festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures were those
+of a simple private gentleman. He liked to dine out of his palace.
+Cagnola relates with surprise that he had seen the king dine after
+mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours. He invited small nobles
+and bourgeois to dine with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois
+women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speaking to and of women
+without reserve, sparing neither sister, mother, nor queen.
+
+Yet it was a sombre court. "Farewell dames, citizens, demoiselles,
+feasts, dances, jousts, and tournaments; farewell fair and gracious
+maids, mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Martial d'Auvergne.
+Pompous magnificence may have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit
+to Burgundy.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: He had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November
+19th.--_Archives du Nord_. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 113. No
+mention of this seems to appear elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Chastellain (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from
+the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel. The duke
+was so angry that it was hideous to see him.]
+
+[Footnote 3: La Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain,
+iii., 230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The
+author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in her delicate
+state of health.]
+
+[Footnote 4: "Thus there was much coming and going: and it was ordered
+by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Ravestein and the
+king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to Dendermonde to learn the
+wishes of the Count of Charolais and his intentions, of which I am
+entitled to speak for I was despatched several times to Brussels in
+behalf of my said Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the
+Chancellor Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present
+affair"--(La Marche, ii., 419.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: La Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche, went
+to France and La Marche says that he himself often went to him to
+obtain valuable information.]
+
+[Footnote 6: La Marche, ii., 418.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Du Clercq, ii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, iii., 308.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de Vébry to the
+Count de Vaudemart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, ed. A.J.V. Le Roux. The
+stories are, as a rule, only retold tales.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "The spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais
+nor by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for certain
+reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer, P.322.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: Kervyn, _Hist. de Flandre_, v., 23. At this time Philip
+was ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parliament of
+Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Meyer, p. 321.
+
+[Footnote 15: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Report of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., 195.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: Du Fresne de Beaucourt. vi., 326.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 321.]
+
+[Footnote 19: IV., 21.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Chastellain, iv., 45.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chastellain was not present, but he says of Philip's
+suite (iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have seen in
+writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never been seen in
+this kingdom."]
+
+[Footnote 22: "And I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all
+the nobles" (Chastellain, iv., 52).]
+
+[Footnote 23: When return presents were distributed to the nobles
+Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iv., 115.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 325.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+1464-1465
+
+
+The era of good feeling between Louis XI. and his Burgundian kinsmen
+was of short duration, and no wonder. The rich rewards confidently
+expected as fitting recompense for five years' kindness more than
+cousinly, towards a penniless refugee were not forthcoming.
+
+The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary in certain
+ostentatious recognition towards his late host, but the fairly
+munificent pension, together with the charge of Normandy settled upon
+the Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical reminder of promises
+as regularly unfulfilled on each recurring quarter day, while the post
+of confidential adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip had
+intended to occupy, remained empty.
+
+Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now to one counsellor,
+now to another, and used such fragments of advice as pleased his whim
+and paid no further heed to the giver.
+
+Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred that change in
+Philip's bodily constitution that comes to all active men sooner or
+later. His health began to give way, his energies relaxed, and matters
+that had been of paramount importance throughout his career were
+allowed to slip into the background of his desires. In the famous
+treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater importance than that
+which placed the towns on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to a
+redemption of two hundred thousand gold crowns. Whether Charles VII.
+had actually pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at least
+during Philip's life does not seem assured, but that any sum would be
+insufficient to induce the duke to release them unless his intellect
+were somewhat deadened, is clear.
+
+In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack, possibly the result
+of his indulgence in the pleasures of the table during the prolonged
+festivities at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour. This was
+the time, by the way, when opportunity was afforded his courtiers to
+prove that devotion to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity. When
+his head was shaved by order of the court physician, more than five
+hundred nobles sacrificed their own locks so that their becoming curls
+might not remind their chief of his own bald head. The sacrifice was
+not always voluntary, adds an informant.[1] Philip forced compliance
+with this new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be
+unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by nature's gift. This
+servility may have consoled Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In
+his depressed condition any solace was acceptable.
+
+It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled state that Louis,
+through the mediation of the Croys, pushed forward his proposition to
+redeem the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying upon the chance
+that it would be no easy matter for the French king to wring the
+required sum from his impoverished land. Philip's assent was, however,
+promptly clinched by a cash payment of half the amount[2]; the
+remainder followed.
+
+Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valuable bulwarks for the
+Netherland provinces, fine nurseries for the human material requisite
+for Burgundian armies, rich tax payers as they were, all tumbled into
+the outstretched hands of the duke's wily rival.
+
+The transaction was hurried through and completed before a rumour of
+its progress came to the ear of the interested heir. Charles was in
+Holland sulking and indignant. He had expected good results from his
+tender devotion during his father's acute illness, a devotion shared
+by Isabella of Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside from her
+convent seclusion when Philip was in need of her ministrations. But,
+in his convalescence, Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys
+whom Charles continued to distrust with bitterness that varied in its
+intensity, but which never vanished from his consciousness. The young
+man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious that personal danger
+to himself lurked in the air of his father's court.
+
+The various rumours of plots against his life may not all have been
+baseless. At last, one of own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was
+accused of having recourse to diabolic means of doing away with the
+duke's legitimate heir.[2] Three little waxen images were found in his
+house, and it was alleged that he practised various magic arts withal
+in order to win the favour of the duke and of the French king, and
+still worse to cause Charles to waste away with a mysterious sickness.
+The accusations were sufficient to make Nevers resign all his offices
+in his kinsman's court and retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been
+wholly innocent he would have demanded trial at the hands of his peers
+of the Golden Fleece as behooved one of the order. But he withdrew
+undefended, and left his tattered reputation fluttering raggedly in
+the breeze of gossip.
+
+Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal court until a fresh
+incident drove him thither to give vent to his indignation. Only three
+days had Philip de Commines been page to Duke Philip, then resident at
+Lille, when an embassy headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France,
+was given audience in the presence of the Burgundian court, including
+the Count of Charolais. The future historian,[4] then nineteen years
+old, was keenly alive to all that passed on that November fifth, 1464.
+Morvilliers used very bitter terms in his assertion that Charles had
+illegally stopped a little French ship of war and arrested a certain
+bastard of Rubempré on the false charge that his errand in Holland,
+where the incident occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles
+himself. Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir Olivier de La Marche
+had caused this tale to be bruited everywhere,
+
+    "especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations resort.
+    This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now demanded through his
+    chancellor that Duke Philip should send this same Sir Olivier de
+    La Marche prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case
+    required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that the said Sir
+    Olivier was steward of his house, born in the County of Burgundy
+    and in no respect subject to the Crown of France."
+
+Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill to the king's honour
+he, the duke, would see to his punishment. As to the bastard of
+Rubempré, true it was that he had been apprehended in Holland,[5] but
+there was adequate ground for his arrest as his behaviour had been
+strange, at least so thought the Count of Charolais. Philip added that
+if his son were suspicious
+
+    "he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his mother
+    who had been the most jealous lady that ever lived. But
+    notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that myself never were supicious, yet
+    if I had been in my son's place at the same time that this bastard
+    of Rubempré haunted those coasts I would surely have caused him to
+    be apprehended as my son did."
+
+In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up Rubempré to the king were
+his innocence satisfactorily proven.
+
+Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging upon the treacherous
+designs of Francis, Duke of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately
+sworn brotherhood at the very moment when he was the honoured guest
+of King Louis at Tours. During this discussion the Count of Charolais
+became very restive. Finally he could no longer endure Morvilliers's
+indirect slurs, and
+
+    "made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously out of patience
+    to hear such reproachful speeches used of his friend and
+    confederate. But Morvilliers cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of
+    Charolais, I am not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your
+    father.' The said earl besought his father divers times to give
+    him leave to answer, who in the end said unto him: 'I have
+    answered for thee as methinketh the father should answer for the
+    son, notwithstanding if thou have so great desire to speak bethink
+    thyself to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.'"
+
+Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that he could not imagine
+what had moved the earl to enter into the league with the Duke of
+Brittany unless it were because of a pension the king had once given
+him together with the government of Normandy and afterwards taken from
+him.
+
+In regard to Rubempré, Commines adds to his story Charles's own
+statement given on the morrow:
+
+"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever proved against him, though
+I confess the presumption to have been great. Five years after I
+myself saw him delivered out of prison." This from Commines. La Marche
+is less detailed in his record[6] of the Rubempré incident:
+
+    "The bastard was put in prison and the Count of Charolais sent me
+    to Hesdin to the duke to inform him of the arrest and its cause.
+    The good duke heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth
+    he at once suspected that the craft of the King of France lurked
+    at the bottom of the affair. Shortly afterwards the duke left
+    Hesdin and returned to his own land, which did not please the King
+    of France who despatched thither a great embassy with the Count
+    d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that I should be delivered to
+    him to be punished as he would, because he claimed that I had been
+    the cause of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempré and also of the
+    duke's departure from Hesdin without saying adieu to the King of
+    France, but the good duke, moderate in all his actions, replied
+    that I was his subject and his servitor, and that if the king or
+    any one else had a grievance against me he would investigate it.
+    The matter was finally smoothed over [adds La Marche], and Louis
+    evinced a readiness to conciliate his offended cousin."
+
+In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to be one not easily disposed
+of by soft phrases flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father
+and prepared in advance his defence to the chancellor. When he had
+finished his own statement about Rubempré, he proceeded to the point
+of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany, declaring that it was
+right and proper and that if King Louis knew what was to the advantage
+of the French sovereign, he would be glad to see his nobles welded
+together as a bulwark to his throne. As to his pension, he had never
+received but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had made no suit
+for the remainder nor for the government of Normandy. So long as he
+enjoyed the favour and good will of his father he had no need to crave
+favour of any man.
+
+"I think verily had it not been for the reverence he bore to his said
+father who was there present" continues the observant page, "and to
+whom he addressed his speech that he would have used much bitterer
+terms. In the end, Duke Philip very wisely and humbly besought the
+king not lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his son but to
+continue his favour towards them. Then the banquet was brought in and
+the ambassadors took their leave. As they passed out Charles stood
+apart from his father and said to the archbishop of Narbonne, who
+brought up the rear of the little company:
+
+"'Recommend me very humbly to the good grace of the king. Tell him he
+has had me scolded here by the chancellor but that he shall repent it
+before a year is past.'" His message was duly delivered and to this
+incident Commines attributes momentous results.
+
+Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which Louis's ambassadors
+treated him, indignant at the injury to his heritage by the redemption
+of the towns on the Somme, and further, already alienated from his
+royal cousin through the long series of petty occasions where the
+different natures of the two young men clashed, in this year 1464,
+Charles was certainly more than ready to enter into an open contest
+with the French monarch. It was not long before the opportunity came
+for him to do so with a certain éclat.
+
+In the early years of his own freedom, before he learned wisdom, Louis
+XI. had planted many seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful
+crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among the nobles of the
+land.
+
+One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the gradual growth of
+the body of standing troops instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These,
+in the regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guarantee of support
+without the aid of his nobles. By the date of Louis's accession,
+certain ducal houses besides that of Burgundy had grown very
+independent within their own boundaries: Orleans, Anjou, Bourbon, not
+to speak of Brittany.[7] Now the efforts to curtail the prerogatives
+of these petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were steady and
+persistent in the new reign. They had no longer the power of coining
+money, of levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the judicial
+authority of the crown had been extended little by little over France.
+Then their privileges were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of
+the chase.
+
+It was the accumulation of these invasions of local authority, added
+to a real disbelief in the king's ability, that led to a formation of
+a league among the nobles, designed to check the centralisation policy
+of the monarch, a League of Public Weal to form a bulwark against the
+tyrannical encroachments of their liege lord.
+
+Not to follow the steps of the growth of this coalition, it is
+sufficient for the thread of this narrative to say that it comprised
+all the great French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as
+others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as those whom he had
+slighted alike fell from his standards, distrustful of his ability to
+withstand organised opposition, and they threw in their lot with the
+protestors so as not to miss their share of the spoil.
+
+The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned, was in a mood when
+his ears were eagerly open to overtures from Louis's critics. The
+redemption of the towns on the Somme he was unable to prevent, but the
+affair left him very sore. Shortly after its completion, the count
+did, indeed, succeed in depriving the Croys of their ascendency over
+the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long desired victory was attained,
+the towns had one and all accepted their transfer and were under
+French sovereignty. When the count joined the league, the hope of
+ultimate restoration was undoubtedly prominent among the motives for
+his own course of action, though his intimacy with the chief leader of
+the revolt, the Duke of Brittany, might easily have led to the same
+result.
+
+Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had been especially wanting in
+tact during the first months of his reign. The king treated him as a
+vassal of France, while the duke held that he and his forbears owed
+simple homage to the crown, not dependence. Therefore, in order to
+resist being subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not to leave
+his estates except in a suitable manner. His messages to the king
+were sent in all ceremony, he rendered proper homage, declared his
+readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as a vassal for certain
+territories, but demanded freedom to exercise his hereditary rights
+and to enjoy his hereditary dignities.[8]
+
+"Rude and strange" were the terms employed by the king in response to
+these statements, and then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
+the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose of the hands of
+Breton heiresses in unequal marriages, and to arrogate to himself
+other rights--all sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
+Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the league. Very delightful
+is Chastellain's colloquy with himself[9] as to the difficulty of
+maintaining perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of this
+Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately the result of his patient
+efforts is lost.
+
+Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines, however, were both
+present in the Burgundian army and their stories are preserved. La
+Marche had reason to remember the first actual engagement between the
+royal and invading forces at Montl'héry, "because on that day I was
+made knight." He does not say, as does Commines, that this battle was
+against the king's desire. Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms
+and to coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by other methods.
+Not that they characterised themselves as rebellious, far from it.
+Clear and definite was their statement that in their obligation
+
+    "to give order to the estate, the police and the government of the
+    kingdom, the princes of the blood as chief supports of the crown,
+    by whose advice and not by that of others, the business of the
+    king and of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
+    their persons and their property, and in this laudable endeavour
+    all virtuous citizens ought to aid."[10]
+
+Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens, and the words were
+typical of similar appeals made in every quarter of the realm by the
+various feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In truth this war,
+ostentatiously called that of the Public Weal, was but a struggle on
+the part of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The weal demanded
+was home rule for the feudal chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a
+fierce protest against monarchical authority, against concentration. A
+king indeed, but a king in leading strings was the ideal of the peers.
+
+Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis almost alone, deserted by his
+brother the Duke of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
+unity, hedged in by their pompous and self-righteous assertions that
+all their thoughts were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
+needed lightening. Of all the great vassals, Gaston de Foix was the
+single one loyal to the king.
+
+The part of the great duke fell entirely to the share of the Count of
+Charolais. A small force was levied for him within the Netherlands,
+and he started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents from the
+two Burgundies and his brother peers of France with their own troops.
+His men were good individually but they had not been trained to act as
+one, and there was no coherence between the different companies.
+
+July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed rendezvous. He
+was first in the field. While he awaited his allies, his little army
+became restive at the situation in which they found themselves, fifty
+leagues from Burgundian territory with no stronghold as their base. It
+was urged again and again upon the count that his first consideration
+ought to be his men's safety. His allies had failed him. He should
+retreat. "I have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross the
+Seine if I have but a single page to follow me," was the leader's firm
+reply to these demands.
+
+The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges, and Charles decided that
+it was his mission to prevent Louis from entering his capital, to
+which he was advancing with great rapidity from the south. To carry
+out this purpose Charles disregarded all protests, crossed the Seine
+at St. Cloud, and made his way to the little village of Longjumeau,
+whither he was preceded by the Count of St. Pol, commanding one
+division of the Burgundian army. Montl'héry was a village still
+farther to the south, and here it was that La Marche and other
+gentlemen were knighted. This ceremony was evidently part of the
+count's endeavour to encourage his followers--all unwilling to risk an
+engagement before the arrival of the allies.
+
+To the king it was of infinite advantage that no delay should occur.
+Nevertheless, it was Charles who opened active hostilities on July
+15th, with soldiers who had not broken their fast that day. Armed
+since early dawn, wearied by a forced march with a July sun beating
+down upon their heads, their movements hampered by standing wheat and
+rye, the men were at a tremendous disadvantage when they were led to
+the attack. It was a hot assault. No quarter was given, many fled.
+At length, Louis found himself abandoned by all save his body-guard.
+Pressed against the hill that bounded the grain fields, the king at
+last retreated up its slope into a castle on its summit.
+
+Charles rode impetuously after the retreating royalists. Separated
+from his men, he fell among the royal guard at the gate of the castle.
+There was a vehement assault resisted as vehemently by his meagre
+escort. Several fell and Charles himself received a sword wound on his
+neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised by the French, he might
+have been taken or slain in his resistance, when the Bastard of
+Burgundy rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed the count's
+condition. When night fell, no one knew where lay the advantage. The
+fugitives spread rumours that the king was dead and that Charles was
+in possession, others carried the reverse statements as they rode
+headlong to the nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with no
+credit to either leader. But in the darkness of the night, the king
+managed to slip out of his retreat and march quietly towards the
+greater security of Paris.
+
+It was a very shadowy victory that Charles proudly claimed. All
+through the night of July 15th, the Burgundians were discussing
+whether to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds all
+recognised. Daybreak found the council in session when a peasant
+brought tidings that the foe had departed. The fires in sight only
+covered their retreat. To be sure that same foe had taken Burgundian
+baggage with them to Paris. But what of that? The Burgundians held the
+battlefield and they made the best of it.
+
+On July 16th, Louis supped with the military governor of Paris and
+"moved the company, nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his
+touching description of the perils he had met and escaped." Charles,
+meanwhile, effected a junction with his belated allies, Francis of
+Brittany and Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Étampes. Thither
+too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of Lorraine, but none of these
+leaguers could claim any share in the battle of Montl'héry.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY, JULY 16, 1465 (COMINES, ED.
+LENGLET DU FRESNOY, 1.)]
+
+While these peers perfected their plans to force their chief into
+redressing the wrongs of the poor people, the king was showing a very
+pleasant side of his character to the Parisian citizens. In response
+to a petition that he should take advice on the conduct of his
+administration, he declared his perfect willingness to add to his
+council six burgesses, six members of _parlement_, and the same number
+from the university. Besides this concession, he relieved the weight
+of the imposts and hastened to restore certain financial franchises to
+the Church, to the university, and to various individuals. Three weeks
+were consumed in establishing friendly relations in this all important
+city, and then the king departed for Normandy to levy troops and to
+collect provisions for a siege.[11] There was need for this last for
+the allies had moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris.
+
+Before the king's return to his capital on August 28th, a formidable
+array was encamped at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More
+formidable, however, they were in numbers than in strength. Like all
+confederated bodies there was inherent weakness, for there was no
+leader whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of Berry, heir
+presumptive to the throne, was the only one among the peers whose
+birth might have commanded the needful authority, but he had not
+sufficient personal character to assert his position. So the
+confederates remained a loose aggregation of small armies. The longer
+they remained in camp the weaker they grew, the more disintegrated.
+A pitched battle might have been a great advantage to these gallant
+defenders of the Public Weal of France and that was the last desire of
+their antagonist.
+
+Many skirmishes took place between the Parisians and the leaguers, but
+no engagement. Once, indeed, there were hurried preparations on the
+part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of whose imminence they
+were warned by a page before break of day, one misty morning. Yes,
+there was no doubt. The pickets could see the erect spears and furled
+banners of the enemy all ready to advance upon the unwary camp. Quick
+were the preparations. There were no laggards. The Duke of Calabria
+was more quickly armed than even the Count of Charolais. He came to a
+spot where a number of Burgundians, the count's own household stood,
+by the standard. Among them was Commines[l2] and he heard the duke
+say: "We now have our desire, for the king is issued forth with his
+whole force and marches towards us as our scouts report. Wherefore let
+us determine to play the men. So soon as they be out of the town we
+will enter and measure with the long ell." By these words he meant
+that the soldiers would speedily have a chance to use their pikes as
+yard sticks to measure out their share of the booty. False prophet
+was the duke that time! When the daylight grew stronger, the upright
+spears and furled banners of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of
+thistles looming large in the magnifying morning mist! The princes
+took their disappointment philosophically, enjoyed early mass, and
+then had their breakfast.
+
+The young Commines is surprised that Paris and her environs were rich
+enough to feed so many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs changed.
+Negotiating back and forth became more frequent. The disintegration of
+the allies became more and more evident. Louis XI. bided his time and
+then took the extraordinary resolution to go in person to the camp at
+Charenton to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few attendants,
+practically unguarded, he went down the Seine. His coming had been
+heralded and the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive him, with
+the Count of St. Pol at his side. "Brother, do you pledge me safety?"
+(for the count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which the count
+responded: "Yes, as one brother to another."[13]
+
+Nothing could have been more genial than was the king. He assured
+Charles that he loved a man who kept his word beyond anything.
+
+Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the promise he had sent by
+the archbishop of Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he was
+a gentleman and true to the blood of France. Further, he disavowed the
+insolence of his chancellor towards Charles, and repeated that his
+cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You have kept your promise
+and that long before the day."[14]
+
+Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an opportunity to Charles and
+St. Pol to state, informally, the terms on which they would withdraw
+from their hostile footing, and count the weal restored to the
+oppressed public whose sorrows had moved them to a confederation.
+
+Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he accepted the requisition of
+those who felt that they were in a position to dictate, and after a
+little more parleying at later dates, the treaty of Conflans was duly
+arranged. It was none too soon for the allies. They could hardly have
+held together many days longer in the midst of the jealousies rife in
+their camps.
+
+The king paused at nothing. To his brother he gave Normandy, to
+Charles of Burgundy the towns on the Somme with guarantee of
+possession for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was made
+Constable of France.
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI. WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR
+OF PUBLIC WEAL TAKEN FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF ST.
+GERMAIN DES PRÉS (COMINES-LENGLET, II., FRONTISPIECE)]
+
+Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to Charles, lesser places and
+pensions to the other confederates. The contest ended with complete
+victory for the allies who were left with the proud consciousness
+that they had set a definite limit to royal pretensions, at least, on
+paper.
+
+After the treaty was signed, the king showed no resentment at his
+defeat but urged his cousin to amuse himself a while in Paris before
+returning home. Charles was rash, but he had not the temerity to trust
+himself so far. Pleading a promise to his father to enter no city gate
+until on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and soon returned
+to the Netherlands, where his own household had suffered change.
+During his absence, the Countess of Charolais had died and been buried
+at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly lauded for his perfect faithfulness
+to his wife, but her death seems to have made singularly little ripple
+on the surface of his life. The chroniclers touch on the event very
+casually, laying more stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI.
+to offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on the event
+itself.[15]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: La Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the
+chamberlain to enforce this.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The receipt for this half payment was signed October
+8, 1462. (Comines, _Mémoires_, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii.,
+392-403.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Du Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, _Mêmoires_ I., ch. i. In the above passages
+Dannett's translation is followed for the racy English.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Commines says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum.]
+
+[Footnote 6: III., 3.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Lavisse iv^{ii}., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, v., i, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 9: V., II.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Letter of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of
+Amiens. (_Collection de Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France_.)
+"Mélanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS. in the Bibl.
+Nat. there are many letters private and public about these events.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Since its recovery from the English, there had been no
+duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to the king.]
+
+[Footnote 12: I., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be
+read in detail.]
+
+[Footnote 13: I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commines, I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 15: La Marche, iii., p. 27.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+1465-1467
+
+
+"When we have finished here we shall make a fine beginning against
+those villains the Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on
+October 18th.[1] Charles had no desire to rest on the laurels won
+before Paris. To another city he now turned his attention, to Liege
+which owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy.
+
+Before the days when the buried treasures of the soil filled the
+air with smoke, the valley where Liege lies was a lovely spot.[2]
+Tradition tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop of
+Tongres, as he made a progress through his diocese was attracted by
+the beauties of the site where a few hovels then clustered near the
+Meuse. After looking down from the heights to the river's banks for
+a brief space, the bishop turned to his followers and said, as if
+uttering a prophecy:
+
+"Here is a place created by God for the salvation of many faithful
+souls. One day a prosperous city shall flourish here. Here I will
+build a chapel." Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised chapel
+became a shrine which attracted many pilgrims who returned to their
+various homes with glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.
+Little by little others came who did not leave, and by the seventh
+century when Bishop Lambert sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a
+small town.
+
+An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert. He gave himself no
+rest but travelled continually from one church to another in his
+diocese to look after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless
+prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke to the Frankish
+Pepin for a lawless deed excited the wrath of a certain noble,
+accessory to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was slain as he knelt
+before the altar in Monulphe's chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer
+the pious man did not hear the servants' calls, "Holy Lambert, Holy
+Lambert come to our aid," words that later became a war-cry when the
+bishop was exalted into the patron saint of the town.
+
+Not until the thirteenth century, however, when the episcopal see was
+finally established at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay
+overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege. Monulphe's little
+chapel had given way to a mighty church dedicated to the canonised
+Bishop Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost autonomous, the
+episcopal authority being restricted without the walls only by the
+distant emperor and still more distant pope. Within the walls, the
+same authority had by no means a perfectly free hand. There were
+certain features in the constitution of Liege which differentiated it
+from its sister towns in the Netherlands.
+
+Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly democratic manner.
+There was no distinction between the greater and lesser gilds, and,
+within these organisations, the franchise was given to the most
+ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple condition of
+attaining his fifteenth year. Moreover, the naturalisation laws were
+very easy. Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens and
+enjoyed eligibility to office as well as the franchise. The tenure of
+office being for one year only, there was opportunity for frequent
+participation in public affairs, an opportunity not neglected by the
+community.[2]
+
+The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic officers chosen by
+this liberal franchise. He was elected by the chapter of St. Lambert,
+subject to papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres of his
+jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his function there were many
+restrictions to his free administration, which papal and imperial
+sanction together were unable to remove.
+
+A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change in the laws without the
+consent of the estates, and he could administer justice only by means
+of the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be countersigned. When
+there was an issue between overlord and people, the question was
+submitted to the _schepens_ or superior judges who, before they gave
+their opinion, consulted the various charters which had been granted
+from time to time, and which were not allowed to become dead letters.
+A permanent committee of the three orders supervised the executive and
+the administration of the laws. These "twenty-two" received an appeal
+from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb "In his own home the
+poor man is king," was very near the possible truth.
+
+Yet the wheels of government were by no means perfect in their
+running. Many were the conflicts between the different members of the
+state, and broils, with the character of civil war in miniature, were
+of frequent occurrence. The submergence of the aristocratic element,
+the nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power between the
+bishop-prince and the people. The commons exerted power beyond their
+intelligence. Annual elections, party contests headed by rival
+demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser extent, the smaller
+towns of the little state in continuous commotion[4].
+
+The ecclesiastical origin of the community was evident at all points
+of daily life. The cathedral of St. Lambert was the pride of the city.
+Its chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place held by the
+aristocratic element in the other towns.
+
+In the cathedral, the holy standard of St. Lambert was suspended. At
+the outbreak of war this was taken down and carried to the door by the
+clergy in solemn procession. There it was unfurled and delivered to
+the commander of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white steed. When
+he received the precious charge he swore to defend it with his life.
+
+One object of popular veneration was this standard, another was the
+_perron_, an emblem of the civic organisation. This was a pillar of
+gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple surmounted by a cross.
+This stood on a pedestal in the centre of the square where was the
+_violet_ or city hall. In front of the perron were proclaimed all the
+ordinances issued by the magistrates, or the decrees adopted by the
+people in general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin was rung,
+the deans of the gilds would hasten out with their banners and plant
+them near the perron as rallying points for the various gild members
+who poured out from forge, work-shop, and factory until the square was
+filled.
+
+There were two powerful weapons whereby the bishop-prince might
+enforce his will in opposition to that of his subjects did the latter
+become too obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the _schepens_,
+and he could pronounce an interdict of the Church which caused the
+cessation of all priestly functions. When this interdict was in
+action, civil suits between burghers could be adjudged by the
+municipal magistrates, but no criminals could be arrested or tried.
+The elementary principles of an organised society were thrown into
+confusion. Still worse confusion resulted from the bishop's last
+resort as prince of the Church. An interdict caused the church bells
+to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The celebration of the
+rites of baptism, of marriage, of burial ceased.[5] The fear of such
+cessation was potent in its restraint, unless the populace were too
+far enraged to be moved by any consideration.
+
+While the Burgundian dukes extended their sway over one portion of
+Netherland territory after another, this little dominion maintained
+its complete independence of them. The fact that its princes were
+elective protected it from lapsing through heritage to the duke who
+had been so neatly proven heir to his divers childless kinsfolk. It
+was a rich little vineyard without his pale.
+
+They were clever people those Liegeois. Their Walloon language is
+a species of French with many peculiarities showing Frankish
+admixture.[6] The race was probably a mixed one too, but its acquired
+characteristics made a very different person from a Hollander, a
+Frisian, or a Fleming, though there was a certain resemblance to the
+latter.
+
+In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful resources of coal and
+minerals which now glow above and below the furnace fires until, from
+a distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But the people were
+industrious and energetic in their crafts. It was a country of skilled
+workmen. The city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thousand
+inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers reported slain in
+the various battles in which the town was involved run into the
+thousands.[7]
+
+In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his success in the diocese
+of Utrecht, obtained a certain ascendency over the affairs of Liege by
+interfering in the election of a bishop. There was no natural vacancy
+at the moment. John of Heinsberg was the incumbent, a very pleasant
+prelate with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement and gay society,
+pleasures more easily obtainable in Philip's court than in his own,
+and his agreeable host found means of persuading him to resign all the
+cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke proceeded to place his
+own nephew, Louis of Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne.
+
+This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student at the University of
+Louvain, destitute of a single qualification for the office proposed.
+Nevertheless, all difficulties, technical and general were ignored,
+and a papal dispensation enabled the candidate even to dispense with
+the formality of taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered
+Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry into his future
+capital and was duly enthroned as bishop-prince in spite of his
+manifest unfitness for the place.
+
+Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his people, better than the
+promise of his youth, as some reckless princes have done. On the
+contrary, ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at drawn
+swords with his subjects. After a time he withdrew to Huy where he
+indulged in gross pleasures while he attempted to check the rebellious
+citizens of his capital by trying some of the measures of coercion
+used by his predecessors as a last resort.
+
+Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters dragged on for a long
+time. The people appealed to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the
+pope, and to the "pope better informed," but no redress was given.
+Philip continued to protect the bishop, and none dared put themselves
+in opposition to him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XI. for aid.
+Their appeal was heard and the king's agent arrived in the city
+just as one of the bishop's interdicts was about to be enforced,
+an interdict, too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the usual
+anathema if the provisions were not obeyed.
+
+It was the moment for a demagogue and one appeared in the person of
+Raes de la Rivière, lord of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be
+unbroken silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his followers
+proclaimed that every priest who refused to chant should be thrown
+into the river. Mass was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual
+conditions, and the presence of the French envoys gave new heart to
+the bishop's opponents. A treaty was signed between the Liegeois
+and Louis; wherein mutual pledges were made that no peace should be
+concluded with Burgundy in which both parties were not included. It
+was a solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when he signed the
+treaty of Conflans whose articles contained not a single reference to
+the Liegeois.
+
+Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of the battle of
+Montl'héry reaching Liege gave the victory to Louis, a report that
+spurred on the Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostility to their
+neighbour, still farther afield. The other towns of the Church state
+were infected by an anti-Burgundian sentiment. In Dinant this feeling
+was high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation of special
+animosity against the Count of Charolais. A rabble marched out of the
+city to the walls of Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy,
+carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its neck. Certain
+well-known emblems of Burgundy on a tattered mantle showed that this
+represented Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd declared
+that they were going to hang the effigy as his master, the King of
+France, had already hanged Count Charles in reality. Further, they
+said that he was no count at all, but the son of their old bishop,
+Heinsberg. They went so far as to suspend the effigy on a gallows and
+then riddled it with arrows and left it dangling like a scarecrow in
+sight of the citizens of Bouvignes.[8]
+
+The actual contents of the treaty made at Conflans did not reach Liege
+until messages from Louis had assured them that he had been mindful of
+their interests in making his own terms, assurances, however, coupled
+with advice to make peace with their good friend the duke. But there
+speedily came later information that the only mention of Liege in the
+new treaty was an apology that Louis had ever made friends in that
+city!
+
+The rebels lost heart at once. Without the king, they had no
+confidence in their own efforts. Envoys were despatched to Philip who
+refused to answer their humble requests for pardon until his son could
+decide what punishment the principality deserved. Nor was much delay
+to be anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming. Charles
+hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not pausing even to greet his
+father. By the third week of January, he was encamped between St.
+Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation from Liege found him.
+These envoys, between eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly
+because they feared attacks from their anti-peace fellow-citizens.[9]
+
+They found Charles flushed by his recent achievement of bringing King
+Louis to his way of thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body than
+when it left the Netherlands. The troops were more skilled from
+their experience and elated at what they counted their success; more
+capable, too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a resolute
+leader, now inclined to despise councils with free discussion. The
+count's quick temper had gained him weight but it had made him feared.
+The slightest breach of discipline brought a thunder-cloud on his
+face. If we may believe one authority,[10] he himself was often so
+lacking in discipline that he would strike an officer with a baton,
+and once at least, he killed a soldier with his own hand.
+
+His audience with the envoys resulted in a treaty, of which certain
+articles were so harsh that the messengers were insulted when the
+report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of thirty-two gilds voted to
+accept all the articles. A certain noble on pleasant terms with the
+count offered to carry the unpopular document back to him to ask for a
+modification of the harsh terms.
+
+By this time the weather was severe. Charles's troops were in need of
+repose, and it seemed prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles
+revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration of an increase of
+the war indemnity. With this change the treaty was accepted, and a
+Piteous Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege. Instead
+of owing allegiance to emperor and to pope alone as free imperial
+citizens, they agreed to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary
+protectors of Liege.
+
+When it was desired, Burgundian troops could march freely across the
+territory. Burgundian coins were declared valid at Burgundian values.
+No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian marches, and unqualified
+obedience was pledged to the new overlords. The same terms were
+conceded to all the rebel towns alike except to Dinant. The story of
+the personal insult to himself and his mother had reached the count's
+ears and he was not inclined to ignore the circumstance. His further
+action was, however, deferred.
+
+January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty[11] and, after its
+conclusion, Charles ordered a review of his forces, a review that
+almost culminated in a pitched battle between army and citizens of St.
+Trond, and then on January 31st, the count returned to Brussels where
+there was a great display of Burgundian etiquette before the duke
+embraced his victorious son.
+
+Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the province at large, still
+more piteous was the lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from the
+participation in the treaty. Her fate remained uncertain for months.
+Other affairs occupied the Count of Charolais until late in the summer
+of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis, well freed from the
+allies pressing up to the gates of Paris, was in very different temper
+from Louis ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not only had
+he withdrawn his promises in regard to the duchy conferred on his
+brother, but he had begun taking other measures, ostensibly to prepare
+against a possible English invasion, which alarmed his cousin of
+Burgundy for the undisturbed possession of his recently recovered
+towns on the Somme.
+
+Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes, Charles despatched the
+following letter from Namur:[12]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I recommend myself very humbly to your good grace and beg to
+    inform you, Monseigneur, that recently I have been advised of
+    something very surprising to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond
+    doubt considering the source of my information. It is with much
+    regret that I communicate it to you when I remember all the good
+    words you have given to me this year, orally and in writing.
+    Monseigneur, it is evident that there has been some agreement
+    between your people and the English, and that the matter has been
+    so well worked that you have consented, as I have heard, to yield
+    them the land of Caux, Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to
+    aid them in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu, and
+    further, to cement with them certain alliances against me and my
+    country in making them large offers greatly to my prejudice and,
+    in order to complete the whole, they are to come to Dieppe.
+
+    "Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you wish: but,
+    Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns me, it seems to me that
+    you would do better to leave my property in my hand than to be the
+    instrument of putting it into the hands of the English or of any
+    foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Monseigneur, that
+    if such overtures or greater ones have been opened by your people
+    that you will not commit yourself to them in any manner but will
+    insist on their cessation, and that you will do this in a way that
+    I may always have cause to remain your very humble servant as I
+    desire to do with all my heart. Above all, write to me your good
+    pleasure, and I implore you, Monseigneur, if there be any service
+    that I can render you, I am the one who would wish to employ all
+    that God has given me [to do it]. Written at Namur, August 16th.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient subject,
+
+    "CHARLES."
+
+Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict the punishment that the
+culprits had, to his mind, too long escaped.
+
+Commines calls this a strong and rich town, superior even to
+Liege.[13] A comparison of the two sites shows, however, that this
+statement could hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in a
+narrow space between the Meuse and high land. A lofty rock at one
+end of the town dominating the river is crowned by a fortress most
+picturesque in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how many
+inhabitants there actually were in the place in 1466, but there is
+no doubt as to their energy and character. As mentioned before, the
+artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their specialty, and
+their brass work was renowned far and wide. Pots and pans and other
+utensils were known as _Dinanderies_.
+
+The traffic in them was so important that Dinant had had her own
+commercial relations with England for a long period. Her merchants
+enjoyed the same privileges in London as the members of the Hanseatic
+League, and an English company was held in high respect at Dinant.[14]
+The brass-founders' gild ranked at Dinant as the drapers at Louvain,
+and the weavers at Ghent. As a "great gild they formed a middle class
+between the lower gilds and the _bourgeois_," the merchants and richer
+folk.[15] In municipal matters each of these three classes had a
+separate vote.
+
+As it happened, Dinant had not been very ready to open hostilities
+against the House of Burgundy though she was equally critical of Louis
+of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It was undoubtedly her rivalry
+with Bouvignes of Namur that brought her into the strife. That
+neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation, and the fact that
+it was safe under the Duke of Burgundy and backed by him as Count of
+Namur, had brought a Burgundian element into the local contest.
+
+The incidents of the insult to Charles and the aspersion on his
+mother's reputation undoubtedly were due to an irresponsible rabble
+rather than to any action that could properly be attributed to the
+leading men. Further, it really seems probable that the weight
+attached to the insulting act never occurred to the respectable
+burghers until they heard of it from others, so insignificant were the
+participants in it.
+
+As soon as it was realised that serious consequences might result
+from reckless folly, the authorities were quite ready to separate
+themselves from the event, and to arrest the culprits as common
+malefactors. Once, indeed, the prisoners were temporarily rescued by
+their friends, and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a suspicious
+circumstance that this happened just at a moment when there was
+renewed hope for help from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes
+were vain, the magistrates became seriously alarmed and ready to go
+to any lengths to avert Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following
+letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy:[16]
+
+    "The poor, humble and obedient servants and subjects of the most
+    reverend father in God, Louis of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege; and
+    your petty neighbours and borderers, the burgomaster's council and
+    folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to their knowledge
+    that the wrath of your grace has been aroused against the town on
+    account of certain ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants
+    thereof, in contempt of your honourable person. The city is as
+    displeased about these words as it is possible to be, and far from
+    wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested as many as could be
+    found and now holds them in durance awaiting any punishment your
+    _grace_ may decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do
+    your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your anger to be
+    appeased, holding the people of Dinant exonerated, and resting
+    satisfied with the punishment of the guilty, inasmuch as the
+    people are bitterly grieved on account of the insults and have, as
+    before stated, arrested the culprits."
+
+With further apologies for any failure of duty towards the Duke of
+Burgundy, the petitioners humbly begged to be granted the same terms
+that Liege and the other towns had received. March 31st is the date
+of this humble document. Months of doubt followed before the terrible
+experience of August proved the futility of their pleas, to which the
+ducal family refused to listen, so deep was their sense of personal
+aggrievement. Long as it was since the duchess had taken part in
+public affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And she, too, was
+implacable against the town where any citizen had dared accuse her of
+infidelity to her husband and to the Church whose interests were more
+to her than anything in the world except her son.[17]
+
+The petition was as unheeded as were all the representations of the
+would-be mediators. Again Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XI.
+and with assurances that after God his royal majesty was their only
+hope, besought him from mere charity and pity to persuade his cousin
+of Burgundy to forgive them. Apparently Louis took no notice of this
+appeal. Dinant's last hope was that her fellow-communes of Liege would
+refuse to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included. The sole
+concession, obtained by their envoys to Charles in the winter, had
+been a short truce afterwards extended to May, 1466.
+
+During that summer the critical position of the little town was well
+known. Some sympathisers offered aid but it was aid that there was
+possible danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from Liege, who had
+been expressly excluded from the terms of the peace, had joined the
+ranks of a certain free lance company called "The Companions of the
+Green Tent," as their only shelter was the interlaced branches of the
+forest. To Dinant came this band to aid in her defence.[18] At one
+time it seemed as though a peaceful accommodation might be reached but
+it fell through. Not yet were the citizens ready to surrender their
+charters--"Franchises,--to the rescue," was a frequent cry and no
+treaty was made.
+
+Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the reduction of this
+place in person. Too feeble to ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a
+litter, and arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then attended by a small
+escort only, he proceeded to Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point
+whence he could command a view of the scene of his son's intended
+operations. As the crisis became imminent there were a few further
+efforts to effect a reconciliation. When these failed, the town
+prepared to meet the worst.[19] Stories gravely related by Du
+Clercq[20] represent the people of Dinant goaded to actual fury of
+resistance.
+
+By August 7th, the Burgundian troops made their appearance, winding
+down to the river. Conspicuous among the standards--and nobles from
+all Philip's dominions were in evidence--was the banner of the Count
+of Charolais, displaying St. George slaying the dragon.
+
+On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested and the siege began.
+Within the walls the most turbulent element had gained complete
+control of affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to the winds.
+From the walls they hurled words at the foe:
+
+"Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you have brought him
+here to perish?[21] Your Count Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him
+go fight the King of France at Montl'hêry. If he waits for the noble
+Louis or the Liegeois he will have to take to his heels," etc.
+
+It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled with cannon-balls but
+there was no assault. By the sixth day the magistrates determined
+to send their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for mercy. The
+captain of the great gild of coppersmiths, Jean de Guérin, tried to
+encourage the faint-hearted to protest openly against this procedure.
+Seizing the city colours he declared: "I will trust to no humane
+sentiment. I am ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live or
+die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the town before the foe
+enter it." It was too late, the capitulation was made.
+
+When the keys were brought to Charles he remembered that he was not
+yet duke and ordered them presented to his father in his stead, and to
+his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task of formally accepting
+the surrender.
+
+It was late in the evening when the Bastard of Burgundy marched in. At
+first he held the incoming troops well under control, but the stores
+of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning there were wild scenes
+of disorder. When Charles arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday,
+just a week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness was checked
+with a strong hand. Any ill treatment of women was peculiarly
+repugnant to him, and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
+justice upon offenders.[22]
+
+[Illustration: ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY AFTER HANS MEMLING. DRESDEN
+GALLERY]
+
+His entry into the fallen town was made with all the wonted Burgundian
+pomp. Nothing in the proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate
+manner. A council of war was held and the proceedings decided upon.
+The cruelty that was exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
+not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults to his mother and to
+himself rankled in the count's mind. As one author remarks[23] with
+undoubted reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible for
+the insult were among those punished. After the siege, "pitiable it
+was to see, for the innocent suffered and the guilty escaped."
+
+Certain rich citizens bought their lives with large sums, others _were
+sold as slaves,_[24] or were hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into
+the Meuse.[25] In the monasteries, life was conceded to the inmates
+but that was all. All their property was confiscated. The Count of St.
+Pol, now Constable of France, tried to intercede for the citizens with
+Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to no result. It might have been
+chance or it might have been intentional that at last flames completed
+the work of destruction. The abode of Adolph of Cleves, at the corner
+of Nôtre Dame, was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the
+morning of Thursday, August 28th.
+
+That Charles was responsible for this conflagration Du Clercq thinks
+is incredible.[26] He would certainly have saved all ecclesiastical
+property which was almost completely consumed. Indeed, Charles gave
+orders to extinguish the flames as soon as they were discovered, but
+every one was so occupied with saving his own portion of booty that
+nothing was accomplished and the town-hall caught fire and the church
+of Nôtre Dame. From the latter some ornaments and treasures were saved
+and the bones of Ste. Perpète, with other holy relics, were rescued by
+Charles himself at risk to his own life.
+
+    "It was never known how the fire originated. Some say it was
+    due to a defective flue. To my mind," [concludes the pious
+    historian],[27] "it was the Divine Will that Dinant should be
+    destroyed on account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I
+    trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone lost more than
+    a hundred thousand crowns' value."
+
+_Cy fust Dinant_, "Dinant was," is the sum of his description, four
+days after the conflagration.[28]
+
+On September 1st, Philip, who had remained at Bouvignes while all this
+passed under the direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down to
+Namur. It was almost a triumph,--that trip that proved one of the last
+ever made by the proud duke--and the procession on the river and the
+entry into Namur were closed by a humble embassy from Liege in regard
+to certain points of their peace.
+
+Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the Count of St. Pol's men
+had had no part in the plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the
+poor fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their mercies, as a
+compensation for this deprivation, the little town of Tuin, which had
+been rebellious and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, submitted
+to St. Pol, and then compounded the right of pillage for a round sum
+of money. Moreover, they promised to lay low their gates and their
+walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is said that the
+constable made ten thousand Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men
+felt ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant.
+
+Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare on the various towns of
+Liege territory. The people of Liege themselves seem to have varied
+in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being very humble in their
+petitions for peace and again very insolent. As a rule, this conduct
+seems to be traceable to their hope of Louis's support. On September
+7th, there was one pitched battle where victory decided the final
+terms of the general peace, and after various skirmishes and
+submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the winter and joined
+his father at Brussels.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Doc. inédits sur l'hist. de France_. "Mélanges," ii.,
+398.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Polain, _Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège_,
+I, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See Kirk, _Charles the Bold_, i., 329.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Jacques de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of
+difficulty in Liege government:
+
+1. The size of the council--two hundred, where twenty would do.
+
+2. The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to size, when
+all were assembled by the council to vote on a matter.
+
+3. Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen.
+
+4. Facile naturalisation laws. (_See_ Kirk, i., 325.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: In many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is
+probable that it was only partially operative.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See Victor Hugo, _Le Rhin_, i. The Walloon dialect varies
+greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the "Prodigal Son"
+as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille:
+
+LIEGE. Jésus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis. Li pus jone dérit
+à s'père: père dinnez-m'con qui m'dent riv' ni di vosse bin; et l'père
+lezi partagea s'bin.
+
+HUY. Jésus l'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li peus jone dérit a
+s'père etc.
+
+LILLE. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux garchens. L'pus jeune
+dit à sin père-mon père donez me ch que j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et
+l'père leu-z-a doné a chacun leu parchen.
+
+See also _Doc. inédits concernant l'hist. de la Belgique_, ii., 238,
+for comment on Scott's treatment of the language.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The numbers are probably exaggerated. To-day it contains
+about two hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Du Clercq, iv., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clercq, iv., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Clercq, iv., 239-262.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii., 285, 322. For letters and
+negotiations anterior to this peace see p. 197 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Duclos, v., 236.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Book ii., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight
+thousand inhabitants.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In addition to Commines and Du Clercq _see also_ Kirk,
+i., 385, for quotations from Borgnet and others.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 213, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. inéd.,_ ii., 350.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Est falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse
+de Bourgogne, à cause desdictes injures at conclut telle hayne sur
+cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a juré comme on dist que s'il li
+devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner cestedite ville en
+mettant toutes personnes à l'espée. (Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii.,
+222.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii., 337, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Du Clercq, iv., 273.]
+
+[Footnote 20: He says messengers were put to death without regard to
+their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from limb.
+Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say mass, and the
+situation was strained to the last degree.]
+
+[Footnote 21: _Qui a mandé ce vieil monnart vostre duc_, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Du Clercq, iv., 278.]
+
+[Footnote 23: De Ram, _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de
+Liége,_ "Henricus de Merica," p. 159.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Vel vendebantur in servos. See De Ram _et passim_ for
+documents.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It seems to be well attested that the prisoners were
+tied together and drowned.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Du Clercq, iv., 280.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _Ibid._, 281.]
+
+[Footnote 28: In 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly
+called Dinant" and after that, little by little, the town came to
+life. (Gachard, _Analectes Belgiques_, 318, etc.).]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+1467
+
+
+The Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where he witnessed the manner in
+which his authority was vindicated was his last effort. In the early
+summer following, on Friday, June 10th, Philip, then at Bruges, was
+taken ill and died on the following Monday, June 13th, between nine
+and ten in the evening.[1] Charles was summoned on the Sunday, and it
+seemed as though his horse's hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he
+rode, so swift was his course on the way to Bruges.
+
+When he reached the house where his father lay dying, he was told that
+speech had already ceased, but that there was still life. The count
+threw himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all tenderness,
+and implored a paternal benediction and pardon for all wherein he had
+offended his father. Near the duke stood his confessor who begged the
+dying man to make a sign if he could still understand what was said
+to him. On this admonition and in reply to his son's prayers, Philip
+turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him and pressed the hand which
+was laid upon his own, but further token was beyond his strength. The
+count stayed by his side until he breathed his last.
+
+Thus ended the life of a man who had been a striking figure in Europe
+for forty years. His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been
+fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the Holy Land from the
+invading Turks had proved vain. Many years had passed since he had
+had military success of any kind, and even in his earlier life his
+successes had been owing to diplomacy and to a happy conjunction
+of circumstances rather than to skilful generalship. He possessed
+pre-eminently the power of personality.
+
+When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge at Montereau and Philip
+came into his heritage, Henry V. of England was in the full flush of
+his prosperity, standing triumphant over England and France, and in a
+position to make good his claim with three stalwart brothers to back
+him. All these young men had died prematurely. Their only descendant
+was Henry VI., and that meagre and wretched representative of the
+ambitious Henry V. had had no spark of the character of his father and
+uncles. The one vigorous element in his life was his wife, Margaret
+of Anjou, who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband on his
+throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467, Edward of York was on that
+throne. Gone, too, was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded
+his early, whose son darkened his latter years.
+
+Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke Philip alone had marched
+steadily to every desired goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate
+list of his achievements in doggerel verses:
+
+  "John was born of Philip, child of good King John.
+  To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son.
+  Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed to me
+  Therein to follow him and rule them legally.
+  With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm greater grew.
+  Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too.
+  The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied,
+  By force of right and arms they have been pacified.
+  At one single time against me were maintained
+  French, English, German forces,--nothing have they gained.
+  Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great array.
+  From me he begged a peace and king was from that day!
+  The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered seven.
+  Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given.
+  Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted,
+  But I put them down. I would not be insulted.
+  In Barrois and Lorraine, King René warred upon me.
+  Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he.
+  Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee,
+  From me received his crown. Five years my guest was he.
+  Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land;
+  That now he's England's king is due my aid and hand.
+  To defend the Church, which is the House Divine,
+  The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order mine.
+  Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength,
+  My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length.
+  In later days I planned and most sincerely meant
+  To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent.
+  When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained,
+  Through my control alone as Pope was he retained.
+  In 1467, Time my goal has set.
+  When I am seventy-one, I pay Dame Nature's debt.
+  With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here.
+  As in life I ever was their equal and their peer.
+  Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed,
+  Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed!"
+
+The territories thus named, that passed to the new duke, covered
+a goodly space of earth. Had Philip not slacked his ambition at a
+critical time, undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather than a
+ducal crown to his son. He did not so will it, and, moreover, in a
+way he had receded from his independence as he had accepted feudal
+obligations towards Louis XI. which he never had towards Charles VII.
+
+Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser of the French king, he had
+emphasised his position as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke
+of Burgundy _par excellence_ that Philip died, as the typical peer
+whose luxury and magnificence far surpassed the state possible to his
+acknowledged liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of attempting
+to turn that ducal state into state royal, and of establishing a realm
+which should hold the balance of power between France and Germany.
+
+There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to which was the greater, the
+cleverer, the more powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles the
+duke. Had not the former been a beggarly suppliant at his father's
+gates, as dauphin? As king, had he not been forced to yield at the
+gates of his own capital to every demand made by Charles, standing as
+the conscientious representative of the public welfare of France?
+
+Had not Louis befriended the contumelious neighbour of Charles, only
+to learn that his Burgundian cousin could and would deal summarily
+with all protests against his authority among the lesser folk on
+Netherland territory?
+
+The Croys made an attempt to gain the new duke's friendship, as
+appears from this letter to Duke Charles:
+
+    "Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has pleased Our
+    Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw from the world the good
+    Duke Philip, our beloved lord and father, prince of glorious
+    memory, august duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron
+    and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity, and the
+    dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds, he has won an
+    immortal name among living men, and deserves to our mind to find
+    grace before the merciful bounty of God whom we implore to pardon
+    his faults.
+
+    "Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous death shows what
+    is to be expected by all mortals. How many lands, how many nobles,
+    how many peoples, how many treasures, and how many powers would
+    have been ready to prevent what has come to pass, and how many
+    prayers would have risen to God could He have prevented this
+    death!...
+
+    "Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is the end of all
+    evils and the beginning of all benefits, but still your loss
+    and ours cannot pass without affliction. Nevertheless, our most
+    puissant lord, when we consider that we are not left orphans, and
+    that you, his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause
+    for comfort.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "We implore you to be pleased to count us your loyal subjects
+    and very humble servitors and to permit us to go to you, to thus
+    declare ourselves, etc.
+
+    "A. DE CROY, "J. DE CROY."
+
+At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La Marche was in England,
+whither he had accompanied the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to
+King Edward.[2] Right royally had the latter received the embassy.
+
+    "Clad in purple, the garter on his leg and a great baton in his
+    hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage worthy of being king, for he
+    was a fine prince with a grand manner. A count held the sword
+    in front of him, and around his throne were from twenty to
+    twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking like
+    senators gathered together to advise their master."
+
+Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a tourney given in honour
+of the embassy which La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The
+Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian coat-of-arms with a bar
+sinister, made a fine record for himself.
+
+After the tournament he invited the ladies to a Sunday dinner,
+
+    "especially the Queen and her sisters and made great preparations
+    therefor and then we departed, Thomas de Loreille, Bailiff of
+    Caux, and I to go to Brittany to accomplish our embassy. We
+    arrived at Pleume and were obliged to await wind and boats to
+    go into Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke of
+    Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great was the bastard's
+    mourning when he heard of his father's death, and how the nobility
+    who were with him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into
+    tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all valour.
+
+    "In his life he accomplished two things to the full. One was he
+    died as the richest prince of his time, for he left four hundred
+    thousand crowns of gold cash, seventy-two thousand marks of silver
+    plate, without counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes
+    garnished with precious stones, a large and well equipped library,
+    and rich furniture. For the second, he died as the most liberal
+    duke of his time. He married his nieces at his own expense; he
+    bore the whole cost of great wars several times. At his own
+    expense, he refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave
+    ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy at Rhodes; ...
+    No one went from him who was not well recompensed. The state
+    he maintained was almost royal. For five years he supported
+    Monseigneur the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned that all the
+    world spoke well of him."
+
+The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the English court and hastened
+to Bruges to join his brother, the Count of Charolais, who received
+him warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, "when I mention the said
+count I will call him the Duke of Burgundy as is reasonable."
+
+Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the church of St. Donat
+in Bruges, there to repose until it could be taken to Burgundy to be
+buried at Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses the funeral
+with a brief phrase as he was not himself present at Bruges, being
+busied in Brittany. There was a memorial service there, the finest
+he ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted in the chapel
+decorations, not merely pinned on,[2] a fact that impressed the
+chronicler. No nobles, not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
+put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared that none but him was
+worthy of the honour for so high a prince.
+
+    "So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the service I went to
+    thank him for the reverence he had shown the House of Burgundy,
+    and he responded that he had only done his duty. Then I finished
+    my business as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again and
+    returned to my new master."
+
+In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the Duke of Burgundy,[4]
+Chastellain recounts, more at length than La Marche, all that his
+great master had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe the duke
+as he knew him.
+
+    He was medium in height, rather slight but straight as a rush,
+    strong in hip and in arm, his figure well-knit. His neck was
+    admirably proportioned to his body, his hand and foot were
+    slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his veins were
+    full-blooded. Like all his ancestors, his face was long, as was
+    his nose, his forehead high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
+    brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows the same
+    colour, but the former curly, the latter were bushy and inclined
+    to stand up like horns when he was angry. His mouth was
+    well-proportioned, his lips full and high-coloured; his eyes were
+    grey, sometimes arrogant but usually amiable in expression.
+    His personality corresponded perfectly to his appearance. His
+    countenance showed his character, and his character was a witness
+    to the truth of his physiognomy. Nothing was contradictory,
+    perfect was the harmony between the inner and the outer man,
+    between the nobility of thought and the simple dignity,
+    well-poised and graceful. Among the great ones of this earth, he
+    was like a star in heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
+    and a man unique."
+
+    It was for his bearing rather than his beauty that he commanded
+    universal admiration. In a stable he would have looked like an
+    image in a temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Whereever his
+    body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready for the demands of the
+    hour. He was singularly joyous and nicely tempered in speech with
+    so much personal magnetism that he could mollify any enemy if he
+    could only meet him face to face. His dress was always rich and
+    appropriate. He was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in
+    tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase. He liked to linger
+    at the table and demanded good serving but was really moderate in
+    his tastes, as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence
+    ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never heard from him. To
+    all alike his speech was courteous even when there was nothing to
+    be gained.
+
+    "Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips, his mouth was equal
+    to his seal and his spoken word to his written. Loyal as fine gold
+    and whole as an egg." Chastellain repeats himself somewhat in
+    the profusion of his eulogy, but such are the main points of his
+    characterisation. Then he proceeds to some qualifications:
+
+    "In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I acknowledge that he
+    had faults. None is perfect except God. Often he was very careless
+    in administration, and he neglected questions of justice, of
+    finance, and of commerce in a way that may redound to the injury
+    of his house. The excuse urged is that it was his deputies who
+    were at fault. The answer to that is that he trusted too much to
+    deputies and should not be excused for his confidence. A ruler
+    ought to understand his business himself.
+
+    "Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his heart at the
+    desire of his eyes. At the desire of his heart he multiplied his
+    pleasures. His wishes were easy to attain. What he wanted was
+    offered freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his wife,
+    a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For this I offer no
+    excuse. To God I leave the cause.
+
+    "Another fault was that he was not wise in his treatment of his
+    nobles. Especially in his old age he often preferred the less
+    worthy, the less capable advisers. The answer to this charge is
+    that, as his health failed, whoever was by his side obtained
+    ascendency over him and succeeded in keeping the others at a
+    distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the excuse is to the
+    princely invalid. In his solitude even valets used their power, as
+    is not wonderful.
+
+    "He went late to mass and often out of hours. Sometimes he had
+    it celebrated at two o'clock or even three, and in so doing he
+    exceeded all Christian observance. For this there is no excuse
+    that I dare allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had,
+    indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for causes which he
+    explained, _and he only_ is responsible. God alone can judge about
+    him.
+
+    "It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered for this
+    neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice to deplore, nor the
+    nature of man to lament the perdition of such a soul and of such a
+    prince. Hell is not worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. 0
+    God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single virtuous act, do
+    not suffer this man to descend therein!"
+
+Having thus tried his best to give a vivid description of the father's
+personality, while acknowledging that he is not sure of the fate of
+his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an excellent moment
+to paint the son, too, for all time, in view of his mortality. "I will
+use the past tense so that my words may be good for always."
+
+Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than Duke Philip, but well
+formed, strong in arm and thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set
+and a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted to activity.
+The contour of his face was rounder than that of his father, his
+complexion brunette. His eyes were black and laughing, angelically
+clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as though his father
+looked out of them. Like his father's mouth was his, full and red. His
+nose was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair black. His forehead
+was fine, his neck white and well set, though always bent as he
+walked. He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but nevertheless
+he was a fine prince with a fair outer man.
+
+When he began to speak he often found difficulty in expressing
+himself, but once started his speech became fluent, even eloquent.
+His voice was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although he had
+studied the technique and was fond of music. In conversation he was
+more logical than his father, but very tenacious of his own opinion
+and vehement in its expression, although, at the bottom, he was just
+to all men.
+
+In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He listened to others'
+arguments judicially and gave them due weight before his own concluded
+the discussion. He was attentive to his own business to a fault, for
+he was rather more industrious than became a prince. Economical of his
+own time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates and worked them
+very hard. He was fond of his servants and fairly affable, though
+occasionally sharp in his words. His memory was long and his anger
+dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed him, but being naturally
+impetuous there was often a struggle between impulse and reason.
+
+He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the Virgin Mary, rigid in
+his fasts, lavish in charity. He was determined to avoid death and
+to hold on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's peer in
+valour. Like his father, he dressed richly; unlike him, he cared more
+for silver than for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual to
+princes and was always master of himself. He drank little wine, though
+he liked it, because he found that it engendered fever in him. His
+only beverage was water just coloured with wine. He was inclined to no
+indulgence or wantonness. "At the hour in which I write his taste for
+hard labour is excessive, but in other respects his good sense has
+dominated him, at least thus far. It is to be hoped that as his reign
+grows older he will curb his over-strenuous industry."
+
+As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets that circumstances
+have turned him towards England. Naturally he belonged to the French,
+and it was a pity that the machinations of the king, "whose crooked
+ways are well known to God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on
+his forehead he wears the fleur-de-lys."
+
+Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused of avarice, but
+defends him on the ground that he has been driven into collecting
+a large army. "A penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of
+another." "To take precautions in advance is a way to save honour and
+property," prudently adds the historian, who evidently flourishes
+his maxims to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's economy,
+which, quite as evidently, is not pleasing to him. "I have seen him
+the very opposite of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in
+largesse. When he came into his seigniory his nature did not change."
+It was simply the exigencies of his critical position that forced him
+to restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain the undeserved
+reputation for parsimony.
+
+It was also said that he was a very hard taskmaster, but as a matter
+of fact he demanded nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to
+undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was his own commander, drew up
+his own troops himself in battle array, and then passed from one end
+of the line to the other, encouraging the men individually with cheery
+words, promising them glory and profit, and pledging himself to share
+their dangers. In victory he was restrained and showed more mercy than
+cruelty.
+
+After expatiating on the points where Charles was like his
+father--conventional princely qualities --Chastellain adds: "In some
+respects they differed. The one was cold and the other boiling with
+ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other strenuous in his
+promptness; the elder negligent of his own concerns, the younger
+diligent and alert. They differed in the amount of time consumed at
+meals and in the number of guests whom they entertained. They differed
+more or less in their voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in
+the way in which they took solace and amusement." But in all other
+respects, "in life they marched side by side as equals and if it
+please God He will be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the
+final assurance of their eulogist.
+
+Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his adjectives about his
+patron, there is considerable discrimination between his summaries of
+the two dukes. It is very evident that from his accession Charles
+was less of a favourite than his father. While endeavouring to be
+as complimentary as possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out
+between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and thus never saw
+Charles's final disaster. But the violence of his character had
+inspired lack of confidence in his power of achievement, a violence
+that made people dislike him as Philip with all his faults was never
+disliked.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Du Clercq, iv., 302 _et seq_. Erasmus was born in this
+year, 1467.]
+
+[Footnote 2: II., 49.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "Non par armes attachées à espingles."]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Oeuvres_, vii., 213.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+1467
+
+
+After the dauphin was crowned at Rheims, he was monarch over all his
+domains. Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a series of
+ceremonies to perform before he was properly invested with the various
+titles worn by his father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be
+taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited. Then he had
+to exchange pledges of fidelity with his Flemish subjects before
+receiving recognition as Count of Flanders.
+
+According to the custom of his predecessors, Charles stayed at the
+little village of Swynaerde, near Ghent, the night before he made his
+"joyous entry" into that city. It had chanced that the day selected by
+Charles for the event was St. Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of
+the workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed conveniently in a
+portable shrine, rested in the cathedral church, whence they were
+carried once a year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession to
+the little village of Houthem, where the blessed saint had suffered
+martyrdom in the seventh century. All day and all night the saint's
+devotees, the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, remained at
+this spot. Merry did the festival become as the hours wore on, for
+good cheer was carried thither as well as the sacred shrine.
+
+Now the magistrates were a little apprehensive about the rival claims
+of the new count of Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They knew
+that they could not cut short the time-honoured celebration for the
+sake of the sovereign's inauguration, so they decided to prolong the
+former, and directed that the saint should leave town on Saturday and
+not return until Monday. This left Sunday free for the young count's
+entry. It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction of events to
+the city fathers, because the more turbulent portion of the citizens
+was sure to follow the saint.
+
+Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and dignified entrance,[1]
+having paused at the gates to listen to the fair words of Master
+Mathys de Groothuse as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of
+Flanders, and requested God to receive the present one, when he, too,
+was forced to leave earth, as graciously as Ghent was receiving him
+that day. All passed well; oaths of fealty were duly taken and given
+at the church of St. John the Baptist. Charles himself pulled the
+bell rope according to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of
+Flanders was in possession. This all took place in the morning of June
+28th. At the close of the ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and
+the magistrates to their dwellings.
+
+The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their holiday until Monday
+afternoon. It was five o'clock[2] when the revellers returned to
+Ghent. Many of the saint's followers were, by that time, more or less
+under the influence of the contents of the casks which had formed part
+of the outward-bound burden. The protracted holiday-making had its
+natural sequence. There was, however, too much method in the next
+proceedings for it to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety.
+
+The procession passed through the city gate and entered a narrow
+street near the corn market, where stood a little house used as
+headquarters for the collection of the _cueillotte_, a tax on every
+article brought into the city for sale, and one particularly obnoxious
+to the people. Suddenly a cry was raised and echoed from rank to rank
+of St. Lievin's escort, "Down with the _cueillotte_."
+
+Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic crowd, quick to take a
+fantastic advantage of a situation, a second cry was heard: "St.
+Lievin must go through the house. Lievin is a saint who never turns
+aside from his route."
+
+Delightful thought, followed by speedy action. Axes were produced and
+wielded to good effect.
+
+Down came the miniature customs-house in a flash. Little pieces of
+the ruin were elevated on sticks and carried by some of the rabble as
+standards with the cry "I have it--I have it." As they marched
+the procession was constantly augmented and the cries become more
+decidedly revolutionary: "Kill, kill these craven spoilers of God and
+of the world.[2] Where are they? Let us seek them out and slay them in
+their houses, those who have flourished at our pitiable expense."
+
+This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of St. Lievin's mantle,
+resistance to regularly instituted customs could hardly be described
+by any other name. Excited by their own temerity, the crowd now surged
+on to the great market-place in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where the
+Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint promptly to his
+safe abiding-place as was meet.
+
+There the lawless deeds--lawless to the duke's mind certainly--became
+more audacious. Counterparts of the very banners whose prohibition
+had been part of the sentence in 1453 were unfurled,[4] and their
+possession alone proved insurrectionary premeditation on the part of
+the gild leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the young duke in
+their midst felt it was an open insult to him as sovereign count.
+
+His messenger failed to return from the market-place. His master
+became impatient and followed him to the scene of action with a small
+escort. As they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged them in. The
+nobles became alarmed and urged the duke to return, but cries from
+the crowd promised safety to his person. To the steps of the Hôtel de
+Ville rode the duke, his face dark, menacing with suppressed wrath.[5]
+
+As he dismounted, he turned towards a man whom he thought he saw
+egging on a disturbance and struck him with his riding whip, saying,
+"I know you." The man was quick enough to realise the value of the
+duke's violence at that moment and cried, "Strike again," but the
+Seigneur Groothuse, who had already tried to check Charles's anger and
+to curb the popular turbulence, exclaimed, "For the love of God do
+not strike again!" The wiser burgher at once understood the unstable
+temper of the mob, which had been fairly civil to the duke up to this
+moment. There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the blow would cost
+him dear.
+
+    "Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mischief was so
+    imminent that God alone averted it, and there was not an archer
+    or noble or man so full of assurance that he did not tremble with
+    fear, nor one who would not have preferred to be in India for his
+    own safety. Especially were they in terror for their young prince,
+    who, they thought, was exposed to a dolorous death."
+
+It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster:
+
+    "Do you not see that your life and ours hang on a silken thread?
+    Do you think you can coerce a rabble like this by threats and hard
+    words--a rabble who at this moment do not value you more than the
+    least of us? They are beside themselves, they have neither reason
+    nor understanding.[6]... If you are ready to die, I am not, except
+    in spite of myself. You must try quite a different method--appease
+    them by sweetness and save your house and your life.
+
+    "What could you do alone? How the gods would laugh! Your courage
+    is out of place here unless it enables you to calm yourself and
+    give an example to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom
+    you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They were within the town
+    hall.] Show yourself and you will make an impression by your good
+    sense and all will go well."
+
+To this eminently sound advice the young duke yielded. He appeared on
+a balcony or on the upper steps of the town hall and stood ready to
+harangue his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment sufficed to still
+the turmoil and the silence showed a readiness to hear him speak.
+
+Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish, but he was wise enough
+to use that tongue. One trait of the Ghenters was respect for the
+person of their overlord. When that overlord showed any disposition to
+meet them half-way the response was usually immediate. So it was now.
+The crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin, and not to the
+duke's joyous entry, suddenly remembered that his welcome had been
+strangely ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings. "Take heart,
+Monseigneur. Have no fear. For you we will live and die and none shall
+be so audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fellows with no bump
+of reverence, endure it for the moment. Later you shall be avenged. No
+time now for fear."
+
+This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently appeased to address the
+crowd as "My children," and to assure them that if they would but meet
+him in peaceful conference, their grievances should be redressed.
+"Welcome, welcome! we are indeed your children and recognise your
+goodness."
+
+Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech than was possible either
+to Charles's Flemish or to his mood. This address was equally
+well received, and matters were in train for the appointment of a
+conference between popular representatives and the new Count of
+Flanders, when suddenly a tall, rude fellow climbed up to the balcony
+from the square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to strike on
+the wall, he commanded attention and turned gravely to address the
+audience as though he were on the accredited list of speakers:
+
+"My brothers, down there assembled to set your complaints before your
+prince, your first wish--is it not?--is to punish the ill governors of
+this town and those who have defrauded you and him alike."
+
+"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle crowd.--"You desire the
+suppression of the _cueillotte_, do you not?"--"Yes, yes."--"You
+want all your gates opened again, your banners restored, and your
+privileges reinforced as of yore?"--"Yes, yes." The self-appointed
+envoy turned calmly to Charles and said:
+
+"Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have come together to ask you.
+This is your task. I have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear,
+they make my words their own."
+
+Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified ejaculation over the
+extraordinary insolence of this big villain, who thus audaciously
+associated himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty of God,
+think of such an outrageous and intolerable piece of villainy being
+committed before the eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to
+come and stand side by side with such a gentleman as our seigneur, and
+to proffer words inimical to his authority--words the poorest noble in
+the world would hardly have endured! And yet it was necessary for this
+noble prince to endure and to tolerate it for the moment, and needful
+that he should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough to kill him
+with grief."
+
+Groothuse's answer to the man was mild. Evidently he did not think it
+was a safe moment to exasperate the mob: "'My friend, there was no
+necessity of your intruding up here, a place reserved for the prince
+and his nobles. From below, you could have been heard and Monseigneur
+could have answered you as well there as here. He requires no advocate
+to make him content his people. You are a strange master. Get down. Go
+down below and keep to your mates. Monseigneur will do right by every
+one.'
+
+"Off went the rascal and I do not know what became of him. The duke
+and his nobles were simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage and his
+impudent daring."
+
+The sober report[7] is less detailed and elaborate, but the thread is
+the same. Monseigneur, having returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur
+de la Groothuse, Jean Petitpas, and Richard Utenhove back to the
+market to invite the people to put their grievances in writing. A
+draft was made and carried to the duke. After he had examined it and
+discussed it with his council, he sent Monseigneur de la Groothuse
+back to the market-place to tell the people that he wanted to sleep
+on the proposition and would give his answer at an early hour on the
+morrow. All through the night the people remained in arms on the
+market-place. At about eight o'clock on June 30th Groothuse returned,
+thanked the people in the count's name for having kept such good
+watch, and was answered by cries of "_À bas la cueillotte_."
+
+Then he assured them that all was pardoned and that they should obtain
+what they had asked in the draft. Only he requested them to appoint a
+committee of six to present their demands to Monseigneur and then to
+go home. This they did. St. Lievin was restored to the church and his
+followers betook themselves to the gates specified in the treaty of
+Gaveren. These they broke down, and also destroyed another house where
+was a tax collector's office.
+
+"The report of these events carried to Monseigneur did not have a good
+effect upon his spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted the city."
+The members of the corporation with the two deans and the popular
+committee of six having obtained audience before his departure,
+Groothuse acted as spokesman: "We implore you in all humility to
+pardon us for the insult you have suffered, and to sign the paper
+presented. The bad have had more authority than the good, which could
+not be prevented, but we know truly that if the draft is not signed
+they will kill us."
+
+It is evident in all this story that the municipal authorities were
+frightened to death and that Charles allowed himself to be restrained
+to an extraordinary extent considering the undoubted provocation. His
+reasons for conciliatory measures were two, and literally were his
+ducats and his daughter. He had with him all the portable treasure and
+ready money that his father had had at Bruges, a large treasure
+and one on which he counted for his immediate military
+operations--operations very important to the position as a European
+power which he ardently desired to attain.
+
+Still more important was the fact that his young daughter, Mary, now
+eleven years old, was living in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of
+the city. If the unruly majority should realise their strength what
+easier for them than to seize the treasure and hold the daughter as
+hostage, until her father had acceded to every demand, and until
+democracy was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the neighbouring
+cities?
+
+Charles simply did not dare attempt further coercion of the democratic
+spirit until he was beyond the walls. It is evident that he was
+completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude towards him, as the
+city had always professed great personal attachment to him. But there
+was a difference between being heir and sovereign. The agreement was
+signed, with a mental reservation on the part of the Duke of Burgundy.
+He only intended to keep his pledge until he could see his way clear
+to make terms better to his liking.
+
+On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking his daughter and his
+treasure away, but a safe shelter for both was not easy to find.
+The duke's anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon her
+neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle fears. There were revolts
+of more or less importance at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and
+other places. Moreover, there was serious discussion in the estates
+assembled at Louvain as to whether Charles should be acknowledged as
+Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his cousin, the Count of
+Nevers, should be considered as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the
+late duke's title had never been considered perfect.
+
+Louis XI. seized the opportunity to urge the pretensions of the
+latter, and there were many reasons to recommend him, in the
+estimation of the Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a sovereign
+exclusively their own, instead of one with the widespread geographical
+interests of the Burgundian family. The final decision was, however,
+for Charles; a notice of the resolution of the deputies was sent to
+him at Mechlin, and he made his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he
+received homage from the nobles, the good cities, and the university.
+
+The various insurgent manifestations were promptly quelled one after
+another, but, with a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the duke
+was strongly impressed by them as personal insults. He blamed Ghent
+for their occurrence and deeply resented every one. Throughout
+Philip's whole career he remembered the localised tenure of his titles
+and the fact that they were not perfectly incontestable. For his own
+advantage he often found a conciliatory attitude the best policy.
+Charles considered all his rights heaven-born. Questioning his
+authority was rank rebellion. That he had accepted advice in regard
+to Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the nonce, did not
+mitigate his intense bitterness.
+
+In another town that gave him serious trouble at this time, nothing
+led him to curb the severity of his measures. Though only a
+"protector," not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion in Liege
+he rigorously exacted the most complete and humiliating penalties. The
+city charters were abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As
+an unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth, walls and
+fortifications rased to the ground.
+
+    "The perron on the market-place of the said town shall be taken
+    down, and then Monseigneur the duke shall treat it according to
+    his pleasure. The city may not remake the said perron, nor replace
+    another like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city. Nor
+    shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms of Liege."[8]
+
+This was a terrible indignity for the city and a clear proof of their
+fear of their bishop's friend.
+
+The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent with the duke's power, and
+made the more timorous anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his
+mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their arguments, but the
+scene of abnegation and self-humiliation crowning their apology was
+not enacted until eighteen months after the events apologised for,
+when the new duke had still further proven his metal.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 210, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Some authorities make this five A.M., but the _Rapport_
+is probably correct.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Chastellain, v., 260 _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: So say some historians. But it seems probable that the
+drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Chastellain, v., ch. 7, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 6: These are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober
+_Rapport_ is similar in purport.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 212. ]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard. _Doc. inéd_., ii., 462, "_Instrument notarié_."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+1468
+
+
+For many months before Philip's death there had been negotiations
+concerning Charles's marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling a
+closer bond with his mother than with his father, Charles's sympathy
+had ever been towards the Lancastrian party in England, the family to
+whom Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only the necessity for
+making a strong alliance against Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride
+from the House of York. It was on this business that La Marche and
+the great Bastard were engaged when Philip's death interrupted the
+discussion, which Charles did not immediately resume on his own
+behalf.
+
+Pending the final decision in regard to this important indication of
+his international policy, the duke busied himself with the adjustment
+of his court, there being many points in which he did not intend to
+follow his father's usage.[1] Philip's lavishness, without too close
+a query as to the disposition of every penny, was naturally very
+agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal air about his
+households. It was easy to come and go, and it was pleasant to have
+the handling of money and the giving of orders--orders which were
+fulfilled and richly paid without haggling. Charles had other notions.
+He was willing to pay, but he wanted to be sure of an adequate
+return. How he started in on his administration with reform ideas is
+delightfully told by Chastellain.[2]
+
+One of his first measures when he was finally established at Brussels
+was to secure more speedy execution of justice. He appointed a new
+provost, "a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently fitted to
+carry out perilous work." Then he determined to settle petty civil
+suits himself, as there were many which had dragged on for a long
+time. In order to do this and to receive complaints from poor people,
+he arranged to give audience three times a week, Monday, Wednesday,
+and Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he required the
+attendance of all his nobles, seated before him on benches, each
+according to his rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so that
+few places were empty. Charles himself was elevated on a high throne
+covered with cloth of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judgments
+and heard and answered petitions, a process that sometimes lasted two
+or three hours and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers.
+
+    "In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent course of action and
+    very praiseworthy. But in my time I have never heard of nor seen
+    like action taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the
+    least similar.
+
+    "When the duke went through the city from place to place and from
+    church to church, it was wonderful how much state and order was
+    maintained and what a grand escort he had. Never a knight so old
+    or so young who dared absent himself and never a squire was bold
+    enough to squeeze himself into the knights' places."
+
+At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was observed. Every one had
+to wait his turn in his proper room--the squires in the first, the
+knights in the second, and so on. All left the palace together to go
+to mass. As soon as the offering was made all the nobles were free
+to dine, but they were obliged to report themselves to the duke
+immediately after his repast. Any failure caused the forfeiture of the
+fee for the day. It was all very orderly and very dull.
+
+Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law-giver, paternal guide,
+philosopher, and friend to his people. From time to time he delivered
+harangues to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hearing, but
+certainly did not win popularity. The adulatory phrases used as mere
+conventionalities seemed to have actually turned his head. And those
+stock phrases were very grandiloquent. There is no doubt that such
+comparisons were used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the first
+deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the sins committed at the
+dolorous unjoyous entry into the Flemish capital.[2]
+
+    "My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold double place, place
+    of God and place of man, and have in yourself the double nature
+    by office and commission in divine estate, and as your noble
+    discretion knows and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator,
+    of all offences committed against you, and who may be appeased
+    by tears and by weeping as He permits Himself to be softened by
+    contrition, entreaties, etc., and resumes His natural benignity by
+    forgetting things past [etc.].... Alas, what kindness did He use
+    toward Adam, His first offender, upon whom through his son Seth He
+    poured the oil of pity in five thousand future years, and then to
+    Cain the first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his crime
+    for ten generations etc. What did he do in Abraham's time, when He
+    sent word to Lot that if there were ten righteous men in Sodom and
+    Gomorrah He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In Ghent,"
+    etc.[4]
+
+In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the duke's consent to grant
+forgiveness to Ghent is again compared to God's own mercy. The divine
+attributes were referred to again and again, not only on the pages
+of contemporaneous chroniclers who may be accused of desiring ducal
+patronage, but also in sober state papers.
+
+There was one antidote to this homage universally offered to Charles
+wherever there was no rebellion against him. One of the rules of the
+Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike should be subject to
+criticism by their fellows. In May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an
+assembly of the Order, the first over which he had presided. It was a
+fitting opportunity for the knights to express their sentiments. When
+it came to his turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to the
+representations that his conduct fell short of the ideals of chivalry
+because he was too economical, too industrious, too strenuous, and not
+sufficiently cognisant of the merits of his faithful subjects of high
+degrees.[5]
+
+In these plaints, respectful as they are, there is perhaps a note of
+regret for the lavish and amusing good cheer of the late duke's times.
+Charles was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at this period. The
+vision of wide dominions was already in his dreams, and he was prudent
+enough to begin his preparations. And prudence is not a popular
+quality. Still his courtiers were not quite bereft of the gorgeous and
+spectacular entertainments to which the "good duke" had accustomed
+them. Soon after the assembly of the Order, the alliance between Duke
+Charles and Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our Burgundian
+Chastellain is not pleased with this marriage. That Charles inclined
+towards England at all was due to the French king, whom both he and
+his father had found untrustworthy. Again, had there been any other
+eligible _partie_ in England Charles would never have allied himself
+with King Edward when all his sympathies were with the blood of
+Lancaster. But when King Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou,
+whose woes should have commanded pity, simply for the purpose of
+undermining the Duke of Burgundy, the latter felt it wise to make
+Edward his friend.
+
+    "That it was sore against his inclination he confessed to one who
+    later revealed it to me, but he decided that it was better to
+    injure another rather than be down-trodden and injured himself.[6]
+
+    "For a long time there had been little love lost between him and
+    the king. The monarch feared the pride and haughtiness of his
+    subject, and the subject feared the strength and profound subtilty
+    of the king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the whip. And
+    all this, alas, was the result of that cursed War of Public Weal
+    cooked up by the French against their own king. When Charles was
+    deeply involved in it he was deserted by the others and the whole
+    weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so that he alone was
+    blamed by the king, and he alone was forced to look to his own
+    safety and comfort. It is a pity when such things occur in a realm
+    and among kinsfolk."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+
+FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN LENGLET DU FRESNOY
+EDITION OF COMINES]
+
+
+Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine when news came to
+him that the marriage was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
+it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the future result. But
+the king used all kinds of machinations to break off the alliance....
+God suffered two young proud princes to try their strength each at
+his will, often in ways that would have been incompatible in common
+affairs."
+
+The fullest account of the wedding is given by La Marche, an
+eyewitness of the event[7]:
+
+    "Gilles du Mas, maître d'hôtel du Duc de Bretagne--to you I
+    recommend myself. I have collected here roughly according to my
+    stupid understanding what I saw of the said festival, to send it
+    to you, beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me of the
+    noble states and high deeds in your quarter ... as becomes two
+    friends of one rank and calling in two fraternal, allied and
+    friendly houses.
+
+    "My lady and her company arrived at l'Écluse on a Saturday, June
+    25th, and on the morrow Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother
+    of the duke, Mlle. of Burgundy and various other ladies and
+    demoiselles visited Madame Margaret[8] and only
+
+stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased with her
+prospective daughter-in-law and could not say enough of her character
+and her virtues. There remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of
+the duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempré and various other
+ladies and gentlemen to act the hosts to the strange ladies and
+gentlemen who had crossed from England with the bride. The Count and
+Countess de Charny met Madame as she disembarked and never budged from
+her side until she had arrived at Bruges.
+
+"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur of Burgundy made his
+way to l'Écluse with a small escort and entered the chateau at the
+rear. After supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights of the
+Order, he went very secretly to the hôtel of Dame Margaret, who had
+been warned of his intention, and was attended by the most important
+members of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's
+brother.
+
+    "At his arrival when they saw each other the greetings were very
+    ceremonious and then the two sat down on one bench and chatted
+    comfortably together for some time. After some conversation, the
+    Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged plan of his own,
+    kneeled before the two and made complimentary speeches. He was
+    followed by M. de Charny, who spoke as follows:
+
+    "'Monseigneur, you have found what you desired and since God has
+    brought this noble lady to port in safety and to your desire, it
+    seems to me that you should not depart without proving the
+    affection  you bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now
+    at this moment and give her your troth.'
+
+    "Monseigneur answered that it did not depend upon him. Then the
+    bishop spoke to Margaret and asked her what she thought. She
+    answered that it was just for this and nothing else that the king
+    of England had sent her over and she was quite ready to fulfil
+    the king's command. Whereupon the bishop took their hands and
+    betrothed them. Then Monseigneur departed and returned on the
+    morrow to Bruges.
+
+    "Dame Margaret remained at l'Écluse until the following Saturday
+    and was again visited by Monseigneur. On Saturday the boats were
+    richly decorated to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was
+    received very honourably according to the capacity of that little
+    town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July, Monseigneur the duke set out
+    with a small escort between four and five o'clock in the morning,
+    and went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready to receive
+    him as all had been prearranged, and Monseigneur wedded her as was
+    suitable, and the nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the
+    Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles returned to his hotel
+    at Bruges, and you may believe that during the progress of the
+    other ceremonies he slept as if he were to be on watch on the
+    following night.
+
+    "Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of Luxemburg, John of
+    Nassau, and others returned to Damme and paid their homage to the
+    new duchess, and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully
+    draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white cloth of gold made
+    like a wedding garment as was proper. On her hair rested a crown
+    and her other jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English
+    ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by her litter
+    and the others behind. Five chariots followed the thirteen
+    hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk, the most beautiful woman in
+    England, being in the first. In this array Madame proceeded to
+    Bruges and entered at the gate called Ste. Croix."
+
+There were too many names to be enumerated, but La Marche cannot
+forbear mentioning a noble Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of
+Breda, who had six horses covered with cloth of gold, jewelry, and
+silk.
+
+    "I mention him for two reasons [he explains[9]]: first, that he
+    was the most brilliant in the procession, and the second is that
+    by the will of God he died on the Wednesday from a trouble in his
+    leg, which was a pity and much regretted by the nobility.
+
+    "The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace was magnificent,
+    with all the dignitaries in their order. So costly were the
+    dresses of the ducal household that Charles expended more than
+    forty thousand francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone.
+
+    "Prominent in this stately procession were the nations or foreign
+    merchants in this order: Venetians, Florentines--at the head of
+    the latter marched Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of
+    the duke at the same time that he was chief of their nation and
+    therefore dressed in their garb; Spaniards; Genoese--these latter
+    showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on horseback guarded by
+    St. George from the dragon.--Then came the Osterlings, 108 on
+    horseback, followed by six pages, all clad in violet.
+
+    "Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all decorated with
+    cloth  of gold and silk and tapestries. As to the theatrical
+    representations I can remember at least ten. There were Adam and
+    Eve, Cleopatra married to King Alexander, and various others.
+
+    "The reception at the palace was very formal. The dowager duchess
+    herself received her daughter-in-law from the litter and escorted
+    her by the hand to her chamber, and for the present we will leave
+    the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrangement of the
+    hôtel.
+
+    "In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess was served
+    _d'eschançon et d'escuyer tranchant et de pannetier_. All English,
+    all knights and gentlemen of great houses, and the chief steward
+    cried 'Knights to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get
+    the food, and around the buffet marched all the relations of
+    Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of great houses. And
+    for that day Mme. the duchess the mother declined to be served _à
+    couvert_ but left the honour to her daughter-in-law as was right.
+
+    "After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms for a little rest
+    and there were some changes of dress. Then they all mounted their
+    chariots and hackneys and issued forth on the streets in great
+    triumph and wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Several
+    days of festivity followed when the usual pantomimes and shows were
+    in evidence.
+
+    "Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fête, the grand _salle_ was
+    arranged in the same state as on the wedding day itself, except the
+    grand buffet which stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet,
+    too, was a grand affair and concluded the festivities.
+
+    On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur departed for
+    Holland on a pressing piece of business, and he took leave of the
+    Duchess of Norfolk and the other lords and ladies of quality and
+    gave them gifts each according to his rank. Thus ends the story
+    of this noble festival, and for the present I know nothing worth
+    writing you except that I am yours."
+
+To this may be added the letter of one of the Paston family who was in
+Margaret's train.[10]
+
+    "John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston:
+
+    "To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr Margaret Paston
+    dwelling at Caster, be thys delyveryed in hast.
+
+    "Ryth reverend & worchepfull Modyr, I recommend me on to you as
+    humbylly as I can thynk, desyryng most hertly to her of your
+    welfare & hertsese whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my
+    hert can thynk. Ples yt you to wete that at the makyng of thys
+    byll my brodyr & I & all our felawshep wer in good helle, blyssyd
+    be God.
+
+    "As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as worchepfull as all
+    the world can devyse it, & ther wer never Englyshe men had so good
+    cher owt of Inglong that ever I herd of.
+
+    "As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can non send yow;
+    savyng my Lady Margaret was maryed on Sonday last past at a town
+    that is called Dame IIj myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the
+    morning; & sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr dener;
+    & ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully as all the world cowd
+    devyse as with presession with ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny
+    pepell that ever I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in
+    hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that ever I sye.
+    And the same Sonday my Lord the Bastard took upon hym to answere
+    xxiiij knyts & gentylmen within viij dayis at jostys of pese &
+    when that they wer answered, they xxiiij & hymselve shold torney
+    with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on Monday next
+    comyng; & they that have jostyd with hym into thys day have been
+    as rychly beseyn, & hymselfe also, as clothe of gold & sylk &
+    sylvyr & goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger & gold
+    & perle & stonys they of the dukys coort neyther gentylmen nor
+    gentylwomen they want non; for with owt that they have it by
+    wyshys, by my trowthe, I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords & ladys & gentylwomen
+    knyts, sqwyers & gentylmen I hert never of non lyek to it
+    save King Artourys cort. And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor
+    remembrance to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but that
+    lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you when I come home
+    whyche I trust to God shal not be long to; for we depart owt of
+    Brygge homward on Twysday next comyng & all folk that cam with my
+    lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as shall abyd her
+    styll with hyr whyche I wot well shall be but fewe.
+
+    "We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that the Frenshe king
+    is purposyd to mak wer upon hym hastyly & that he is with in IIIj
+    or v dayis jorney of Brugys & the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next
+    comyng forward to met with hym. God geve hym good sped & all hys;
+    for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest felawshep that ever I cam
+    among & best can behave themselves & most like gentlemen.
+
+    "Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the Duke of Somerset &
+    all hys band departyd well beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that
+    my Lady the Duchess cam thedyr & they sey her that he is to Queen
+    Margaret that was & shal no more come her agen nor be holpyn by
+    the Duke. No more; but I beseche you of your blessyng as lowly as
+    I can, wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday onys.
+    And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good mastras to my lytyll
+    man & to se that he go to scole.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt Thomas.
+
+    "Your sone & humbyll servaunt,
+
+    "J. PASTON THE YOUNGER."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Chastellain, v., 570.]
+
+[Footnote 2: V., 576.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This deputation was composed of representatives from "all
+the city in its entirety in three chief members--the bourgeois and
+nobles, the fifty-two _métiers_, and the weavers who possess twelve
+different places in the city entirely for themselves and in their
+control." The formal apology was made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Ibid_ 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467,
+Duke Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges which
+he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a deputation from the
+three members [_Trois membres_] of the city should come to Brussels to
+beg pardon on their knees, bareheaded, ungirded, for all the disorder
+of St. Lievin. This act of submission took place probably not until
+January, 1469, though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Hist, de l'Ordre_, etc., p. 511.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Chastellain, V., 342.]
+
+[Footnote 7: III., 101. Evidently this was composed for a separate
+work and then incorporated into the memoirs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: There is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the
+Bibliothèque de Burgogne. _See_ also Wavrin, _Anchiennes Croniques
+d'Engleterre_, ii., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 9: III., 108.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _The Paston Letters_, ii., 317.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+1468
+
+
+    "My brother, I beseech you in the name of our affection and of
+    our alliance, come to my aid, come as speedily as you can, come
+    without delay. Written by the own hand of your brother.
+
+    "FRANCIS."
+
+Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent appeal from the
+Duke of Brittany that followed Charles into Holland, whither he had
+hastened after the completion of the nuptial festivities.
+
+The titular Duke of Normandy found that his royal brother was in no
+wise inclined to fulfil the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally,
+Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into terror lest the king
+should invade his duchy and punish him for his share in the
+proceedings that had led up to that compact.
+
+It is in this year that Louis XI. begins to show his real astuteness.
+Very clever are his methods of freeing himself from the distasteful
+obligations assumed towards his brother. They had been easy to make
+when a hostile army was encamped at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy
+weighed lightly when balanced by the desire to separate the allies.
+That separation accomplished, the point of view changed. Relinquish
+Normandy, restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege lord
+after its long retention by the English kings? Louis's intention
+gradually became plain and he proved that he was no longer in the
+isolated position in which the War for Public Weal had found him. He
+had won to himself many adherents, while the general tone towards
+Charles of Burgundy had changed.[1]
+
+In April, 1468, the States-General of France assembled at Tours in
+response to royal writs issued in the preceding February.[2] The
+chancellor, Jouvençal, opened the session with a tedious, long-winded
+harangue calculated to weary rather than to illuminate the assembly.
+Then the king took the floor and delivered a telling speech. With
+trenchant and well chosen phrases he set forth the reasons why
+Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of the French realm. The
+advantages of centralisation, the weakness of decentralisation, were
+skilfully drawn. The matter was one affecting the kingdom as a whole,
+in perpetuity; it was not for the temporal interests of the present
+incumbent of regal authority, who had only part therein for the brief
+space of his mortal journey. Louis's words are pathetic indeed, as
+he calls himself a sojourner in France, _en voyage_ through life,
+as though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of ephemeral
+mankind was novel to his audience. He reiterated the statement that
+the interests involved were theirs, not his.
+
+It was a goodly body which listened to Louis. The greatest feudal
+lords, indeed, were not present, but many of the lesser nobility were,
+while sixty-four towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies. These
+hearers gave willing attention to the thesis that it was a burning
+shame for the French people to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the
+insolent peers from rebelling against their sovereign--those noble
+scions of the royal stock whose bounden duty it was to protect the
+state and the head of the royal house.
+
+What was the reason for their selfish insubordination? The root of the
+evil lay in the past, when extensive territories had been carelessly
+alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted to acquire too much
+independence of the crown, so that the monarchy was threatened with
+disruption. There was more to the same purpose and then the deputies
+deliberated on the answer to make to this speech from the throne. It
+was an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed the value of
+suggestion. Charles the Wise had thought that an estate yielding an
+income of twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a prince of
+the blood. Louis XI. was more generous. He was ready to allow his
+brother Charles a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to the
+government of Normandy--why! no king, either from fraternal affection
+or from fear of war, was justified in committing that province to
+other hands than his own.
+
+The States-General dissolved in perfect accord with the monarch, and a
+definite order was left in the king's hands, declaring that it was
+the judgment of the towns represented that concentration of power was
+necessary for the common welfare of France. Public opinion declared
+that national weakness would be inevitable if the feudatories were
+unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies. Above all, Normandy must be
+retained by the king. On no consideration should Louis leave it to his
+brother.[2]
+
+Before the dissolution of the assembly there was some discussion as to
+the probable attitude of the great nobles in regard to this platform
+of centralisation. Very timid were the comments on Charles of
+Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be an excellent mediator between the
+lesser dukes and the king? Would it not be better to suspend action
+until his opinion was known, etc? But at large there was less reserve.
+The statements were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever come to
+France from Burgundy. The present duke's father and grandfather had
+wrought all the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles, his
+illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest content with his
+paternal heritage. Ghent and Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too?
+Let the king recover the towns on the Somme. Rightfully they were
+French. Louis made no scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty
+of Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by undue influence.
+And this royal sentiment was repeated here and there with growing
+conviction of its justice.
+
+While Charles was occupied with the preparation for his wedding, Louis
+was engaged in levying troops and mobilising his forces, and these
+preparations continued throughout the summer of 1468. Naturally, news
+of this zeal directed against the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany
+followed the traveller in Holland.
+
+Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once to the king, reminding
+him that these seigneurs were his allies, and demanding that nothing
+should be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his remonstrance
+might be futile, and urged on by appeals from the dukes, Charles
+hastened to cut short his stay in Holland so that he might move nearer
+to the scene of Louis's activities. His purpose in going to the north
+had been twofold--to receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand,
+and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of money for which he
+saw immediate need if he were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from
+him.
+
+In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in Flanders to
+Middelburg, and thence made his progress through the cities of
+Zealand, receiving homage as he went. Next he passed to The Hague,
+where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland met him and gave
+him their oaths of fealty on July 21st. Fifty-six towns[4] were
+represented and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks and the
+islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It is noteworthy," comments a Dutch
+historian, "that the people's oath was given first. The older custom
+was that the count should give the first pledge while the people
+followed suit."
+
+As soon as he was thus legally invested with sovereign power, Charles
+demanded a large _aide_ from Holland and Zealand--480,000 crowns of
+fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin money for his new
+consort; 16,000 crowns as donations for various servants, and 4800
+crowns towards his travelling expenses. The total sum was 532,800
+crowns. The share of Holland and West Friesland was 372,800 crowns,
+and of Zealand 16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half
+years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest quota, 3549 crowns, and
+Schiedam the smallest, 350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South
+Holland villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and the remainder was
+divided among the other cities and villages.
+
+There was considerable opposition to the assessments. In many cases
+the new imposts upon provisions pressed very heavily on the poor
+villagers. Having obtained promise of the grant, however, Charles left
+all further details in its regard to the local officials and returned
+to Brussels at the beginning of August to make his own preparation.
+For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the treaty of
+Conflans were plain, though there still fluttered a thin veil of
+friendship between the cousins. Gathering what forces he could
+mobilise, ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved westward and
+took up his quarters at Peronne on the river Somme.
+
+Louis had been bold in his utterance to the States-General as to his
+perfect right to ignore the treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his
+brother, and to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the summer
+of 1468 he made advances towards accomplishing the last-named
+desideratum. Brittany was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was
+diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis peaceably consented
+to renounce his close alliances with Burgundy and England, nominally
+at least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France to submit his
+claims to Normandy to the arbitration of Nicholas of Calabria and the
+Constable St. Pol.[5]
+
+Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with on some different
+basis. And in regard to him Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified
+his friends and caused the world to wonder as to his sanity. All
+previous attempts at mediation having failed--St. Pol was among the
+many who tried--the king determined to be his own messenger to parley
+with his Burgundian cousin. It is curious how small was his measure
+of personal pride. He had been negligent of his personal safety at
+Conflans, but even then Charles had better reason to respect and
+protect him than in 1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years
+in every direction to harass and undermine the young duke's power,
+and when, too, the latter was aware of half of the machinations and
+suspicious of more.
+
+Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sudden hare-brained
+enterprise. There is much evidence that he nursed the project for many
+weeks without giving any intimation of his intentions. Nor was the
+situation as strange as it appears, looking backward.
+
+Charles had doubtless made all preparations to combat Louis if need
+were, and had chosen Peronne for his headquarters with the express
+purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the same time, he had
+published abroad that his military preparations were solely for
+the purpose of keeping his obligations to his allies. Now these
+obligations were momentarily removed by the action of those same
+allies. Francis of Brittany had entered into amicable relations with
+his sovereign, young Charles of France had accepted arbitration to
+settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers, while the
+correspondence between Louis and Liege, was still unknown to the Duke
+of Burgundy. For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no definite
+quarrel with the French king. But he was not in the least anxious for
+an interview with him. Charles was as far as ever from understanding
+his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of Louis's efforts to
+make friends in the Netherlands, Charles suspected enough to turn his
+youthful distrust of the man's character into mature conviction that
+friendship between them was impossible. But he could not refuse the
+royal overtures. His letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited
+visitor bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows:[6]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it be your
+    desire to come to this city of Peronne in order that we may talk
+    together, I swear and I promise you by my faith and on my honour
+    that you may come, remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon,
+    according to your pleasure and as often as it shall please you,
+    freely and openly without any hindrance offered either to you or
+    to any of your people by me or by any other for any cause that now
+    exists or _that may hereafter arise_."
+
+Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential messenger between duke and
+king. He it was whom Charles had dismissed from his own service in
+1456 at his father's instance. From that time on the man had been in
+Louis's household, deep in his secrets it was said, and certainly
+admitted to his privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter was
+written by Charles in the presence of Biche, through whose hand it
+passed directly to the king.
+
+By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to move as soon as the
+safe-conduct arrived. No time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday,
+October 9th, the king started out, accompanied by the Bishop of
+Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue,
+St. Pol, a few more nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish
+guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of Crèvecoeur, with two
+hundred lances, met him on the way to act as his escort to the
+presence of the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of a stream a
+short distance out of Peronne.
+
+St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the duke as herald of
+Louis's approach. Then Charles rode forward to greet the traveller. As
+he came within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his saddle and was
+about to dismount when Louis, his head bared, prevented his action.
+Fervent were the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the duke's
+cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly about the latter's neck.
+Then he turned graciously to the by-standing nobles and greeted them
+by name. But his cousinly affection was not yet satisfied. Again he
+embraced Charles and held him half as long as before in his arms. How
+pleasant he was and how full of confidence towards this trusted cousin
+of his!
+
+The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two princes in the
+middle, and made a stately entry into Peronne at a little after
+mid-day.[7] The chief building then and the natural place to lodge
+a royal visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair, ill
+furnished, and affording less comfort than a neighbouring house
+belonging to a city official. Here rooms had been prepared for the
+king and a few of his suite, the others being quartered through the
+town. At the door Charles took his leave and Louis entered alone with
+Cardinal Balue and the attendants he had chosen to keep near him.
+These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and were treated
+by their master with a familiarity very astonishing to the stately
+Burgundians.
+
+Louis entered the room assigned for his use, walked to the window,
+and looked out into the street. The sight that met his view was most
+disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the point of entering the
+castle. They were gentlemen just arrived from Burgundy with their
+lances, in response to a summons issued long before the present visit
+was anticipated. As he looked down on the troops, Louis recognised
+several men who had no cause to love him or to cherish his memory.
+There was, for instance, the queen's brother Philip de Bresse[8] who
+had led a party against Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a
+time of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of his
+brother-in-law's profession and had visited him to obtain his
+mediation. The king had violated both the specified safe-conduct and
+ambassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De Bresse into the citadel
+of Loches, where he suffered a long confinement before he succeeded in
+making his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as well as in race.
+But with him on that October day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who
+had fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or another and had
+saved their liberty by flight, renouncing their allegiance to him
+for ever. Four there were in all who wore the cross of St. Andrew.
+Approaching Peronne as they had from the south, these new-comers had
+ridden in at the southern gates without intimation of this royal
+visitation extraordinary until they were almost face to face with
+guest and host. Their arrival was "a half of a quarter of an hour
+later than that of the king."
+
+When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned what was going on, they
+hastened to the duke's chambers "to give him reverence." Monseigneur
+de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke that the three above
+named should be assured of their security notwithstanding the king's
+presence at Peronne,--of security such as he had pledged them in
+Burgundy and promised for the hour when they should arrive at his
+court. On their part they were ready to serve him towards all and
+against all. Which petition the duke granted orally. "The force
+conducted by the Marshal of Burgundy was encamped without the gates,
+and the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did the others I
+have mentioned."[9]
+
+It was, however, a situation in which apprehension was not confined
+to the men of lower station. To Louis, looking down from his window,
+there seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these persons who had
+heavy grievances against him, and the unfortified private house seemed
+slight protection against their possible vengeance. Here, Charles
+might disavow injury to him as something happening quite without his
+knowledge. On ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under shelter
+patently ducal. There, there would be no doubt of responsibility did
+misfortune happen.
+
+Straightway the king sent a messenger to Charles asking for quarters
+within the castle. The request was granted and the uneasy guest passed
+through the massive portals between a double line of Burgundian
+men-at-arms. It was no cheerful, pleasant, palatial dwelling-place
+this little old castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that vain
+had been all assaults against it.[10] Designed for a fortress rather
+than a residence, it had been repeatedly used as a prison, and the air
+of the whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls, dungeons
+which had seen many unwilling lodgers. Five centuries earlier than
+this date, Charles the Simple had languished to death in one of the
+towers.
+
+This change of arrangement, or rather the disquieting reason for the
+change, undoubtedly clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet
+outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts that the two princes
+directed their people to behave amicably to each other and that the
+commands were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days the desired
+conferences took place between Charles and Louis. The king's wishes
+were perfectly plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other alliances
+and to pledge himself to support his feudal chief, first and foremost,
+from all attacks of his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had submitted
+to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy would only accept terms equally
+satisfactory in their way, the pernicious alliance between the two
+would vanish, to the weal of French unity.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP DE COMMINES.]
+
+Apparently the first discussion was heard by none except the Cardinal
+Balue and Guillaume de Biche. Charles was willing to pledge allegiance
+and to promise aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations that
+weakened the value of his words. Nothing could induce him to renounce
+alliance with other princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There
+was a second interview on the following day. Charles held tenaciously
+to his position. Then there came a sudden alteration in the situation,
+a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of view.
+
+The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the behests of her
+imperious neighbour, but the citizens had never ceased to hope that
+his unwelcome "protection" might be dispensed with; that, by the aid
+of French troops, they might eventually wrest themselves free from
+the Burgundian incubus. In spite of all promises to Charles, secret
+negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party and Louis XI. had never
+ceased. The latter never refused to admit the importunate embassies to
+his presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the city even in
+its ruined condition. He sent envoys as well as received them, and
+Commines states definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne,
+the fact of a confidential commission recently despatched to Liege had
+wholly slipped the king's mind.
+
+In that town the duke's lieutenant, Humbercourt, had been left to
+supervise the humiliating changes ordered. And the work of demolition
+was the only industry. Other ordinary business was at a standstill.
+For a period there was a sullen silence in the streets and the church
+bells were at rest. In April, a special legate from the pope arrived
+to see whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a better
+footing.
+
+It was about the same time that the States-General were meeting
+at Tours that, under the direction of this legate, Onofrio de
+Santa-Croce, the cathedral was purified with holy water, and Louis of
+Bourbon celebrated his very first mass, though he had been seated on
+the episcopal throne for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate
+between the city and the Duke of Burgundy. To Bruges he went to
+see Charles, and obtained permission to draft a project for the
+re-establishment of the civic government, to be submitted to the duke
+for approval.
+
+If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop by forcing him into
+performing his priestly rites he soon learned his mistake. That
+ecclesiastic speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed
+festivities, and then forsook the city and sailed away to Maestricht
+in a gaily painted barge, with gay companions to pass the summer in
+frivolous amusements suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the
+state of affairs when the report of Louis's extensive military
+preparations encouraged the Liegeois to hope that he was to take the
+field openly against the duke.
+
+About the beginning of September, troops of forlorn and desperate
+exiles began to return to the city. They came, to be sure, with shouts
+of _Vive le Roi!_ but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing to
+make any accommodation for the sake of being permitted to remain.
+"Better any fate at home than to live like wild beasts with the
+recollection that we had once been men."
+
+To make a long story short, Onofrio again endeavoured to rouse the
+bishop to a sense of his duty. Again he tried to make terms for the
+exiles and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was useless. Louis
+of Bourbon refused to approach nearer to Liege than Tongres, and
+declined to meet the advances of his despairing subjects. It was just
+at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived from Louis, despatched,
+as already stated, _before_ Charles had consented to prolong the
+truce.
+
+Excited by their presence the Liegeois once more roused themselves to
+action. A force of two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced by
+night upon Tongres--also without walls--surrounded the house where lay
+their bishop, and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there was
+and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the mob respected the
+person of their bishop and of Humbercourt the chief Burgundian
+official. This event happened on October 9th, the very day that Louis
+rode recklessly into Peronne.
+
+On Wednesday, October 11th, the news of the fray reached Peronne,
+but news greatly exaggerated by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and
+Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly murdered in the very
+presence of Louis's own envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous
+crime! To follow the story of an eyewitness:[11]
+
+    "Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted the contrary,
+    for such advertisments are never reported after one sort. At
+    length others came who had seen certain canons slain and supposed
+    the bishop[12] to be of the number, as well as the said seigneur
+    de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they said that they had
+    seen the king's ambassadors in the attacking company and mentioned
+    them by name. All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith
+    believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that the king
+    had come thither to abuse him, and gave commands to shut the gates
+    of the castle and of the town, alleging a poor enough excuse,
+    namely, that he did this on account of the disappearance of a
+    little casket containing some good rings and money.
+
+    "The king finding himself confined in the castle, a small one at
+    that, and having seen a force of archers standing before the gate,
+    was terrified for his person--the more so that he was lodged in
+    the neighbourhood of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois
+    had caused the death of one of his predecessors as king of
+    France.[13] At that time, I was still with the duke and served him
+    as chamberlain, and had free access to his chamber when I
+    would, for such was the usage in this household.
+
+    "The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed, ordered all to
+    leave his presence and said to a few of us that stayed with him
+    that the king had come on purpose to betray him, and that he
+    himself had tried to avoid his coming with all his strength, and
+    that the meeting had been against his taste. Then he proceeded to
+    recount the news from Liege, how the king had pulled all the wires
+    through his ambassadors, and how his people had been slain. He was
+    fearfully excited against the king. I veritably believe that if
+    at that hour he had found those to whom he could appeal ready to
+    sympathise with him and to advise him to work the king some
+    mischief, he would have done so, at the least he would have
+    imprisoned him in the great tower.
+
+    "None were present when the words fell from the duke but myself
+    and two grooms of the chamber, one of whom was named Charles de
+    Visen, a native of Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with
+    his master. We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the duke
+    as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same phrases on others,
+    and a report of them ran through the city and penetrated to the
+    very apartment of the king, who was greatly terrified, as was
+    everyone, because of the danger that they saw imminent, and
+    because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel when it
+    has commenced between such great princes. Assuredly they were
+    blameworthy in failing to notify their absent servants of this
+    projected meeting. Great inconveniences were bound to arise from
+    this negligence."
+
+Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness though he was, it must be
+remembered that when he wrote the account of this famous interview it
+was long after the event, and when his point of view was necessarily
+coloured by his service with Louis. Delightful, however, are the
+historian's own reflections that he intersperses with his plain
+narrative. To his mind the only period when it is safe for princes to
+meet is
+
+    "in their youth when their minds are bent on pleasure. Then they
+    may amuse themselves together. But after they are come to man's
+    estate and are desirous each of over-reaching the other, such
+    interviews do but increase their mutual hatred, even if they incur
+    no personal peril (which is well-nigh impossible). Far wiser is
+    it for them to adjust their differences through sage and good
+    servants as I have said at length elsewhere in these memoirs."
+
+Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous instances of disastrous
+royal interviews before returning to his subject and to Peronne:
+
+    "I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his new chapter]
+    to tell the princes my opinion of such meetings.[14] Thus the
+    gates were closed and guarded and two or three days passed by.
+    However, the Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had
+    Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and those only
+    through the wicket. Nor did the duke see any of his people who had
+    influence over him.
+
+    "The first day there was consternation throughout the city. By the
+    second day the duke was a little calmed down. He held a council
+    meeting all day and the greater part of the night. The king
+    appealed to every one who could possibly aid him. He was lavish in
+    his promises and ordered fifteen thousand crowns to be given where
+    it might count, but the officer in charge of the disbursement of
+    this sum acquitted himself ill and retained a part, as the king
+    learned later.
+
+    "The king was especially afraid of his former servants who had
+    come with the army from Burgundy, as I mentioned above, men who
+    were now in the service of the Duke of Normandy.
+
+    "Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned council-meeting.
+    Some held that the safe-conduct accorded to the king protected
+    him, seeing that he fairly observed the peace as it had been
+    stated in writing. Others rudely urged his capture without further
+    ceremony, while others again advised sending for his brother, the
+    Duke of Normandy, and concluding with him a peace to the advantage
+    of all the princes of France. They who gave this advice thought
+    that in case it was adopted, the king should be restrained of his
+    liberty. Further, it was against all precedent to free so great a
+    seigneur when he had committed so grave an offence.
+
+    "This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw a man booted
+    and spurred ready to depart with a packet of letters addressed to
+    Monseigneur of Normandy, being in Brittany, and stayed only for
+    the Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to naught. The
+    king made overtures to leave as hostages the Duke of Bourbon, the
+    cardinal, his brother, and the constable with a dozen others while
+    he should be permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was
+    concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should repair their
+    mischief or he would declare himself their foe. The appointed
+    hostages were profuse in their offers to immolate themselves, at
+    least they were in public. I do not know whether they would have
+    said the same things in private. I rather suspect not. And in
+    truth, I believe that those who were left would never have
+    returned.
+
+    "On the third night after the arrival of the news, the duke never
+    undressed, but lay down two or three times on his bed, and
+    then rose and walked up and down. Such was his way when he was
+    troubled. I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him from
+    time to time. In the morning his fury was greater than ever, his
+    tone very menacing, and he seemed ready to go to any extreme.
+
+    "However, he finally brought himself to say that if the king would
+    swear the peace and would accompany him to Liege to help avenge
+    Monsgn. of Liege, his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then
+    he suddenly betook himself to the king's chamber and expressed
+    himself to that effect. The king had a friend[15] who warned him,
+    assuring him that he should suffer no ill if he would concede
+    these two points. Did he do otherwise he ran grave risk, graver
+    than he would ever incur again."
+
+    When the duke entered the royal presence his voice trembled, so
+    agitated was he and on the verge of breaking into a passion. He
+    assumed a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and word as he
+    demanded whether the king would keep the treaty of peace as it had
+    been drafted, and whether he was ready to swear to it. "Yes" was
+    the king's response. In truth, nothing had been added to the
+    agreement made before Paris, or at least little as far as the Duke
+    of Burgundy was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Normandy, it
+    was stipulated that if he would renounce that province he should
+    have Champagne and Brie besides other neighbouring territories for
+    his share.
+
+    Then the duke asked if the king would accompany him to avenge the
+    outrage committed upon his cousin the bishop.
+
+    "To which demand the king gave assent as soon as the peace was
+    sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to Liege and with a small or
+    large escort, just as the duke preferred. This answer pleased
+    the duke immensely. In was brought the treaty, out of the king's
+    coffer was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one carried
+    by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of Victory, and thereupon
+    the two swore the peace.
+
+    "This was now October 14th. In a minute the bells pealed out their
+    joy throughout Peronne and all men were glad. It hath pleased the
+    king since to attribute the credit of this pacification to me."
+
+There was undoubtedly an immense sense of relief in Peronne when this
+degree of accommodation was reached. The duke was unwilling, however,
+to have too much rejoicing in his domains until he had ascertained for
+himself the state of Liege. Among the letters despatched from Peronne
+this October 14th, was the following to the magistrates of Ypres:[16]
+
+    "Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we have to-day
+    made peace and convention with Monseigneur the king, and that for
+    this reason you might be inclined to let off fire-works and make
+    other manifestations of joy, we hasten to advise you that ... our
+    pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or assemblies in our
+    town of Ypres on account of the said peace until we have subdued
+    the people of Liege, and avenged the said outrage [described
+    above]. This with God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point
+    of departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved, may our Lord
+    protect you.
+
+    "Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14, 1468."
+
+A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions to the magistrates of
+Ypres, possibly managing to slip them under the same cover.[17]
+
+    "To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace was concluded between the king
+    and Monseigneur, and also between the king and the Duke of Berry.
+    Here, bells are ringing and the _Te Deum_ is sung. It is generally
+    believed that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God deserves
+    thanks for the result, for I assure you that last night the
+    outlook was not clear."[18]
+
+The king wrote as follows to his confidential lieutenant:
+
+    "PERONNE, October 14th.
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, you are already informed how there
+    has been discussion in my council and that of my brother-in-law of
+    Burgundy, as to the best manner of adjusting certain differences
+    between him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive at a
+    conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here we have busied
+    ourselves with the requisitions passing between us, so that to-day
+    we have, thanks to our Lord, in the presence of all the nobles
+    of the blood, prelates and other great and notable personages in
+    great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn peace
+    solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid, defend and
+    succour each other for ever. Also on the same cross we have
+    ratified the treaty of Arras with its corrections and other points
+    which seemed productive of peace and amity.
+
+    "Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy ordered thanksgivings
+    in the churches of his lands, and in this town he has already had
+    great solemnity. And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that
+    the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the bishop of Liege,
+    whom he is determined to deliver as quickly as possible, he has
+    besought me as a favour to him, and also because the bishop is my
+    kinsman whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege, not far
+    from here. This I have agreed to, and have chosen as my escort
+    a portion of the troops under monseigneur the constable, in the
+    hopes of a speedy return by the aid of God.
+
+    "And because it is for my weal and that of my subjects I write to
+    you at once, because _I am sure_ you will be pleased, and that
+    you will order like solemnities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand
+    master, as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible
+    disband my _arriere ban_ together with the free lances, and
+    do every possible thing for the mass of poor folks; appoint
+    well-to-do men as leaders in every bailiwick and district. Above
+    all, see to it that they do not indulge in any new and startling
+    conduct. That done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer
+    me, I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any further
+    action that may arise. Written at Peronne October 14th.
+
+    "Loys MEURIN.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[19]
+
+Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased for the purpose of
+passing Charles's censorship. He took the liberty of disregarding his
+master's orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held himself
+in readiness to go to fetch the errant monarch if he did not return
+speedily from the enemy's country. His letter to the king and the
+unwritten additions delivered by his confidential messengers terrified
+his liege lest too much zeal on his behalf in France might work him
+ill in Liege. A week later Louis writes again:
+
+    NAMUR, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR THE GRAND MASTER:
+
+    "I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage. _Be assured that
+    I make this journey to Liege under no constraint, and that I never
+    took any journey with such good heart as I do this._ Since God and
+    Our Lady have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur of
+    Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over there take arms
+    against me. Monseigneur the grand master, my friend, you have
+    proved that you love me, and you have done me the greatest service
+    that you can, and there is another service that you can do. The
+    people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that I mean to deceive
+    them, and people there [in France] think that I am a prisoner.
+    Distrust between the two would be my ruin.
+
+    "Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men, you know what we
+    planned, you and I, touching the action of Armagnac. It seems
+    to me that you ought to send your people straight ahead in that
+    direction and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as
+    I am out of this, and you can make what choice you will. M. the
+    grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to Laon and await me
+    there. Send me a messenger the minute you arrive and I will let
+    you have frequent news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois
+    are subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of Burgundy
+    is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he has finished his work
+    at Liege, and he desires my return more than I do. Francois Dunois
+    will tell you what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur,
+    etc.
+
+    "Writ at Namur, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "LOUIS "TOUSSAINT.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[20]
+
+Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and others also declare that
+Louis goes most gladly with his dear brother of Burgundy and that the
+affair will not require much time. To Cardinal Balue he writes only a
+few words, telling him that the messenger will be more communicative.
+
+Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn aside to visit the
+young Duchess of Burgundy, either at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the
+conjecture of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his surmise
+further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn was performed
+Chastellain's mystery of "The Peace of Peronne."[21] Perhaps these
+verses, if put in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have pleased
+the princely spectators of the dramatic poem. Mutual admiration was
+the key-note of these flowery speeches while the other _dramatis
+personæ_ expressed unstinted admiration for the wonderful deed
+accomplished by these two pure souls who have sworn peace when they
+might have brought dire war on their innocent subjects.
+
+    "Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that proud knight,
+    nor the great Charlemagne, nor the proud Duke of Mayence, nor
+    Mongleive, the heir, from whom issued noble fruit, nor King
+    Arthur, nor Oliver, nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens
+    of victories approach or touch with hand or foot the work I treat
+    of."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    [The king speaks.]
+
+    "Charles, be assured that Louis will be the re-establisher and
+    provider of all that touches your honour and peace between you
+    and him. That he will ever be appreciator of you and avenger, a
+    nourisher of joy and love in repairing all that my predecessor
+    did.
+
+    [The duke speaks.]
+
+    "And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his soul, wishes
+    nothing better than to serve you and this realm and to extol
+    your house. For I know that is the reason why I have glory and
+    reputation. Then if it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep
+    from blame."
+
+One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a note of doubt:
+"Charles, so many debates may occur, so many incidents and accidents
+in our various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded."
+
+Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare possibility of a new breach
+between him and his liege. The whole is a pæan at a love feast. If the
+two together heard their counterfeits express such perfect fidelity,
+how Louis XI. must have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced
+courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was quite capable of taking it
+all seriously, wholly unconscious that he had not cut the lion's claws
+for once and all.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}.,356.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The letters of convocation bear the date February 26,
+1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th, they had
+returned home, and on May 2d they made a report. The items of
+expenditure are very exact. So hard had they ridden that a fine horse
+costing eleven crowns was used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van
+der Broeck, archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the
+register of the Council. _See_ Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _See_ Lavisse iv^[ii]., 356.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Dordrecht was not among them. Her deputies held that
+it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later Charles
+received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Hist._,
+iv., 101.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Treaty of Ancenis, September 10, 1468. _See_ Lavisse,
+iv^[ii].] One of the results of the War of Public Weal was that St.
+Pol was appointed constable of France.]
+
+[Footnote 6: The original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.;
+Lenglet, iii., 19.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the
+basis of this narrative. (Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 196.) There
+is, however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous and
+commentating. _See also_ Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc. Chastellain's
+MS. is lost.]
+
+[Footnote 8: _See_ Lavisse, iv^[ii]., 397.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Ludwig v. Diesbach, (_See_ Kirk, i., 559.) The author
+was a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss
+affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 10: It was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Commines, ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the
+mob, but it was many years later.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Le roi ... se voyait logé, rasibus d'une grosse tour ou
+un Comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien prédécesseur Roy de France_.
+(Commines, ii., ch. vii.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Memoires_, ii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Undoubtedly Commines wishes it to be inferred that this
+was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines, whose memoirs
+remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive history of the times. There
+are the errors inevitable to any contemporary statement. Meyer, to be
+sure, says, apropos of an incident incorrectly reported, _Falsus in
+hoc ut in pluribus historicus_. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries
+later is also severe. _See_, too, "L'autorité historique de Ph. de
+Commynes," Mandrot, _Rev. Hist_., 73.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 199.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Ibid._, 200.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Waer ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer
+ghestaen heeft._]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Lettres de Louis XI_, iii., 289. The king apparently
+never resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dauphin. His
+letters to him are very intimate.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Lettres_, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.)]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn ed., _Oeuvres de Chastellain_, vii., xviii. _See_
+poem, _ibid._, 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence
+bears this line: "Here follows a mystery made because of the said
+peace of good intention in the thought that it would be observed by
+the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way out of the route between
+Peronne and Namur, where the party was on October 14th. It would
+hardly seem possible for journey and visit in so brief a time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+1468
+
+
+It was in the midst of heavy rains that the journey was made to Namur
+and then on to the environs of Liege. Grim was the weather, befitting,
+in all probability, Charles's own mood. The king's escort was confined
+to very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body of three hundred
+troopers was permitted to follow him at a distance, while the faithful
+Dammartin across the border kept himself closely informed of every
+incident connected with the march that his scouts could gather, and
+in readiness to fall upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm,
+while he restrained his ardour for the moment in obedience to Louis's
+anxious command.
+
+By the fourth week of October the Franco-Burgundian party were settled
+close to Liege in straggling camps, separated from each other by hills
+and uneven ground. Long was the discussion in council meeting as to
+the best mode of procedure. Liege was absolutely helpless in the face
+of this coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless. Moats she had
+never possessed, for digging was well-nigh impossible on her rocky
+site covered by mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse. On
+account of this evident weakness, the king advised dismissing half the
+army as needless, advice that was not only rejected immediately but
+which excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith. Over a week
+passed and feeble Liege continued obstinate, while each division of
+the army manoeuvred to be first in the assault for the sake of the
+plunder. But advance was very difficult, for the soldiers were
+impeded in their movements by the slime. Wild were some of the night
+skirmishes over the uneven, slippery ground and amidst the little
+sheltering hills.
+
+On one occasion, "a great many were hurt and among the rest the Prince
+of Orange (whom I had forgotten to name before), who behaved that day
+like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved foot off the place he
+first possessed.
+
+The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he failed sometimes
+in order giving, and to say the truth, he behaved himself not so
+advisedly as many wished because of the king's presence."[1]
+
+There is no doubt that Charles entertained increasingly sinister
+suspicions of his guest. He thought the king might either try to enter
+the city ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient allies by a
+specious explanation, or else he might succeed in effecting his escape
+without fulfilling his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday,
+October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own quarters were in
+a little suburb of mean, low houses, with rough ground and vineyards
+separating his camp from the city. Between his house and that of the
+king, both humble dwellings, was an old granary, occupied by a picked
+Burgundian force of three hundred men under special injunctions to
+keep close watch over the royal guest and see that he played no sudden
+trick. To further this purpose of espionage, they had made a breach in
+the walls with heavy blows of their picks.
+
+The men were wearied with all their marching and skirmishing, and in
+order to have them in fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered
+all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The exhausted troops
+gladly obeyed this injunction. Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so,
+too, were Philip de Commines and the few attendants that lay within
+the narrow ducal chamber. Only a dozen pickets mounted guard in the
+room over Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired eyes open
+by playing at dice.
+
+On that Saturday night when Charles was thus prudently gathering
+strength for the final tussle, the people of Liege also indulged in
+repose, counting on Sunday being a day of rest, that is, the major
+part of the burgher folk did within city limits. But another plan was
+on foot among some of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An attack
+on the Burgundian camp was planned by a band from Franchimont, a wild
+and wooded district, south of the episcopal see. The natives there had
+all the characteristics of mountaineers, although the heights of their
+rugged country reached only modest altitudes.[2]
+
+These invaders were fortunate in obtaining as guides the owners of
+the very houses requisitioned for the lodgings of the two princes.
+Straight to their goal they progressed through paths quite unknown to
+the foe, and therefore unwatched. The highlanders made a mistake
+in not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where in the first
+confusion they might have accomplished their design upon the lives of
+Louis and of Charles or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a
+pause at a French nobleman's tent created a disturbance which roused
+the archers in the granary. The latter sallied out, to meet with a
+fierce counter-attack. In order to confuse them the mountaineers
+echoed the Burgundian cries, _Vive Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez,
+tuez_, and they were not always immediately identified by their harsh
+Liege accent.
+
+The highlanders were far outnumbered by the Burgundians, and it was
+only by dint of their desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy
+darkness and of the locality with its unknown roughness that the
+former inflicted the damage that they did.
+
+Commines and his fellows helped the duke into his cuirass, and stood
+by his person, while the king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved
+themselves good fellows, who never budged from their master's feet and
+shot arrow upon arrow out into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians
+than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's own host, the guide of
+the marauders to his own cottage door. There were many more victims
+and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter characterised by the
+passions of war and the conditions of a mere burglarious attack on
+private houses.
+
+Quaking with fear was the king. He thought that if the duke should now
+fail to make a complete conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang in
+the balance. At a hasty council meeting held that night, Charles
+was very doubtful as to the expediency of carrying out his proposed
+assault upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were the allies,
+a fact that caused Philip de Commines to comment,[3] "scarcely fifteen
+days had elapsed since these two had sworn a definitive peace and
+solemnly promised to support each other loyally. But confidence could
+not enter in any way."
+
+Charles gave Louis permission to retire to Namur and wait until the
+duke had reduced the recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought
+it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until they parted
+company for ever, and the morrow found him in the duke's company as he
+marched on to Liege.
+
+    "My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would have been wise to
+    depart that night. He could have done it for he had a hundred
+    archers of his guard, various gentlemen of his household, and,
+    near at hand, three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was stayed
+    by considerations of honour. He did not wish to be accused of
+    cowardice."
+
+Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely pair entered Liege,
+heard the king say: "March on, my brother, for you are the luckiest
+prince alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted lustily,
+"_Vive Bourgogne_," to the infinite dismay of his former friends, the
+burghers of Liege.
+
+The remainder of the history of that dire Sunday morning differs from
+that of other assaults only in harrowing details, and the extremity of
+the pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the conquerors. Charles
+had previously spared churches, and protected the helpless. Above
+all he had severely punished all ill treatment of respectable women.
+Little trace of this former restraint was to be seen on this occasion.
+The inhabitants were destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who fled
+from their homes leaving their untasted breakfasts to be eaten by the
+intruding soldiers, those who were scattered through the numerous
+churches, those who attempted to defend the breaches in the walls--all
+alike were treated without mercy.
+
+The Cathedral of St. Lambert, Charles did endeavour to protect. "The
+duke himself went thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own
+hand, whereupon all the company departed and that particular church
+was not pillaged, but at the end the men who had taken refuge there
+were captured as well as the wealth of the church."
+
+[Illustration: OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+
+(FROM MS. REPRODUCED IN MÉM. COURONNÉS, ETC., PAR L'ACAD,
+
+ROYALE DE BELGIQUE VOL. XLIX.)]
+
+At about midday Charles joined Louis at the episcopal palace, where
+the latter had found apartments better suited to his rank than the
+rude huts that had sheltered him for the past few days. The king was
+in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner in spite of the unsavoury
+scenes that were still in progress about him. He manifested great joy
+in the successful assault, and was lavish in his praises of the duke's
+courage, taking care that his admiring phrases should be promptly
+reported to his cousin.[4] His one great preoccupation, however, was
+to return to his own realm.
+
+After dinner the duke and he made good cheer together. "If the king
+had praised his works behind his back, still more loud was he in
+his open admiration. And the duke was pleased." No telling sign of
+friendship for Charles had Louis spared that day, so terrified was he
+lest some testimony from his ancient protégés might prove his ruin.
+"Let the word be Burgundy," he had cried to his followers when the
+attack began. "_Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne_."
+
+There is another contemporaneous historian who somewhat apologetically
+relates the following incident of this interview.[5] In this friendly
+Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he ought to treat Liege when
+his soldiers had finished their work. No trace of kindliness towards
+his old friends was there in the king's answer.
+
+"Once my father had a high tree near his house, inhabited by crows
+who had built their nests thereon and disturbed his repose by their
+chatter. He had the nests removed but the crows returned and built
+anew. Several times was this repeated. Then he had the tree cut down
+at the roots. After that my father slept quietly."
+
+Four or five days passed before Louis dared press the question of his
+return home. The following note written in Italian, dated on the day
+of the assault, is significant of his state of mind:
+
+
+    LOUIS XI. TO THE COUNT DE FOIX
+
+    "Monseigneur the Prince:
+
+    "To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered in great multitude
+    and with force into this city of Liege, and because I have great
+    desire to return, I advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will
+    depart hence, and I will not cease riding without making any stops
+    until I reach there.[6] I pray you to let me know what is to be
+    done.
+
+    "Writ at Liege, October 30th.
+
+    "LOYS
+
+    "DE LA LOERE."
+
+
+Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his host that if he could
+be of any further aid he hoped his cousin would command him. If there
+were, indeed, nothing, he thought his best plan would be to go to
+Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded and published to insure
+its validity. Charles grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed
+his parting guest after the treaty had been again read aloud to the
+king so that he might dissent from any one of its articles or ever
+after hold his peace.
+
+Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm everything sworn to at Peronne.
+Just as he was departing he put one more query: "'If perchance my
+brother now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the share I accord
+him out of love to you, what do you want me to do?' The duke answered
+abruptly and without thought: 'If he does not wish to take it, but
+if you content him otherwise, I will trust to you two.' From this
+question and answer arose great things as you shall hear later. So
+the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de Cordes and d'Émeries,
+Grand Bailiff of Hainaut escorted him out of ducal territory."[7]
+
+    "O wonderful and memorable crime of this king of the French
+    [declares a contemporaneous Liege sympathiser.][8] Scarcely
+    anything so bad can be found in ancient annals or in modern
+    history. What could be more stupid or more perfidious, or a better
+    instance of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to
+    arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake of his own
+    safety? Not once but many times had he pledged them his faith,
+    offering them defence and assistance against the same Burgundians.
+    And now when they are overwhelmed and confounded by this
+    Burgundian duke, this king actually co-operates with their foe, to
+    their damage, wears that foe's insignia and dares to hide himself
+    behind those emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he
+    himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges of good
+    faith! I am ashamed to commit this to writing, and to hand it down
+    to posterity, knowing that it will seem incredible to many. But
+    it is so notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so many
+    adequate witnesses who have seen and heard these things that no
+    room is left for doubt of their veracity except to one desiring to
+    ignore the truth."[9]
+
+November 2d is the date of Louis's departure. It needs no stretch
+of the imagination to believe the words of his little Swiss page,
+Diesbach, when he says that on reaching French soil Louis dismounted
+and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of joy that he was his own man
+again.[10] Devoutly, too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his
+need. Still this joy was concealed under euphemistic phrases in his
+correspondence. On November 5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan
+from Beaumont:
+
+    "We went in person with the duke against the Liegeois, on account
+    of their rebellion and offence, and the city being reduced by
+    force to the power of the duke, we have left him in some part of
+    Liege as we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France."
+
+In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the brother of the faithful
+secretary Aloysius Toustain, who had written several of Louis's
+letters from Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis
+writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure his protégé a
+pleasant reception in the university.
+
+The ratification of the treaty took place duly at Paris on Saturday,
+November 19th, and the king also sternly forbade the circulation of
+any "paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory pamphlets"
+about Charles.[11] The same informant tells us that loquacious birds
+were put under a ban.
+
+    "And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by virtue of his
+    commission addressed to a young man of Paris named Henry Perdriel,
+    all the magpies, jays, and _chouettes_, caged or otherwise, were
+    taken in charge, and a record was made of all the places where the
+    said birds were taken and also all that they knew how to say, like
+    _larron, paillart_, etc., _va hors, va! Perrette donnes moi à
+    boire_, and various other phrases that they had been taught."
+
+Abbé le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was meant for Peronne instead of
+a mistress of Louis of that name. But this conjecture seems the only
+basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that _Peronne_ was a word
+Louis could not bear to have uttered.
+
+"In the way of justice there is nothing going on here, [wrote one
+Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the president of Burgundy], except
+every day they hang and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been
+taken prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves. The city is
+well plundered, nothing remains but rubbish. For example I have not
+been able to find a sheet of paper fit for writing to you, but with
+all my pains could get nothing but some leaves from an old book."[12]
+
+Charles decided that nothing should be left standing except churches
+and ecclesiastical buildings. On November 9th, before the final fires
+were lit, he departed from the wretched town and went down the left
+bank of the Meuse to an abbey on the river, where he paused for the
+night. Four leagues distant from the city was this place, and from it
+were plainly visible the flames of the burning buildings on that grim
+St. Hubert's Day--a day when Liege had been wont to give vent to
+merriment.
+
+"From all the dangers that had encompassed him, Charles escaped with
+his life, simply because his hour had not yet struck, and because
+he was God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning city," is the
+verdict of one chronicler who does not spare his fellow-Liegeois for
+their follies while he profoundly pities their fate.[13]
+
+Out of the many contemporaneous accounts a portion of a private letter
+from the duke's cup-bearer to his sister is added:[14]
+
+    "Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recommend myself to
+    you and to all my good friends, men and women in our parts, not
+    forgetting my _beaux-pères,_ Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray
+    know that, thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound.
+    As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick in the hands
+    of the marshals at Namur, and the others are thin enough and have
+    no grain to eat except hay. The weather, has, indeed, been enough
+    to strike a chill to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left
+    Burgundy there have not been three fine days in succession and we
+    are in a worse state than wolves.
+
+    "You already know how we passed through Lorraine and Ratellois
+    without troubling about Salesart or other French captains, nor the
+    other Lorrainers either, although they were under orders to
+    attack us, and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As we
+    approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke sent Messire
+    Pierre de Harquantbault[15] to us to show us what road to take.
+    He told us that the duke had made a treaty with the king, who had
+    visited him, news that filled us with astonishment....
+
+    After skirmishing for several days we reached the faubourgs of
+    Liege and remained there three of four days under arms, with no
+    sleep and little food, and our horses standing in the rain with no
+    shelter but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king and
+    the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up their quarters in
+    certain houses near the faubourg. [... Constant firing was
+    interchanged for several days. Sallies were essayed and men were
+    slain.]
+
+    "Finally a direct attack was made on the king and Monseigneur
+    and there were more of their people than ours and that night
+    Monseigneur was in great danger. The following Sunday at 9 A.M. we
+    began the assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing
+    to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said city, some
+    climbing and others scaling them with ladders. The standards
+    of monseigneur the marshal and monsgn. de Renty who had been
+    stationed together in the faubourgs, were the first within the
+    said city which contained at that moment sixteen to eighteen
+    thousand combatants, who were surprised when they saw their walls
+    scaled.
+
+    "In a moment we entered crying 'Burgundy' and 'city gained.' Ever
+    so many of their people were slain and drowned in their flight. We
+    flew to reach the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where
+    a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the water. Our
+    ensign stood in the midst of the fray on the market-place, in the
+    hopes that they would rally for a combat but they rallied only
+    to flee. While we held our position on the square several were
+    created knights.... All the churches--more than four hundred--were
+    pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured that they will be burnt
+    together with the rest of the city. Piteous it is to see what ill
+    is wrought.... [The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur two
+    or three days. Then he departed, it is said for Brussels to await
+    my said lord. It is a great thing to have seen the puissance of my
+    master, _which is great enough to defeat an emperor_. I believe
+    the Burgundians will shortly return to Burgundy.
+
+    "I paid my respects to my said lord, who received me very well. At
+    present I am listed[16] among those whose term is almost expired
+    and I am ready to follow him wherever he wishes until my service
+    is out, which will be soon. I would have written before had I had
+    any one to send it by. Pray write me about yourself by the first
+    comer. Praying our Lord, beloved sister, to keep you. Written in
+    Liege, November 8, 1468.
+
+    "JEHAN DE MAZILLES."
+
+
+This sober letter and other accounts by reliable witnesses agree as to
+the terrible havoc wrought in the city by the assault on October 30th
+and by determined and systematic measures of destruction, both during
+Charles's ten days' sojourn for the express purpose of completing the
+punishment and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly fell
+short of the intention. The destruction was not complete as was that
+of Dinant. Vitality remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus
+intentionally preserved by the duke.
+
+Having watched the tongues of flame lap the unfortunate city, Charles
+turned with his army towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country
+which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent antagonists to
+Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de Mazilles is in close attendance and
+gives further details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles carried
+out his purpose of leaving no seed of resistance to germinate. Four
+nights and three days they sojourned in a certain little village while
+there was a hard frost and where, without unarming, they "slept under
+the trees and drank water." Meantime a small party was despatched
+by the duke to attack the stronghold of Franchimont. The despairing
+Liegeois who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it was taken by
+assault. A few more days and the duke was assured that Liege and her
+people were shorn of their strength. When the remnant of survivors
+began to creep back to the city and tried to recover what was left
+of their property, many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits
+succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years.
+
+In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too, demanded
+reimbursement for his trouble in bending these free citizens to
+his illegal will. The reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal
+perquisites, all difficult to collect, and many were the ponderous
+documents that passed on the subject. How justly pained sounds
+Charles's remonstrance on the default of payment of taxes to his
+friend, the city's lord!
+
+"Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these things, taking into
+account the terror of our departure to Brussels last January, we
+decide, my brother and I, that the payment of both _gabelle_ and poll
+tax must be forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of such
+taxes under any colour or pretence. At the request of our brother and
+cousin we order the inhabitants of the said territories to pay both
+_gabelle_ and poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed
+and for the time to come, under penalty of the confiscation of their
+goods and their persons."
+
+It was the old story of bricks without straw--taxes and rents for
+property ruthlessly destroyed were so easy. To this extent of tyranny
+had Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the treatment of Liege was
+a step towards Charles's final disaster. So much hatred was excited
+against him that his adherents fell off one by one when his luck began
+to fail him.
+
+No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this time, however. That month
+of November saw him master absolute wherever he was and he used his
+power autocratically. At Huy, he had a number of prisoners executed.
+At Louvain, at Brussels, he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness
+as an overlord.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place
+where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse exactly a
+hundred years later.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The story of the "men of Franchimont" is questioned.
+Commines is the only authority for it.]
+
+[Footnote 3: II., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, ii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Oudenbosch, _Veterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima
+Collectio_, ed. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de
+Veteri Busco, p. 1343. The writer acknowledges that the story is
+hearsay.]
+
+[Footnote 6: "_Non cessero di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna.
+Lettres,iii_., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines, ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "_O proeclarum et memorabile facinus hujus regis
+Francorum_."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Basin, _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI_., Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in _Excerpta ex
+Amelgardi. De gestis Ludovici XI_., cap. xxiii. Martene's _Amplissima
+Collectio,_ iv., 740 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Quoted in Kirk, i., 606, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Jean de Roye, _Chronique Scandaleuse_, ed. Mandrot, i.,
+220.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Comines-Lenglet, iii., 83.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Johannes de Los, _Chronicon_, p. 60. _Quia hora nendum
+venerat._ De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liége."]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commynes-Dupont, _Preuves_, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan
+de Mazilles to his sister.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Hagenbach, later Governor of Alsace.]
+
+[Footnote 16: _Conte aux escros_. This word strictly applies to the
+prisoners on a jailer's list--evidently used in jest.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+1469-1473
+
+
+This successful expedition against Liege carried Charles of Burgundy
+to the very crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was moreover
+gratified by the regard shown to him at home and abroad. A man who
+could force a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful rôle enacted by
+Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a man to be respected if not loved.
+And messages of admiration and respect couched in various terms
+were despatched from many quarters to the duke as soon as he was at
+Brussels to receive them.
+
+Ghent had long since made apologies for the sorry reception accorded
+to their incoming Count of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed
+the formal _amende_ until a convenient moment of leisure. January 15,
+1469, was finally appointed for this ceremony and the occasion was
+utilised to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humiliation, to as
+many people as possible who might spread the report far and wide.
+
+It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the palace the snow was thick
+on the ground where a group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for
+an hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal presence. There,
+too, where every one could see those emblems of the artisans'
+corporate strength, fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the
+deans of the Ghentish _métiers_.[1]
+
+Within, the great hall of the palace showed a splendid setting for a
+brilliant assembly. The most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the
+walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander, of Hannibal, and of
+other notable ancients formed the background for the duke and his
+nobles, knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As spectators,
+too, there were all the envoys and ambassadors then present in
+Brussels from "France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples, Aragon,
+Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Russia, Livornia, Prussia,
+Austria, Milan, Lombardy, and other places."
+
+Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind of throne, and to his
+feet Olivier de la Marche conducted the civic procession of penitents.
+Before this pompous gathering, after a statement of the city's sin and
+sorrow, the precious charter called the Grand Privilege of Ghent
+was solemnly read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with a
+pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the penalties imposed upon,
+and accepted by, the citizens (closing of the gates, etc)., and then
+the paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pronounced the fault
+forgiven with the benediction, "By virtue of this submission and by
+keeping your promises and being good children, you shall enjoy our
+grace and we will be a good prince." "May our Saviour Jesus Christ
+confirm and preserve this peace to the end of this century," is the
+pious ejaculation with which the _Relation_ closes.
+
+Among the witnesses of the above scene, when the independent citizens
+of Ghent meekly posed as the duke's children, were envoys from George
+Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed by the pope, he was
+seeking some favourable ally who might help him to recover his realm.
+He had conceived a plan for a coalition between Bohemia, Poland,
+Austria, and Hungary to present a solid rampart against the Turks,
+and strong enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He was ready for
+intrigue with any power and had approached Louis XI. and Matthias
+Corvinus, King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of Burgundy.[2]
+
+Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit links with this same
+Matthias by suggesting that he might be the next emperor, assuring
+him that he could count on the support of the electors of Mayence, of
+Trèves, and of Saxony. He himself was world-weary and was anxious to
+exchange his imperial cares for the repose of the Church could he
+only find a safe guardian for his son, Maximilian, and a desirable
+successor for himself. Would not Matthias consider the two offices?
+
+Potent arguments like these induced Matthias not only to turn his back
+on Podiebrad, but to accept that deposed monarch's crown which the
+Bohemian nobles offered him May 3, 1469. Then he proceeded to ally
+himself with Frederic, elector palatine, and with the elector of
+Bavaria. This was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia made renewed
+offers of friendly alliance to Charles of Burgundy. In his name the
+Sire de Stein brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles which
+contained the provision that Podiebrad should support the election
+of Charles as King of the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two
+hundred thousand florins (Rhenish).[2]
+
+This modest sum was to secure not only Podiebrad's own vote but his
+"influence" with the Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony
+and the Margrave of Brandenburg.[4] While Podiebrad thus dangled
+the ultimate hopes of the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he
+over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of fact the royal exile had
+no "influence" at all with the first named elector, and the last, too,
+showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his unstable policy. Both
+were content to advise Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty
+overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of importance.
+
+Another negotiation which sought him unasked had, however, a material
+influence on the course of events, and must be touched on in some
+detail. Sigismund of Austria--first duke then archduke,--Count of
+Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic, was a member of the House of
+Habsburg. In 1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and became
+brother-in-law of Louis during the term of the dauphin's first
+marriage. An indolent, extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated
+by his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol included certain
+territories lying far from his capital, Innsbruck. Certain portions
+of Upper Alsace, lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau in
+Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seigniories in the Black Forest
+were under his sway.
+
+These particular domains were so remote from Innsbruck that the
+authority of the hereditary overlord had long been eluded. The nobles
+pillaged the land near their castles very much at their own sweet
+will. The harassed burghers appealed to the Alsatian Décapole,[5] and
+again to the free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes obtained
+more than they wanted.
+
+Mulhouse was seriously affected by these lawless depredations. To her,
+Berne promised aid in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466,
+and at Berne's insistance the cowardly nobles restrained their
+license. But when the city attempted to extend its authority Sigismund
+interfered. Having no army, however, he could not recover Waldshut,
+which the Swiss claimed a right to annex, except by offering ten
+thousand florins for the town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men,
+he had, however, no means to pay this ransom and begged aid in every
+direction. Moreover, he feared further aggressions from the cantons,
+which were growing more daring. What man in Europe was better able to
+teach them a lesson than Charles, the destroyer of Liege, the stern
+curber of undue liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person to
+tame insolent Swiss cowherds?
+
+In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made known to Charles his
+desire for a bargain, intimating that in case of the duke's refusal,
+he would carry his wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was
+busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigismund's proposition.
+The latter tried to see Louis XI. personally in accordance with his
+imperial cousin's advice that an interview might be more effective
+than a letter.
+
+It did not prove a propitious time, however; Louis was deeply engaged
+with Burgundy and he was not disposed to take any steps that might
+estrange the Swiss--and any espousal of Sigismund's interests might
+alienate them. He did not even permit an opening to be made, but
+stopped Sigismund's approach to him by a message that he would not for
+a moment entertain a suggestion inimical to those dear friends of his
+in the cantons--a sentiment that quickly found its way to Switzerland.
+
+Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear, Sigismund decided that
+he would make another essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time
+face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he journeyed and found
+Charles in the midst of the ostentatious magnificence already
+described. Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a splendour
+hardly attained by the emperor in the most pompous functions of his
+court. Sigismund was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy
+prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's sole heiress led
+the Austrian to conceive the not unnatural idea that this attractive
+Burgundian wealth might be turned into the impoverished imperial
+coffers by a marriage between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian, the
+emperor's son.
+
+[Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE
+REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "LES DUCS DE BOURGOGNE"]
+
+The visitor not only thought of this possibility, but he immediately
+broached it to Charles. The bait was swallowed. As to the main
+proposition which Sigismund had come expressly to make, that, too,
+was not rejected. The duke perceived that the transfer of the Rhenish
+lands to his jurisdiction might militate to his advantage. A passage
+would be opened towards the south for his troops without the need of
+demanding permission from any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble
+with the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the advantages of
+Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which he finally decided to accept.
+Probably he found his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not
+only did he broach the tempting alliance between Mary and Maximilian,
+but he, too, seems to have hinted that the title of "King of the
+Romans" might be added to the long list of appellations already signed
+by Charles.[6] As Sigismund was richer in kin, if not in coin, than
+the feeble Podiebrad, Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion
+which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in the course of the
+long conversations held at Bruges.
+
+Certain precautions were taken to protect Charles from being dragged
+into Swiss complications against his will, and then in May, 1469,
+the treaty of St. Omer was signed,[7] wherein the Duke of Burgundy
+accorded his protection to Sigismund of Austria and received from him
+all his seigniorial rights within certain specified territories.
+
+The most important part of this cession comprised Upper Alsace and
+the county of Ferrette, but there were also many other fragments of
+territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides lordship over
+various Rhenish cities, such as Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg,
+Waldshut and Brisac. This last named town commanded the route
+eastward, as Waldshut that to the southeast, and Thann the highway
+through the Vosges region.
+
+Fifty thousand florins was the price for the property and the claims
+transferred from Sigismund to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at
+once, in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The remainder was
+due on September 24th. On his part, Sigismund specifically recognised
+the duke's right to redeem all domains nominally his but mortgaged for
+the time being, certain estates or seignorial rights having been thus
+alienated for 150 years.
+
+This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was a mortgage, but a
+mortgage with possession to the mortgagee and further restricted by
+the provision that there could be no redemption unless the mortgager
+could repay at Besançon the whole loan plus all the outlay made by the
+mortgagee up to that date. Instalment payments were expressly ruled
+out. The entire sum intact was made obligatory. Therefore the danger
+of speedy redemption did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man he had
+to deal with. Sigismund's lack of foresight and his prodigality were
+notorious. There was faint chance that he could ever command the
+amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was fairly justified in
+counting the mortgaged territory as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity.
+
+Sigismund pocketed his florins eagerly. Nothing could have been more
+welcome to him. But this relief from the pressure of his pecuniary
+embarrassment did not inspire him with love for the man who held his
+lost lands. His sentiments towards Charles were very similar to those
+of an heir towards a usurer who has helped him in a temporary strait
+by mulcting him of his natural rights.
+
+As for the emperor, when this transfer of territory was an
+accomplished fact, he began to take fright at the consequences. He did
+not like this intrusion of a powerful French peer into the imperial
+circle.[8] At the same time he was ready to make him share
+responsibility in any further difficulties that might arise between
+Sigismund and the Swiss.
+
+The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen difficulties for
+Charles on his own account, both foreign and domestic. His own
+relations with the Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had
+never before been so near a neighbour, while, within the Rhine lands,
+it was an open question whether the bartered inhabitants were to
+enjoy or regret their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of their
+sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference to Charles as was
+danger from the Confederation. Neither conciliation nor diplomacy
+was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the intricacies of the
+situation. He counted the landgraviate as definitely his by the treaty
+of St. Omer as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.
+
+The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley towns--a policy
+that might have won their allegiance--never occurred to him. They were
+his property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course of time, made
+lieutenant-governor in his behalf.
+
+Apart from all personal considerations of enmity and amity of natives
+and neighbours, the territory of Upper Alsace and the county of
+Ferrette, delivered from needy Austria to rich Burgundy, like a coat
+pawned by a poor student, was held under very complex and singular
+conditions.[9] The status of the bargain between Sigismund and Charles
+was in point of fact something between pawn and sale, according to the
+point of view. Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while Charles
+did not admit that possibility as remotely contingent. Nor was that
+the only peculiarity. The itemised list of the ceded territories as
+given in the treaty was far from telling the facts of the possessions
+passing to Sigismund's proxy.
+
+In the first place the Austrian seigniories were not compact. They
+were scattered here and there in the midst of lands ruled by others,
+as the Bishop of Strasburg, the Abbé of St. Blaise in the Black
+Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel and of Mulhouse, and
+others.
+
+The existent variety in the extent and nature of Austrian title was
+extraordinary. Nearly every possible combination of dismembered
+prerogative and actual tenure had resulted from the long series of
+ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or a quit-rent was the
+sole cession, and again a toll or a prerogative was almost the only
+residue remaining to the ostensible overlord, while all his former
+property or transferable birthright privileges were lodged in
+various hands on divers tenures. There were cases in which the
+mortgagee--noble, burgher, or municipal corporation--had taken the
+exact place of the Austrian duke and in so doing had become the vassal
+of his debtor, stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty.
+For in these bargains wherein elements of the Roman contract and
+feudal customs were curiously blended, two classes of rights had been
+invariably reserved by the ducal mortgagers:
+
+  (1) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured free circulation on
+the highways, the old Roman roads, all jurisdiction of passports and
+travellers' protection.
+
+  (2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power to confer fiefs, of
+requisition of military service, of requesting _aids_ and admission to
+strongholds, cities, or castles, _le droit de forteresse jurable et
+rendable_.
+
+In these regards the compact between Charles and Sigismund differed
+from all previous covenants not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke
+of Burgundy entered into the _sovereign_ as well as into the mangled,
+maimed, and curtailed proprietary rights of the hereditary over-lord.
+
+In his assumption of this involved and doubtful property, Charles laid
+heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. The actual price of fifty
+thousand gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction of the
+pecuniary obligations incurred, while the weight of care was difficult
+to gauge. He succeeded to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose
+misrule had long been a curse to the land. The incursions of
+the Swiss, the repeated descents of the Rhine nobles from their
+crag-lodged strongholds to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants
+and plunged peaceful labourers into misery.
+
+Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the neighbouring cities
+repeatedly became the accomplices of these brigands, affording them
+asylums for refitting and free passage when they were laden with
+evident booty.
+
+In all departments of finance and administration disorder prevailed.
+The chief officials, castellans and councillors, enjoyed high salaries
+for neglected duties. The castles were in wretched repair and there
+were insufficient troops to guard the roads. There was no dependence
+upon the receipts nominally to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged
+lands, the lords simply levied what they could, without the slightest
+responsibility for the order of the domain; they did not hesitate to
+charge their suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no one
+would verify their declaration.
+
+In the territories of the immediate domain, the Austrian dukes and
+their officials had no notion of the rigid system maintained in
+Burgundy. Only here and there can little memoranda be found and these
+are confused and obscure. There is a dearth of accurate records like
+those voluminous registers of outlays kept by Burgundian receivers,
+registers so rich in detail that they are more valuable for the
+historian than any chronicle.
+
+Exact appraisal of the resources of these _pays de par de là_ was very
+difficult. Between 1469 and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain
+reliable information by means of as many successive commissions
+despatched to the Rhine valley by the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+Envoys drew up minutes of their observations in addition to their
+official reports and all were preserved in the archives. As these were
+written from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the accounts of
+the receivers now lost, etc., there is real value in the documents.
+
+The first commission in behalf of Burgundy was composed of two Germans
+and three Walloons. One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach, who
+won no enviable reputation in the later exercise of his office as
+lieutenant-governor of the annexed region, to which he was shortly
+afterwards appointed. This first commission entered into formal
+possession in Charles's name and instituted some desired reforms
+immediately, such as policing the highways, etc.
+
+The second commission made its visit in 1471. It consisted of Jean
+Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of
+Amont.
+
+The third commission (1473) was under the auspices of Monseigneur
+Coutault, master of accounts at Dijon. He carried with him the report
+of his predecessors and made his additions thereto.
+
+Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June 13, 1471) were vague
+and general. They were "to see the conduct of his affairs" _(voir la
+conduite de ses affaires_). The important point was to find out how
+much revenue could be obtained. As the duke's plan of expansion grew
+larger he had need of all his resources.
+
+The reports were eminently discouraging. Outlay was needed
+everywhere--income was small. As the chances of peculation diminished,
+the castellans deserted their posts and left the castles to decay.
+The Burgundian commission of 1471 found the difficulties of their
+exploration increased by two items. Charles had not advanced an
+allowance for their expenses and they were anxious to be back at
+Vesoul by Michaelmas, the date of the change in municipal offices and
+of appropriations for the year. It was in hopes of receiving advance
+moneys that they delayed in starting, but the approaching election and
+coming winter finally decided them to set out, pay their own expenses,
+and complete the business as rapidly as they could in a fortnight.
+
+The summary of this report of 1471 was that there was little present
+prospect that Charles would be able to reimburse himself for his
+necessary expenses. An undue portion of authority and of revenue was
+legally lodged in alien hands. Charles was possessed of germs of
+rights rather than of actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria
+held all the best mortgages with their attendant emoluments. The
+immediate profits accruing to the Duke of Burgundy fell far short
+of the minimum necessary to disburse to keep his government, his
+strongholds, his highways in repair. Very disturbed were the good
+treasurer of Vesoul and the procureur-general of Amont at this state
+of affairs, and distressed at the prospect of the ampler receipts from
+Burgundy being required to relieve the pressing necessities of the
+poor territories _de par de là_.
+
+To avoid this contingency, the commissioners recommended the duke
+to redeem all the existing mortgages great and small. It would cost
+140,000 florins, but the revenue would at once increase with the new
+security which would immediately follow under firm Burgundian rule.
+Sole master, Charles could then enforce obedience from nobles and
+cities and better conditions would be inaugurated.
+
+Evidently this rational advice was not taken, for it is repeated by
+Coutault in 1473. Redemption of the mortgages, "if your affairs can
+afford it," is the counsel given by the chamber of accounts at Dijon,
+though this sage board adds that they were well aware that in the
+previous month Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hundred
+florins to redeem one wretched little _gagerie._ The native coffers of
+the region did not suffice to settle the salaries of the officers in
+charge.
+
+Such then was the new acquisition of Charles after four years of his
+administration. Peter von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this
+unremunerative territory, is a character painted in the darkest
+colours by all historians. It is more than probable that his unpopular
+efforts to make bricks without straw were largely responsible for his
+unenviable reputation. Ground between the upper and lower millstones
+of Charles's clamours for revenues and popular clamours that the
+people had nothing wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a
+taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying type, who made himself
+thoroughly hated by the people he was set to rule.
+
+It must be remembered that there was no cleft in nationality or in
+language between governor and governed. He was not a foreigner set
+over them. He was one of them raised to a high position. There was
+then no French element in Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and
+simple.
+
+[Illustration: UPPER ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORY BY PERMISSION OF
+HACHETTE, 1902]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 204-209. "Relation de
+l'assemblée solennelle tenue à Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469."]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Toutey, _Charles le Téméraire et la ligue de
+Constance_, p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See the text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., 116. Charles
+is characterised as _ducem strenuum in armis ac justitiæ præcipium
+zelatorem_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Thus was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from
+Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confederation by
+the Emperor Charles IV.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See "Fontes Rerum Austriacarum" Chmel, J., _Urkunden zur
+Geschichte von Osterreich_, etc., II^2, 223 _et passim_. One document,
+p. 229, has _Marz_ as a misprint for _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Charles was, to be sure, already within that circle for
+some of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there
+were very shadowy.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable
+article by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes dans la
+vallée du Rhin sous Charles le Téméraire," _Annales de l'Est,_ vol.
+18. This article, is the result of a careful examination of the
+reports made by Poinsot and Pellet, Charles's commissioners.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+1470-1471
+
+
+In order to follow out the extension of Burgundian jurisdiction in
+one direction, the course of events in the duke's life has been
+anticipated a little. The thread of the story now returns to 1469,
+when Charles and Sigismund separated at St. Omer both well pleased
+with their bargain. Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges
+and then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his sojourn had been
+interrupted in 1468 by his alarm about French duplicity. In the glow
+caused by his past achievements, his present reputation, and future
+prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a mood to prove to his subjects
+his excellence as a paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey
+easy access was permitted to his presence and he was lavish in the
+time given to receiving petitions from the humblest plaintiff. The
+following gruesome incident is an illustration of the summary methods
+attributed to him.[1]
+
+Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the governor, a man
+of noble birth, a knight, fell in love with a married woman who
+indignantly repudiated his advances. In revenge the governor had the
+husband arrested on a charge of high treason. The wife, left without a
+protector, continued obdurate to the knight until the alternative of
+her husband's release or his death was offered her as the reward for
+accepting the governor's base suit or as the penalty of her refusal.
+She chose to redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she went to
+the prison and was led to her husband truly, but he lay dead and in
+his coffin!
+
+When the Duke of Burgundy was once within the Zealand capital, this
+injured woman hastened to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner
+for justice. He heard her complaint and straightway summoned the
+ex-governor to his presence. The accused confessed that he had been
+carried away by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles of
+his long and faithful devotion to the late duke and to himself, and
+offered any possible reparation for his crime. The duke ordered him to
+marry his victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion, but was
+forced by her family to accept it. After the nuptial benediction, the
+knight again appeared before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff
+was satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly, "but not I." He
+remanded the bridegroom to prison, had him shriven and executed all
+within an hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown her second
+husband in his coffin as she had seen her first, and on the same spot.
+"It was a penalty that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the
+plaintiff died from the double shock."
+
+The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to Holland. Everywhere he
+evinced himself equally uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable and
+considerate towards the lower classes and humble folk. Various other
+stories related about him at this epoch are difficult to accept as
+authentic, for the main detail has appeared at other times under
+different guises. Wandering tales seem to alight, like birds of
+passage, on successive people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
+hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.
+
+The Hague was the duke's headquarters during two months, and there
+also he held open court and gave audience to many embassies in the
+midst of his administrative work pertaining to Holland and its nearest
+neighbours. He took measures to recover what he claimed had been
+usurped by Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make good the
+title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the wisp to successive Counts
+of Holland and never acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld
+together the various provinces the months passed, until a new turn of
+foreign events began to absorb the duke's whole attention.
+
+The details of English politics with all the reasons for revolution
+and counter-revolution involved in the complicated civil disorders,
+the Wars of the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can only
+be suggested in his biography. It must be remembered that the modern
+impression of English stability and French fickleness in political
+institutions, an impression casting reflections direct and indirect
+upon literature as well as history, is based on the changes in France
+from 1789 down to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Quite
+the reverse is the earlier tradition based on the kaleidoscopic
+shifts familiar to several generations of observers in the fifteenth
+century[2]; stable and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings
+of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across the Channel.
+
+Since 1461, Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster had been a passive
+prisoner, while Margaret of Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts
+to win adherents at home and abroad for her captive husband and her
+exiled son.[3] In 1463, she had received some aid, some encouragement
+from Philip of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward IV. as king
+and although, too, his personal sympathies were Yorkish rather than
+Lancastrian.
+
+It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into Lille, but later the
+duke himself entertained her munificently. The poverty-stricken exile
+probably found the accompanying ducal gifts more to the immediate
+purpose than the ducal feasts. Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed
+upon herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while various
+Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard times by useful sums of money.
+
+Pleasant though the recognition was, however, the pecuniary assistance
+was quite insufficient to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine
+years Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts were made to
+dislodge him. As he never forgot his mother's lineage, the sympathies
+of Charles of Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Margaret may
+have counted confidently on that sympathy proving valuable for her son
+as soon as Charles himself had a free hand. But when he came into his
+heritage, his marriage with Margaret of York put a definite end to
+those hopes. The new duke thereby declared his acceptance of the king
+whom the Earl of Warwick had seated upon the English throne. Then
+came clashing of wills between that king and his too powerful
+subject-adviser.[4] To punish his unruly royal protégé, Warwick turned
+his attention to the Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive to
+Edward IV. A marriage was planned between this possible future monarch
+and the earl's eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated at Calais
+without the king's knowledge (July, 1469).
+
+In the same summer occurred a rising in Yorkshire, possibly instigated
+by Warwick.[5] The malcontents, sixty thousand strong, declared that
+the king was giving ear to base counsellors and must be coerced into
+better ways. An attempt to suppress this revolt by the royal troops
+resulted in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father of
+Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was taken prisoner and beheaded.
+
+Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to Warwick. Over the Channel
+hastened the earl and his new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king
+at Olney, and--Edward found himself if not exactly a prisoner, at
+least under restraint. Two sovereigns--both without power even over
+their own actions,--such was the situation in England at the end of
+1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self-complacently regarding Louis
+XI. as a foe convinced of his own inferiority.
+
+A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal brother-in-law was
+probably the reason why Edward IV. was set at liberty, and why a
+reconciliation was patched up between him and his councillor, with
+full pardon for Warwick's adherents. But it was short-lived. A fresh
+outbreak in March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and Clarence
+sided with the rebels, the king was victorious, and his unfaithful
+friend and brother were again forced to flee under a shower of menaces
+hurled after them.
+
+    "But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erle of Warrewyk our Rebell and
+    Traytour come into oure seid Land we woll ... that ye doo Hym
+    and Theym to be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto Us
+    either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C._l_ of Land in
+    Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or Mil. _Lib_ in Redy money
+    at his election."[6]
+
+Such was the proclamation issued on March 22d by the king himself at
+York.
+
+Between Edward and Charles a new link had just been forged in the
+chain of friendship. The Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by
+the duke:
+
+    "We have to-day received from our much honoured seigneur and
+    brother, the king of England, his Order of the Garter together
+    with the mantle and other ornaments and things appertaining to the
+    said Order and have ... taken the oath according to the statutes
+    of the Order.
+
+    "Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal, February 4, 1469
+    [O.S.]."[7]
+
+Now it was in consideration of needs that might arise in the near
+future, following on the trail of these wide-reaching English
+convulsions, that Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for
+a strong military defence calculated to suit any emergency. Louis XI.
+had a permanent force at his command. He had made the beginning of the
+French standing army, the nucleus of one of those bodies that have
+ever since urged each other on to expensive growth from opposite sides
+of European frontiers. What one monarch possessed that must his near
+neighbour have.
+
+Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercenaries, were all alike
+unstable bulwarks for a nation. Nation as yet Charles had not, but
+he wanted to be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he issued
+an ordinance for the levy of a thousand lances, amounting to five
+thousand combatants, to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at
+call under officers of his own appointment. The ducal treasury could
+not stand the whole expense. To meet the deficit, Charles asked from
+his Netherland Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns for three
+years. Power to impose taxes he had none. A request to each individual
+province was all the requisition that he could make.
+
+In this case, most of the provinces approached had acceded to the
+demand, when the Estates of Flanders convened at Lille. Here the
+Chancellor of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of the demand,
+and then the session was changed to Bruges, where they debated on the
+merits of the request, urged on further by explanatory letters from
+Charles. Finally, a deputation was appointed by the Estates to go over
+to Ghent and present a _Remonstrance_ to their impatient sovereign
+beggar.
+
+Three points were set forth. The deputies objected to this grant being
+asked only from the lands _de par de ça_--the Netherlands and not from
+the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite assessment imposed on
+each province. Thirdly, they desired a declaration that the fiefs and
+arrière-fiefs already bound to furnish troops should be exempt from
+share in this tax. The remonstrance was courtly in tone. Written
+in French, the concluding phrases were in Latin and suggested that
+nothing was more becoming a prince than clemency, especially towards
+his subjects.[8]
+
+Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's response.[9] How could Burgundy
+furnish money? It is a poor land. It takes after France.[10] But its
+men make a third of the army. They are the Burgundian contribution. As
+to an assessment, what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid?
+Only out of malice is this idle point suggested.
+
+    "You act as you have always done--you Flemings. Neither to my
+    father nor to me have you ever been liberal. What you have
+    granted--sometimes more than our request--has always been given so
+    tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish skulls
+    are hard and thick and you cling to your stubborn and perverse
+    opinions.... I am half of France and half of Portugal and I know
+    how to meet such heads as yours, ay and _will_ do it. You have
+    always either hated or despised your prince--if powerful you
+    hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your hatred to your
+    contempt. Not for your privileges or anything else will I permit
+    myself to be trampled on--and I have the power to prevent such
+    trampling."
+
+    Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his demand, whose purpose
+    mainly was for defence of Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate
+    his visitors soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring
+    that as to the fiefs and arrière-fiefs he would see to it that no
+    double burdens were borne.
+
+    "And when you shall have determined to accord my request,--which
+    you will assuredly do (and I do not mean to burden you further
+    unless I am forced to it),--send some of your deputies after me to
+    Lille or St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my council, I
+    will determine the apportionment and we will speak also of other
+    matters touching my province of Flanders."
+
+It was this vehement oratory--and this vehemence was repeated on many
+occasions--that did more to alienate Charles from his hereditary
+subjects than his actual demands. There is little doubt that his
+period of residence in their midst brought with it hatred rather
+than liking. No political error of his serves to explain the Flemish
+attitude towards the duke as does his method of address, the
+gratuitous contempt displayed towards burghers whose purses were
+needed for his game. The _aide_ was granted, indeed, but it was levied
+with sullen reluctance.
+
+What cause Charles had to make his preparations, what were the
+proceedings of the English exiles may be seen from the following
+letters to his mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is probably
+in answer to her questionings; the second is a specimen of the
+epistles showered upon the border towns.
+
+    "TO MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LADY AND MOTHER,
+
+    MADAME THE DUCHESS, AT AIRE:
+
+    "May it please you to know that in regard to what the Sgr. de
+    Crèvecoeur has written you about the king's proclamations that he
+    intends to maintain his treaties and promises to me, etc., and has
+    no desire to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects
+    to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and his,
+    assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary has been and is well
+    known before the said publications and after. The Earl of Warwick
+    is my foe and could not, according to the treaty existing between
+    the king and me, be received in Normandy or elsewhere in the realm
+    ... [complaints about the procedure have been sent to king and
+    parliament and councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more,
+    the Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext of
+    carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which man was charged
+    to spy upon my ships and by means of a caravel named the
+    _Brunette_, sent for this purpose by the admiral, to cut the
+    cables to set them adrift and founder--or to capture certain ships
+    with such captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find, and
+    myself, too, if they were able.
+
+    "Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy on my towns, etc.,
+    and those of the caravel called the _Brunette_ were charged, if
+    they failed in taking my ships, or in cutting their cables, to
+    set fire to them--all in direct conflict with the terms of the
+    treaties, and procedures that the king would never have tolerated
+    had he had the slightest intention of maintaining his word ...
+    [Charles does not consider Groothuse to blame at all, etc.][11]
+
+
+_Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates of Ypres, June 10,
+1470_
+
+    "DEAR FRIENDS:
+
+    "It has come to your knowledge how after the Duke of Clarence and
+    the Earl of Warwick were expelled from England on account of their
+    sedition and their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both
+    by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and on _Vendredi
+    absolut_[12] went so far as to capture by fraud ships and property
+    belonging to our subjects, and have further done damage whenever
+    opportunity presented itself.
+
+    "In order to repel them we have ordered them to be attacked on
+    the sea. Moreover, at the same time we were advised that the same
+    Clarence and Warwick and their people, after they were routed at
+    sea by the troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King of
+    England, retreated to the marches of Normandy and were honourably
+    received at Honfleur by the Admiral of France with all which they
+    had saved from the raid on our subjects after the defeat.
+
+    "All this was direct infringement of the treaties lately made
+    between Monseigneur the king and myself. Therefore, we wrote at
+    once to Monsgr. the king begging him not to favour or aid the said
+    Clarence and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere in his
+    realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute the property of
+    our subjects, and to show his will by publishing such prohibitions
+    throughout Normandy and elsewhere where need is.
+
+    "Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris, and to the
+    council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The answer was that the king
+    meant to keep the treaty between him and us and had ordered his
+    subjects in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to our
+    subjects ... but we have since learned that, notwithstanding,
+    this same property has been distributed and ransoms have been
+    negotiated in the sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and
+    his officers.
+
+    "Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means of the aid
+    furnished by the king to the said Clarence and Warwick, the latter
+    are enabled to continue the war on our subjects and not on the
+    English, it being understood that they who were banished from
+    England are not strong enough to return by the force of arms but
+    must do so by friendship and favour.... On account of the above
+    and other depredations, we shall attack the said Warwick and
+    Clarence on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is needful
+    for the protection of our lands and subjects.
+
+    "Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."[13]
+
+    "Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist him to recover
+    England either with the help of Queen Margaret or by whatever
+    other means he may propose.... Only let him communicate his
+    desires in this respect as speedily as possible and the king will
+    lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of accomplishing it,"
+
+wrote the complaisant King of France in his directions to the
+confidential messenger sent to discuss matters with the English
+earl.[14]
+
+
+But that was not his language towards his cousin of Burgundy, whom he
+assured that there should be no infringement of their treaty, and that
+it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish property
+captured at sea in defiance of that treaty should be sold in French
+market-places. There is a hot correspondence,[15] that is, it is hot
+on the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are smoothly surprised
+at there being any cause for dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall
+be investigated, his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from the duke
+to two of Louis's council is emphatic in its expressions of doubt as
+to the good faith of these royal statements:
+
+    "ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:
+
+    "The vessels which you assure me are destined by the king for
+    an attack on England have attempted nothing except against my
+    subjects; but, by St. George, if some redress be not seen to, I
+    will take the matter into my own hands without waiting for your
+    motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."[16]
+
+
+Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent French merchants,
+coming peaceably to the fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of
+their private property, while the duke felt fully justified in
+stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to guard the Channel.
+Philip de Commines was one of the company who went at the duke's
+behest to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be faithful to King
+Edward, and to give no shelter to the rebellious earl and his protégé
+Clarence.[17]
+
+Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an inconvenient moment. He
+temporised. To Warwick, he denied a personal interview, but at the
+same time he sent him a confidential emissary, Sr. du Plessis, to whom
+he wrote as follows:
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have for Warwick's
+    return to England, as well because I wish to see him get the
+    better of his enemies--or that at least through him the realm of
+    England may be embroiled--as to avoid the questions which have
+    arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you know that these Bretons
+    and Burgundians have no other aim than to find a pretext for
+    rupturing peace and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see
+    commenced under this colour.... Wherefore I pray you take pains,
+    you and others there, to induce Mons. de Warwick to depart by all
+    arguments possible. Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so
+    that he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything else
+    but his personal advantage."[18]
+
+
+To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment. The envoys
+sent by Louis to placate the duke's resentment at the incidents in
+connection with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that Louis meant
+well by him and his subjects, found Charles holding high state at St.
+Omer. When they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered
+sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above floor level, "higher than
+was the wont of king or emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head
+as the representatives of his feudal overlord bowed to him and he
+acknowledged their obeisance by a slight nod and a gesture permitting
+them to rise.
+
+Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered their address with
+a prosy speech. Burgundian officials revelled in grandiloquent
+phrases--which this time bored Charles, He cut short the harangue
+impatiently, took the floor himself, and made a statement of the
+injuries he had suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend, but he
+was aiding the foe of the duke's brother. The envoys repeated their
+sovereign's offers of redress. Charles declared that redress was
+impossible. Pained, very pained were the French envoys to think that
+a petty dispute could not be settled amicably. "The king desires to
+avoid friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress for every
+wrong. It will not be his fault if trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the
+king and you have a judge who is above you both."
+
+The insinuation that it was he who was ready to break the peace
+infuriated Charles. He started to his feet, his eyes flashing with
+fire. "Among us Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends
+become friends to our foes we send them to the hundred thousand devils
+of hell."[19] "A piece of bad taste to send by implication a king of
+France to a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave Chastellain,
+aghast at this impolite, emphatic, though indirect reference to Louis
+XI.
+
+Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers present at this occasion.
+After all, they, too, were French by nature. To wreck the new-made
+peace for the sake of the English alliance, which had never been
+really popular among them, that seemed an act of rash unwisdom.
+
+    "A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because their chief
+    thus implied contempt for the name of France to which the duke
+    belonged. Not going quite so far as to call himself English,
+    though that was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother,
+    ancient friend of England and enemy of France."
+
+
+There were, indeed, times when the duke was more emphatic in asserting
+his English blood. Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands
+which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates and citizens of
+Calais, whom he addresses, "O you my friends."[20] While reiterating
+that he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By St. George who
+knows me to be a better Englishman and more anxious for the weal of
+England than you other English ... [you] shall recognise that I am
+sprung from the blood of Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied
+with the circumstances.
+
+While he was so conscious of his own greatness, present and future,
+and of his own laudable intentions to do well by his subjects, it is
+quite possible, too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously
+by his failure to win popularity. For he was quite as unpopular with
+his courtiers as with his subjects. The former did not like the rigid
+court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting through audiences silent
+and stiff "as at a sermon," and exposed to personal reprimands from
+their chief if there were the slightest lapses from his standard of
+conduct. They did not know on what meat the duke was feeding his
+imagination, an imagination that already saw him as Cæsar. Had he
+actually attained the loftier rank that he dreamed of, his premature
+arrogance might have been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible
+to the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his popularity during
+the years 1470-73.
+
+Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer, Louis had been relieved
+of anxiety in regard to the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers
+of an heir like his brother who might easily be used as a tool by some
+clever faction opposed to the ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was
+born to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant still
+were his words to his Burgundian cousin, but the moment was drawing
+near when his efforts to circumvent him were no longer secret.
+
+The embassy returned home. Possibly their report of the duke's
+passionate words goaded the king into discarding his mask of
+friendship. At any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in showing
+which side of the fresh English quarrel he meant to espouse. Margaret
+of Anjou hated the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had unseated
+her husband but because he had doubted her fidelity to that husband.
+Nevertheless, under Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her
+past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on fraternising with him on
+a basis of common hate for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed
+by the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the prince whose very
+legitimacy Warwick had questioned, with the earl's younger daughter.
+It was a singular union to be accepted by the parents, separated as
+they had been by the wall of insults interchanged during more than a
+decade of bitter enmity.
+
+Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession. She saw her
+seventeen-year-old son betrothed to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville,
+and later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick on a piece of
+the true cross in St. Mary's Church at Angers (August 4, 1470).
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July 25th], I have sent
+    you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick
+    in surety, and I order him to make such arrangements that the
+    people of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity until he
+    is there. To-day we have made the marriage of the Queen of England
+    and of him, and hope to-morrow to have all in readiness to
+    depart."[21]
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY (FROM BARANTE)]
+
+Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme towns, insinuating
+opposition to the duke, and reminding the citizens that they were
+French at heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the Burgundian
+court, saying many things in secret besides those they said in public.
+Plenty there were that wished for war, remarks the observant Commines.
+Nobles like St. Pol and others could not maintain the same state in
+peace as in war, and state they loved. In time of war four hundred
+lances attended the constable, and he had a large allowance to
+maintain them from which he reaped many a profitable commission
+besides the fees of his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover,"
+adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to say among themselves
+that if there were no battles without, there would be quarrels within
+the realm."
+
+The matter of the grants to Charles of France had been settled to his
+royal brother's liking, not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne
+and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were withdrawn and
+Guienne substituted. When Normandy had been exchanged for Champagne
+and Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of Burgundy approved
+the change as he thought it assured him an obedient friend as
+neighbour.[22] The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne and
+Brie, was quite a different thing.
+
+Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away from Burgundy. Naturally,
+Charles was not content. Then, too, it looked as though he had lost a
+useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new Duke of Guienne was
+formally reconciled to his brother and took oath that his fraternal
+devotion to his monarch should never again waver.
+
+Long before Charles was completely convinced that Louis was not going
+to maintain the humble attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he
+became very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against him. "He
+hastened to Hesdin where he entered into jealousy of his servants"
+says Commines. That he was assured that there were reasons for his
+apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated as an open letter,[23]
+to various cities, wherein he makes a detailed statement of the plots
+against his life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of Duke Philip.
+
+Sorry return was this from one recognised as Bastard of Burgundy and
+brought up in the ducal household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa,
+Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave of the duke's
+service and made his way to the king in his castle of Amboise, where
+he had been pleasantly received and promised rich reward when he had
+"executed his damnable designs against our person."
+
+Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in Charles's court at St.
+Omer were arrested as suspicious, and that circumstance frightened
+Baldwin and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his retinue, his
+horses, and his baggage behind. He dreaded lest he might be attainted
+and convicted of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the king.
+
+    "Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and clemency of God,
+    we inform you of the events so that you may render thanks
+    by public processions, solemn masses, sermons, and prayers,
+    beseeching Him devoutly and from the heart that He will always
+    guard and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and subjects
+    from such plots.
+
+    "May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in our castle of
+    Hesdin, December 13, 1470.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+    "LE GROS."
+
+
+It was not long before Charles had less reason to fear French
+"subtleties." At an assembly of notables[24] convened at Tours at the
+end of 1470, Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily for
+just two years, and made an open brief of his grievances against the
+duke.
+
+His case was cited with a luxury of detail more or less authentic. The
+interview at Peronne was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the Duke
+of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468, both obtained by undue
+pressure, had not been respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was
+obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.
+
+Even Commines shows that it is not surprising that there was
+unanimity[25] in the declaration that according to God and his
+conscience in all honour and justice the king was released from those
+treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion into Picardy as soon
+as possible.
+
+Charles's public accusations of plots against him did not go
+unanswered. Jehan de Chassa promptly issued a rejoinder:
+
+    "As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has sent to divers
+    places letters signed by himself and his secretary, Jehan le
+    Gros, written at Hesdin, December 13th, falsely charging me with
+    plotting against his life with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy,
+    and Jehan d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching my
+    honour, feel bound to reply.... By God and by my soul I declare
+    that these charges against me made by Charles of Burgundy are
+    false and disloyal lies"[26]
+
+Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation at the slur on his
+character, but he remained in the French court as did many others who
+had formerly served Charles.
+
+Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his daughter in the hands
+of Margaret of Anjou, openly aided by Louis, sailed back to England in
+September But there had been one further change of base of which the
+earl was still unconscious. His elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in
+the Warwick-Lancaster alliance. It brought young Prince Edward to the
+fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence--long ready to replace Edward of
+York--of any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined to accept
+offers of a reconciliation tendered him by King Edward.
+
+Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence sailed with Warwick and
+joined with him in the proclamations scattered over England, declaring
+that the exiles were returning to "set right and justice to their
+places, and to reduce and redeem for ever the realm from its
+thraldom." Never a mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI. Perhaps
+it was as convenient to see which way the wind blew and to put in a
+name accordingly.
+
+On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was raised as a cry. In
+Nottinghamshire, where Edward lay, not a word was heard for York.
+There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had turned against him
+and off he rode to Lyme with a small following, took ship, and made
+for Holland. It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns gave
+chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter at Alkmaar where De la
+Groothuse, Governor of Holland, welcomed him in the name of the
+duke.[27] Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with which to pay
+his fare across the Channel but a gown lined with marten's fur, and as
+for his train, never so poor a company was seen.
+
+Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all England and official
+business was transacted in the name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless
+on his throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow and pretence
+and what was done in his name was done without his will or knowledge.
+
+Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his unbidden guest. He
+would rather have heard that his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade
+Groothuse show him every courtesy and supply him with necessaries and
+five hundred crowns a month for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps
+informed by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind blowing over in
+England was but a fickle breeze, he consented to forget his hereditary
+sympathies.
+
+    "The same day that the duke received news of the king's arrival in
+    Holland, I was come from Calais to Boulogne (where the duke then
+    lay) ignorant of the event and of the king's flight.[28] The duke
+    was first advised that he was dead, which did not trouble him much
+    for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of York.
+    Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter and of Somerset and
+    divers others of King Henry's faction, by which means he thought
+    himself assured of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared
+    the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content him that was
+    to come to him, I mean King Edward, whose sister he had married
+    and who was also brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden
+    Fleece and the duke the Garter.
+
+    "Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais accompanied by
+    a gentleman or two of this new faction of Henry, and gave me
+    instructions how to deal with this new world, urging me to
+    go because it was important for him to be well served in the
+    matter.[29] I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes,
+    and then dared not proceed because I found people fleeing for fear
+    of the English who were devastating the country.... Never before
+    had I needed a safe-conduct for the English are very honourable.
+    All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen these
+    mutations in the world."
+
+Commines was uncertain as to what he had better do and wanted
+instructions. "The duke sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go
+forward with the promise that if I were taken prisoner he would redeem
+me." New surprises met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known
+faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate of my lodgings and
+the very door of my chamber were a hundred white crosses and rhymes
+signifying that the King of France and Earl of Warwick were one--all
+of which seemed strange to me." Well received was Commines and
+entertained at dinner. It was told at table how within a quarter of an
+hour after the arrival of news from England every man wore this livery
+(the ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden was the change.
+"This is the first time that I ever knew how little stable are these
+mundane affairs."
+
+    "In all communications that passed between them and me, I repeated
+    that King Edward was dead, of which fact I said I was well
+    assured, notwithstanding that I knew the contrary, adding further
+    that though it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke of
+    Burgundy and the king and realm of England such that this accident
+    could not infringe it--whomever they would acknowledge as king him
+    would we recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the league should
+    remain firm and inviolate between us and the king and realm of
+    England save that for Edward we named Henry."
+
+Commines explains further that the wool trade was what made amity with
+England necessary to Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal
+cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly for peace."
+
+Charles made vague promises to his uninvited guest, declaring
+ostentatiously that his blood was Lancastrian. Nevertheless he
+finally consented to an interview with him of York, in spite of the
+remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset and Exeter. "The duke
+could not tell whom to please and either party he feared to displease.
+But in the end, because sharp war was upon him face to face, he
+inclined to the English dukes, accepting their promises against the
+Earl of Warwick, their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who was on the
+spot and very ill at ease," was quieted by secret assurances that the
+duke was obliged to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep the
+king but that he was bound to return to England and fearing for divers
+considerations altogether to discontent him, Charles pretended that he
+could not aid the king and forbade his subjects to enter his service."
+Privately, however, he gave him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's
+cross, and had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand, a
+harbour where all nations were received. Besides this he secretly
+hired fourteen well appointed "ships of the Easterlings, which
+promised to serve him till he landed in England and for fifteen days
+after, "great aid considering the times."
+
+King Edward departed out of Flanders in the year 1471, when the
+Duke of Burgundy went to wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the
+king.[30] "The said duke thought now howsoever the world went in
+England he could not speed amiss because he had friends on both
+sides."[31]
+
+Edward's adventures in England proved that he had not lost his hold
+there. Warwick's extraordinary brief success was but a flash in the
+pan. London opened her gates and then the pitched battle at Barnet
+gave a final verdict between the rival Houses which England accepted.
+This battle was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and the like
+speech of the two bodies caused hopeless confusion. Many friends slew
+each other unwittingly, and among the slain was the indefatigable,
+energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with his royal puppets. Only
+forty-four was he and worthy of a better and more statesmanlike
+career.
+
+On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son landed at Weymouth.
+Hearing of Warwick's death, they tried to reach Wales but were
+intercepted and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here the young prince,
+too, met his death. To Edward's direct command is attributed the
+murder of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which happened at
+about the same time. The desolated Margaret of Anjou lingered five
+years under restraint in England before she was ransomed by King
+Louis.
+
+    "Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten at London the
+    Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.
+
+    "God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke Hym that made all
+    and can undoo agayn whare Hym lyst."[32]
+
+Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on his foresight. His
+brother of the two Orders was himself again.
+
+    "The very day on which this fight happened [says Commines] the
+    Duke of Burgundy, being before Amiens, received letters from
+    the duchess his wife, that the King of England was not at all
+    satisfied with him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if
+    for very little cause he would have deserted him. To speak plainly
+    there never was great friendship between them afterwards. Yet the
+    Duke of Burgundy seemed to be extremely pleased at this news and
+    published it everywhere."
+
+A transaction of his own of this time, the duke did not publish. It
+was a procedure perhaps justified by these wonderful "mutations in the
+world" which impressed Commines as strange and terrible. The Duke of
+Burgundy caused a legal document to be drawn up attesting his own
+heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the same in the Abbey of
+St. Bertin with all due formality. If there came more "mutations"
+in the world whose very existence was a new experience to Philip de
+Commines, Charles was ready to interpose his own plank in the new
+structure.
+
+In the archives of the House of Croy in the château of Beaumont, rests
+this document, which was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471,
+in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to the statement
+that no one was truer heir to the Lancaster House than Charles of
+Burgundy.[33] Two canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the
+witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.
+
+It was expressly stipulated that if there were any delay in the duke's
+entering upon his English inheritance--which devolved to him
+through his mother,--a delay caused by motives of public utility of
+Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, this should not prejudice
+his rights or those of his successors. A mere deferring of assuring
+the titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. His delay ended
+in his death and Edward IV. never had to combat this claim of the
+brother-in-law who had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his
+throne.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Meyer is the earliest historian to tell this story and it
+is vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice
+lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York and
+Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between Englishmen on
+English soil. Three out of four kings died by violence. Eighty persons
+connected with the blood royal were executed or assassinated.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Ramsay, _Lancaster and York_, ii., 232 _et seq._; Oman,
+_Hundred Years' War_ and _Warwick, the King-maker_, are followed here
+in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 4: That the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge
+or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again denied by
+various authorities.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See Oman's _Warwick_, p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Rymer, _Fædera_, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on
+for about a year.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, 651.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "Quia nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut
+clemencia et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 216. The editor thinks that
+the speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was
+delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Il sent la France_.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Middleburg, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign manual"
+on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, _Histoire générale et
+particulière de Bourgogne_, etc., iv., cclxxi).]
+
+[Footnote 12: Good Friday, April 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 226.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Comines-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at
+Amboise, May, 12, 1470.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Plancher, iv., cclxi., etc.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Duke Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May
+29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Mémoires_, iii., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Duclos "Preuves," v., 296.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Chastellain, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure,
+those of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance is
+that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis accepts it.
+(Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 363.)]
+
+[Footnote 20: _See_ Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Aujourd'hui avons fait le mariage de la reine
+d'Angleterre et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating the
+alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the King's
+accounts for December, 1470: "à maistre Jehan le prestre, la somme de
+xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or à lui donnée par le roy, pour le
+restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance d'icellui seigneur,
+il avait baillée du sien au vicaire de Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur
+en a fait don en faveur de ce qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de
+Galles a la fille du Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the
+actual marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation.
+(Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also _Lettres de Louis XI_.,
+iv., 131.)]
+
+[Footnote 22: A group of smaller seigniories was also involved,
+Quercy, Périgord, La Rochelle, etc. _See_ letter-patent,
+(Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 97.)]
+
+[Footnote 23: Duclos, "Preuves" v., 302.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, iv^{ii},
+364.]
+
+[Footnote 25: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}, 364. He states that the king
+named all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Duclos, "Preuves," v., 307.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Commines, iii., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _See_ instructions given to him for this mission,
+Wavrin-Dupont, iii., 271.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Commines, iii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 31: As soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles
+published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]
+
+[Footnote 32: _Letters_, iii., 4.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _See_ Gachard, _Études et Notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas,_ ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant toutes
+les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que plus grant
+foy soit adjoustée à tout ce que cy desus est escript, avant signé ce
+présent instrument de nostre propre main et le fait sceller de nostre
+seau en signe de vérité, l'an et jour desusdit. [This in French, the
+body in Latin.]
+
+"CHARLES."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+1471
+
+
+All work had ceased at Paris for three days by the king's command,
+while praise was chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints male
+and female, for the victory won by Henry of Lancaster, in 1470, over
+the base usurper Edward de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made a
+special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at Poitiers to breathe in
+pious solitude his own prayers of thanksgiving for the happy event.
+The battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this abundant stream of
+gratitude, and there were other thanksgivings.[1]
+
+In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent letters from
+Canterbury to his good friends at Bruges,[2] acknowledging their
+valuable assistance to his brother Charles,[3] recognising his part in
+restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his throne. To his sister,
+the Duchess of Burgundy, the returned exile gave substantial proof
+of his gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture and
+trade.[4]
+
+Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss weather vane the King
+of England had swung out into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair
+weather over his head, while Louis was forced back into solitary
+impotence. He seemed singularly isolated. His English friends were
+gone, his nobles were again forming a hostile camp around Charles of
+France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten his late protestations
+of fraternal devotion, and there were many indications that the
+Anglo-Burgundian alliance might prove as serious a peril to France as
+it had in times gone by but not wholly forgotten.
+
+The two most important of the disputed towns on the Somme were,
+however, in Louis's possession, and Charles of Burgundy, ready to
+reduce Amiens by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his
+proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed in July. This
+afforded a valuable respite to the king, and he busied himself in
+energetic efforts to detach his brother from the group of malcontents.
+Various disquieting rumours about the prince's marriage projects
+caused his royal brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch a
+special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy Louis wrote as follows[5]:
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:
+
+    "Guiot du Chesney[6] has brought me despatches from Monsg. de
+    Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has, further, mentioned three
+    points to me: First, in behalf of Mme. de Savoy,[7] ... second, in
+    regard to M. d'Ursé ... third, touching the mission of Mons. de
+    Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the daughter of Monsg. de
+    Foix.... The Ursé matter I will leave to you, and will agree to
+    what you determine upon. On the spot you will be a better judge of
+    what I ought to say and what would be advantageous to me, than I
+    can here.
+
+    "In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage, you know what a
+    misfortune it would be to me. Use all your five senses to prevent
+    it. I am told that my brother does not really like the idea, and
+    it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has brought him to
+    consent in order to further the marriage of the duchess,[8] so
+    that in taking the sister, the duke will be relieved of this sum,
+    a condition that would please him greatly because he has nothing
+    to pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all the
+    accompanying claims and then be through with it. In effect, I beg
+    you make him agree to another [bride] before you leave, and do not
+    be in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair[9] can be
+    arranged you will place me in Paradise.
+
+    "_Item._ I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would not approve this
+    Aragon girl, because he himself has some hopes of the kingdom of
+    Aragon through his wife. If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of
+    this, I believe it would help along our case.
+
+    "_Item._ It seems to me that you have a splendid opportunity to be
+    very frank with my brother. For he has informed me through this
+    man that the duke [of Brittany] has paid no attention to the
+    representations made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray,
+    and since my brother himself confides this to me, you have an
+    opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and that I never
+    cherish him so highly as when he tells me the truth, and that I
+    now recognise that he does not desire to deceive me, since he
+    does not spare the duke [of Brittany] and that, since he sees him
+    opposed to me, he should return the seal that you know of and
+    refuse to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the
+    Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.
+
+    "If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as long as I live
+    I will harbour no misgiving of him and he shall be as puissant in
+    all the realm of France as I myself, as long as I live. In short,
+    Mons. du Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you will
+    place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until Monseigneur de
+    Lescun has arrived, and a good piece afterwards, even if you have
+    to play the invalid, and before you depart put our affair in
+    surety if you can, I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du
+    Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre Dame de Behuart
+    aid your negotiations. The women[10] of Mme. de Burgundy have
+    all been ill with the _mal chault,_ and it is reported that the
+    daughter is seriously afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is
+    already dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite certain of
+    the malady.
+
+    "Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.
+
+    "LOYS.
+
+    "TILHART."
+
+That the king's professed confidence in his brother did not remove all
+suspicions of that young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown
+by the following letter, written two days later than the above, to
+Lorenzo de' Medici:
+
+    "Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that our brother of
+    Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation from the oath he
+    swore to us, of which we send you a duplicate. Since you are a
+    great favourite with our Holy Father pray use your influence with
+    his Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation,
+    and that his messenger may not be able to do any negotiating. In
+    this you will do us a singular and agreeable pleasure which we
+    will recognise in the future as we have in the past on fitting
+    occasion....
+
+    "Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.
+
+    "LOYS."
+
+Louis does not seem to have taken his own doubts as to the very
+existence of Mary of Burgundy very seriously. While he was infinitely
+anxious to prevent her alliance with his brother, he made overtures to
+betroth her to his baby son, while he reminded her father in touching
+phrases that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and hence exactly
+the person to be her father-in-law.
+
+The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts to make terms between
+the king and the duke before the termination of the truce. The king
+was very hopeful of attaining this good result, and sweetly trustful
+of the duke's pacific and friendly intentions. He sternly refused to
+listen to suggestions that Charles meant to play him false and was
+very definite in his expressions of confidence. The following epistle
+to his envoys at the duke's court was an excellent document to fall by
+chance into Burgundian hands[11]:
+
+    "To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:
+
+    "My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received your letters
+    this evening at the hostelry of Montbazon where I came because I
+    have not yet dared to go to Amboise.[12] When I imparted to you
+    the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose of
+    delaying you in completing your business but only to advise you of
+    the dangers that were in the air. And to free you from all doubts
+    I assure you, that if Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to
+    confirm, by writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at
+    Orleans[13], I wish you to accept it and to clinch the matter and
+    I am quite determined to trust to it. As to your suspicion that
+    he may wish to make the chief promises in private letters without
+    putting it in a formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a
+    pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing I never withdraw
+    my decision.
+
+    "My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to it that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate assurance of the
+    letters that he is to issue. When I once have the letter such as
+    we agreed upon and he is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep
+    faith. If my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do
+    not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure you that my
+    greatest worldly desire is that the matter be finished, since he
+    has given verbal assurance that he wishes me well. You write that
+    the pronotary told you that I was negotiating in every direction.
+    By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by the words that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy said to you you can easily solve the
+    question, for he has only offered you what he mentioned before
+    when the matters were discussed. It looks to me as though they
+    were not free from traitors since they have Abbé de Begars and
+    Master Ythier Marchant.[14]
+
+    "A herald of the King of England came here on his way to Monsg. of
+    Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct to send a messenger to me
+    for this truce. Since your departure the council thought I ought
+    not to give any pass for more than forty days except to merchants.
+    If it please God and Our Lady that you may conclude your mission,
+    I assure you that as long as I live I will have no embassy either
+    large or small without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy
+    and I will only answer as if through him. I assure you that until
+    I hear from you whether Monsg. of Burgundy decides to conclude
+    this treaty or not as we agreed together, I will make no agreement
+    with any creature in the world and of that you may assure him.
+
+    "Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).
+
+    "Loys."
+
+At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly intercourse with the
+towns he proposed to cede.
+
+    "To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king: "Dear and
+    beloved, we have heard reports at length from Amiens and we are
+    well content with you.... Give credence to all my messengers say.
+    We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies have done
+    in our cause."
+
+At the Burgundian court the duke's friends thought that he would play
+the part of wisdom did he keep an army within call, and refrain from
+implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was, moreover, an
+impression abroad that the latter was not in a position to be very
+formidable.
+
+    "Once [says Commines][15] I was present when the Seigneur d'Ursé
+    [envoy from the Duke of Guienne] was talking in this wise and
+    urging the duke to mobilise his forces with all diligence. The
+    duke called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur d'Ursé
+    urging me to make my army as big as possible, and tells me that we
+    would do well for the realm. Do you think that I should wage a war
+    of benefit if I should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered
+    that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I love the welfare
+    of France more than Mons. d' Ursé imagines, for instead of the one
+    king that there is I would fain see six.'"
+
+The animus of this expression is clear. It implies a wish to see the
+duke's friends, the French nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head,
+until the titular monarch had no more power than half a dozen of his
+peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal terms that Charles's next
+moves were to disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard their
+alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis whose terms were wholly
+to his own advantage and implied complete desertion of the allied
+interest.
+
+    "This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and I was present[16]
+    and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon and the Chancellor of
+    France[17] in behalf of the king. When they departed they advised
+    the duke not to disband his army but to increase it, so that the
+    king their master might be the more inclined to cede promptly the
+    two places mentioned above. They took with them Simon de Quingey
+    to witness the king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors'
+    work. The king delayed this confirmation for several days.
+    Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother, the Duke of Guienne
+    ... shortly afterwards the said Simon returned, dismissed by the
+    king with very meagre phrases and without any oath being taken.
+    The duke felt mocked and insulted by this treatment and was very
+    indignant about it."[18]
+
+This story involves so serious a charge against Charles of Burgundy
+that the fact of his setting his signature to the treaty has been
+indignantly denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's
+truthfulness rather than accept the duke's betrayal of his friends. It
+is true that only a few months later than this negotiation, Commines
+himself forsook the duke's service for the king's, a change of base
+that might well throw suspicion on his estimate of his deserted
+master.
+
+Yet it must be remembered that he does not gloss over Louis's actions,
+even though he had an admiration for the success of his political
+methods, methods which Commines believed to be essential in dealing
+with national affairs. In many respects he gives more credit to the
+duke than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer chief. That
+there is no documentary evidence of such a treaty is mere negative
+evidence and of little importance.
+
+The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy was at a parting
+of the ways, in character as in action. His natural bent was to tell
+the truth and to adhere strictly to his given word. He felt that he
+owed it to his own dignity. He felt, too, that he was a person to
+command obedience to a promise whether pledged to him by king or
+commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe shocks had been dealt
+him. He had lost all faith in Louis, a faith that had really been
+founded on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction that the weak
+king must respect the redoubtable cousin of Burgundy.
+
+The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to make him adopt the
+tools used by his rival, or at least to attempt to do so. At the
+moment of the negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation
+was to regain the towns on the Somme. That accomplished, it is not
+probable that he would have abandoned his friends, the French
+peers, whom he desired to see become petty monarchs each in his own
+territory. There seems no doubt that words were used with singular
+disregard of their meaning. It is surprising that time was wasted in
+concocting elaborate phrases that dropped into nothingness at the
+slightest touch. In citing the above passage from Commines referring
+to the treaty, the close of the negotiations has been anticipated.
+Whether or not any draft of a treaty received the duke's signature,
+the king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when his brother's death
+freed him from the dread of dangerous alliance between Charles of
+France and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th, he was still
+uncertain as to the decree of fate and wrote as follows to the
+Governor of Rousillon[19]:
+
+    "Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the Duke of Burgundy
+    declares war against me, I will set out immediately for that
+    quarter [Brittany], and in a week we will finish the matter. On
+    the other hand, if peace be made we shall have everything without
+    a blow or without any risk of restoration. However, if you can get
+    hold of anything by negotiating and manoeuvring, why do it. As
+    to the artillery, it is close by you, and when it is time, and I
+    shall have heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."
+
+Ten days later he is more hopeful.[20]
+
+    "Since my last letter to you I have had news that Monsieur de
+    Guienne is dying and that there is no remedy for his case. One
+    of the most confidential persons about him has advised me by a
+    special messenger that he does not believe he will be alive a
+    fortnight hence.... The person who gave me this information is
+    the monk who repeated his Hours with M. de G[uienne.] I am much
+    abashed at this and have crossed myself from head to foot.
+
+    "Written at Moutils-lès-Tours, May 18th."
+
+This prognostic was correct. In less than a fortnight the Duke of
+Guienne lay dead, and the heavy suspicion rested upon his royal
+brother of having done more than acquiesce in the decree of fate.
+Whether or not there was any truth in this charge the king was
+certainly not heartbroken by the loss. Indeed, the event interested
+him less than the question of making the best use of the remainder of
+his truce with Charles. The following letters to Dammartin and the
+Duke of Milan belong to this time.
+
+    "Thank you for the pains you have taken but pray, as speedily as
+    you can, come here to draw up your ordinance for we only have
+    a fortnight more of the truce. I have sent the artillery and
+    soldiers to Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's
+    forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the seneschal of
+    Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company. Then if there are
+    more at large, form them into a body and send them to me and I
+    will find them a captain and pay all those who are willing to
+    stay.
+
+    "As to him,[21] make him talk on the way and learn whether he
+    would like to enter into an agreement in his brother's name, and
+    work it so that the duke will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at
+    all points for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know how,
+    for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun left here for any
+    other reason than to attempt to make an arrangement of some kind.
+
+    "Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser than I and will
+    know how to act far better than I can instruct you, but, above
+    all, I implore you come in all haste for without you we cannot
+    make an ordinance.
+
+    "Written at Xaintes, May 28th.
+
+    "LOYS."[22]
+
+    "AMBOISE, June 7th.
+
+    "Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Beloved brother and
+    cousin, we have received the letters you have written making
+    mention, as you have heard, that in the truce lately concluded
+    between us and the Duke of Burgundy up to April 1st next coming,
+    which will be the year 1473, the Duke of Burgundy has mentioned
+    you as his ally, which you do not like because you never asked the
+    Duke of Burgundy to do so, and you do not know whether he made
+    this statement on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who is
+    with him.
+
+    "Therefore, and because you do not mean to enter into alliance or
+    understanding with the Duke of Burgundy but wish to remain
+    our confederate and ally and have sworn to that effect before
+    notaries, and sealed your oath with your seal ... that you are no
+    ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that you renounce and repudiate
+    his nomination as such ... also you may be certain that on our
+    part we are determined to maintain all friendship between us and
+    you ... and if we make any treaty in the future we will expressly
+    include you in it and never will do otherwise."[23]
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised how while the truce is
+    still in being, the Duke of Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all
+    whom he found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished you to
+    know so that if you can find means to do him a like injury in his
+    country you will do it there and anywhere that you can without
+    sparing anything. I have good hopes that God will aid in avenging
+    us, considering the murders for which he is responsible within the
+    church and elsewhere, and because by virtue of the terms of their
+    surrender [they thought] they had saved their lives.
+
+    "Done at Angers, June 19th.
+
+    "P.S.--If the said place had been destroyed and rased as I ordered
+    this never would have happened. Therefore, see to it that all such
+    places be rased to the ground, for if this be not done the people
+    will be ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
+    damage to me."[24]
+
+One fact stated by Louis in this letter was true. Charles of Burgundy
+broke the truce when it had but two weeks to run, and thus put
+himself in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him wild with anger.
+Apparently he had not believed in the imminence of the danger,
+although he had been constantly informed of the progress of the
+prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand of Louis, not the
+judgment of God, that ended the life of the prince.
+
+    "On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472, so far as I remember
+    [says Commines] came letters from Simon de Quingey, the duke's
+    ambassador to the king, announcing the death of the Duke of
+    Guienne and that the king had recovered the majority of his
+    places. Messages from various localities followed headlong one on
+    the other, and every one had a different story of the death.
+
+    "The duke being in despair at the death, at the instigation of
+    other people as much concerned as himself, wrote letters full of
+    bitter accusations against the king to several towns--an action
+    that profited little for nothing was done about it.[25]... In this
+    violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle in Vermandois,
+    and commenced a kind of warfare such as he had never used before,
+    burning and destroying wherever he passed."
+
+It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines sails by the capital
+charges against the king. He neither accepts nor denies the king's
+crime, while frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an opportune
+circumstance for Louis. He apologises for mentioning any evil report
+of either king or duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
+truth without palliation.
+
+Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the Somme which refused
+the duke's summons to surrender, sent to it on June 10th. It seems
+possible that there was a misunderstanding between the citizens
+and the garrison which resulted in the slaughter of the Burgundian
+heralds. Whereupon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong upon the
+ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible vengeance on the town.
+
+When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage was over, but he was
+unreproving as he inspected the gruesome result. Into the great church
+itself he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the blood lying
+inches deep on the floor. The desecrated building was full of
+dead--men, women, and children--but the duke's only comment as he
+looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily I have good butchers
+with me," and he crossed himself piously.
+
+    "Those who were taken alive were hanged, except some few suffered
+    to escape by the compassionate common soldiers. Quite a number had
+    their hands chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I
+    was on the spot and needs must give some account of it."[26]
+
+The story of the duke's treatment of the innocent little town of Nesle
+is painted in colours quite as lurid as the king's murder of his
+brother. There is some ground for the denunciations of Charles,
+but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised clemency to the
+citizens on surrender and then basely broke his word, does not deserve
+credence. He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors were
+committed in passion, not in cold blood.[27]
+
+[Illustration: BURGUNDIAN STANDARD PRESERVED AT BEAUVAIS]
+
+It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indignation at his
+cousin's proceedings, coupled with his regrets that he himself had not
+destroyed the town.
+
+With the terrible report of the events at Nesle flying before his
+advance guard, Charles went on towards Normandy. Roye he gained
+easily, and then, passing by Compiègne where "Monseigneur the grand
+master" had intrenched himself, and Amiens with the good burghers whom
+Louis delighted to honour, he marched on until he reached Beauvais, an
+old town on the Thérain. Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had
+taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its defences, not even
+having its usual garrison or cannon, as it happened.
+
+Disappointed in his first expectation of picking the town like a
+cherry, Charles sat down before it. The siege that followed won
+a reputation beyond the warrant of its real importance from the
+extraordinary tenacity and energy of the people in their own defence.
+Every missile that the ingenuity of man or woman could imagine was
+used to drive back the besiegers when the town was finally invested.
+
+From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited, then an assault was
+ordered. Charles laughed at the idea of any serious resistance. "He
+asked some of his people whether they thought the citizens would wait
+for the assault. It was answered yes, considering their number even if
+they had nothing before them but a hedge."[28] He took this as a joke
+and said, "To-morrow you will not find a person." He thought that
+there would be a simple repetition of his experience at Dinant and
+Liege, and that the garrison would simply succumb in terror. When the
+Burgundians rushed at the walls their reception showed not only that
+every point had a defender, but also that those same defenders were
+provided with huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches--all
+most unpleasant things when thrown in the faces of men trying to scale
+a wall. Three hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants the
+difficulty of the task. Twelve hundred were slain and maimed, and the
+strength of the place was proven.
+
+Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme, but the weather
+came to the aid of the besieged. Heavy rains forced the troops to
+change camp. More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic assaults,
+losses that Charles could ill afford at the moment. Finally at the end
+of three fruitless weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians
+marched on to try to redeem their reputation in Normandy. Had Beauvais
+fallen, it would have been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany,
+against whom Louis had marched with all his forces and whom he had
+enveloped as in a net. This reverse was the first serious rebuff that
+had happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his fortunes.
+
+Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage to himself, and was not
+stinting in his reward to the plucky little town. Privileges and a
+reduction of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual procession
+was inaugurated in which women were to have precedence as a special
+recognition of their services with boiling water and other irregular
+weapons, while a special gift was bestowed on one particular girl,
+Jeanne Laisné, who had wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier
+just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not only was she endowed
+from the royal purse, but she and her husband and their descendants
+were declared tax free for ever.[29]
+
+_Charles to the Duke of Brittany_
+
+    "My good brother, I recommend myself to you with good heart. I
+    rather hoped to be able to march through Rouen, but the whole
+    strength of the foe was on the frontier, where was the _grand
+    master, of whose loyalty I have not the least doubt_, so that the
+    project could not be effected. I do not know what will happen.
+    Realising this, I have given subject for thought elsewhere and
+    I have pitched my camp between Rouen and Neufchâtel, intending,
+    however, to return speedily. If not I will exploit the war in
+    another quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert
+    myself to keep them from your route. My Burgundians and
+    Luxemburgers have done bravely in Champagne. I know, too, that you
+    have done well on your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned
+    the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will not injure you,
+    nor us, nor others, and I will not lay down arms without you, as
+    I am certain you will not without me. I will pursue the work
+    commenced by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord, may He give
+    you good and long life with a fruitful victory.
+
+    "Written at my camp near Boscise, September 4th.
+
+    "Your loyal brother,
+
+    "CHARLES."[30]
+
+The duke's course was marked by waste and devastation from the
+walls of Rouen to those of Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this
+desolation. By September, keen anxiety about his territories led him
+to fear staying so far from his own boundaries, and he decided to
+return. Through Picardy he marched eastward burning and laying waste
+as before.
+
+Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands, when Louis marched into
+Brittany against his weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis
+found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie, who had ridden in hot
+haste to Brittany, scattering from his saddle dire accusations of
+fratricide against Louis--this same Odet became silenced and took
+service with the king.[31] When reconcilations were effected, most
+kind to the returning ally or servant did Louis always show himself.
+
+On November 3d, a truce was struck between Louis and Charles, which,
+later, was renewed for a year. But never again did the two men come
+into actual conflict with each other, though they were on the eve of
+doing so in 1475.
+
+The period of the great coalitions among the nobles was at an end.
+Charles of France was dead and so, too, were others who were strong
+enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brittany showed no more
+energy. When again within his own territories, Charles of Burgundy
+became absorbed in other projects which he wished to perfect before he
+again measured steel with Louis.
+
+  "The Duke of Berry, he is dead,
+  Brittany doth nod his head,
+  Burgundy doth sulky sit,
+  While Louis works with every wit."[32]
+
+Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in France, a verse that
+probably never came to Charles's ears--though Louis might have
+listened to it cheerfully.
+
+Infinitely disastrous were the events of that summer to Charles of
+Burgundy. Not only had he lost in allies, not only had he squandered
+life and money uselessly in his reckless expedition over the north of
+France, but his own retinue was diminished and weakened by the men
+whom Louis had succeeded in luring from his service. The loss that
+Charles suffered was not only for the time but for posterity. Among
+those convinced that there was more scope for men of talent in France
+than in Burgundy was that clever observer of humanity who had been at
+Charles's side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip de Commines
+took French leave of his master and betook himself to Louis, who
+evidently was not surprised at his advent.
+
+The historian's own words in regard to this change of base are
+laconic: "About this time I entered the king's service (and it was
+the year 1472), who had received the majority of the servitors of his
+brother the Duke of Guienne. And he was then at Pont de Cé."[33] This
+passing from one lord to another happened on the night between the 7th
+and 8th of August, when the Burgundian army lay near Eu.
+
+The suddenness of the departure was probably due to the duke's
+discovery of his servant's intentions not yet wholly ripe, and those
+intentions had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in 1471, when
+Commines made a secret journey to the king. On his way back to
+Burgundy, he deposited a large sum of money at Tours. Evidently he
+did not dare put this under his own name, or claim it when it was
+confiscated as the property of a notorious adherent of Louis's
+foe.[34]
+
+When the fugitive reached the French court, however, he was amply
+recompensed for all his losses.[35] For, naturally, at his flight, all
+his Burgundian estates were abandoned.[36] It was at six o'clock on
+the morning of August 8th that the deed was signed whereby the duke
+transferred to the Seigneur de Quiévrain all the rights appertaining
+to Philip de Commines, "which rights together with all the property of
+whatever kind have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation because
+he has to-day, the date of this document, departed from our obedience
+and gone as a fugitive to the party opposed to us."[37]
+
+There are various surmises as to the cause of this precipitate
+departure. Not improbable is the suggestion that Charles often
+overstepped the bounds of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so
+runs one story, he found the historian sleeping on his bed where he
+had flung himself while awaiting his master. Charles pulled off one of
+his boots "to give him more ease" and struck him in the face with it.
+In derision the courtiers called Commines _tête bottée_, and their
+mocking sank deep into his soul.
+
+Contemporary writers make little of the chronicler's defection.
+These crossings from the peer's to the king's camp were accepted
+occurrences. But by Charles they were not accepted. There is
+a vindictive look about the hour when he disposes of his late
+confidant's possessions, only explicable by intense indignation not
+itemised in the deed approved by the court of Mons.[38]
+
+More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier de la Marche, though to
+him, also, came intimations that he would find a pleasant welcome at
+the French court. He, too, had opportunities galore to make links with
+Louis. The accounts teem with references to his secret missions
+here and there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all carefully
+itemised. So zealous was this messenger on his master's commissions,
+that his hackneys were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold
+for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XI. was not blind to the quality
+of La Marche's services, and he thought that they, too, might be
+diverted to his use.[39]
+
+    "Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has told me that
+    Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to enter my service and
+    I am afraid that there may be some deception. However, there is
+    nothing that I would like better than to have the said Sieur
+    de Cimay, as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the matter
+    stands, and if you see that it is in good earnest work for it with
+    all diligence. Whatever you pledge I will hold to. Advise me of
+    everything.
+
+    "Written at Cléry, October 16th [1472].
+
+    "To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor, Sire du
+    Bouchage."[40]
+
+But La Marche was not tempted, and was rewarded for his fidelity
+by high office in a duchy which, shortly after these events, was
+"annexed" to his master's domain.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Journal de Jean de Roye_, i., 258.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Commynes-Dupont, iii., 202.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Plancher, iv., cccvi., May 28th.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Rymer, _Foedera_, xi., 735. _Pro Ducissa Burgundiæ super
+Lana claccanda_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 256.]
+
+[Footnote 6: One of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's
+service.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Louis's sister Yolande.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of
+the Count de Foix.]
+
+[Footnote 9: This was an allusion to a proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile. Vaesen
+cannot explain the use of Aragon. Various documents relating to this
+negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet, iii., 156.)]
+
+[Footnote 10: Vaesen gives _femmes_, Duclos _filles_. The king was
+above all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lettres de Louis XI._., iv., 286.]
+
+[Footnote 12: There was a pestilence raging at Amboise.]
+
+[Footnote 13: At Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of
+November, there was a conference wherein the king apparently promised
+to restore St. Quentin and Amiens to Charles, if he would renounce his
+alliance with the dukes of Brittany and Guienne and would betroth his
+daughter to the dauphin.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Ythier Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received "signed and sealed
+blanks" from the two princes in order to enable him to hasten matters.
+(_Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 289.)]
+
+[Footnote 15: III., ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Cette paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois
+présent."]
+
+[Footnote 17: The king's envoys who had spent the winter in the
+Burgundian court. _See_ letter to them in December.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _See_ Kervyn, _Bulletin de l'Academie royale de
+Belgique_, p. 256. _Also_ Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Louis to the Vicomte de la Belliére, _Lettres_, etc.,
+iv., 319.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Louis to Dammartin, _Ibid_., 325. _Mars_ was written
+first and then replaced by _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Odet d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de
+Lescun.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres, XI_., iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472.]
+
+[Footnote 23: _Lettres_, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Lettres_, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. _See also_
+Duclos, v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two texts,
+but the differences do not affect the narrative.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Odet d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted to
+his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis broadcast
+over the land. The truth of the death is not proven. Frequent mentions
+of Guienne's condition occur through the letters of the winter '71-72.
+The story was that the poison, administered subtly by the king's
+orders, caused the illness of both the prince and his mistress, Mme.
+de Thouan. She died after two months of suffering, December 14th,
+while he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely
+shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably wretched and
+painful, a constant torture until death mercifully released him in
+May. Accusations of poisoning are often repeated in history. In this
+case, there was certainly a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In
+his manifestos, (Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's
+tools in compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre,
+and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.
+
+The story told by Brantôme _(OEuvres Complètes_ de Pierre de
+Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantôme, ii., 329. "Grands Capitaines
+Francois." There is nothing too severe for Brantôme to say about Louis
+XI.) is very detailed. A fool passed to Louis's service from that of
+the dead prince. While this man was attending his new master in the
+church of Notre Dame de Cléry, he heard him make this prayer to the
+Virgin: "Ah! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great friend in whom
+I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a suppliant to God in my
+behalf, be my advocate with Him so that He may pardon me for the death
+of my brother whom I had poisoned by this wicked Abbé of St. John. I
+confess it to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was to
+be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me pardoned and I know well
+what I will give thee."
+
+Brantôme tells further that the fool, using the privilege of free
+speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death at dinner
+in public and after that day was never seen again. On the other hand,
+the young duke's will was all to his brother's favour. Louis was
+made executor and legatee, "and if we have ever offended our beloved
+brother," dictated the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we
+with _débonnaire_ affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Commynes
+(1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious fabrication of
+Odet d'Aydie, and other authorities refer the cause to disease. The
+very date of the death varies from May 12th to May 24th.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Commines, iii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 27: There is a curious document in existence (see _Bulletins
+de L'Hist. de France_, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the event. It
+is the deposition of several old people who had been just old enough
+to remember that awful experience of their youth. Fifty years of
+repetition gave time for the growth of the story.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Legend makes it that Jeanne Laisné, called _Fouquet_,
+chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet. Hence
+her name was changed to _La Hachette_, and she is represented with a
+hatchet.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Barante, vii., 333.]
+
+[Footnote 31: _See_ Lavisse, iv^{ii.}, 368.]
+
+[Footnote 32:
+
+  "Berri est mort,
+  Bretagne dort,
+  Bourgogne hongne,
+  Le Roy besogne."
+
+Le Roux de Lincy, _Chants historiques et populaires du temps de Louis
+XI_.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Commines also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke
+of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the Duke of
+Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.)]
+
+[Footnote 34: Kirk (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only
+Louis's way of prodding him up to act.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Dupont (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not
+enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift of the
+principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not registered in
+_Parlement_ until December 13, 1473, and in the court of records May
+2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Commines become at last, and as such he
+married Helen de Chambes, January 27, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 36: It is strange that La Marche does not mention this
+defection.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See document quoted by Gachard, _Études et Notices_,
+etc. ii., 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preserved
+in the château of Beaumont.]
+
+[Footnote 38: _See also_ Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of
+this event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too corrupt for
+honest men to endure it.]
+
+[Footnote 39: _See_ Stein. _Étude_, etc., _sur Olivier de la _Marche_.
+(Mém. Couronnés) xlix.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Letter of Louis XI. in Bibl. Nat.: _Ibid._, p. 179.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+GUELDERS
+
+1473
+
+
+The affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were among the matters
+urgently demanding the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close
+of his campaign in France. The circumstances of the long-standing
+quarrel between Duke Arnold and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a
+scandal throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming reconciliation of the
+parties had not only been effected but celebrated in the town of Grave
+by a pleasant family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke,
+fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was he in bed, when he
+was aroused rudely, and carried off half clad to a dungeon in the
+castle of Buren, by the order of his son, who superintended the
+abduction in person and then became duke regnant. For over six years
+the old man languished in prison, actually taunted, from time to time,
+it is said, by Duke Adolf himself.
+
+Indignant remonstrances against this conduct were heard from various
+quarters, and were all alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles
+of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring his father to his
+presence, and to submit the dispute to his arbitration. Charles was
+too near and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded, and his
+peremptory invitation was accepted. Pending the decision, the
+two dukes were forced to be guests in his court, under a strict
+surveillance which amounted to an arrest.
+
+The first suggestion made by Charles was for a compromise between
+father and son. "Let Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in
+Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair income, while
+to Adolf be ceded the full power of administration." The latter was
+emphatic in his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather would I
+prefer to see my father thrown into a well and to follow him thither
+than to agree to such terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty-four
+years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold thought it would be a
+simple feat to fight out the dispute. "I saw them both several times
+in the duke's apartment and in the council chamber when they pleaded,
+each his own cause. I saw the old man offer a gage of battle to his
+son."[1] The senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry. A
+trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly fashion of ending his
+differences with his importunate heir.
+
+No settlement was effected before the French expedition, but Charles
+was not disposed to let the matter slip from his control, and when
+he proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under restraint, were
+obliged to follow in his train. At a leisure moment Charles intended
+to force them to accept his arbitration as final. Before that moment
+arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs, Adolf, succeeded in
+eluding surveillance and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made his
+way successfully to Namur disguised as a Franciscan monk. Then, at
+the ferry, he gave a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The
+liberality, inconsistent with his assumed rôle, aroused suspicion and
+led to the detection of his rank and identity. He was stayed in his
+flight and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a decision on
+his case by his self-constituted judge. This was not pronounced until
+the summer of 1473.
+
+By that time, Charles was resolved on another course of action than
+that of adjusting a family dispute in the capacity of puissant,
+impartial, and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour towards his
+father had been extraordinarily brutal and outrageous. Public comment
+had been excited to a wide degree. It was not an affair to be dealt
+with lightly by Duke Charles. The young Duchess of Guelders was
+Catharine of Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy, and
+Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden Fleece. In consideration of
+these links of family and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that
+the case should be tried with all formality.
+
+[Illustration: ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS (FROM THE ENGRAVING BY
+PINSSIO, AFTER THE DRAWING BY J. ROBERT)]
+
+On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was held at Valenciennes,[2]
+and the knights were asked to pass upon the conduct of their
+delinquent fellow, who was permitted to present his own brief through
+an attorney, but was detained in his own person at Namur. The
+innocence or guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point of
+interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was concerned. The latter had
+made an excellent bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke of
+Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a document wherein he sold
+to Charles all his administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for
+ninety-two thousand florins,[3] in consideration of Arnold's enjoying
+a life interest in half of the revenue of his ancient duchy. That
+clause soon lost its significance. The old man's life ceased in March,
+1473, and, by virtue of the contract, Charles proposed to enter into
+full possession of his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he
+was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal, quite beyond the pale of
+society, but that Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose
+hereditary claims had also been ignored by his grandfather.
+
+Before the knights of the Order as a final court, were rehearsed all
+the circumstances of the old family quarrel and of the late commercial
+transaction. Their verdict was the one desired by their chief. It was
+proven to their entire satisfaction that Arnold's sale of the duchy of
+Guelders and Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the deed
+executed by him was a perfect and valid instrument, whereby Charles of
+Burgundy was duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of, and to exert
+authority in, his new duchy at his pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he
+was condemned by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment as
+punishment for his unfilial and unjustifiable cruelty towards Arnold,
+late Duke of Guelders.
+
+Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars, but the people of
+Guelders were by no means disposed to accept unquestioned this deed
+of transfer, made when the two parties to the conveyance were in
+very unequal conditions of freedom. In order to convince them of the
+justice of his pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as efficient
+as his army of the preceding summer, and fell upon Guelders. A truce,
+a triple compact with France and England, had recently been renewed,
+so that for the moment his hands were free from complications, an
+event commented upon by Sir John Paston, as follows:
+
+    "April 16, 1473, CANTERBURY.
+
+    "As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys about the xxvi
+    day off March last, betwyn the Duke of Burgoyn and the Frense
+    Kings inbassators and Master William Atclyff ffor the king heer,
+    whiche is a pese be londe and be water tyll the ffyrst daye off
+    Apryll nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland, and also the
+    Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever."
+
+The writer had recently been in Charles's court. Writing from Calais
+in February, he says:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that the Duke of
+    Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth well. I was with them on
+    Thorysdaye last past at Gaunt."[4]
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pretender to the vacated
+sovereignty of Guelders. The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to
+urge his cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At the sight
+of Burgundian puissance, however, he was ready to be convinced, and
+accepted 24,000 florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness of
+the accession. Several of the cities manifested opposition to Charles,
+but yielded one after another. In Nimwegen--long hostile to Duke
+Arnold--there was a determined effort to support little Charles of
+Guelders who, with his sister, was in that city. The child made a
+pretty show on his little pony, and there were many declarations of
+devotion to his cause as he was put forward to excite sympathy. For
+three weeks, the town held out in his name. The resistance to the
+Burgundian troops was sturdy. When the gates gave way before their
+attacks the burghers defended the broken walls. Six hundred English
+archers were repulsed from an assault with such sudden energy that
+they left their banners sticking in the very breaches they thought
+they had won, fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But the game
+was unequal, and the combatants, convinced that discretion was the
+better part of valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a
+mediator with their would-be sovereign.
+
+On July 19th, a long civic procession headed by the burgomasters,
+wearing neither hats nor shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a
+prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the opposition to his
+accession were delivered over to the mercy of the victor. The garrison
+were accorded their lives and a tax was imposed on the city to
+indemnify the duke for his needless trouble, and Guelders was added
+_de facto_ to the list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various
+state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the mention of the
+circumstance of his accession to the sovereignty was simple and
+straightforward, as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la
+Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the date of August 18th and
+was one of the earliest issued by Charles in this new capacity.
+
+    "As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his life Duke of
+    Guelderland, these counties and duchy have lapsed to me, and by
+    the same token the offices of the land have escheated to our
+    disposition, and among others the office of master of the moneys
+    of those countships ... using the rights, etc., escheated to me,
+    and in consideration of the good and agreeable services already
+    rendered and continually rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de
+    la Marche, having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity,
+    and good diligence--for these causes and others we entrust the
+    office of master and overseer of moneys of the land of Guelders
+    to him, with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereto
+    pertaining. In testimony of this we have set our seal to these
+    papers. Done in our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 1473. Thus signed
+    by M. le duc."
+
+On the back of this document was written:
+
+    "To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la Marche ... took
+    the oath of office of master and overseer of the land and duchy of
+    Guelders."[5]
+
+The charge of the ducal children, Charles and Philippa, was entrusted
+to the duke who, in his turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise
+their education. In a comparatively brief time agitation in behalf
+of the disinherited heir ceased, and imperial ratification alone was
+required to stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the Burgundian
+domains. Under the circumstances the minor heirs were the emperor's
+wards, and it was his express duty to look to their interests, but
+Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert himself as their
+champion. On the contrary, the embassy that arrived from his court on
+August 14th was charged with felicitations to his dear friend, Charles
+of Burgundy, for his acquisition, and with assurances that the
+requisite investiture into his dignities should be given by his
+imperial hand at the duke's pleasure.[6]
+
+Communication between Frederic and Charles had been intermittently
+frequent during the past three years, and one subject of their letters
+was probably a reason why Charles had been willing to abandon a losing
+game in France to give another bias to his thoughts. He was lured
+on by the bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite form
+indeed, but full of promise that he might be enabled, eventually, to
+confer with Louis XI. from a better vantage ground than his position
+as first peer of France. The story of these hopes now becomes the
+story of Charles of Burgundy.
+
+When Sigismund of Austria completed his mortgage, in 1469, at St.
+Omer, and returned home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to
+divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth into the empty imperial
+coffers. An alliance between Mary of Burgundy and the young Archduke
+Maximilian seemed to him the most advantageous matrimonial bargain
+possible for the emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with
+all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish in his offers to be
+mediator between him and his new friend Charles.
+
+Frederic was impressed by Sigismund's enthusiastic exposition of the
+advantages of the match, and little time elapsed before his ambassador
+brought formal proposals to Charles for the alliance. The duke
+received the advances complacently and returned propositions
+significant of his personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his
+instructions to certain envoys sent to the intermediary, Sigismund,
+are plain. In unequivocal terms, his daughter's hand is made
+contingent on his own election as King of the Romans, that shadowy
+royalty which veiled the approach to the imperial throne.
+
+    "_Item_--And in regard to the said marriage, the ambassadors shall
+    inform Monseigneur of Austria that, since his departure from
+    Hesdin, certain people have talked to Monseigneur about this
+    marriage and mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be
+    willing to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the government of
+    the Kingdom of the Romans, with the stipulation that Monseigneur,
+    _arrived at the empire by the good pleasure of the emperor_ or
+    by his death, would, in his turn, procure the said crown of the
+    Romans for his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire
+    will be continued in the person of the emperor's son and his
+    descendants.
+
+    "_Item_--They shall tell him about a meeting between the imperial
+    and ducal ambassadors, at which meeting there was some talk of
+    making a kingdom out of certain lands of Monseigneur and
+    joining these to an _imperial_ vicariate of all the lands and
+    principalities lying along the Rhine."
+
+In the following paragraphs of this instruction,[7] Charles directs
+his envoys to make it clear to Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund)
+that the duke's interest in the plan does not spring from avarice or
+ambition. He is purely actuated by a yearning to employ his time and
+his strength for God's service and for the defence of the Faith, while
+still in his prime.
+
+Should the emperor refuse to approve the duke's nomination as King of
+the Romans, the ambassadors are instructed to say that they are not
+empowered to proceed with the marriage negotiations without first
+referring to their chief. They must ask leave to return with their
+report. If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound the emperor
+again about his sentiments, the envoys might await the result of his
+investigations. He was to be assured that while Charles was resolved
+to hold back until he was fully satisfied on this point, if it were
+once ceded, he would interpose no further delay in the celebration of
+the nuptials. He must know, however, just what power and revenue the
+emperor would attach to the proposed title. He was not willing to
+accept it without emoluments. His present financial burdens were
+already heavy, etc. The concluding items of the instructions had
+reference to the marriage settlements.
+
+A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream at this stage of
+Burgundo-Austrian negotiations. The title that Charles desired
+primarily was King of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign
+power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing imperial dignity.
+Significant is the intimation that after this preliminary title was
+conferred, its wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside
+voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient as death in making
+room for his appointed successor.
+
+Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally that a life of
+meditation would suit his tastes better than the imperial throne, but
+he seems in no wise to have been tempted by the offer made by Charles
+to relieve him of his onerous duties, and then to pass on the office
+to his son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the opportunity to enjoy
+an irresponsible ease. His answer to the duke was that he did not
+exercise sufficient influence over his electors to ensure their
+accepting his nominee as successor to the _imperium_.
+
+There was, however, one honour that lay wholly within his gift. If
+Charles desired higher rank, the emperor would be quite willing to
+erect his territories into a realm and to create him monarch of
+his own agglomerated possessions, welded into a new unity. This
+proposition wounded Charles keenly. He assured Sigismund[8] (January
+15, 1471) that his nomination as King of the Romans would never have
+occurred to him spontaneously. He had been assured that it was a
+darling project of the emperor, and he had simply been willing
+to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own, he refused the
+proposition with actual disdain.
+
+Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of Burgundy appeared on
+the scene successively. To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine,
+grandson of old King René of Anjou, she was formally betrothed.[9]
+
+"My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very redoubtable seigneur
+and father, I promise you that, you being alive, I will take none
+other than you and I promise to take you when God permits it." So
+wrote Mary with her own hand on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December
+3d, she declared all such pledges revoked as though they never had
+been made, and Nicholas, too, formally renounced his pretensions to
+her hand.
+
+There were several moments when Charles of France had appeared to be
+very near acceptance as Mary's husband, and several other princes
+seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father found his daughter very
+valuable as a means of attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as
+Commines says, he was not anxious to introduce any son-in-law into his
+family. His fortieth year was only completed in 1473, and he was by no
+means ready to range himself as an ancestor.
+
+At successive times the negotiations between Charles and Frederic were
+ruptured only to be renewed on some slightly different basis. Threaded
+together they made a story fraught with interest for Louis XI., and
+one that, very probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up to August,
+1472, it is a safe inference that Philip de Commines was fully
+cognisant of the propositions and counter-propositions, the
+understandings and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as well
+as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian envoys that appeared
+at one Burgundian camp after another. Probably there was nothing more]
+valuable in the store of learning carried by the astute historian from
+his first patron to his second than all this fund of confidential
+miscellany.
+
+It seems a fair surmise that Louis XI. enjoyed immensely the
+delightful private view into his rival's dreams, the disappointments
+and rehabilitation of his shattered visions. The relation would have
+made him not only fully aware of the reasons why Charles was diverted
+from his hot pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly informed as to
+the great obstacles lying in the path which the duke hoped to travel.
+Naturally, the king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin was
+inevitable. If his rival were disposed to wreck himself rashly on
+German shoals, the king was equally disposed to be an acquiescent
+onlooker and to spare his own powder.
+
+On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of the extent of his loss
+of prestige within the French realm in 1472. There had been other
+periods when the king had appeared triumphant over his aspiring nobles
+only to be again checked by their alliance. In the radical change
+undergone by the feudatories after Guienne's death and Brittany's
+reconciliation, there was, however, no opening left for the Duke
+of Burgundy's re-entry as a French political leader. It was this
+definitive cessation of his importance that Charles failed to
+recognise. Confident that his star was rising in the east he did
+not note the significance of its setting in the west. Thereupon the
+situation was,--Charles, believing that his plans were his own
+secret, _versus_ Louis, fully advised of those plans and alert to all
+incidents of the past, present, and future in a fashion impossible to
+the duke in his absorbed contemplation of his own prospects, blocking
+the scope of his view.
+
+With the emperor's congratulations at the duke's accession to
+Guelders, and his offers to invest him with the title, were coupled
+intimations that it was an opportune moment to resume consideration of
+an alliance between the Archduke Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The
+duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf de Soulz and Peter
+von Hagenbach proceeded to the Burgundian and Austrian courts
+respectively, as confidential envoys to discuss the marriage.[10]
+
+Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than he had been to the
+last imperial messenger, the Abbé de Casanova, who had restricted his
+proposals to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's. The duke had no
+intention of permitting any conference to proceed on that line. He was
+explicit as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised by a gift of
+ten thousand florins, explained by the phrase, "because Monseigneur
+recognised the love and affection borne him by the said count." That
+was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices, and estates were
+conferred, to take effect on the day when Monseigneur was named King
+of the Romans.
+
+The instructions to Hagenbach were definite, covering the ground
+of those previously mentioned, issued in 1470. He was, however,
+especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the duke did not require
+his abdication. He would be content to step into the shoes naturally
+vacated by his death.
+
+The final suggestion resulting from these parleyings was that an
+interview between the two principals would be far more satisfactory
+than any further interchange of messages. It was not only a propitious
+time for a conference, but it was necessary. The ceremony of
+investiture of the duke into his latest acquired fief made it
+evidently imperative that he should visit the emperor. And to
+preparations for that event, Charles turned his attention, now
+absolutely confident that the outcome must be to his satisfaction. He
+had as little comprehension of the character of the man with whom he
+was to deal as he had of Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some
+difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near his own frontier.
+Metz was selected and abandoned on account of an epidemic. Finally
+Trèves was appointed for the important occasion, and Frederic sent
+official invitations to the princes of the empire to follow him
+thither in October.
+
+Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY C. LAPLANTE)]
+
+Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous, another event had occurred
+that had an important bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of
+Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir. He had been
+relinquished as a son-in-law, but the geographical position of his
+duchy made the question of its sovereignty all important to Charles of
+Burgundy. If it could be under his own control, how convenient for
+the passage of his troops from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for
+duchies like many another can grow by what it feeds upon.
+
+Prepared to set out for his journey to Trèves, Charles hastened his
+movements and proceeded to Metz with an escort so large that it had a
+formidable aspect to the city fathers. Whether they feared that their
+free city was too tempting a base for attack on Lorraine or not, the
+magistrates yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian thousands
+without their walls. The emperor, too, was on his way to Trèves. Many
+of his suite were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might be found for
+Charles and his immediate retainers, indeed, but the troops must make
+themselves as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So said the
+burgomaster, and Charles was forced to yield and he made a splendid
+entry into the town under the prescribed conditions.
+
+His own paraphernalia had been forwarded from Antwerp, so that
+there should be an abundance of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his
+temporary quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had been scoured to
+secure game for the banquets.
+
+It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a humour to be pleased.
+He was annoyed about his troops; very probably he had intended leaving
+a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine if occasion
+offered. He cut short his stay in the town and marched on with his
+imposing escort to Trèves, whence he hoped to march out again a
+greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy had ever been.[11]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, iv., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Hist. de l'Ordre,_ etc., p. 64. One of the places to be
+filled at this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower
+of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace of the
+ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated in the minutes of
+the session that Adolf of Guelders was asked to nominate candidates
+from his prison, but he would not do it. Striking is Charles's remark
+on the nomination of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that
+the Order was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very
+excellent, he judged it more _à propos_ to distribute the five empty
+collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was elected, as
+was also Engelbert of Nassau.
+
+Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules of the Order.
+There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard for taking a gift of 20,000
+crowns from Louis XI. Payable as it was in terms, it savoured of a
+pension. Had Henry van Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's
+landing in England? etc.
+
+Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the disposition of
+the scarlet mantles now discarded by the chevaliers. It was decided
+after deliberation that they should be sold and the proceeds applied
+to the purchase of tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the
+treasurer was deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this
+connection that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or
+rather abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order and
+the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best to defer this
+point until his return from his proposed journey to Guelders. Lengthy,
+too, were the discussions upon the exact usage in respect to wearing
+the collar and insignia of the Order.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The first sum named was three hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _The Paston Letters, iii., 79._.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Mémoires Couronnés_, xlix., 180.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the Duke
+of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to Nimwegen where the
+ambassador of the emperor visited him.]
+
+[Footnote 7: This instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the
+Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been referred to
+1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to conclude that it belongs
+rather to 1470. The question of the marriage comes in at the end of
+the paper, the first part being devoted to Swiss affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Lenglet, iii., 192.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Toutey, p. 44; Chmel, _Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3._]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey, p. 46.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES
+
+1473
+
+
+On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor Frederic made his entry into the
+old Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days later, the Duke of
+Burgundy arrived and was welcomed most pompously outside of Trèves, by
+his suzerain.
+
+After the first greetings, ensued an argument about the etiquette
+proper for the occasion, an argument similar to those which had
+absorbed the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when the dauphin
+made his famous visit to Duke Philip. For thirty minutes, the emperor
+argued with his guest before feudal scruples were overcome and the
+vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side into the city.
+
+The entry was a grand sight, and crowds thronged the streets, more
+curious about the duke than about the emperor. Charles was then in the
+very prime of life. His personality commanded attention, but there
+were some among the onlookers who found it more striking than
+attractive. One bystander thought that the very splendour of his
+dress, wherein cloth of gold and pearls played a part, only brought
+into high relief the severity of his features. His great black eyes,
+his proud and determined air failed to cast into oblivion a certain
+effect of insignificance given by his square figure, broad shoulders,
+excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed from continuous
+riding.[l]
+
+There is, however, another word portrait of the duke as he looked in
+the year 1473, whose trend is more sympathetic.[2] "His stature was
+small and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark chestnut, eyes black
+and brilliant, his presence majestic but stern. He was high-spirited,
+magnanimous, courageous, intrepid, and impetuous. Capable of action,
+he lacked nothing but prudence to attain success."
+
+From the two descriptions emerges a fairly clear picture of an
+energetic man, somewhat undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert
+his dignity in a fashion that did not quite comport with his physical
+characteristics. The conviction that he was a very important personage
+with greater importance awaiting him, and his total lack of a sense of
+humour, combined with his inability to feel the pulse of a situation,
+undoubtedly affected his bearing and made it seem more pompous.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD IDEALISED BY RUBENS. IN THE IMPERIAL
+GALLERY AT VIENNA BY PERMISSION OF J.J. LOWY, VIENNA]
+
+The emperor was not an heroic figure in appearance any more than he
+was in the records of his reign, distinguished for being the feeblest
+as well as the longest in the annals of the empire. He was indolent,
+timid, irresolute, and incapable. His features and manners were
+vulgar, his intellect sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies,
+he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding his imperial sceptre.
+At Trèves he was accompanied by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a
+fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready to be fascinated by
+his proposed father-in-law, who was a striking contrast to his own
+languid and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous love of action.
+
+As the two princes rode together into the city, Charles's
+accoutrements attracted all eyes. The polished steel of his armour
+shone like silver. Over it hung a short mantle actually embroidered
+with diamonds and other precious stones to the value of two hundred
+thousand gold crowns. His velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out
+of compliment to the emperor, was ornamented with a diamond whose
+price no man could tell. Before him walked a page carrying his helmet
+studded with gems, while his magnificent black steed was heavily
+weighted down with its rich caparisons.
+
+Frederic III., very simple in his ordinary dress, had exerted himself
+to appear well to his great vassal. His robe of cloth of gold
+was fine, though it may have looked something like a luxurious
+dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish fashion and bordered
+with pearls. The emperor was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the
+tradition, by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but innocent
+doors that chanced to impede his way.
+
+The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and silver, walked by the side
+of an Ottoman prince, prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity
+by the pope himself. And then there was a host of nobles, great and
+small. Among them were Engelbert of Nassau[3] and the representative
+of the House of Orange-Châlons, whose titles were destined to be
+united in one person within the next half-century.
+
+The magnificence remained unrivalled in the history of royal
+conferences. The very troopers wore habits of cloth of gold over their
+steel, while their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed with silver
+bells. Surpassing all others, were the heralds-at-arms of the various
+individual states which acknowledged Charles as their sovereign,
+seigneur, count, or duke as the case might be. They preceded their
+liege lord, clad in their distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with
+colour. Before them were the trumpeters in white and blue, their very
+instruments silvered, while first of all rode one hundred golden
+haired boys, "an angel throng."
+
+It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite etiquette of escort,
+that the emperor and duke agreed to separate on the fairly neutral
+ground of the market-place. Each proceeded with his own suite to his
+lodgings, Frederic to the archbishop's palace, and Charles to
+the abbey of St. Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years
+previously, the honorary title of "Protector." His army was quartered
+within and without the city. Two days for repose and then the first
+official interview took place, which is described as follows, by an
+unknown correspondent, evidently in the ducal suite:[4]
+
+    "Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur waited upon the emperor
+    and escorted him to his own lodging which is in the abbey of St.
+    Maximin. My said lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat.
+    The emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy, and his
+    son was in a robe of green damask. As to their people, both suites
+    were very brave, jewelry and cloth of gold being as common as
+    satin or taffeta. Monseigneur received the emperor in a little
+    chamber decorated with hangings from Holland that many recognised.
+
+    "The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his mouthpiece to describe
+    the stress of Christianity and to urge Charles to lend his
+    assistance. Having listened to this address, Monseigneur requested
+    the emperor to please come into a larger place where more people
+    could hear his answer. Accordingly they entered a hall decorated
+    with the tapestry of Alexander, while the very ceiling was covered
+    with cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a double row of
+    seats. Benches and steps were spread over with tapestry wrought
+    with my lord's arms. Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais
+    with difficulty.... Mons., the chancellor, clad in velvet over
+    velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a discourse in beautiful Latin
+    as a response to what had been said by the seigneur of Mayence.
+    Then, showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected by
+    the king, he began with an account of the king's reception by
+    Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evidently the late duke], in his
+    own residence, and he continued down to the present day, dilating
+    upon the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis]
+    received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extortions he had
+    made since and desires to make. Never a word was forgotten, but
+    all was well stated, especially the case of M. de Guienne.[5]
+    Finally, Monseigneur declared that if his lands were in security,
+    there was nothing he would like better than to give aid to
+    Christianity.
+
+    "After this statement, which was marvellously honest, the emperor
+    arose from the throne, wine and spices were brought, and then
+    Monseigneur escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand
+    display of torches. This is the outline of what happened on
+    October 4th, in the said year lxxiii. And as to the future, next
+    Thursday the emperor will dine where Monseigneur lodges, _et là
+    fera les grants du roy_,[6] and there will be novelties. In regard
+    to the fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very
+    fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human, and benign.
+    I do not know with whom to compare his figure better than
+    Monseigneur de Croy, as he was eight or ten years ago, except that
+    his flesh is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor has
+    seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the major part
+    of the nobles present come from this locality. In regard to
+    Monseigneur's departure, there is no news, and they make great
+    cheer--this is all for this time."
+
+    The German scholars in the imperial party listened most
+    attentively to the style of the Netherlander's speech as well as
+    to his subject-matter. "More abundant in vocabulary than elegant
+    in Latinity," was their comment, a fault they considered marking
+    all French Latin. The audience found time to note the style for
+    the subject of the address did not interest them greatly. The
+    least observant onlooker knew that the main purpose of this
+    interview was not the plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic
+    appointed a committee to discuss that, whose members, Burgundian
+    and German in equal numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern
+    question while emperor and duke were absorbed in other matters.[7]
+    In their very first session, this committee decided that the
+    chief obstacle to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgundian
+    quarrel. This point was also raised by Charles in his first
+    conference with Frederic. No campaign was feasible until the
+    European powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI. was aiding
+    and abetting the heathen by being a disturbing element which
+    rendered this desired unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a
+    fresh commission to discuss European peace. And this insolvable
+    problem was a convenient blind for other discussions.
+
+    On October 5th, a Burgundian fête gave new occasion for a display
+    of wealth; "vulgar ostentation," sneered the less opulent German
+    nobles who tried to show that their pride was not wounded by the
+    sharp contrasts between imperial habits and those of a mere duke.
+    On their side, the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to
+    waste good things on boors so little accustomed to elegantly
+    equipped apartments that they used silken bedspreads to polish up
+    their boots!
+
+    A running commentary of international criticism, fine feasts,
+    ostensible negotiations about projects that probably no one
+    expected would come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent
+    and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on one side, feebly
+    accepted by the other while the two principals were together, and
+    petulantly disliked by the emperor as soon as he was alone again
+    --such was the course of the conference.
+
+    Frederic III. had one simple desire--to marry his son to the
+    Burgundian heiress. Charles desired many things, some of which are
+    clear and others obscure. The very fact that the emperor did not
+    at once refuse his demands, gave him confidence that all were
+    obtainable. Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal chief
+    by a display of his resources, and by showing the high esteem in
+    which he was held by all nations. There at Trèves, embassies came
+    to him from England, from various Italian and German states, and
+    from Hungary.
+
+    On October 15th, a treaty was signed that made the new Duke of
+    Lorraine virtually a vassal to Charles, an important step towards
+    Burgundian expansion. There was time and to spare for these many
+    comings and goings during the eight weeks of the sojourn at
+    Trèves, and the duke was not idle. That his own business hung
+    fire, he thought was due to the machinations of Louis XI. He had
+    no desire to prolong his visit, for he was well aware of the
+    risk involved in keeping his troops in Trèves.[8] At first the
+    magnificence of his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but
+    little by little, in spite of the duke's strict discipline, the
+    presence of idle soldiers became very onerous. Charles did not
+    hesitate to hang on the nearest tree a man caught in an illicit
+    act, but much lawlessness passed without his knowledge. Provisions
+    became very dear; there was some danger of an epidemic due to the
+    unsanitary conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so many
+    strangers. The precautions instituted by the Roman founders in
+    regard to their water supply had long since fallen into disuse.
+
+    Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite answer from the
+    emperor as to the proposed kingdom, the matrimonial alliance, and
+    his own status. Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then
+    substituted vague promises for present assent to the demands. But
+    when Charles, indignant, broke off negotiations on October 31st,
+    and began to prepare for immediate departure, Frederic became
+    anxious, renewed his overtures, and a new conference took place,
+    in which he consented to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the
+    proviso the sanction of his election should be obtained.
+
+    Charles promised to go against the Turk in person, and to place
+    a thousand men at Frederic's disposal, so soon as all points at
+    issue between him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that
+    his estates were erected into a kingdom, which should also
+    comprise the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the
+    duchies of Lorraine, Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be
+    a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, and
+    transmissible by heredity in the male and female line--a necessary
+    recognition of a woman's right, approved by both parties, for Mary
+    of Burgundy was to marry Maximilian.
+
+    Electoral confirmation alone was wanting, and in regard to that
+    there was much voluminous correspondence and much shuffling of
+    responsibility. The electors of Mayence and of Trèves were the
+    only ones present to speak for themselves, and they declared
+    that the matter ought to be referred to a full conclave of the
+    electoral college.[9] Let the candidate for royalty await the
+    decision of the next diet, appointed for November at Augsburg.
+
+    Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed this solution to
+    Charles, who replied haughtily that if his request were not
+    complied with he would join Louis XI. in a league hostile to the
+    empire. This was on November 6th. The Archbishop of Trèves then
+    suggested that if the question could not wait for a diet, at
+    least the electors should be summoned, especially the elector of
+    Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential with the emperor, and
+    who was a leader in the anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German
+    party. This seemed fair, but the emperor suddenly put on a show of
+    authority and declared, with an injured air, that he was perfectly
+    free to act on his own initiative without confirmation. In the
+    interests of Christianity and of the empire he would appoint
+    Charles of Burgundy chief of the crusade, and he would crown him
+    king.
+
+    The organised opposition to his plan came to the duke's ears and
+    made him very angry. Yet, at the same time, he had no desire
+    to dispense with electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the
+    imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure his kingdom into
+    permanent existence. It was finally decided that Frederic III.
+    should display his power to the extent of investing Charles
+    at once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more important
+    investiture should be postponed.
+
+    Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the market-place.
+    Frederic was exalted upon a high platform ascended by a flight
+    of steps. Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded and
+    unattended, rode slowly around the platform three times, "which
+    they say was the custom in such solemnities of investiture," adds
+    an eyewitness,[10] as though he considered the ceremony somewhat
+    archaic. Then the candidate dismounted, received the mantle of the
+    empire from an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the
+    emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying the insignia of
+    the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered on the Burgundian arms, was
+    carried before him. Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid
+    two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the oath of fealty and
+    service in low but distinct tones. Other rites followed, and then
+    Charles was proclaimed Duke of Guelders.
+
+    [Illustration: MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA, MEDAL]
+
+    Thus one object of the conference was attained, and all the
+    world thought it was only a question of time when the greater
+    investiture would be celebrated. Charles's star was in the
+    ascendant. There seemed no limit to the power he had acquired
+    over his suzerain, who apparently graciously nodded assent to his
+    requests, while the duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with
+    the King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory in all doubtful
+    issues. At the same time, his confidence in Frederic was by no
+    means perfect.
+
+    "The emperor is acting with perfect imperial authority and thinks
+    that no one has a right to dispute it, nevertheless the duke
+    yearns for the sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining
+    it."[11] The tone taken by Charles was that of humble ignorance.
+    "Little instructed as I am in imperial German law, I am anxious to
+    have your opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to erect a
+    kingdom." On November 8th, in the evening, the electors present in
+    Trèves declared that they were not exactly sure about the imperial
+    authority, but they were sure that it was not their duty to
+    discuss the legal attributes of imperial puissance.
+
+    Under these circumstances what remained to hinder the attainment
+    of Charles's desire? The emperor consented, and the only people
+    who could have stayed his consent expressly stated that his was
+    the final word, not theirs. It was easy for onlookers to conclude
+    not only that the coronation was certain but that it was done.
+
+    "Know that our lord the emperor has made the Duke of Burgundy a
+    king of the lands hereafter mentioned and has assured the royal
+    title to him and his heirs, male and female; all the territories
+    that he holds from the empire together with Guelderland lately
+    conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to the empire
+    in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy that formerly was held from
+    the crown of France; also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen,
+    and others belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories,
+    also imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he
+    receives from a Roman emperor."
+
+So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November 13th, trusting to the
+word of an envoy who had left matters in so advanced a state when he
+departed from Trèves that he felt safe in concluding that achievement
+had been reached.[12]
+
+Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too, were filled with
+rumours from Trèves. Most extraordinary is one of November 29th,
+intended to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, containing _exact
+details of the coronation of Charles as it had taken place five days
+previously_. The boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.[13]
+Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had instantly shown
+exceptional honour to the Burgundian resident. How exact it all
+sounded! Yet there was no truth in it.
+
+The vacillating emperor was affected by the attitude of his suite, and
+by their varying representations. There is no actual proof of French
+interference, but French agents had been seen in the city, and might
+have had private audiences with the emperor. Gradually, relations
+changed between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud, not
+dissipated by a three days' fête given by the duke (November
+19th-22d), evidently in farewell. Was Charles too exigeant with his
+demands, too chary of his daughter? Probably.
+
+On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty a simple convention
+was signed, postponing the coronation until February. Emperor and
+regal candidate were to meet again at Besançon, Cologne, or Basel. In
+the interval, Charles was to come to a satisfactory understanding with
+the electors and obtain their official endorsement for the imperial
+grant.
+
+November 25th was appointed, _not_ for the regal investiture, but for
+Frederic's departure. On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to
+his councillors and princes. The electors present were urged by the
+Burgundians to give their own conditional approval at least, and to
+consent to a reduction of the military obligations to be incurred
+by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where nobody wished to pledge
+anything definitely. There was an evident disposition to await some
+further issue before final action.
+
+The leave-taking between the bargain makers was expected to be as
+pompous as had been the entry into Trèves. It was far into the night
+of November 24th when the audience broke up. Little rest was there for
+the imperial suite, for when the tardy November sun arose above the
+eastern horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the Moselle. Not
+only had no imperial adieux been uttered, but no imperial debts had
+been settled. This was the news that was awaiting Charles when he
+awoke. Baffled he was, but not in his hope of being a king that day.
+No, only in his expectation of a stately pageant.[14] In all haste he
+sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly along the bank than the
+boat could sail, so as to overtake the traveller and urge him to wait
+for a few more words on divers topics. In one account it is reported
+that Frederic, though annoyed at the interruption, still assented to
+Hagenbach's request. No sooner was the latter away, however, than he
+changed his mind and continued his course.
+
+Rumour was busy, in regard to this strange exit of the emperor from
+the scene. The general belief among contemporaries was that it was on
+the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic turned his back on
+the scene. Take first the words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that
+he was in the very midst of the events can hardly be doubted:[15]
+
+    "But alas how easily and instantly human desires change, and how
+    fragile are the alliances and friendships of men, especially of
+    princes, which are not joined and confirmed by the glue of Christ
+    ... as the sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes
+    nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.' Suddenly,
+    forsooth, when they were thought to be harmonious in charity,
+    benevolence, and friendship, when they offered each other such
+    splendid entertainment, when they feasted together in regal luxury
+    in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has been said,
+    needed for the magnificence of such a great honour were made
+    ready and prepared, so that on the third day should occur the
+    celebration of that regal dignity _[fastigii],_ and the
+    _[provectio]_ promotion of a new king and the erection of a new
+    kingdom or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one,
+    now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with great
+    attention;--something occurred. I do not know what; hesitation or
+    suspicion, fancied or justified, unexpectedly affected the emperor
+    ... and embarking on his ship in the very early morning he sailed
+    down the river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated the
+    hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who believed that
+    he was to be elevated to a king. In a moment this hope was
+    extinguished like a candle.
+
+    "We were present there in the city of Trèves, attached to the
+    suite of neither prince, not serving or pretending to serve either
+    of them. But we ascertained nothing either then or later, although
+    we made many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure
+    and we are still ignorant of the truth. When the day broke after
+    the emperor's departure, and the duke was informed of the fact, he
+    was also assured that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was
+    opposite the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs. So he
+    sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to stay for a very
+    brief interview with the duke, assuring him that the very least
+    delay possible should occur if he did the favour. But no attention
+    was paid to the signals from the shore and the course was
+    continued."
+
+The bishop wrote these words some time after the event. There are
+other accounts preserved, actual letters written within a few days or
+weeks of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar ignorance of what
+had actually passed. The following gives several suggestions of
+difficulties not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar Cesner,
+secretary, writes to Master Johannes Gelthauss and others in
+Frankfort, from Cologne, on December 6th.[16] He was attached to
+the imperial service, and possibly was one of the few attendants on
+Frederic in the hasty journey from Trèves. After touching on Cologne
+affairs he proceeds:
+
+    "I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of Burgundy came
+    with all pomp for his coronation as king of the kingdom of
+    Burgundy and Friesland with twenty-six standards besides a
+    magnificent sceptre and crown. He also wished to take his duchy
+    and territories in Savoy[17] and Guelders and others in fief from
+    him [the emperor] and not from the empire.[18] This and other
+    extraordinary demands his imperial grace did not wish to grant,
+    and on that account he has broken off the interview and gone away.
+    Everything was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the
+    taking.[19] It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix. It may be
+    hoped not [_non speratur_]. You can understand me as well as your
+    faithful servant.
+
+    "Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh at me. I can
+    please my gracious lord and be worthy of praise if you will only
+    trust me.
+
+    "Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.
+
+    "To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss, Distinguished
+    advocate, master, preceptor of the city of Frankfort."
+
+The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:
+
+    "Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the second, Holland,
+    Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg, Namur, Hainaut, and the
+    dioceses of Liege, Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy,
+    Luxemburg, Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."
+
+The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed in secret
+conference.[20]
+
+Again the rumour that the final straw that broke the emperor's
+resolution was the duke's desire to take Savoy and Guelders from
+his hand alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this wish might
+indicate an attempt to separate a portion of territory from the empire
+in a way to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that his kingdom
+was an imperial fief, while, in reality, it was an independent realm,
+as he or his successors could declare at a convenient moment. But this
+seems at variance with his attested desire for electoral support.
+
+It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled. Yet, considering
+the emperor's personal characteristics, his last action does not
+seem inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity of his will,
+Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic, obstinate, yet conscious of his
+own weakness, personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate and
+much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant. The collision made him
+writhe uneasily and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as quietly
+as he could.
+
+The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent, and the
+magnificence again was significant of Burgundian wealth. Whether the
+duke would surely keep his pledge of sharing that wealth with the
+archduke if the emperor went so far that he could not draw back, was a
+consideration that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic. Had Mary of
+Burgundy accompanied her father, had the wedding of the daughter and
+investiture of the new king been planned for the same day, had the
+promises been exchanged simultaneously, the leave-taking might have
+passed, indeed, as a third ceremonial in all stateliness.
+
+If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain, it is not surprising.
+It was notorious how the duke had played fast and loose with his
+daughter's hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor as the
+greater advantages of another alliance were presented to him, or as
+the mere disadvantage of any marriage at all became unpleasantly near.
+Vigorous man of forty that he was, Charles had no personal desire to
+see a son-in-law, _in propria persona_, waiting for his shoes--a fact
+perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the rest of the world.
+
+The task of making the imperial adieux was entrusted to the imperial
+chamberlain, Ulrich von Montfort, who duly presented his master's
+formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of November 25th.
+"Important and urgent affairs had necessitated his presence elsewhere.
+The arrangement discussed between them was not broken but simply
+postponed until a more convenient occasion rendered its execution
+possible," etc.
+
+The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles was in a towering rage on
+receiving this communication. He clinched his fists, ground his teeth,
+and kicked the furniture about the room in which he had locked himself
+up.[21] But by the time these words were penned, these authors
+were better informed than Charles about the ultimate result of the
+emperor's intentions. The duke may have been angry, but he certainly
+controlled himself sufficiently to give several audiences in the
+course of the day--to envoys from Lorraine among others--and was ready
+to take his own departure by evening, not doubting that the crown and
+sceptre, carefully packed with the mountain of his valuable treasure,
+would assuredly fulfil their destiny in the near future. Trèves was
+left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last man to realise
+that in its silence were entombed for ever his chances of wearing the
+prematurely prepared insignia.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: This comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is
+quoted by De Bussière in his _Histoire de la Ligue contre Charles le
+Téméraire_, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that this contemporary
+had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Guillaume Faret or Farrel. His _Hist. de René II._ is
+lost. This citation from it is found in _La Guerre de René II. contre
+Charles le Hardi_, by P. Aubert Roland.]
+
+[Footnote 3: He had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the
+May meeting. From this time on some member of the Nassau family was
+prominent in Burgundian affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Gachard, _Doc. inédits_, i., 232. Letter from Trèves,
+October 4, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 5: About this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to
+unravel the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the chancellor
+of Brittany, _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 190.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gachard could not explain this phrase. It might easily
+refer to the desired investiture.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, _Mon. Habs_., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey bases this statement on three letters (October
+30, 31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector of
+Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Basin, _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI._, ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had been
+new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many times between the
+chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]
+
+[Footnote 11: Albert of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller,
+_Reichstag Theatrum_, p. 598.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 57.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Toutey, p. 60, note.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In this account, differing from the current
+tradition, Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (_Deutsche
+Reichsgeschichte,_ ii., 435).]
+
+[Footnote 15: Basin, ii., 325.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Preserved in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr.
+5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published by
+Karl Schellhass in _Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtewissenschaft,_
+(1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture of German and
+Latin.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Charles asked on October 23d, through his chancellor,
+for investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Under this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had
+lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]
+
+[Footnote 19: This means the throne from which Charles was to step
+down to receive the fief.]
+
+[Footnote 20: "Loquitur etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiæ et Burgundiæ
+sibi constituendes quæ audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam negare
+imperator quam dissimulare.
+
+"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones suas velle
+in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiæ et Frisiæ: in hoc Hollandia,
+Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum, Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses
+Leodiensis, Cameracensis et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum,
+Arthesia, Flandria, ecclesæque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis
+Verdunensis essent." (P. 1131.)
+
+Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that his
+statement is tradition but founded on what he might have heard from
+eye-witnesses.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chmel, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+1473-1474
+
+
+Late as it was in November, the weather was still very mild, and as
+the emperor and duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the
+former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter as he passed up
+the valley of the Moselle to that of the Ell, was hindered by autumn
+storms. The summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented heat and
+a prolonged drouth.[1] Forest fires raged unchecked on account of the
+dearth of water and, for the same reason, the mills stood still.
+The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, but the vintage was not
+profitable because the wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains
+in September prepared the ground for an untimely fertility. Trees
+blossomed and, though some fruits withered prematurely, cherries
+actually ripened. Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance
+as Charles rode to Lorraine.
+
+His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, where he stayed about
+a fortnight and received ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice,
+England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate, and Cologne.[2]
+The result of his conference with the last named was a declaration
+on the duke's part which seriously affected his later career. The
+condition of Cologne must be touched on as an essential part of this
+narrative.
+
+The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to pursue a line of policy in
+regard to the ecclesiastical elections in the diocese of Cologne that
+had succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463, he had tried to force
+the chapter to elect his candidate. They had refused to follow
+his leading, but their own choice, Robert, brother of the
+elector-palatine, did not prove a congenial chief, and the new prelate
+turned to Philip for aid when he found his chapter disposed to
+restrict both his revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in 1467,
+as the audacity of his opponents increased, the archbishop appealed to
+his brother, the elector, and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter
+was busy in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to Cologne,
+exhorting both chapter and city to be obedient to their chosen
+spiritual and lay lord. This intervention was resented. The breach
+widened between Robert and his people, culminating in actual
+hostilities. The chapter took possession of the town of Neuss,
+accepted Hermann of Hesse as their protector, and sent an embassy to
+Rome to state their grievances. The elector aided his brother and the
+belligerent parties grew in strength.
+
+The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided which cause to
+espouse, and finally chose the chapter's side, signing a five years'
+alliance with that body, which had officially renounced allegiance to
+Robert, pending the judgment of pope and emperor on the dissension.
+Such was the state of affairs when Charles entered into possession of
+Guelders and manifested a disposition to interest himself in Cologne.
+He informed the chapter that he was greatly displeased with their
+contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral," but the burghers showed
+so little inclination to heed his neighbourly advice that he tried
+harsher measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be molested in his
+domains.
+
+In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the hopes of imperial
+intervention.[3] While Charles was still in Guelders, Robert paid
+him a visit, held long conferences with him, and probably received
+promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance when he
+returned from the interview. During the sojourn of duke and emperor at
+Trèves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone, arrived from Rome
+with plenary powers to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were
+endorsed by Charles in a letter from Trèves.
+
+For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to refrain from interference,
+then something influenced him in another direction. When he arrived
+at Cologne in November, he received a warm welcome and costly gifts,
+which he repaid by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good
+city,"--cheap and easy benefits,--but he did not prove an efficient
+arbitrator, simply postponing any decision from day to day, though he
+was begged to settle all difficulties before Charles should attempt to
+relieve him of the trouble.
+
+True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he no longer felt the need
+of conciliating the emperor, and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473,
+he issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert was entirely in
+the right, his opponents in the wrong.[4] As these latter defied papal
+legate and arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of dispute,
+he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute himself defender of the
+insulted archbishop. At the same time, he despatched Ètienne de Lavin
+to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels. The declaration
+emboldened Robert to defy the emperor's summons to meet him and the
+papal legate. They both declared that they would take measures to
+bring him to obedience, but Frederic did not wish to tarry longer at
+Cologne. In January he took his departure, having directed Hermann of
+Hesse to protect that see against all aggression.
+
+Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto, there was no
+formal treaty between Charles and Robert, but there are two drafts for
+such a treaty in existence,[5] wherein the former pledged himself to
+force chapter, nobles, and city to submission, in consideration of the
+sum of 200,000 florins, while the archbishop gave permission to his
+ally to garrison all strongholds, including Cologne. Pending his
+autumn sojourn in the upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans
+regarding Cologne definitely in mind.
+
+
+
+_Lorraine_
+
+This duchy was even more interesting to Charles than Cologne, and
+there were many matters in its regard which demanded his urgent
+attention in 1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and conveniently
+adjacent to Burgundian lands. A natural means of annexation had been
+considered by Charles in the proposed marriage between Nicholas, Duke
+of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. When that project was abandoned to
+suit Charles's pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
+son-in-law until the latter's death in the spring of 1473. So
+unexpected was this event, that there was the usual suspicion of
+poisoning, and this crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
+XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly that monarch reaped
+no immediate advantage from the death, for the family to whom the
+succession passed was more friendly to Burgundy than to France.
+
+The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt Yolande of Anjou,
+daughter of old King René of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate
+Margaret, late Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of Vaudemont.
+The council of Lorraine lost no time in acknowledging Yolande as their
+duchess. She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her son René, aged
+twenty-two, where they were received hospitably, and then Yolande
+formally abdicated in favour of the young man, who was duly accepted
+as Duke of Lorraine.
+
+Now there was a large party of Burgundian sympathisers in Nancy, and
+it was probably owing to their pressure that very strong links were at
+once forged between Charles and the new sovereign of the duchy. The
+apprehension lest the former should protect the land as he had the
+heritage of his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was expressed by
+the timorous, but their counsels were overweighted, and, on October
+15th, René accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable to
+Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"--an office that the
+emperor had already been asked to change into suzerainty,--René
+cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Charles, giving
+the latter full permission to march his forces across Lorraine.
+Further, he pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
+places on the route "men bound by oath to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes,
+more, these were discharged from fidelity to Renè in case he abandoned
+Burgundian interests.
+
+Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles by adding her signature
+to that of her son. Charles feared, however, that the provisions
+might not be adhered to by the Lorrainers--so humiliating were the
+terms--and exacted in addition the signatures of the chief nobles. On
+November 18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested their
+approval of an act that practically delivered their land to a
+stranger,--evidence that they doubted the ability of their hereditary
+chief, and preferred Burgundy to France.
+
+There is a story that Charles tried other methods than diplomacy,
+before he got the better of the young duke in this bargain, that he
+actually had him stolen away from the castle of Joinville where he was
+staying with his mother.[6] Louis promptly came forward and arrested a
+nephew of the emperor, a student in the University of Paris, and kept
+him as a hostage until the release of René. Rumour, too, asserts that
+there was a treaty of Joinville, wherein René asserted his friendship
+with Louis, which was intermitted by his relations with Charles, to be
+resumed later. That also seems to be improbable. The formal alliance
+with Louis did not come then, though the king took immediate care
+to build up a party in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself
+informed of the progress of the new regime.
+
+From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to Nancy, where he was welcomed
+by his protégé, outside the city walls, and the two rode in together
+as the duke and the emperor had entered Trèves. Charles had been so
+long keeping up a show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that,
+undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first personage.[7] He
+refused, however, to accept the young man's hospitality, and spent the
+two days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie, where
+he felt more at ease in his conferences with Lorrainers willing to
+proceed further to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.
+
+The ally certainly became more exigeant. In various towns on the
+Moselle, Épinal, Charmes, Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were
+replaced by Burgundians. This immediate and arrogant use of the rights
+he had wrested from the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had been
+warm for Burgundy. René himself admired Charles as Maximilian had
+done. The strong man exercised a fascination over both youths, but
+the duke did not turn this admiration into real friendship,
+underestimating the character of his protégé. His measures, too, were
+taken without the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison
+after garrison was installed and commanded to obey his officers alone,
+while the soldiers were allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent
+to raids on a friendly country. As always, the agglomeration of
+mercenary companies was difficult to control. The duke did not succeed
+in having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in due restraint.
+Complaints began to pour into his headquarters. Public sentiment
+shifted day by day. The Burgundian became the personification of a
+public foe. Before Charles proceeded on his way to Alsace, René had
+begun to lose his admiration and it was not long before he impatiently
+awaited an opportunity to break with his too doughty protector.
+
+
+
+_Alsace_
+
+During the four years that Charles had delayed in coming to look at
+the result of the bargain of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant,
+Peter von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason to regret
+the easy-going absentee Austrian seigneurs. Much had been done,
+undoubtedly, in restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons. The
+roads were well policed, and safety was assured to travellers. "I
+spy," was the motto blazoned on the livery of the forces led by
+Hagenbach up and down the land, until he had unearthed lurking
+vagabonds. It was acknowledged that gold and silver could be carried
+openly from place to place, and that night journeys were as safe as
+day. Still, this advantageous change had not won popularity for the
+man who wrought it. Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to
+make their own little bargains with highwaymen or petty nobles,[8] a
+law unto themselves, than to meet the rigorous requisitions of the
+Burgundian tax collector.
+
+It was the country that had profited most by the new administration.
+The small towns had long enjoyed great independence, and had shown
+ability in managing their own affairs. They wanted no interference.
+Not liked by those whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was
+absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron hand, without
+acknowledging that its pressure had more good than evil in it.
+
+Then there were the neighbours to be considered. The Swiss had hated
+Sigismund and all Austrians, and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy
+as a power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took no pains to win their
+friendship. His insolent fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or
+"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked if not condoned by
+him, aroused bitter dislike to him in the confederated cantons,[9] and
+in their allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there was a growing
+sentiment in Helvetia that they would be happier if Austria had her
+own again, while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone had
+greatly increased.
+
+Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the opposition to his
+measures took a definite form long before the duke's arrival there.
+The various commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the quality of
+his bargain had all agreed in an urgent recommendation to the duke to
+redeem, at the earliest possible moment, all the troublesome mortgages
+honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach, too, was fully convinced of the
+necessity for this measure, but he was not provided with sufficient
+money to accomplish it.
+
+In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to lay a new tax on
+wine. This impost, called the "Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for
+two reasons. The burden was oppressive to the vintners and it was an
+illegal measure, as no sanction had been given by the local estates.
+Three towns, Thann, Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were
+determined to refuse payment.
+
+Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg, a stronghold dominating
+Thann, bombarded the town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were
+condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous rebellion against the
+just orders of their lawful governor. Some of these, indeed, were
+pardoned, though their estates were confiscated, but five or six
+were publicly executed, and their bodies hung exposed to view on the
+market-place, as a hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting
+Burgundian orders.
+
+One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim submissive, but Brisac
+proved more obstinate. The magistrates there did not resort to force.
+They declared there was no need, for they were fully protected by the
+article in the treaty of St. Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition
+of any tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined refusal made
+the lieutenant consent to refer the question to the Duke of Burgundy,
+and messengers were despatched to Trèves to represent the respective
+grievances of governor and governed. The collection of the tax was
+postponed until Charles could examine the situation.
+
+A determined effort to bring the independent town of Mulhouse under
+Burgundian sway was another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white
+heat that forged organised resistance to any extension of Burgundian
+authority. For three years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince the
+burghers of that imperial city that they would be wise to accept the
+duke's protection and have their debts paid. The latter were, indeed,
+oppressive, but there was fear lest "protection" might be more so, and
+conference after conference failed to produce the acquiescence desired
+by Hagenbach.
+
+In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared that if the
+burghers persisted in their refusal he would resort to force. Their
+reply was that Mulhouse could not take such an important step without
+consulting her friends, the Swiss. "Are the cantons going to help you
+pay your debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach. "Mulhouse is
+a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant that must be extirpated. Its
+submission would make a charming pleasure ground out of the Sundgau,
+Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew no city which he would prefer to
+Mulhouse for a sojourn," were his further statements.[10]
+
+Two days were given to the town council for an answer. Hagenbach
+remarked that it was useless to think that time could be gained until
+the mortgaged territories should return to Austria. "Far from planning
+redemption, Duke Sigismund is now preparing to cede to _Charles le
+téméraire_ as much again of his domain and vassals." Still Mulhouse
+was not convinced that the only course open to her was to let Charles
+pay her debts and receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming in the
+two days, but ready scribes had prepared many copies of Hagenbach's
+letter, which were sent to all who might be interested in checking
+these proposals of Burgundy.
+
+On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne and there the
+matter was weighed. Hagenbach's letter was shown to those who had
+not seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from her dilemma were
+carefully considered. Years ago a union had existed between the forest
+cantons and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions to renew
+this alliance so as to present a strong front to their Burgundian
+neighbour. The cantons had enough to do with their own affairs, but
+the result of the discussion was that, on March 14th, a ten-year
+Alsatian confederation was formed in imitation of the Swiss.
+
+The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse, Schlestadt, and two
+dioceses, and it is referred to as the _Basse-Union_ or the Lower
+Union, the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights of the
+contracting parties, to meet for discussion on various questions, and,
+specifically, to help Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, March
+19th, there was a fresh proposition to make an alliance between
+this _Basse-Union_ and the Swiss confederation. This required a
+_referendum_. Each Swiss delegate received a copy of the articles to
+take back to his constituents for their consideration. No bond between
+the confederation and the union was, however, in existence at the time
+when Charles was approaching Alsace. Various conciliatory measures
+on his part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition to him, but,
+nevertheless, there were frequent conferences about affairs. Diets
+were almost continuous and there were strenuous efforts to raise money
+to free Mulhouse from her hampering financial embarrassments.
+
+Hagenbach had not followed up his threats of immediate war measures,
+but it was known that he had obtained imperial authorisation to
+assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step which her allies hoped to
+forestall by settling her debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six
+hundred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, Basel four hundred,
+while Colmar, Schlestadt, Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to
+raise another four hundred. A diet was called at Basel for December
+11th, and Zürich and Lucerne were expected to enter into the union.
+The tidings of the duke's approach were undoubtedly a stimulus to
+these renewed efforts to make the league strong enough to withstand
+him. The sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May God protect us
+from his mighty hand," voiced probably a wide-spread dread.
+
+When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was large enough to
+inspire fear, but there was no opposition to his advance, though
+consultations, now at one city, now at another, were frequent. The
+duke paid little heed to their deliberations, under-estimating their
+importance, while he was gracious to any words of welcome offered to
+him. Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at Châtenois, and so
+did Colmar. The latter town expressed her willingness to receive him
+and an escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her refusal to
+admit a larger force within her walls. By this precaution, Charles was
+baffled in his plot to gain possession of the town, and so passed on
+his way.
+
+On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal entry into Brisac, where
+a temporary court was established, and where audience was given to
+various embassies with the customary Burgundian pomp. Meanwhile the
+troops, forced to camp without the walls, were a burden to the land,
+and seem to have been more odious than usual to their unwilling hosts.
+
+The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their knees and had their
+hopes raised high by their suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they
+failed to obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty of St. Omer
+should be observed in all respects. Among the envoys were many who
+undertook to remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition
+of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and the over-severity of
+Hagenbach's administration. The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged,
+notably by Berne. The representations of these last envoys were
+received most courteously. The duke rather thought that the city could
+be detached from the league, and therefore gave himself some trouble
+to establish friendly relations.
+
+To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory. He wrote a pleasant
+letter to the town and despatched a councillor thither, who would, he
+assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction. But an abortive
+_coup d'état_ on the part of the Burgundians, which would have given
+them possession of Basel, destroyed the effect of these reassuring
+phrases. The burghers were warned in time, looked to their defences,
+and banished from their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian
+sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully scrutinised before he was
+admitted within the walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The
+propriety of these precautions was soon proven.
+
+Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the official capital of the
+landgraviate. Thither marched his troops from every quarter. Those
+from Säckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found their shortest route over
+the bridge at Basel, and there they appeared and begged to be allowed
+to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the least foothold on the
+city's territory was sternly refused then and a week later, when the
+request was renewed. The method of introducing friendly troops into a
+town and then seizing it by a sudden _coup de main_ was what Charles
+had been suspected of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and
+there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of this rather stupid
+stratagem was planned, only to fail again, and this time to be
+peculiarly disastrous in its reflex action.
+
+The review took place and the strength of the Burgundian mercenaries
+was duly displayed to the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances
+were given to Brisac and the other towns that their suzerain
+would restrict his measures of taxation and administration to the
+stipulations of the contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when
+Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all that he had _not_
+restricted the powers of his lieutenant in any respect, but rather had
+endorsed his general method of procedure.
+
+One night was spent at Thann[11] and then the duke took his leave of
+the annexed region whose people had hoped so much from his visit to
+them. In mid-January he arrived at Besançon, his winter journeying
+being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly mild weather.
+
+Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the levying of the impost now
+approved by the duke, who had at the same time expressly ordered that
+the people were to be treated mildly, and that summary punishment
+was to check all excesses on the part of the eight hundred Picards
+employed by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector. The governor, however,
+saw no further need for gentle treatment or for respect to privileges.
+In Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set aside, and
+officers appointed by the governor. The corporation was curtailed
+of power, and the burghers were forced to prepare to march against
+Mulhouse.
+
+Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction, Hagenbach
+proceeded to give himself some relaxation. His own marriage took place
+on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion with great fêtes. It
+is of this period in Hagenbach's life that the stories of gross excess
+are told.[12] It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint
+towards the city, his personal passions, too, were permitted to run
+riot, and he spared no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.
+
+As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad Penny" on the little
+independent landowners, he tried to extend it to the territory of the
+Bishop of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which was reported to the
+duke, who promptly ordered his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he
+had taken and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not ready to
+meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer an issue, but he was wholly
+ignorant of the real strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then
+proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and waited for further
+action.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: De Roye, p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 2: He also issued administrative orders. It was at this time
+that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of accounts
+at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland provinces.
+This measure was bitterly resented by the local authorities.
+(Fredericq. _Le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_, p.
+183.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey,
+p. 64.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: Toutey, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]
+
+[Footnote 5:_See_ Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet,
+_Urkunden_, iv., 468, 470.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
+Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (_See_ Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, ii.,
+271.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: Toutey's suggestion.]
+
+[Footnote 8: All sons inherited their father's title, so that there
+were many landless lords.]
+
+[Footnote 9: At this period there were eight in the confederation,
+which was a loose structure in which each member preserved her
+individuality.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _See_ Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the _Cartulaire de
+Mulhouse_, iv., _et passim_. This last furnishes the details for these
+passages.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There
+are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. The
+duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) does not agree
+with that of Knebel and others. But the facts of the narrative are
+little affected by the variations. The following is the itinerary
+accepted by Toutey:
+
+Dep. from Ensisheim                    Jan.  8
+Stay at Thann                           "    9-10
+Dep. from Belfort                       "   11
+Besançon                                "   17
+Auxonne, slept                          "   18
+Dijon, a                                "   23
+Dijon, d                               Feb.  19, 1474
+Auxonne, slept                          "   20
+Dôle                                    "  21-March 8
+(Invested with the Franche Comté of Burgundy.)
+Besançon                              March 12 or 15
+Vesoul and Luxeuil                    March   23-28
+Lorraine                                "     28
+Luxemburg                              Apr.  4-June 9
+Easter fêtes                            "   10
+Fête of the Order of the Garter         "   23
+Brussels                               June 27]
+
+[Footnote 12: Kirk considers that they are well founded and too
+indecent to repeat.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+1474-1475
+
+
+"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious in his apparel,
+travelling in the greatness of his strength?" These words in Latin,
+on scrolls fluttering from the hands of living angels, met the eyes
+of Charles of Burgundy at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the
+confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle flattery of the
+implied comparison between him and the subject of the words of the
+prophet.[1]
+
+The traveller had slept at Périgny, about a league from the capital
+of Burgundy, so as to make the last stage of his journey thither in
+leisurely state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday, January 22d, the
+appointed day, made postponement of the ducal parade necessary, out
+of consideration for the precious hangings and costly ecclesiastical
+robes that were to grace the ceremonies of reception and investiture.
+Fortunately, Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds rode
+through the city streets at an early hour, proclaiming the duke's
+gracious intention to make his entry on that day. Immediately,
+tapestries were spread and every one was alert with the last
+preparations.
+
+[Illustration: A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century]
+
+Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like that cited, which
+were planted along the ducal way and on a succession of stagings
+erected for various exhibits. On the great city square, the platform
+was capacious and many actors played out divers roles. Here stood the
+scroll-bearing angels on either side of a living representation of
+Christ. In the background clustered three separate groups of people
+representing, respectively, the three Estates. Above their heads more
+inscriptions were to be read.[2] "All the nations desire to see the
+face of Solomon," "Behold him desired by all races," "Master, look on
+us, thy people," were among the legends.
+
+The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical,
+from other parts of the duke's domains participated, proceeded past
+all these soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy resembled
+Solomon in more ways than one, to the church of St. Benigne. Here
+pledges of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians and
+their ruler. The Abbé of Citeaux placed the ducal ring solemnly
+upon Charles's finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all the
+prerogatives of his predecessors.
+
+From the church, the train wound its way to the Ste. Chapelle, past
+more stages decorated with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as
+"A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any,"
+"The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold
+as a lion," etc.
+
+Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of investiture were
+performed, and followed by a banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal
+robes, and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with gold, pearls,
+and precious stones. After a repast, prelates, nobles, and civic
+deputies were convened in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where
+first they listened to a speech from the chancellor. When he had
+finished, the duke himself delivered an harangue wherein he expatiated
+on the splendours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. Wrongfully
+usurped by the French kings, it had been belittled into a duchy, a
+measure much to be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the speaker
+broke off abruptly with an ambiguous intimation "that he had in
+reserve certain things that none might know but himself."[3]
+
+What was the significance of these veiled allusions? It could not have
+been the simple scheme to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly
+known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an ostrich-like quality of
+mind which made him oblivious to the world's vision but even he could
+hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours regarding the
+interview of Trèves, rumours flying north, east, south, and west.
+Might not this suggestion of secrets yet untold have had reference to
+the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and himself to divide France
+between them?
+
+When his own induction into his heritage was accomplished, Charles was
+ready to pay the last earthly tribute to his parents. A cortège had
+been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the bodies of Philip and
+Isabella to their final resting-place in the tomb at Dijon, to which
+they were at last consigned.[4]
+
+A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city of his birth, and then
+went to Dôle where he was invested with the sovereignty of the
+Franche-Comté and confirmed the privileges. Thus after seven years of
+possession _de facto_, he first actually completed the formalities
+needful for the legal acquisition of his paternal heritage. The
+expansion of that heritage had been steady for over half a century.
+Every inch of territory that had come under the shadow of the family's
+administration had remained there, quickly losing its ephemeral
+character, so that temporary holdings were regarded in the same light
+as the estates actually inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke,
+count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction in the natures of his
+tenures. But just as the last link was legally riveted in his own
+chain of lands, he was to learn that there were other points of view.
+
+The statement is made and repeated, that the report of the duke's
+after-dinner speech at Dijon was a fresh factor in alarming the people
+in Alsace and Switzerland about his intentions, and making them hasten
+to shake off every tie that connected them with Charles and his
+ambitious projects of territorial expansion.[5] As a matter of fact,
+there had been for months constant agitation in the councils of the
+Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union as to the next action.
+
+Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent, antipathy to Austria
+was so deeply rooted that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the
+Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably the arguments that
+came from France were what carried conviction. It was a time when
+Louis spared no expense to attain the end he desired, while he posed
+as a benevolent neutral.[6] His servants worked underground. Their
+open work was very cautious. It was French envoys, however, who
+announced to the Swiss Diet, convened at Lucerne, that Sigismund was
+quite ready to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance and
+the redemption of his mortgaged lands.
+
+That was on January 21, 1474, the very day when the mortgagee was
+preparing to ride into Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his
+wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month and Sigismund's envoys
+were seated on the official benches at the Basel diet, ranking with
+the delegates from the cantons and the emissaries from France. On
+March 27th, the diet met at Constance, and for three days a debate
+went on which resulted in the drafting of the _Ewige Richtung_,
+the _Réglement définitif_, a document which contained a definite
+resolution that the mortgaged lands were to be completely withdrawn
+from Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This resolution was
+subscribed to by Sigismund and the Swiss cantons. Further, it was
+decided to ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St. Omer and
+to offer payment to Charles at Basel instead of Besançon.
+
+Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in his own mind that
+the legends of his birthplace were correct in their rating of his
+character and his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered
+Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was shortly after that
+festival, on April 17th, that a letter from Sigismund was delivered to
+him announcing in rather casual and off-hand terms that he was now in
+a position to repay the loan of 1469, made on the security of those
+Rhinelands. Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel 80,000
+florins, 40,000 the sum received by him, 10,000 paid in his behalf to
+the Swiss, and 30,000 which he understood that Charles had expended
+during his temporary incumbency,[7] and he, Sigismund, would resume
+the sovereignty in Alsace.
+
+It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish was. The expressions
+employed in the paper were, however, so ambiguous, the language so
+involved, that Charles expended severe criticism on his cousin's style
+before he proceeded to answer his subject-matter. To that he replied
+that the bargain between him and Sigismund was none of his seeking.
+The latter had implored his protection from the Swiss, had begged
+relief in his financial straits. Touched by his petitions, Charles
+had acceded to his prayers and the lands had enjoyed security under
+Burgundian protection as they never had under Austrian. Charles had
+duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he had done nothing to
+forfeit his title. The conditions of redemption offered by Sigismund
+were not those expressly stipulated. If a commission were sent to
+Besançon, the duke would see to it that the merits of the case were
+properly examined.
+
+"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose you have
+declared, in violation of the terms of the contract and of your
+princely word, we shall make resistance, trusting with God's help that
+our ability in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have used
+to repulse the attacks of the Swiss--those attacks from which you
+sought and received our protection."
+
+Before this letter reached its destination, the duke's deputy in the
+mortgaged lands had already found his resources wholly inadequate to
+maintain his master's authority. After Charles departed from Alsace,
+Hagenbach's increased insolence and abandonment of all the restraint
+that he had shown while awaiting the duke's visit soon became
+unbearable. The deliberations in Switzerland concerning their return
+to Austrian domination also naturally affected the Alsatians and made
+them bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.
+
+Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing admission to his
+garrisons. Brisac was in his hands already, and her fortifications
+held by mercenaries, but an order to the citizens to work, one and
+all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance with very
+serious results. It was at Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a
+hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the Rhinelands, proved
+the final provocation to rebellion.
+
+There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle, moreover, that this
+misuse of Easter Day was not Hagenbach's real crime. He simply
+wished to get all combatants out of the city before butchering the
+inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in time. That charge does
+not, however, seem substantiated by other evidence. But there is no
+doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a state of fury, fell
+upon the mercenaries, and killed many of them in spite of their own
+unarmed condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings, appeared
+at the window and offered various concessions, being actually humbled
+and intimidated by the unexpected turning of the submissive folk
+against him.
+
+But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the reach of conciliatory
+words. Some of the more intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a
+show of propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing their own
+ancient council, arbitrarily abolished by Hagenbach, while taking a
+new oath to the Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of 1469.
+They also despatched envoys to the duke with explanations of their
+proceedings, stating further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone to
+which protest was made; that they were not in revolt against Charles.
+The latter answered, "Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional
+government, by the time they received this order, felt strong enough
+to disregard it and to continue to act on their own initiative.
+
+Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but into irons. All fear of
+and respect for his authority was thrown to the winds, his offer of
+fourteen thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.
+
+Deputations came from the confederation to congratulate the officials
+_de facto_ and to promise aid. The next step gave the lie direct to
+the message sent to Charles upholding his authority while protesting
+against his lieutenant. Sigismund was urged to return to his own
+without further delay for legal formalities with his creditor. He
+assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the Austrian duke arrived in
+Brisac and picked up the reins of authority which he had joyfully
+dropped four years previously.
+
+The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion, singing a ready parody
+of an Easter hymn:[8]
+
+  "Christ is arisen, the _landvogt_ is in prison,
+  Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.
+  Kyrie Eleison!
+  Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,
+  But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.
+  Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the late governor was
+brought to trial. Instruments of torture sent from Basel were employed
+to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But there was nothing to
+confess. As a matter of fact the charges against him were for
+well-known deeds the character of which depended on the point of view.
+What the Alsatians declared were infringements of their rights, the
+duke's deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the terms of the
+treaty. In regard to his private career the prisoner persisted in
+his statement that he was no worse than other men and that all his
+so-called victims had been willing and well rewarded for their
+submission to him.
+
+On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared over and the trial began
+before a tribunal whose composition is not perfectly well known,
+but which certainly included delegates from the chief cities of the
+landgraviate, and from Strasburg, Basel, and Berne.[9]
+
+The trial was practically lynch law in spite of the cloak of legality
+thrown over it. Charles alone was Hagenbach's principal and he alone
+was responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic incompetence
+of the court was hotly urged by Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's
+self-appointed advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public opinion
+insisted upon extreme measures, and the sentence of capital punishment
+was promptly followed by execution.
+
+Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by the sword and be
+permitted to bequeath a portion of his property to the church of
+St. Étienne at Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth was
+confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn to Fribourg during the
+progress of the trial. Even Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged
+that the late governor made a dignified and Christian exit from the
+life he had not graced.
+
+Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger who brought him the
+news of this trial and execution, in the very presence of Sigismund
+who had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate, where he
+had appointed Oswald von Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus
+presuming to use sovereign power. This was not sufficient, however,
+to make the duke change his own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was
+entrusted with the commission of punishing the Alsatians for his
+brother's ignominious deposition, and he did his task grimly.
+According to the Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north,
+and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the south, did not have
+more than six or eight thousand men apiece, but they left Hun-like
+reputations behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in houses and
+churches, all in the name of the duke, contributed to the zeal with
+which the Austrian's return was ratified by popular acclamation, and
+with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the confederates were
+received.
+
+Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone and obscure in
+phraseology. A statement presented somewhat later to the emperor by
+the _Basse Union_ is more precise in the justification offered for the
+events and in the grievances rehearsed.[10] That is, Sigismund treats
+the transaction as a purely financial one, naturally completed between
+him and his creditor by the offer to liquidate his debt. The plea made
+by the Alsatians and their friends is, that Charles had failed to keep
+his solemn engagements and that his appointed lieutenant had been
+peculiarly odious and had broken the laws of God and man, and that the
+mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians, Lombardians, and their
+fellows, had pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the Sundgau,
+and the diocese of Basel. The charges are itemised.[11]
+
+    "All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy, has neither been
+    checked nor punished by him. In consequence, our gracious Seigneur
+    of Austria has been obliged to restore the land and people to his
+    sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he has done
+    with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation and total
+    destruction of land and people."
+
+Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle matters in person, but
+pursued his intention of reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control,
+undoubtedly thinking that the base which would then be open to the
+archbishop's protector on the lower Rhine would facilitate his
+operations in the upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic had
+emphatically declared that he alone was the Defender of the Diocese,
+and that the unholy alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace
+to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted him to abandon the
+enterprise and to accept mediation; those to the electors, princes,
+and cities of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against Burgundy
+until he himself arrived on the scene. There was a hot correspondence
+between all parties concerned, from which nothing resulted. Charles
+had various reasons for delay. There was trouble in other quarters of
+his domain. Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions
+for money, and the Franche-Comté was on the point of making active
+resistance to the imposition of the _gabelle_.
+
+In view of all these complications, Charles decided to prolong his
+truce with Louis XI., to May 1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased
+to continue to pursue his own plans under cover of neutrality. The
+determination of the anti-Burgundian coalition in Germany to keep
+Charles within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant sight to
+the French king, and he felt that he could afford to wait.
+
+In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg, forbidding all owing
+allegiance to the Duke of Burgundy to have any commercial relations
+with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with the cities of the
+_Basse Union_, and declaring the duke's intention to take the field
+at once, to reinstate the archbishop in his rightful see. This was a
+declaration of war and was speedily followed by the duke's advance
+to Maestricht, where he spent a few days in July, collecting a force
+which finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.
+
+On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which had again emphatically
+refused entry to him and his troops. Three days the duke gave himself
+for the reduction of the town, but there he remained encamped for
+nearly a whole year! Neuss was resolved to resist to the last
+extremity, while Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their
+assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers to the best of
+their ability. It was a period when Charles seemed to have only one
+sure ally, and that was Edward of England, whose own plans were
+forming for a mighty enterprise--no less than a new invasion of
+France.
+
+On July 25th, the very day that Charles was on his march up to Neuss,
+his envoys signed at London a treaty wherein the duke promised Edward
+six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer his realm of France."
+Nothing loth to dispose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn,
+pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, without any lien
+of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers,
+Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates
+of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories of Charles were to be
+exempt from homage. Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in
+France and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial interests
+forgotten; "to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded
+permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and
+to carry thither foreign merchandise."
+
+The year when Charles was waiting before the gates of Neuss was full
+of many abortive diplomatic efforts on the part of both the duke and
+Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to save something even
+from broken bargains. The Swiss not only counted on his friendship,
+but were constantly encouraged by his money, which emboldened them to
+send a letter of open defiance to Charles: "We declare to your most
+serene highness and to all of your people, in behalf of ourselves
+and our friends, an honourable and an open war." To the herald who
+delivered this document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"[12] He
+felt that he had been betrayed.
+
+This was on October 26th. The defiance was followed by a descent of
+the mountaineers upon Alsace, which Charles had not yet released
+from his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared to defend Burgundian
+interests at Héricourt, a good strategic position on the tiny Luzine.
+Here, the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the Count of Blamont
+arrived with two bodies of Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than
+twelve thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging force.
+His plan failed--the tables were turned. It was the Burgundians who
+were fiercely attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach was forced to
+surrender, obtaining honourable terms, however, and Sigismund put a
+garrison into Héricourt on November 16th.
+
+This was a tremendous surprise to Charles. That cowherds could repulse
+his well-trained troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.
+But he put aside all idea of punishing them for the moment, and
+continued to "reduce Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,"
+and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town in its determined
+resistance.
+
+The opprobrious names applied to the would-be and baffled conqueror at
+this time are curiously similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon
+a few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ himself, with
+demoniac attributes added, when Alexander was felt to be too mild a
+comparison. There was still a terrible fear of the duke's ambition,
+even though, in the face of all Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his
+men, and Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, while the world
+wondered at the duke's obstinacy displayed in the wrong place. The
+belief expressed several times by Commines that God troubled Charles's
+understanding out of very pity for France, was a current rumour.
+
+At the end of April an English embassy arrived at the camp, which was
+kept in a marvellous state of luxury, even though disease was not
+successfully curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the embassy
+was that Charles should raise this useless siege, fruitless as it
+promised to be, owing to the difficulty of cutting off the town's
+supplies. Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading army.
+He implored his dear brother to send him transports and to prepare to
+receive him when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a glimpse
+into the situation[13]:
+
+    "For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that the assege
+    lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn affoor Nuse, and the
+    Emperor hath besyged also not fferr from there a castill and
+    another town in lykewyse wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the
+    Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water off Somme
+    with 4000 spers; and sum men have that he woll, at the daye off
+    brekyng off trewse, or else beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys
+    heer. When I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.
+
+    "The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere and the Master off
+    the Rolls be comyng homwards ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke
+    I sholde be sek but iff I see it....
+
+    "For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde in to Flaundyrs
+    to purveye me off horse and herneys and percase I shall see the
+    essege at Nwse er I come ageyn."
+
+There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick at the sight than
+for John Paston, and he did grow weary of the further waiting and
+anxious, for his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On May 22d,
+there was a skirmish between his troops and the imperial forces,
+wherein Charles claimed the victory. In reality, there was none on
+either side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe his _amour
+propre_, and to convince him that an accommodation with Frederic would
+not detract from his dignity.
+
+A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched to help convey
+the English army, thirsting for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand
+men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to meet Edward IV., and
+swell his escort as he marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other
+matters also demanded Charles's personal attention. Months had elapsed
+and Héricourt was unpunished--Berne had not been reproved.
+
+René of Lorraine was formally admitted to the League of Constance on
+April 18, 1475, and was now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he
+had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a touch of old King René's
+theatrical taste in his grandson's method of despatching the herald
+who rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet on May 10th. The
+man was, however, so overcome at the first view of _le Téméraire_ that
+he hastily delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained
+gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of war, without uttering a word.
+Then he fell on his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.[14] Charles
+was so little displeased at the signs of the impression his presence
+made that, instead of being angry with the man, he gave him twelve
+florins for his good news. The terms of the declaration of war carried
+by the herald were as follows:
+
+    "To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the very high, etc.,
+    Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce defiance with fire and
+    blood against thee, thy countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and
+    other charge further have I not."[15]
+
+The reply was straightforward:
+
+    "Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge, whereby thou
+    hast given me subject for joy, and, to show you how matters are,
+    thou shalt wear my robe with this gift, and shalt tell thy master
+    that I will find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear
+    is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst not be afraid
+    to return, I desire my marshal and the king-at-arms of the Toison
+    d'Or to convoy thee in perfect safety, for I should be sorry if
+    thou didst not make thy report to thy master as befits a good and
+    loyal officer."
+
+Thus was Charles pressed from the south and lured to the north.
+Excellent reason for obeying the order of the pope's legate that duke
+and emperor must lay down arms under pain of excommunication did
+either belligerent refuse! The armistice accepted on May 28th was
+followed by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It was a truce
+strictly to the advantage of Frederic and Charles. The Rhine cities,
+Louis XI., René of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed in
+the expectations they had based on Frederic.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Plancher, _Histoire générale et particulière de
+Bourgogne, avec des notes et des preuves justificatives_, iv.,
+cccxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Preparations for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set
+on foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One Frère
+Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures for
+appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every phrase indicating
+leonine strength was noted down. The good brother died before the
+anticipated event came to pass but the result of his patient labour
+was preserved.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Dit qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de
+scavoir à nuls que à lui_ (Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii.).]
+
+[Footnote 4: Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii. The document
+describing this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is
+evidently an error and not accepted.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Toutey, p. 117.]
+
+[Footnote 6: There are many records in the_Bibl. nat._. of the sums
+paid out to the Swiss at this time.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, i., 92 et seq.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Kirk, ii., 488.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey, p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Text given by Toutey, _Pièces justificatives_, p. 442.]
+
+[Footnote 11: The details are very brutal and untranslatable.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Paston Letters_, iii., 122.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 244.]
+
+[Footnote 15: _Bulletin de l'acad. royale de Belgique_, 1887.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what to write to you of
+    the English, for thus far they have done nothing but dance at St.
+    Omer and we are not sure whether the King of England has landed.
+    If he has, it must be with so small a force that it makes no
+    noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville know anything,
+    nor do they believe that there will be any English here in XL
+    days. Tell the news to Monsg. de Comminge, and recommend my
+    interests to him as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de
+    Thierry and Mons. the vice-admiral."[1]
+
+Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later and he has heard of the
+truce. He seizes the occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne
+his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frederic has deserted us all!"[2]
+Well, it was not the first time! Thirty years previous, when Louis was
+dauphin, the emperor had tried to turn the Swiss against him. Had not
+God, knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave mountaineers, Louis
+would have been a victim of execrable treachery. The outcome had been
+wonderful, for an eternal friendship had sprung up between him and the
+Swiss which must be preserved.
+
+Meantime, Charles has made his own definite plan of the campaign which
+was to introduce Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The following
+letter from him to Edward IV. bears no date, but it was evidently
+written at about the time of the truce[3]:
+
+    "Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself to you. I have
+    listened carefully to your declaration through the pronotary, and
+    understand that you do not wish to land without my advice, for
+    which I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors
+    think you had better land in Guienne, others in Normandy, others
+    again at Calais. If you choose Guienne you will be far from my
+    assistance but my brother of Brittany could help you. Still it
+    would be a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to
+    Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your people nor I
+    for mine. Nor could the two forces make juncture without attack,
+    and my brother of Brittany would be very far from both. To my
+    mind, your best landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the
+    Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will soon gain
+    possession of cities and places, and you will be at the right hand
+    of my brother of Brittany and of me. Tell me how many ships you
+    want and where you wish me to send them and I will do it."
+
+On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival of the English, Louis
+hastened to Normandy to inspect the situation for himself. There he
+learned that his own naval forces stationed in the Channel to ward off
+the invaders had landed on the very day before his arrival, abandoning
+the task.
+
+    "When I heard that we took no action, I decided that my best plan
+    would be to turn my people loose in Picardy and let them lay
+    waste the country whence they [the English] expected to get their
+    supplies."[4]
+
+At the same time, the rumour that was permitted to be current in
+France was, that Charles of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at
+Neuss, and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend from him.
+He, meanwhile, was continuing his own preparations by strenuous
+endeavours to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies. After
+the signing of the convention with the emperor, the duke proceeded to
+Bruges to meet the Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand for
+subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish funds, on the plea that
+his expansion policy was ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst
+from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving him in the lurch and
+thus causing his failure at Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor
+soldiers had they sent him as loyal subjects should.
+
+[Illustration: KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+
+CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN
+EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK. POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I.]
+
+    "For whom does your prince labour? Is it for himself or for you,
+    for your defence? You slumber, he watches. You nestle in warmth,
+    he is cold. You are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the
+    wind and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease.... Henceforth you
+    shall be nothing more than subjects under a sovereign. I am and I
+    will be master, bearding those who oppose me."[5]
+
+Then turning to the prelates he continued: "Do you obey diligently and
+without poor excuses or your temporal goods shall be confiscated."
+To the nobles: "Obey or you shall lose your heads and your fiefs."
+Finally, he addressed the deputies of the third estate in a tone full
+of bitterness: "And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not obey
+my orders literally as my chancellor will explain them to you, you
+shall forfeit privileges, property, and life."
+
+All the fervency of this adjuration failed to convince the deputies of
+their duty, as conceived by the orator. They declared that they had
+levied troops and would levy more, for defence, but that the four
+members of Flanders were agreed that they would contribute nothing to
+offensive measures. Charles must accept their decision as his sainted
+father had done. The details of all the aid they had given him, 2500
+men for Neuss and many other contributions, were recapitulated.
+Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding phrases of their
+answer were as follows:
+
+    "As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen days every
+    man capable of bearing arms report at Ath, these were orders
+    impossible of execution, and unprofitable for you yourself. Your
+    subjects are merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
+    Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which your noble
+    ancestors have for four hundred years maintained the land,
+    commerce, most redoubtable seigneur, is irreconcilable with war."
+
+This answer gave the true key to the situation. The Estates of
+Flanders were determined to be bled no further for schemes in which
+they did not sympathise. When this memorial was presented to Charles
+he broke out into fresh invective about the base ingratitude of the
+Flemish: "Take back your paper," were his last words. "Make your own
+answer. _Talk_ as you wish, but _do_ your duty." This was on July
+12th. Charles had no further time to waste in argument. He was still
+convinced that the burghers would, in the end, yield to his demands.
+
+With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and reached Calais on July
+14th, where he had been preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her
+brother, who had actually landed on July 4th, with the best equipped
+army--about twenty-four thousand men--that had ever left the shores of
+England, and the latest inventions in besieging engines.
+
+The expedition proved a wretched failure--a miserable disappointment
+to the English at home, who had been lavish in their contributions.
+Charles seems to have been put out by the place of landing. His own
+plan is clear from the letter quoted. He wished the two armies of
+Edward and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory as they
+marched toward each other. The one thing that he objected to was a
+consolidation of the two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or
+an unwelcome situation to account was one of the duke's most
+deeply ingrained characteristics. He showed no inventiveness or
+resourcefulness. He held his own army at a distance from the English,
+much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to march unaided over
+regions rendered inhospitable by Louis's stern orders, and outside
+of cities ready to hold him at bay. "If you do not put yourself in a
+state of security, it will be necessary to destroy the city, to our
+regret," was the king's message to Rheims, and the most skilful of
+French engineers was fully prepared to make good the words.
+
+Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped on the field of
+Agincourt, where perhaps he dreamed of his ancestor's success, but
+no fresh blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He did not
+proceed to Paris, there was no coronation at Rheims, no comfortable
+reception within any gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis
+himself of giving the English a foothold, though he advised Edward to
+accept an invitation from St. Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however,
+proved another disappointment. Just as Edward was ready to enter,
+the gates opened to let out a troop which effectually repulsed the
+advancing foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his mind.
+
+"It is a miserable existence this of ours when we take toil and
+trouble enough to shorten our life, writing and saying things exactly
+opposite to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer of this
+elaborate network of pompous falsehoods[6] wherein every action was
+entangled. Louis XI trusted no one but himself, while he played
+with the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His fear of the
+invaders was soon allayed. "These English are of different metal from
+those whom you used to know. They keep close, they attempt nothing,"
+he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.
+
+It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was not a foe to be feared.
+Baffled and discouraged, he readily opened his ears to his French
+brother, and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every Englishman who
+helped incline his sovereign to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and
+coin did their work. Edward was easily led into the path of least
+resistance, and an interview between the rival kings was appointed
+for August 29th. Great preparations were made for their meeting on a
+bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating was erected. Like Pyramus
+and Thisbe, the two princes kissed each other through the barriers,
+and exchanged assurances of friendship. Edward was, indeed, so easy to
+convince that Louis was in absolute terror lest his English brother
+would accept his invitation to show him Paris before his return. No
+wonder Edward was deceived, for Louis was definite in his hospitable
+offers, suggesting that he would provide a confessor willing to give
+absolution for pleasant sins.
+
+The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy. On August 18th, he was
+staying at Peronne, whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It was
+ended without any intimation of Edward's change of heart towards the
+French king whom he had come to depose, though his plan was then ripe.
+On the 20th, Charles received a written communication with the news
+which Edward had disliked broaching orally, and was officially
+informed that the king had yielded to the wishes of his army, and was
+considering a treaty with Louis XI., wherein Edward's dear brother of
+Burgundy should receive honourable mention did he desire it.
+
+On hearing these most unwelcome tidings, Charles set off for the
+English camp in hot haste, attended by a small escort, and nursing
+his wrath as he rode.[7] King Edward was rather alarmed at the duke's
+aspect when the latter appeared, and asked whether he would not like a
+private interview. Charles disregarded his question. "Is it true? Have
+you made peace?" he demanded. Edward's attempt at smooth explanations
+was blocked by a flood of invectives poured out by Charles, who
+remembered himself sufficiently to speak in English so that the
+bystanders might have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches.
+He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual, pleasure-loving
+monarch, whose easeful ways were rapidly increasing his weight of
+flesh, with the heroism of other English Edwards with whom he was
+proud to claim kin. As to the offers to remember his interests in
+the perfidious peace that perfidious Albion was about to swear
+with equally perfidious France, his rejection was scornful indeed.
+"Negotiate for _me_! Arbitrate for _me_! Is it I who wanted the French
+crown? Leave _me_ to make my own truce. I will wait until you have
+been three months over sea." Among those who witnessed the scene were
+several Englishmen who sympathised with Charles--if we may believe
+Commines. "The Duke of Burgundy has said the truth," declared the Duke
+of Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Having given vent to his
+sentiments, Charles hurried away from his disappointing ally and
+reached Namur on the 22d, where he spent the night.
+
+Edward troubled himself little about his brother-in-law's summary of
+his character. He was tired of camp hardships, and both he and his men
+found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her gates to them at the
+order of Louis XI. Food and wine were lavished upon all alike. It
+was a delightful experience for the English soldiers to see tables
+groaning with good things spread in the very streets, and to be bidden
+to order what they would at the taverns with no consideration for the
+reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free of charge, until their
+host intimated to King Edward that his men were very intoxicated and
+that there were limits in all things. But Louis did not spare his
+money or his pains until he was sure that a bloodless victory had been
+won. He fully realised the importance of extravagant expenditure in
+order to reach the goal he had set himself.
+
+    "We must have the whole sum at Amiens before Friday evening,
+    besides what will be wanted for private gratifications to my Lord
+    Howard, and others who have had part in the arrangement.... Do not
+    fail in this that there may be no pretext for a rupture of what
+    has been already settled."
+
+Though they had now no rood of land, the English returned richer than
+they came, and they eased their _amour propre_ by calling the sums
+that had changed hands, "tribute money."[8]
+
+    "Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd Moodre, I recommende
+    me to youw. Pleas it yow to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage
+    of the kynges is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost
+    is comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to seye the
+    iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many of hys host be
+    passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and in especiall my Lorde off
+    Norfolk, and my bretheryn ....I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr
+    heer; for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come hyddre and
+    all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never a better stomake in my
+    lyffe and now in viij dayes I am crasyd ageyn."[9]
+
+Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and doubtless many others found
+the air more wholesome at home.
+
+Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider the affairs of Lorraine.
+He advised René of his intentions, in a manifesto which reached him
+on September 5th. The preamble contained a long list of the manifold
+benefits conferred upon Lorraine by the House of Burgundy. Then René
+was admonished to observe in every particular the terms of his own
+treaty with Charles, which he, René, had signed voluntarily, or the
+former would "make him know the difference between his friendship and
+his enmity."
+
+This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of Lorraine. For on September
+13th, his friend Louis XI. had signed a fresh treaty with Charles
+of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was marching mercenaries in
+Burgundian pay towards the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the
+French king abandoned the young protégé whom he had spared no pains
+to alienate from Burgundian protection. It was a moment when his one
+interest apparently was to settle accounts with the Count of St.
+Pol, who had been equally treacherous in his dealings with England,
+Burgundy, and France.[10]
+
+Having rested during the summer, the Burgundian troops were in fine
+trim when Charles marched to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat
+down before the capital in the last week of October. From his camp he
+wrote to the Duke of Milan:
+
+    "Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you. I have just
+    accepted a truce with the king for nine years to come, in the form
+    and manner contained at length in the copy of the articles which
+    I have given to your ambassador, resident with me . . . . And be
+    sure, _fratello mio_, that nothing would have induced me to accept
+    the truce, had you not been comprised therein. And, similarly, you
+    must be satisfied in all the pacts between the king and myself,
+    just as you were comprised in the convention lately made at Neuss.
+
+    "For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador about the troops
+    that can be furnished me, for which I am well content, praying you
+    to continue to serve me in accordance with the promises of your
+    ambassador. As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Duc de
+    Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now for delay as he
+    can travel in Lorraine as safely as in Lombardy, as I have said
+    to your ambassador. Pray the Lord to give you the desires of your
+    heart.
+
+
+    "Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day of October, 1475.
+
+    "CHARLES."[11]
+
+
+Some trifling assistance was offered to René by Strasburg and other
+foes to Burgundy, but it was wholly insufficient to rescue him from
+his difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the capitulation
+of Nancy on November 19th. The magistrates desired to hold out, but
+were forced by the populace to submit, and on November 30, 1475,
+Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly through the gate of Craffe
+into the capital of Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign
+duke.[12]
+
+This time Charles acted the role of a merciful and diplomatic
+conqueror. There was no cruelty permitted, and every evidence of
+conciliation was shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted the
+new order of things without further protest. At the end of December,
+Charles convened the Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace,
+addressed them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to be a good
+prince, demanded their attachment, confided his plans of expansion,
+and announced his intention of making Nancy the capital of his states.
+Again the duke's star rose. This acquisition seemed a sign of the
+reality of his dreams. Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching
+success bore fruit, inasmuch as the emperor changed the late
+convention into a firmer treaty signed on November 17th. Indeed had
+Charles died at that moment, there would have been little doubt that
+his dreamed-of kingdom had been simply prevented by a mere accident.
+
+The detailed story of all that had happened in the Swiss Confederation
+and the Lower Union, since their formal declaration of war against
+Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begining of 1476, the
+situation was, briefly, that Sigismund held the debated mortgaged
+lands, while the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant member
+of the league, had continued to carry on offensive operations against
+the duke and his allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The conquest
+of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the face of the fresh
+agreements between the duke and the emperor and the king.
+
+There was a short period of hesitation, marked by a truce till January
+1, 1476, between Charles and the confederates, a period when the timid
+among the allies urged their counsel of reconciliation at all hazards.
+Charles, too, seems to have desired an accord rather than hostilities,
+even though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for Héricourt. It
+was probably appeals from Yolande of Savoy that decided him to open a
+campaign in midwinter.
+
+    "The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote the Milanese
+    ambassador] in the reorganisation of his army according to new
+    ordinances, and in the regulation of his receipts and outlays that
+    he has scarcely given himself time to eat once in twenty-four
+    hours. He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the Count of
+    Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect no treaty, and do
+    not cease increasing their forces. In consequence, Duke Charles
+    intends leaving Nancy in six days to go towards the Jura. He
+    expects to take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which,
+    joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy, will swell his
+    army to the number of 25,000 combatants. His operations are so
+    planned that he will have more to gain than to lose."[13]
+
+
+When Charles left Nancy on January 11th, he issued one of his
+grandiloquent manifestoes declaring that he was acting in behalf of
+all princes and seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of the
+Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who had provoked his just
+wrath by ravaging his province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious
+act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain go off to make a
+pilgrimage just as he was on the eve of a campaign, but so he did,
+granting Campobasso leave of absence to visit the shrine of St. James
+at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised by the Italian to further
+the understanding with Louis XI., at which he arrived later.
+
+On across the Jura marched the Burgundian army, while the Swiss diet
+came to a slow and confused decision to prepare to meet him. He did
+not take the route generally expected, directly towards Berne, his
+chief antagonist, but turned aside and attacked the little fortress of
+Granson. The castle was not over strong. Efforts to provision it by
+water failed, and, finally, on February 28th, after a brief siege, the
+captain of the garrison, Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German
+forces, who represented to them that Charles was as generous as he was
+magnificent.
+
+If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the surrender was
+unconditional. Charles was soon on the spot. The four hundred and
+twelve soldiers, who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian army at
+bay for ten whole days, were made to march past his tent with bowed
+heads. Then he ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two to
+help in the executions. Four hours were occupied in fulfilling these
+pitiless orders. Panigarola arrived at the camp on the 29th,--it was
+leap year, 1476,--and found this accomplished and saw the bodies
+hanging on the trees, but he asserts that no word was broken.[14]
+Charles was now absolutely confident of complete success. "_Bellorum
+eventus dubii sunt_," remarked the prudent Milanese, however, and he
+was proved right.
+
+When the allied forces of the mountaineers finally arrived in the
+duke's neighbourhood a hot pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians,
+led by the duke in person, were thrown into utter confusion. The
+mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth yells and battle-cries of Uri
+and Unterwalden, simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles was
+pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only a defeat, but a complete
+rout. When the Swiss came in sight of the late garrison hanged to
+the trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn they massacred,
+hanged, and drowned every one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay
+hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives when they could, but
+their valuable artillery and their baggage, the mass of riches that
+Charles carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and gathered
+up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss, who cared little for the
+tapestries and jewels though they prized the gold. Such was the battle
+of Granson, on the 2nd of March.
+
+The fatal mistake committed by Charles was that he despised his enemy
+and underestimated his quality as well as his strength. Just before
+engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell upon their knees in
+prayer that the issue might be successful. This action deceived
+Charles into thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion was
+shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh broke out from the Burgundian
+ranks.[15]
+
+Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of Granson with the
+following rather barren words[16]:
+
+    "In short the Duke of Burgundy lost the day and was pushed back as
+    far as Jougne, where he stopped, and it is meet that I tell how
+    the duke's bodyguard saved themselves ... and reached Salins where
+    I saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle on account
+    of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the duke went to Noseret, and
+    you can understand that he was very sad and melancholy at having
+    lost the battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his army
+    shattered."
+
+On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to Margaret Paston from
+Calais:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde. ... Item, the
+    Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall
+    nott nowe be lykelyhod have it; wherffer the Frenshe kynge
+    cheryssheth hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn
+    the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off the Swechys
+    [Swiss] to conquer them butt the berded hym att an onsett place
+    and hathe dystrussyd hym and hathe slayne the most part of his
+    vanwarde and wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr
+    all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym; exceppte men and
+    horse ffledde nott but they roode that nyght xx myle; and so the
+    ryche saletts, heulmetts garters, nowchys[17] gelt and all is
+    goone with tente pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is
+    abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde karlys butte he
+    wolde nott beleve it and yitt men seye that he woll to them ageyn.
+    Gode spede them bothe."
+
+Many of the rumours that were current represented Charles as
+completely prostrated by his disaster. This was only half true.
+His efforts to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically, he
+certainly showed the effects of this campaign. He was attacked by a
+low fever, his stomach rejected food, insomnia afflicted his nights,
+and dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This condition was
+attributed to his fatigues and exposure in a hard climate, and to his
+habit of drinking warm barley-water in the morning. He was urged to
+use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard couch, while Yolande's own
+physician and one Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The latter
+claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles was not, however, fully
+recovered when he resumed his activities and held a review on May 9th.
+With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely to yield results,
+the whole number of troops was but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker
+felt that the duke was now trying to accomplish something quite beyond
+his resources.
+
+    "Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary[18]], we cannot
+    sufficiently wonder that you should have been so gravely deceived
+    and that, after having once found that you were lured into loss
+    and disgrace, again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth from
+    which you will either never escape, or escape only with damage and
+    shame.... Without risk to himself [your foe] has precipitated you
+    into an abyss and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of
+    your possessions and your life.... We exhort you to pause before
+    incurring heavier losses and greater dangers. If fortune smiles
+    upon you in your attack on that people, you will have the whole
+    empire against you. In the opposite event--which God avert--it
+    will be turned into a common tale how a mighty prince was overcome
+    by rustics whom there would have been no honour in conquering,
+    while to be conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace."
+
+This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its destination until after
+the prophecy had been fulfilled. Its warning would probably have been
+futile had Charles read it before he marched on towards Berne, on June
+8th. On the road that he chose lay the town of Morat, which had made
+ready for his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then on to Berne
+was his plan. His force succeeded in holding the ground and cutting
+off communication with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a messenger
+made his way through from the beleaguered city to Berne, and all the
+allies were then urged to do their best. The result was encouraging.
+"There are three times as many as at Granson, but let no one be
+dismayed, with God's help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of
+Berne.
+
+The encounter came on June 23d. The force was really a formidable one.
+René of Lorraine was among the commanders on the side of the Swiss.
+It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was savage; at two o'clock the
+assault was made and within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost all
+the infantry perished. The slain is estimated variously from ten
+to twenty-two thousand. Charles did not keep his vow to perish if
+defeated. To his assured allies he clung closely, and none had more
+reason to be faithful to him than Yolande of Savoy. After Granson he
+hastened to give the duchess his own view of the disaster:
+
+    "It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of your calmness and
+    constancy of soul; for the thought of your affliction weighed more
+    heavily upon me than what has befallen me ... every day diminishes
+    the inconvenience and proves that the loss in men is less than we
+    thought. _Such as it is it came from a mere skirmish_. The bulk
+    of the armies did not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they
+    fought the victory would have been mine. There has been none on
+    either side. God, I trust, reserves it for you and for me ... the
+    hope you have placed in me shall not be vain."
+
+Thus he wrote on March 7th to encourage his anxious protégée.
+
+[Illustration: A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT]
+
+After the second defeat it was to her that the duke turned again. In
+the very early morning after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at
+Morges on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard through the night.
+There he heard mass, breakfasted, rested awhile, and then rode on,
+reaching the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening, where
+Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming in full knowledge of the
+second disaster he had suffered.
+
+At the foot of the staircase, attended by her ladies, Yolande was
+waiting to greet her disappointed friend. Charles dismounted and
+kissed each member of the family in order of precedence, the little
+duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter, and the ladies
+in waiting. Yolande had had time to move out of her own suite of
+apartments and have them prepared for her guest's use, and there the
+two talked together confidentially, while their attendants waited
+patiently just out of earshot.
+
+Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to her son's room,
+returning to his own, showing signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola
+was absent, but another Milanese was among her suite, and he pressed
+forward as the duke re-entered the apartment, offering to carry any
+message to the Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, "It is well. That
+is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de la Marche and the Sire de
+Givry, commander of the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service,
+were summoned and had a long conference with Charles.
+
+Yolande was, apparently, more communicative to the Milanese Appiano
+than to Charles, but he saw that she was not frank with him. "She must
+throw herself on the protection of France or of Milan," he wrote to
+his master.[20] She was, however, clear in her own mind that she would
+not accept Sforza's protection any more than that of Charles. She
+absolutely refused to identify her fortunes with the latter. She was
+determined to go to Geneva, but no farther. The duke remained at Gex
+until the 27th, and renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross
+the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering to her own plan. The
+two parties set out from the castle together, their roads lying in
+opposite directions, but Charles escorted his hostess about half-way
+to Geneva, riding beside her carriage, and continuing his persuasions
+in a low voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a farewell kiss,
+and rode off. He was much displeased at her determination, and he
+speedily resolved upon other methods of making sure of her fidelity to
+him. La Marche thus relates the story:[21]
+
+    "After the duke had been discomfited the second time by the Swiss
+    before Morat, believing that he could do the thing secretly, he
+    made a plan to kidnap Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them
+    to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva, on my head to
+    capture Mme. of Savoy and her children and bring them to him. In
+    order to obey my prince and master I did his behest quite against
+    my heart, and I took madame and her children near the gate of
+    Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away from me (for it was
+    two o'clock in the night) by the means of some of our own company
+    who were subjects of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did
+    no more than their duty. What I did was simply to save my life,
+    for the duke, my master, was the kind that insisted on having his
+    will done under penalty of losing one's head. So I took my way,
+    and carried Mme. of Savoy behind me, and her two daughters
+    followed and two or three of her maids, and we took the road over
+    the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured of the second
+    son, and had him carried by a gentleman. I thought I was assured
+    of the Duke of Savoy, but he was stolen from me as I said. As
+    soon as we were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and
+    especially the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought and took
+    the duke back to Geneva, in which they had great joy. And I with
+    Mme. of Savoy and the little boy (who was not the duke), crossed
+    the mountain in the black night and came to a place called Mijoux,
+    and thence to St. Claude.
+
+    "You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer to the company,
+    and chiefly to me. I was in danger of my life because I had not
+    brought the Duke of Savoy. Then the duke went on to Salins without
+    speaking to me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted Mme.
+    of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take her to the castle of
+    Rochefort. Thence she was taken to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that
+    I had nothing more to do with her or her affairs."
+
+This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the tone in which La Marche
+relates it indicates that he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner,
+and might have been more willing to lend an ear to Louis's suggestions
+than he had been five years previously.
+
+It is not evident that he played his master false or that he was
+cognisant of the recapture of the little duke, but he says himself
+that he thought the attendants were absolutely justified in it.
+
+It is after this incident that the astute Panigarola returns and joins
+the duke's suite at Salins. He finds Charles a changed man, indulging
+in strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a couple of
+thousand more of his troops had been killed, "French at heart" as they
+were. He refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtaining the
+means of so doing, and sent her to the castle of the Sire of Rochefort
+for safe-keeping. Abstemious as he had been all his life, never taking
+wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which he now suddenly
+indulged went to his head.
+
+Rumours went abroad that his mental balance was shaken. That does
+not seem to have been true to the extent of insanity. He was only
+infinitely chagrined but he certainly put on a brave front and
+retained his self-confidence and declared
+
+    "They are wrong if they believe me defeated. Providence has
+    provided me with so many people and estates with such abundant
+    resources, that many such defeats would be needed to ruin them. At
+    the moment when the world imagines that I am annihilated, I will
+    reopen the campaign with an army of 150,000 men."[22]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Nos omnes relinquens, Ibid_., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Commynes-Dupont, i., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Lettres_, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Commines, iv., ch. vi.]
+[Footnote 7: Commines, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The terms of the treaty provided for a seven years'
+truce, with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil
+or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance went so far
+that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing the title of King of
+England and France.]
+
+[Footnote 9: _The Paston Letters_. Sir John Paston to his mother,
+Sept. 11, 1475.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The story must be omitted here. The constable was
+finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Dépêches Milanaises_, i., 253. The copy only is at
+Milan and there is no seal.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 380.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Dép. Milan_., i., 266.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Dép. Milan_., i., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Jomini lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had
+committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army resting on
+the lake, the other ill-secured at the foot of a wooded mountain.
+Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to have one of its wings
+resting on an unbridged stream, on a lake, or on the sea." Charles
+explained to Europe that he had been surprised, and his defeat was a
+mere bagatelle.]
+
+[Footnote 16: III., 216.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Embossed ornaments.]
+
+[Footnote l8: _Dép. Milan._, ii., 126.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Dép. Milan._, ii., 335.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Dep. Milan_., ii., 295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: III., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Dep. Milan_, ii., 339.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+1477
+
+
+It was manifestly impossible for Charles to attempt to retrieve his
+fortunes without having large sums of ready money at his command.
+He therefore proceeded to appeal to the guardians of each and every
+treasury in his various states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however,
+the only quarters whence succour was in the least probable. The
+Estates of the latter duchy met, deliberated, and resolved to make no
+pretence nor to "yield anything contrary to the duty which every one
+owes to his country."[1] A certain Sieur de Jarville, accompanied
+by other true Burgundians, undertook to report the proceedings to
+Charles,--a duty usually falling to the share of the presiding officer
+of the ecclesiastical chamber. The message which he carried was
+laconic but sturdy:
+
+"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave subjects and servitors,
+but as to what is asked in his behalf, it never has been done, it
+cannot be done, it never will be done."
+
+"Small people would never dare use such language," is the comment
+of the Burgundian chronicler, proud of the temerity of his fellow
+countrymen.
+
+In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were equally emphatic in
+their refusal to meet the duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved
+to call together a general assembly of deputies in the hope of finding
+them, collectively, more amenable. Writs of summons were issued very
+widely and a "States-general" was formally convened at Ghent on
+Friday, April 26, 1476.[2] At the last assembly of this nature, in
+1473, the duke had expressly promised, in consideration of an annual
+grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded to him, to refrain
+from further demands, and there was a spirit of sullen resentment in
+the air when this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened by
+Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points for consideration.
+Monseigneur wished his daughter Mary, "that most precious jewel," to
+join him in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to ensure her
+safe journey and that the duke requested the States to provide.
+Secondly he desired the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to
+meet his immediate requirements. Further, he requested each town to
+equip a specified number of horses at its own expense; he demanded the
+service of his tenants, fief and arrière-fief; and, in addition, he
+required that all other men, no matter what their condition, able to
+bear arms, should enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the
+troops should be set to guard the frontier, and the rest should be
+sent to the duke in Burgundy.
+
+It was a demand pure and simple for a universal call to arms, a
+national levy. The duke's paternal desire to see his daughter was the
+flimsiest of excuses that deceived no one for a moment.
+
+After the chancellor's exposition there was probably adjournment for
+discussion. The pensionary of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as
+spokesman to present the following report, as the result of their
+deliberations, to the duchess-regent.
+
+As for Mlle. of Burgundy, the deputies would ascertain the wishes
+of their principals, but the second request did not call for a
+referendum. The representatives were fully capable of settling the
+matter at once. Considering the heavy burdens laid on the people, and
+taking into account the promises made to them in 1473, that no
+further demands should be made on the public purse, the three Estates
+concurred in humbly petitioning Monseigneur to excuse them from
+granting his request.
+
+It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th) when this decision was
+communicated to the duchess in her own hotel. After a private colloquy
+between her and Hugonet, the chancellor told the messenger that it was
+quite right for the deputies to consult their principals before the
+heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship of her faithful
+subjects. That was a grave matter, but surely there was no reason why
+her "escort" could not be determined upon at once. In regard to the
+levies, Madame was not empowered to take any excuse. It was beyond her
+province. Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters had
+arrived from the duke urging the speedy execution of his previous
+instructions. The chancellor then appointed a committee to meet a
+committee from the States at 8 A.M. on the morrow at the convent of
+the Augustines.
+
+This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speedily notified that the
+States did not feel empowered to appoint a committee. The most they
+could do was to resolve themselves into a committee of the whole. The
+objection to this was that a small conference was far better suited
+to free discussion. It was easy for unqualified persons to enter the
+session of a large body. The States, however, were tenacious in their
+opinion that their writs did not qualify them to appoint committees.
+Every point must be threshed out in the presence of every deputy.
+_Potestas delegata non deleganda est_.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY MATHEY)]
+
+There was further negotiation, and it was not until Monday afternoon
+that Hugonet's commissioner brought a conciliatory message that if the
+gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in spite of the difficulty of
+discussion in an open meeting, talk over both points with them in
+full assembly. Again the States objected. They had no instructions
+whatsoever in regard to Mademoiselle, and could not discuss her
+movements either in public or in private session. As to levies, they
+repeated in detail all previous arguments, and expressed a fervent
+hope that Monseigneur would withdraw the request. It would, in the
+end, be more to Monseigneur's advantage, etc. Back and forth travelled
+the commissioner between States and duchess. The latter simply
+reiterated her dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit her
+father in May, with an adequate escort, in whose ranks must appear
+three prelates, three or four barons, fifty knights, and notable men
+from the "good towns," well armed.
+
+The States were then resolved into a committee of the whole, for a
+private deliberation, an action that probably enabled them to exclude
+the embarrassing spectators. In preparation for this, the diligent
+commissioner called apart one deputy from each contingent, and
+expatiated on the duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to
+eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's escort and the fiefs
+and arrière-fiefs, Monseigneur could manage to make suffice for the
+present, and these must be provided. These confidences were at once
+reported to the assembly, which then adjourned to think over the
+matter during the night.[3]
+
+When they met again on April 30th, the chancellor was ready with a new
+message from Madame: "Go home now, consult your principals, and return
+on May 15th." On the motion of some deputy, this date was changed to
+May 24th. Precautions were taken to prevent any binding action in the
+interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the reports to the separate
+groups of constituents was also agreed upon by the majority of the
+deputies. In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that province
+there was a reluctance to deny the obligations of the fiefs.
+
+When the deputies reassembled a month later, Hugonet tried to weaken
+the effect of their answer by a suggestion that it had better not
+be considered the final decision, but a mere informal expression of
+opinion. "There were so many strangers present," etc. The States
+determinedly refused to be trifled with. "Madame must not be
+displeased if they gave the result of their deliberations in the
+presence of the whole assembly, not by way of opinion, but as a formal
+and conclusive report." Their charge was restricted to this manner
+of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting them, asked, since their
+charge was thus restricted, whether they had also been limited in the
+number of times they might drink on their way.[4] The answer was:
+"Chancellor, come now, say what you wish. The answer shall be given as
+it was meant to be given."
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLE OF NANCY. REPRODUCED FROM KIRK'S
+"CHARLES THE BOLD," BY PERMISSION OF J.B. LIPPINCOTT CO.]
+
+The communication was so long that its delivery took from 3 to 8
+P.M. It was nothing more than a detailed apology for refusing the
+sovereign's demands. Several days more were consumed in unsuccessful
+efforts to cajole or browbeat the deputies into a more genial mood.
+The only concessions offered were insignificant, and to their
+resolution the deputies held firmly. "According to current rumour
+[concludes Gort Roelants's story] the ducal council would gladly have
+accepted a notable sum in lieu of the service of towns and of the
+fiefholders, but the States made no such offer."
+
+There was evidently a hope that better results might be obtained from
+a new assembly,[5] but none was held and the most earnest endeavours
+of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse enthusiasm for his
+plans. Moreover, when there seemed a prospect that the Netherlands
+might be attacked from France, the sympathy of even the duchess and
+council for offensive operations was chilled. Not only did Margaret
+fail to send her husband the extra supplies demanded, but she decided
+to appropriate the three months' subsidy, the chief item of regular
+ducal revenue, for protection of the Flemish frontier--an action that
+made Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes, indeed, they were
+necessary, but the people must provide them. The subsidy was lawfully
+his and he needed every penny of it. His army had not been destroyed.
+He was simply obliged to strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him.
+Flanders must do her part. They were deaf to this appeal, although a
+generous message was sent saying that if he were hard pressed they
+would go in person to rescue him from danger.
+
+The story of the assembly of the Estates of the two Burgundies is
+equally interesting as a picture of the clash between sovereign will
+and popular unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money-boxes.[6]
+The deputies convened at Salins on July 8th, in the presence of the
+duke himself. The session was opened by Jean de Grey, the president
+of the _parlement_ of the duchy, with a brief statement of the
+sovereign's needs. Then Charles took the floor, and delivered a
+tremendous harangue with a marvellous command of language. Panigarola
+declared that his allusions to parallel crises in ancient times were
+so apt and so fluent that it seemed as though the book of history lay
+opened before him and that he read from its pages.[7] The impression
+he made was plain to see.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF NANCY CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF
+ST. GERMAIN DES PRÉS (COMINES-LENGLET, III.)]
+
+His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disasters were open and
+aboveboard this time. There was no such pretence put forward as the
+escort of Mary. The argument was that any ruler, backed by his people
+unanimous in their willingness to give their last jewel for public
+purposes, must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc.
+
+His learned and able discourse was well received, according to other
+reporters besides the Milanese, but there was no hearty yielding to
+sentiment in the reply. Four days were consumed in deliberation before
+that was ready on July 12th. They had certainly considered that the
+grant of 100,000 florins annually for six years, accorded two years
+previously, was their share. But in view of the duke's appeal, they
+would endeavour to aid him. Let him stipulate which cities he wished
+fortified and they would assume charge of the work. Two favours they
+begged--that Charles should not rashly expose his person "for he was
+the sole prince of his glorious House," and that he should be ready
+to receive overtures of peace. "We will give life and property for
+defence, but we implore you to take no offensive step." Charles did
+not, perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and of his
+judgment that these words implied.
+
+Financial stress was not the duke's only difficulty in 1476. The
+defection of his allies continued, Yolande--that former good friend of
+his--was now a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to restore
+her to freedom and to her son's estates. Not that her restraint was
+in itself hard to bear. At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from
+Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished, except to depart.
+Couriers, too, were at her service apparently, who carried uninspected
+letters to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XI. Commines
+says that she hesitated to take refuge with the last lest he should
+promptly return her to Burgundian "protection." Yet her brother's
+hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong assurance against such
+action. Louis XI. was never so genial as when hearing some ill of
+Charles. "From what I have learned, I believe his Turk, his devil
+in this world, the person he loathes most intensely, is the Duke of
+Burgundy, with whom he can never live in amity." These words were sent
+by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan,[8] who was also turning slowly,
+with some periods of hesitation, to an alliance with Louis, now
+engaged in "following the hare with a cart."[9]
+
+On his side the king declared that he had no intention of troubling
+further about his obligations to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has himself
+broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a war when I please. But I
+have thought it best to temporise."
+
+[Illustration: COLUMN COMMEMORATING CHARLES AT NANCY AFTER THE DRAWING
+BY PERNOT]
+
+In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper and deeper into
+negotiations with any and every one whom he could turn against
+Charles. In October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne, --the
+territory that Edward IV. had failed to consign to the duke's
+sovereignty,--made a descent on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy.
+There was no attempt to stay her departure, and she was scrupulous, so
+it is said, in leaving money behind to pay for the Burgundian property
+carried off in her train--though it were nothing but an old crossbow.
+"Welcome, Madame the Burgundian," was the fraternal salutation which
+she received on her arrival at her brother's court. She replied that
+she was a good French woman and quite ready to obey his majesty's
+commands.[10]
+
+During the summer, Charles remained at La Rivière exerting every
+effort to levy an army. It was no easy task, and the review held on
+July 27th showed a meagre return for his exertions. But he did not
+slacken his efforts. Lists were immediately drawn up showing the
+vacancies in each company, and his money stress did not prevent
+his offering increased pay as an extra inducement to recruits. "An
+excellent means of encouragement," comments Panigarola.
+
+The necessity for his preparations was evident. An opportune legacy
+inherited by René of Lorraine enabled that dispossessed prince to work
+to better advantage than he had been able to do since Charles had
+convened the Estates of Lorraine at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day
+of the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a Swiss diet at
+Fribourg adopted resolutions regarding, a closer alliance with
+René.[11] Louis XI. ostensibly maintained his truce with Charles but
+he had intimated that a French army would wait in Dauphiné ready "to
+help adjust the affairs of Savoy," and, at about the same time when
+Yolande was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss embassy,
+so that René did not feel himself without support as he advanced to
+recover his city.
+
+The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were weak and indifferent--a
+brief siege, and the capital of Lorraine capitulated to Duke René.
+Charles was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His forces, too,
+were a mere shadow. Three to four thousand men rallied round him in
+the Franche-Comté, a few hundred joined him in Burgundy, and as he
+skirted the frontier of Champagne he received slight reinforcements
+from Luxemburg. Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops, and
+the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs as had, individually,
+respected the duke's appeal. In all, the forces at Charles's
+disposition amounted to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at
+Neuss or at Granson.
+
+At a diet of October 17th, the compact between René and the Swiss was
+confirmed, and the former was assured of efficient aid to help him
+repulse Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was need. The city
+of Toul refused admission to both dukes, but furnished provision for
+Charles's troops, so that for the moment he was the better off of the
+two. René then proceeded to provision Nancy and to prepare it for a
+siege, while he himself proceeded to Pont-à-Mousson, and for several
+days the two adversaries were only separated by the Moselle. Charles's
+army was augmented daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and
+England, and by fragments of the garrisons of the towns in Lorraine
+that had yielded to René and the latter fell back, little by little.
+Charles in his turn held Pont-à-Mousson, and proceeded along the road
+to Nancy, not deterred by the Lorrainers.
+
+It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Burgundy laid siege for the
+second time to Nancy. In thus entering into active hostilities, he was
+ignoring the advice of his councillors who were unanimous in begging
+him to devote the winter months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or
+Flanders. His position was really very dangerous. He had no base on
+which to rest as he had recovered no towns except Pont-à-Mousson. But
+he ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault after assault upon
+Nancy--all most valiantly repulsed. Within the walls, there was an
+amazing display of courage, energy, and good humour. As a matter of
+fact, the duke's reputation had waned, while the fear of his cruelty
+emboldened the burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate would
+be better than falling into his hands, was the general opinion.
+
+Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the garrisons seized every
+occasion to harry the Burgundians. Familiar with the lay of the land,
+with every cross-road and by-path, they were able to lie in wait for
+the foragers and to do much damage. Four hundred cavaliers, coming
+up from Burgundy, were attacked by one Malhortie de Rozière, and
+literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed sides with ease.
+Only a few escaped to report the fate of the others to Charles. Not
+long after, Malhortie, encouraged by this success, crept up to the
+Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and captured a goodly number
+of horses.
+
+The troops on which Charles counted most confidently were
+Campobasso's. Several attempts were made to warn him that treachery
+was possible in that quarter if the commander were too much
+exasperated by delays in payment, too much tried by the ill-temper of
+his employer. But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what was
+passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting the moment for his final
+defection, the Italian found it possible to enter into communication
+with René and to retard the operations of the siege so as to give time
+for the advance of the army of relief.
+
+The weather of this year was a marked contrast to the mild season of
+1473. The winter set in early and the cold became very severe, almost
+at once. Their sufferings made the burghers very impatient for the
+relief of whose coming they could get no certain assurance. The
+Burgundian lines were held so rigidly that the interchange of messages
+between the city and her friends was rendered very difficult.[12] One
+Suffren de Baschi tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged
+that René was levying troops in Switzerland and would soon be with
+them. Baschi fell into the duke's hands and was immediately hanged.
+One story says that Campobasso was among the interceders for his life
+and received a box on the ear for his pains, an insult that proved the
+last straw in his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however, declares
+that the Italian urged the death of the captive, fearful of the
+premature betrayal of his own intended treachery.
+
+This execution was one of those arbitrary acts condemned by public
+opinion as contrary to the code of warfare. Intense indignation among
+the Lorrainers and the Swiss forced René to retaliatory measures, and
+he ordered the execution of all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred
+and twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing an inscription
+to the effect that their death was the work of _le téméraire_. The
+rancour of the proceedings became terrible. No quarter was given in
+any engagements. Slaughter was the only thought on either side.
+
+Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a draper of Mirecourt,
+proved more successful than Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information,
+that René's army would leave Basel on December 26th, put heart into
+the beseiged and the bells rang out joyfully.
+
+Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at mediation between the
+combatants. The King of Portugal,[13] nephew of Isabella, appeared at
+his cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to the carnage, and
+in the name of humanity to stop a war that was horrible to all the
+world. In spite of his own stress, Charles managed to give his kinsman
+a splendid reception, but he waved aside his petition, and simply
+invited him to join him in his campaign.
+
+A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to march from Basel to Nancy,
+across the plains of Alsace. Meantime René had rallied about four
+thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to this was added an
+Alsatian force which had joined him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port.
+They were a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by routing
+a few Burgundians out of the houses where they had hidden, and
+massacring them publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles, was
+easily put to flight.
+
+On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh troops had reached St.
+Nicolas. He showed assurance, arrogance, and negligence. His belief in
+his star was fully restored. He actually did not take the trouble to
+try once more to ascertain the exact strength of the enemy. He had
+commissioned the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him at Basel, and
+refused to credit the statement that the Swiss were throwing in their
+fortunes with René. He thought that "the Child," as he contemptuously
+termed his adversary, had simply gone right and left to hire
+mercenaries, and he rather ridiculed the idea of taking such
+_canaille_ seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of a
+gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish them once for all.[14]
+
+It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were a different and far
+less efficient body than the volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
+French gold, scattered freely, had done its work in exciting the
+cupidity of every man who could bear arms. There were some staunch
+leaders, like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein, but their kind
+was in the minority. Berne aided with money rather than with men, but
+she was not a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages to
+ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was evident in every quarter. As
+the troops made their way over the Jura their behaviour showed that
+the late splendid booty had affected them. Plunder was their aim. When
+René reviewed these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending
+officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor of Alsace.[15]
+Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed over to the Duke of Lorraine, who
+appointed him marshal.
+
+On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held a council meeting. The
+opinion of the wisest, already given on previous occasions, was urged
+again:
+
+    "Do not risk battle. René is poor. If there are no immediate
+    engagements, his mercenaries will abandon him for lack of pay.
+    Raise the siege and depart for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army
+    can rest and be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will
+    be easy to fall upon René deprived of his troops."
+
+Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments. He was determined on
+facing the issue at once. Leaving a small force to sustain the siege,
+he ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of the 4th and a
+movement made towards St.-Nicolas. He selected a ground favourable
+for the manipulation of a large body, and placed his artillery on a
+plateau situated between Jarville and Neuville. It was not a good
+position, being hedged in on the right and in front by woods which
+could conceal the movements of a foe without impeding them. Only one
+way of retreat was open--towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's
+last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to cross several small
+streams and deceptive marshes, half frozen as they were, besides the
+river Meurthe, a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the
+flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread surprise, while
+in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe was more than possible.
+Curiously, the precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of
+Morat were repeated here--proof that Charles had not the qualities of
+a general who could learn by experience.[16]
+
+The exact force at his disposal on this occasion has been variously
+estimated. Considering the ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during
+the siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual combatants
+did not number more than ten thousand, all told. And only half of
+these were of any value--two thousand men under Galeotto, and
+three thousand Burgundians commanded by Charles and his immediate
+lieutenants. The remainder were unreliable mercenaries and the still
+more unreliable troops of Campobasso already pledged to the foe. La
+Marche estimates René's force at twelve thousand and adds: "The Duke
+of Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience, he had not two
+thousand fighting men."[17]
+
+The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by a Lorrainer, Vautrin
+Wuisse. The first manoeuvre was to divert the foe and turn him towards
+the woods, and then to attack his centre, which would at the same
+time be pressed at the front by the Lorraine forces, headed by René
+himself. The plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that they dared
+take the offensive, Charles was alert to the harsh cries of the "bull"
+of Uri and the "cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across the
+woods. A sudden presentiment saddened him. Putting on his helmet, he
+accidentally knocked off the lion bearing the legend _Hoc est signum
+Dei_. He replaced it and plunged into the mêlée.
+
+The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops and the duke's were the
+only ones to make sturdy resistance. The right wing of the army gave
+way under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry, "_Sauve qui
+pent_!" raised possibly by Campobasso's traitors, produced a terrible
+rout. Three quarters of the troops were in flight, while the duke
+still fought on with superhuman ferocity.
+
+Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected his own mercenaries
+as best he could, while Campobasso completed the treason that he had
+plotted with René, which had been partially accomplished four days
+previously, and calmly took up his position on the bridge of Bouxières
+on the Meurthe, to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then the
+besieged made a sudden sortie which increased the disorder. The battle
+proper was of short duration, with little bloodshed, but the pursuit
+was sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian army had left no
+loophole open for retreat.
+
+The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as Bouxières and
+inflicted carnage right and left on the route. It was easy work. The
+morasses were traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their arms,
+found it impossible to free themselves, when they once were entangled.
+They fell like flies before the fury of the mountaineers. The
+Lorrainers and Alsatians were more humane or more mercenary, for they
+took prisoners instead of killing indiscriminately. Charles fought
+desperately to the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged into
+the thick of the fight and risked his life in a reckless manner,
+but there is absolute uncertainty as to how he met his death. It is
+generally accepted that the last person to see him alive was one
+Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan captain. This
+lad, with an extra helmet swung over his shoulder, found himself
+close to the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops, noticed his horse
+stumble, was sure that the rider fell. The next moment, Colonna's
+attention was diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and knew no
+more of the day's events. The figure of Charles of Burgundy disappears
+from the view of man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the
+closing scenes of his life.
+
+At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine rode into the rescued
+city and re-entered his palace. At the gates was heaped up a ghastly
+memorial of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion to
+his cause. This was a pile of the bones of the foul animals they had
+consumed when other food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to
+their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe now became René's
+chief anxiety, and he despatched messengers to Metz and elsewhere
+to find out where Charles had taken refuge. The reports were all
+negative. The first positive assurance that the duke was dead came
+from young Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself introduced into
+René's presence on Monday evening. The page told his tale and declared
+that he could point out the precise place where he had seen the Duke
+of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, January 7th, a
+party went forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and were
+guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool which he asserted confidently
+was the very spot where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evidence
+went to give corroboration to his word, for the dozen or more bodies
+that lay strewn along the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool
+were close friends and followers of the duke, men who would, in all
+probability, have stayed faithfully by their master's person, a
+volunteer bodyguard as long as they drew breath. These bodies were all
+stripped naked. Harpies had already gathered what plunder they could
+find, and no apparel or accoutrements were left to show the difference
+in rank between noble and page. But the faces were recognisable and
+they were identified as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court.
+Separated from this group by a little space at the very edge of the
+pool, was another naked body in still more doleful plight. The face
+was disfigured beyond all semblance of what it might have been in
+life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one was imbedded in the frozen
+slime. Yet there was evidence on the poor forsaken remains that
+convinced the searchers that this was indeed the mortal part of the
+great duke. Two wounds from a pick and a blow above the ear--inflicted
+by "one named Humbert"--showed how death had been caused. The missing
+teeth corresponded to those lost by Charles, there was a scar just
+where he had received his wound at Montl'héry, the finger nails were
+long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula on the groin, and an
+ingrowing nail were additional marks of identification,--six definite
+proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this wretched sight, on that
+January morning, were men intimately acquainted with the duke's
+person.
+
+    "There were his physician, a Portuguese named Mathieu, and his
+    valets, besides Olivier de la Marche[18] and Denys his chaplain
+    who were taken thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It
+    has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and to know it
+    better it [the body] has been bathed in warm water and good wine
+    and cleansed. In that state it was recognisable by all who
+    had previously seen and known him. The page who had given the
+    information was taken to the king. Had it not been for him it
+    would never have been known what had become of him considering the
+    state and the place where he was found."[19]
+
+Before the body could be freed from the ice in which it was imbedded,
+implements had to be brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles hastened
+to the spot, when they heard the tidings, to show honour to the man
+who had been their accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted
+as escort as the burden was carried into the town and placed in a
+suitable chamber in the home of one George Marquiez. There seems to
+have been no insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference in
+the proceedings. The very spot where the bier rested for a moment was
+marked with a little black cross.
+
+As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became evident--a deep cut
+from a halberd in the head, spear thrusts through the thighs and
+abdomen--proofs of the closeness of the last struggle. When all the
+dignity possible had been given to the miserable human fragment and
+the chamber hung with conventional mourning, René came thither clad
+in black garments. Kneeling by the bier, he said: "Would to God, fair
+cousin, that your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you to the
+condition in which I see you."
+
+For five days the body lay in state before the high altar of the
+church of St. George, and the obsequies that followed were attended by
+René and his nobles, and the coffin was honourably placed among the
+ducal dead.
+
+Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried with the bones to
+which his name was given. When the Swiss turned their way homeward,
+their farewell words to René were: "If the Duke of Burgundy has
+escaped and should reopen war, tell us." "If he has assured his
+safety," René answered, "we will fight again when summer comes." There
+was no delay, however, in the division of the spoils. The Burgundian
+treasure was distributed among René's allies, and the ignorant
+soldiers received articles worth many times their pay, which they, in
+many cases, disposed of for an infinitesimal part of their value.
+
+As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and Mary of Burgundy wrote
+to Louis XI. from Ghent:
+
+"We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in the hands of his
+enemies." Other rumours continued to be current, not only for weeks
+but for years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that the vanished
+duke had retired to Brucsal in Swabia, where he led an austere life,
+_genus vitae horridum atque asperum_. Bets were made, too, on the
+chances of his return.[20]
+
+Louis XI. was a very pleasant person when news was brought him that he
+liked to hear. Commines and Bouchage together had told him about the
+defeat of Morat and had each received two hundred silver marks. It was
+a Seigneur de Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters from
+Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It was "really difficult for the
+king to keep his countenance so surprised was he with joy."[21] His
+letter to Craon was written on January 9th and ran as follows.[22]
+
+    "M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter and heard
+    the good news that you impart to me, for which I thank you as much
+    as I can. Now is the time to use all your five natural senses to
+    deliver the duchy and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the
+    duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne take your
+    troops and put yourselves within the land, and, if you love me,
+    keep as good order among your men as if you were in Paris, and
+    prove that I mean to treat them [the Burgundians] better than any
+    one in my realm."
+
+The "five natural senses" of the king's lieutenant were employed most
+loyally to his master's service. The duchy of Burgundy returned to the
+French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were convened by Louis XI,
+and there was no longer any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful
+peer in France.
+
+With the exception of Guelders the lands acquired by Charles fell
+away, but the remainder as inherited by him passed under the rule of
+his daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the House of Austria,
+through which it passed finally to the King of Spain.
+
+On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Burgundy had only just
+passed middle life. He was forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six
+days old, an age when a man has the right to look forward to new
+achievements. Every circumstance of the dreary and premature death was
+in glaring contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in insolent
+contradiction to his own estimation of the obligations assumed by Fate
+in his behalf. In certain details of the catastrophe there are, of
+course, accidents. No one could have predicted that the duke whose
+chief title was a synonym for magnificence, that this cherished heir
+to his House, who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his
+epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours long, unattended and
+uncared-for, naked and frozen on a bed of congealed mud, with a winter
+sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it overwhelmed him was too
+appalling for any foresight. But the great dream of the man's life
+that vanished with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere
+chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended by the battle of
+Nancy, other means of destruction, inevitable and sure, would have
+appeared. The projected erection of a solidified kingdom stretching
+from the North Sea to Switzerland and possibly to the Mediterranean,
+one that could hold the balance of power between France and Germany,
+contained elements of disintegration, latent at its foundation. It is
+clear, from a consideration of the Duke of Burgundy and his position
+in the Europe of his time, that the materials which he expected to
+mould into a realm were a collection of sentient units. Each separate
+one was instinct with individual life, individual desires, conscious
+of its own minute past, capable of directing its own contracted
+future. That the hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
+had lodged upon a head already dignified by a plurality of similar
+titles, was a mere chance and viewed by the burghers in a wholly
+different light from that in which this same overlord regarded it. The
+fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant, the merchants in
+Flanders, the vintners in Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings
+of an imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds, unmolested
+highways of commerce, vineyards free from the tramp of armies. And
+with their desires fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
+the political centralisation planned by their common ruler, often
+betrayed both ignorance and inconsistency. At various epochs some
+degree of imperialism for the Netherland group had been quite to
+popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and Hainaut, it had been conceded
+that Jacqueline of Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
+conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the exchange of sovereigns
+had been effected in spite of the manifest injustice involved in the
+transaction. But while there was willingness to accept any advantages
+that might accrue to a people from the reputation of a local overlord,
+it was never forgotten for an instant that his relation to his
+subjects was as their own count and strictly limited by conditions
+that had long existed within each petty territory. While Charles
+seemed to be on the straight road towards his goal, the people within
+each body politic of his inherited states were profoundly preoccupied
+with their own local concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
+feared demands upon their internal revenues for external purposes.
+
+It does not seem probable, however, that the abstract question of the
+projected kingdom was ever taken very seriously among those to be
+directly affected by the proposed change. The bars interposed by his
+own subjects in the duke's progress towards royalty were obstructions
+to his successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed, strenuous
+opposition to details was allied to a vague and passive acceptance of
+the whole. Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly as
+a revival, not as a novelty. The previous existence of a kingdom of
+Burgundy was undoubtedly a potent factor in the degree of progress
+made by Charles towards conjuring into new life a reincarnation of
+that ancient realm. Yet it was a factor clothed with a shadow rather
+than with the substance of truth. Geographically there was very little
+in common between the dominion projected more or less definitely in
+1473 and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they had successively
+existed. That of Charles corresponded very nearly to the ancient
+kingdom of Lorraine. Franche-Comté was the only ground common to the
+territories actually held by the duke and to the latest kingdom of
+Burgundy. His possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly beyond the
+limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine. But the old name survived in
+his ducal title, and it was that name that lent a semblance of reality
+to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle kingdom as outlined in the
+duke's mind more or less definitely or as bounded by his ambition.
+
+In retrospect it is clear that more was requisite for the realisation
+of the vision of the wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of
+a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group of lands. A modern
+writer has pointed out how infinitely subtle is the vital principle
+of a nation, one not even to be created by common interests. A
+_Zollverein_ is no _patria_. An element of sentiment is needful, and
+an element of growth.[23] The nation like the individual is the result
+of what has gone before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can
+command respect at home and abroad--that is the capital on which
+is based a national idea. To have wrought in common, to wish to
+accomplish more in the future, are essential conditions to be a
+people. "The existence of a nation is a plebiscite of every day, just
+as the existence of the individual is a perpetual affirmation of
+life."
+
+Now it is evident, in summing up the salient features of this failure,
+that a vital principle was not germinating in the inchoate mass.
+Charles himself never attained the rank of a national hero. More than
+that, with all his individual states, he never had any nation, great
+or small, at his back. Personally he was a man without a country. His
+father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite as French as his
+grandfather, Philip the Hardy, the first Duke of Burgundy out of the
+House of Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended his sway
+to many non-French-speaking peoples and was able to use the Flemish
+speech if it suited his whim. But that was as a condescension and as
+something extraneous. The chief of French peers remained his proudest
+title; his ability to influence French affairs, the task he liked
+best.
+
+His son was quite different in his attitude towards France. He
+minimised his degree of French blood royal. More than once he boasted
+of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock. He had certain
+characteristics of an immigrant, who has abandoned family traditions
+and is proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is to outshine
+what he has inherited. Charles was not exactly a stupid man, but he
+certainly was dazzled by his early surroundings into an overestimate
+of himself, into a conceit that was a tremendous stumbling-block in
+his path. He had not the kind of intelligence that would have enabled
+him to take at their worth the rhetorical phrases of adulation heaped
+upon him on festal occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very
+self-confidence, gave him a high conception of his duties. At his
+accession, he showed a sense of his responsibilities, a definite
+theory of conduct which he fully intended to act upon. His very belief
+in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of purpose. He was
+convinced that he could maintain law, order, justice in his domain,
+and he fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he left out of
+consideration the rights of the people, rights older than his dynasty.
+In his military career, too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest
+bent towards preserving the best conditions possible amid the
+brutalities of warfare. He curbed the soldiers' passions, he protected
+women, and was as relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as
+towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted himself to secure
+impartial equity for all alike. When he gave a promise, he fully
+intended to make his words good. It was only in the face of repeated
+deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous Louis XI. that
+Charles changed for the worse. Exasperated by the knowledge that the
+king's solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no intention of
+fulfilment, he attempted to adopt a similar policy and was singularly
+infelicitous in his imitation. His political methods degenerated into
+mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces, illumined by no clever
+intuition of where to draw the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was
+worth no more than the king's, and words were assuredly at a discount
+just then. A perusal of the international correspondence of the period
+leaves the reader marvelling why time was wasted in covering paper,
+with flimsy, insincere phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no
+true indication of the road to be travelled. There are, however,
+differences in the art of dissimulation and Charles never attained a
+mastery of the science.
+
+The adjective which has attached itself to his name in English in an
+inaccurate rendering of _le téméraire_ which belongs to him in French.
+There were other terms too applied to Charles at different periods of
+his career. He was Charles the Hardy in his early youth, Charles the
+Terrible in those last months when he tried to fortify himself with
+wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all times he might have been
+called Charles the self-absorbed, Charles the solitary. There have
+been many men more passionate, more uncontrolled, than Charles of
+Burgundy, whose personal magnetism yet enabled them to win friends and
+to keep them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure to command
+personal devotion, unquestioning loyalty, was one of his chief
+personal misfortunes. Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found
+many lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son received
+criticism for his faults even from the faithful among his servitors.
+How a reflection of his bearing glows out from the mirror turned
+casually upon him by Commines' skilful hand! Take the glimpse of Louis
+XI. as he lures on St. Pol's messenger to imitate Charles. The Sire
+de Créville inspired by the royal interest in his narration about an
+incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his cheeks, stamps his
+feet in a dictatorial manner, and swears by St. George as he quotes
+the duke's words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines, and a
+Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his liege lord so mocked. It is
+a time when St. Pol is trying to ride three horses at once and
+the French king takes this method to have Charles informed of his
+duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I grow a little deaf," and the
+flattered envoy repeats his dramatic performance in a way to engrave
+it on the memory of the duke's retainer.
+
+[Illustration: THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY]
+
+In thus touching on the traits of his former master, Commines does not
+show malice or even a dislike for the duke. He is much more severe
+about Louis--only he found the latter easier to serve.
+
+In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to have found any
+companionship that affected his life. He is lauded as a faithful
+husband to Isabella of Bourbon but her death seemed to make little
+difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York had the actual
+significance enjoyed by Isabella of Portugal as consort to Philip the
+Good with his notoriously roving fancy.
+
+Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of Burgundy tried to
+stand alone. Perhaps his chief happiness in life was that he never
+knew how insufficient for his desired task he was and how the new art
+of printing, the birth of Erasmus of Rotterdam, were the really great
+events of his brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good fortune
+that he never knew that no splendid achievement gave significance to
+his device: "I have undertaken it"--_Je lay emprins_.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Mém. de la soc. bourg. de géog. et d' hist_. Article by
+A. Cornereau, vi., 229.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Les états de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, _Études et notices
+hist,. des Pays-Bas_, i., I.)
+
+This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pensionary of
+Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of 1476. This so-called
+"States-general" was by no means a legislative assembly. When Philip
+the Good convened deputies from the various states at Bruges in 1463,
+it was to save himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals
+to ask for _aides_. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several
+times before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of
+self-convention and when a constitutional rôle was assured to the
+body; though not used for many years (_See_ Pirenne, ii., 379.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Pour y penser la nuit jusques aw lendemain_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _S'ils n'avaient point charge limitée quantefois ils
+devaient boire en chemin_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Compte-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. 1,
+1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are proofs that
+another assembly was confidently expected.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gingins la Sarra, ii., 354.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid_., 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro
+avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in
+Kirk, iii., 487.]
+
+[Footnote 9: An Italian phrase signifying to run down his game
+slowly.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Commines, v., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress
+of central Europe, the first of international congresses.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Huguénin Jeune, _Hist. de la guerre de Lorraine_, p.
+217.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking
+Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was refused on
+the score that Charles the Bold was menacing the safety of the French
+frontier. Alphonse's prayer for peace might have been instigated by
+thoughts of his own needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p.
+386.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Scott's _Anne of Geierstein_. This is the man whom
+the author makes the appointed instrument of the _Vehmgericht_ to slay
+Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Toutey, p. 388.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Mémoires_, iii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 18: It is strange that La Marche does not make more of
+this scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The duke
+remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like the poorest
+man in the world and I was taken and others." iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _La déconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par
+Monseigneur de Lorraine_. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493.
+
+This brief account was drawn up evidently before the duke's burial was
+known by the writer. It may have been written solely to please Louis
+XI. Still there is a simplicity about it that holds the attention,
+in spite of the fact that the story is not accepted by critical
+historians.]
+
+[Footnote 20: La Marche, iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Comines v., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres_ vi., p. 111.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Renan, _Qu'est ce qu'une nation_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the later years
+of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of Charles the Bold. Fairly
+adequate bibliographies can be found in Pirenne and Molinier (see
+list). The following list contains the full titles of the chief works
+to which direct reference is made in the text but falls far short of a
+complete description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which
+has coloured the treatment of the subject.
+
+When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by other writers the
+reference is to the later books only.
+
+_Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France_. Vol. i. (Paris, 1834.)
+Contains _Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du siège de Beauvais,
+en_ 1472, etc.
+
+BARANTE, M. DE. _Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de
+Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de Reiffenberg._ 6th ed. 10
+vols. (Brussels, 1835.)
+
+BASIN, THOMAS, 1412-1491. _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de
+Louis XI._ (Latin text). Ed. J.E.J. Quicherat. 2 vols. (Paris, 1855.)
+
+BEAUCOURT, G. DU FRESNE, MARQUIS DE. _Histoire de Charles VII_ . 6
+vols. (Paris, 1890.)
+
+BLOK, P.J. _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourgondisch-Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij._ (The Hague, 1884.)
+
+BRANTÔME, PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, SEIGNEUR DE. _OEuvres complètes de_.
+Ed. Ludovic Lalanne. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+BUDT, ADRIAN DE. _Chronicon Flandriæ. De Smet Corpus chron. Flandr.
+I_. (Brussels, 1837-65.)
+
+BUSSIÈRE, BARON MARIE-THÉODORE DE. _Histoire de la ligue formée contre
+Charles le téméraire_. (Paris, 1846.)
+
+_Cent nouvelles nouvelles, Les_. Édition revue sur les textes
+originaux, etc., par A.J.V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris, 1841.)
+
+CHABEUF, H. _Deux portraits bourguignons du XV^{e} siècle_. (Dijon,
+1893.) (Mémoires de la société bourguignonne de géographie et
+d'histoire. Vol. ix.)
+
+CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES, 1404-1475. _OEuvres._ (Ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove.)
+8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV._ 2 vols. (Hamburg,
+1843.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Urkunden zur Geschichte von Österreich, Steiermark,_
+etc. [Monumenta Habsburgica.] 2 vols. (Vienna, 1849.)
+
+CLÉMART, PIERRE. _Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_. (Paris, 1873.)
+
+_Collection de documents inédits sur l'histoire de France_.
+"Mélanges." (Ed. M. Champollion-Figeac.) (Paris, 1843.)
+
+COMMINES, PHILIP DE. _The Historie of_, Englished by Thomas Dannett.
+Anno 1596. With an introduction by Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.)
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Comines,_ 1447-1511. Nouvelle édition par
+Messieurs Godefroy, augmentée par M. l'Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4
+vols. Ref. (Comines-Lenglet.) (Paris, 1747.)
+
+This edition contains many letters, documents, etc., collected by
+M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy has been impugned in many
+instances. Those cited have been taken with a view to the later
+criticism upon them.
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle édition publiée avec
+une introduction et des notes par Bernard de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref.
+(Commynes-Mandrot.) (Paris, 1901.)
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle édition, revue sur les
+manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale, etc., par Mlle. Dupont. 3 vols.
+Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.) (Paris, 1840.)
+
+CORNEREAU, A. _Le palais des états de Bourgogne à Dijon_. (Dijon,
+1890.) (Mémoires de la soc. bourguignonne de géog. et d'hist., v.)
+
+COURTÉPÉE, M. _Description, générale et particulière du duché de
+Bourgogne_. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.)
+
+DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE. _Oeuvres complètes_. (Paris, 1878- 1904.) (Soc.
+des anciens textes français.) 11 vols.
+
+DES MAREZ, G. _L'organisation du travail à Bruxelles au XV^{e}
+siècle_. (Bruxelles, 1903-04.) (Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale
+de Belgique. Vol. lxv.-lxvi.)
+
+DEWEZ, M. _Histoire particulière des provinces belgiques sous le
+gouvernement des ducs et des comtes, pour servir de complément à
+l'histoire générale_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1834.)
+
+DU CLERCQ, JACQUES, 1420-1501. _Mémoires_. (Ed. Baron F. de
+Reiffenberg.) 4 vols. (Brussels, 1823.)
+
+DUCLOS, CHARLES P. _(Oeuvres complètes de_. Nouvelle édition. 9 vols.
+(Paris, 1820.)
+
+ESCOUCHY, MATHIEU D'(DE COUCY). _Chronique_. (1420?-1482 +.) (Ed. G.
+du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris, 1863.) (Soc. de l'hist. de
+France.)
+
+FREDERICQ, PAUL. _Le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_.
+(Brussels, 1875.)
+
+FREEMAN, EDWARD A. _The Historical Geography of Europe._ 2 vols. 3d
+edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 1903.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pièces inédites,_
+etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Collection des voyages des souverains des
+Pays-Bas._ 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Documents inédits concernant l'histoire de la
+Belgique_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Études et notices historiques concernant l'histoire
+des Pays-Bas._ 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.)
+
+_Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium_. (Marténe Coll. Vol. iv.) (Paris,
+1729.).
+
+GINGINS LA SARRA, LE BARON DE FRÉDERIC DE, Ed. _Dépêches des
+ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de Charles le Hardi_,
+1474-1477. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.)
+
+GOLLUT, M. LOYS. _Les mémoires historiques de la république séquanoise
+et des princes de la Franche-Comté de Bourgogne._ (Arbois, 1846.)
+
+JEUNE, HUGUÉNIN. _Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine et du siège de
+Nancy, par Charles le Téméraire, duc de Bourgogne,_ 1473-1477. (Metz,
+1837.)
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, LE BARON. [Ed. of works of Chastellain, Budt,
+etc.]; see article in _Bullétin de l'académie royale de Belgique_,
+1887, etc.
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE. _Histoire de Flandre_. 5 vols. (Brussels,
+1853-54.)
+
+KIRK, JOHN FOSTER. _History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy_. 3
+vols. (Philadelphia, 1864-1868.)
+
+LABORDE (L.E.S.J.), COMTE DE. _Les ducs de Bourgogne: Études sur les
+lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le XV^{e} siècle_, etc.
+"Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.)
+
+LACOMBLET, TH. J. _Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des Niederrheins._
+4 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1848.)
+
+LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE, 1422-1502. _Mémoires._ (1435-1488.) Paris,
+1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 vols.
+
+LAVISSE, ERNEST. _Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'à la
+révolution_. Publiée avec la collaboration de MM. Bayet, Block, Carré,
+Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Luchaire, Mariéjol, Petit-Dutaillis,
+etc. (Paris, 1893-.)
+
+The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI. is written
+by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University of Lille.
+(Reference used, Lavisse, IV^{11}.) (Paris, 1902.)
+
+LE FÉVRE, JEAN, SEIGNEUR DE ST. RÉMY. (_Toison d'or._) (1395-1463.)
+_Chronique._ 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+LE ROUX DE LINCY, A.J.V. _Chants historiques sur les règnes de Charles
+VII. et de Louis XI_.
+
+_Lettres de Louis XI_. (Paris, 1883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen, et
+Étienne Charavay,
+
+LOOMIS, LOUISE ROPES. _Medieval Hellenism_. (Columbia University,
+1906.)
+
+MARTÉNE, EDMUND. _Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum, Historicorum,
+Dogmaticorum, Moralium, Amplissium Collectio_. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.)
+
+_Mémoires et documents publiés par la société d'histoire de la suisse
+romande_. Vol. viii. "Mélanges." (Lausanne, 1849.)
+
+MEYER, J. _Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandricarum_. (Antwerp,
+1561.)
+
+MOLINET, JEAN. _Chronique_ (1474-1506.) (Paris, 1824-29.)
+
+This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting especially
+for the siege of Neuss.
+
+MONSTRELET, ENGUERRAND DE (d. 1453). _La Chronique_. (Paris, 1861.)
+
+MOLINIER, AUGUSTE. _Les sources de l'histoire de France des origines
+aux guerres d'Italie_. Vols. iv., v., 1461-1494. (Paris, 1904.)
+
+_Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde_.
+Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.)
+
+OMAN, CHARLES W.C. _Warwick the Kingmaker_. 1890. ONUFRIUS DE SANCTA
+CROCE, Bishop of Tricaria. _Mémoire sur les affaires de Liege_ (1468).
+(Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brussels, 1885.)
+
+OUDENBOSCH. _Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, historicorum_, etc.
+_Rerum Leodiensius. Opus Adriani de vetere Buseo_, 1343. See Marténe.
+
+PICQUÉ, CAMILLE. _Mémoire sur Philippe de Commines_. (Brussels, 1864.)
+Mém. couronnés par 1'acad. royale de Belgique, vol. xvi.
+
+PIOT, G.J.C., Ed. _Chronycke van Nederlandt_--1565. _Vlaamsche
+Kronijk_--1598. _Collection des chroniques belges_. (Brussels, 1836-.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Histoire de Belgique_. 2 vols. (Brussels, 1903.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique: catalogue
+méthodique et chronologique des sources et des ouvrages principaux
+relatifs à l'histoire de tous les Pays-Bas jusqu' en 1598_. (Brussels,
+1902.)
+
+PLANCHER, URBAIN. _Histoire générale et particulière de Bourgogne avec
+des notes et les preuves justificatives_, etc. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1739.)
+
+POICTIERS, ALIENOR DE. _Les honneurs de la cour_. (In Sainte-Palaye,
+_Mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie_, vol. 2, pp. 171-267.) (Paris,
+1781.)
+
+POLAIN, M.L. _Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège._ 4th ed.
+(Brussels, 1866.)
+
+PUTNAM, RUTH. _A Medieval Princess_. (New York, 1904.)
+
+RAM, P.F.X. DE. _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de Liège
+sous les princes-évêques Louis de Bourbon et Jean de Horne_, I vol.
+(Brussels, 1844.)
+
+RAMSAY, SIR JAMES H. _Lancaster and York, a Century of English
+History_ (A.D., 1399-1485). 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892.)
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Essai sur les enfants naturels de
+Philippe de Bourgogne_.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or_.
+(Brussels, 1830.)
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Mémoire sur le sejour de Louis XI. aux
+Pays-Bas_. Nouveaux mém. de l'acad. royale. 1829.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _De l'état de la population_, etc., _dans
+les Pays-Bas pendant le XV^{e} et le XVI^{e} siècle_. Mem. de l'acad.
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+
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+(Schaffhausen, 1843.)
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+STEIN, H. "_Olivier de la Marche historien, poete et diplomate
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+
+STOUFF, Louis. _Les comtes de Bourgogne et leurs villes domaniales_.
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+
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+(Paris, 1903.)
+
+TOUTEY, E. _Charles le téméraire et la ligue de Constance._ (Paris,
+1902.)
+
+VANDER MAELEN, PH. _Dictionnaire géographique de la province de
+Liège_. (Brussels, 1831.)
+
+WAGENAAR, JAN. _Vaderlandsche Historie_. 21 vols. (Amsterdam,
+1749-1759.)
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+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbeville
+Agincourt
+Aire
+Aix
+Alkmaar
+Alsace
+Alsace
+Amboise
+Amiens
+Amont
+Andernach
+Angers
+Anjou
+Anjou, Margaret of, Queen of England
+Anjou, René, King of
+Anjou, Yolande of, _see_ Vaudemont
+Antwerp
+Appiano, Antoine d' (Antonius de Aplano), Milanese ambassador
+Aragon
+Argau
+Armagnac
+Arras, Bishop of
+Arras, treaty
+Arson, Jehan d
+Arthur, King
+Artois
+Artois, Bonne of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Atclyff, William
+Ath
+Augsburg, Diet of
+Austria
+Austria, House of
+Austria, Maximilian, Archduke of, _see_ Maximilian
+Austria, Sigismund of (Count of Tyrol;
+  mortgages lands to Charles of Burgundy;
+  resumes sovereignty of mortgaged lands;
+Auvergne, Marshal d'
+Auxonne
+Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d
+Avesnes
+Avranches, Bishop of
+Aydie, Odet d'
+
+
+
+B
+
+"Bad Penny," the, tax
+Balue, Cardinal
+Bar, duchy of
+Barante, cited
+Bari, Duc de (Sforza)
+Barnet, battle of
+Barre, Corneille de la
+Barrois
+Baschi, Suffren de
+Basel
+Basel, Bishop of
+Basin, Thomas, cited
+_Basse-Union_
+Baume-les-Dames
+Bavaria, elector of
+Bavaria, Stephen of
+Beaujeu, Lord of
+Beaumont, château of
+Beauvais, siege of
+Bedford, John, Duke of, death of
+Begars, Abbé de
+Belfort
+Bellière, Vicomte de la
+Berne
+Berry, Bailiff of
+Berry, Charles of France, Duke of (Normandy and Guienne),
+  heads League of Public Weal;
+  character of;
+  Normandy given to;
+  won over by Louis;
+  Guienne given to;
+  proposed marriage of;
+  suspicious death of
+Besançon
+Biche, Guillaume de
+Biscay, Bay of
+Black Forest
+Bladet
+Blamont, Count of
+Blaumont, Seigneur de, Marshal of Burgundy
+Boccaccio
+Bohemia
+Bonn
+Borselen, Adrian van, Seigneur of Breda
+Borselen, Frank van (Count of Ostrevant;
+  death of
+Borselen, Henry van
+Boscise
+Bouchage, Monseigneur du
+Boudault, Jehan
+Boulogne
+Bourbon, Catharine of, _see_ Guelders
+Bourbon, Duchess of
+Bourbon, duchy of
+Bourbon, Duke of
+Bourbon, Isabella of (Countess of Charolais), _see_ Charolais
+Bourbon, Louis of, Bishop of Liege
+Bourges
+Bouvignes
+Bouxières
+Brabant, Anthony, Duke of
+Brabant, duchy of
+Brabant, Duke of
+Brandenburg, Albert, elector of
+Brandenburg, Margrave of
+Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de, cited
+Breda
+Brederode, Gijsbrecht of
+Breisgau
+Bresse, Philip de
+Brie
+Brisac (Breisach)
+Brittany, Duchess of
+Brittany, duchy of
+Brittany, Francis, Duke of,
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  ally of Charles of Burgundy;
+  is reconciled to Louis XI.
+Broeck, M. van der
+Bruchsal
+Bruges
+_Brunette_
+Brussels
+Bureau, Jehan
+Buren, castle of
+Burgundy, duchy of;
+  Estates of
+Burgundy, Franche-Comté of
+Burgundy, Anthony, Grand Bastard of
+Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Charles the Bold, (Count of Charolais), Duke of;
+  birth of;
+  elected knight of the Golden Fleece;
+  description of;
+  ancestry of;
+  imperial ambitions of;
+  education of;
+  weds Catherine of France;
+  takes official part in public affairs;
+  character of;
+  first campaign of;
+  entrusted with regency of Holland;
+  English sympathies of;
+  weds Isabella of Bourbon;
+  judicial methods of;
+  rejoices over birth of daughter;
+  strained relations with his father;
+  enmity between Louis and ;
+  at coronation of Louis XI;
+  fears plots against his life;
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  allies of;
+  letters of, to cities;
+  to Louis;
+  to Duchess Isabella;
+  to French council;
+  to Duke of Brittany;
+  to Sigismund;
+  to Edward IV.;
+  to Duke of Milan;
+  at battle of Montl'héry;
+  armies of;
+  dictates terms of treaty of Conflans;
+  marches against Liege;
+  destroys Dinant;
+  underestimates character and strength of enemies;
+  accedes to the dukedom;
+  invested with titles;
+  unpopularity of;
+  punishes Ghent;
+  reforms of;
+  weds Margaret of York;
+  ducal state of;
+  demands _aides_;
+  receives Louis at Peronne;
+  crushes revolt of Liege;
+  makes treaty of Peronne;
+  proposed sons-in-law for;
+  signs treaty of St. Omer;
+  takes lands from Sigismund;
+  relations of, with Swiss;
+  invested with Order of the Garter;
+  _Remonstrance_ presented to;
+  embassies to;
+  truces of, with Louis XI;
+  besieges Beauvais;
+  reverses of;
+  acquires duchy of Guelders;
+  negotiations between Emperor Frederic and;
+  interview of, with emperor at Trèves;
+  becomes "protector" of Lorraine;
+  interferes in Cologne affairs;
+  visits Alsace;
+  troubles with Alsace;
+  besieges Neuss;
+  war declared against;
+  makes truce with Frederic;
+  defeated at Héricourt;
+  besieges Nancy;
+  allies desert;
+  defeated at Granson;
+  at Morat;
+  convenes states-general;
+  last battle of;
+  death and burial of
+Burgundy, Cornelius, Bastard of
+Burgundy, David of, Bishop of Utrecht
+Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of;
+  ancestry of;
+  English sympathies of;
+  retires to convent;
+  burial of
+Burgundy, John the Fearless, Duke of;
+  death of
+Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Margaret of York, Duchess of
+Burgundy, Mary of (Duchess of Austria;
+  godfather of;
+  proposed marriages for
+Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, marriages of;
+  institutes Order of Golden Fleece;
+  children of;
+  alliance of;
+  signs treaty of Arras;
+  territories acquired by;
+  suppresses revolt in Bruges;
+  wealth and magnificence of;
+  crushes rebellion of Ghent;
+  gives Feast of the Pheasant;
+  plans crusade;
+  chooses second wife for Charles;
+  character of;
+  interferes in affairs of Utrecht, of Liege, and of Cologne;
+  hospitality of, to dauphin;
+  influenced by the Croys;
+  attends coronation of Louis XI;
+  illnesses of;
+  witnesses punishment of Dinant;
+  death and burial of;
+  epitaph of;
+  description of;
+  popularity of
+Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, Duke of
+Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard of
+
+
+
+C
+
+Cagnola
+Calabria, Duke of, _see_ Lorraine
+Calais
+Calixtus III.
+Cambray
+Campobasso, Antonello de, mercenary captain;
+  treachery of
+Canterbury
+Casanova
+Castile
+Castile, Henry IV., King of
+Castile, Jeanne of
+Cat, Gilles le
+Catto, Angelo
+Caux;
+  Bailiff of
+_Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les_
+_Cento Novelle_, by Boccaccio
+Cesner, Balthasar
+Chambéry
+Chambes, Helen de
+Chamont, Sire de
+Champagne
+Channel
+Charenton
+Charlemagne
+Charles IV.
+Charles (V.) the Wise, King of France
+Charles VII., King of France,
+  reconciliation of, with Philip of Burgundy;
+  character of;
+  letters of;
+  refuses to join crusade;
+  breach between dauphin and;
+  illness and death of;
+  institutes standing army
+Charles VIII., King of France
+Charles the Simple, King of France
+Charmes
+Charny, Count de
+Charny, Countess de
+Charolais, Catherine of France, Countess of;
+  death and burial of
+Charolais, Count of, _see_ Charles of Burgundy
+Charolais, Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of;
+  death of
+Chassa, Jehan de
+Chastellain, cited;
+  death of
+Château-Chinon
+Châtenois
+Chauny,
+Chesny, Guiot du
+Chevelast, Louis de
+Chimay, Count of
+Citeaux, Abbé of
+Clarence, Duke of
+Cléry
+Cleves, Adolph, Duke of
+Cleves, duchy of
+Cleves, Marie of, Duchess of Orleans
+Cods, the (party name)
+Colmar
+Cologne
+Cologne, Robert, Archbishop of
+Colonna, Baptista
+Commines (Commynes, Comines), Philip de,
+  enters service of Duke of Burgundy;
+  defection of;
+  cited
+Compiègne
+Compostella
+Conflans, treaty of
+Constance;
+  League of
+Constantinople
+Cordes, Monsieur de
+Corguilleray
+Cornwallis, Lord
+Corvinus, Matthias, King of Hungary
+Cosmo
+Court, Jehan de la
+Coutault, Monsieur
+Craon, Seigneur de
+Cret, Dion du
+Crèvecoeur, Philip of
+Crèvecoeur, Seigneur of
+Créville, Sire de
+Croy, A. de
+Croy, J. de
+Croy, Philip de
+Croy family, the
+_Cueillotte_, the (tax)
+Cyprus
+
+
+
+D
+
+Damian
+Dammartin, Count of
+  letters of Louis to
+Damme
+Dauphiné
+Dauxonne, Jacquemin
+De Bussière, cited
+Décapole, Alsatian, the
+De la Loere, secretary
+Dendermonde
+Denmark
+Denys, Chaplain
+Deschamps, Eustache, _Lay de Vaillance_ by
+Deventer
+Dieppe
+Diesbach, Ludwig von
+Dijon
+Dinant;
+  destruction of
+Dôle
+Dombourc
+Dompaire
+Dordrecht
+Du Clercq, cited
+Duclos, cited
+Dunois, Count
+Dunois, François
+Du Plessis, Seigneur
+
+
+
+E
+
+Easterlings
+l'Écluse
+Edward IV., King of England;
+  aided by Charles of Burgundy;
+  plans conquest of France;
+  character of;
+  makes peace with Louis XI.
+Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales;
+  death of
+Émeries, Antoine Raulin, Sire d' (Aymeries)
+Engelburg
+England alliance of,
+  with Burgundy;
+  with France;
+  French possessions of;
+  commercial relations of;
+  wars of the Roses in
+Ensisheim
+Épinal
+Erasmus
+Escalles, Seigneur d'
+Escouchy, Mathieu d,'
+  cited
+Estampes, Count d'
+Étampes
+Eu
+Eu, Count d'
+_Ewige Richtung_
+Exeter, Duke of
+Eyb, Ludwig von
+
+
+
+F
+
+Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume
+Favre, Jourdain
+Ferrara
+Ferrette, county of
+Flanders;
+  Estates of;
+  commerce of
+Flanders, Count of
+Florence
+Foix, Count de
+Foix, Eleanor de
+Foix, Gaston de
+Forli, Bishop of
+Fossombrone, Bishop of
+Fou, Ivon du
+France, alliance of, with Burgundy;
+  waning power of England in;
+  changed conditions in;
+  assembly of states-general of;
+  invasion of
+France, Admiral of, the
+France, Catherine, Daughter of, _see_ Charolais
+France, Charles of, Duke of Berry, _see_ Berry
+France, Jeanne of
+France, Michelle of, _see_ Burgundy
+Franche-Comté
+Franchimont
+Frankfort
+Frederic, elector palatine
+Frederic III., Emperor;
+  character of;
+  negotiations of, with Charles of Burgundy;
+  meets Charles at Trèves;
+  description of;
+  signs treaty with Charles
+Fribourg
+Friesland;
+  title of Lord of
+Friesland, West
+
+
+
+G
+
+_Gabelle_
+Gachard, cited
+Galeotto
+Garter, Order of the
+Gauthier, Dan
+Gautier, cited
+Gaveren;
+  battle of;
+  treaty of
+Gelthauss, Johannes
+Genappe
+Geneva
+Geneva
+Genoa
+Gex
+Ghent;
+  rebellion of;
+  submission of;
+  insurrection in;
+  humiliation of
+Gilles, Frère
+Givry, Sire de
+Gloucester, Duke of
+Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of
+Golden Fleece, Order of the, instituted;
+  assemblies of;
+  knights of
+Gorcum
+Görlitz, Elizabeth of
+Granson, battle of
+Grave
+Grenoble
+Grey, Jean de
+Groothuse, Louis de la
+Groothuse, Mathys de la
+Guelders, Adolf, Duke of;
+  imprisonment of
+Guelders, Arnold, Duke of;
+  death of
+Guelders, Catharine of Bourbon, Duchess of
+Guelders, Charles of
+Guelders, duchy of
+Guelders, Philippa of
+Guérin, Jean de
+Guienne, Charles of France,  Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Guienne, duchy of
+Guise
+Guisnes
+
+
+
+H
+
+Haarlem
+Hagenbach, Peter von;
+  Governor of  Alsace;
+  trial and execution of
+Hagenbach, Stephen von
+Hague, The
+Hainaut
+Ham
+Hanseatic League
+Heers, Raes de la Rivière, Lord of
+Heinsberg, John of, Bishop of Liege
+Hemricourt, Jacques de
+Henry IV., of Castile
+Henry V., King of England
+Henry VI., King of England;
+  character of;
+  death of
+Henry VII., King of England
+Héricourt
+Hermite, Tristan l'
+Hesdin
+Hesse, Hermann of
+Holland;
+  title of Count of
+Holland, Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of
+Holland, South
+Holland, William VI., Count of
+Honfleur
+Hooks, the (party name)
+Houthem
+Howard, Lord
+Hugonet, Chancellor
+Humbercourt, Seigneur de
+Hungary;
+  King of
+Huy
+
+
+
+I
+
+Innsbruck
+Irma, Jean
+Isabella of Portugal, Duchess  of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+
+
+
+J
+
+Jarville
+Jarville, Sieur de
+Jerusalem
+Joan of Arc
+Joinville, castle  of;
+  treaty of
+Jomini
+Jougne
+Jouvençal
+Juliers, Duke of
+Jura, the
+
+
+
+K
+
+Kaisersberg
+Kennemerland
+Kervyn de Lettenhove, Baron, cited
+Knebel, Johannes R.
+
+
+
+L
+
+La Hogue
+Laisné, Jeanne (Fouquet), _La Hachette_
+Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess of;
+  death of
+La Marche, Olivier de, cited;
+  knighted;
+  loyalty and zeal  of
+Lambert, Bishop of Tongres
+Lancaster, House of
+Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de
+Lanternier, Jehan
+Laon
+La Rivière
+La Rochelle
+Lauffen
+Lauffenberg
+Laurentian Library, the
+Lausanne
+Lavin, Étienne de
+League of Constance
+League of Public Weal
+Le Grand, Abbé
+Le Gros, Jehan
+Le Quesnoy
+Lescun, Seigneur de
+Liege, description of;
+  government of;
+  bishop-princes of;
+  rebellion of;
+  aided by Louis XI.;
+  punishment of
+Liege, bishopric of
+Lille
+Limbourg
+Livornia
+Loches
+Loisey, Anthony de
+Lombardy
+London
+Longjumeau
+Longueval, Hugues de
+Loreille, Thomas de
+Lorraine, duchy of
+Lorraine, Estates of
+Lorraine, Duke of
+Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou,  Duke of (Calabria);
+  death  of
+Lorraine, René, Duke of,  accepts Burgundian protection;
+  joins league  against Charles
+Louis XI., King of France;
+  rebels against Charles  VII.;
+  marries Charlotte of Savoy;
+  letters of, to Charles VII.;
+    to Dammartin;
+    to envoys;
+    to Count de Foix;
+    to Lorenzo de' Medici;
+    to Duke of Milan;
+    to Amiens;
+    to chancellor;
+  flees to Duke of Burgundy;
+  generosity of Duke Philip to;
+  is godfather of Mary of Burgundy;
+  tastes of;
+  duplicity of;
+  accession of;
+  ingratitude of;
+  character of;
+  enmity between Charles and;
+  nobles in league against;
+  policy of;
+  signs treaty of Conflans;
+  incites opposition to Charles of Burgundy;
+  breaks treaties;
+  makes visit to Peronne;
+  signs treaty at Peronne;
+  ally of the Swiss;
+  makes nucleus of standing army;
+  aids Earl of Warwick and Margaret of Anjou;
+  birth of son of;
+  makes truce with Charles;
+  suspected of death of brother;
+  rewards Beauvais;
+  wins over Edward IV.;
+  rejoices in death of Charles
+Louvain;
+  University of
+Lower Union, the, _see_ Basse-Union
+Lucerne
+Lude, Seigneur de
+Luxemburg, duchy of
+Luxemburg, John of
+Luxeuil
+Luzine River, the
+Lyme
+Lyons
+
+
+
+M
+
+Maestricht
+Maine
+Malhortie
+Mandrot, Bernard Édouard,
+  editor of Commynes' _Mémoires, Jean de Roye_, etc.,
+  cited
+Manton, Seigneur de
+Marchant, Ythier
+Marck, Adolph de la
+Marne River, the
+Marquiez, George
+Mas, Gilles du
+Mathieu
+Maximilian, Archduke of Austria;
+  proposed marriage of
+Mayence
+Mayence, Archbishop of
+Mayence, Duke of
+Mazilles, Jehan de
+Mechlin
+Medici, Lorenzo de'
+Metz
+Metz
+Meurin, secretary to Louis XI.
+Meurthe River, the
+Meuse River, the
+Meyer, J., cited
+Michel, the Rhetorician, cited
+Middelburg
+Milan
+Milan
+Mirecourt
+Mongleive
+Mons
+Montbazon
+Montereau, bridge of
+Montfort, Ulrich von
+Montgomery, Sir Thomas  (Mongomere)
+Montl'héry, battle of
+Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres
+Morat, battle of
+Morges
+Morvilliers, Chancellor
+Moselle River, the
+Moutils-lès-Tours
+Mulhouse
+
+
+
+N
+
+Namur
+Namur
+Nancy;
+  sieges of;
+  battle of
+Naples
+Naples, King of
+Napoleon
+Narbonne, Archbishop of
+Nassau, Engelbert of
+Nassau, John of
+_Nations_, the
+Nesle
+Netherlands, the;
+  states-general  of
+Neufchâtel
+Neufchâtel, Isabelle of
+Neuss
+Neuville
+Nevers
+Nevers, Charles, Count of
+Neville, Anne
+Nice
+Nimwegen
+Norfolk, Duchess of
+Normandy, Charles of France, Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Normandy, duchy of
+Norway
+Noseret
+Noyon
+Nuremberg
+
+
+
+O
+
+Obernai
+Oise River, the
+Onofrio de Santa Croce
+Orange, Prince of
+Oriole, Pierre d'
+Orleans
+Orleans, duchy of
+Orleans, Duke of
+Osterlings, the
+Ostrevant, Count of, _see_ Borselen
+Oudenarde
+Ourré, Gerard
+Oxford
+
+
+
+P
+
+Palatinate, the
+Palatine, Count;
+  the elector;
+  Frederic, elector
+Panigarola, Johannes Petrus,
+  Milanese ambassador, cited
+Paris
+Paris, University of
+Paston, Sir John, letters of
+Paston, John, the younger
+  (brother of above), letter of
+Paston, Margaret
+Pavia
+Pellet, Jean
+Pepin
+Perdriel, Henry
+Périgny
+Périgord
+Peronne, interview of Louis XI. and Charles at;
+  treaty of
+"Peronne, the Peace of"
+Perrenet
+Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author of Vol. IV^{II}, Lavisse,
+    _Hist. de France, see_ Lavisse.
+Petitpas
+Petrasanta, Franciscus, Milanese ambassador
+Pheasant, Feast of the
+Picardy
+Picquigny
+Plessis-les-Tours
+Pleume
+Podiebrad, George, ex-king of Bohemia
+Poictiers, Alienor de
+Poinsot, Jean
+Poitiers
+Poland
+Pont-à-Mousson
+Pont de Cé
+Porcupine, Order of the
+Portinari, Thomas
+Portugal
+Portugal, Alphonse V., King of
+Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Pot, Philip de
+Poucque, castle of
+Prussia
+Public Weal, War of, _see_ League
+
+
+
+Q
+
+Quaux River, the
+Quercy
+Quiévrain, Seigneur de
+Quingey, Simon de
+
+
+
+R
+
+Rampart, Jean
+Ratellois
+Ratisbon
+Ravestein, Madame de
+Ravestein, Monseigneur de
+Renty, Monseigneur de
+Rethel
+Rheims
+Rheims, Archbishop of
+Rheinfelden
+Rhine, the;
+  Valley
+Rhinelands, the
+Rhodes
+Rivers, Earl
+Roche, Henri de la
+Rochefort
+Rochefort, Sire of
+Rochefoucauld
+Roelants, Gort
+Romans, King of the
+Rome
+Romont, Count of
+Romorantin
+Roses, Wars of the
+Rossillon
+Rottelin, Marquise Hugues de
+Rotterdam
+Rouen
+Rousillon
+Rouvre
+Roye
+Rozière, Malhortie de
+Rubempré, the bastard of
+Rubempré, Jehan de
+Ruple, G.
+Russia
+
+
+
+S
+
+Saeckingen
+St. Bavon, Abbot of
+Ste. Beuve, cited
+St. Blaise, Abbé of
+St. Claude
+St. Cloud
+St. Denis
+St. Lievin, feast of
+St. Michel-sur-Loire
+St. Nicolas-du-Port
+St. Omer;
+  treaty of
+St. Pol, Count of
+  made constable of France;
+  treachery of;
+  execution of
+St. Quentin
+St. Remy, Jean le Févre, Seigneur de
+St. Thierry
+St. Trond
+Sale, Anthony de la
+Salesart
+Salins
+Salisbury, Bishop of
+Savoy, Charlotte of, marries the dauphin
+Savoy, duchy of
+Savoy, dukes of
+Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of;
+  ally of Charles the Bold;
+  kidnapped;
+  rescued
+Saxony, Duke of
+Saxony, elector of
+Schellhass, Karl
+Schiedam
+Schlestadt
+Scotland, Eleanor of, wife of Sigismund of Austria
+Scotland, Margaret of, wife of Louis, the dauphin
+Seine River, the
+Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke of Milan
+Sicily
+Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, _see_ Austria
+Sigismund, Emperor
+Sluis
+Snoy, Renier, cited
+Soleure
+Somerset, Duke of
+Somme, towns on the river,
+  ceded to Duke of Burgundy;
+  redemption of towns on the
+Sorel, Agnes
+Soulz, Rudolf de
+Spain
+Spain, King of
+Stein, Hertnid von
+Stein, Rudolph de
+Stephen, Martin
+Strasburg
+Strasburg, Bishop of
+Stuttgart
+Sundgau, the
+Swabia
+Swiss, the, valour of;
+  victories of;
+  allies of Louis XI.
+Swiss Cantons, the;
+  declare war against Charles the Bold
+Swynaerde
+Sylvius, Æneas
+
+
+
+T
+
+Talmont, Prince of
+Tewkesbury, battle of
+Texel, island of
+Thann
+Thérain, the
+Thérouanne, Bishop of
+Thierry
+Thierry, Monsieur de
+Thierstein, Oswald von
+Thionville
+Thouan, Mme. de
+Thouars, Guillaume de
+Thurgau
+Tilhart, secretary to Louis XI.
+Tongres;
+  bishops of
+Tonnerre, Count of
+Toul
+Touraine
+Tournay
+Tournay, Bishop of
+Tournehem
+Tours
+Toustain, Aloysius (Toussaint)
+Toustain, Guillaume
+Toutey, E., cited
+Trausch, cited
+Tree of Gold, jousts of the
+Trémoille, Jehan de la
+Trèves
+Trèves, Archbishop of
+Tuin
+Turin
+Turks, the, capture Constantinople;
+  proposed  crusade against
+
+
+
+U
+
+Unterwalden
+Uri
+Ursé, Seigneur d'
+Utenhove, Richard
+Utrecht
+
+
+
+V
+
+Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis (editor of _Lettres de Louis XI_.)
+Valenciennes
+Valois, House of
+Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou,  Duchess of
+Vendôme, Count of
+Venice
+Verard, Antoine
+Verdun
+Vere
+Vermandois
+Vermandois, Count de
+Vesoul
+Villeclerc, Demoiselle de
+Virnenbourg, Count of
+Visen, Charles de
+Vosges, the
+
+
+
+W
+
+Wailly
+Waldemar of Zürich
+Waldshut
+Walloon language, the
+Warwick, Earl of;
+  death of
+Wavrin, Philip de
+Wellington, Duke of
+Wenlock, governor of Calais
+Weymouth
+Wieringen, island of
+Woodville, Elizabeth
+Wuisse, Vautrin
+Wyler, Hans
+
+
+
+X
+
+Xaintes
+
+
+
+Y
+
+York, House of
+York, Margaret of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Ypres
+
+
+Z
+
+Zealand
+Zürich
+Zutphen
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14496 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Charles the Bold
+       Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477
+
+Author: Ruth Putnam
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14496]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES THE BOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Lesley Halamek and the PG Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD OF BURGUNDY (1433-1477) (FROM MS.
+STATUTE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, VIENNA) PAINTED
+BETWEEN 1518-1531]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+1433-1477
+
+
+BY
+
+
+RUTH PUTNAM
+
+AUTHOR OF "WILLIAM THE SILENT," "A MEDIÆVAL PRINCESS," ETC.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+
+The Knickerbocker Press
+
+1908
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+COPYRIGHT 1908,
+
+BY
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy into the series of Heroes
+of the Nations, is justified by his relation to events rather than by
+his national or his heroic qualities. _"Il n'avait pas assez de sens
+ni de malice pour conduire ses entreprises,"_ is one phrase of Philip
+de Commines in regard to the master he had once served. Render _sens_
+by _genius_ and _malice_ by _diplomacy_ and the words are not far
+wrong. Yet in spite of the failure to obtain either a kingly or an
+imperial crown, the story of those same unaccomplished enterprises
+contains the germs of much that has happened later in the borderlands
+of France and Germany where the projected "middle kingdom" might have
+been erected. A sketch of the duke's character with its traits of
+ambition and shortcomings may therefore be placed, not unfitly, among
+the pen portraits of individuals who have attempted to change the map
+of Europe.
+
+The materials for an exhaustive study of the times, and of the
+participants in the scenes thereof, are almost overwhelming
+in quantity. Into this narrative, I have woven the words of
+contemporaries when these related what they saw and thought, or at
+least what they said they saw or thought, about events passing within
+their sight or their ken. The veracity attained is only that of a
+mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth. And the rim in which
+these bits are set is too slender to contain all the illumination
+necessary. The narrative is, of necessity, partial and fragmentary,
+for a complete story would require a series of biographies presented
+in parallel columns. My own preliminary chapter to this book--a
+mere explanation of the presence of the dukes of Burgundy in the
+Netherlands--grew into an account of a sovereign whom they deposed and
+was published under the title of _A Mediæval Princess._
+
+John Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record of Charles the Bold,
+Duke of Burgundy. Forty years have elapsed since that publication
+appeared and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the subject
+has been given out to the public, while separate phases of it have
+been minutely discussed by competent critics, so that at every point
+there is new temptation for the biographer to expand the theme where
+the scope of his work demands brevity.
+
+In using the later fruit of historical investigation, it is delightful
+for an American to find that scholars of all nations do justice to
+Mr. Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they may differ from his
+conclusions. It has been my privilege to be permitted free access to
+this scholar's collection of books, and I would here express my deep
+gratitude to the Kirk family for their generosity and courtesy towards
+me.
+
+After some preliminary reading at Brussels and Paris and in England,
+the work for this volume has been completed in America, where the
+opportunity of securing the latest results of research and criticism
+is constantly increasing, although these results are still lodged
+under many roofs. I have had many reasons to thank the librarians of
+New York, Boston, and Washington, and also those of Harvard, Columbia,
+and Cornell universities for courtesies and for serviceable aid; and
+just as many reasons to regret the meagreness of what can be put
+between two covers as the gleanings from so rich a harvest.
+
+One word further in explanation of the use of _Bold_. The adjective
+has been retained simply because it has been so long identified with
+Charles in English usage. I should have preferred the word _Rash_ as
+a better equivalent for the contemporary term, applied to the duke in
+his lifetime,--_le téméraire_.
+
+R.P.
+
+WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHAPTER I
+CHILDHOOD
+
+CHAPTER II
+YOUTH
+
+CHAPTER III
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+CHAPTER IV
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+CHAPTER V
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+CHAPTER VI
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+CHAPTER VII
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+CHAPTER IX
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+CHAPTER X
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+CHAPTER XI
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+CHAPTER XII
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+CHAPTER XV
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+GUELDERS
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+CHAPTER XX
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 AND 1476
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+INDEX
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY          _Frontispiece_
+From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date
+of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This
+portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed
+to Roger van der Weyden. That, however,
+shows a much stronger face.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brussels.
+
+A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON
+OF LETTERS
+From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a
+beautiful MS. copy in Brussels Library of Jacques
+de Guise's _Annales_. The author is depicted
+presenting his book to the duke, who is attended
+by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is
+attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden, to
+Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans
+Memling.
+
+A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK
+
+COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER
+From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, _Les
+ducs de Bourgogne_,
+
+THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRÜCK
+
+LOUIS XI
+From an engraving by A. Boilly after a drawing by
+G. Boilly.
+
+PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+From a drawing in a MS. at Arras.
+
+BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY (JULY 16, 1465)
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE
+WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY
+After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery.
+
+CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A
+CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at
+Brussels.
+
+PHILIP DE COMMINES
+
+OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in
+_Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale de Belgique,_
+xlix.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Barante, _Les ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES
+From Toutey, _Charles le téméraire_.
+
+MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS
+
+ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS
+From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+After design by C. Laplante.
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By
+permission of J. J. Löwy, Vienna.)
+
+MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA
+Medal.
+
+A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_,
+
+KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+(These characters in Maximilian's poem of _Theuerdank_
+represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.)
+From a reproduction of a wood engraving by
+Schäufelein in edition of 1517.
+
+A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY
+After a design by Matthey reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+the J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+From contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY
+From Barante, _Let ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+Church of Notre Dame, Bruges
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+1433-1440
+
+
+On St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good people of Dijon were
+abroad, eager to catch what glimpses they might of certain stately
+functions to be formally celebrated by the Duke of Burgundy. The mere
+presence of the sovereign in the capital of his duchy was in itself
+a gala event from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions
+agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions successively. His
+residence was now here and now there, without long tarrying anywhere.
+His coming was usually very welcome. In times of peaceful submission
+to his behest, the city of his sojourn reaped many advantages besides
+the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond their wont. In the
+outlay for the necessities and the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal
+court, the expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary commercial
+activity enjoyed by the merchants, the fact that the burghers' own
+contributions to this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary
+oblivion.[1]
+
+This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon was more significant
+than usual. It had lasted several weeks, and among its notable
+occasions was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden Fleece for the
+third anniversary of their Order. On this November 30th, Burgundy was
+to witness for the first time the pompous ceremonials inaugurated at
+Bruges in January, 1430. Three years had sufficed to render the new
+institution almost as well known as its senior English rival, the
+Order of the Garter, which it was destined to outshine for a brief
+period at least. Its foundation had formed part of the elaborate
+festivities accompanying the celebration of the marriage of Philip,
+Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal. As a signal honour to his
+bride, Philip published his intention of creating a new order of
+knighthood which would evince "his great and perfect love for the
+noble state of chivalry."
+
+Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the duke's real motives. It
+was whispered that a certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished
+by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair by a few merry
+courtiers, whereupon Philip declared that her tresses should be
+immortally honoured in the golden emblem of a new society.[2] But that
+may be set down as gossip. Philip's own assertion, when he instituted
+the Order of the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create a
+bulwark
+
+    "for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our Christian
+    faith, and to honour and enhance the noble order of chivalry, and
+    also for three reasons hereafter declared; first, to honour the
+    ancient knights ...; second, to the end that these present.... may
+    exercise the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve; third, that
+    all gentlemen marking the honour paid to the knights will exert
+    themselves to attain the dignity." [2]
+
+The special homage to the new duchess was expressed in the device
+
+  _Aultre n'aray
+   Dame Isabeau tant que vivray[4]_
+
+This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella was, indeed, utterly
+disregarded by the bridegroom, but in outward and formal honour to her
+he never failed.
+
+The new institution was, from the beginning, pre-eminently significant
+of the duke's magnificent state existence, wherein his Portuguese
+consort proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet. Again and again
+during a period of thirty years, rich in diplomatic parleying, did
+Isabella act as confidential ambassador for her husband, and many were
+the negotiations conducted by her to his satisfaction.[5]
+
+But it must be noted that whatever lay at the exact root of Philip's
+motives when he conceived the plan of his Order, the actual result of
+his foundation was not affected. He failed, indeed, to bring back into
+the world the ancient system of knighthood in its ideal purity and
+strength. Rather did he make a notable contribution to its decadence
+and speed its parting. What was brought into existence was a house
+of peers for the head of the Burgundian family, a body of faithful
+satellites who did not hamper their chief overmuch with the criticism
+permitted by the rules of their society, while their own glory added
+shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian court.
+
+Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the original number appointed
+to form the chosen circle of knights. This was speedily increased to
+thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the session of 1433, was
+the election of new members to fill vacancies and to round out the
+allotted tale.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN
+FLEECE]
+
+In their manner of accomplishing the appointed task, the new
+chevaliers had, from the outset, evinced a readiness to cast their
+votes to the satisfaction of their chief, even if his pleasure
+directly conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to obey. No
+candidate was to be eligible whose birth was not legitimate,[6] a
+regulation quite ignored when the duke proposed the names of his sons
+Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient knights did not refuse to open
+their ranks to these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a bar
+sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too, others of Philip's many
+illegitimate descendants were not rejected when their father proposed
+their names.
+
+Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new member should have
+proven himself a knight of renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one
+of the candidates proposed for election, though nominally a knight,
+had assuredly had no time to show his mettle. The dignity was his only
+because his spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle before
+his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength to grasp a rattle, and
+before he was even old enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his
+teeth upon.[7]
+
+Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was Charles of Burgundy,
+Count of Charolais, son of the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the
+previous St. Martin's Eve, November 10th.[8]
+
+    "The new chevaliers, with the exception of the Count of
+    Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accustomed oath at the hands
+    of the sovereign in a room of his palace."
+
+
+So runs the record. Jean le Févre, Seigneur de St. Remy, present on
+the occasion in his capacity of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle
+more communicative.[9] According to him, all the gentlemen were very
+joyous at their election as they received their collars and made their
+vows as stated. He excepted no member in the phrase about the joy
+displayed, though, as a matter of inference, the pleasure experienced
+by the Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat problematical.
+
+The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age of just twenty days
+when thus officially listed among the chevaliers present at the
+festival. Born on November 10th of this same year, 1433,[10] he had
+been knighted on the very day of his baptism, when Charles, Count of
+Nevers, and the Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former gave
+his name to the infant while the latter's name was destined to be
+identified with many unpleasant incidents in the career of the future
+man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason for the further item
+in the archives of the Golden Fleece:
+
+    "As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into the same room.
+    There the sovereign, his father, and the duchess, his mother, took
+    the oath on his behalf. Afterwards the duke put the collars upon
+    all." [11]
+
+
+Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction that Charles of
+Burgundy was of different metal than the rest of the world. The great
+duke of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history of chivalry
+when he conferred its dignities upon a speechless, unconscious infant.
+The theory that knighthood was a personal acquisition had been
+maintained up to this period, the Children of France[12] alone being
+excepted from the rule, though in his _Lay de Vaillance_ Eustache
+Deschamps complains that the degree of knighthood is actually
+conferred on those who are only ten or twelve years old, and who do
+not know what to do with the honour.[13] That plaint was written not
+later than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the poet's
+prediction that ruin of the institution was imminent when affected by
+such disorders seemed justified if, in 1433, even the years of the
+eligible age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not received the
+accolade until he was twenty-five.
+
+How his predecessor in Holland, Count William VI., had acquitted
+himself valiantly the moment that he was dubbed knight is told by
+Froissart, and the tales of other accolades of the period are too well
+known to need reference.
+
+It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished by his own mother.
+Having lost her first two infants, Isabella was solicitous for the
+welfare of this third child, who also proved her last. He was,
+moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle of France and Bonne of
+Artois, his first wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
+expended on the boy were repaid. Charles became a sturdy child who
+developed into youthful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
+his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather than the English
+Lancastrians, from whom she was equally descended.
+
+His dark hair and his features were very different from the fair type
+of his paternal ancestors, the vigorous branch of the Valois family.
+Possibly other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese origin were
+intensified by close association with his mother, who supervised the
+education directed by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at The
+Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and official adviser to the
+duke's stadtholder in the administration. [14]
+
+Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe his contemporaries,
+surprisingly so, considering his early taste for all martial pursuits
+and his intense interest in military operations.
+
+At two years of age he received his first lesson in horsemanship, on
+a wooden steed constructed for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a
+saddler of Brussels.
+
+His biographers repeat from each other statements of his proficiency
+in Latin. This must be balanced by noting that the only texts which
+he could have read were probably not classic. In the inventory of the
+various Burgundian libraries of the period, there are not six Greek
+and Latin classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not a
+single Roman historian in the original.[15] There was a translation
+of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi and late abridgments of Sallust,
+Suetonius, Lucan, and Cæsar,[16] with a French version of Valerius
+Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless these versions and a volume
+called _Les faits des Romains_ were used as text-books to teach the
+young count about the world's conquerors. The last mentioned book
+shows what travesties of Roman history were gravely read in the
+fifteenth century.
+
+There are stories[17] that the bit of history most enjoyed by the
+pupil was the narrative of Alexander. Books about that hero were easy
+to come by long before the invention of printing, though Alexander
+would have had difficulty in recognising his identity under the
+strange mediæval motley in which his namesake wandered over the land.
+No single man, with the possible exception of Charlemagne, was so
+much written about or played so brilliantly the part of a hero to
+the Middle Ages and after.[18] The simplicity and universality of his
+success were of a type to appeal to the boy Charles, himself built on
+simple lines. The fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip
+stimulated his imagination and instilled in his breast hopes of
+conquering, not the whole world perhaps, but a good slice of territory
+which should enable him to hold his own between the emperor and the
+French king. Tales of definite schemes of early ambition are often
+fabricated in the later life of a conqueror, but in this case they may
+be believed, as all threads of testimony lead to the same conclusion.
+
+The air breathed by the boy when he first became conscious of his
+own individuality was certainly heavy with the aroma of satisfied
+ambition. The period of his childhood was a time when his father stood
+at the very zenith of his power. In 1435, was signed the Treaty of
+Arras, the death-blow to the long coalition existing between Burgundy
+and England to the continual detriment of France. Philip was
+reconciled with great solemnity to the king, responsible in his
+dauphin days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy. After
+ostentatiously parading his filial resentment sixteen long years,
+Philip forgave Charles VII. his share in the death of John the
+Fearless, on the bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support to
+keep the French monarch on the throne whither the efforts of Joan of
+Arc had carried him from Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile.
+
+England's pretensions were repudiated. To be sure, the recent
+coronation of Henry VI. at Paris was not immediately forgotten, but
+while the Duke of Bedford had actually administered the government as
+regent, in behalf of his infant nephew, it was a mere shadow of his
+office that passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435, was
+almost coincident with the compact at Arras when the English Henry's
+realms across the Channel shrank to Normandy and the outlying
+fortresses of Picardy and Maine. Later events on English soil were to
+prove how little fitted was the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any
+kind.
+
+Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy rose triumphant
+with a seal set upon his personal importance.[19] His recognition of
+Charles VII. as lawful sovereign of France, and his reconciliation did
+not pass without signal gain to himself.
+
+The king declared his own hands unstained by the blood of John of
+Burgundy, agreed to punish all those designated by Philip as actually
+responsible for that treacherous murder, and pledged himself to erect
+a cross on the bridge at Montereau, the scene of the crime. Further,
+he relinquished various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained by the
+crown from the moment when the junior branch of the Valois had been
+invested with the duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne,
+Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to the French sovereign on
+both banks of the Somme. To this last cession, however, was appended
+the condition that the towns included in this clause could be redeemed
+at the king's pleasure, for the sum of four hundred thousand gold
+crowns. Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of homage to
+himself, promised to demand no _aides_ from the duke's subjects
+in case of war, and to assist his cousin if he were attacked from
+England. Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted with the
+emperor to Philip's disadvantage.[20]
+
+One clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness towards the
+powerful vassal. It provided that in case of Charles's failure to
+observe all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects would be
+justified in taking arms against him at the duke's orders. A similar
+clause occurs in certain treaties between an earlier French king and
+his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of the suzerain, not
+to that of the lesser lords.
+
+The duke was left in a position infinitely superior to that of the
+king, whose realm was terribly exhausted by the long contest with
+England, a contest wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's
+foot. French prosperity had been nibbled off like green foliage before
+a swarm of locusts, and the whole north-eastern portion of France
+was in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the other hand, the
+territories covered by Burgundy as an overlord had greatly increased
+during the sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
+aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships formed his domain,
+loosely hung together by reason of their several titles being vested
+in one person--titles which the bearer had inherited or assumed under
+various pretexts.
+
+Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy and county of Burgundy,
+came to him from his father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he
+bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself heir to his cousins in
+Brabant and Limbourg when Duke Anthony's second son followed his
+equally childless brother into a premature grave, and the claims were
+made good in spite of all opposition. Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut
+became his through the unwilling abdication of his other cousin,
+Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of her husband, Frank van
+Borselen, the last representative of the Bavarian House then
+formally resigned her titles, which she had already divested of all
+significance five years previously, when Philip of Burgundy had become
+her _ruward_, to relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of
+responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.[21]
+
+Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended in having
+the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added to his other
+designations. Also there were various places where his predecessor's
+name had to be effaced to make room for his. (Laborde, i., 345).]
+
+Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Brabant. Luxemburg was a later
+acquisition obtained through Elizabeth of Görlitz.
+
+There were very shady bits in the chapters about Philip's entry into
+many of his possessions, but it is interesting to note how cleverly
+the best colour is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche and
+other writers who enjoyed Burgundian patronage. Very gentle are the
+adjectives employed, and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the
+naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary criticism
+did occasionally make itself heard, especially from the emperor, who
+declared that the Netherland provinces must come to him as a lapsed
+imperial fief. For a time Philip denied that any links existed between
+his domain and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it convenient
+to discuss the question with Frederic III. at Besançon; still he never
+came to the point of paying homage.
+
+All these territories made a goodly realm for a mere duke. But
+they were individual entities centred around one head with little
+interconnection.
+
+Philip thought that the one thing needed to bring his possessions into
+a national life, as coherent as that of France, was a unity of legal
+existence among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain this
+unity was the one thought dominating the career of his successor,
+whose pompous introduction to life naturally inspired him with a high
+idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of greater dignities for
+himself and his successor than a bundle of titles,--a splendid, vain,
+fatal dream as it proved.
+
+As a final cement to the new friendship between Burgundy and France,
+it was also agreed at Arras that the heir of the former should wed a
+daughter of Charles VII. When the Count of Charolais was five years
+old, the Seigneur of Crèvecoeur,[22] "a wise and prudent gentleman"
+was despatched to the French court on divers missions, among which
+was the business of negotiating the projected alliance. A very joyous
+reception was accorded the envoy by the king and the queen, and his
+proposal was accepted in behalf of the second daughter, Catherine,
+easily substituted for an older sister, deceased between the first and
+second stages of negotiation.
+
+A year later, a formal betrothal took place at St Omer, whither
+the young bride was conducted, most honourably accompanied by the
+archbishops of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Vendôme,
+Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the Duke of Bourbon, named the
+Lord of Beaujeu, and various other distinguished nobles, besides a
+train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance on the
+princess, and an escort of three hundred horse.
+
+At the various cities where the party made halt they were graciously
+received, and all honour was paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of
+France. At Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and as she
+travelled on towards her destination, all the towns of Philip's
+obedience contributed their quota of welcome.
+
+At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming. When her approach was
+announced he rode out in person to greet her, attended by a brilliant
+escort.
+
+[Illustration: A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON]
+
+Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready to burst into tune;
+the betrothal was confirmed amid joyousness and the ceremony was
+followed by tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.
+
+What a series of pompous betrothals between infant parties the
+fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can show! Poor little puppets, in
+whose persons national interests were supposed to be centred, were
+made to lisp out their roles in international dramas whose final acts
+rarely were consistent with the promise of the prologue.
+
+Catherine did not live to become Duchess of Burgundy nor to temper the
+duel between her husband and her brother Louis. The remainder of
+her short existence was passed under the care of Duchess Isabella,
+sometimes in one city of the Netherlands, sometimes in another.
+
+La Marche[23] records one return of Philip to Brussels when his
+arrival was greeted by Charles of Burgundy, honourably accompanied
+by children of high birth about his age or less, some only eleven or
+twelve years old. There were with him Jehan de la Trémoille, Philip
+de Croy, Philip de Crèvecoeur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others. All
+were mounted on little horses harnessed like that of their governor, a
+very honest and wise gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et Ber
+d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man, well known, of good lineage,
+ready of speech and able to discuss matters of honour and of state.
+
+He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all exercise and sport.
+
+    "Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman better adapted
+    to supervise the education of a young prince than he.... Among his
+    pupils were also Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy,[24] son of Philip,
+    and the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were older than the
+    first mentioned."
+
+La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt in this youthful band
+of horse, and then tells how, within Brussels,
+
+    "he was received by the magistrates and conducted to his palace,
+    where the Duchess of Burgundy awaited him holding by the hand
+    Madame Catherine of France, Countess of Charolais. She was about
+    twelve and seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and
+    well conditioned for her age."
+
+At various state functions the Count and Countess of Charolais
+appeared together in public, and witnessed certain of the gorgeous
+and costly entertainments which were almost the daily food of the gay
+Burgundian court. One of these occasions was calculated to make a deep
+impression on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle of a
+proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep humiliation.
+
+In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges, when the animosity of
+the burghers had caused the duchess to flee from their midst, holding
+her little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal safety. Philip
+suppressed the revolt, but, in his anger at its insolence, declared
+that never again would he set foot within the gates unless in company
+with his superior.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERS
+
+THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND WITH ONE OF PHILIP'S
+SONS FROM MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "HIST. DES DUCS DE
+BOURGOGNE"]
+
+Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella played a prominent part
+as her husband's representative, were those concerning the liberation
+of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in England, a prisoner, after
+the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The last advice given by Henry V.
+to his brothers was that they should make this captivity perpetual.
+Therefore, whenever overtures were made for his redemption, a strong
+party, headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them vehemently.
+
+In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide of sentiment. Possibly
+the low state of the English exchequer made the duke's ransom more
+attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000 golden crowns were
+accepted as his equivalent, and the exile of twenty-five years
+returned to France, having pledged himself never to bear arms against
+England.
+
+Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome him, and to escort him
+to St. Omer, where high revels were held in his honour and in that of
+his alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece.
+
+The week intervening between the betrothal and the nuptials was
+passed in a succession of banquets and tourneys, gorgeous in their
+elaboration. Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just then,
+the new Burgundian Order was convened and the Duke of Orleans was
+elected a Knight of the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented
+his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the Porcupine. Lord
+Cornwallis and other English gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans
+across the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor were they among
+the least favoured guests, adds Barante.
+
+Amity was triumphant, and there was a general feeling abroad that the
+returned exile was henceforth to be the ruling power in France. People
+began to look to him to act as the go-between in their behalf, to be
+their mediator with Charles VII., still little known at his best. Many
+towns turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend, and among them
+was Bruges. But it was not royal favours that Bruges sought. Her
+burghers felt great inconvenience from the breach with their sovereign
+duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his grace, they seized the
+opportunity of reminding Philip of his assertion, and they besought
+him to enter their gates in company with the Duke of Orleans, a
+prince of the blood, closer to the French sovereign than the Duke of
+Burgundy.
+
+After some demur, Philip consented to grant their petition. Possibly
+he was not loth to be persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges
+to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and to prepare a
+reception for their appeased sovereign, calculated to make him content
+with the late rebels.
+
+Before the grand cortège, composed of the two dukes, their consorts,
+and the dignitaries who had assisted in the feasts of marriage and of
+chivalry, reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were ready with a
+touching spectacle of humility and repentance.[25]
+
+A league from the gates, the magistrates and burghers stood in the
+road awaiting the travellers from St. Omer. All were barefooted and
+bareheaded. Under the December sky they waited the approach of the
+stately procession. When the duke arrived, they all fell upon their
+knees and implored him to forgive the late troubles and to reinstate
+their city in his favour. Philip did not answer immediately--delay was
+always a feature of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Orleans,
+both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined their entreaties to the
+citizens' prayers. Again a pause, and then, as if generously yielding
+to pressure, Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes and their
+hats while he accepted at their hands the keys of all the gates. Then
+the long procession moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were the
+clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and beguins of the various
+convents and foundations, bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and
+many precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were the gilds
+and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent accoutrements freshly
+burnished to do honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
+overlord.
+
+Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, platforms and stages
+were erected, whereon were enacted dramatic performances, given
+continuously, to provide amusement for the collected crowds. Sometimes
+the presentation carried significance beyond mere entertainment. Here
+a maid, garbed as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which wore the
+collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine. This last beast was to
+symbolise the Orleans device, _Near and Far_, as the creature was
+supposed to project his spines to a distance.
+
+One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house with gold and the
+roof with silver leaves to betoken his satisfaction. Indeed, if we
+may believe the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had any city
+incurred so much expense to honour its lord. The duke permitted his
+heart to be touched by these proofs of devotion, and on the very
+evening of his arrival he evinced that his confidence was restored by
+sending the civic keys and a gracious message to the magistrates. At
+the news of this condescension the cries of "_Noël_" re-echoed afresh
+through the illuminated streets.
+
+Charles was not present at this entry, which took place on Saturday,
+December 11th, but Philip was so much entertained with the performance
+that he sent for his son, and on the following Saturday he and the
+Countess of Charolais came from Ghent to join the party. The Duke of
+Orleans and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the young couple,
+who were formally escorted to the palace by magistrates and citizens
+in a body. On the Sunday there were repetitions of some of the plays
+and every attention was offered by the Bruges burghers to their young
+guests. When Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December
+14th, what wonder that the lady wept in sorrow at leaving these gay
+Burgundian doings!
+
+While Charles did not actually witness the humiliation of the
+citizens, the seven-year-old boy would, undoubtedly, have heard and
+known sufficient of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware that
+the citizens who had dared defy his father were glad to buy back his
+smiles at any cost to their pride and purse. He would have known, too,
+that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, and elsewhere joined the
+Bruges burghers in the welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a
+spectacle of the relations between a city and the ducal father not to
+be easily forgotten by the son.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of
+Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. _(Collection des voyages
+des souverains des Pays Bas_, i., 71.) Unfortunately, owing to
+the destruction of papers, only a few years are complete. Between
+1428-1441, there is nothing. But the itinerary for 1441 and for other
+years shows how often the duke changed his residences. Sometimes he
+is accompanied by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de
+Charolais.]
+
+[Footnote 2: It was also said that the woollen manufactures of
+Flanders were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Reiffenberg, _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or,_ p.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _ Hist. de I'Ordre,_ etc., p. i.]
+
+[Footnote 5: All the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to
+the public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from the
+accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity:
+
+"To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber, for delivering
+to a certain person for certain causes and for secret matters of which
+Monseigneur does not wish further declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17
+sous."
+
+(Laborde _Les Ducs de Bourgogne_, etc., "Preuves," i. xiii.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: "Vingt-quatre chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
+et sans reproches nés et procrées en léal mariage" _(see_ description
+of the first list).--_Hist. de l'Ordre,_ p. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Jacquemin Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living at
+Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich cloth of black
+silk draped about the baptismal font. Why mourning was used on this
+joyful occasion does not appear. (Laborde, i., 321.)]
+
+[Footnote 8: Summary of a register containing the acts of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece quoted in _Histoire de l'Ordre,_ pp. 12, 13.]
+
+[Footnote 9: St. Remy, _Chronique_, ii., 284. St. Remy is usually
+called _Toison d'Or._]
+
+[Footnote 10: His full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone
+remains of the palace where he was born.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Hist, de l'Ordre,_ p. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Selden _(Titles of Honor_, p. 457), however, says he
+knows not by what authority this statement is made and that he knows
+nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by Gautier for
+receiving knighthood.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Deschamps, _OEuvres Complètes_, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of
+Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one notable occasion,
+to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared in public accompanied
+by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan of the Hooks, and by Frank van
+Borselen, himself a Cod, the widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess
+of Holland.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Barante, _Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne_, vi., 2, note
+by Reiffenberg.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _Catalogue des manuscrits des Ducs de Bourgogne,_
+"Résumé historique," i., lxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Barante, vi., 2, note.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Loomis, _Medieval Hellenism_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Pirenne, _Histoire de Belgique_, ii., 231.]
+
+[Footnote 20: It was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made.
+Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant, Holland,
+Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were lapsed fiefs, of the
+empire.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Putnam, _A Medieval Princess_.
+
+[Footnote 22: Monstrelet, _La Chronique_, v., 344.]
+
+[Footnote 23: La Marche, _Mémoires_, ii., 50.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Reiffenberg, _Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe
+de Bourgogne._]
+
+[Footnote 25: Meyer, _Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum, _
+p. 296.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+YOUTH
+
+1440-1453
+
+
+The heir of Burgundy was still in very tender years when he began to
+take official part in public affairs, sometimes associated with one
+parent, sometimes with the other.
+
+There was a practical advantage in bringing the boy to the fore by
+which the duke was glad to profit. With his own manifold interests, it
+was impossible for him to be present in his various capitals as often
+as was demanded by the usage of the diverse individual seigniories. It
+was politic, therefore, to magnify the representative capacity of his
+son and of his consort in order to obtain the grants and _aides_ which
+certain of his subjects declared could be given only when requested
+orally by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was Count Charles
+and the duchess who appeared in Holland to ask an _aide_.[1] In the
+following year, Charles accompanied his father when Philip made one
+of his rare visits--there were only three between 1428 and 1466--to
+Holland and Zealand.
+
+[Illustration: A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY]
+
+Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants on this occasion, and he
+describes with great detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have
+their absentee count in their land.[2] Many matters could only be
+set aright by his authority. Among the complaints brought to him at
+Middelburg were accusations against a certain knight of high birth,
+Jehan de Dombourc. Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once and
+brought before him for trial. This was easier said than done. Warned
+of his danger, Dombourc, with four or five comrades, took refuge in
+the clock tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary that
+could not be taken by storm.[2] He was provided with a good store of
+food, this audacious criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There he
+remained three days, because, for the honour of the Church, they could
+not fire upon him.
+
+"And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun come out and call to
+Jehan Dombourc, her brother, advising him to perish defending himself
+rather than to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands of
+the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced to surrender to
+his prince, and he was beheaded in the market-place at Middelburg,
+but, at the plea of his sister, the said nun, his body was delivered
+to her to be buried in consecrated ground."
+
+In this same visit Philip presided over the Zealand estates and the
+young count sat by his side, not as an idle spectator, but because
+usage required the presence of the heir as well as that of the Count
+of Zealand.
+
+When Charles was twelve he was present at an assembly of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece held in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind
+witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his description of the
+lavish magnificence of the affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the
+citizens into complying with the requests of their Count of Flanders.
+
+Charles played a prominent part in all the functions, and assisted in
+the election of his tutor, Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. Another candidate
+of that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Ostrevant, widower of
+Jacqueline, late Countess of Holland.
+
+In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at Brussels.
+"Honourably as befitted a king's daughter" was she buried at Ste.
+Gudule.[4]
+
+    "Tireless in their devotion were the duke and duchess in her last
+    illness, and Charles VII. despatched two skilled doctors to her
+    aid but all efforts were vain.
+
+    "Much bemourned was the princess for she was virtuous. God have
+    pity on her soul"
+
+piously ejaculates La Marche.
+
+A little item[5] in the accounts suggests that a pleasant friendship
+had existed between the two young people:
+
+    "To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Countess of Charolais,
+    for a harp which she had bought from him and given to Ms. the
+    Count of Charolais for him to play and take his amusement, xii
+    francs."[6]
+
+It is easy to surmise that music was not, however, the young count's
+favourite amusement. In Philip's court, tournaments were still held
+and afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad whose bent was
+undoubtedly towards a military career.
+
+One valiant actor in these tourneys where were revived the ancient
+traditions of knighthood, was Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all
+the characteristics of times past, fighting for fame in the present.
+In his youth, this aspirant for reputation swore a vow to meet thirty
+knights in combat before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated by
+a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the court of Burgundy,
+because the Netherlands were on the highroad between England and many
+points in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had the best
+chance of falling in with all the prowess that might be abroad. For
+stay-at-home prowess he cared naught. A delightful personage is
+Messire Jacques and a brave rôle does he play in the series of jousts,
+sporting gaily on the pages of the various Burgundian chroniclers,
+who recorded in their old age what they had seen in their youth. One
+description, however, of these encounters reads much like another and
+they need not be repeated.
+
+During his childhood Charles was a spectator only on the days of mimic
+battle. In his seventeenth year he was permitted to enter the lists
+as a regular combatant, a permission shared by his fellow pupils all
+eager to flesh their maiden spears. The duke arranged that his son
+should have a preliminary tilt a few days before the public affair in
+order to test his ability. All the courtiers--and apparently ladies
+were not excluded from the discussion on the matter--agreed that no
+better knight could be found for this purpose than Jacques de Lalaing,
+who, on his part, was highly honoured by being selected to gauge the
+untried capabilities of the prince.[7]
+
+In the park at Brussels with the duke and duchess as onlookers, the
+preliminary encounter took place. At the very first attack, Charles
+struck Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his lance into many
+pieces. The duke was displeased because he thought that the knight
+had not exerted his full strength and was favouring his son. He
+accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must play in earnest and not
+hold his force in leash. Fresh lances were brought; again did
+the count withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances were
+shattered. This time the boy's mother was the dissatisfied one,
+thinking that the knight was too hard with his junior, but the duke
+only laughed.
+
+    "Thus differed the parents. The one desired him to prove his
+    manhood, the other was preoccupied with his safety. With these
+    two courses the trial ended amid rounds of applause for the
+    prince."[8]
+
+The actual tourney was held on the market-place in Brussels before a
+distinguished assembly. Count Charles was escorted into the arena by
+his cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles. Seigneur d'Auxy,
+his tutor, stood near to watch the maiden efforts of the prince and
+his mates. He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for his bearing
+and his skill. He gave and received excellent thrusts, broke more
+than ten lances, and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening he
+received the prize from two princesses, and "Montjoye" was cried
+by the heralds in his honour. From that time forth, the count was
+considered a puissant and rude jouster and gained great renown.
+
+    "And that is the reason why I commence my memoirs about him and
+    his deeds[9] [continues La Marche, on concluding his description
+    of the tournament], and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour.
+    As one who has been brought up with him from his youth in his
+    father's service and in his own, I will touch upon his education,
+    his morals, his character, and his habits from the moment when I
+    first saw him as appears above in my memoirs.
+
+    "As to his character, I will commence at the worst features. He
+    was hot, active, and impetuous: as a child he was very eager to
+    have his own way. Nevertheless, he had so much understanding and
+    good sense that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no
+    one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he. He did not
+    take the name of God or the saints in vain, and held God in great
+    fear and reverence. He learned well and had a retentive memory. He
+    was fond of reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot
+    and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and boats. Falconry,
+    too, he loved and he hunted whenever he had leave. In archery he
+    early excelled his comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was
+    the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did he devote
+    himself to good and excellent exercise."
+
+That the report of the lavishness and extravagance of the Burgundian
+court was no idle rumour, exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is
+attested to by every bit of contemporary evidence. Enthusiastic and
+loyal chroniclers dwell on the magnificence, and the arid details of
+bills paid show what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while
+the protests from taxpayers prove that this splendour did not grow
+like the lilies of the field.
+
+[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE OF AN ACCOUNT-BOOK XVTH CENTURY]
+
+Philip's treasury had many separate compartments. There were many
+quarters to which he could turn for his needed supplies, but there
+were times when his exchequer ran very threateningly low, and his
+financial stress led him to be very conciliatory towards the burghers
+with full purses.
+
+In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the celebration of the feast of
+the Order of the Golden Fleece within her gates. Two years later,
+Philip appeared in person at a meeting of the _collace_, or municipal
+assembly, and delivered a harangue to the Ghentish magistrates and
+burghers, flattering them, moreover, by using their vernacular. The
+tenor of this speech was as follows[10]:
+
+    "My good and faithful friends, you know how I have been brought
+    up among you from my infancy. That is why I have always loved you
+    more than the inhabitants of all my other cities, and I have
+    proved this by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that
+    I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon me to-day when
+    I have need of your support. Doubtless you are not ignorant of the
+    condition of my father's treasury at the period of his death. The
+    majority of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were
+    in pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate vengeance
+    compelled me to undertake a long and bloody war, during which the
+    defence of my fortresses and of my cities, and the pay of my
+    army have necessitated outlays so large that it is impossible to
+    estimate them. You know, too, that at the very moment when the war
+    on France was at its height, I was obliged, in order to assure the
+    protection of my country of Flanders, to take arms against the
+    English in Hainaut, in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding
+    costing me more than 10,000 _saluts d'or,_ which I raised with
+    difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed against Liege, in
+    behalf of my countship of Namur, which sprang from the bosom of
+    Flanders? It is not necessary to add to all these outlays those
+    which I assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jerusalem,
+    and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+    "It is true, however, that, yielding to the persuasions of the
+    pope and the Council, I have now consented to put an end to the
+    evils multiplied by war by forgetting my father's death, and by
+    reconciling myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this
+    treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in preserving
+    to my subjects during the war the advantages of industry and of
+    peace, they had submitted to heavy burdens in taxes and in
+    voluntary contributions, and that it was my duty to re-establish
+    order and justice in the administration. But everything went on as
+    though the war had not ceased. All my frontiers have been menaced,
+    and I found myself obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so
+    useful to the defence of my other lands, especially of Brabant and
+    Flanders.
+
+    "In this way, my expenses continued to increase; all my resources
+    are now exhausted, and the saddest part of it all is that the good
+    cities and communes of Flanders and especially the country folk
+    are at the very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many of
+    my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obliged to emigrate.
+    Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty that I have little
+    advantage from them. Nor do I reap more from my hereditary lands,
+    for all are equally impoverished.
+
+    "A way must be found to ease the poor people, and at the same time
+    to protect Flanders from insult, Flanders for whose sake I would
+    risk my own person, although to arrive at this end, important
+    measures have become imperative."
+
+After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally states that, in order
+to raise the requisite revenues, no method seemed to him so good and
+so simple as a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a term of
+twelve years. He promised to dispense with all other subsidies and to
+make his son swear to demand nothing further as long as the _gabelle_
+was imposed.
+
+    "Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you consent to it I
+    will renounce it if others prove of a different opinion, for I do
+    not desire that the communes of Flanders be more heavily weighted
+    than any other portion of my territory."
+
+The duke might have spared his trouble and his elaborate
+condescension. The answer to his conciliatory request was a flat
+refusal to consider the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to
+Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not be increased to the least
+degree without serious inconvenience. The Flemings were wroth at his
+imitating the worst custom of his French kinsmen.
+
+Philip departed from Ghent in great dudgeon. After a time he was
+persuaded that the indisposition of the town to meet his reasonable
+wishes was not due to the citizens at large, but to the machinations
+of a few unruly agitators among the magistrates. In 1449, therefore,
+he took a high-handed course of trying to direct the issue of the
+regular municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of magistrates
+on whose obedience he could rely. The appearance of Burgundian troops
+in Ghent, before the election of mid-August, aroused the wrath of the
+community, who thought that their most cherished franchises were in
+jeopardy.
+
+This was the beginning of a bitter struggle between Ghent and Philip.
+The duke found it no light matter to coerce the independent burghers
+into remembering that they were simply part of the Burgundian state.
+"_Tantæ molis erat liberam gentem in servitutem adigere_!" ejaculates
+Meyer in the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen months
+of active hostilities.[11] Matters were long in coming to an outbreak.
+Various points had been contended over, when Philip had endeavoured
+to change the seat of the great council, or to take divers measures
+tending to concentrate certain judicial or legislative functions for
+his own convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the autonomy of
+Ghent. His centripetal policy was disliked, but when his policy went
+further, and he attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike
+grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in open revolt.
+
+For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's estimation as mere
+insignificant unruliness. By 1452, however, the date of the tourney
+above described, it became evident that a vital issue was at stake.
+The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to mediate between overlord and
+town, but without success. Owing to Philip's interference in the
+elections, the results were declared void, and when a new election was
+appointed, the Burgundians accused the city of hastily augmenting its
+number of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation laws. The gilds,
+too, evinced a readiness to be very lenient in their scrutiny of
+candidates for admission to their cherished privileges, preferring,
+for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy of furnished rooms was
+declared sufficient for enfranchisement, and there were cases where
+mere guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the lists as
+full-fledged citizens.
+
+By these means the popular party waxed very strong numerically. The
+sheriffs found themselves quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit
+of democracy in check. The regular government was overthrown, and the
+demagogues succeeded in electing three captains _(hooftmans)_
+invested with arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees of
+the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of very radical measures
+promulgated and joyfully confirmed by the populace, assembled on the
+Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the town meeting that
+ruled, not deputed authority. One ordinance stipulated that at the
+sound of the bell every burgher must hasten to the market-place, to
+lend his voice to the deliberations.
+
+For a time various negotiations went on between Philip and envoys from
+Ghent. The latter took a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable
+terms that if the duke refused an accommodation with them, they would
+appeal to their suzerain, the King of France. No act of rebellion,
+overt or covert, exasperated Philip more than this suggestion. Charles
+VII. was only too ready to ignore those clauses in the treaty of
+Arras, releasing the duke from homage, and virtually acknowledging his
+complete independence in his French territories. The king accepted
+missives from his late vassal's city, without reprimanding the writers
+for their presumption in signing themselves "Seigneurs of Ghent."[12]
+His action, however, was confined to mild attempts at mediation.
+
+It was plain to the duke that his other towns would follow Ghent's
+resistance to his authority if there were hopes of her success.
+Therefore he threw aside all other interests for the time being, and
+exerted himself to levy a body of troops to crush Flemish pretensions.
+His counsellors advised him to sound the temper of other citizens and
+to ascertain whether their sympathies were with Ghent. Answers of
+feeble loyalty came back to him from the majority of the other towns.
+Undoubtedly they highly approved Ghent's efforts. They, too, could
+not afford to pay taxes fraught with danger to their commerce, nor to
+relinquish one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive crises
+throughout a long period of years. The only doubt in their minds was
+as to the ultimate success of the burghers to stem the course of
+Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first hedged, and then
+consented to aid the duke. This course was pursued by the Hollanders
+and the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted.
+
+The Ghenters succeeded in possessing themselves of the castle of
+Poucque by force, and of the village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking
+advantage in the latter case of the castellan's absence at church.
+
+When every part of his dominions had been canvassed for troops, and
+Philip was prepared for his first active campaign against Ghent, he
+was anxious to leave his heir under the protection of the duchess,
+conscious that the imminent contest would be bitter and deadly. A
+pretence was made that the young count's accoutrements were not ready,
+and that, therefore, he would have to remain in Brussels.
+
+    "But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the completion of his
+    accoutrements, and swore by St. George, the greatest oath he ever
+    used, that he would rather go in his shirt than not accompany his
+    father to punish his impudent rebel subjects."[13]
+
+The approaching hostilities were watched by foreign merchants in dread
+of commercial disaster.
+
+    "On May 18th, the _nations_[14] of the merchants of Bruges
+    departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make peace between that
+    city and the Duke of Burgundy, and there were _nations_ of Spain,
+    Aragon, Portugal, and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese,
+    Genoese, and Luccans."[15]
+
+But the men of Ghent were beyond the point where commercial arguments
+could stem their course. The very day that this company arrived in the
+city, the burghers sallied forth six or seven thousand strong, fully
+equipped for offensive warfare.
+
+Both the actual engagements and guerilla skirmishes that raged over
+a minute stretch of territory were characterised by an extraordinary
+ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip was determined to
+relieve, men were beheaded like sheep.
+
+In the first regular engagement in which Charles took part, he showed
+a brave front and learned the duties of a prince by rewarding others
+with the honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the course of the
+war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Burgundy, and the gallant Jacques
+de Lalaing. Philip grieved deeply over the death of the former, his
+favourite among his natural sons, and buried him with all honours in
+the Church of Ste-Gudule in Brussels. The title by which he was known,
+hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his brother Anthony.
+Lalaing, too, was greatly mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his
+thirty-third year.
+
+There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legitimate heir might also
+perish in these conflicts where there was no mercy, that Charles was
+persuaded to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would keep
+him by her side. She made a feast in his honour, but, to the surprise
+of all, the duchess, who had wished to protect her son from the mild
+perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with brave words to return
+to fight in all earnest for his inheritance.[16] He himself was very
+indignant at the efforts to treat him as a child.
+
+The first truce and negotiations for peace, initiated in the summer of
+1452, were broken off because the conditions were unbearable to the
+Ghenters. Another year of warfare followed before the decisive battle
+of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced them sadly to succumb. There was
+no other course open to them. Not only were they defeated but their
+numbers were decimated.[17] With full allowance for exaggeration, it
+is certain that the loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at
+an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every humiliating detail.
+More, the defeated rebels were bidden to be grateful that their kind
+sovereign had imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to abating
+the severity of the articles, he declared that he would not change an
+_a_ for a _b_.[18]
+
+The chief provisions were as follows: The deans of the gilds were
+deprived of participation in the election of sheriffs. The privileges
+of the naturalisation laws were considerably abridged. No sentence of
+banishment could be pronounced without the intervention of the duke's
+bailiff, whose authorisation, too, was required before the publication
+of edicts, ordinances, etc. The sheriffs were forbidden to place their
+names at the head of letters to the officers of the duke. The banners
+were to be delivered to the duke and placed under five locks, whose
+several keys should be deposited with as many different people,
+without whose consensus the banners could not be brought forth to lead
+the burghers to sedition. One gate was to be closed every Thursday in
+memory of the day when the citizens had marched through it to attack
+their liege lord, and another was to be barred up in perpetuity or
+at the pleasure of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his
+enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid by the city.
+
+July 30th was the date appointed for the final act of submission, the
+_amende honorable_ of the unfortunate city. The scene was very similar
+to that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand citizens headed by the
+sheriffs, councillors, and captains of the burgher guard met the
+duke and his suite a league without the walls of Ghent. Bareheaded,
+barefooted, and divested of all their robes of office and of dignity,
+clad only in shirts and small clothes, these magistrates confessed
+that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly rebellion, and
+begged his pardon most humbly.
+
+The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gaveren, prepared to march
+out in the morning with his whole army in handsome array. Philip was
+magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same horse which he had used
+on the day of battle, with the various wounds received on that day
+ostentatiously plastered over to make a dramatic show of what the
+injured sovereign had suffered at the hands of his disloyal subjects.
+
+The civic procession was headed by the Abbot of St. Bavon and the
+Prior of the Carthusians. The burghers who followed the half-clad
+officials were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and
+ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust and cried, "Mercy on
+the town of Ghent." While they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman
+of the council made an elaborate speech in French, assuring the
+duke that if, out of his benign grace. he would take his loving and
+repentant subjects again into his favour, they would never again give
+him cause for reproach.
+
+    "At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and the Count of
+    Charolais, there present, pardoned the petitioners for their evil
+    deeds. The men of Ghent re-entered their town more happy and
+    rejoiced than can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille,
+    having disbanded his army, that every one might return to their
+    several homes." [19]
+
+The joy experienced by the conquered, here described by La Marche, as
+he looked back at the event from the calm retirement of his old age,
+was not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of this war was
+watched eagerly from other parts of Philip's dominion. His army was
+full of men from both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports to
+their own homes. Some passages from one of these reports by an unknown
+war correspondent run as follows:
+
+    "As to news from here, Monday after St. Magdalen's Day,
+    Monseigneur the duke got the better of the Ghenters near Gaveren
+    between ten and eleven o'clock. They attacked him near his
+    quarters.... The duke risked his own person in advance of his
+    company in the very worst of the slaughter, which lasted from the
+    said place up to Ghent, a distance of about two leagues. The slain
+    number three or four thousand, more or less, and those drowned in
+    the river of Quaux about two hundred.... This Tuesday, the date of
+    writing, the army departs from their quarters to advance on Ghent
+    to demand the conditions lately offered them, and the bearer of
+    this letter will tell you what is the result. M. the duke and
+    his army marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of the
+    citizens. They are very bitter and despondent. M. the marshall has
+    been parleying. I hear that matters have been settled. I hear that
+    the Ghenters' loss is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I
+    cannot write more for I have no time owing to the haste of the
+    messenger."
+
+This was written July 23d. There is another despatch of July 31st,
+giving the last news, which was "very joyous." The public apology had
+just been enacted--
+
+    "and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as a confession
+    that my said seigneur was victorious, those of Ghent have
+    delivered up all their banners to the number of eighty. And on
+    this day my said lord has created seven or eight knights and
+    heralds in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable."[20]
+
+The duke's victory was certainly "inestimable" in its value to him,
+yet, in spite of the rigour enforced on this defeated people, they
+were not as crushed as they might have been had they submitted in
+1445. Philip was clever enough to be more lenient than appeared at
+first. Ancient privileges were confirmed in a special compact, and the
+duke swore to maintain all former concessions in their entirety except
+in the points above specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed, and
+it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff refused to sustain the
+sheriffs in their exercise of justice, or tried to arrogate to himself
+more than his due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly, and
+more important than all, the duke made no attempt to revive the demand
+for the _gabelle_--salt was left free and untaxed. As a matter of
+fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfilment of every item
+of the treaty and, two years later, he increased certain privileges.
+He had cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to pit his strength
+again with Flemish communes. He had taught the audacious rebels a
+lesson and that sufficed him.[21]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Blok, _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg.
+Oostenrijksche Heerschappij,_ p. 84.]
+
+[Footnote 2: La Marche, ii., 79, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See also _Chronijcke van Nederlant,_ p. 76, and
+_Vlaamsche Kronijk,_ p. 203. Ed. C. Piot.]
+
+[Footnote 4: D'Escouchy, _Chronique_, i., 110.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The items of the funeral expenses can be found in
+Laborde, i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In that same year, 1440, in which this gift is recorded,
+there is another item showing how Charles took his amusement not only
+on the harp but in planning some of the elaborate surprises regularly
+introduced between courses in the banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter,
+for making the cover of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present
+to Monseigneur on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v
+francs" (Laborde, i., 381).]
+
+[Footnote 7: La Marche, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's
+outfit cost 360 livres.]
+
+[Footnote 9: La Marche, i., ch. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv. Kervyn quotes from
+the _Dagboek des gentsche collatie_, M. Schayes.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Meyer, xvi., 303.]
+
+[Footnote 12: They were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says
+that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of
+sheriffs and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their
+seignories.--(La Marche, ii., 221. _See also_ d'Escouchy, ii., 25.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: La Marche, ii., 230.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Associations of merchants in foreign cities.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, _OEuvres_, ii., 221.]
+
+[Footnote 16: La Marche, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278. See also
+_Chronique d'Adrian de Budt_, p. 242, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Meyer, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313. Lavisse, _Histoire
+de France_, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain (ii., 375)
+puts the number at 22-30,000, including those drowned by the duke's
+order. Du Clercq lets a certain sympathy for the rebellious people
+escape his pen. Chastellain and La Marche treat the antagonism to
+taxes as unreasonable.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Chastellain, ii., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 19: La Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for
+this event.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Revue des sociétés savantes des départements_, 7me.
+série, 6, p. 209.
+
+These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated July 31 and
+August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont to the magistrates
+of Baume. The former was one of the highest officials in the
+Franche-Comté. The reporter might have been one of his secretaries.
+The two notes with their unsigned enclosures were discovered (1881)in
+the archives of the town of Baume-les-Dames.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv., 494.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+1454
+
+
+After the fatigues of this contest with Ghent, followed a period of
+relaxation for the Burgundian nobles at Lille, where a notable
+round of gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph of Cleves
+inaugurated the series with an entertainment where, among other
+things, he delighted his friends by a representation of the tale of
+the miraculous swan,[1] famous in the annals of his house for bringing
+the opportune knight down the Rhine to wed the forlorn heiress.
+
+When his satisfied guests took their leave, Adolph placed a chaplet on
+the head of one of the gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a new
+amusement for the company; and under the invitation lurked a tacit
+challenge to make the coming occasion more brilliant than the first.
+Again and again was this process repeated. Entertainment followed
+entertainment, all a mixture of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose
+preparation the successive hosts vied with each other to attain
+perfection.
+
+The hard times, the stress of ready money, so eloquently painted when
+the merchants were implored to take pity on their poverty-stricken
+lord, were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest tide for skilled
+craftsmen and artisans. Any one blessed with a clever or fantastic
+idea easily found a market for the product of his brain. He could see
+his poetic or quaint conception presented to an applauding public with
+a wealth of paraphernalia that a modern stage manager would not
+scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be inferred from the ducal
+accounts, which are eloquent with information about the creators of
+all this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the wage earned by a
+painter, while the plumbers received eight. These latter were called
+upon to coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often more
+grotesque than graceful.
+
+One fête followed another from the early autumn of 1453 to February,
+1454, when "The Feast of the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was
+called, crowned the series with an elaborate magnificence that has
+never been surpassed.
+
+Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dramatic effect and it is
+more than possible that he instigated the progressive banquets for the
+express purpose of leading up to the occasion with which he intended
+to dazzle Europe.[2]
+
+[Illustration: COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER]
+
+For the duke's thoughts were now turned from civic revolts to a great
+international movement which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost
+coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Philip's will had been
+the capitulation of Constantinople to the Turks. The event long
+dreaded by pope and Christendom had happened at last (May 29, 1453).
+Again and again was the necessity for a united opposition to the
+inroads of the dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve of St.
+Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bringing an official letter
+from the pope, setting forth the dire stress of the Christian Church,
+and imploring the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her saviour,
+and to assume the leadership of a crusade in her behalf against the
+encroaching Turk.[2]
+
+Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer. Whatever the exact
+sequence of his plans in relation to the court revels, the result was
+that his own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for blazoning
+forth to the world with a flourish of trumpets his august intention of
+dislodging the invader from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.
+
+The superintendence of the arrangements for this all-eclipsing fête
+was entrusted, as La Marche relates,
+
+    "to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of the Golden
+    Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman, and to one Squire Jehan
+    Boudault, a notable and discreet man. And the duke honoured me so
+    far that he desired me to be consulted. Several councils were held
+    for the matter to which the chancellor and the first chamberlain
+    were invited. The latter had just returned from the war in
+    Luxemburg already described.
+
+    "These council meetings were very important and very private, and
+    after discussion it was decided what ceremonies and mysteries were
+    to be presented. The duke desired that I should personate the
+    character of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at this
+    assembly."
+
+As in many half amateur affairs the preparations took more time than
+was expected. At the first date set, all was not in readiness and the
+performance was postponed until February 17th. This entailed serious
+loss upon the provision merchants and they received compensation for
+the spoiled birds and other perishable edibles.[4]
+
+The gala-day opened with a tournament at which Adolph of Cleves again
+sported as Knight of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers. After
+the jousting, the guests adjourned to the banqueting hall, where fancy
+had indeed, run riot, to make ready for their admiring eyes and their
+sagacious palates. _Entremets_ is the term applied to the elaborate
+set pieces and side-shows provided to entertain the feasters between
+courses, and these were on an unprecedented scale.
+
+Three tables stood prepared respectively for the duke and his suite,
+for the Count of Charolais, his cousins, and their comrades, and for
+the knights and ladies. The first table was decorated with marvellous
+constructions, among which was a cruciform church whose mimic clock
+tower was capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers. The
+enormous pie in which twenty-eight musicians were discovered when the
+crust was cut may have been the original of that pasty whose opening
+revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar plight. Wild animals
+wandered gravely at a machinist's will through deep forests, but in
+the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at least one live lion,
+for Gilles le Cat[5] received twenty shillings from the duke for the
+chain and locks he made to hold the savage beast fast "on the day of
+the said banquet."
+
+Again there was an anchored ship, manned with a full crew and rigged
+completely. "I hardly think," observes La Marche, "that the greatest
+ship in the world has a greater number of ropes and sails."
+
+Before the guests seated themselves they wandered around the hall
+and inspected the decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration
+exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the toothsome dainties
+provided for their delectation.
+
+During the progress of the banquet, the story of Jason was enacted.
+Time there certainly was for the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight
+dishes to every course, though he qualifies his statement by the
+admission that his memory might be inexact. These dishes were wheeled
+over the tables in little chariots before each person in turn.
+
+"Such were the mundane marvels that graced the fête," is the
+conclusion of La Marche's[6] exhaustive enumeration of the
+masterpieces from artists' workshops and ducal kitchen.
+
+    "I will leave them now to record a pity moving _entremets_ which
+    seemed to be more special than the others. Through the portal
+    whence the previous actors had made their entrance, came a giant
+    larger without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long
+    green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in Granada.
+    His left hand held a great, old-fashioned two-bladed axe, his
+    right hand led an elephant covered with silk. On its back was a
+    castle wherein sat a lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of
+    black cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse.[7]
+
+    "Once within the hall and in sight of the noble company, like one
+    who had work before her, she said to the giant, her conductor:
+
+      "'Giant, prithee let me stay
+        For I spy a noble throng
+        To whom I wish to speak.'
+
+     "At these words her guide conducted his charge before the ducal
+    table and there she made a piteous appeal to all assembled to come
+    to rescue her, Holy Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving
+    miscreants. As soon as she ceased speaking a body of officers
+    entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms, bringing up the rear.
+    This last carried a live pheasant ornamented with a rich collar of
+    gold studded with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maidens,
+    Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the duke, and Isabelle
+    of Neufchâtel, escorted by two gentlemen of the Order. They all
+    proceeded to the host. After greetings, Toison d'Or then said:
+
+    "'High and puissant prince and my redoubtable lord, here are
+    ladies who recommend themselves very humbly to you because it is,
+    and has been, the custom at great feasts and noble assemblies to
+    present to the lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird
+    whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am sent hither with
+    these two demoiselles to present to you this noble pheasant,
+    praying you to remember them.'
+
+    "When these words were said, Monseigneur the duke, who knew for
+    what purpose he had given the banquet, looked at the personified
+    Church, and then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his
+    bosom a document containing his vow to succour Christianity, as
+    will appear later. The Church manifested her joy, and seeing that
+    my said seigneur had given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst
+    forth forth into rhyme:
+
+      "'God be praised and highly served
+        By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France.
+        Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed
+        Until it seemed thou wert reserved
+        To bring me my deliverance.
+        Near and far I seek alliance
+        And pray to God to grant thee grace
+        To work His pleasure in thy place.
+
+      "'0 every prince and noble, man and knight,
+        Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed.
+        Abandon ease, abjure delight,
+        Lift up your hand, each in his right,
+        Offer God the savings from thy greed.
+        I take my leave, imploring each, indeed,
+        To risk his life for Christian gain,
+        To serve his God and 'suage my pain.'
+
+    "At this the giant led off the elephant and departed by the same
+    way in which he had entered.
+
+    "When I had seen this _entremets_, that is, the Church and a
+    castle on the back of such a strange beast, I pondered as to
+    whether I could understand what it meant and could not make it out
+    otherwise except that she had brought this beast, rare among us,
+    in sign that she toiled and laboured in great adversity in the
+    region of Constantinople, whose trials we know, and the castle in
+    which she was signified Faith. Moreover, because this lady was
+    conducted by this mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished
+    to denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had chased her away
+    and sought her destruction.
+
+    "As soon as this play was played out, the noble gentlemen, moved
+    by pity and compassion, hastened to make vows, each in his own
+    fashion."
+
+    The vow of the Count of Charolais was as follows: "I swear to God
+    my creator, and to His glorious mother, to the ladies and to the
+    pheasant, that, if my very redoubtable lord and father embark on
+    this holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I accompany him,
+    I will go and will serve him as well as I can and know how to do."
+
+Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fantastic conditions being
+appended according to individual fancy. One gentleman decided never to
+go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were accomplished. Another
+that he would eat nothing on Fridays that had ever lived until he
+had had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand to hand, and of
+attacking, at peril of his life, the banner of the Grand Turk.
+
+Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tuesday and to wear no
+protection on his right arm. This last the duke refused to permit.
+Hugues de Longueval vowed that when he had once turned his face to the
+East he would abstain from wine until he had plunged his sword in an
+infidel's blood, and that he would devote two years to the crusade
+even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople were not
+recovered. Louis de Chevelast swore that no covering should protect
+his head until he had come to within four leagues of the infidels,
+and that he would fight a Turk on foot with nothing on his arm but a
+glove. There was the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets and
+many of the self-imposed penalties were as bizarre as the side-shows.
+
+There were so many chevaliers eager to bind themselves to the
+enterprise that the prolonged ceremony threatened to become tedious.
+The duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would be equally valid
+as the day.[8]
+
+The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made his going
+dependent on the consent of the King of France, a condition very
+displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]
+
+    "To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the banquet was
+    finished and the cloth removed and every one began to walk
+    around the room. To me it seemed like a dream, for, of all the
+    decorations, soon nothing remained but the crystal fountain.
+    When there was no further spectacle to distract me, then my
+    understanding began to work and various considerations touching
+    this business came into my mind. First, I pondered upon the
+    outrageous excess and great expense incurred in a brief space by
+    these banquets, for this fashion of progressive entertainments,
+    with the hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time. All
+    had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all, especially my
+    said lord, had spent so much that I considered the whole thing
+    outrageous and without any justification for the expense, except
+    as regarded the _entremets_ of the Church and the vows. Even that
+    seemed to me too lightly treated for an important enterprise.
+
+    "Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a gentleman,
+    councillor and chamberlain, who was in my lord's confidence and
+    with whom I had some acquaintance. To him I imparted my thoughts
+    in the course of a friendly chat and his comment was as follows:
+
+    "'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet entertainments
+    would never have occurred except by the secret desire of the duke
+    to lead up to this very banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy
+    purpose and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three years
+    now since the distress of our Church was presented to the Knights
+    of the Golden Fleece at Mons. My lord there dedicated his person
+    and his wealth to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion
+    of Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and money. Thanks
+    be to God, he has attained there a good and honourable peace, as
+    every one knows. Now it has chanced that, during this very period,
+    the Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in their
+    capture of Constantinople. The need of succour is very pressing
+    and all that you have witnessed to-day is proof that the good duke
+    is intent on the weal of Christendom.'"
+
+During the progress of this conversation, a new company was ushered
+into the hall, preceded by musicians. Here came _Grâce Dieu_, clad
+as a nun followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and black velvet
+ornamented with jewels. Not alone did they come. Each gentleman
+escorted a dame wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged
+round skirt _à la Portuguaise. Grâce Dieu_ declared in rhyme that God
+had heard the pious resolution of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had
+forthwith sent her with her twelve attendants to promise him a happy
+termination to his enterprise. Her ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice,
+Reason, Prudence, and their sisters, were then presented to him.
+_Grâce Dieu_ departs alone and no sooner has she disappeared than
+Philip's new attributes begin to dance to add to the good cheer. Among
+the knights was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among the ladies
+was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy, and the others were all of high
+birth. Not until two o'clock did the revels finally cease.
+
+It must be noted that La Marche's reflections upon the extravagance of
+the entertainment occur also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both
+drew their moralising from another author. It is stated by several
+reputable chroniclers that Olivier de la Marche himself represented
+the Church. That he merely wrote her lines is far more probable.
+Female performers certainly appeared freely in these as in other
+masques, and there was no reason for putting a handsome youth in this
+rôle of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans that La Marche
+claims to have heard discussed in the council meeting, he says plainly
+that he was to play the rôle of Holy Church, but as he makes no
+further allusion to the fact, it may be dismissed as one of his
+careless statements.
+
+This pompous announcement of big plans was the prelude to nothing! Yet
+it was by no means a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to
+make this crusade the crowning event of his life, and his proceedings
+immediately after the great fête were all to further that end. To
+obtain allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to ensure a peaceful
+succession for his son in case of his own death in the East--such were
+the cares demanding the duke's attention.
+
+The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was entrusted with the regency
+for the term of his father's sojourn abroad in quest of allies, and
+he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of government, but he was
+speedily recalled to Lille to submit once more to paternal authority
+before being left to his own devices and to maternal bias.
+
+For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the subject of their son's
+second marriage. Isabella wished that a bride should be sought in
+England, and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles himself. The
+important topic was discussed with more or less freedom among the
+young courtiers, until the drift of the conversations, whose burden
+was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came to Philip's ears,
+together with the information that one of his own children was among
+those who incited the count to independent desires about his future
+wife. Very stern was the duke in his reprimand to the two young men.
+He acknowledged that force of circumstances had once led him into
+friendly bonds with the foes of his own France, but never had he been
+"English at heart." Charles must accept his father's decision on pain
+of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip added, turning to the
+other son, destitute of status in the eyes of the law, "if I find that
+he counsels you to oppose my will, I will have him tied up in a sack
+and thrown into the sea."[9]
+
+The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of Bourbon, daughter
+of the duke's sister, and the betrothal was hastily made. Even the
+approval of the bride's parents was dispensed with. This passed the
+more easily as the young lady herself was conveniently present in the
+Burgundian court under the guardianship of her aunt, the duchess,
+who had superintended her education. A papal dispensation was more
+necessary than paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far as
+the betrothal was concerned. To that extent was Philip obeyed. Then
+Charles returned to Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to
+obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enterprise.
+
+The duke's departure from Lille was made very privately at five
+o'clock in the morning. He was off before his courtiers were aware of
+his last preparations. That was a surprise, but not the only one in
+store for those left behind. In order to save every penny for his
+journey, Philip ordered radical retrenchment in his household
+expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his retainers were abolished
+and all alike found themselves forced to restrict their appetites to
+the dainties they could purchase with the table allowance accorded
+them. "The court's leg is broken," said Michel, the rhetorician.[10]
+
+In his own outlay there was no stinting; the duke's progress was
+pompous and stately as was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland,
+Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and obtained permission to show
+their friendship with ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of
+"_Vive Bourgogne_." Equally hospitable were the German cities. Game,
+wine, fodder, were offered for the traveller's use at every stage, as
+he and his suite rode to the imperial diet.
+
+At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The emperor whom he had come
+so far to see in person failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the
+plan of co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic
+simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially lazy, he shrank from
+committing himself to a difficult enterprise, nor was his ambition
+tempted by possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the crown
+of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had he been personally ambitious
+he might still have been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's
+project, in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing renown of the
+greatest duke of the Occident might throw a poor emperor as ally
+into the shade. The very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had
+chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he sent his secretary,
+Æneas Sylvius, to represent him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from
+pleasing to the visitor.
+
+There were other defections, too, from the diet. None of those present
+was in a position to aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter
+was brought forward and laid on the table to be discussed at the next
+diet, appointed to meet in November at Frankfort. But Philip would
+not wait for that. Germany did not agree with him. He was not well.
+Rumours there were of various kinds about his reasons for returning
+home. They do not seem to require much explanation, however. He had
+not been met half way in Germany and was highly displeased at the
+failure. Declining all further entertainment proffered by the cities,
+he travelled back to Besançon by way of Stuttgart and Basel. In the
+early autumn he was at Dijon.
+
+During this summer, negotiations about Charles's marriage had
+continued. The Duke of Bourbon was inclined to chaffer about the dowry
+demanded by Philip. One of the estates asked for was Chinon, and it
+was urged that it, a male fief, was not capable of alienation. Philip
+was not inclined to accept this reason as final and the negotiations
+hung fire, much to the distress of the Duchess of Bourbon, who feared
+a breach between her husband and brother. Naïve are the phrases in one
+of her letters as quoted by Chastellain[11]:
+
+    "MY VERY DEAR SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,
+
+    "I have heard all Boudault's message from you ... To be brief,
+    Monseigneur is content and ready to accede the points that you
+    demand. It seems to me that you ought to give him easy terms and
+    that you ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against
+    him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as done, I beg you to
+    celebrate the nuptials as soon as possible although not without me
+    as you have promised me."[12]
+
+The king, too, was interested in the matter, and wrote as follows to
+Duke Philip:
+
+    "DEAR AND MUCH LOVED BROTHER:
+
+    "Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed me of the
+    negotiations for the marriage of my cousin of Charolais, your son,
+    to my cousin Isabella of Bourbon, his daughter, which marriage
+    has been deferred, as he writes me, because he does not wish to
+    alienate to his daughter the seignory of Château-Chinon. It is not
+    possible for him to do this on account of the marriage agreement
+    of our daughter Jeanne and my cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein
+    it was stipulated that Château-Chinon should go to them and their
+    heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female line, and in
+    default of heirs male it must return to the crown as a true
+    appanage of France.
+
+    "Lest, peradventure, you may doubt the truth of this, and imagine
+    that the point is urged by our cousin of Bourbon simply as an
+    excuse for not ceding the estate, we assure you that it is true,
+    and was considered in arranging the alliance of our daughter so
+    that it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to make any
+    alienation or transfer of the territory at the marriage of his
+    daughter. We never would have permitted the marriage of our
+    daughter without this express settlement. With this consideration
+    it seems to me that you ought not to block the marriage in
+    question, especially as my cousin says he is offering you an
+    equivalent. He cannot do more as we have charged our councillor,
+    the bailiff of Berry, to explain to you in full. So pray do not
+    postpone the marriage for the above cause or for any cause, if
+    by the permission of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be
+    lawfully completed.
+
+    "Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17.
+
+    "CHARLES.[13]
+
+    CHALIGAUT."
+
+
+As the marriage was an event of importance, and the circumstances
+are simple historic facts, it is strange that there should be any
+uncertainty regarding the details of its solemnisation. But there is a
+certain vagueness about the narratives. One version is so amusing that
+it deserves a slight consideration.[14] The chronicler relates how
+Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay in the negotiations.
+Conscious of the sentiments of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared
+lest her well-known sympathies for England might prevail in the final
+decision.
+
+When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff of Berry came as the
+king's special envoy to discuss some aspects of the subject with him.
+The mission was gladly undertaken as the messenger had never seen
+Philip nor his court and he was pleased at the chance of meeting a
+personage whose fame rang through Europe. Very graciously was he
+received by the duke, who read the king's letters attentively and
+replied to the envoy's messages in general terms of courteous
+recognition, without making his own intention manifest. The bailiff
+waited for an answer, finding, in the meanwhile, that his days passed
+very agreeably.
+
+As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon Philip Pot had set
+out for the Netherlands, bearing the duke's orders to his son to
+celebrate his nuptials without further delay. The duke did not intend
+to be influenced by any one. It was his will that his son should
+accept the bride selected and that was all sufficient. The reason why
+the duke detained the king's messenger was that he "awaited news from
+Messire Philip de Pot, whom he had sent in all speed to his son to
+hasten the wedding."[15] The said gentleman found the count at Lille
+with the duchess, his mother, and he was so diligent in the discharge
+of his mission that he made all the arrangements himself and saw the
+wedding rites solemnised immediately. The bridegroom did not even know
+of the plan until the night preceding the important day. Then Philip
+Pot rode back to Dijon.
+
+When the duke was assured that the alliance was irrevocably sealed
+he was quite ready to answer the king's messenger, whom he at once
+invited to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip remarked:
+
+"Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a matter which I am
+humbly grateful for his interest in. You know my opinion. I had no
+desire to dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from Flanders; ask him
+his news and note his reply."
+
+"What tidings, Monsieur, do you bring us?
+
+Prithee impart it" said the bailiff to the chevalier. And the
+gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my faith, Monsieur bailiff, the
+greatest news that I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is
+married!"
+
+"Married! to whom?"
+
+"To whom?" responded the chevalier, "why, to his first cousin,
+Monseigneur's niece."
+
+Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's blank amazement. Again the
+latter had to be reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip Pot
+told him that it was so true that the wedded pair had spent the night
+together according to their lawful right.
+
+The bailiff did not know which way to turn. "So he acted out his
+two rôles. Returning thanks to the duke in the king's name with all
+formality, he then joined in the general laugh over the unsuspected
+trick. He was a man of the world and knew how to take advantage of
+sense and of folly."
+
+It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the wedding knot that the
+Countess of Charolais sent a messenger to announce the fact to her
+parents. They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made no further
+objection to any point, and the mooted territory of Chinon made part
+of the dower in spite of the reasons urged against it.
+
+As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at Dijon, Philip presented
+him with a round dozen stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks,
+and he went home a surprised and delighted man.
+
+    "About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Monsieur de Charolais
+    married Mademoiselle de Bourbon and he married her on the eve of
+    All Saints[16] at Lille, and there was no festival because Duke
+    Philip was then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the
+    duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the ladies of
+    Lille, but they were seated all together, as is usually done at
+    an ordinary banquet, without mesdames holding state as would have
+    been proper for such an occasion."
+
+It is evident from all the stories that Charles protested against his
+father's orders as much as he dared and then obeyed simply because he
+could not help himself.
+
+Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom proved a faithful
+husband in a court where marital fidelity was a rare trait.
+
+Philip's plans for the international union against the Turk were less
+easily completed than those for the union of his son and his niece. In
+November, the diet met at Frankfort; the expedition was discussed and
+some resolutions were passed, but nothing further was achieved.
+
+Charles VII. would not even promise co-operation on paper. He had
+gradually extended his own domain in French-speaking territory and had
+dislodged the English from every stronghold except Guisnes and Calais.
+Under him France was regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose,
+therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by Philip and he was
+wholly unwilling to risk it. From him Philip obtained only expressions
+of general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and more definite
+suggestions of the dangers that would menace Western Europe if all her
+natural defenders carried their arms and their fortunes to the East.
+
+When the anniversary of the great fête came round not a vow was yet
+fulfilled!
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The chroniclers are not at one on this point.]
+
+[Footnote 3: DuClercq, _Mémoires_, ii., 159.]
+
+[Footnote 4: This banquet at Lille was the subject of several
+descriptions by spectators or at least contemporary authors.
+
+The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript copied from an
+older one which contains the order of proceedings together with the
+text of all vows. There is a minute description in Mathieu d'Escouchy,
+who claims to have been present, and in a manuscript coming from
+Baluze, whose anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of
+the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most original.
+One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon, called Dion du Cret,
+received, in 1455, a sum of five francs and a half for having, at the
+order of the accountants, copied and written in parchment the history
+of the banquet of my said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453,
+containing fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note).
+It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with this
+account, which seems to have been merely a copy.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Laborde, i., 127.]
+
+[Footnote 6: II., 361.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion.
+_Béguine_ is probably the right reading.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Mathieu d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as
+though made then, and differs in many unessential points from La
+Marche's account.
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clerq, ii., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 10:'"Michel dit que le gigot de la cour était rompu."--La
+Marche, i., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Chastellain, iii., 20, note.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "Toute fois que ce ne soit pas sans moy."]
+
+[Footnote 13: The original, signed, is in the _Archives de la
+Côte-d'Or,_ B. 200. _See_ Du Fresne de Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
+VII_., v. 470.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Chastellain, iii., 23, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 24]
+
+
+[Footnote 16: The chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain
+(iii., 25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch.
+cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallowe'en _(Les
+Honneurs de la Cour_, p. 187). The last was one of Isabella's ladies
+in waiting.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+1455-1456.
+
+
+The duke's journey failed in accomplishing its object, but it proved
+an important factor in the development of the character of Charles of
+Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the government in his father's
+absence changed him from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he
+was, was plain to see.
+
+His character was built on singularly simple lines. Vigorous of
+body, intense of purpose, inclined to melancholy, he was profoundly
+convinced of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke in
+Christendom, as future successor to an uncrowned potentate, who could
+afford to treat lightly the authority of both king and emperor whose
+nominal vassal he was.
+
+The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an immense effect in enhancing
+the count's belief in his father's power, in causing him to forget
+that the communes of Flanders did not owe their existence to their
+overlord. As yet, Charles of Burgundy had not met a single check to
+his self-esteem, to his family pride. As a governor, he probably
+exercised his brief authority with the rigour of one new to the helm.
+
+    "And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well and so virtuously
+    in the task, that nothing deteriorated under his hand, and when
+    the good duke returned from his journey, he found his lands as
+    intact as before."
+
+Such, is La Marche's testimony.[1] Intact undoubtedly, but possibly
+the satisfaction was not quite perfect. Du Clercq[2] declares that
+Count Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge and made
+himself respected as a magistrate. Above all, he insisted that justice
+should be dealt out to all alike. The only danger in his methods was
+that he acted on impulse without sufficiently informing himself of the
+matter in hand, or hearing both sides of a controversy. As a result,
+his decisions were not always impartial and the father was preferred
+to the strenuous and impetuous son. "Not that Philip was often
+inclined to recognise other law than his own will, but he was more
+tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more guided by reason," adds
+a later author.[2] There was an evident dread as to what might be the
+outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour.
+
+The duke's chief measures after his return in February, 1455, seemed
+hardly calculated to arouse any great personal devotion to himself or
+a profound trust that his first consideration was for the advantage of
+his Netherland subjects. His thoughts were still turned to the East,
+and his main interest in the individual countships was as sources of
+supply for his Holy War. Considerable sums flowed into his exchequer
+that were never used for their destined purpose, but the duke cannot
+be justly accused of actual bad faith in amassing them. His intention
+to make the Eastern campaign remained firm for some years.
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF CHARLES THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK]
+
+In another matter, his despotic exercise of personal authority, far
+without the pale of his jurisdiction inherited or acquired, shows no
+shadow of excuse.
+
+In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical head was also lay
+lord. Here the counts of Holland possessed no voice. They were near
+neighbours, that was all. Philip ardently desired to be more in this
+tiny independent state in the midst of territories acknowledging his
+sway.
+
+In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and Philip was most anxious
+to have it filled by his son David, whom he had already made Bishop of
+Thérouanne by somewhat questionable methods. The Duke of Guelders
+also had a neighbourly interest in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet
+candidate, Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged. The chapter
+resolutely ignored the wishes of both dukes and the canons were almost
+unanimous in their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.[4]
+
+A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria, but not a single
+one for David of Burgundy.
+
+Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral and an eminently
+worthy choice, both for his attainments and for his character. He was
+proclaimed in the cathedral, installed in the palace, and confirmed,
+as regarded his temporal power, by the emperor.
+
+Philip, however, refused to accept the returns, although not a single
+suffrage had been cast by the qualified electors for his son. He
+despatched the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new pope,
+Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late election and to confer
+the see upon David, out of hand. Philip's tender conscience found
+Gijsbrecht ineligible to an episcopal office because he had
+participated in the war against Ghent, certainly a weak plea in an age
+of militant bishops!
+
+The pope was afraid to offend the one man in Europe upon whose
+immediate aid he counted in the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift
+of four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys, the customary
+gift in asking papal confirmation for a bishop-elect, but secretly
+he delivered to Philip's ambassador letters patent creating David of
+Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.[5]
+
+The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically that David was elected
+to the see, and the Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
+Philip had to levy an army and come in person to support the new
+bishop.[6] Du Clercq puts a different colour on the story and
+d'Escouchy[7] implies that the whole trouble arose from party strife
+which had to be quelled in the interests of law and order.
+
+Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters by imposing upon
+them a spiritual director of acknowledged base birth, the right of
+choice lay with them and the emperor had confirmed their choice as far
+as the lay office was concerned. While the issue was undecided, the
+Estates of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and defender of the
+see to assure him a legal status pending the papal ratification. The
+people were prepared to support their candidate with arms, a game that
+Philip did not refuse, and the force of thirty thousand men with which
+he invaded the bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two and
+able to carry David of Burgundy to the episcopal throne, upon which he
+was seated in his father's presence, October 16, 1455.
+
+Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advantages from the situation.
+Alkmaar and Kennemerland redeemed certain forfeited privileges by
+means of their contributions to the duke's army. The city of Utrecht
+preferred a compromise to the risk of war. The bishop-elect,
+Gijsbrecht, consented to withdraw his claim, being permitted to retain
+the humbler office of provost of Utrecht and an annuity of four
+thousand guilders out of the episcopal revenues.
+
+Deventer was the only place which was obstinate enough to persist in
+her rebellion and Philip was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms
+by a siege when news was brought to him that a visitor had arrived at
+Brussels under circumstances which imperatively demanded his personal
+attention.
+
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since the Treaty of Arras, there
+had been great changes in France in the character both of the realm
+and of the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved himself to
+be a very different person from the inert king of Bourges.[8] Old at
+twenty, Charles VII. seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers
+were replaced by others better chosen and his administration gradually
+became effective. Fortune favoured him in depriving England of the
+Duke of Bedford (1435), the one man who might have maintained English
+prestige abroad and peace at home during the youth of Henry VI. It was
+at a time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles VII. succeeded
+in assuming the offensive on the Continent and in wresting Normandy
+and Guienne from the late invader.
+
+But this territorial advantage was not all. Distinct progress had been
+made towards a national existence in France. The establishment of
+the nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid in curbing the
+depredations of the "_écorcheurs_," the devastating, marauding
+bands which had harassed the provinces. There was new activity in
+agriculture and industry and commerce.[9] The revival of letters and
+art, never completely stifled, proved the real vitality of France in
+spite of the depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal justice was
+reorganised, public finance was better administered. By 1456, misery
+had not, indeed, disappeared, but it was less dominant.
+
+The years of growing union between king and his kingdom were, however,
+years of discord between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis had
+not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his Burgundian cousin. Very
+poor and forlorn was his father at the time of the birth of his heir
+(1423).[10] There was nothing in the treasury to pay the chaplain who
+baptised the child or the woman who nourished him. The latter received
+no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of fifteen pounds.
+The first allowance settled on the heir to his unconsecrated royal
+father's uncertain fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every feature of
+his infancy was a marked contrast to the early life of the Count of
+Charolais.
+
+From his seventeenth year Louis was in active opposition to the
+king, heading organised rebellion against him in the war called
+the _Praguerie_. Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his charge the
+administration of Dauphiné, thus practically banishing him honourably
+from the court where he was, evidently, a disturbing element. The only
+restrictions placed upon him in his provincial government were such
+as were necessary to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown. To
+these restrictions, however, Louis paid not the slightest heed. He
+assumed all the airs of an independent sovereign. He made wars and
+treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded to arrange his own
+marriage.
+
+At this time Louis was already a widower, having been married at the
+age of thirteen to Margaret of Scotland, who led a mournful existence
+at the French court, where she felt herself a desolate alien. Her
+death at the age of twenty was possibly due to slander. "Fie upon
+life," she said on her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
+the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk to me no more of it."
+
+Her husband cared less for her life than did Margaret herself. He took
+no interest in the inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
+charges against the princess, and was more than ready to turn to a new
+alliance. At the date of his widowerhood he was in Dauphiné and his
+own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Savoy.
+After negotiations in his own behalf he informed his father of his
+matrimonial project. It did not meet the views of Charles VII., who
+ordered his son to abandon the idea immediately.
+
+A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambéry to stop the
+dauphin's nuptials.[11] The duke evaded an interview and the envoy was
+forced to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy. On the morrow
+of his arrival, he was taken to church, where the wedding ceremony was
+performed (March 10, 1451), but his seat was in such a remote place
+that he could barely catch a glimpse of the bridal procession, though
+he saw that Louis was clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two
+days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to the king, expressing
+regrets on the part of the Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made
+before the paternal prohibition arrived.
+
+Nine years were spent by Louis in Dauphiné. He introduced many
+administrative and judicial reforms, excellent in themselves but not
+popular. There were various protests and when he dared to impose taxes
+without the consent of the Estates, an appeal was made to the king
+begging him to check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles
+summoned his son to his presence. Instead of obeying this order in
+person, Louis sent envoys who were dismissed by his father with a curt
+response: "Let my son return to his duty and he shall be treated as a
+son. As to his fears, security to his person is pledged by my word,
+which my foes have never refused to accept."[12]
+
+Louis showed himself less compliant than his father's foes. As Charles
+approached Dauphiné, and made his preparations to enforce obedience,
+Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the Duke of Burgundy,
+and of the King of Castile, beside sending offerings to all the chief
+shrines in Christendom, imploring aid against parental wrath. Then
+his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He called the nobles of his
+principality to arms and bade the fortified towns prepare for siege,
+while he loftily declared that he would not trouble his father to seek
+him. He would meet him at Lyons.
+
+Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was directed by the king to take
+military possession of Dauphiné and to put the dauphin under arrest.
+As he was _en route_ to fulfil these orders, the count heard that
+a day had been set by Louis for a great hunt. That an excellent
+opportunity might be afforded for securing his quarry in the course
+of the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's lieutenant. So
+there might have been had not the wily hunter received timely warning
+of the project for making _him_ the game.
+
+At the hour appointed for the meet, the dauphin's suite rode to the
+rendezvous, but the prince turned his horse in the opposite direction
+and galloped away at full speed, attended by a few trusty followers.
+He hardly stopped even to take breath until he was out of his father's
+domain, and made no pause until he reached St. Claude, a small town
+in the Franche-Comté, where he threw himself on the kindness of the
+Prince of Orange.
+
+How gossip about this strange departure of the French heir fluttered
+here and there! Du Clercq[13] tells the story with some variation from
+the above outline, laying more stress on the popular appeal to the
+king for relief from Louis's transgressions as governor of Dauphiné,
+and enlarging on the accusation that Louis was responsible for the
+death of _La belle Agnès_, "the first lady of the land possessing the
+king's perfect love." He adds that the dauphin was further displeased
+because the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de Villeclerc,
+was kept at court after her aunt's death. Wherever the king went he
+was followed by this lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
+this conduct of his father that had forced the son to absent himself
+from court life for twelve years and more, during which time he
+received no allowance as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
+obliged to make his own requisitions from his seigniory.
+
+There were other reports that the king was quite ready to accord his
+son his full state; others, again, that Charles drove Louis into exile
+from mere dislike and intended to make his second son his heir and
+successor. At this point Du Clercq's manuscript is broken off abruptly
+and the remainder of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where the
+text begins again, the author dismisses all this contradictory hearsay
+and says in his own character as veracious chronicler, "I concern
+myself only with what actually occurred. The dauphin gave a feast
+in the forest and then departed secretly to avoid being arrested by
+Dammartin."
+
+This flight was the not unnatural termination of a long series of
+misunderstandings between a father whose private conduct was not above
+criticism, and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute of respect for
+any person or thing except for the superstitious side of his religion.
+
+Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man whose mental development
+occurred during the later years of his life. When his son was under
+his personal influence his character was not one to instil filial
+deference, and Louis certainly cherished neither respect nor affection
+for the father whose inert years he remembered vividly.
+
+Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in Agnes Sorel's death which
+gave him especial reason to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
+of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he travelled as rapidly
+as his steed could go, and from that spot on Burgundian soil he
+despatched the following exemplary letter to his father:
+
+    "MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LORD:
+
+    "To your good grace I recommend myself as humbly as I can. Be
+    pleased to know, my very redoubtable lord, that because, as you
+    know, my uncle of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade
+    against the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because my
+    desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting, considering that
+    our Holy Father the Pope bade me so to do, and that I am standard
+    bearer of the Church, and that I took the oath by your command, I
+    am now on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that I can
+    take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith.
+
+    "Also, I wish to implore him to find means of reinstating me in
+    your good grace, which is something that I desire most in the
+    world. My very redoubtable lord, I pray God to give you good life
+    and long.
+
+    "Written at St. Claude the last day of August.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient son,
+
+    "LOYS."[14]
+
+
+This letter hardly succeeded in carrying conviction to the king.
+He characterised the projected expedition to Turkey as a farce, a
+pretence, and a frivolous excuse.[15] Probably, too, he did not
+contradict his courtiers when they declared that the project had
+been in the wind a long time, and that the Duke of Burgundy would
+be prouder than ever to have the heir to France dependent on his
+protection.
+
+The epistle despatched, Louis continued his journey under the escort
+of the Seigneur de Blaumont, Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of
+thirty horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit of Tristan
+l'Hermite. The prince needed no spurs to make him flee. Even if his
+father did not intend to have him drowned in a sack his immediate
+liberty was certainly in jeopardy. "In truth this thing was a
+marvellous business. The Prince of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy
+were the two men whom the dauphin hated more than any one else,
+but necessity, which knows no law, overcame the distaste of the
+dauphin."[16]
+
+Louvain was the next place where Louis felt safe enough to rest. Here
+he wrote to the Duke of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his
+territory. The letter found Philip in camp before Deventer. It is
+evident that he was entirely taken by surprise, and was prepared to be
+very cautious in his correspondence with the French king. He assured
+him that he was willing to receive and honour Louis as his suzerain's
+heir, but he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the duke, for
+that heir's flight to his protection.
+
+His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many reassuring messages in
+addition to the epistle. Before he reached the French court, his
+news was no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The messenger was very
+eloquent in his assurances to the king that Philip was wholly innocent
+in the affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet
+
+    "stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do not know what
+    they discussed, but during that time news came that the king had
+    garrisoned Compiègne, Lyons, and places where his lands touched
+    the duke's territories. When the envoy returned to the duke, he
+    published a manifesto ordering all who could bear arms to be in
+    readiness."[17]
+
+Philip sent messages of welcome to Louis with apologies for his
+own inevitable absence, and the visitor was profuse in his return
+assurances to his uncle that he understood the delay and would not
+disturb his business for the world. "I have leisure enough to wait and
+it does not weary me. I am safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town
+which I have long wished to see." He showed his courtesy when the
+Count d'Étampes, Philip's nephew-in-law, presented his suite, by
+pronouncing each individual name and assuring its bearer that he had
+heard about him.[18]
+
+The count was commissioned to conduct the dauphin to Brussels and we
+have the story of an eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the
+ducal family:
+
+    "I saw the King of France, father of the present King Charles,
+    chased away by his father Charles for some difference of which
+    they say that the fair Agnes was the cause, and on account of
+    which he took refuge with Duke Philip, for he had no means of
+    subsistence.[19]
+
+    "The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to Brussels accompanied
+    by about ten cavaliers and by the Marshal of Burgundy. At this
+    time Duke Philip was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to
+    receive the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and Madame
+    de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant with Madame Mary of
+    Burgundy, since then Duchess of Austria.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where were the ladies,
+    at eight o'clock in the evening, about St. Martin's Day.[20] When
+    the ladies heard that he was in the city they hastened down to the
+    courtyard to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted and
+    saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charolais and Mme. de
+    Ravestein. All kneeled and then he kissed the other ladies of the
+    court."
+
+Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter of an hour was
+consumed by a friendly altercation between Isabella and her guest as
+to the exact way in which they should enter the door, the dauphin
+resolute in his refusal to take precedence and Isabella equally
+resolute not even to walk by the side of the future king. "Monsieur,
+it seems to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for you wish
+me to do what befits me not." To this the dauphin replied that it was
+incumbent upon him to pay honour for there was none in the realm of
+France so poor as he, and that he would not have known whither to flee
+if not to his uncle Philip and to her.
+
+Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess and guest finally
+proceeded hand in hand to the chamber prepared for the latter and
+Isabella then took leave on bended knee.
+
+When the duke returned to Brussels this contention as to the proper
+etiquette was renewed. Isabella tried to retain the dauphin in his own
+apartment so that the duke should greet him there as befitted their
+relative rank. She was greatly chagrined, therefore, when Louis
+rushed down to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival. This
+punctilious hostess actually held the prince back by his coat to
+prevent his advancing towards the duke.
+
+Throughout the visit the minor points of etiquette were observed with
+the utmost care. Both duchess and countess refrained from employing
+their train-bearers when they entered the dauphin's presence. When he
+insisted that his hostess should walk by his side, she managed her own
+train if possible. If she accepted any aid from her gentlemen she was
+very careful to keep her hand upon the dress, so that technically she
+was still her own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess ate in the
+dauphin's presence, there was no cover to her dish and nothing was
+tasted in her behalf.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis with every requisite, but he,
+too, never forgot for a moment that this dependent visitor was future
+monarch of France. Without doors as within, every minor detail of
+etiquette was observed. The duke never so far forgot himself in the
+ardour of the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance beyond
+the tail of the prince's steed.
+
+In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary of Burgundy was born.
+Our observant court lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed
+in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and at the baptism.
+Brussels rang with joyful bells and blazed with torches, four hundred
+supplied by the city ahd two hundred by the young father. Each torch
+weighed four or five pounds.
+
+The Count of Charolais was his own messenger to announce the birth of
+his daughter to the dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joyful
+was Louis to accept the invitation and to bestow his mother's name on
+the baby-girl. Ste. Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church
+of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony and richly adorned
+with Holland linen, velvet, and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her
+grandchild to the font,--a font draped with cramoisy velvet.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I heard it said that
+    there was no one on the left because there was none his equal. On
+    that day, the duchess wore a round skirt _à la Portuguaise_, edged
+    with fur. There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot
+    state who carried it,"
+
+sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic.
+
+Later events made later chroniclers less enthusiastic about the honour
+paid to Mademoiselle[21] Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La
+Marche's _Mémoires_ at The Hague, the words "Lord! what a god-father!"
+appear in the margin of the page describing the baptism.[22] But in
+these early days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have been
+a pleasant person and to have posed as the ruined poor relation,
+entirely free from pride at his high birth and delighted to repay
+hospitality by his general complaisance.
+
+Charles VII. received all the reports with somewhat cynical amusement.
+He had no great trust in his son. "Louis is fickle and changeable and
+I do not doubt that he will return here before long. I am not at all
+pleased with those who influence him," are his words as quoted by
+d'Escouchy.[23]
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI FROM THE ENGRAVING BY A. BOILLY, AFTER THE
+DRAWING BY J. BOILLY]
+
+Undoubtedly, though, the king was much surprised at his son's action.
+He had rather expected him to take refuge somewhere but he never
+thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his protector--a strange
+choice to his mind. "My cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will
+eat his chickens" is reported as another comment of this impartial
+father.[24] Like many a phrase, possibly the fruit of later harvests,
+this is an excellent epitome of the situation.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: I.,ch. xxxi.]
+
+[Footnote 2:II.,204.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Barante, vi.,50.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Some of the canons wrote their reasons after their
+recorded vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate member
+of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which office
+Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all the Sticht nobles
+were his relations," etc.--(Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Historie,_ iv.,
+50.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: Du Clercq, ii., 210.]
+
+[Footnote 6: _Mémoires_, i., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 7: II., 315.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 317.]
+
+[Footnote 9: For the effects of operations on a large scale see
+_Jacques Coeur and Charles VII_., by Pierre Clémart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Duclos_, "Hist. de Louis XI.," _OEuvres Complètes_ v.,
+8.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Duclos, iii., 78.]
+
+[Footnote 12: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 292.]
+
+[Footnote 13: II.,223.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Lettres de Louis XI_., i., 77.
+
+According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter shows
+that _September 2nd_ was written first and erased.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 185.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Du Clercq, ii., 228.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Chastellain iii., 197.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Séjour de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas;_ Reiffenberg:
+Nouveaux mem. de l'Acad. Royale, 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Alienor de Poictiers, _Les Honneurs de la Cour_, ii.,
+208. It was early in October.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This date, November 11th, does not agree with the
+others.]
+
+[Footnote 21: "At that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was
+not the son of a sovereign."--La Marche, ii., 410, note.]
+
+[Footnote 22: La Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain!"]
+
+[Footnote 23: II., 343.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iii., 185; Lavisse iv^{ii}., 299.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+1456-1461
+
+
+The picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing in happy unison over the
+advent of an heiress to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with the
+dauphin participating in the family joy, shows the tranquil side of
+the first months of the long visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an
+incident had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin and Charles
+VII. were not the only father and son between whom relations were
+strained, and that a moment had arrived when the attitude of the Count
+of Charolais to the duke was no longer characterised by unquestioning
+filial obedience.
+
+Charles was on his way to Nuremberg[1] to fulfil a mission with
+certain German princes when the dauphin alighted in Brabant, like "a
+bird of ill omen," as he designated himself on one occasion. The count
+did not return to Brussels until January 12, 1457. Thus he took no
+part in the hearty welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than
+possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly pleased with the
+state of affairs placidly existing by mid-winter.
+
+Instead of resuming the first position which he had enjoyed during his
+brief regency, or the honoured second that had been his after Philip
+came back, Charles was now relegated to a third place. Further,
+without having been consulted as to the policy, he found that he
+was forced into following his father's lead in treating a penniless
+refugee like an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and a joy. It
+is more than probable that Charles was already feeling somewhat hurt
+at the duke's warmth towards Louis when a serious breach occurred
+between father and son about another matter.
+
+It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant in his own household,
+and the count assumed that the appointment of a successor was
+something that lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the duke
+interfered in a peremptory fashion and insisted that the appointment
+should be made at his instance, the son refused to accept his
+authority, especially as his father's nominee was Philip de Croy, one
+of a family already over-dominant in the Burgundian court. At least,
+that was Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed his father's
+commands to bring his _ordonnance_, or household list, to the duke's
+oratory, he unhesitatingly carried the document which contained the
+name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d'Émeries, in place of Philip de Croy.
+
+The duke was very angry at this apparent contempt for his expressed
+wishes. Indignantly he threw the lists into the fire with the words,
+"Now look to your _ordonnances_ for you will need new ones[2]."
+
+There was evidently a succession of violent scenes in which the
+duchess tried to stand between her husband and son. But Philip was
+beside himself with wrath and refused to listen to a word from her or
+from the dauphin, who also endeavoured to mediate[2].
+
+Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself, ordered a horse,
+and rode out alone into the forest of Soignies. When he became calmer
+it was dark and he found himself far from the beaten tracks, in the
+midst of underbrush through which he could not ride. He dismounted and
+wandered on foot for hours in the January night until smoke guided him
+to a charcoal burner, who conducted him to the more friendly shelter
+of a forester's hut. In the morning he made his way to Genappe.
+
+Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned. Search parties seeking
+their sovereign were out all night. No one, however, was in such a
+state of dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he would be counted
+at fault when family dissensions followed so soon on his arrival.
+Delighted he was, therefore, to act as mediator between father and
+son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified state to listen to
+reason. Charles betook himself to Dendermonde for a time until the
+duke was ready to see him[4]. His young wife made the most of her
+expectations to soften her father-in-law's resentment, and between
+her entreaties and those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his
+gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over.
+
+There was one marked difference between this family dispute and the
+breach between the French king and the dauphin. In the latter case no
+feeling was involved. In the former, the son was really deeply wounded
+by what he deemed lack of parental affection for his interests. At the
+same time he was shocked by the bitter words and was, for the moment,
+so filled with contrition that he was eager to make any concession
+agreeable to the duke. He dismissed two of his servants[5], suspected
+by his father of fomenting trouble between them, and he showed himself
+in general very willing to placate paternal displeasure.
+
+Reconciliation between duke and duchess was more difficult. Isabella
+resented Philip's reproaches for her sympathy with Charles. She said
+she had stepped between the two men because she had feared lest the
+duke might injure his son in his wrath[6]. This was in answer to the
+Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of Philip's displeasure.
+She concluded her dignified defence with an expression of her utter
+loneliness. Stranger in a strange land she had no one belonging to her
+but her son.
+
+She was certainly present at the baptism of her grandchild, but
+shortly afterwards she retired to a convent of the Grey Sisters,
+founded by herself, and rarely returned to the world or took part in
+its ceremonies during the remainder of her life.
+
+The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It is not probable that
+he had much personal liking for the guest upon whom his father heaped
+courtesies and solicitous care. On one occasion, when the two young
+men were hunting they were separated by chance. When Charles returned
+alone to the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his son's
+careless desertion of the guest in his charge. Again the court was
+organised into search parties and there was no rest until the dauphin
+was discovered some leagues from Brussels[7]. Here, also, it is an
+easy presumption that the Count of Charolais was a trifle sulky over
+his father's preoccupation in regard to the prince.
+
+The transient character of the dauphin's sojourn in his cousin's
+domains soon changed. In the summer of 1457, when news came that
+Dauphiné had submitted to Charles VII., when the successive embassies
+despatched by Philip to the king had all proved fruitless in their
+conciliatory efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent
+arrangements for the fugitive's comfort.
+
+    "Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased to deprive you
+    of Dauphiné ... you are to-day lord and prince without land. But,
+    nevertheless, you shall not be without a country, for all that I
+    have is yours and I place it within your hand without reserving
+    aught except my life and that of my wife. Pray take heart. If God
+    does not abandon me I will never abandon you[8]."
+
+The duke made good his words by giving his guest the estate of
+Genappe, of which Louis took possession at the end of July. Then as a
+further step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip sent for
+Charlotte of Savoy who had remained under her father's care ever since
+the formal marriage in 1451. She was now eighteen.
+
+It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe. Louis's favourite
+amusement of the chase was easy of access. "The court is at present
+at Louvain," wrote a courtier[9] on July 1st, "and Monseigneur the
+Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good hunting and falconry and
+a great number of rabbits within and without the city." With killing
+of every kind at his service, what greater solace could a homeless
+prince expect?
+
+From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance, and the sum of 1200
+livres, furnished by Philip for the dauphin's journey to his new
+abode, seemed a large provision. The pension then settled on him was
+36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness arrived 1000 livres a month
+were provided for her private purse[10].
+
+Pleasant was existence in this château. There was no dearth of company
+to throng around the prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no
+prejudice of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of duty towards
+his host to hamper him in making useful friends. A word here and
+a word there, aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had
+exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate, were very potent
+in intimating to many a Burgundian servant that there might come a
+time when a new king across the border might better appreciate their
+real value than their present or future sovereign.
+
+Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the dauphin did not confine his
+invitations to sportsmen. The easy accessibility of the little court
+attracted men of science and of letters as well as others capable of
+making the time pass agreeably. When there was nothing else on foot,
+it is said that the company amused themselves by telling stories,
+each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collection of the _Cent
+Nouvelles Nouvelles_[11], named in imitation of Boccaccio's _Cento
+Novelle_.
+
+The first printed edition of this collection was issued in Paris, in
+1486, by Antoine Verard, who thus admonishes the gentle reader: "Note
+that whenever _Monseigneur_ is referred to, Monseigneur the Dauphin
+must be understood, who has since succeeded to the crown and is King
+Louis. Then he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy." Another
+editor asserts that _Monseigneur_ is evidently the Duke of Burgundy
+and not Louis, and later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale
+wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio, and that the
+names of the narrators were as imaginative or rather as editorial as
+the rest of the volume.
+
+If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author would have given an
+appearance of verisimilitude to his fiction by mentioning the actual
+habitués of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count of Charolais
+does not appear at all. The duke tells three or more stories according
+to the interpretation given to _Monseigneur_. With three exceptions
+the tales are very coarse, nor does their wit atone for their
+licentiousness. Possibly Charles held himself aloof from the kind of
+talk they suggest. All reports make him rigid in standards of morality
+not observed by his fellows. That he had little to do with the court
+is certain, whatever his reason.
+
+Louis did not confine himself to the estate assigned him. There were
+various court visits to the Flemish towns where he was afforded
+excellent opportunities for seeing the wealth of the burghers and
+their status in the world of commerce.
+
+Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring his guest within her
+gates and give her an opportunity of displaying her regret for the
+past unpleasantness. "In his goodness," Philip at last yielded to
+their entreaties to make them a visit himself, but he decided not to
+take the prince or the count with him.[12] He was either afraid for
+their safety or else he did not care to bring a future French king
+into relation with citizens who might find it convenient to remember
+his suzerainty in order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign
+duke.[13]
+
+Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this state visit of
+reconciliation. The duke took the precaution to send scouts ahead to
+ascertain that the late rebels were sincere in their contrition, and
+that there was no danger of anarchist agitations. The report was
+brought back that all was calm and that joyful preparations were
+making to show appreciation of Philip's kindness.
+
+On April 22d, the duke slept at l'Écluse, and on the 23d he was gaily
+escorted into the city by knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland,
+Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor priests were in his
+train." As a further assurance to him of their peaceful intention,
+the citizens actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as to
+leave open exits.
+
+Once within the walls, the duke found the whole community, who had
+shown intelligent and sturdy determination not to endure arbitrary
+tyranny, ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical and
+classical parable whose one purpose was to prove how evil had been
+their ways. A pompous procession sang _Te Deum_ as the duke rode in,
+and the first "mystery" that met his eyes within the gates was a
+wonderful representation of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, while the
+legend "All that the Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to
+refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to the Ghenters'
+perfect submission to Philip. A young girl stood ready to greet him
+with the words of Solomon, "I have found one my soul loves."[14]
+
+All the legends were in Latin. _Inveni quem diligit anima mea._]
+
+Farther on there were various emblems all designed to compare
+Philip now to Cæsar, now to Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most
+humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed in a lion's skin,
+thus personifying the Lion of Flanders, leading Philip's horse by the
+bridle. "_Vive Bourgogne_ is now our cry," was symbolised in every
+vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent.
+
+Not altogether explicable is this extreme self-abnegation. Civic
+prosperity must have returned in four years or there would have been
+no money for the outlay. Apparently, Philip's countenance was worth
+more to them than their pride.
+
+The birth and death of two children at Genappe gave the duke new
+reasons for showering ostentatious favours on his guest, and furnished
+the dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his own father, who
+answered him in kind.
+
+The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles[l5]:
+
+  _The King to the Dauphin_, 1459.
+    "VERY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED SON:
+
+    "We have received the letters that you wrote us making mention
+    that on July 27 our dear and much loved daughter, the dauphiness,
+    was delivered of a fine boy, for which we have been and are very
+    joyous, and it seems to me that the more God our Creator grants
+    you favour, by so much the more you ought to praise and thank
+    Him and refrain from angering Him, and in all things fulfil His
+    commandments.
+
+    "Given at Compiègne, Aug.7th.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+
+During these five years, Charles was more or less aloof from the
+courts of his father and of their guest. He spent part of the time in
+Holland and part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The Count of St.
+Pol was one of his intimate friends, and a friend who managed to
+make many insinuations about the duke's treatment of his son and
+infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated with increasing
+fervency.
+
+There is a story that Charles went from Le Quesnoy to his father's
+court to demand a formal audience from the duke in order to lodge his
+protest against the Croys. Evidently relations were strained when such
+a degree of ceremony was needed between father and son.
+
+Gerard Ourré was commissioned to set forth the count's grievances, and
+he was in the midst of his carefully prepared statement when the duke
+interrupted him with the curt observation: "Have a care to say nothing
+but the truth and understand, it will be necessary to prove every
+assertion." The orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few
+moments, and then excused himself from completing his harangue.
+There were only a few nobles present and all were surprised at this
+embarrassment, as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then, seeing that
+his deputy was too much frightened to proceed, Charles took up the
+thread of his discourse. In a firm voice he continued the list of
+accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short in his turn.
+Peremptory was the duke in his command to his son to be silent and
+never again to refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip
+added "see to it that my son is satisfied with you," and withdrew from
+the audience chamber.
+
+Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be conciliatory. "When you
+have repaired the ill you have wrought I will remember the good you
+have done," was the count's only reply. He took leave of his father
+with an outward show of love and respect and returned to his wife at
+Le Quesnoy, escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of Brussels,
+but with no better understanding between them.
+
+St. Pol found good ground to work on. He inflamed the count's
+discontent and his distrust of the duke's favourite until Charles
+despatched him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascertain what
+Charles VII. would do for the heir of Burgundy should he decide to
+take refuge in the French court.[16]
+
+At the first interview "I was not present," states the unknown
+reporter, but on succeeding occasions this man heard for himself that
+the king was ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais who
+"has no ill intentions against his father. All he wants to do is to
+separate him from the people who govern him badly."
+
+The conferences were held in the lodgings of Odet d'Aydie. Among those
+present was Dammartin and the matter was discussed in its various
+aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous witness were charged with
+drawing up a report of the discussion. When this was presented to the
+king it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good faith of the
+count's message. He had been assured that it was all a fiction
+especially designed by the Sieur de Burgundy.
+
+Certain general promises were made in spite of this royal distrust,
+quite natural under the circumstances. If he decided to espouse the
+cause of Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given a command.
+It was evident that the count was by no means ready to go to all
+lengths, for St. Pol states in one of his conferences with the "late
+king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him that for two realms
+such as his he would not do a deed of villainy.
+
+Nothing came of this talk. It would have been a singular state of
+affairs had the heirs of France and Burgundy thus changed places in
+their fathers' courts. Spying and counterspying there were between
+the courts to a great extent and rumours in number. A certain Italian
+writes to the Duke of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he
+had been at Genappe and at Brussels:[17]
+
+    "M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand that the
+    reconciliation of the dauphin with the King of France would not be
+    with the approval of the Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince
+    laments that since he received the dauphin into his states,
+    and treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred the
+    implacable hatred of the king added to his ancient grievances. On
+    the other hand, the affairs of England, on whose issue depends war
+    or peace for the duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to
+    him honest to make advances to the king at this moment.
+
+    "M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem to have carried
+    into this affair the circumspection and reflection befitting a
+    prince of his quality. He has maintained towards the duke the
+    most complete silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition
+    concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is anything in it,
+    but if the thing were so it ought not to be secret. He does not
+    believe that peace will be made between the dauphin and his
+    father, and mentioned that his brother was on the embassy from
+    duke to king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the
+    bottom.
+
+    "The dauphin it seems has been out of humour with the Duke of
+    Burgundy on account of the luke-warmness shown for his interests
+    by the ambassador sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy.
+
+    "The silent agreement which reigns between the dauphin and Monsg.
+    de Charolais is one of the causes which has chilled this great
+    love between the dauphin and the duke which existed at the
+    beginning.
+
+    "Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely, especially in
+    almsgiving without considering his purse finds himself very hard
+    pressed. He has only two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of
+    Burgundy and that seems to force him into peace with the king. The
+    duke expects nothing during the king's lifetime.
+
+    "Everything makes me want to wait here for the arrival of news
+    from England. It is expected daily, good or bad the last play must
+    be made. The duke fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason
+    is going to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of celebrating
+    there the fête of the Toison d'Or he has ordered all his escort to
+    be armed."
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD. FROM A
+CONTEMPORARY SKETCH IN MS.]
+
+For a long time before his final illness the death of Charles VII. was
+anticipated. When it came it was a dolorous end.[18] At Genappe, the
+dauphin had been making his preparations for the wished-for event in
+many ways, all in exact opposition to his father's policy. In Italy
+and in Spain he sided with the opponents of Charles VII. In England,
+his sympathies were all for the House of York because his father was
+favourable to Henry of Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned
+with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV., and was more than
+willing to see him invade France. With certain princes of Germany he
+entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while his father's own
+agents disclosed secrets to him from time to time.
+
+In his exile he kept reminding official bodies at Paris that he was
+heir to the throne. As dauphin he claimed the right to give orders to
+the _parlement_ at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that he had a
+hand in the conspiracies which troubled the last year of his father's
+reign, but it is certain that he managed to win to himself a party
+within the royal circle.
+
+Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate, did not hesitate to
+suggest that Louis should be disinherited and his brother Charles put
+in his stead, but this Charles VII. would not accept. He kept hoping
+for Louis's submission. The latter, however, had no idea of this. He
+was sure that his father would not live to grow old. A trouble in his
+leg threatened to be cancerous. In July, there was a growth in his
+mouth. He died July 22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him.
+
+After July 17th constant bulletins from the king's bedside came to
+Louis. Genappe was too far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes
+in order to receive his messages more speedily. Our chronicler
+Chastellain[19] begins his story of Louis's accession as follows:
+
+    "Since I am not English but French, I who am neither Spanish nor
+    Italian but French, I have written of two Frenchmen, the one king,
+    the other duke. I have written of their works and their quarrels
+    and of the favour and glories which God has given them in their
+    time.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and meritorious works
+    serve man on his bier and gain him eternal glory. O you Frenchmen,
+    see the cause and the end in my labours!"
+
+The guest who had displayed so much humility and thankfulness when he
+arrived, who had deprecated honours to his high birth and desired to
+offer all the courtesies, departed from the residence so generously
+given him for five years in a very cavalier manner.
+
+    "Now the king left the duke's territories without having taken
+    leave nor said adieu to the Countess of Charolais,[20] although he
+    was in her neighbourhood, and he left behind him the queen, his
+    wife. The said queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which
+    to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered her to borrow
+    the hackneys of the countess and chariots, too. Heartily did the
+    countess accede to this request in spite of the fact that the
+    thing seemed to her rather strange that a noble king, and one who
+    had received so much honour and service from the House of Burgundy
+    and had promised to recognise it when the hour came, should thus
+    depart thence without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the
+    countess would gladly have given the queen the hackneys as a gift
+    if they had been asked, and she sent them to her by one of her
+    equerries named Corneille de la Barre, together with chariots and
+    waggons. And thus the queen left the country just as her husband
+    had done without saying a word either to the duke or the countess,
+    and Corneille went with her on foot to bring back the hackneys
+    when the queen had arrived at the place of her desire."
+
+Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam guest to show outward
+respect to his father's memory. The duke clad himself and his suite
+in deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at Avesnes, whither
+representatives from the University of Paris and from all parts of the
+realm had flocked to greet their new sovereign.
+
+It was a great concourse that marched from Avesnes as escort to the
+uncrowned king. Philip was magnificent in his appointments as he
+entered Rheims, and behind him came his son,
+
+    "the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble company of
+    knights and squires, attracted hearts and eyes in admiration of
+    his rich array wherein cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and
+    embroidery were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten pages
+    and twenty-six archers, and this whole company numbered three
+    hundred horse."[21]
+
+This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had waited at St. Thierry. On
+the actual day of the coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
+that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims until seven o'clock. The
+king passed his night in a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no
+repose until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied at their toilets he
+slipped off alone to church.
+
+Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony. Very magnificent were
+the duke's robes and ermine when, as chief among the peers, he
+escorted his late guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
+simple was Louis. After the consecration, the king and his friends
+listened to an address from the Bishop of Tournay, in which he
+described in Latin the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion. He felt that all
+future power was in his hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
+to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And for a time Louis was
+quite ready to foster this belief. When they entered Paris, the peer
+so far outshone the sovereign that there was general astonishment.[22]
+Moreover, whatever the latter did have was a gift. The very plate used
+on the royal table was a ducal present.[23]
+
+Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude of grateful humility.
+When he met the _parlement_ of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about
+its reformation. It was to Philip that all the petitioners flocked.
+But Louis was conscious, too, that there would be a morrow in
+Burgundy, and he took care to be friendly with the count even while he
+was flattering the duke. For this purpose he found Guillaume de Biche
+a very useful go-between.[24] This was one of the retainers dismissed
+in 1457 by Charles at his father's request. He had then passed into
+Louis's service. This man quickly insinuated himself into the king's
+graces, was admitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked arm in
+arm with the returned exile through Paris.
+
+The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries of the city well in
+his four years' residence. Louis found him an amusing companion and
+skilfully managed to flatter the count by his favour towards the man
+whom he had liked.
+
+For six weeks Philip remained in the capital and astonished the
+Parisians with the fêtes he offered. Equally astonished were they
+with their new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not attractive in
+person. His eyes were piercing but his visage was made plain by a
+disproportionate nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
+uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an old pilgrim's hat,
+ornamented by a leaden saint. As he rode into Abbeville in company
+with Philip, the simple folk who had never seen the king were greatly
+amazed at his appearance and said quite loud, "Benedicite! Is that a
+king of France, the greatest king in the world? All together his horse
+and dress are not worth twenty francs."[25]
+
+From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI. never lived very long in
+any one place. He did not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had
+the palace of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine became by
+preference his residence, where he lived alternately at Amboise and
+in his new château at Plessis-lès-Tours. But his sojourns were always
+brief. He wanted to know everything, and he wandered everywhere to
+see France and to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts, the
+chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian ambassador, show him on a
+perpetual journey.
+
+He would set out at break of day with five or six intimates dressed in
+grey cloth like pilgrims; archers and baggage followed at a distance.
+He would forbid any one to follow him, and often ordered the gates of
+the city he had left to be closed, or a bridge to be broken behind
+him. Ambassadors ordered to see him without fail, sometimes had to
+cross France to obtain an interview, at least if their object was
+something in which he was not much interested. Then he would often
+grant them an audience in some miserable little peasant hut.
+
+In the cities where he stopped he would lodge with a burgomaster or
+some functionary. To avoid harangues and receptions he would often
+arrive unannounced through a little alley. If forced to accept an
+_entrée_ he stipulated that it should not be marked with magnificence.
+There never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies, balls, banquets,
+and tourneys. At his court young people were bored to death. He never
+ordered festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures were those
+of a simple private gentleman. He liked to dine out of his palace.
+Cagnola relates with surprise that he had seen the king dine after
+mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours. He invited small nobles
+and bourgeois to dine with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois
+women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speaking to and of women
+without reserve, sparing neither sister, mother, nor queen.
+
+Yet it was a sombre court. "Farewell dames, citizens, demoiselles,
+feasts, dances, jousts, and tournaments; farewell fair and gracious
+maids, mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Martial d'Auvergne.
+Pompous magnificence may have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit
+to Burgundy.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: He had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November
+19th.--_Archives du Nord_. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 113. No
+mention of this seems to appear elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Chastellain (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from
+the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel. The duke
+was so angry that it was hideous to see him.]
+
+[Footnote 3: La Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain,
+iii., 230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The
+author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in her delicate
+state of health.]
+
+[Footnote 4: "Thus there was much coming and going: and it was ordered
+by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Ravestein and the
+king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to Dendermonde to learn the
+wishes of the Count of Charolais and his intentions, of which I am
+entitled to speak for I was despatched several times to Brussels in
+behalf of my said Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the
+Chancellor Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present
+affair"--(La Marche, ii., 419.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: La Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche, went
+to France and La Marche says that he himself often went to him to
+obtain valuable information.]
+
+[Footnote 6: La Marche, ii., 418.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Du Clercq, ii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, iii., 308.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de Vébry to the
+Count de Vaudemart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, ed. A.J.V. Le Roux. The
+stories are, as a rule, only retold tales.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "The spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais
+nor by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for certain
+reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer, P.322.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: Kervyn, _Hist. de Flandre_, v., 23. At this time Philip
+was ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parliament of
+Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Meyer, p. 321.
+
+[Footnote 15: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Report of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., 195.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: Du Fresne de Beaucourt. vi., 326.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 321.]
+
+[Footnote 19: IV., 21.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Chastellain, iv., 45.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chastellain was not present, but he says of Philip's
+suite (iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have seen in
+writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never been seen in
+this kingdom."]
+
+[Footnote 22: "And I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all
+the nobles" (Chastellain, iv., 52).]
+
+[Footnote 23: When return presents were distributed to the nobles
+Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iv., 115.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 325.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+1464-1465
+
+
+The era of good feeling between Louis XI. and his Burgundian kinsmen
+was of short duration, and no wonder. The rich rewards confidently
+expected as fitting recompense for five years' kindness more than
+cousinly, towards a penniless refugee were not forthcoming.
+
+The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary in certain
+ostentatious recognition towards his late host, but the fairly
+munificent pension, together with the charge of Normandy settled upon
+the Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical reminder of promises
+as regularly unfulfilled on each recurring quarter day, while the post
+of confidential adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip had
+intended to occupy, remained empty.
+
+Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now to one counsellor,
+now to another, and used such fragments of advice as pleased his whim
+and paid no further heed to the giver.
+
+Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred that change in
+Philip's bodily constitution that comes to all active men sooner or
+later. His health began to give way, his energies relaxed, and matters
+that had been of paramount importance throughout his career were
+allowed to slip into the background of his desires. In the famous
+treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater importance than that
+which placed the towns on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to a
+redemption of two hundred thousand gold crowns. Whether Charles VII.
+had actually pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at least
+during Philip's life does not seem assured, but that any sum would be
+insufficient to induce the duke to release them unless his intellect
+were somewhat deadened, is clear.
+
+In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack, possibly the result
+of his indulgence in the pleasures of the table during the prolonged
+festivities at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour. This was
+the time, by the way, when opportunity was afforded his courtiers to
+prove that devotion to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity. When
+his head was shaved by order of the court physician, more than five
+hundred nobles sacrificed their own locks so that their becoming curls
+might not remind their chief of his own bald head. The sacrifice was
+not always voluntary, adds an informant.[1] Philip forced compliance
+with this new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be
+unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by nature's gift. This
+servility may have consoled Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In
+his depressed condition any solace was acceptable.
+
+It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled state that Louis,
+through the mediation of the Croys, pushed forward his proposition to
+redeem the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying upon the chance
+that it would be no easy matter for the French king to wring the
+required sum from his impoverished land. Philip's assent was, however,
+promptly clinched by a cash payment of half the amount[2]; the
+remainder followed.
+
+Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valuable bulwarks for the
+Netherland provinces, fine nurseries for the human material requisite
+for Burgundian armies, rich tax payers as they were, all tumbled into
+the outstretched hands of the duke's wily rival.
+
+The transaction was hurried through and completed before a rumour of
+its progress came to the ear of the interested heir. Charles was in
+Holland sulking and indignant. He had expected good results from his
+tender devotion during his father's acute illness, a devotion shared
+by Isabella of Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside from her
+convent seclusion when Philip was in need of her ministrations. But,
+in his convalescence, Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys
+whom Charles continued to distrust with bitterness that varied in its
+intensity, but which never vanished from his consciousness. The young
+man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious that personal danger
+to himself lurked in the air of his father's court.
+
+The various rumours of plots against his life may not all have been
+baseless. At last, one of own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was
+accused of having recourse to diabolic means of doing away with the
+duke's legitimate heir.[2] Three little waxen images were found in his
+house, and it was alleged that he practised various magic arts withal
+in order to win the favour of the duke and of the French king, and
+still worse to cause Charles to waste away with a mysterious sickness.
+The accusations were sufficient to make Nevers resign all his offices
+in his kinsman's court and retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been
+wholly innocent he would have demanded trial at the hands of his peers
+of the Golden Fleece as behooved one of the order. But he withdrew
+undefended, and left his tattered reputation fluttering raggedly in
+the breeze of gossip.
+
+Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal court until a fresh
+incident drove him thither to give vent to his indignation. Only three
+days had Philip de Commines been page to Duke Philip, then resident at
+Lille, when an embassy headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France,
+was given audience in the presence of the Burgundian court, including
+the Count of Charolais. The future historian,[4] then nineteen years
+old, was keenly alive to all that passed on that November fifth, 1464.
+Morvilliers used very bitter terms in his assertion that Charles had
+illegally stopped a little French ship of war and arrested a certain
+bastard of Rubempré on the false charge that his errand in Holland,
+where the incident occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles
+himself. Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir Olivier de La Marche
+had caused this tale to be bruited everywhere,
+
+    "especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations resort.
+    This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now demanded through his
+    chancellor that Duke Philip should send this same Sir Olivier de
+    La Marche prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case
+    required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that the said Sir
+    Olivier was steward of his house, born in the County of Burgundy
+    and in no respect subject to the Crown of France."
+
+Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill to the king's honour
+he, the duke, would see to his punishment. As to the bastard of
+Rubempré, true it was that he had been apprehended in Holland,[5] but
+there was adequate ground for his arrest as his behaviour had been
+strange, at least so thought the Count of Charolais. Philip added that
+if his son were suspicious
+
+    "he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his mother
+    who had been the most jealous lady that ever lived. But
+    notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that myself never were supicious, yet
+    if I had been in my son's place at the same time that this bastard
+    of Rubempré haunted those coasts I would surely have caused him to
+    be apprehended as my son did."
+
+In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up Rubempré to the king were
+his innocence satisfactorily proven.
+
+Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging upon the treacherous
+designs of Francis, Duke of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately
+sworn brotherhood at the very moment when he was the honoured guest
+of King Louis at Tours. During this discussion the Count of Charolais
+became very restive. Finally he could no longer endure Morvilliers's
+indirect slurs, and
+
+    "made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously out of patience
+    to hear such reproachful speeches used of his friend and
+    confederate. But Morvilliers cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of
+    Charolais, I am not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your
+    father.' The said earl besought his father divers times to give
+    him leave to answer, who in the end said unto him: 'I have
+    answered for thee as methinketh the father should answer for the
+    son, notwithstanding if thou have so great desire to speak bethink
+    thyself to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.'"
+
+Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that he could not imagine
+what had moved the earl to enter into the league with the Duke of
+Brittany unless it were because of a pension the king had once given
+him together with the government of Normandy and afterwards taken from
+him.
+
+In regard to Rubempré, Commines adds to his story Charles's own
+statement given on the morrow:
+
+"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever proved against him, though
+I confess the presumption to have been great. Five years after I
+myself saw him delivered out of prison." This from Commines. La Marche
+is less detailed in his record[6] of the Rubempré incident:
+
+    "The bastard was put in prison and the Count of Charolais sent me
+    to Hesdin to the duke to inform him of the arrest and its cause.
+    The good duke heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth
+    he at once suspected that the craft of the King of France lurked
+    at the bottom of the affair. Shortly afterwards the duke left
+    Hesdin and returned to his own land, which did not please the King
+    of France who despatched thither a great embassy with the Count
+    d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that I should be delivered to
+    him to be punished as he would, because he claimed that I had been
+    the cause of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempré and also of the
+    duke's departure from Hesdin without saying adieu to the King of
+    France, but the good duke, moderate in all his actions, replied
+    that I was his subject and his servitor, and that if the king or
+    any one else had a grievance against me he would investigate it.
+    The matter was finally smoothed over [adds La Marche], and Louis
+    evinced a readiness to conciliate his offended cousin."
+
+In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to be one not easily disposed
+of by soft phrases flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father
+and prepared in advance his defence to the chancellor. When he had
+finished his own statement about Rubempré, he proceeded to the point
+of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany, declaring that it was
+right and proper and that if King Louis knew what was to the advantage
+of the French sovereign, he would be glad to see his nobles welded
+together as a bulwark to his throne. As to his pension, he had never
+received but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had made no suit
+for the remainder nor for the government of Normandy. So long as he
+enjoyed the favour and good will of his father he had no need to crave
+favour of any man.
+
+"I think verily had it not been for the reverence he bore to his said
+father who was there present" continues the observant page, "and to
+whom he addressed his speech that he would have used much bitterer
+terms. In the end, Duke Philip very wisely and humbly besought the
+king not lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his son but to
+continue his favour towards them. Then the banquet was brought in and
+the ambassadors took their leave. As they passed out Charles stood
+apart from his father and said to the archbishop of Narbonne, who
+brought up the rear of the little company:
+
+"'Recommend me very humbly to the good grace of the king. Tell him he
+has had me scolded here by the chancellor but that he shall repent it
+before a year is past.'" His message was duly delivered and to this
+incident Commines attributes momentous results.
+
+Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which Louis's ambassadors
+treated him, indignant at the injury to his heritage by the redemption
+of the towns on the Somme, and further, already alienated from his
+royal cousin through the long series of petty occasions where the
+different natures of the two young men clashed, in this year 1464,
+Charles was certainly more than ready to enter into an open contest
+with the French monarch. It was not long before the opportunity came
+for him to do so with a certain éclat.
+
+In the early years of his own freedom, before he learned wisdom, Louis
+XI. had planted many seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful
+crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among the nobles of the
+land.
+
+One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the gradual growth of
+the body of standing troops instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These,
+in the regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guarantee of support
+without the aid of his nobles. By the date of Louis's accession,
+certain ducal houses besides that of Burgundy had grown very
+independent within their own boundaries: Orleans, Anjou, Bourbon, not
+to speak of Brittany.[7] Now the efforts to curtail the prerogatives
+of these petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were steady and
+persistent in the new reign. They had no longer the power of coining
+money, of levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the judicial
+authority of the crown had been extended little by little over France.
+Then their privileges were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of
+the chase.
+
+It was the accumulation of these invasions of local authority, added
+to a real disbelief in the king's ability, that led to a formation of
+a league among the nobles, designed to check the centralisation policy
+of the monarch, a League of Public Weal to form a bulwark against the
+tyrannical encroachments of their liege lord.
+
+Not to follow the steps of the growth of this coalition, it is
+sufficient for the thread of this narrative to say that it comprised
+all the great French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as
+others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as those whom he had
+slighted alike fell from his standards, distrustful of his ability to
+withstand organised opposition, and they threw in their lot with the
+protestors so as not to miss their share of the spoil.
+
+The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned, was in a mood when
+his ears were eagerly open to overtures from Louis's critics. The
+redemption of the towns on the Somme he was unable to prevent, but the
+affair left him very sore. Shortly after its completion, the count
+did, indeed, succeed in depriving the Croys of their ascendency over
+the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long desired victory was attained,
+the towns had one and all accepted their transfer and were under
+French sovereignty. When the count joined the league, the hope of
+ultimate restoration was undoubtedly prominent among the motives for
+his own course of action, though his intimacy with the chief leader of
+the revolt, the Duke of Brittany, might easily have led to the same
+result.
+
+Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had been especially wanting in
+tact during the first months of his reign. The king treated him as a
+vassal of France, while the duke held that he and his forbears owed
+simple homage to the crown, not dependence. Therefore, in order to
+resist being subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not to leave
+his estates except in a suitable manner. His messages to the king
+were sent in all ceremony, he rendered proper homage, declared his
+readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as a vassal for certain
+territories, but demanded freedom to exercise his hereditary rights
+and to enjoy his hereditary dignities.[8]
+
+"Rude and strange" were the terms employed by the king in response to
+these statements, and then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
+the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose of the hands of
+Breton heiresses in unequal marriages, and to arrogate to himself
+other rights--all sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
+Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the league. Very delightful
+is Chastellain's colloquy with himself[9] as to the difficulty of
+maintaining perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of this
+Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately the result of his patient
+efforts is lost.
+
+Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines, however, were both
+present in the Burgundian army and their stories are preserved. La
+Marche had reason to remember the first actual engagement between the
+royal and invading forces at Montl'héry, "because on that day I was
+made knight." He does not say, as does Commines, that this battle was
+against the king's desire. Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms
+and to coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by other methods.
+Not that they characterised themselves as rebellious, far from it.
+Clear and definite was their statement that in their obligation
+
+    "to give order to the estate, the police and the government of the
+    kingdom, the princes of the blood as chief supports of the crown,
+    by whose advice and not by that of others, the business of the
+    king and of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
+    their persons and their property, and in this laudable endeavour
+    all virtuous citizens ought to aid."[10]
+
+Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens, and the words were
+typical of similar appeals made in every quarter of the realm by the
+various feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In truth this war,
+ostentatiously called that of the Public Weal, was but a struggle on
+the part of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The weal demanded
+was home rule for the feudal chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a
+fierce protest against monarchical authority, against concentration. A
+king indeed, but a king in leading strings was the ideal of the peers.
+
+Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis almost alone, deserted by his
+brother the Duke of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
+unity, hedged in by their pompous and self-righteous assertions that
+all their thoughts were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
+needed lightening. Of all the great vassals, Gaston de Foix was the
+single one loyal to the king.
+
+The part of the great duke fell entirely to the share of the Count of
+Charolais. A small force was levied for him within the Netherlands,
+and he started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents from the
+two Burgundies and his brother peers of France with their own troops.
+His men were good individually but they had not been trained to act as
+one, and there was no coherence between the different companies.
+
+July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed rendezvous. He
+was first in the field. While he awaited his allies, his little army
+became restive at the situation in which they found themselves, fifty
+leagues from Burgundian territory with no stronghold as their base. It
+was urged again and again upon the count that his first consideration
+ought to be his men's safety. His allies had failed him. He should
+retreat. "I have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross the
+Seine if I have but a single page to follow me," was the leader's firm
+reply to these demands.
+
+The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges, and Charles decided that
+it was his mission to prevent Louis from entering his capital, to
+which he was advancing with great rapidity from the south. To carry
+out this purpose Charles disregarded all protests, crossed the Seine
+at St. Cloud, and made his way to the little village of Longjumeau,
+whither he was preceded by the Count of St. Pol, commanding one
+division of the Burgundian army. Montl'héry was a village still
+farther to the south, and here it was that La Marche and other
+gentlemen were knighted. This ceremony was evidently part of the
+count's endeavour to encourage his followers--all unwilling to risk an
+engagement before the arrival of the allies.
+
+To the king it was of infinite advantage that no delay should occur.
+Nevertheless, it was Charles who opened active hostilities on July
+15th, with soldiers who had not broken their fast that day. Armed
+since early dawn, wearied by a forced march with a July sun beating
+down upon their heads, their movements hampered by standing wheat and
+rye, the men were at a tremendous disadvantage when they were led to
+the attack. It was a hot assault. No quarter was given, many fled.
+At length, Louis found himself abandoned by all save his body-guard.
+Pressed against the hill that bounded the grain fields, the king at
+last retreated up its slope into a castle on its summit.
+
+Charles rode impetuously after the retreating royalists. Separated
+from his men, he fell among the royal guard at the gate of the castle.
+There was a vehement assault resisted as vehemently by his meagre
+escort. Several fell and Charles himself received a sword wound on his
+neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised by the French, he might
+have been taken or slain in his resistance, when the Bastard of
+Burgundy rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed the count's
+condition. When night fell, no one knew where lay the advantage. The
+fugitives spread rumours that the king was dead and that Charles was
+in possession, others carried the reverse statements as they rode
+headlong to the nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with no
+credit to either leader. But in the darkness of the night, the king
+managed to slip out of his retreat and march quietly towards the
+greater security of Paris.
+
+It was a very shadowy victory that Charles proudly claimed. All
+through the night of July 15th, the Burgundians were discussing
+whether to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds all
+recognised. Daybreak found the council in session when a peasant
+brought tidings that the foe had departed. The fires in sight only
+covered their retreat. To be sure that same foe had taken Burgundian
+baggage with them to Paris. But what of that? The Burgundians held the
+battlefield and they made the best of it.
+
+On July 16th, Louis supped with the military governor of Paris and
+"moved the company, nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his
+touching description of the perils he had met and escaped." Charles,
+meanwhile, effected a junction with his belated allies, Francis of
+Brittany and Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Étampes. Thither
+too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of Lorraine, but none of these
+leaguers could claim any share in the battle of Montl'héry.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY, JULY 16, 1465 (COMINES, ED.
+LENGLET DU FRESNOY, 1.)]
+
+While these peers perfected their plans to force their chief into
+redressing the wrongs of the poor people, the king was showing a very
+pleasant side of his character to the Parisian citizens. In response
+to a petition that he should take advice on the conduct of his
+administration, he declared his perfect willingness to add to his
+council six burgesses, six members of _parlement_, and the same number
+from the university. Besides this concession, he relieved the weight
+of the imposts and hastened to restore certain financial franchises to
+the Church, to the university, and to various individuals. Three weeks
+were consumed in establishing friendly relations in this all important
+city, and then the king departed for Normandy to levy troops and to
+collect provisions for a siege.[11] There was need for this last for
+the allies had moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris.
+
+Before the king's return to his capital on August 28th, a formidable
+array was encamped at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More
+formidable, however, they were in numbers than in strength. Like all
+confederated bodies there was inherent weakness, for there was no
+leader whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of Berry, heir
+presumptive to the throne, was the only one among the peers whose
+birth might have commanded the needful authority, but he had not
+sufficient personal character to assert his position. So the
+confederates remained a loose aggregation of small armies. The longer
+they remained in camp the weaker they grew, the more disintegrated.
+A pitched battle might have been a great advantage to these gallant
+defenders of the Public Weal of France and that was the last desire of
+their antagonist.
+
+Many skirmishes took place between the Parisians and the leaguers, but
+no engagement. Once, indeed, there were hurried preparations on the
+part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of whose imminence they
+were warned by a page before break of day, one misty morning. Yes,
+there was no doubt. The pickets could see the erect spears and furled
+banners of the enemy all ready to advance upon the unwary camp. Quick
+were the preparations. There were no laggards. The Duke of Calabria
+was more quickly armed than even the Count of Charolais. He came to a
+spot where a number of Burgundians, the count's own household stood,
+by the standard. Among them was Commines[l2] and he heard the duke
+say: "We now have our desire, for the king is issued forth with his
+whole force and marches towards us as our scouts report. Wherefore let
+us determine to play the men. So soon as they be out of the town we
+will enter and measure with the long ell." By these words he meant
+that the soldiers would speedily have a chance to use their pikes as
+yard sticks to measure out their share of the booty. False prophet
+was the duke that time! When the daylight grew stronger, the upright
+spears and furled banners of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of
+thistles looming large in the magnifying morning mist! The princes
+took their disappointment philosophically, enjoyed early mass, and
+then had their breakfast.
+
+The young Commines is surprised that Paris and her environs were rich
+enough to feed so many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs changed.
+Negotiating back and forth became more frequent. The disintegration of
+the allies became more and more evident. Louis XI. bided his time and
+then took the extraordinary resolution to go in person to the camp at
+Charenton to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few attendants,
+practically unguarded, he went down the Seine. His coming had been
+heralded and the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive him, with
+the Count of St. Pol at his side. "Brother, do you pledge me safety?"
+(for the count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which the count
+responded: "Yes, as one brother to another."[13]
+
+Nothing could have been more genial than was the king. He assured
+Charles that he loved a man who kept his word beyond anything.
+
+Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the promise he had sent by
+the archbishop of Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he was
+a gentleman and true to the blood of France. Further, he disavowed the
+insolence of his chancellor towards Charles, and repeated that his
+cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You have kept your promise
+and that long before the day."[14]
+
+Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an opportunity to Charles and
+St. Pol to state, informally, the terms on which they would withdraw
+from their hostile footing, and count the weal restored to the
+oppressed public whose sorrows had moved them to a confederation.
+
+Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he accepted the requisition of
+those who felt that they were in a position to dictate, and after a
+little more parleying at later dates, the treaty of Conflans was duly
+arranged. It was none too soon for the allies. They could hardly have
+held together many days longer in the midst of the jealousies rife in
+their camps.
+
+The king paused at nothing. To his brother he gave Normandy, to
+Charles of Burgundy the towns on the Somme with guarantee of
+possession for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was made
+Constable of France.
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI. WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR
+OF PUBLIC WEAL TAKEN FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF ST.
+GERMAIN DES PRÉS (COMINES-LENGLET, II., FRONTISPIECE)]
+
+Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to Charles, lesser places and
+pensions to the other confederates. The contest ended with complete
+victory for the allies who were left with the proud consciousness
+that they had set a definite limit to royal pretensions, at least, on
+paper.
+
+After the treaty was signed, the king showed no resentment at his
+defeat but urged his cousin to amuse himself a while in Paris before
+returning home. Charles was rash, but he had not the temerity to trust
+himself so far. Pleading a promise to his father to enter no city gate
+until on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and soon returned
+to the Netherlands, where his own household had suffered change.
+During his absence, the Countess of Charolais had died and been buried
+at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly lauded for his perfect faithfulness
+to his wife, but her death seems to have made singularly little ripple
+on the surface of his life. The chroniclers touch on the event very
+casually, laying more stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI.
+to offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on the event
+itself.[15]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: La Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the
+chamberlain to enforce this.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The receipt for this half payment was signed October
+8, 1462. (Comines, _Mémoires_, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii.,
+392-403.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Du Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, _Mêmoires_ I., ch. i. In the above passages
+Dannett's translation is followed for the racy English.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Commines says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum.]
+
+[Footnote 6: III., 3.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Lavisse iv^{ii}., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, v., i, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 9: V., II.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Letter of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of
+Amiens. (_Collection de Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France_.)
+"Mélanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS. in the Bibl.
+Nat. there are many letters private and public about these events.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Since its recovery from the English, there had been no
+duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to the king.]
+
+[Footnote 12: I., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be
+read in detail.]
+
+[Footnote 13: I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commines, I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 15: La Marche, iii., p. 27.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+1465-1467
+
+
+"When we have finished here we shall make a fine beginning against
+those villains the Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on
+October 18th.[1] Charles had no desire to rest on the laurels won
+before Paris. To another city he now turned his attention, to Liege
+which owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy.
+
+Before the days when the buried treasures of the soil filled the
+air with smoke, the valley where Liege lies was a lovely spot.[2]
+Tradition tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop of
+Tongres, as he made a progress through his diocese was attracted by
+the beauties of the site where a few hovels then clustered near the
+Meuse. After looking down from the heights to the river's banks for
+a brief space, the bishop turned to his followers and said, as if
+uttering a prophecy:
+
+"Here is a place created by God for the salvation of many faithful
+souls. One day a prosperous city shall flourish here. Here I will
+build a chapel." Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised chapel
+became a shrine which attracted many pilgrims who returned to their
+various homes with glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.
+Little by little others came who did not leave, and by the seventh
+century when Bishop Lambert sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a
+small town.
+
+An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert. He gave himself no
+rest but travelled continually from one church to another in his
+diocese to look after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless
+prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke to the Frankish
+Pepin for a lawless deed excited the wrath of a certain noble,
+accessory to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was slain as he knelt
+before the altar in Monulphe's chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer
+the pious man did not hear the servants' calls, "Holy Lambert, Holy
+Lambert come to our aid," words that later became a war-cry when the
+bishop was exalted into the patron saint of the town.
+
+Not until the thirteenth century, however, when the episcopal see was
+finally established at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay
+overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege. Monulphe's little
+chapel had given way to a mighty church dedicated to the canonised
+Bishop Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost autonomous, the
+episcopal authority being restricted without the walls only by the
+distant emperor and still more distant pope. Within the walls, the
+same authority had by no means a perfectly free hand. There were
+certain features in the constitution of Liege which differentiated it
+from its sister towns in the Netherlands.
+
+Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly democratic manner.
+There was no distinction between the greater and lesser gilds, and,
+within these organisations, the franchise was given to the most
+ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple condition of
+attaining his fifteenth year. Moreover, the naturalisation laws were
+very easy. Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens and
+enjoyed eligibility to office as well as the franchise. The tenure of
+office being for one year only, there was opportunity for frequent
+participation in public affairs, an opportunity not neglected by the
+community.[2]
+
+The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic officers chosen by
+this liberal franchise. He was elected by the chapter of St. Lambert,
+subject to papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres of his
+jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his function there were many
+restrictions to his free administration, which papal and imperial
+sanction together were unable to remove.
+
+A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change in the laws without the
+consent of the estates, and he could administer justice only by means
+of the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be countersigned. When
+there was an issue between overlord and people, the question was
+submitted to the _schepens_ or superior judges who, before they gave
+their opinion, consulted the various charters which had been granted
+from time to time, and which were not allowed to become dead letters.
+A permanent committee of the three orders supervised the executive and
+the administration of the laws. These "twenty-two" received an appeal
+from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb "In his own home the
+poor man is king," was very near the possible truth.
+
+Yet the wheels of government were by no means perfect in their
+running. Many were the conflicts between the different members of the
+state, and broils, with the character of civil war in miniature, were
+of frequent occurrence. The submergence of the aristocratic element,
+the nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power between the
+bishop-prince and the people. The commons exerted power beyond their
+intelligence. Annual elections, party contests headed by rival
+demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser extent, the smaller
+towns of the little state in continuous commotion[4].
+
+The ecclesiastical origin of the community was evident at all points
+of daily life. The cathedral of St. Lambert was the pride of the city.
+Its chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place held by the
+aristocratic element in the other towns.
+
+In the cathedral, the holy standard of St. Lambert was suspended. At
+the outbreak of war this was taken down and carried to the door by the
+clergy in solemn procession. There it was unfurled and delivered to
+the commander of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white steed. When
+he received the precious charge he swore to defend it with his life.
+
+One object of popular veneration was this standard, another was the
+_perron_, an emblem of the civic organisation. This was a pillar of
+gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple surmounted by a cross.
+This stood on a pedestal in the centre of the square where was the
+_violet_ or city hall. In front of the perron were proclaimed all the
+ordinances issued by the magistrates, or the decrees adopted by the
+people in general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin was rung,
+the deans of the gilds would hasten out with their banners and plant
+them near the perron as rallying points for the various gild members
+who poured out from forge, work-shop, and factory until the square was
+filled.
+
+There were two powerful weapons whereby the bishop-prince might
+enforce his will in opposition to that of his subjects did the latter
+become too obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the _schepens_,
+and he could pronounce an interdict of the Church which caused the
+cessation of all priestly functions. When this interdict was in
+action, civil suits between burghers could be adjudged by the
+municipal magistrates, but no criminals could be arrested or tried.
+The elementary principles of an organised society were thrown into
+confusion. Still worse confusion resulted from the bishop's last
+resort as prince of the Church. An interdict caused the church bells
+to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The celebration of the
+rites of baptism, of marriage, of burial ceased.[5] The fear of such
+cessation was potent in its restraint, unless the populace were too
+far enraged to be moved by any consideration.
+
+While the Burgundian dukes extended their sway over one portion of
+Netherland territory after another, this little dominion maintained
+its complete independence of them. The fact that its princes were
+elective protected it from lapsing through heritage to the duke who
+had been so neatly proven heir to his divers childless kinsfolk. It
+was a rich little vineyard without his pale.
+
+They were clever people those Liegeois. Their Walloon language is
+a species of French with many peculiarities showing Frankish
+admixture.[6] The race was probably a mixed one too, but its acquired
+characteristics made a very different person from a Hollander, a
+Frisian, or a Fleming, though there was a certain resemblance to the
+latter.
+
+In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful resources of coal and
+minerals which now glow above and below the furnace fires until, from
+a distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But the people were
+industrious and energetic in their crafts. It was a country of skilled
+workmen. The city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thousand
+inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers reported slain in
+the various battles in which the town was involved run into the
+thousands.[7]
+
+In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his success in the diocese
+of Utrecht, obtained a certain ascendency over the affairs of Liege by
+interfering in the election of a bishop. There was no natural vacancy
+at the moment. John of Heinsberg was the incumbent, a very pleasant
+prelate with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement and gay society,
+pleasures more easily obtainable in Philip's court than in his own,
+and his agreeable host found means of persuading him to resign all the
+cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke proceeded to place his
+own nephew, Louis of Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne.
+
+This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student at the University of
+Louvain, destitute of a single qualification for the office proposed.
+Nevertheless, all difficulties, technical and general were ignored,
+and a papal dispensation enabled the candidate even to dispense with
+the formality of taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered
+Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry into his future
+capital and was duly enthroned as bishop-prince in spite of his
+manifest unfitness for the place.
+
+Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his people, better than the
+promise of his youth, as some reckless princes have done. On the
+contrary, ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at drawn
+swords with his subjects. After a time he withdrew to Huy where he
+indulged in gross pleasures while he attempted to check the rebellious
+citizens of his capital by trying some of the measures of coercion
+used by his predecessors as a last resort.
+
+Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters dragged on for a long
+time. The people appealed to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the
+pope, and to the "pope better informed," but no redress was given.
+Philip continued to protect the bishop, and none dared put themselves
+in opposition to him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XI. for aid.
+Their appeal was heard and the king's agent arrived in the city
+just as one of the bishop's interdicts was about to be enforced,
+an interdict, too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the usual
+anathema if the provisions were not obeyed.
+
+It was the moment for a demagogue and one appeared in the person of
+Raes de la Rivière, lord of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be
+unbroken silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his followers
+proclaimed that every priest who refused to chant should be thrown
+into the river. Mass was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual
+conditions, and the presence of the French envoys gave new heart to
+the bishop's opponents. A treaty was signed between the Liegeois
+and Louis; wherein mutual pledges were made that no peace should be
+concluded with Burgundy in which both parties were not included. It
+was a solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when he signed the
+treaty of Conflans whose articles contained not a single reference to
+the Liegeois.
+
+Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of the battle of
+Montl'héry reaching Liege gave the victory to Louis, a report that
+spurred on the Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostility to their
+neighbour, still farther afield. The other towns of the Church state
+were infected by an anti-Burgundian sentiment. In Dinant this feeling
+was high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation of special
+animosity against the Count of Charolais. A rabble marched out of the
+city to the walls of Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy,
+carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its neck. Certain
+well-known emblems of Burgundy on a tattered mantle showed that this
+represented Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd declared
+that they were going to hang the effigy as his master, the King of
+France, had already hanged Count Charles in reality. Further, they
+said that he was no count at all, but the son of their old bishop,
+Heinsberg. They went so far as to suspend the effigy on a gallows and
+then riddled it with arrows and left it dangling like a scarecrow in
+sight of the citizens of Bouvignes.[8]
+
+The actual contents of the treaty made at Conflans did not reach Liege
+until messages from Louis had assured them that he had been mindful of
+their interests in making his own terms, assurances, however, coupled
+with advice to make peace with their good friend the duke. But there
+speedily came later information that the only mention of Liege in the
+new treaty was an apology that Louis had ever made friends in that
+city!
+
+The rebels lost heart at once. Without the king, they had no
+confidence in their own efforts. Envoys were despatched to Philip who
+refused to answer their humble requests for pardon until his son could
+decide what punishment the principality deserved. Nor was much delay
+to be anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming. Charles
+hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not pausing even to greet his
+father. By the third week of January, he was encamped between St.
+Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation from Liege found him.
+These envoys, between eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly
+because they feared attacks from their anti-peace fellow-citizens.[9]
+
+They found Charles flushed by his recent achievement of bringing King
+Louis to his way of thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body than
+when it left the Netherlands. The troops were more skilled from
+their experience and elated at what they counted their success; more
+capable, too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a resolute
+leader, now inclined to despise councils with free discussion. The
+count's quick temper had gained him weight but it had made him feared.
+The slightest breach of discipline brought a thunder-cloud on his
+face. If we may believe one authority,[10] he himself was often so
+lacking in discipline that he would strike an officer with a baton,
+and once at least, he killed a soldier with his own hand.
+
+His audience with the envoys resulted in a treaty, of which certain
+articles were so harsh that the messengers were insulted when the
+report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of thirty-two gilds voted to
+accept all the articles. A certain noble on pleasant terms with the
+count offered to carry the unpopular document back to him to ask for a
+modification of the harsh terms.
+
+By this time the weather was severe. Charles's troops were in need of
+repose, and it seemed prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles
+revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration of an increase of
+the war indemnity. With this change the treaty was accepted, and a
+Piteous Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege. Instead
+of owing allegiance to emperor and to pope alone as free imperial
+citizens, they agreed to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary
+protectors of Liege.
+
+When it was desired, Burgundian troops could march freely across the
+territory. Burgundian coins were declared valid at Burgundian values.
+No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian marches, and unqualified
+obedience was pledged to the new overlords. The same terms were
+conceded to all the rebel towns alike except to Dinant. The story of
+the personal insult to himself and his mother had reached the count's
+ears and he was not inclined to ignore the circumstance. His further
+action was, however, deferred.
+
+January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty[11] and, after its
+conclusion, Charles ordered a review of his forces, a review that
+almost culminated in a pitched battle between army and citizens of St.
+Trond, and then on January 31st, the count returned to Brussels where
+there was a great display of Burgundian etiquette before the duke
+embraced his victorious son.
+
+Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the province at large, still
+more piteous was the lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from the
+participation in the treaty. Her fate remained uncertain for months.
+Other affairs occupied the Count of Charolais until late in the summer
+of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis, well freed from the
+allies pressing up to the gates of Paris, was in very different temper
+from Louis ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not only had
+he withdrawn his promises in regard to the duchy conferred on his
+brother, but he had begun taking other measures, ostensibly to prepare
+against a possible English invasion, which alarmed his cousin of
+Burgundy for the undisturbed possession of his recently recovered
+towns on the Somme.
+
+Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes, Charles despatched the
+following letter from Namur:[12]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I recommend myself very humbly to your good grace and beg to
+    inform you, Monseigneur, that recently I have been advised of
+    something very surprising to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond
+    doubt considering the source of my information. It is with much
+    regret that I communicate it to you when I remember all the good
+    words you have given to me this year, orally and in writing.
+    Monseigneur, it is evident that there has been some agreement
+    between your people and the English, and that the matter has been
+    so well worked that you have consented, as I have heard, to yield
+    them the land of Caux, Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to
+    aid them in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu, and
+    further, to cement with them certain alliances against me and my
+    country in making them large offers greatly to my prejudice and,
+    in order to complete the whole, they are to come to Dieppe.
+
+    "Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you wish: but,
+    Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns me, it seems to me that
+    you would do better to leave my property in my hand than to be the
+    instrument of putting it into the hands of the English or of any
+    foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Monseigneur, that
+    if such overtures or greater ones have been opened by your people
+    that you will not commit yourself to them in any manner but will
+    insist on their cessation, and that you will do this in a way that
+    I may always have cause to remain your very humble servant as I
+    desire to do with all my heart. Above all, write to me your good
+    pleasure, and I implore you, Monseigneur, if there be any service
+    that I can render you, I am the one who would wish to employ all
+    that God has given me [to do it]. Written at Namur, August 16th.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient subject,
+
+    "CHARLES."
+
+Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict the punishment that the
+culprits had, to his mind, too long escaped.
+
+Commines calls this a strong and rich town, superior even to
+Liege.[13] A comparison of the two sites shows, however, that this
+statement could hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in a
+narrow space between the Meuse and high land. A lofty rock at one
+end of the town dominating the river is crowned by a fortress most
+picturesque in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how many
+inhabitants there actually were in the place in 1466, but there is
+no doubt as to their energy and character. As mentioned before, the
+artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their specialty, and
+their brass work was renowned far and wide. Pots and pans and other
+utensils were known as _Dinanderies_.
+
+The traffic in them was so important that Dinant had had her own
+commercial relations with England for a long period. Her merchants
+enjoyed the same privileges in London as the members of the Hanseatic
+League, and an English company was held in high respect at Dinant.[14]
+The brass-founders' gild ranked at Dinant as the drapers at Louvain,
+and the weavers at Ghent. As a "great gild they formed a middle class
+between the lower gilds and the _bourgeois_," the merchants and richer
+folk.[15] In municipal matters each of these three classes had a
+separate vote.
+
+As it happened, Dinant had not been very ready to open hostilities
+against the House of Burgundy though she was equally critical of Louis
+of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It was undoubtedly her rivalry
+with Bouvignes of Namur that brought her into the strife. That
+neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation, and the fact that
+it was safe under the Duke of Burgundy and backed by him as Count of
+Namur, had brought a Burgundian element into the local contest.
+
+The incidents of the insult to Charles and the aspersion on his
+mother's reputation undoubtedly were due to an irresponsible rabble
+rather than to any action that could properly be attributed to the
+leading men. Further, it really seems probable that the weight
+attached to the insulting act never occurred to the respectable
+burghers until they heard of it from others, so insignificant were the
+participants in it.
+
+As soon as it was realised that serious consequences might result
+from reckless folly, the authorities were quite ready to separate
+themselves from the event, and to arrest the culprits as common
+malefactors. Once, indeed, the prisoners were temporarily rescued by
+their friends, and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a suspicious
+circumstance that this happened just at a moment when there was
+renewed hope for help from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes
+were vain, the magistrates became seriously alarmed and ready to go
+to any lengths to avert Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following
+letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy:[16]
+
+    "The poor, humble and obedient servants and subjects of the most
+    reverend father in God, Louis of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege; and
+    your petty neighbours and borderers, the burgomaster's council and
+    folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to their knowledge
+    that the wrath of your grace has been aroused against the town on
+    account of certain ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants
+    thereof, in contempt of your honourable person. The city is as
+    displeased about these words as it is possible to be, and far from
+    wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested as many as could be
+    found and now holds them in durance awaiting any punishment your
+    _grace_ may decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do
+    your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your anger to be
+    appeased, holding the people of Dinant exonerated, and resting
+    satisfied with the punishment of the guilty, inasmuch as the
+    people are bitterly grieved on account of the insults and have, as
+    before stated, arrested the culprits."
+
+With further apologies for any failure of duty towards the Duke of
+Burgundy, the petitioners humbly begged to be granted the same terms
+that Liege and the other towns had received. March 31st is the date
+of this humble document. Months of doubt followed before the terrible
+experience of August proved the futility of their pleas, to which the
+ducal family refused to listen, so deep was their sense of personal
+aggrievement. Long as it was since the duchess had taken part in
+public affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And she, too, was
+implacable against the town where any citizen had dared accuse her of
+infidelity to her husband and to the Church whose interests were more
+to her than anything in the world except her son.[17]
+
+The petition was as unheeded as were all the representations of the
+would-be mediators. Again Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XI.
+and with assurances that after God his royal majesty was their only
+hope, besought him from mere charity and pity to persuade his cousin
+of Burgundy to forgive them. Apparently Louis took no notice of this
+appeal. Dinant's last hope was that her fellow-communes of Liege would
+refuse to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included. The sole
+concession, obtained by their envoys to Charles in the winter, had
+been a short truce afterwards extended to May, 1466.
+
+During that summer the critical position of the little town was well
+known. Some sympathisers offered aid but it was aid that there was
+possible danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from Liege, who had
+been expressly excluded from the terms of the peace, had joined the
+ranks of a certain free lance company called "The Companions of the
+Green Tent," as their only shelter was the interlaced branches of the
+forest. To Dinant came this band to aid in her defence.[18] At one
+time it seemed as though a peaceful accommodation might be reached but
+it fell through. Not yet were the citizens ready to surrender their
+charters--"Franchises,--to the rescue," was a frequent cry and no
+treaty was made.
+
+Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the reduction of this
+place in person. Too feeble to ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a
+litter, and arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then attended by a small
+escort only, he proceeded to Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point
+whence he could command a view of the scene of his son's intended
+operations. As the crisis became imminent there were a few further
+efforts to effect a reconciliation. When these failed, the town
+prepared to meet the worst.[19] Stories gravely related by Du
+Clercq[20] represent the people of Dinant goaded to actual fury of
+resistance.
+
+By August 7th, the Burgundian troops made their appearance, winding
+down to the river. Conspicuous among the standards--and nobles from
+all Philip's dominions were in evidence--was the banner of the Count
+of Charolais, displaying St. George slaying the dragon.
+
+On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested and the siege began.
+Within the walls the most turbulent element had gained complete
+control of affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to the winds.
+From the walls they hurled words at the foe:
+
+"Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you have brought him
+here to perish?[21] Your Count Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him
+go fight the King of France at Montl'hêry. If he waits for the noble
+Louis or the Liegeois he will have to take to his heels," etc.
+
+It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled with cannon-balls but
+there was no assault. By the sixth day the magistrates determined
+to send their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for mercy. The
+captain of the great gild of coppersmiths, Jean de Guérin, tried to
+encourage the faint-hearted to protest openly against this procedure.
+Seizing the city colours he declared: "I will trust to no humane
+sentiment. I am ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live or
+die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the town before the foe
+enter it." It was too late, the capitulation was made.
+
+When the keys were brought to Charles he remembered that he was not
+yet duke and ordered them presented to his father in his stead, and to
+his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task of formally accepting
+the surrender.
+
+It was late in the evening when the Bastard of Burgundy marched in. At
+first he held the incoming troops well under control, but the stores
+of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning there were wild scenes
+of disorder. When Charles arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday,
+just a week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness was checked
+with a strong hand. Any ill treatment of women was peculiarly
+repugnant to him, and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
+justice upon offenders.[22]
+
+[Illustration: ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY AFTER HANS MEMLING. DRESDEN
+GALLERY]
+
+His entry into the fallen town was made with all the wonted Burgundian
+pomp. Nothing in the proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate
+manner. A council of war was held and the proceedings decided upon.
+The cruelty that was exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
+not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults to his mother and to
+himself rankled in the count's mind. As one author remarks[23] with
+undoubted reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible for
+the insult were among those punished. After the siege, "pitiable it
+was to see, for the innocent suffered and the guilty escaped."
+
+Certain rich citizens bought their lives with large sums, others _were
+sold as slaves,_[24] or were hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into
+the Meuse.[25] In the monasteries, life was conceded to the inmates
+but that was all. All their property was confiscated. The Count of St.
+Pol, now Constable of France, tried to intercede for the citizens with
+Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to no result. It might have been
+chance or it might have been intentional that at last flames completed
+the work of destruction. The abode of Adolph of Cleves, at the corner
+of Nôtre Dame, was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the
+morning of Thursday, August 28th.
+
+That Charles was responsible for this conflagration Du Clercq thinks
+is incredible.[26] He would certainly have saved all ecclesiastical
+property which was almost completely consumed. Indeed, Charles gave
+orders to extinguish the flames as soon as they were discovered, but
+every one was so occupied with saving his own portion of booty that
+nothing was accomplished and the town-hall caught fire and the church
+of Nôtre Dame. From the latter some ornaments and treasures were saved
+and the bones of Ste. Perpète, with other holy relics, were rescued by
+Charles himself at risk to his own life.
+
+    "It was never known how the fire originated. Some say it was
+    due to a defective flue. To my mind," [concludes the pious
+    historian],[27] "it was the Divine Will that Dinant should be
+    destroyed on account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I
+    trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone lost more than
+    a hundred thousand crowns' value."
+
+_Cy fust Dinant_, "Dinant was," is the sum of his description, four
+days after the conflagration.[28]
+
+On September 1st, Philip, who had remained at Bouvignes while all this
+passed under the direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down to
+Namur. It was almost a triumph,--that trip that proved one of the last
+ever made by the proud duke--and the procession on the river and the
+entry into Namur were closed by a humble embassy from Liege in regard
+to certain points of their peace.
+
+Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the Count of St. Pol's men
+had had no part in the plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the
+poor fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their mercies, as a
+compensation for this deprivation, the little town of Tuin, which had
+been rebellious and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, submitted
+to St. Pol, and then compounded the right of pillage for a round sum
+of money. Moreover, they promised to lay low their gates and their
+walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is said that the
+constable made ten thousand Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men
+felt ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant.
+
+Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare on the various towns of
+Liege territory. The people of Liege themselves seem to have varied
+in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being very humble in their
+petitions for peace and again very insolent. As a rule, this conduct
+seems to be traceable to their hope of Louis's support. On September
+7th, there was one pitched battle where victory decided the final
+terms of the general peace, and after various skirmishes and
+submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the winter and joined
+his father at Brussels.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Doc. inédits sur l'hist. de France_. "Mélanges," ii.,
+398.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Polain, _Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège_,
+I, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See Kirk, _Charles the Bold_, i., 329.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Jacques de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of
+difficulty in Liege government:
+
+1. The size of the council--two hundred, where twenty would do.
+
+2. The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to size, when
+all were assembled by the council to vote on a matter.
+
+3. Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen.
+
+4. Facile naturalisation laws. (_See_ Kirk, i., 325.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: In many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is
+probable that it was only partially operative.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See Victor Hugo, _Le Rhin_, i. The Walloon dialect varies
+greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the "Prodigal Son"
+as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille:
+
+LIEGE. Jésus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis. Li pus jone dérit
+à s'père: père dinnez-m'con qui m'dent riv' ni di vosse bin; et l'père
+lezi partagea s'bin.
+
+HUY. Jésus l'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li peus jone dérit a
+s'père etc.
+
+LILLE. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux garchens. L'pus jeune
+dit à sin père-mon père donez me ch que j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et
+l'père leu-z-a doné a chacun leu parchen.
+
+See also _Doc. inédits concernant l'hist. de la Belgique_, ii., 238,
+for comment on Scott's treatment of the language.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The numbers are probably exaggerated. To-day it contains
+about two hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Du Clercq, iv., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clercq, iv., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Clercq, iv., 239-262.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii., 285, 322. For letters and
+negotiations anterior to this peace see p. 197 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Duclos, v., 236.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Book ii., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight
+thousand inhabitants.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In addition to Commines and Du Clercq _see also_ Kirk,
+i., 385, for quotations from Borgnet and others.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 213, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. inéd.,_ ii., 350.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Est falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse
+de Bourgogne, à cause desdictes injures at conclut telle hayne sur
+cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a juré comme on dist que s'il li
+devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner cestedite ville en
+mettant toutes personnes à l'espée. (Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii.,
+222.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii., 337, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Du Clercq, iv., 273.]
+
+[Footnote 20: He says messengers were put to death without regard to
+their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from limb.
+Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say mass, and the
+situation was strained to the last degree.]
+
+[Footnote 21: _Qui a mandé ce vieil monnart vostre duc_, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Du Clercq, iv., 278.]
+
+[Footnote 23: De Ram, _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de
+Liége,_ "Henricus de Merica," p. 159.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Vel vendebantur in servos. See De Ram _et passim_ for
+documents.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It seems to be well attested that the prisoners were
+tied together and drowned.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Du Clercq, iv., 280.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _Ibid._, 281.]
+
+[Footnote 28: In 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly
+called Dinant" and after that, little by little, the town came to
+life. (Gachard, _Analectes Belgiques_, 318, etc.).]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+1467
+
+
+The Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where he witnessed the manner in
+which his authority was vindicated was his last effort. In the early
+summer following, on Friday, June 10th, Philip, then at Bruges, was
+taken ill and died on the following Monday, June 13th, between nine
+and ten in the evening.[1] Charles was summoned on the Sunday, and it
+seemed as though his horse's hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he
+rode, so swift was his course on the way to Bruges.
+
+When he reached the house where his father lay dying, he was told that
+speech had already ceased, but that there was still life. The count
+threw himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all tenderness,
+and implored a paternal benediction and pardon for all wherein he had
+offended his father. Near the duke stood his confessor who begged the
+dying man to make a sign if he could still understand what was said
+to him. On this admonition and in reply to his son's prayers, Philip
+turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him and pressed the hand which
+was laid upon his own, but further token was beyond his strength. The
+count stayed by his side until he breathed his last.
+
+Thus ended the life of a man who had been a striking figure in Europe
+for forty years. His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been
+fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the Holy Land from the
+invading Turks had proved vain. Many years had passed since he had
+had military success of any kind, and even in his earlier life his
+successes had been owing to diplomacy and to a happy conjunction
+of circumstances rather than to skilful generalship. He possessed
+pre-eminently the power of personality.
+
+When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge at Montereau and Philip
+came into his heritage, Henry V. of England was in the full flush of
+his prosperity, standing triumphant over England and France, and in a
+position to make good his claim with three stalwart brothers to back
+him. All these young men had died prematurely. Their only descendant
+was Henry VI., and that meagre and wretched representative of the
+ambitious Henry V. had had no spark of the character of his father and
+uncles. The one vigorous element in his life was his wife, Margaret
+of Anjou, who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband on his
+throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467, Edward of York was on that
+throne. Gone, too, was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded
+his early, whose son darkened his latter years.
+
+Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke Philip alone had marched
+steadily to every desired goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate
+list of his achievements in doggerel verses:
+
+  "John was born of Philip, child of good King John.
+  To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son.
+  Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed to me
+  Therein to follow him and rule them legally.
+  With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm greater grew.
+  Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too.
+  The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied,
+  By force of right and arms they have been pacified.
+  At one single time against me were maintained
+  French, English, German forces,--nothing have they gained.
+  Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great array.
+  From me he begged a peace and king was from that day!
+  The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered seven.
+  Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given.
+  Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted,
+  But I put them down. I would not be insulted.
+  In Barrois and Lorraine, King René warred upon me.
+  Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he.
+  Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee,
+  From me received his crown. Five years my guest was he.
+  Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land;
+  That now he's England's king is due my aid and hand.
+  To defend the Church, which is the House Divine,
+  The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order mine.
+  Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength,
+  My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length.
+  In later days I planned and most sincerely meant
+  To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent.
+  When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained,
+  Through my control alone as Pope was he retained.
+  In 1467, Time my goal has set.
+  When I am seventy-one, I pay Dame Nature's debt.
+  With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here.
+  As in life I ever was their equal and their peer.
+  Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed,
+  Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed!"
+
+The territories thus named, that passed to the new duke, covered
+a goodly space of earth. Had Philip not slacked his ambition at a
+critical time, undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather than a
+ducal crown to his son. He did not so will it, and, moreover, in a
+way he had receded from his independence as he had accepted feudal
+obligations towards Louis XI. which he never had towards Charles VII.
+
+Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser of the French king, he had
+emphasised his position as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke
+of Burgundy _par excellence_ that Philip died, as the typical peer
+whose luxury and magnificence far surpassed the state possible to his
+acknowledged liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of attempting
+to turn that ducal state into state royal, and of establishing a realm
+which should hold the balance of power between France and Germany.
+
+There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to which was the greater, the
+cleverer, the more powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles the
+duke. Had not the former been a beggarly suppliant at his father's
+gates, as dauphin? As king, had he not been forced to yield at the
+gates of his own capital to every demand made by Charles, standing as
+the conscientious representative of the public welfare of France?
+
+Had not Louis befriended the contumelious neighbour of Charles, only
+to learn that his Burgundian cousin could and would deal summarily
+with all protests against his authority among the lesser folk on
+Netherland territory?
+
+The Croys made an attempt to gain the new duke's friendship, as
+appears from this letter to Duke Charles:
+
+    "Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has pleased Our
+    Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw from the world the good
+    Duke Philip, our beloved lord and father, prince of glorious
+    memory, august duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron
+    and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity, and the
+    dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds, he has won an
+    immortal name among living men, and deserves to our mind to find
+    grace before the merciful bounty of God whom we implore to pardon
+    his faults.
+
+    "Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous death shows what
+    is to be expected by all mortals. How many lands, how many nobles,
+    how many peoples, how many treasures, and how many powers would
+    have been ready to prevent what has come to pass, and how many
+    prayers would have risen to God could He have prevented this
+    death!...
+
+    "Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is the end of all
+    evils and the beginning of all benefits, but still your loss
+    and ours cannot pass without affliction. Nevertheless, our most
+    puissant lord, when we consider that we are not left orphans, and
+    that you, his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause
+    for comfort.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "We implore you to be pleased to count us your loyal subjects
+    and very humble servitors and to permit us to go to you, to thus
+    declare ourselves, etc.
+
+    "A. DE CROY, "J. DE CROY."
+
+At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La Marche was in England,
+whither he had accompanied the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to
+King Edward.[2] Right royally had the latter received the embassy.
+
+    "Clad in purple, the garter on his leg and a great baton in his
+    hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage worthy of being king, for he
+    was a fine prince with a grand manner. A count held the sword
+    in front of him, and around his throne were from twenty to
+    twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking like
+    senators gathered together to advise their master."
+
+Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a tourney given in honour
+of the embassy which La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The
+Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian coat-of-arms with a bar
+sinister, made a fine record for himself.
+
+After the tournament he invited the ladies to a Sunday dinner,
+
+    "especially the Queen and her sisters and made great preparations
+    therefor and then we departed, Thomas de Loreille, Bailiff of
+    Caux, and I to go to Brittany to accomplish our embassy. We
+    arrived at Pleume and were obliged to await wind and boats to
+    go into Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke of
+    Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great was the bastard's
+    mourning when he heard of his father's death, and how the nobility
+    who were with him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into
+    tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all valour.
+
+    "In his life he accomplished two things to the full. One was he
+    died as the richest prince of his time, for he left four hundred
+    thousand crowns of gold cash, seventy-two thousand marks of silver
+    plate, without counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes
+    garnished with precious stones, a large and well equipped library,
+    and rich furniture. For the second, he died as the most liberal
+    duke of his time. He married his nieces at his own expense; he
+    bore the whole cost of great wars several times. At his own
+    expense, he refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave
+    ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy at Rhodes; ...
+    No one went from him who was not well recompensed. The state
+    he maintained was almost royal. For five years he supported
+    Monseigneur the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned that all the
+    world spoke well of him."
+
+The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the English court and hastened
+to Bruges to join his brother, the Count of Charolais, who received
+him warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, "when I mention the said
+count I will call him the Duke of Burgundy as is reasonable."
+
+Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the church of St. Donat
+in Bruges, there to repose until it could be taken to Burgundy to be
+buried at Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses the funeral
+with a brief phrase as he was not himself present at Bruges, being
+busied in Brittany. There was a memorial service there, the finest
+he ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted in the chapel
+decorations, not merely pinned on,[2] a fact that impressed the
+chronicler. No nobles, not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
+put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared that none but him was
+worthy of the honour for so high a prince.
+
+    "So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the service I went to
+    thank him for the reverence he had shown the House of Burgundy,
+    and he responded that he had only done his duty. Then I finished
+    my business as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again and
+    returned to my new master."
+
+In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the Duke of Burgundy,[4]
+Chastellain recounts, more at length than La Marche, all that his
+great master had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe the duke
+as he knew him.
+
+    He was medium in height, rather slight but straight as a rush,
+    strong in hip and in arm, his figure well-knit. His neck was
+    admirably proportioned to his body, his hand and foot were
+    slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his veins were
+    full-blooded. Like all his ancestors, his face was long, as was
+    his nose, his forehead high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
+    brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows the same
+    colour, but the former curly, the latter were bushy and inclined
+    to stand up like horns when he was angry. His mouth was
+    well-proportioned, his lips full and high-coloured; his eyes were
+    grey, sometimes arrogant but usually amiable in expression.
+    His personality corresponded perfectly to his appearance. His
+    countenance showed his character, and his character was a witness
+    to the truth of his physiognomy. Nothing was contradictory,
+    perfect was the harmony between the inner and the outer man,
+    between the nobility of thought and the simple dignity,
+    well-poised and graceful. Among the great ones of this earth, he
+    was like a star in heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
+    and a man unique."
+
+    It was for his bearing rather than his beauty that he commanded
+    universal admiration. In a stable he would have looked like an
+    image in a temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Whereever his
+    body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready for the demands of the
+    hour. He was singularly joyous and nicely tempered in speech with
+    so much personal magnetism that he could mollify any enemy if he
+    could only meet him face to face. His dress was always rich and
+    appropriate. He was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in
+    tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase. He liked to linger
+    at the table and demanded good serving but was really moderate in
+    his tastes, as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence
+    ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never heard from him. To
+    all alike his speech was courteous even when there was nothing to
+    be gained.
+
+    "Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips, his mouth was equal
+    to his seal and his spoken word to his written. Loyal as fine gold
+    and whole as an egg." Chastellain repeats himself somewhat in
+    the profusion of his eulogy, but such are the main points of his
+    characterisation. Then he proceeds to some qualifications:
+
+    "In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I acknowledge that he
+    had faults. None is perfect except God. Often he was very careless
+    in administration, and he neglected questions of justice, of
+    finance, and of commerce in a way that may redound to the injury
+    of his house. The excuse urged is that it was his deputies who
+    were at fault. The answer to that is that he trusted too much to
+    deputies and should not be excused for his confidence. A ruler
+    ought to understand his business himself.
+
+    "Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his heart at the
+    desire of his eyes. At the desire of his heart he multiplied his
+    pleasures. His wishes were easy to attain. What he wanted was
+    offered freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his wife,
+    a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For this I offer no
+    excuse. To God I leave the cause.
+
+    "Another fault was that he was not wise in his treatment of his
+    nobles. Especially in his old age he often preferred the less
+    worthy, the less capable advisers. The answer to this charge is
+    that, as his health failed, whoever was by his side obtained
+    ascendency over him and succeeded in keeping the others at a
+    distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the excuse is to the
+    princely invalid. In his solitude even valets used their power, as
+    is not wonderful.
+
+    "He went late to mass and often out of hours. Sometimes he had
+    it celebrated at two o'clock or even three, and in so doing he
+    exceeded all Christian observance. For this there is no excuse
+    that I dare allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had,
+    indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for causes which he
+    explained, _and he only_ is responsible. God alone can judge about
+    him.
+
+    "It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered for this
+    neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice to deplore, nor the
+    nature of man to lament the perdition of such a soul and of such a
+    prince. Hell is not worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. 0
+    God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single virtuous act, do
+    not suffer this man to descend therein!"
+
+Having thus tried his best to give a vivid description of the father's
+personality, while acknowledging that he is not sure of the fate of
+his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an excellent moment
+to paint the son, too, for all time, in view of his mortality. "I will
+use the past tense so that my words may be good for always."
+
+Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than Duke Philip, but well
+formed, strong in arm and thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set
+and a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted to activity.
+The contour of his face was rounder than that of his father, his
+complexion brunette. His eyes were black and laughing, angelically
+clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as though his father
+looked out of them. Like his father's mouth was his, full and red. His
+nose was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair black. His forehead
+was fine, his neck white and well set, though always bent as he
+walked. He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but nevertheless
+he was a fine prince with a fair outer man.
+
+When he began to speak he often found difficulty in expressing
+himself, but once started his speech became fluent, even eloquent.
+His voice was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although he had
+studied the technique and was fond of music. In conversation he was
+more logical than his father, but very tenacious of his own opinion
+and vehement in its expression, although, at the bottom, he was just
+to all men.
+
+In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He listened to others'
+arguments judicially and gave them due weight before his own concluded
+the discussion. He was attentive to his own business to a fault, for
+he was rather more industrious than became a prince. Economical of his
+own time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates and worked them
+very hard. He was fond of his servants and fairly affable, though
+occasionally sharp in his words. His memory was long and his anger
+dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed him, but being naturally
+impetuous there was often a struggle between impulse and reason.
+
+He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the Virgin Mary, rigid in
+his fasts, lavish in charity. He was determined to avoid death and
+to hold on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's peer in
+valour. Like his father, he dressed richly; unlike him, he cared more
+for silver than for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual to
+princes and was always master of himself. He drank little wine, though
+he liked it, because he found that it engendered fever in him. His
+only beverage was water just coloured with wine. He was inclined to no
+indulgence or wantonness. "At the hour in which I write his taste for
+hard labour is excessive, but in other respects his good sense has
+dominated him, at least thus far. It is to be hoped that as his reign
+grows older he will curb his over-strenuous industry."
+
+As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets that circumstances
+have turned him towards England. Naturally he belonged to the French,
+and it was a pity that the machinations of the king, "whose crooked
+ways are well known to God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on
+his forehead he wears the fleur-de-lys."
+
+Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused of avarice, but
+defends him on the ground that he has been driven into collecting
+a large army. "A penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of
+another." "To take precautions in advance is a way to save honour and
+property," prudently adds the historian, who evidently flourishes
+his maxims to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's economy,
+which, quite as evidently, is not pleasing to him. "I have seen him
+the very opposite of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in
+largesse. When he came into his seigniory his nature did not change."
+It was simply the exigencies of his critical position that forced him
+to restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain the undeserved
+reputation for parsimony.
+
+It was also said that he was a very hard taskmaster, but as a matter
+of fact he demanded nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to
+undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was his own commander, drew up
+his own troops himself in battle array, and then passed from one end
+of the line to the other, encouraging the men individually with cheery
+words, promising them glory and profit, and pledging himself to share
+their dangers. In victory he was restrained and showed more mercy than
+cruelty.
+
+After expatiating on the points where Charles was like his
+father--conventional princely qualities --Chastellain adds: "In some
+respects they differed. The one was cold and the other boiling with
+ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other strenuous in his
+promptness; the elder negligent of his own concerns, the younger
+diligent and alert. They differed in the amount of time consumed at
+meals and in the number of guests whom they entertained. They differed
+more or less in their voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in
+the way in which they took solace and amusement." But in all other
+respects, "in life they marched side by side as equals and if it
+please God He will be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the
+final assurance of their eulogist.
+
+Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his adjectives about his
+patron, there is considerable discrimination between his summaries of
+the two dukes. It is very evident that from his accession Charles
+was less of a favourite than his father. While endeavouring to be
+as complimentary as possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out
+between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and thus never saw
+Charles's final disaster. But the violence of his character had
+inspired lack of confidence in his power of achievement, a violence
+that made people dislike him as Philip with all his faults was never
+disliked.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Du Clercq, iv., 302 _et seq_. Erasmus was born in this
+year, 1467.]
+
+[Footnote 2: II., 49.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "Non par armes attachées à espingles."]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Oeuvres_, vii., 213.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+1467
+
+
+After the dauphin was crowned at Rheims, he was monarch over all his
+domains. Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a series of
+ceremonies to perform before he was properly invested with the various
+titles worn by his father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be
+taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited. Then he had
+to exchange pledges of fidelity with his Flemish subjects before
+receiving recognition as Count of Flanders.
+
+According to the custom of his predecessors, Charles stayed at the
+little village of Swynaerde, near Ghent, the night before he made his
+"joyous entry" into that city. It had chanced that the day selected by
+Charles for the event was St. Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of
+the workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed conveniently in a
+portable shrine, rested in the cathedral church, whence they were
+carried once a year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession to
+the little village of Houthem, where the blessed saint had suffered
+martyrdom in the seventh century. All day and all night the saint's
+devotees, the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, remained at
+this spot. Merry did the festival become as the hours wore on, for
+good cheer was carried thither as well as the sacred shrine.
+
+Now the magistrates were a little apprehensive about the rival claims
+of the new count of Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They knew
+that they could not cut short the time-honoured celebration for the
+sake of the sovereign's inauguration, so they decided to prolong the
+former, and directed that the saint should leave town on Saturday and
+not return until Monday. This left Sunday free for the young count's
+entry. It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction of events to
+the city fathers, because the more turbulent portion of the citizens
+was sure to follow the saint.
+
+Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and dignified entrance,[1]
+having paused at the gates to listen to the fair words of Master
+Mathys de Groothuse as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of
+Flanders, and requested God to receive the present one, when he, too,
+was forced to leave earth, as graciously as Ghent was receiving him
+that day. All passed well; oaths of fealty were duly taken and given
+at the church of St. John the Baptist. Charles himself pulled the
+bell rope according to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of
+Flanders was in possession. This all took place in the morning of June
+28th. At the close of the ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and
+the magistrates to their dwellings.
+
+The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their holiday until Monday
+afternoon. It was five o'clock[2] when the revellers returned to
+Ghent. Many of the saint's followers were, by that time, more or less
+under the influence of the contents of the casks which had formed part
+of the outward-bound burden. The protracted holiday-making had its
+natural sequence. There was, however, too much method in the next
+proceedings for it to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety.
+
+The procession passed through the city gate and entered a narrow
+street near the corn market, where stood a little house used as
+headquarters for the collection of the _cueillotte_, a tax on every
+article brought into the city for sale, and one particularly obnoxious
+to the people. Suddenly a cry was raised and echoed from rank to rank
+of St. Lievin's escort, "Down with the _cueillotte_."
+
+Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic crowd, quick to take a
+fantastic advantage of a situation, a second cry was heard: "St.
+Lievin must go through the house. Lievin is a saint who never turns
+aside from his route."
+
+Delightful thought, followed by speedy action. Axes were produced and
+wielded to good effect.
+
+Down came the miniature customs-house in a flash. Little pieces of
+the ruin were elevated on sticks and carried by some of the rabble as
+standards with the cry "I have it--I have it." As they marched
+the procession was constantly augmented and the cries become more
+decidedly revolutionary: "Kill, kill these craven spoilers of God and
+of the world.[2] Where are they? Let us seek them out and slay them in
+their houses, those who have flourished at our pitiable expense."
+
+This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of St. Lievin's mantle,
+resistance to regularly instituted customs could hardly be described
+by any other name. Excited by their own temerity, the crowd now surged
+on to the great market-place in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where the
+Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint promptly to his
+safe abiding-place as was meet.
+
+There the lawless deeds--lawless to the duke's mind certainly--became
+more audacious. Counterparts of the very banners whose prohibition
+had been part of the sentence in 1453 were unfurled,[4] and their
+possession alone proved insurrectionary premeditation on the part of
+the gild leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the young duke in
+their midst felt it was an open insult to him as sovereign count.
+
+His messenger failed to return from the market-place. His master
+became impatient and followed him to the scene of action with a small
+escort. As they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged them in. The
+nobles became alarmed and urged the duke to return, but cries from
+the crowd promised safety to his person. To the steps of the Hôtel de
+Ville rode the duke, his face dark, menacing with suppressed wrath.[5]
+
+As he dismounted, he turned towards a man whom he thought he saw
+egging on a disturbance and struck him with his riding whip, saying,
+"I know you." The man was quick enough to realise the value of the
+duke's violence at that moment and cried, "Strike again," but the
+Seigneur Groothuse, who had already tried to check Charles's anger and
+to curb the popular turbulence, exclaimed, "For the love of God do
+not strike again!" The wiser burgher at once understood the unstable
+temper of the mob, which had been fairly civil to the duke up to this
+moment. There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the blow would cost
+him dear.
+
+    "Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mischief was so
+    imminent that God alone averted it, and there was not an archer
+    or noble or man so full of assurance that he did not tremble with
+    fear, nor one who would not have preferred to be in India for his
+    own safety. Especially were they in terror for their young prince,
+    who, they thought, was exposed to a dolorous death."
+
+It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster:
+
+    "Do you not see that your life and ours hang on a silken thread?
+    Do you think you can coerce a rabble like this by threats and hard
+    words--a rabble who at this moment do not value you more than the
+    least of us? They are beside themselves, they have neither reason
+    nor understanding.[6]... If you are ready to die, I am not, except
+    in spite of myself. You must try quite a different method--appease
+    them by sweetness and save your house and your life.
+
+    "What could you do alone? How the gods would laugh! Your courage
+    is out of place here unless it enables you to calm yourself and
+    give an example to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom
+    you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They were within the town
+    hall.] Show yourself and you will make an impression by your good
+    sense and all will go well."
+
+To this eminently sound advice the young duke yielded. He appeared on
+a balcony or on the upper steps of the town hall and stood ready to
+harangue his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment sufficed to still
+the turmoil and the silence showed a readiness to hear him speak.
+
+Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish, but he was wise enough
+to use that tongue. One trait of the Ghenters was respect for the
+person of their overlord. When that overlord showed any disposition to
+meet them half-way the response was usually immediate. So it was now.
+The crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin, and not to the
+duke's joyous entry, suddenly remembered that his welcome had been
+strangely ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings. "Take heart,
+Monseigneur. Have no fear. For you we will live and die and none shall
+be so audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fellows with no bump
+of reverence, endure it for the moment. Later you shall be avenged. No
+time now for fear."
+
+This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently appeased to address the
+crowd as "My children," and to assure them that if they would but meet
+him in peaceful conference, their grievances should be redressed.
+"Welcome, welcome! we are indeed your children and recognise your
+goodness."
+
+Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech than was possible either
+to Charles's Flemish or to his mood. This address was equally
+well received, and matters were in train for the appointment of a
+conference between popular representatives and the new Count of
+Flanders, when suddenly a tall, rude fellow climbed up to the balcony
+from the square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to strike on
+the wall, he commanded attention and turned gravely to address the
+audience as though he were on the accredited list of speakers:
+
+"My brothers, down there assembled to set your complaints before your
+prince, your first wish--is it not?--is to punish the ill governors of
+this town and those who have defrauded you and him alike."
+
+"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle crowd.--"You desire the
+suppression of the _cueillotte_, do you not?"--"Yes, yes."--"You
+want all your gates opened again, your banners restored, and your
+privileges reinforced as of yore?"--"Yes, yes." The self-appointed
+envoy turned calmly to Charles and said:
+
+"Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have come together to ask you.
+This is your task. I have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear,
+they make my words their own."
+
+Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified ejaculation over the
+extraordinary insolence of this big villain, who thus audaciously
+associated himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty of God,
+think of such an outrageous and intolerable piece of villainy being
+committed before the eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to
+come and stand side by side with such a gentleman as our seigneur, and
+to proffer words inimical to his authority--words the poorest noble in
+the world would hardly have endured! And yet it was necessary for this
+noble prince to endure and to tolerate it for the moment, and needful
+that he should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough to kill him
+with grief."
+
+Groothuse's answer to the man was mild. Evidently he did not think it
+was a safe moment to exasperate the mob: "'My friend, there was no
+necessity of your intruding up here, a place reserved for the prince
+and his nobles. From below, you could have been heard and Monseigneur
+could have answered you as well there as here. He requires no advocate
+to make him content his people. You are a strange master. Get down. Go
+down below and keep to your mates. Monseigneur will do right by every
+one.'
+
+"Off went the rascal and I do not know what became of him. The duke
+and his nobles were simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage and his
+impudent daring."
+
+The sober report[7] is less detailed and elaborate, but the thread is
+the same. Monseigneur, having returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur
+de la Groothuse, Jean Petitpas, and Richard Utenhove back to the
+market to invite the people to put their grievances in writing. A
+draft was made and carried to the duke. After he had examined it and
+discussed it with his council, he sent Monseigneur de la Groothuse
+back to the market-place to tell the people that he wanted to sleep
+on the proposition and would give his answer at an early hour on the
+morrow. All through the night the people remained in arms on the
+market-place. At about eight o'clock on June 30th Groothuse returned,
+thanked the people in the count's name for having kept such good
+watch, and was answered by cries of "_À bas la cueillotte_."
+
+Then he assured them that all was pardoned and that they should obtain
+what they had asked in the draft. Only he requested them to appoint a
+committee of six to present their demands to Monseigneur and then to
+go home. This they did. St. Lievin was restored to the church and his
+followers betook themselves to the gates specified in the treaty of
+Gaveren. These they broke down, and also destroyed another house where
+was a tax collector's office.
+
+"The report of these events carried to Monseigneur did not have a good
+effect upon his spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted the city."
+The members of the corporation with the two deans and the popular
+committee of six having obtained audience before his departure,
+Groothuse acted as spokesman: "We implore you in all humility to
+pardon us for the insult you have suffered, and to sign the paper
+presented. The bad have had more authority than the good, which could
+not be prevented, but we know truly that if the draft is not signed
+they will kill us."
+
+It is evident in all this story that the municipal authorities were
+frightened to death and that Charles allowed himself to be restrained
+to an extraordinary extent considering the undoubted provocation. His
+reasons for conciliatory measures were two, and literally were his
+ducats and his daughter. He had with him all the portable treasure and
+ready money that his father had had at Bruges, a large treasure
+and one on which he counted for his immediate military
+operations--operations very important to the position as a European
+power which he ardently desired to attain.
+
+Still more important was the fact that his young daughter, Mary, now
+eleven years old, was living in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of
+the city. If the unruly majority should realise their strength what
+easier for them than to seize the treasure and hold the daughter as
+hostage, until her father had acceded to every demand, and until
+democracy was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the neighbouring
+cities?
+
+Charles simply did not dare attempt further coercion of the democratic
+spirit until he was beyond the walls. It is evident that he was
+completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude towards him, as the
+city had always professed great personal attachment to him. But there
+was a difference between being heir and sovereign. The agreement was
+signed, with a mental reservation on the part of the Duke of Burgundy.
+He only intended to keep his pledge until he could see his way clear
+to make terms better to his liking.
+
+On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking his daughter and his
+treasure away, but a safe shelter for both was not easy to find.
+The duke's anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon her
+neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle fears. There were revolts
+of more or less importance at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and
+other places. Moreover, there was serious discussion in the estates
+assembled at Louvain as to whether Charles should be acknowledged as
+Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his cousin, the Count of
+Nevers, should be considered as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the
+late duke's title had never been considered perfect.
+
+Louis XI. seized the opportunity to urge the pretensions of the
+latter, and there were many reasons to recommend him, in the
+estimation of the Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a sovereign
+exclusively their own, instead of one with the widespread geographical
+interests of the Burgundian family. The final decision was, however,
+for Charles; a notice of the resolution of the deputies was sent to
+him at Mechlin, and he made his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he
+received homage from the nobles, the good cities, and the university.
+
+The various insurgent manifestations were promptly quelled one after
+another, but, with a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the duke
+was strongly impressed by them as personal insults. He blamed Ghent
+for their occurrence and deeply resented every one. Throughout
+Philip's whole career he remembered the localised tenure of his titles
+and the fact that they were not perfectly incontestable. For his own
+advantage he often found a conciliatory attitude the best policy.
+Charles considered all his rights heaven-born. Questioning his
+authority was rank rebellion. That he had accepted advice in regard
+to Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the nonce, did not
+mitigate his intense bitterness.
+
+In another town that gave him serious trouble at this time, nothing
+led him to curb the severity of his measures. Though only a
+"protector," not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion in Liege
+he rigorously exacted the most complete and humiliating penalties. The
+city charters were abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As
+an unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth, walls and
+fortifications rased to the ground.
+
+    "The perron on the market-place of the said town shall be taken
+    down, and then Monseigneur the duke shall treat it according to
+    his pleasure. The city may not remake the said perron, nor replace
+    another like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city. Nor
+    shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms of Liege."[8]
+
+This was a terrible indignity for the city and a clear proof of their
+fear of their bishop's friend.
+
+The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent with the duke's power, and
+made the more timorous anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his
+mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their arguments, but the
+scene of abnegation and self-humiliation crowning their apology was
+not enacted until eighteen months after the events apologised for,
+when the new duke had still further proven his metal.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 210, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Some authorities make this five A.M., but the _Rapport_
+is probably correct.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Chastellain, v., 260 _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: So say some historians. But it seems probable that the
+drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Chastellain, v., ch. 7, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 6: These are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober
+_Rapport_ is similar in purport.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 212. ]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard. _Doc. inéd_., ii., 462, "_Instrument notarié_."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+1468
+
+
+For many months before Philip's death there had been negotiations
+concerning Charles's marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling a
+closer bond with his mother than with his father, Charles's sympathy
+had ever been towards the Lancastrian party in England, the family to
+whom Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only the necessity for
+making a strong alliance against Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride
+from the House of York. It was on this business that La Marche and
+the great Bastard were engaged when Philip's death interrupted the
+discussion, which Charles did not immediately resume on his own
+behalf.
+
+Pending the final decision in regard to this important indication of
+his international policy, the duke busied himself with the adjustment
+of his court, there being many points in which he did not intend to
+follow his father's usage.[1] Philip's lavishness, without too close
+a query as to the disposition of every penny, was naturally very
+agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal air about his
+households. It was easy to come and go, and it was pleasant to have
+the handling of money and the giving of orders--orders which were
+fulfilled and richly paid without haggling. Charles had other notions.
+He was willing to pay, but he wanted to be sure of an adequate
+return. How he started in on his administration with reform ideas is
+delightfully told by Chastellain.[2]
+
+One of his first measures when he was finally established at Brussels
+was to secure more speedy execution of justice. He appointed a new
+provost, "a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently fitted to
+carry out perilous work." Then he determined to settle petty civil
+suits himself, as there were many which had dragged on for a long
+time. In order to do this and to receive complaints from poor people,
+he arranged to give audience three times a week, Monday, Wednesday,
+and Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he required the
+attendance of all his nobles, seated before him on benches, each
+according to his rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so that
+few places were empty. Charles himself was elevated on a high throne
+covered with cloth of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judgments
+and heard and answered petitions, a process that sometimes lasted two
+or three hours and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers.
+
+    "In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent course of action and
+    very praiseworthy. But in my time I have never heard of nor seen
+    like action taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the
+    least similar.
+
+    "When the duke went through the city from place to place and from
+    church to church, it was wonderful how much state and order was
+    maintained and what a grand escort he had. Never a knight so old
+    or so young who dared absent himself and never a squire was bold
+    enough to squeeze himself into the knights' places."
+
+At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was observed. Every one had
+to wait his turn in his proper room--the squires in the first, the
+knights in the second, and so on. All left the palace together to go
+to mass. As soon as the offering was made all the nobles were free
+to dine, but they were obliged to report themselves to the duke
+immediately after his repast. Any failure caused the forfeiture of the
+fee for the day. It was all very orderly and very dull.
+
+Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law-giver, paternal guide,
+philosopher, and friend to his people. From time to time he delivered
+harangues to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hearing, but
+certainly did not win popularity. The adulatory phrases used as mere
+conventionalities seemed to have actually turned his head. And those
+stock phrases were very grandiloquent. There is no doubt that such
+comparisons were used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the first
+deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the sins committed at the
+dolorous unjoyous entry into the Flemish capital.[2]
+
+    "My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold double place, place
+    of God and place of man, and have in yourself the double nature
+    by office and commission in divine estate, and as your noble
+    discretion knows and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator,
+    of all offences committed against you, and who may be appeased
+    by tears and by weeping as He permits Himself to be softened by
+    contrition, entreaties, etc., and resumes His natural benignity by
+    forgetting things past [etc.].... Alas, what kindness did He use
+    toward Adam, His first offender, upon whom through his son Seth He
+    poured the oil of pity in five thousand future years, and then to
+    Cain the first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his crime
+    for ten generations etc. What did he do in Abraham's time, when He
+    sent word to Lot that if there were ten righteous men in Sodom and
+    Gomorrah He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In Ghent,"
+    etc.[4]
+
+In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the duke's consent to grant
+forgiveness to Ghent is again compared to God's own mercy. The divine
+attributes were referred to again and again, not only on the pages
+of contemporaneous chroniclers who may be accused of desiring ducal
+patronage, but also in sober state papers.
+
+There was one antidote to this homage universally offered to Charles
+wherever there was no rebellion against him. One of the rules of the
+Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike should be subject to
+criticism by their fellows. In May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an
+assembly of the Order, the first over which he had presided. It was a
+fitting opportunity for the knights to express their sentiments. When
+it came to his turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to the
+representations that his conduct fell short of the ideals of chivalry
+because he was too economical, too industrious, too strenuous, and not
+sufficiently cognisant of the merits of his faithful subjects of high
+degrees.[5]
+
+In these plaints, respectful as they are, there is perhaps a note of
+regret for the lavish and amusing good cheer of the late duke's times.
+Charles was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at this period. The
+vision of wide dominions was already in his dreams, and he was prudent
+enough to begin his preparations. And prudence is not a popular
+quality. Still his courtiers were not quite bereft of the gorgeous and
+spectacular entertainments to which the "good duke" had accustomed
+them. Soon after the assembly of the Order, the alliance between Duke
+Charles and Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our Burgundian
+Chastellain is not pleased with this marriage. That Charles inclined
+towards England at all was due to the French king, whom both he and
+his father had found untrustworthy. Again, had there been any other
+eligible _partie_ in England Charles would never have allied himself
+with King Edward when all his sympathies were with the blood of
+Lancaster. But when King Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou,
+whose woes should have commanded pity, simply for the purpose of
+undermining the Duke of Burgundy, the latter felt it wise to make
+Edward his friend.
+
+    "That it was sore against his inclination he confessed to one who
+    later revealed it to me, but he decided that it was better to
+    injure another rather than be down-trodden and injured himself.[6]
+
+    "For a long time there had been little love lost between him and
+    the king. The monarch feared the pride and haughtiness of his
+    subject, and the subject feared the strength and profound subtilty
+    of the king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the whip. And
+    all this, alas, was the result of that cursed War of Public Weal
+    cooked up by the French against their own king. When Charles was
+    deeply involved in it he was deserted by the others and the whole
+    weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so that he alone was
+    blamed by the king, and he alone was forced to look to his own
+    safety and comfort. It is a pity when such things occur in a realm
+    and among kinsfolk."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+
+FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN LENGLET DU FRESNOY
+EDITION OF COMINES]
+
+
+Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine when news came to
+him that the marriage was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
+it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the future result. But
+the king used all kinds of machinations to break off the alliance....
+God suffered two young proud princes to try their strength each at
+his will, often in ways that would have been incompatible in common
+affairs."
+
+The fullest account of the wedding is given by La Marche, an
+eyewitness of the event[7]:
+
+    "Gilles du Mas, maître d'hôtel du Duc de Bretagne--to you I
+    recommend myself. I have collected here roughly according to my
+    stupid understanding what I saw of the said festival, to send it
+    to you, beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me of the
+    noble states and high deeds in your quarter ... as becomes two
+    friends of one rank and calling in two fraternal, allied and
+    friendly houses.
+
+    "My lady and her company arrived at l'Écluse on a Saturday, June
+    25th, and on the morrow Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother
+    of the duke, Mlle. of Burgundy and various other ladies and
+    demoiselles visited Madame Margaret[8] and only
+
+stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased with her
+prospective daughter-in-law and could not say enough of her character
+and her virtues. There remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of
+the duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempré and various other
+ladies and gentlemen to act the hosts to the strange ladies and
+gentlemen who had crossed from England with the bride. The Count and
+Countess de Charny met Madame as she disembarked and never budged from
+her side until she had arrived at Bruges.
+
+"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur of Burgundy made his
+way to l'Écluse with a small escort and entered the chateau at the
+rear. After supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights of the
+Order, he went very secretly to the hôtel of Dame Margaret, who had
+been warned of his intention, and was attended by the most important
+members of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's
+brother.
+
+    "At his arrival when they saw each other the greetings were very
+    ceremonious and then the two sat down on one bench and chatted
+    comfortably together for some time. After some conversation, the
+    Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged plan of his own,
+    kneeled before the two and made complimentary speeches. He was
+    followed by M. de Charny, who spoke as follows:
+
+    "'Monseigneur, you have found what you desired and since God has
+    brought this noble lady to port in safety and to your desire, it
+    seems to me that you should not depart without proving the
+    affection  you bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now
+    at this moment and give her your troth.'
+
+    "Monseigneur answered that it did not depend upon him. Then the
+    bishop spoke to Margaret and asked her what she thought. She
+    answered that it was just for this and nothing else that the king
+    of England had sent her over and she was quite ready to fulfil
+    the king's command. Whereupon the bishop took their hands and
+    betrothed them. Then Monseigneur departed and returned on the
+    morrow to Bruges.
+
+    "Dame Margaret remained at l'Écluse until the following Saturday
+    and was again visited by Monseigneur. On Saturday the boats were
+    richly decorated to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was
+    received very honourably according to the capacity of that little
+    town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July, Monseigneur the duke set out
+    with a small escort between four and five o'clock in the morning,
+    and went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready to receive
+    him as all had been prearranged, and Monseigneur wedded her as was
+    suitable, and the nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the
+    Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles returned to his hotel
+    at Bruges, and you may believe that during the progress of the
+    other ceremonies he slept as if he were to be on watch on the
+    following night.
+
+    "Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of Luxemburg, John of
+    Nassau, and others returned to Damme and paid their homage to the
+    new duchess, and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully
+    draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white cloth of gold made
+    like a wedding garment as was proper. On her hair rested a crown
+    and her other jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English
+    ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by her litter
+    and the others behind. Five chariots followed the thirteen
+    hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk, the most beautiful woman in
+    England, being in the first. In this array Madame proceeded to
+    Bruges and entered at the gate called Ste. Croix."
+
+There were too many names to be enumerated, but La Marche cannot
+forbear mentioning a noble Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of
+Breda, who had six horses covered with cloth of gold, jewelry, and
+silk.
+
+    "I mention him for two reasons [he explains[9]]: first, that he
+    was the most brilliant in the procession, and the second is that
+    by the will of God he died on the Wednesday from a trouble in his
+    leg, which was a pity and much regretted by the nobility.
+
+    "The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace was magnificent,
+    with all the dignitaries in their order. So costly were the
+    dresses of the ducal household that Charles expended more than
+    forty thousand francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone.
+
+    "Prominent in this stately procession were the nations or foreign
+    merchants in this order: Venetians, Florentines--at the head of
+    the latter marched Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of
+    the duke at the same time that he was chief of their nation and
+    therefore dressed in their garb; Spaniards; Genoese--these latter
+    showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on horseback guarded by
+    St. George from the dragon.--Then came the Osterlings, 108 on
+    horseback, followed by six pages, all clad in violet.
+
+    "Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all decorated with
+    cloth  of gold and silk and tapestries. As to the theatrical
+    representations I can remember at least ten. There were Adam and
+    Eve, Cleopatra married to King Alexander, and various others.
+
+    "The reception at the palace was very formal. The dowager duchess
+    herself received her daughter-in-law from the litter and escorted
+    her by the hand to her chamber, and for the present we will leave
+    the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrangement of the
+    hôtel.
+
+    "In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess was served
+    _d'eschançon et d'escuyer tranchant et de pannetier_. All English,
+    all knights and gentlemen of great houses, and the chief steward
+    cried 'Knights to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get
+    the food, and around the buffet marched all the relations of
+    Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of great houses. And
+    for that day Mme. the duchess the mother declined to be served _à
+    couvert_ but left the honour to her daughter-in-law as was right.
+
+    "After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms for a little rest
+    and there were some changes of dress. Then they all mounted their
+    chariots and hackneys and issued forth on the streets in great
+    triumph and wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Several
+    days of festivity followed when the usual pantomimes and shows were
+    in evidence.
+
+    "Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fête, the grand _salle_ was
+    arranged in the same state as on the wedding day itself, except the
+    grand buffet which stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet,
+    too, was a grand affair and concluded the festivities.
+
+    On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur departed for
+    Holland on a pressing piece of business, and he took leave of the
+    Duchess of Norfolk and the other lords and ladies of quality and
+    gave them gifts each according to his rank. Thus ends the story
+    of this noble festival, and for the present I know nothing worth
+    writing you except that I am yours."
+
+To this may be added the letter of one of the Paston family who was in
+Margaret's train.[10]
+
+    "John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston:
+
+    "To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr Margaret Paston
+    dwelling at Caster, be thys delyveryed in hast.
+
+    "Ryth reverend & worchepfull Modyr, I recommend me on to you as
+    humbylly as I can thynk, desyryng most hertly to her of your
+    welfare & hertsese whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my
+    hert can thynk. Ples yt you to wete that at the makyng of thys
+    byll my brodyr & I & all our felawshep wer in good helle, blyssyd
+    be God.
+
+    "As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as worchepfull as all
+    the world can devyse it, & ther wer never Englyshe men had so good
+    cher owt of Inglong that ever I herd of.
+
+    "As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can non send yow;
+    savyng my Lady Margaret was maryed on Sonday last past at a town
+    that is called Dame IIj myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the
+    morning; & sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr dener;
+    & ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully as all the world cowd
+    devyse as with presession with ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny
+    pepell that ever I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in
+    hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that ever I sye.
+    And the same Sonday my Lord the Bastard took upon hym to answere
+    xxiiij knyts & gentylmen within viij dayis at jostys of pese &
+    when that they wer answered, they xxiiij & hymselve shold torney
+    with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on Monday next
+    comyng; & they that have jostyd with hym into thys day have been
+    as rychly beseyn, & hymselfe also, as clothe of gold & sylk &
+    sylvyr & goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger & gold
+    & perle & stonys they of the dukys coort neyther gentylmen nor
+    gentylwomen they want non; for with owt that they have it by
+    wyshys, by my trowthe, I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords & ladys & gentylwomen
+    knyts, sqwyers & gentylmen I hert never of non lyek to it
+    save King Artourys cort. And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor
+    remembrance to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but that
+    lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you when I come home
+    whyche I trust to God shal not be long to; for we depart owt of
+    Brygge homward on Twysday next comyng & all folk that cam with my
+    lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as shall abyd her
+    styll with hyr whyche I wot well shall be but fewe.
+
+    "We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that the Frenshe king
+    is purposyd to mak wer upon hym hastyly & that he is with in IIIj
+    or v dayis jorney of Brugys & the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next
+    comyng forward to met with hym. God geve hym good sped & all hys;
+    for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest felawshep that ever I cam
+    among & best can behave themselves & most like gentlemen.
+
+    "Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the Duke of Somerset &
+    all hys band departyd well beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that
+    my Lady the Duchess cam thedyr & they sey her that he is to Queen
+    Margaret that was & shal no more come her agen nor be holpyn by
+    the Duke. No more; but I beseche you of your blessyng as lowly as
+    I can, wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday onys.
+    And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good mastras to my lytyll
+    man & to se that he go to scole.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt Thomas.
+
+    "Your sone & humbyll servaunt,
+
+    "J. PASTON THE YOUNGER."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Chastellain, v., 570.]
+
+[Footnote 2: V., 576.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This deputation was composed of representatives from "all
+the city in its entirety in three chief members--the bourgeois and
+nobles, the fifty-two _métiers_, and the weavers who possess twelve
+different places in the city entirely for themselves and in their
+control." The formal apology was made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Ibid_ 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467,
+Duke Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges which
+he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a deputation from the
+three members [_Trois membres_] of the city should come to Brussels to
+beg pardon on their knees, bareheaded, ungirded, for all the disorder
+of St. Lievin. This act of submission took place probably not until
+January, 1469, though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Hist, de l'Ordre_, etc., p. 511.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Chastellain, V., 342.]
+
+[Footnote 7: III., 101. Evidently this was composed for a separate
+work and then incorporated into the memoirs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: There is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the
+Bibliothèque de Burgogne. _See_ also Wavrin, _Anchiennes Croniques
+d'Engleterre_, ii., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 9: III., 108.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _The Paston Letters_, ii., 317.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+1468
+
+
+    "My brother, I beseech you in the name of our affection and of
+    our alliance, come to my aid, come as speedily as you can, come
+    without delay. Written by the own hand of your brother.
+
+    "FRANCIS."
+
+Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent appeal from the
+Duke of Brittany that followed Charles into Holland, whither he had
+hastened after the completion of the nuptial festivities.
+
+The titular Duke of Normandy found that his royal brother was in no
+wise inclined to fulfil the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally,
+Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into terror lest the king
+should invade his duchy and punish him for his share in the
+proceedings that had led up to that compact.
+
+It is in this year that Louis XI. begins to show his real astuteness.
+Very clever are his methods of freeing himself from the distasteful
+obligations assumed towards his brother. They had been easy to make
+when a hostile army was encamped at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy
+weighed lightly when balanced by the desire to separate the allies.
+That separation accomplished, the point of view changed. Relinquish
+Normandy, restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege lord
+after its long retention by the English kings? Louis's intention
+gradually became plain and he proved that he was no longer in the
+isolated position in which the War for Public Weal had found him. He
+had won to himself many adherents, while the general tone towards
+Charles of Burgundy had changed.[1]
+
+In April, 1468, the States-General of France assembled at Tours in
+response to royal writs issued in the preceding February.[2] The
+chancellor, Jouvençal, opened the session with a tedious, long-winded
+harangue calculated to weary rather than to illuminate the assembly.
+Then the king took the floor and delivered a telling speech. With
+trenchant and well chosen phrases he set forth the reasons why
+Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of the French realm. The
+advantages of centralisation, the weakness of decentralisation, were
+skilfully drawn. The matter was one affecting the kingdom as a whole,
+in perpetuity; it was not for the temporal interests of the present
+incumbent of regal authority, who had only part therein for the brief
+space of his mortal journey. Louis's words are pathetic indeed, as
+he calls himself a sojourner in France, _en voyage_ through life,
+as though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of ephemeral
+mankind was novel to his audience. He reiterated the statement that
+the interests involved were theirs, not his.
+
+It was a goodly body which listened to Louis. The greatest feudal
+lords, indeed, were not present, but many of the lesser nobility were,
+while sixty-four towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies. These
+hearers gave willing attention to the thesis that it was a burning
+shame for the French people to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the
+insolent peers from rebelling against their sovereign--those noble
+scions of the royal stock whose bounden duty it was to protect the
+state and the head of the royal house.
+
+What was the reason for their selfish insubordination? The root of the
+evil lay in the past, when extensive territories had been carelessly
+alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted to acquire too much
+independence of the crown, so that the monarchy was threatened with
+disruption. There was more to the same purpose and then the deputies
+deliberated on the answer to make to this speech from the throne. It
+was an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed the value of
+suggestion. Charles the Wise had thought that an estate yielding an
+income of twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a prince of
+the blood. Louis XI. was more generous. He was ready to allow his
+brother Charles a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to the
+government of Normandy--why! no king, either from fraternal affection
+or from fear of war, was justified in committing that province to
+other hands than his own.
+
+The States-General dissolved in perfect accord with the monarch, and a
+definite order was left in the king's hands, declaring that it was
+the judgment of the towns represented that concentration of power was
+necessary for the common welfare of France. Public opinion declared
+that national weakness would be inevitable if the feudatories were
+unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies. Above all, Normandy must be
+retained by the king. On no consideration should Louis leave it to his
+brother.[2]
+
+Before the dissolution of the assembly there was some discussion as to
+the probable attitude of the great nobles in regard to this platform
+of centralisation. Very timid were the comments on Charles of
+Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be an excellent mediator between the
+lesser dukes and the king? Would it not be better to suspend action
+until his opinion was known, etc? But at large there was less reserve.
+The statements were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever come to
+France from Burgundy. The present duke's father and grandfather had
+wrought all the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles, his
+illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest content with his
+paternal heritage. Ghent and Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too?
+Let the king recover the towns on the Somme. Rightfully they were
+French. Louis made no scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty
+of Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by undue influence.
+And this royal sentiment was repeated here and there with growing
+conviction of its justice.
+
+While Charles was occupied with the preparation for his wedding, Louis
+was engaged in levying troops and mobilising his forces, and these
+preparations continued throughout the summer of 1468. Naturally, news
+of this zeal directed against the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany
+followed the traveller in Holland.
+
+Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once to the king, reminding
+him that these seigneurs were his allies, and demanding that nothing
+should be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his remonstrance
+might be futile, and urged on by appeals from the dukes, Charles
+hastened to cut short his stay in Holland so that he might move nearer
+to the scene of Louis's activities. His purpose in going to the north
+had been twofold--to receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand,
+and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of money for which he
+saw immediate need if he were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from
+him.
+
+In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in Flanders to
+Middelburg, and thence made his progress through the cities of
+Zealand, receiving homage as he went. Next he passed to The Hague,
+where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland met him and gave
+him their oaths of fealty on July 21st. Fifty-six towns[4] were
+represented and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks and the
+islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It is noteworthy," comments a Dutch
+historian, "that the people's oath was given first. The older custom
+was that the count should give the first pledge while the people
+followed suit."
+
+As soon as he was thus legally invested with sovereign power, Charles
+demanded a large _aide_ from Holland and Zealand--480,000 crowns of
+fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin money for his new
+consort; 16,000 crowns as donations for various servants, and 4800
+crowns towards his travelling expenses. The total sum was 532,800
+crowns. The share of Holland and West Friesland was 372,800 crowns,
+and of Zealand 16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half
+years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest quota, 3549 crowns, and
+Schiedam the smallest, 350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South
+Holland villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and the remainder was
+divided among the other cities and villages.
+
+There was considerable opposition to the assessments. In many cases
+the new imposts upon provisions pressed very heavily on the poor
+villagers. Having obtained promise of the grant, however, Charles left
+all further details in its regard to the local officials and returned
+to Brussels at the beginning of August to make his own preparation.
+For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the treaty of
+Conflans were plain, though there still fluttered a thin veil of
+friendship between the cousins. Gathering what forces he could
+mobilise, ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved westward and
+took up his quarters at Peronne on the river Somme.
+
+Louis had been bold in his utterance to the States-General as to his
+perfect right to ignore the treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his
+brother, and to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the summer
+of 1468 he made advances towards accomplishing the last-named
+desideratum. Brittany was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was
+diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis peaceably consented
+to renounce his close alliances with Burgundy and England, nominally
+at least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France to submit his
+claims to Normandy to the arbitration of Nicholas of Calabria and the
+Constable St. Pol.[5]
+
+Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with on some different
+basis. And in regard to him Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified
+his friends and caused the world to wonder as to his sanity. All
+previous attempts at mediation having failed--St. Pol was among the
+many who tried--the king determined to be his own messenger to parley
+with his Burgundian cousin. It is curious how small was his measure
+of personal pride. He had been negligent of his personal safety at
+Conflans, but even then Charles had better reason to respect and
+protect him than in 1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years
+in every direction to harass and undermine the young duke's power,
+and when, too, the latter was aware of half of the machinations and
+suspicious of more.
+
+Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sudden hare-brained
+enterprise. There is much evidence that he nursed the project for many
+weeks without giving any intimation of his intentions. Nor was the
+situation as strange as it appears, looking backward.
+
+Charles had doubtless made all preparations to combat Louis if need
+were, and had chosen Peronne for his headquarters with the express
+purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the same time, he had
+published abroad that his military preparations were solely for
+the purpose of keeping his obligations to his allies. Now these
+obligations were momentarily removed by the action of those same
+allies. Francis of Brittany had entered into amicable relations with
+his sovereign, young Charles of France had accepted arbitration to
+settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers, while the
+correspondence between Louis and Liege, was still unknown to the Duke
+of Burgundy. For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no definite
+quarrel with the French king. But he was not in the least anxious for
+an interview with him. Charles was as far as ever from understanding
+his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of Louis's efforts to
+make friends in the Netherlands, Charles suspected enough to turn his
+youthful distrust of the man's character into mature conviction that
+friendship between them was impossible. But he could not refuse the
+royal overtures. His letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited
+visitor bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows:[6]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it be your
+    desire to come to this city of Peronne in order that we may talk
+    together, I swear and I promise you by my faith and on my honour
+    that you may come, remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon,
+    according to your pleasure and as often as it shall please you,
+    freely and openly without any hindrance offered either to you or
+    to any of your people by me or by any other for any cause that now
+    exists or _that may hereafter arise_."
+
+Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential messenger between duke and
+king. He it was whom Charles had dismissed from his own service in
+1456 at his father's instance. From that time on the man had been in
+Louis's household, deep in his secrets it was said, and certainly
+admitted to his privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter was
+written by Charles in the presence of Biche, through whose hand it
+passed directly to the king.
+
+By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to move as soon as the
+safe-conduct arrived. No time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday,
+October 9th, the king started out, accompanied by the Bishop of
+Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue,
+St. Pol, a few more nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish
+guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of Crèvecoeur, with two
+hundred lances, met him on the way to act as his escort to the
+presence of the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of a stream a
+short distance out of Peronne.
+
+St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the duke as herald of
+Louis's approach. Then Charles rode forward to greet the traveller. As
+he came within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his saddle and was
+about to dismount when Louis, his head bared, prevented his action.
+Fervent were the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the duke's
+cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly about the latter's neck.
+Then he turned graciously to the by-standing nobles and greeted them
+by name. But his cousinly affection was not yet satisfied. Again he
+embraced Charles and held him half as long as before in his arms. How
+pleasant he was and how full of confidence towards this trusted cousin
+of his!
+
+The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two princes in the
+middle, and made a stately entry into Peronne at a little after
+mid-day.[7] The chief building then and the natural place to lodge
+a royal visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair, ill
+furnished, and affording less comfort than a neighbouring house
+belonging to a city official. Here rooms had been prepared for the
+king and a few of his suite, the others being quartered through the
+town. At the door Charles took his leave and Louis entered alone with
+Cardinal Balue and the attendants he had chosen to keep near him.
+These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and were treated
+by their master with a familiarity very astonishing to the stately
+Burgundians.
+
+Louis entered the room assigned for his use, walked to the window,
+and looked out into the street. The sight that met his view was most
+disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the point of entering the
+castle. They were gentlemen just arrived from Burgundy with their
+lances, in response to a summons issued long before the present visit
+was anticipated. As he looked down on the troops, Louis recognised
+several men who had no cause to love him or to cherish his memory.
+There was, for instance, the queen's brother Philip de Bresse[8] who
+had led a party against Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a
+time of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of his
+brother-in-law's profession and had visited him to obtain his
+mediation. The king had violated both the specified safe-conduct and
+ambassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De Bresse into the citadel
+of Loches, where he suffered a long confinement before he succeeded in
+making his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as well as in race.
+But with him on that October day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who
+had fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or another and had
+saved their liberty by flight, renouncing their allegiance to him
+for ever. Four there were in all who wore the cross of St. Andrew.
+Approaching Peronne as they had from the south, these new-comers had
+ridden in at the southern gates without intimation of this royal
+visitation extraordinary until they were almost face to face with
+guest and host. Their arrival was "a half of a quarter of an hour
+later than that of the king."
+
+When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned what was going on, they
+hastened to the duke's chambers "to give him reverence." Monseigneur
+de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke that the three above
+named should be assured of their security notwithstanding the king's
+presence at Peronne,--of security such as he had pledged them in
+Burgundy and promised for the hour when they should arrive at his
+court. On their part they were ready to serve him towards all and
+against all. Which petition the duke granted orally. "The force
+conducted by the Marshal of Burgundy was encamped without the gates,
+and the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did the others I
+have mentioned."[9]
+
+It was, however, a situation in which apprehension was not confined
+to the men of lower station. To Louis, looking down from his window,
+there seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these persons who had
+heavy grievances against him, and the unfortified private house seemed
+slight protection against their possible vengeance. Here, Charles
+might disavow injury to him as something happening quite without his
+knowledge. On ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under shelter
+patently ducal. There, there would be no doubt of responsibility did
+misfortune happen.
+
+Straightway the king sent a messenger to Charles asking for quarters
+within the castle. The request was granted and the uneasy guest passed
+through the massive portals between a double line of Burgundian
+men-at-arms. It was no cheerful, pleasant, palatial dwelling-place
+this little old castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that vain
+had been all assaults against it.[10] Designed for a fortress rather
+than a residence, it had been repeatedly used as a prison, and the air
+of the whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls, dungeons
+which had seen many unwilling lodgers. Five centuries earlier than
+this date, Charles the Simple had languished to death in one of the
+towers.
+
+This change of arrangement, or rather the disquieting reason for the
+change, undoubtedly clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet
+outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts that the two princes
+directed their people to behave amicably to each other and that the
+commands were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days the desired
+conferences took place between Charles and Louis. The king's wishes
+were perfectly plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other alliances
+and to pledge himself to support his feudal chief, first and foremost,
+from all attacks of his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had submitted
+to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy would only accept terms equally
+satisfactory in their way, the pernicious alliance between the two
+would vanish, to the weal of French unity.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP DE COMMINES.]
+
+Apparently the first discussion was heard by none except the Cardinal
+Balue and Guillaume de Biche. Charles was willing to pledge allegiance
+and to promise aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations that
+weakened the value of his words. Nothing could induce him to renounce
+alliance with other princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There
+was a second interview on the following day. Charles held tenaciously
+to his position. Then there came a sudden alteration in the situation,
+a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of view.
+
+The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the behests of her
+imperious neighbour, but the citizens had never ceased to hope that
+his unwelcome "protection" might be dispensed with; that, by the aid
+of French troops, they might eventually wrest themselves free from
+the Burgundian incubus. In spite of all promises to Charles, secret
+negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party and Louis XI. had never
+ceased. The latter never refused to admit the importunate embassies to
+his presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the city even in
+its ruined condition. He sent envoys as well as received them, and
+Commines states definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne,
+the fact of a confidential commission recently despatched to Liege had
+wholly slipped the king's mind.
+
+In that town the duke's lieutenant, Humbercourt, had been left to
+supervise the humiliating changes ordered. And the work of demolition
+was the only industry. Other ordinary business was at a standstill.
+For a period there was a sullen silence in the streets and the church
+bells were at rest. In April, a special legate from the pope arrived
+to see whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a better
+footing.
+
+It was about the same time that the States-General were meeting
+at Tours that, under the direction of this legate, Onofrio de
+Santa-Croce, the cathedral was purified with holy water, and Louis of
+Bourbon celebrated his very first mass, though he had been seated on
+the episcopal throne for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate
+between the city and the Duke of Burgundy. To Bruges he went to
+see Charles, and obtained permission to draft a project for the
+re-establishment of the civic government, to be submitted to the duke
+for approval.
+
+If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop by forcing him into
+performing his priestly rites he soon learned his mistake. That
+ecclesiastic speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed
+festivities, and then forsook the city and sailed away to Maestricht
+in a gaily painted barge, with gay companions to pass the summer in
+frivolous amusements suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the
+state of affairs when the report of Louis's extensive military
+preparations encouraged the Liegeois to hope that he was to take the
+field openly against the duke.
+
+About the beginning of September, troops of forlorn and desperate
+exiles began to return to the city. They came, to be sure, with shouts
+of _Vive le Roi!_ but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing to
+make any accommodation for the sake of being permitted to remain.
+"Better any fate at home than to live like wild beasts with the
+recollection that we had once been men."
+
+To make a long story short, Onofrio again endeavoured to rouse the
+bishop to a sense of his duty. Again he tried to make terms for the
+exiles and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was useless. Louis
+of Bourbon refused to approach nearer to Liege than Tongres, and
+declined to meet the advances of his despairing subjects. It was just
+at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived from Louis, despatched,
+as already stated, _before_ Charles had consented to prolong the
+truce.
+
+Excited by their presence the Liegeois once more roused themselves to
+action. A force of two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced by
+night upon Tongres--also without walls--surrounded the house where lay
+their bishop, and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there was
+and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the mob respected the
+person of their bishop and of Humbercourt the chief Burgundian
+official. This event happened on October 9th, the very day that Louis
+rode recklessly into Peronne.
+
+On Wednesday, October 11th, the news of the fray reached Peronne,
+but news greatly exaggerated by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and
+Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly murdered in the very
+presence of Louis's own envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous
+crime! To follow the story of an eyewitness:[11]
+
+    "Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted the contrary,
+    for such advertisments are never reported after one sort. At
+    length others came who had seen certain canons slain and supposed
+    the bishop[12] to be of the number, as well as the said seigneur
+    de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they said that they had
+    seen the king's ambassadors in the attacking company and mentioned
+    them by name. All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith
+    believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that the king
+    had come thither to abuse him, and gave commands to shut the gates
+    of the castle and of the town, alleging a poor enough excuse,
+    namely, that he did this on account of the disappearance of a
+    little casket containing some good rings and money.
+
+    "The king finding himself confined in the castle, a small one at
+    that, and having seen a force of archers standing before the gate,
+    was terrified for his person--the more so that he was lodged in
+    the neighbourhood of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois
+    had caused the death of one of his predecessors as king of
+    France.[13] At that time, I was still with the duke and served him
+    as chamberlain, and had free access to his chamber when I
+    would, for such was the usage in this household.
+
+    "The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed, ordered all to
+    leave his presence and said to a few of us that stayed with him
+    that the king had come on purpose to betray him, and that he
+    himself had tried to avoid his coming with all his strength, and
+    that the meeting had been against his taste. Then he proceeded to
+    recount the news from Liege, how the king had pulled all the wires
+    through his ambassadors, and how his people had been slain. He was
+    fearfully excited against the king. I veritably believe that if
+    at that hour he had found those to whom he could appeal ready to
+    sympathise with him and to advise him to work the king some
+    mischief, he would have done so, at the least he would have
+    imprisoned him in the great tower.
+
+    "None were present when the words fell from the duke but myself
+    and two grooms of the chamber, one of whom was named Charles de
+    Visen, a native of Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with
+    his master. We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the duke
+    as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same phrases on others,
+    and a report of them ran through the city and penetrated to the
+    very apartment of the king, who was greatly terrified, as was
+    everyone, because of the danger that they saw imminent, and
+    because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel when it
+    has commenced between such great princes. Assuredly they were
+    blameworthy in failing to notify their absent servants of this
+    projected meeting. Great inconveniences were bound to arise from
+    this negligence."
+
+Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness though he was, it must be
+remembered that when he wrote the account of this famous interview it
+was long after the event, and when his point of view was necessarily
+coloured by his service with Louis. Delightful, however, are the
+historian's own reflections that he intersperses with his plain
+narrative. To his mind the only period when it is safe for princes to
+meet is
+
+    "in their youth when their minds are bent on pleasure. Then they
+    may amuse themselves together. But after they are come to man's
+    estate and are desirous each of over-reaching the other, such
+    interviews do but increase their mutual hatred, even if they incur
+    no personal peril (which is well-nigh impossible). Far wiser is
+    it for them to adjust their differences through sage and good
+    servants as I have said at length elsewhere in these memoirs."
+
+Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous instances of disastrous
+royal interviews before returning to his subject and to Peronne:
+
+    "I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his new chapter]
+    to tell the princes my opinion of such meetings.[14] Thus the
+    gates were closed and guarded and two or three days passed by.
+    However, the Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had
+    Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and those only
+    through the wicket. Nor did the duke see any of his people who had
+    influence over him.
+
+    "The first day there was consternation throughout the city. By the
+    second day the duke was a little calmed down. He held a council
+    meeting all day and the greater part of the night. The king
+    appealed to every one who could possibly aid him. He was lavish in
+    his promises and ordered fifteen thousand crowns to be given where
+    it might count, but the officer in charge of the disbursement of
+    this sum acquitted himself ill and retained a part, as the king
+    learned later.
+
+    "The king was especially afraid of his former servants who had
+    come with the army from Burgundy, as I mentioned above, men who
+    were now in the service of the Duke of Normandy.
+
+    "Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned council-meeting.
+    Some held that the safe-conduct accorded to the king protected
+    him, seeing that he fairly observed the peace as it had been
+    stated in writing. Others rudely urged his capture without further
+    ceremony, while others again advised sending for his brother, the
+    Duke of Normandy, and concluding with him a peace to the advantage
+    of all the princes of France. They who gave this advice thought
+    that in case it was adopted, the king should be restrained of his
+    liberty. Further, it was against all precedent to free so great a
+    seigneur when he had committed so grave an offence.
+
+    "This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw a man booted
+    and spurred ready to depart with a packet of letters addressed to
+    Monseigneur of Normandy, being in Brittany, and stayed only for
+    the Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to naught. The
+    king made overtures to leave as hostages the Duke of Bourbon, the
+    cardinal, his brother, and the constable with a dozen others while
+    he should be permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was
+    concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should repair their
+    mischief or he would declare himself their foe. The appointed
+    hostages were profuse in their offers to immolate themselves, at
+    least they were in public. I do not know whether they would have
+    said the same things in private. I rather suspect not. And in
+    truth, I believe that those who were left would never have
+    returned.
+
+    "On the third night after the arrival of the news, the duke never
+    undressed, but lay down two or three times on his bed, and
+    then rose and walked up and down. Such was his way when he was
+    troubled. I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him from
+    time to time. In the morning his fury was greater than ever, his
+    tone very menacing, and he seemed ready to go to any extreme.
+
+    "However, he finally brought himself to say that if the king would
+    swear the peace and would accompany him to Liege to help avenge
+    Monsgn. of Liege, his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then
+    he suddenly betook himself to the king's chamber and expressed
+    himself to that effect. The king had a friend[15] who warned him,
+    assuring him that he should suffer no ill if he would concede
+    these two points. Did he do otherwise he ran grave risk, graver
+    than he would ever incur again."
+
+    When the duke entered the royal presence his voice trembled, so
+    agitated was he and on the verge of breaking into a passion. He
+    assumed a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and word as he
+    demanded whether the king would keep the treaty of peace as it had
+    been drafted, and whether he was ready to swear to it. "Yes" was
+    the king's response. In truth, nothing had been added to the
+    agreement made before Paris, or at least little as far as the Duke
+    of Burgundy was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Normandy, it
+    was stipulated that if he would renounce that province he should
+    have Champagne and Brie besides other neighbouring territories for
+    his share.
+
+    Then the duke asked if the king would accompany him to avenge the
+    outrage committed upon his cousin the bishop.
+
+    "To which demand the king gave assent as soon as the peace was
+    sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to Liege and with a small or
+    large escort, just as the duke preferred. This answer pleased
+    the duke immensely. In was brought the treaty, out of the king's
+    coffer was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one carried
+    by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of Victory, and thereupon
+    the two swore the peace.
+
+    "This was now October 14th. In a minute the bells pealed out their
+    joy throughout Peronne and all men were glad. It hath pleased the
+    king since to attribute the credit of this pacification to me."
+
+There was undoubtedly an immense sense of relief in Peronne when this
+degree of accommodation was reached. The duke was unwilling, however,
+to have too much rejoicing in his domains until he had ascertained for
+himself the state of Liege. Among the letters despatched from Peronne
+this October 14th, was the following to the magistrates of Ypres:[16]
+
+    "Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we have to-day
+    made peace and convention with Monseigneur the king, and that for
+    this reason you might be inclined to let off fire-works and make
+    other manifestations of joy, we hasten to advise you that ... our
+    pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or assemblies in our
+    town of Ypres on account of the said peace until we have subdued
+    the people of Liege, and avenged the said outrage [described
+    above]. This with God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point
+    of departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved, may our Lord
+    protect you.
+
+    "Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14, 1468."
+
+A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions to the magistrates of
+Ypres, possibly managing to slip them under the same cover.[17]
+
+    "To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace was concluded between the king
+    and Monseigneur, and also between the king and the Duke of Berry.
+    Here, bells are ringing and the _Te Deum_ is sung. It is generally
+    believed that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God deserves
+    thanks for the result, for I assure you that last night the
+    outlook was not clear."[18]
+
+The king wrote as follows to his confidential lieutenant:
+
+    "PERONNE, October 14th.
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, you are already informed how there
+    has been discussion in my council and that of my brother-in-law of
+    Burgundy, as to the best manner of adjusting certain differences
+    between him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive at a
+    conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here we have busied
+    ourselves with the requisitions passing between us, so that to-day
+    we have, thanks to our Lord, in the presence of all the nobles
+    of the blood, prelates and other great and notable personages in
+    great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn peace
+    solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid, defend and
+    succour each other for ever. Also on the same cross we have
+    ratified the treaty of Arras with its corrections and other points
+    which seemed productive of peace and amity.
+
+    "Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy ordered thanksgivings
+    in the churches of his lands, and in this town he has already had
+    great solemnity. And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that
+    the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the bishop of Liege,
+    whom he is determined to deliver as quickly as possible, he has
+    besought me as a favour to him, and also because the bishop is my
+    kinsman whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege, not far
+    from here. This I have agreed to, and have chosen as my escort
+    a portion of the troops under monseigneur the constable, in the
+    hopes of a speedy return by the aid of God.
+
+    "And because it is for my weal and that of my subjects I write to
+    you at once, because _I am sure_ you will be pleased, and that
+    you will order like solemnities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand
+    master, as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible
+    disband my _arriere ban_ together with the free lances, and
+    do every possible thing for the mass of poor folks; appoint
+    well-to-do men as leaders in every bailiwick and district. Above
+    all, see to it that they do not indulge in any new and startling
+    conduct. That done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer
+    me, I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any further
+    action that may arise. Written at Peronne October 14th.
+
+    "Loys MEURIN.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[19]
+
+Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased for the purpose of
+passing Charles's censorship. He took the liberty of disregarding his
+master's orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held himself
+in readiness to go to fetch the errant monarch if he did not return
+speedily from the enemy's country. His letter to the king and the
+unwritten additions delivered by his confidential messengers terrified
+his liege lest too much zeal on his behalf in France might work him
+ill in Liege. A week later Louis writes again:
+
+    NAMUR, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR THE GRAND MASTER:
+
+    "I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage. _Be assured that
+    I make this journey to Liege under no constraint, and that I never
+    took any journey with such good heart as I do this._ Since God and
+    Our Lady have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur of
+    Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over there take arms
+    against me. Monseigneur the grand master, my friend, you have
+    proved that you love me, and you have done me the greatest service
+    that you can, and there is another service that you can do. The
+    people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that I mean to deceive
+    them, and people there [in France] think that I am a prisoner.
+    Distrust between the two would be my ruin.
+
+    "Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men, you know what we
+    planned, you and I, touching the action of Armagnac. It seems
+    to me that you ought to send your people straight ahead in that
+    direction and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as
+    I am out of this, and you can make what choice you will. M. the
+    grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to Laon and await me
+    there. Send me a messenger the minute you arrive and I will let
+    you have frequent news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois
+    are subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of Burgundy
+    is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he has finished his work
+    at Liege, and he desires my return more than I do. Francois Dunois
+    will tell you what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur,
+    etc.
+
+    "Writ at Namur, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "LOUIS "TOUSSAINT.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[20]
+
+Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and others also declare that
+Louis goes most gladly with his dear brother of Burgundy and that the
+affair will not require much time. To Cardinal Balue he writes only a
+few words, telling him that the messenger will be more communicative.
+
+Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn aside to visit the
+young Duchess of Burgundy, either at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the
+conjecture of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his surmise
+further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn was performed
+Chastellain's mystery of "The Peace of Peronne."[21] Perhaps these
+verses, if put in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have pleased
+the princely spectators of the dramatic poem. Mutual admiration was
+the key-note of these flowery speeches while the other _dramatis
+personæ_ expressed unstinted admiration for the wonderful deed
+accomplished by these two pure souls who have sworn peace when they
+might have brought dire war on their innocent subjects.
+
+    "Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that proud knight,
+    nor the great Charlemagne, nor the proud Duke of Mayence, nor
+    Mongleive, the heir, from whom issued noble fruit, nor King
+    Arthur, nor Oliver, nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens
+    of victories approach or touch with hand or foot the work I treat
+    of."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    [The king speaks.]
+
+    "Charles, be assured that Louis will be the re-establisher and
+    provider of all that touches your honour and peace between you
+    and him. That he will ever be appreciator of you and avenger, a
+    nourisher of joy and love in repairing all that my predecessor
+    did.
+
+    [The duke speaks.]
+
+    "And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his soul, wishes
+    nothing better than to serve you and this realm and to extol
+    your house. For I know that is the reason why I have glory and
+    reputation. Then if it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep
+    from blame."
+
+One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a note of doubt:
+"Charles, so many debates may occur, so many incidents and accidents
+in our various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded."
+
+Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare possibility of a new breach
+between him and his liege. The whole is a pæan at a love feast. If the
+two together heard their counterfeits express such perfect fidelity,
+how Louis XI. must have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced
+courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was quite capable of taking it
+all seriously, wholly unconscious that he had not cut the lion's claws
+for once and all.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}.,356.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The letters of convocation bear the date February 26,
+1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th, they had
+returned home, and on May 2d they made a report. The items of
+expenditure are very exact. So hard had they ridden that a fine horse
+costing eleven crowns was used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van
+der Broeck, archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the
+register of the Council. _See_ Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _See_ Lavisse iv^[ii]., 356.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Dordrecht was not among them. Her deputies held that
+it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later Charles
+received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Hist._,
+iv., 101.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Treaty of Ancenis, September 10, 1468. _See_ Lavisse,
+iv^[ii].] One of the results of the War of Public Weal was that St.
+Pol was appointed constable of France.]
+
+[Footnote 6: The original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.;
+Lenglet, iii., 19.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the
+basis of this narrative. (Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 196.) There
+is, however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous and
+commentating. _See also_ Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc. Chastellain's
+MS. is lost.]
+
+[Footnote 8: _See_ Lavisse, iv^[ii]., 397.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Ludwig v. Diesbach, (_See_ Kirk, i., 559.) The author
+was a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss
+affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 10: It was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Commines, ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the
+mob, but it was many years later.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Le roi ... se voyait logé, rasibus d'une grosse tour ou
+un Comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien prédécesseur Roy de France_.
+(Commines, ii., ch. vii.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Memoires_, ii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Undoubtedly Commines wishes it to be inferred that this
+was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines, whose memoirs
+remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive history of the times. There
+are the errors inevitable to any contemporary statement. Meyer, to be
+sure, says, apropos of an incident incorrectly reported, _Falsus in
+hoc ut in pluribus historicus_. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries
+later is also severe. _See_, too, "L'autorité historique de Ph. de
+Commynes," Mandrot, _Rev. Hist_., 73.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 199.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Ibid._, 200.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Waer ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer
+ghestaen heeft._]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Lettres de Louis XI_, iii., 289. The king apparently
+never resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dauphin. His
+letters to him are very intimate.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Lettres_, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.)]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn ed., _Oeuvres de Chastellain_, vii., xviii. _See_
+poem, _ibid._, 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence
+bears this line: "Here follows a mystery made because of the said
+peace of good intention in the thought that it would be observed by
+the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way out of the route between
+Peronne and Namur, where the party was on October 14th. It would
+hardly seem possible for journey and visit in so brief a time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+1468
+
+
+It was in the midst of heavy rains that the journey was made to Namur
+and then on to the environs of Liege. Grim was the weather, befitting,
+in all probability, Charles's own mood. The king's escort was confined
+to very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body of three hundred
+troopers was permitted to follow him at a distance, while the faithful
+Dammartin across the border kept himself closely informed of every
+incident connected with the march that his scouts could gather, and
+in readiness to fall upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm,
+while he restrained his ardour for the moment in obedience to Louis's
+anxious command.
+
+By the fourth week of October the Franco-Burgundian party were settled
+close to Liege in straggling camps, separated from each other by hills
+and uneven ground. Long was the discussion in council meeting as to
+the best mode of procedure. Liege was absolutely helpless in the face
+of this coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless. Moats she had
+never possessed, for digging was well-nigh impossible on her rocky
+site covered by mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse. On
+account of this evident weakness, the king advised dismissing half the
+army as needless, advice that was not only rejected immediately but
+which excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith. Over a week
+passed and feeble Liege continued obstinate, while each division of
+the army manoeuvred to be first in the assault for the sake of the
+plunder. But advance was very difficult, for the soldiers were
+impeded in their movements by the slime. Wild were some of the night
+skirmishes over the uneven, slippery ground and amidst the little
+sheltering hills.
+
+On one occasion, "a great many were hurt and among the rest the Prince
+of Orange (whom I had forgotten to name before), who behaved that day
+like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved foot off the place he
+first possessed.
+
+The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he failed sometimes
+in order giving, and to say the truth, he behaved himself not so
+advisedly as many wished because of the king's presence."[1]
+
+There is no doubt that Charles entertained increasingly sinister
+suspicions of his guest. He thought the king might either try to enter
+the city ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient allies by a
+specious explanation, or else he might succeed in effecting his escape
+without fulfilling his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday,
+October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own quarters were in
+a little suburb of mean, low houses, with rough ground and vineyards
+separating his camp from the city. Between his house and that of the
+king, both humble dwellings, was an old granary, occupied by a picked
+Burgundian force of three hundred men under special injunctions to
+keep close watch over the royal guest and see that he played no sudden
+trick. To further this purpose of espionage, they had made a breach in
+the walls with heavy blows of their picks.
+
+The men were wearied with all their marching and skirmishing, and in
+order to have them in fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered
+all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The exhausted troops
+gladly obeyed this injunction. Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so,
+too, were Philip de Commines and the few attendants that lay within
+the narrow ducal chamber. Only a dozen pickets mounted guard in the
+room over Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired eyes open
+by playing at dice.
+
+On that Saturday night when Charles was thus prudently gathering
+strength for the final tussle, the people of Liege also indulged in
+repose, counting on Sunday being a day of rest, that is, the major
+part of the burgher folk did within city limits. But another plan was
+on foot among some of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An attack
+on the Burgundian camp was planned by a band from Franchimont, a wild
+and wooded district, south of the episcopal see. The natives there had
+all the characteristics of mountaineers, although the heights of their
+rugged country reached only modest altitudes.[2]
+
+These invaders were fortunate in obtaining as guides the owners of
+the very houses requisitioned for the lodgings of the two princes.
+Straight to their goal they progressed through paths quite unknown to
+the foe, and therefore unwatched. The highlanders made a mistake
+in not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where in the first
+confusion they might have accomplished their design upon the lives of
+Louis and of Charles or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a
+pause at a French nobleman's tent created a disturbance which roused
+the archers in the granary. The latter sallied out, to meet with a
+fierce counter-attack. In order to confuse them the mountaineers
+echoed the Burgundian cries, _Vive Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez,
+tuez_, and they were not always immediately identified by their harsh
+Liege accent.
+
+The highlanders were far outnumbered by the Burgundians, and it was
+only by dint of their desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy
+darkness and of the locality with its unknown roughness that the
+former inflicted the damage that they did.
+
+Commines and his fellows helped the duke into his cuirass, and stood
+by his person, while the king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved
+themselves good fellows, who never budged from their master's feet and
+shot arrow upon arrow out into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians
+than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's own host, the guide of
+the marauders to his own cottage door. There were many more victims
+and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter characterised by the
+passions of war and the conditions of a mere burglarious attack on
+private houses.
+
+Quaking with fear was the king. He thought that if the duke should now
+fail to make a complete conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang in
+the balance. At a hasty council meeting held that night, Charles
+was very doubtful as to the expediency of carrying out his proposed
+assault upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were the allies,
+a fact that caused Philip de Commines to comment,[3] "scarcely fifteen
+days had elapsed since these two had sworn a definitive peace and
+solemnly promised to support each other loyally. But confidence could
+not enter in any way."
+
+Charles gave Louis permission to retire to Namur and wait until the
+duke had reduced the recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought
+it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until they parted
+company for ever, and the morrow found him in the duke's company as he
+marched on to Liege.
+
+    "My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would have been wise to
+    depart that night. He could have done it for he had a hundred
+    archers of his guard, various gentlemen of his household, and,
+    near at hand, three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was stayed
+    by considerations of honour. He did not wish to be accused of
+    cowardice."
+
+Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely pair entered Liege,
+heard the king say: "March on, my brother, for you are the luckiest
+prince alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted lustily,
+"_Vive Bourgogne_," to the infinite dismay of his former friends, the
+burghers of Liege.
+
+The remainder of the history of that dire Sunday morning differs from
+that of other assaults only in harrowing details, and the extremity of
+the pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the conquerors. Charles
+had previously spared churches, and protected the helpless. Above
+all he had severely punished all ill treatment of respectable women.
+Little trace of this former restraint was to be seen on this occasion.
+The inhabitants were destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who fled
+from their homes leaving their untasted breakfasts to be eaten by the
+intruding soldiers, those who were scattered through the numerous
+churches, those who attempted to defend the breaches in the walls--all
+alike were treated without mercy.
+
+The Cathedral of St. Lambert, Charles did endeavour to protect. "The
+duke himself went thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own
+hand, whereupon all the company departed and that particular church
+was not pillaged, but at the end the men who had taken refuge there
+were captured as well as the wealth of the church."
+
+[Illustration: OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+
+(FROM MS. REPRODUCED IN MÉM. COURONNÉS, ETC., PAR L'ACAD,
+
+ROYALE DE BELGIQUE VOL. XLIX.)]
+
+At about midday Charles joined Louis at the episcopal palace, where
+the latter had found apartments better suited to his rank than the
+rude huts that had sheltered him for the past few days. The king was
+in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner in spite of the unsavoury
+scenes that were still in progress about him. He manifested great joy
+in the successful assault, and was lavish in his praises of the duke's
+courage, taking care that his admiring phrases should be promptly
+reported to his cousin.[4] His one great preoccupation, however, was
+to return to his own realm.
+
+After dinner the duke and he made good cheer together. "If the king
+had praised his works behind his back, still more loud was he in
+his open admiration. And the duke was pleased." No telling sign of
+friendship for Charles had Louis spared that day, so terrified was he
+lest some testimony from his ancient protégés might prove his ruin.
+"Let the word be Burgundy," he had cried to his followers when the
+attack began. "_Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne_."
+
+There is another contemporaneous historian who somewhat apologetically
+relates the following incident of this interview.[5] In this friendly
+Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he ought to treat Liege when
+his soldiers had finished their work. No trace of kindliness towards
+his old friends was there in the king's answer.
+
+"Once my father had a high tree near his house, inhabited by crows
+who had built their nests thereon and disturbed his repose by their
+chatter. He had the nests removed but the crows returned and built
+anew. Several times was this repeated. Then he had the tree cut down
+at the roots. After that my father slept quietly."
+
+Four or five days passed before Louis dared press the question of his
+return home. The following note written in Italian, dated on the day
+of the assault, is significant of his state of mind:
+
+
+    LOUIS XI. TO THE COUNT DE FOIX
+
+    "Monseigneur the Prince:
+
+    "To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered in great multitude
+    and with force into this city of Liege, and because I have great
+    desire to return, I advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will
+    depart hence, and I will not cease riding without making any stops
+    until I reach there.[6] I pray you to let me know what is to be
+    done.
+
+    "Writ at Liege, October 30th.
+
+    "LOYS
+
+    "DE LA LOERE."
+
+
+Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his host that if he could
+be of any further aid he hoped his cousin would command him. If there
+were, indeed, nothing, he thought his best plan would be to go to
+Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded and published to insure
+its validity. Charles grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed
+his parting guest after the treaty had been again read aloud to the
+king so that he might dissent from any one of its articles or ever
+after hold his peace.
+
+Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm everything sworn to at Peronne.
+Just as he was departing he put one more query: "'If perchance my
+brother now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the share I accord
+him out of love to you, what do you want me to do?' The duke answered
+abruptly and without thought: 'If he does not wish to take it, but
+if you content him otherwise, I will trust to you two.' From this
+question and answer arose great things as you shall hear later. So
+the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de Cordes and d'Émeries,
+Grand Bailiff of Hainaut escorted him out of ducal territory."[7]
+
+    "O wonderful and memorable crime of this king of the French
+    [declares a contemporaneous Liege sympathiser.][8] Scarcely
+    anything so bad can be found in ancient annals or in modern
+    history. What could be more stupid or more perfidious, or a better
+    instance of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to
+    arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake of his own
+    safety? Not once but many times had he pledged them his faith,
+    offering them defence and assistance against the same Burgundians.
+    And now when they are overwhelmed and confounded by this
+    Burgundian duke, this king actually co-operates with their foe, to
+    their damage, wears that foe's insignia and dares to hide himself
+    behind those emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he
+    himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges of good
+    faith! I am ashamed to commit this to writing, and to hand it down
+    to posterity, knowing that it will seem incredible to many. But
+    it is so notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so many
+    adequate witnesses who have seen and heard these things that no
+    room is left for doubt of their veracity except to one desiring to
+    ignore the truth."[9]
+
+November 2d is the date of Louis's departure. It needs no stretch
+of the imagination to believe the words of his little Swiss page,
+Diesbach, when he says that on reaching French soil Louis dismounted
+and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of joy that he was his own man
+again.[10] Devoutly, too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his
+need. Still this joy was concealed under euphemistic phrases in his
+correspondence. On November 5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan
+from Beaumont:
+
+    "We went in person with the duke against the Liegeois, on account
+    of their rebellion and offence, and the city being reduced by
+    force to the power of the duke, we have left him in some part of
+    Liege as we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France."
+
+In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the brother of the faithful
+secretary Aloysius Toustain, who had written several of Louis's
+letters from Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis
+writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure his protégé a
+pleasant reception in the university.
+
+The ratification of the treaty took place duly at Paris on Saturday,
+November 19th, and the king also sternly forbade the circulation of
+any "paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory pamphlets"
+about Charles.[11] The same informant tells us that loquacious birds
+were put under a ban.
+
+    "And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by virtue of his
+    commission addressed to a young man of Paris named Henry Perdriel,
+    all the magpies, jays, and _chouettes_, caged or otherwise, were
+    taken in charge, and a record was made of all the places where the
+    said birds were taken and also all that they knew how to say, like
+    _larron, paillart_, etc., _va hors, va! Perrette donnes moi à
+    boire_, and various other phrases that they had been taught."
+
+Abbé le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was meant for Peronne instead of
+a mistress of Louis of that name. But this conjecture seems the only
+basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that _Peronne_ was a word
+Louis could not bear to have uttered.
+
+"In the way of justice there is nothing going on here, [wrote one
+Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the president of Burgundy], except
+every day they hang and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been
+taken prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves. The city is
+well plundered, nothing remains but rubbish. For example I have not
+been able to find a sheet of paper fit for writing to you, but with
+all my pains could get nothing but some leaves from an old book."[12]
+
+Charles decided that nothing should be left standing except churches
+and ecclesiastical buildings. On November 9th, before the final fires
+were lit, he departed from the wretched town and went down the left
+bank of the Meuse to an abbey on the river, where he paused for the
+night. Four leagues distant from the city was this place, and from it
+were plainly visible the flames of the burning buildings on that grim
+St. Hubert's Day--a day when Liege had been wont to give vent to
+merriment.
+
+"From all the dangers that had encompassed him, Charles escaped with
+his life, simply because his hour had not yet struck, and because
+he was God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning city," is the
+verdict of one chronicler who does not spare his fellow-Liegeois for
+their follies while he profoundly pities their fate.[13]
+
+Out of the many contemporaneous accounts a portion of a private letter
+from the duke's cup-bearer to his sister is added:[14]
+
+    "Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recommend myself to
+    you and to all my good friends, men and women in our parts, not
+    forgetting my _beaux-pères,_ Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray
+    know that, thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound.
+    As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick in the hands
+    of the marshals at Namur, and the others are thin enough and have
+    no grain to eat except hay. The weather, has, indeed, been enough
+    to strike a chill to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left
+    Burgundy there have not been three fine days in succession and we
+    are in a worse state than wolves.
+
+    "You already know how we passed through Lorraine and Ratellois
+    without troubling about Salesart or other French captains, nor the
+    other Lorrainers either, although they were under orders to
+    attack us, and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As we
+    approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke sent Messire
+    Pierre de Harquantbault[15] to us to show us what road to take.
+    He told us that the duke had made a treaty with the king, who had
+    visited him, news that filled us with astonishment....
+
+    After skirmishing for several days we reached the faubourgs of
+    Liege and remained there three of four days under arms, with no
+    sleep and little food, and our horses standing in the rain with no
+    shelter but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king and
+    the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up their quarters in
+    certain houses near the faubourg. [... Constant firing was
+    interchanged for several days. Sallies were essayed and men were
+    slain.]
+
+    "Finally a direct attack was made on the king and Monseigneur
+    and there were more of their people than ours and that night
+    Monseigneur was in great danger. The following Sunday at 9 A.M. we
+    began the assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing
+    to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said city, some
+    climbing and others scaling them with ladders. The standards
+    of monseigneur the marshal and monsgn. de Renty who had been
+    stationed together in the faubourgs, were the first within the
+    said city which contained at that moment sixteen to eighteen
+    thousand combatants, who were surprised when they saw their walls
+    scaled.
+
+    "In a moment we entered crying 'Burgundy' and 'city gained.' Ever
+    so many of their people were slain and drowned in their flight. We
+    flew to reach the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where
+    a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the water. Our
+    ensign stood in the midst of the fray on the market-place, in the
+    hopes that they would rally for a combat but they rallied only
+    to flee. While we held our position on the square several were
+    created knights.... All the churches--more than four hundred--were
+    pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured that they will be burnt
+    together with the rest of the city. Piteous it is to see what ill
+    is wrought.... [The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur two
+    or three days. Then he departed, it is said for Brussels to await
+    my said lord. It is a great thing to have seen the puissance of my
+    master, _which is great enough to defeat an emperor_. I believe
+    the Burgundians will shortly return to Burgundy.
+
+    "I paid my respects to my said lord, who received me very well. At
+    present I am listed[16] among those whose term is almost expired
+    and I am ready to follow him wherever he wishes until my service
+    is out, which will be soon. I would have written before had I had
+    any one to send it by. Pray write me about yourself by the first
+    comer. Praying our Lord, beloved sister, to keep you. Written in
+    Liege, November 8, 1468.
+
+    "JEHAN DE MAZILLES."
+
+
+This sober letter and other accounts by reliable witnesses agree as to
+the terrible havoc wrought in the city by the assault on October 30th
+and by determined and systematic measures of destruction, both during
+Charles's ten days' sojourn for the express purpose of completing the
+punishment and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly fell
+short of the intention. The destruction was not complete as was that
+of Dinant. Vitality remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus
+intentionally preserved by the duke.
+
+Having watched the tongues of flame lap the unfortunate city, Charles
+turned with his army towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country
+which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent antagonists to
+Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de Mazilles is in close attendance and
+gives further details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles carried
+out his purpose of leaving no seed of resistance to germinate. Four
+nights and three days they sojourned in a certain little village while
+there was a hard frost and where, without unarming, they "slept under
+the trees and drank water." Meantime a small party was despatched
+by the duke to attack the stronghold of Franchimont. The despairing
+Liegeois who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it was taken by
+assault. A few more days and the duke was assured that Liege and her
+people were shorn of their strength. When the remnant of survivors
+began to creep back to the city and tried to recover what was left
+of their property, many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits
+succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years.
+
+In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too, demanded
+reimbursement for his trouble in bending these free citizens to
+his illegal will. The reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal
+perquisites, all difficult to collect, and many were the ponderous
+documents that passed on the subject. How justly pained sounds
+Charles's remonstrance on the default of payment of taxes to his
+friend, the city's lord!
+
+"Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these things, taking into
+account the terror of our departure to Brussels last January, we
+decide, my brother and I, that the payment of both _gabelle_ and poll
+tax must be forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of such
+taxes under any colour or pretence. At the request of our brother and
+cousin we order the inhabitants of the said territories to pay both
+_gabelle_ and poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed
+and for the time to come, under penalty of the confiscation of their
+goods and their persons."
+
+It was the old story of bricks without straw--taxes and rents for
+property ruthlessly destroyed were so easy. To this extent of tyranny
+had Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the treatment of Liege was
+a step towards Charles's final disaster. So much hatred was excited
+against him that his adherents fell off one by one when his luck began
+to fail him.
+
+No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this time, however. That month
+of November saw him master absolute wherever he was and he used his
+power autocratically. At Huy, he had a number of prisoners executed.
+At Louvain, at Brussels, he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness
+as an overlord.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place
+where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse exactly a
+hundred years later.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The story of the "men of Franchimont" is questioned.
+Commines is the only authority for it.]
+
+[Footnote 3: II., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, ii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Oudenbosch, _Veterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima
+Collectio_, ed. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de
+Veteri Busco, p. 1343. The writer acknowledges that the story is
+hearsay.]
+
+[Footnote 6: "_Non cessero di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna.
+Lettres,iii_., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines, ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "_O proeclarum et memorabile facinus hujus regis
+Francorum_."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Basin, _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI_., Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in _Excerpta ex
+Amelgardi. De gestis Ludovici XI_., cap. xxiii. Martene's _Amplissima
+Collectio,_ iv., 740 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Quoted in Kirk, i., 606, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Jean de Roye, _Chronique Scandaleuse_, ed. Mandrot, i.,
+220.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Comines-Lenglet, iii., 83.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Johannes de Los, _Chronicon_, p. 60. _Quia hora nendum
+venerat._ De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liége."]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commynes-Dupont, _Preuves_, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan
+de Mazilles to his sister.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Hagenbach, later Governor of Alsace.]
+
+[Footnote 16: _Conte aux escros_. This word strictly applies to the
+prisoners on a jailer's list--evidently used in jest.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+1469-1473
+
+
+This successful expedition against Liege carried Charles of Burgundy
+to the very crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was moreover
+gratified by the regard shown to him at home and abroad. A man who
+could force a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful rôle enacted by
+Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a man to be respected if not loved.
+And messages of admiration and respect couched in various terms
+were despatched from many quarters to the duke as soon as he was at
+Brussels to receive them.
+
+Ghent had long since made apologies for the sorry reception accorded
+to their incoming Count of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed
+the formal _amende_ until a convenient moment of leisure. January 15,
+1469, was finally appointed for this ceremony and the occasion was
+utilised to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humiliation, to as
+many people as possible who might spread the report far and wide.
+
+It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the palace the snow was thick
+on the ground where a group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for
+an hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal presence. There,
+too, where every one could see those emblems of the artisans'
+corporate strength, fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the
+deans of the Ghentish _métiers_.[1]
+
+Within, the great hall of the palace showed a splendid setting for a
+brilliant assembly. The most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the
+walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander, of Hannibal, and of
+other notable ancients formed the background for the duke and his
+nobles, knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As spectators,
+too, there were all the envoys and ambassadors then present in
+Brussels from "France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples, Aragon,
+Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Russia, Livornia, Prussia,
+Austria, Milan, Lombardy, and other places."
+
+Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind of throne, and to his
+feet Olivier de la Marche conducted the civic procession of penitents.
+Before this pompous gathering, after a statement of the city's sin and
+sorrow, the precious charter called the Grand Privilege of Ghent
+was solemnly read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with a
+pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the penalties imposed upon,
+and accepted by, the citizens (closing of the gates, etc)., and then
+the paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pronounced the fault
+forgiven with the benediction, "By virtue of this submission and by
+keeping your promises and being good children, you shall enjoy our
+grace and we will be a good prince." "May our Saviour Jesus Christ
+confirm and preserve this peace to the end of this century," is the
+pious ejaculation with which the _Relation_ closes.
+
+Among the witnesses of the above scene, when the independent citizens
+of Ghent meekly posed as the duke's children, were envoys from George
+Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed by the pope, he was
+seeking some favourable ally who might help him to recover his realm.
+He had conceived a plan for a coalition between Bohemia, Poland,
+Austria, and Hungary to present a solid rampart against the Turks,
+and strong enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He was ready for
+intrigue with any power and had approached Louis XI. and Matthias
+Corvinus, King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of Burgundy.[2]
+
+Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit links with this same
+Matthias by suggesting that he might be the next emperor, assuring
+him that he could count on the support of the electors of Mayence, of
+Trèves, and of Saxony. He himself was world-weary and was anxious to
+exchange his imperial cares for the repose of the Church could he
+only find a safe guardian for his son, Maximilian, and a desirable
+successor for himself. Would not Matthias consider the two offices?
+
+Potent arguments like these induced Matthias not only to turn his back
+on Podiebrad, but to accept that deposed monarch's crown which the
+Bohemian nobles offered him May 3, 1469. Then he proceeded to ally
+himself with Frederic, elector palatine, and with the elector of
+Bavaria. This was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia made renewed
+offers of friendly alliance to Charles of Burgundy. In his name the
+Sire de Stein brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles which
+contained the provision that Podiebrad should support the election
+of Charles as King of the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two
+hundred thousand florins (Rhenish).[2]
+
+This modest sum was to secure not only Podiebrad's own vote but his
+"influence" with the Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony
+and the Margrave of Brandenburg.[4] While Podiebrad thus dangled
+the ultimate hopes of the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he
+over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of fact the royal exile had
+no "influence" at all with the first named elector, and the last, too,
+showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his unstable policy. Both
+were content to advise Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty
+overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of importance.
+
+Another negotiation which sought him unasked had, however, a material
+influence on the course of events, and must be touched on in some
+detail. Sigismund of Austria--first duke then archduke,--Count of
+Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic, was a member of the House of
+Habsburg. In 1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and became
+brother-in-law of Louis during the term of the dauphin's first
+marriage. An indolent, extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated
+by his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol included certain
+territories lying far from his capital, Innsbruck. Certain portions
+of Upper Alsace, lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau in
+Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seigniories in the Black Forest
+were under his sway.
+
+These particular domains were so remote from Innsbruck that the
+authority of the hereditary overlord had long been eluded. The nobles
+pillaged the land near their castles very much at their own sweet
+will. The harassed burghers appealed to the Alsatian Décapole,[5] and
+again to the free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes obtained
+more than they wanted.
+
+Mulhouse was seriously affected by these lawless depredations. To her,
+Berne promised aid in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466,
+and at Berne's insistance the cowardly nobles restrained their
+license. But when the city attempted to extend its authority Sigismund
+interfered. Having no army, however, he could not recover Waldshut,
+which the Swiss claimed a right to annex, except by offering ten
+thousand florins for the town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men,
+he had, however, no means to pay this ransom and begged aid in every
+direction. Moreover, he feared further aggressions from the cantons,
+which were growing more daring. What man in Europe was better able to
+teach them a lesson than Charles, the destroyer of Liege, the stern
+curber of undue liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person to
+tame insolent Swiss cowherds?
+
+In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made known to Charles his
+desire for a bargain, intimating that in case of the duke's refusal,
+he would carry his wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was
+busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigismund's proposition.
+The latter tried to see Louis XI. personally in accordance with his
+imperial cousin's advice that an interview might be more effective
+than a letter.
+
+It did not prove a propitious time, however; Louis was deeply engaged
+with Burgundy and he was not disposed to take any steps that might
+estrange the Swiss--and any espousal of Sigismund's interests might
+alienate them. He did not even permit an opening to be made, but
+stopped Sigismund's approach to him by a message that he would not for
+a moment entertain a suggestion inimical to those dear friends of his
+in the cantons--a sentiment that quickly found its way to Switzerland.
+
+Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear, Sigismund decided that
+he would make another essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time
+face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he journeyed and found
+Charles in the midst of the ostentatious magnificence already
+described. Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a splendour
+hardly attained by the emperor in the most pompous functions of his
+court. Sigismund was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy
+prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's sole heiress led
+the Austrian to conceive the not unnatural idea that this attractive
+Burgundian wealth might be turned into the impoverished imperial
+coffers by a marriage between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian, the
+emperor's son.
+
+[Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE
+REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "LES DUCS DE BOURGOGNE"]
+
+The visitor not only thought of this possibility, but he immediately
+broached it to Charles. The bait was swallowed. As to the main
+proposition which Sigismund had come expressly to make, that, too,
+was not rejected. The duke perceived that the transfer of the Rhenish
+lands to his jurisdiction might militate to his advantage. A passage
+would be opened towards the south for his troops without the need of
+demanding permission from any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble
+with the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the advantages of
+Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which he finally decided to accept.
+Probably he found his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not
+only did he broach the tempting alliance between Mary and Maximilian,
+but he, too, seems to have hinted that the title of "King of the
+Romans" might be added to the long list of appellations already signed
+by Charles.[6] As Sigismund was richer in kin, if not in coin, than
+the feeble Podiebrad, Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion
+which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in the course of the
+long conversations held at Bruges.
+
+Certain precautions were taken to protect Charles from being dragged
+into Swiss complications against his will, and then in May, 1469,
+the treaty of St. Omer was signed,[7] wherein the Duke of Burgundy
+accorded his protection to Sigismund of Austria and received from him
+all his seigniorial rights within certain specified territories.
+
+The most important part of this cession comprised Upper Alsace and
+the county of Ferrette, but there were also many other fragments of
+territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides lordship over
+various Rhenish cities, such as Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg,
+Waldshut and Brisac. This last named town commanded the route
+eastward, as Waldshut that to the southeast, and Thann the highway
+through the Vosges region.
+
+Fifty thousand florins was the price for the property and the claims
+transferred from Sigismund to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at
+once, in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The remainder was
+due on September 24th. On his part, Sigismund specifically recognised
+the duke's right to redeem all domains nominally his but mortgaged for
+the time being, certain estates or seignorial rights having been thus
+alienated for 150 years.
+
+This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was a mortgage, but a
+mortgage with possession to the mortgagee and further restricted by
+the provision that there could be no redemption unless the mortgager
+could repay at Besançon the whole loan plus all the outlay made by the
+mortgagee up to that date. Instalment payments were expressly ruled
+out. The entire sum intact was made obligatory. Therefore the danger
+of speedy redemption did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man he had
+to deal with. Sigismund's lack of foresight and his prodigality were
+notorious. There was faint chance that he could ever command the
+amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was fairly justified in
+counting the mortgaged territory as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity.
+
+Sigismund pocketed his florins eagerly. Nothing could have been more
+welcome to him. But this relief from the pressure of his pecuniary
+embarrassment did not inspire him with love for the man who held his
+lost lands. His sentiments towards Charles were very similar to those
+of an heir towards a usurer who has helped him in a temporary strait
+by mulcting him of his natural rights.
+
+As for the emperor, when this transfer of territory was an
+accomplished fact, he began to take fright at the consequences. He did
+not like this intrusion of a powerful French peer into the imperial
+circle.[8] At the same time he was ready to make him share
+responsibility in any further difficulties that might arise between
+Sigismund and the Swiss.
+
+The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen difficulties for
+Charles on his own account, both foreign and domestic. His own
+relations with the Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had
+never before been so near a neighbour, while, within the Rhine lands,
+it was an open question whether the bartered inhabitants were to
+enjoy or regret their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of their
+sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference to Charles as was
+danger from the Confederation. Neither conciliation nor diplomacy
+was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the intricacies of the
+situation. He counted the landgraviate as definitely his by the treaty
+of St. Omer as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.
+
+The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley towns--a policy
+that might have won their allegiance--never occurred to him. They were
+his property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course of time, made
+lieutenant-governor in his behalf.
+
+Apart from all personal considerations of enmity and amity of natives
+and neighbours, the territory of Upper Alsace and the county of
+Ferrette, delivered from needy Austria to rich Burgundy, like a coat
+pawned by a poor student, was held under very complex and singular
+conditions.[9] The status of the bargain between Sigismund and Charles
+was in point of fact something between pawn and sale, according to the
+point of view. Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while Charles
+did not admit that possibility as remotely contingent. Nor was that
+the only peculiarity. The itemised list of the ceded territories as
+given in the treaty was far from telling the facts of the possessions
+passing to Sigismund's proxy.
+
+In the first place the Austrian seigniories were not compact. They
+were scattered here and there in the midst of lands ruled by others,
+as the Bishop of Strasburg, the Abbé of St. Blaise in the Black
+Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel and of Mulhouse, and
+others.
+
+The existent variety in the extent and nature of Austrian title was
+extraordinary. Nearly every possible combination of dismembered
+prerogative and actual tenure had resulted from the long series of
+ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or a quit-rent was the
+sole cession, and again a toll or a prerogative was almost the only
+residue remaining to the ostensible overlord, while all his former
+property or transferable birthright privileges were lodged in
+various hands on divers tenures. There were cases in which the
+mortgagee--noble, burgher, or municipal corporation--had taken the
+exact place of the Austrian duke and in so doing had become the vassal
+of his debtor, stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty.
+For in these bargains wherein elements of the Roman contract and
+feudal customs were curiously blended, two classes of rights had been
+invariably reserved by the ducal mortgagers:
+
+  (1) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured free circulation on
+the highways, the old Roman roads, all jurisdiction of passports and
+travellers' protection.
+
+  (2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power to confer fiefs, of
+requisition of military service, of requesting _aids_ and admission to
+strongholds, cities, or castles, _le droit de forteresse jurable et
+rendable_.
+
+In these regards the compact between Charles and Sigismund differed
+from all previous covenants not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke
+of Burgundy entered into the _sovereign_ as well as into the mangled,
+maimed, and curtailed proprietary rights of the hereditary over-lord.
+
+In his assumption of this involved and doubtful property, Charles laid
+heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. The actual price of fifty
+thousand gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction of the
+pecuniary obligations incurred, while the weight of care was difficult
+to gauge. He succeeded to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose
+misrule had long been a curse to the land. The incursions of
+the Swiss, the repeated descents of the Rhine nobles from their
+crag-lodged strongholds to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants
+and plunged peaceful labourers into misery.
+
+Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the neighbouring cities
+repeatedly became the accomplices of these brigands, affording them
+asylums for refitting and free passage when they were laden with
+evident booty.
+
+In all departments of finance and administration disorder prevailed.
+The chief officials, castellans and councillors, enjoyed high salaries
+for neglected duties. The castles were in wretched repair and there
+were insufficient troops to guard the roads. There was no dependence
+upon the receipts nominally to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged
+lands, the lords simply levied what they could, without the slightest
+responsibility for the order of the domain; they did not hesitate to
+charge their suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no one
+would verify their declaration.
+
+In the territories of the immediate domain, the Austrian dukes and
+their officials had no notion of the rigid system maintained in
+Burgundy. Only here and there can little memoranda be found and these
+are confused and obscure. There is a dearth of accurate records like
+those voluminous registers of outlays kept by Burgundian receivers,
+registers so rich in detail that they are more valuable for the
+historian than any chronicle.
+
+Exact appraisal of the resources of these _pays de par de là_ was very
+difficult. Between 1469 and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain
+reliable information by means of as many successive commissions
+despatched to the Rhine valley by the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+Envoys drew up minutes of their observations in addition to their
+official reports and all were preserved in the archives. As these were
+written from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the accounts of
+the receivers now lost, etc., there is real value in the documents.
+
+The first commission in behalf of Burgundy was composed of two Germans
+and three Walloons. One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach, who
+won no enviable reputation in the later exercise of his office as
+lieutenant-governor of the annexed region, to which he was shortly
+afterwards appointed. This first commission entered into formal
+possession in Charles's name and instituted some desired reforms
+immediately, such as policing the highways, etc.
+
+The second commission made its visit in 1471. It consisted of Jean
+Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of
+Amont.
+
+The third commission (1473) was under the auspices of Monseigneur
+Coutault, master of accounts at Dijon. He carried with him the report
+of his predecessors and made his additions thereto.
+
+Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June 13, 1471) were vague
+and general. They were "to see the conduct of his affairs" _(voir la
+conduite de ses affaires_). The important point was to find out how
+much revenue could be obtained. As the duke's plan of expansion grew
+larger he had need of all his resources.
+
+The reports were eminently discouraging. Outlay was needed
+everywhere--income was small. As the chances of peculation diminished,
+the castellans deserted their posts and left the castles to decay.
+The Burgundian commission of 1471 found the difficulties of their
+exploration increased by two items. Charles had not advanced an
+allowance for their expenses and they were anxious to be back at
+Vesoul by Michaelmas, the date of the change in municipal offices and
+of appropriations for the year. It was in hopes of receiving advance
+moneys that they delayed in starting, but the approaching election and
+coming winter finally decided them to set out, pay their own expenses,
+and complete the business as rapidly as they could in a fortnight.
+
+The summary of this report of 1471 was that there was little present
+prospect that Charles would be able to reimburse himself for his
+necessary expenses. An undue portion of authority and of revenue was
+legally lodged in alien hands. Charles was possessed of germs of
+rights rather than of actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria
+held all the best mortgages with their attendant emoluments. The
+immediate profits accruing to the Duke of Burgundy fell far short
+of the minimum necessary to disburse to keep his government, his
+strongholds, his highways in repair. Very disturbed were the good
+treasurer of Vesoul and the procureur-general of Amont at this state
+of affairs, and distressed at the prospect of the ampler receipts from
+Burgundy being required to relieve the pressing necessities of the
+poor territories _de par de là_.
+
+To avoid this contingency, the commissioners recommended the duke
+to redeem all the existing mortgages great and small. It would cost
+140,000 florins, but the revenue would at once increase with the new
+security which would immediately follow under firm Burgundian rule.
+Sole master, Charles could then enforce obedience from nobles and
+cities and better conditions would be inaugurated.
+
+Evidently this rational advice was not taken, for it is repeated by
+Coutault in 1473. Redemption of the mortgages, "if your affairs can
+afford it," is the counsel given by the chamber of accounts at Dijon,
+though this sage board adds that they were well aware that in the
+previous month Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hundred
+florins to redeem one wretched little _gagerie._ The native coffers of
+the region did not suffice to settle the salaries of the officers in
+charge.
+
+Such then was the new acquisition of Charles after four years of his
+administration. Peter von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this
+unremunerative territory, is a character painted in the darkest
+colours by all historians. It is more than probable that his unpopular
+efforts to make bricks without straw were largely responsible for his
+unenviable reputation. Ground between the upper and lower millstones
+of Charles's clamours for revenues and popular clamours that the
+people had nothing wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a
+taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying type, who made himself
+thoroughly hated by the people he was set to rule.
+
+It must be remembered that there was no cleft in nationality or in
+language between governor and governed. He was not a foreigner set
+over them. He was one of them raised to a high position. There was
+then no French element in Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and
+simple.
+
+[Illustration: UPPER ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORY BY PERMISSION OF
+HACHETTE, 1902]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 204-209. "Relation de
+l'assemblée solennelle tenue à Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469."]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Toutey, _Charles le Téméraire et la ligue de
+Constance_, p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See the text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., 116. Charles
+is characterised as _ducem strenuum in armis ac justitiæ præcipium
+zelatorem_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Thus was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from
+Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confederation by
+the Emperor Charles IV.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See "Fontes Rerum Austriacarum" Chmel, J., _Urkunden zur
+Geschichte von Osterreich_, etc., II^2, 223 _et passim_. One document,
+p. 229, has _Marz_ as a misprint for _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Charles was, to be sure, already within that circle for
+some of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there
+were very shadowy.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable
+article by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes dans la
+vallée du Rhin sous Charles le Téméraire," _Annales de l'Est,_ vol.
+18. This article, is the result of a careful examination of the
+reports made by Poinsot and Pellet, Charles's commissioners.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+1470-1471
+
+
+In order to follow out the extension of Burgundian jurisdiction in
+one direction, the course of events in the duke's life has been
+anticipated a little. The thread of the story now returns to 1469,
+when Charles and Sigismund separated at St. Omer both well pleased
+with their bargain. Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges
+and then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his sojourn had been
+interrupted in 1468 by his alarm about French duplicity. In the glow
+caused by his past achievements, his present reputation, and future
+prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a mood to prove to his subjects
+his excellence as a paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey
+easy access was permitted to his presence and he was lavish in the
+time given to receiving petitions from the humblest plaintiff. The
+following gruesome incident is an illustration of the summary methods
+attributed to him.[1]
+
+Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the governor, a man
+of noble birth, a knight, fell in love with a married woman who
+indignantly repudiated his advances. In revenge the governor had the
+husband arrested on a charge of high treason. The wife, left without a
+protector, continued obdurate to the knight until the alternative of
+her husband's release or his death was offered her as the reward for
+accepting the governor's base suit or as the penalty of her refusal.
+She chose to redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she went to
+the prison and was led to her husband truly, but he lay dead and in
+his coffin!
+
+When the Duke of Burgundy was once within the Zealand capital, this
+injured woman hastened to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner
+for justice. He heard her complaint and straightway summoned the
+ex-governor to his presence. The accused confessed that he had been
+carried away by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles of
+his long and faithful devotion to the late duke and to himself, and
+offered any possible reparation for his crime. The duke ordered him to
+marry his victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion, but was
+forced by her family to accept it. After the nuptial benediction, the
+knight again appeared before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff
+was satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly, "but not I." He
+remanded the bridegroom to prison, had him shriven and executed all
+within an hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown her second
+husband in his coffin as she had seen her first, and on the same spot.
+"It was a penalty that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the
+plaintiff died from the double shock."
+
+The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to Holland. Everywhere he
+evinced himself equally uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable and
+considerate towards the lower classes and humble folk. Various other
+stories related about him at this epoch are difficult to accept as
+authentic, for the main detail has appeared at other times under
+different guises. Wandering tales seem to alight, like birds of
+passage, on successive people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
+hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.
+
+The Hague was the duke's headquarters during two months, and there
+also he held open court and gave audience to many embassies in the
+midst of his administrative work pertaining to Holland and its nearest
+neighbours. He took measures to recover what he claimed had been
+usurped by Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make good the
+title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the wisp to successive Counts
+of Holland and never acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld
+together the various provinces the months passed, until a new turn of
+foreign events began to absorb the duke's whole attention.
+
+The details of English politics with all the reasons for revolution
+and counter-revolution involved in the complicated civil disorders,
+the Wars of the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can only
+be suggested in his biography. It must be remembered that the modern
+impression of English stability and French fickleness in political
+institutions, an impression casting reflections direct and indirect
+upon literature as well as history, is based on the changes in France
+from 1789 down to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Quite
+the reverse is the earlier tradition based on the kaleidoscopic
+shifts familiar to several generations of observers in the fifteenth
+century[2]; stable and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings
+of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across the Channel.
+
+Since 1461, Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster had been a passive
+prisoner, while Margaret of Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts
+to win adherents at home and abroad for her captive husband and her
+exiled son.[3] In 1463, she had received some aid, some encouragement
+from Philip of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward IV. as king
+and although, too, his personal sympathies were Yorkish rather than
+Lancastrian.
+
+It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into Lille, but later the
+duke himself entertained her munificently. The poverty-stricken exile
+probably found the accompanying ducal gifts more to the immediate
+purpose than the ducal feasts. Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed
+upon herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while various
+Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard times by useful sums of money.
+
+Pleasant though the recognition was, however, the pecuniary assistance
+was quite insufficient to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine
+years Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts were made to
+dislodge him. As he never forgot his mother's lineage, the sympathies
+of Charles of Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Margaret may
+have counted confidently on that sympathy proving valuable for her son
+as soon as Charles himself had a free hand. But when he came into his
+heritage, his marriage with Margaret of York put a definite end to
+those hopes. The new duke thereby declared his acceptance of the king
+whom the Earl of Warwick had seated upon the English throne. Then
+came clashing of wills between that king and his too powerful
+subject-adviser.[4] To punish his unruly royal protégé, Warwick turned
+his attention to the Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive to
+Edward IV. A marriage was planned between this possible future monarch
+and the earl's eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated at Calais
+without the king's knowledge (July, 1469).
+
+In the same summer occurred a rising in Yorkshire, possibly instigated
+by Warwick.[5] The malcontents, sixty thousand strong, declared that
+the king was giving ear to base counsellors and must be coerced into
+better ways. An attempt to suppress this revolt by the royal troops
+resulted in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father of
+Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was taken prisoner and beheaded.
+
+Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to Warwick. Over the Channel
+hastened the earl and his new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king
+at Olney, and--Edward found himself if not exactly a prisoner, at
+least under restraint. Two sovereigns--both without power even over
+their own actions,--such was the situation in England at the end of
+1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self-complacently regarding Louis
+XI. as a foe convinced of his own inferiority.
+
+A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal brother-in-law was
+probably the reason why Edward IV. was set at liberty, and why a
+reconciliation was patched up between him and his councillor, with
+full pardon for Warwick's adherents. But it was short-lived. A fresh
+outbreak in March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and Clarence
+sided with the rebels, the king was victorious, and his unfaithful
+friend and brother were again forced to flee under a shower of menaces
+hurled after them.
+
+    "But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erle of Warrewyk our Rebell and
+    Traytour come into oure seid Land we woll ... that ye doo Hym
+    and Theym to be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto Us
+    either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C._l_ of Land in
+    Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or Mil. _Lib_ in Redy money
+    at his election."[6]
+
+Such was the proclamation issued on March 22d by the king himself at
+York.
+
+Between Edward and Charles a new link had just been forged in the
+chain of friendship. The Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by
+the duke:
+
+    "We have to-day received from our much honoured seigneur and
+    brother, the king of England, his Order of the Garter together
+    with the mantle and other ornaments and things appertaining to the
+    said Order and have ... taken the oath according to the statutes
+    of the Order.
+
+    "Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal, February 4, 1469
+    [O.S.]."[7]
+
+Now it was in consideration of needs that might arise in the near
+future, following on the trail of these wide-reaching English
+convulsions, that Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for
+a strong military defence calculated to suit any emergency. Louis XI.
+had a permanent force at his command. He had made the beginning of the
+French standing army, the nucleus of one of those bodies that have
+ever since urged each other on to expensive growth from opposite sides
+of European frontiers. What one monarch possessed that must his near
+neighbour have.
+
+Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercenaries, were all alike
+unstable bulwarks for a nation. Nation as yet Charles had not, but
+he wanted to be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he issued
+an ordinance for the levy of a thousand lances, amounting to five
+thousand combatants, to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at
+call under officers of his own appointment. The ducal treasury could
+not stand the whole expense. To meet the deficit, Charles asked from
+his Netherland Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns for three
+years. Power to impose taxes he had none. A request to each individual
+province was all the requisition that he could make.
+
+In this case, most of the provinces approached had acceded to the
+demand, when the Estates of Flanders convened at Lille. Here the
+Chancellor of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of the demand,
+and then the session was changed to Bruges, where they debated on the
+merits of the request, urged on further by explanatory letters from
+Charles. Finally, a deputation was appointed by the Estates to go over
+to Ghent and present a _Remonstrance_ to their impatient sovereign
+beggar.
+
+Three points were set forth. The deputies objected to this grant being
+asked only from the lands _de par de ça_--the Netherlands and not from
+the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite assessment imposed on
+each province. Thirdly, they desired a declaration that the fiefs and
+arrière-fiefs already bound to furnish troops should be exempt from
+share in this tax. The remonstrance was courtly in tone. Written
+in French, the concluding phrases were in Latin and suggested that
+nothing was more becoming a prince than clemency, especially towards
+his subjects.[8]
+
+Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's response.[9] How could Burgundy
+furnish money? It is a poor land. It takes after France.[10] But its
+men make a third of the army. They are the Burgundian contribution. As
+to an assessment, what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid?
+Only out of malice is this idle point suggested.
+
+    "You act as you have always done--you Flemings. Neither to my
+    father nor to me have you ever been liberal. What you have
+    granted--sometimes more than our request--has always been given so
+    tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish skulls
+    are hard and thick and you cling to your stubborn and perverse
+    opinions.... I am half of France and half of Portugal and I know
+    how to meet such heads as yours, ay and _will_ do it. You have
+    always either hated or despised your prince--if powerful you
+    hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your hatred to your
+    contempt. Not for your privileges or anything else will I permit
+    myself to be trampled on--and I have the power to prevent such
+    trampling."
+
+    Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his demand, whose purpose
+    mainly was for defence of Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate
+    his visitors soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring
+    that as to the fiefs and arrière-fiefs he would see to it that no
+    double burdens were borne.
+
+    "And when you shall have determined to accord my request,--which
+    you will assuredly do (and I do not mean to burden you further
+    unless I am forced to it),--send some of your deputies after me to
+    Lille or St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my council, I
+    will determine the apportionment and we will speak also of other
+    matters touching my province of Flanders."
+
+It was this vehement oratory--and this vehemence was repeated on many
+occasions--that did more to alienate Charles from his hereditary
+subjects than his actual demands. There is little doubt that his
+period of residence in their midst brought with it hatred rather
+than liking. No political error of his serves to explain the Flemish
+attitude towards the duke as does his method of address, the
+gratuitous contempt displayed towards burghers whose purses were
+needed for his game. The _aide_ was granted, indeed, but it was levied
+with sullen reluctance.
+
+What cause Charles had to make his preparations, what were the
+proceedings of the English exiles may be seen from the following
+letters to his mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is probably
+in answer to her questionings; the second is a specimen of the
+epistles showered upon the border towns.
+
+    "TO MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LADY AND MOTHER,
+
+    MADAME THE DUCHESS, AT AIRE:
+
+    "May it please you to know that in regard to what the Sgr. de
+    Crèvecoeur has written you about the king's proclamations that he
+    intends to maintain his treaties and promises to me, etc., and has
+    no desire to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects
+    to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and his,
+    assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary has been and is well
+    known before the said publications and after. The Earl of Warwick
+    is my foe and could not, according to the treaty existing between
+    the king and me, be received in Normandy or elsewhere in the realm
+    ... [complaints about the procedure have been sent to king and
+    parliament and councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more,
+    the Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext of
+    carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which man was charged
+    to spy upon my ships and by means of a caravel named the
+    _Brunette_, sent for this purpose by the admiral, to cut the
+    cables to set them adrift and founder--or to capture certain ships
+    with such captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find, and
+    myself, too, if they were able.
+
+    "Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy on my towns, etc.,
+    and those of the caravel called the _Brunette_ were charged, if
+    they failed in taking my ships, or in cutting their cables, to
+    set fire to them--all in direct conflict with the terms of the
+    treaties, and procedures that the king would never have tolerated
+    had he had the slightest intention of maintaining his word ...
+    [Charles does not consider Groothuse to blame at all, etc.][11]
+
+
+_Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates of Ypres, June 10,
+1470_
+
+    "DEAR FRIENDS:
+
+    "It has come to your knowledge how after the Duke of Clarence and
+    the Earl of Warwick were expelled from England on account of their
+    sedition and their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both
+    by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and on _Vendredi
+    absolut_[12] went so far as to capture by fraud ships and property
+    belonging to our subjects, and have further done damage whenever
+    opportunity presented itself.
+
+    "In order to repel them we have ordered them to be attacked on
+    the sea. Moreover, at the same time we were advised that the same
+    Clarence and Warwick and their people, after they were routed at
+    sea by the troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King of
+    England, retreated to the marches of Normandy and were honourably
+    received at Honfleur by the Admiral of France with all which they
+    had saved from the raid on our subjects after the defeat.
+
+    "All this was direct infringement of the treaties lately made
+    between Monseigneur the king and myself. Therefore, we wrote at
+    once to Monsgr. the king begging him not to favour or aid the said
+    Clarence and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere in his
+    realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute the property of
+    our subjects, and to show his will by publishing such prohibitions
+    throughout Normandy and elsewhere where need is.
+
+    "Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris, and to the
+    council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The answer was that the king
+    meant to keep the treaty between him and us and had ordered his
+    subjects in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to our
+    subjects ... but we have since learned that, notwithstanding,
+    this same property has been distributed and ransoms have been
+    negotiated in the sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and
+    his officers.
+
+    "Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means of the aid
+    furnished by the king to the said Clarence and Warwick, the latter
+    are enabled to continue the war on our subjects and not on the
+    English, it being understood that they who were banished from
+    England are not strong enough to return by the force of arms but
+    must do so by friendship and favour.... On account of the above
+    and other depredations, we shall attack the said Warwick and
+    Clarence on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is needful
+    for the protection of our lands and subjects.
+
+    "Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."[13]
+
+    "Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist him to recover
+    England either with the help of Queen Margaret or by whatever
+    other means he may propose.... Only let him communicate his
+    desires in this respect as speedily as possible and the king will
+    lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of accomplishing it,"
+
+wrote the complaisant King of France in his directions to the
+confidential messenger sent to discuss matters with the English
+earl.[14]
+
+
+But that was not his language towards his cousin of Burgundy, whom he
+assured that there should be no infringement of their treaty, and that
+it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish property
+captured at sea in defiance of that treaty should be sold in French
+market-places. There is a hot correspondence,[15] that is, it is hot
+on the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are smoothly surprised
+at there being any cause for dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall
+be investigated, his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from the duke
+to two of Louis's council is emphatic in its expressions of doubt as
+to the good faith of these royal statements:
+
+    "ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:
+
+    "The vessels which you assure me are destined by the king for
+    an attack on England have attempted nothing except against my
+    subjects; but, by St. George, if some redress be not seen to, I
+    will take the matter into my own hands without waiting for your
+    motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."[16]
+
+
+Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent French merchants,
+coming peaceably to the fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of
+their private property, while the duke felt fully justified in
+stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to guard the Channel.
+Philip de Commines was one of the company who went at the duke's
+behest to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be faithful to King
+Edward, and to give no shelter to the rebellious earl and his protégé
+Clarence.[17]
+
+Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an inconvenient moment. He
+temporised. To Warwick, he denied a personal interview, but at the
+same time he sent him a confidential emissary, Sr. du Plessis, to whom
+he wrote as follows:
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have for Warwick's
+    return to England, as well because I wish to see him get the
+    better of his enemies--or that at least through him the realm of
+    England may be embroiled--as to avoid the questions which have
+    arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you know that these Bretons
+    and Burgundians have no other aim than to find a pretext for
+    rupturing peace and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see
+    commenced under this colour.... Wherefore I pray you take pains,
+    you and others there, to induce Mons. de Warwick to depart by all
+    arguments possible. Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so
+    that he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything else
+    but his personal advantage."[18]
+
+
+To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment. The envoys
+sent by Louis to placate the duke's resentment at the incidents in
+connection with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that Louis meant
+well by him and his subjects, found Charles holding high state at St.
+Omer. When they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered
+sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above floor level, "higher than
+was the wont of king or emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head
+as the representatives of his feudal overlord bowed to him and he
+acknowledged their obeisance by a slight nod and a gesture permitting
+them to rise.
+
+Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered their address with
+a prosy speech. Burgundian officials revelled in grandiloquent
+phrases--which this time bored Charles, He cut short the harangue
+impatiently, took the floor himself, and made a statement of the
+injuries he had suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend, but he
+was aiding the foe of the duke's brother. The envoys repeated their
+sovereign's offers of redress. Charles declared that redress was
+impossible. Pained, very pained were the French envoys to think that
+a petty dispute could not be settled amicably. "The king desires to
+avoid friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress for every
+wrong. It will not be his fault if trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the
+king and you have a judge who is above you both."
+
+The insinuation that it was he who was ready to break the peace
+infuriated Charles. He started to his feet, his eyes flashing with
+fire. "Among us Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends
+become friends to our foes we send them to the hundred thousand devils
+of hell."[19] "A piece of bad taste to send by implication a king of
+France to a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave Chastellain,
+aghast at this impolite, emphatic, though indirect reference to Louis
+XI.
+
+Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers present at this occasion.
+After all, they, too, were French by nature. To wreck the new-made
+peace for the sake of the English alliance, which had never been
+really popular among them, that seemed an act of rash unwisdom.
+
+    "A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because their chief
+    thus implied contempt for the name of France to which the duke
+    belonged. Not going quite so far as to call himself English,
+    though that was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother,
+    ancient friend of England and enemy of France."
+
+
+There were, indeed, times when the duke was more emphatic in asserting
+his English blood. Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands
+which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates and citizens of
+Calais, whom he addresses, "O you my friends."[20] While reiterating
+that he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By St. George who
+knows me to be a better Englishman and more anxious for the weal of
+England than you other English ... [you] shall recognise that I am
+sprung from the blood of Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied
+with the circumstances.
+
+While he was so conscious of his own greatness, present and future,
+and of his own laudable intentions to do well by his subjects, it is
+quite possible, too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously
+by his failure to win popularity. For he was quite as unpopular with
+his courtiers as with his subjects. The former did not like the rigid
+court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting through audiences silent
+and stiff "as at a sermon," and exposed to personal reprimands from
+their chief if there were the slightest lapses from his standard of
+conduct. They did not know on what meat the duke was feeding his
+imagination, an imagination that already saw him as Cæsar. Had he
+actually attained the loftier rank that he dreamed of, his premature
+arrogance might have been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible
+to the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his popularity during
+the years 1470-73.
+
+Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer, Louis had been relieved
+of anxiety in regard to the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers
+of an heir like his brother who might easily be used as a tool by some
+clever faction opposed to the ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was
+born to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant still
+were his words to his Burgundian cousin, but the moment was drawing
+near when his efforts to circumvent him were no longer secret.
+
+The embassy returned home. Possibly their report of the duke's
+passionate words goaded the king into discarding his mask of
+friendship. At any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in showing
+which side of the fresh English quarrel he meant to espouse. Margaret
+of Anjou hated the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had unseated
+her husband but because he had doubted her fidelity to that husband.
+Nevertheless, under Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her
+past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on fraternising with him on
+a basis of common hate for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed
+by the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the prince whose very
+legitimacy Warwick had questioned, with the earl's younger daughter.
+It was a singular union to be accepted by the parents, separated as
+they had been by the wall of insults interchanged during more than a
+decade of bitter enmity.
+
+Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession. She saw her
+seventeen-year-old son betrothed to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville,
+and later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick on a piece of
+the true cross in St. Mary's Church at Angers (August 4, 1470).
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July 25th], I have sent
+    you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick
+    in surety, and I order him to make such arrangements that the
+    people of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity until he
+    is there. To-day we have made the marriage of the Queen of England
+    and of him, and hope to-morrow to have all in readiness to
+    depart."[21]
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY (FROM BARANTE)]
+
+Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme towns, insinuating
+opposition to the duke, and reminding the citizens that they were
+French at heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the Burgundian
+court, saying many things in secret besides those they said in public.
+Plenty there were that wished for war, remarks the observant Commines.
+Nobles like St. Pol and others could not maintain the same state in
+peace as in war, and state they loved. In time of war four hundred
+lances attended the constable, and he had a large allowance to
+maintain them from which he reaped many a profitable commission
+besides the fees of his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover,"
+adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to say among themselves
+that if there were no battles without, there would be quarrels within
+the realm."
+
+The matter of the grants to Charles of France had been settled to his
+royal brother's liking, not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne
+and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were withdrawn and
+Guienne substituted. When Normandy had been exchanged for Champagne
+and Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of Burgundy approved
+the change as he thought it assured him an obedient friend as
+neighbour.[22] The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne and
+Brie, was quite a different thing.
+
+Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away from Burgundy. Naturally,
+Charles was not content. Then, too, it looked as though he had lost a
+useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new Duke of Guienne was
+formally reconciled to his brother and took oath that his fraternal
+devotion to his monarch should never again waver.
+
+Long before Charles was completely convinced that Louis was not going
+to maintain the humble attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he
+became very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against him. "He
+hastened to Hesdin where he entered into jealousy of his servants"
+says Commines. That he was assured that there were reasons for his
+apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated as an open letter,[23]
+to various cities, wherein he makes a detailed statement of the plots
+against his life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of Duke Philip.
+
+Sorry return was this from one recognised as Bastard of Burgundy and
+brought up in the ducal household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa,
+Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave of the duke's
+service and made his way to the king in his castle of Amboise, where
+he had been pleasantly received and promised rich reward when he had
+"executed his damnable designs against our person."
+
+Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in Charles's court at St.
+Omer were arrested as suspicious, and that circumstance frightened
+Baldwin and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his retinue, his
+horses, and his baggage behind. He dreaded lest he might be attainted
+and convicted of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the king.
+
+    "Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and clemency of God,
+    we inform you of the events so that you may render thanks
+    by public processions, solemn masses, sermons, and prayers,
+    beseeching Him devoutly and from the heart that He will always
+    guard and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and subjects
+    from such plots.
+
+    "May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in our castle of
+    Hesdin, December 13, 1470.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+    "LE GROS."
+
+
+It was not long before Charles had less reason to fear French
+"subtleties." At an assembly of notables[24] convened at Tours at the
+end of 1470, Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily for
+just two years, and made an open brief of his grievances against the
+duke.
+
+His case was cited with a luxury of detail more or less authentic. The
+interview at Peronne was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the Duke
+of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468, both obtained by undue
+pressure, had not been respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was
+obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.
+
+Even Commines shows that it is not surprising that there was
+unanimity[25] in the declaration that according to God and his
+conscience in all honour and justice the king was released from those
+treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion into Picardy as soon
+as possible.
+
+Charles's public accusations of plots against him did not go
+unanswered. Jehan de Chassa promptly issued a rejoinder:
+
+    "As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has sent to divers
+    places letters signed by himself and his secretary, Jehan le
+    Gros, written at Hesdin, December 13th, falsely charging me with
+    plotting against his life with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy,
+    and Jehan d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching my
+    honour, feel bound to reply.... By God and by my soul I declare
+    that these charges against me made by Charles of Burgundy are
+    false and disloyal lies"[26]
+
+Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation at the slur on his
+character, but he remained in the French court as did many others who
+had formerly served Charles.
+
+Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his daughter in the hands
+of Margaret of Anjou, openly aided by Louis, sailed back to England in
+September But there had been one further change of base of which the
+earl was still unconscious. His elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in
+the Warwick-Lancaster alliance. It brought young Prince Edward to the
+fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence--long ready to replace Edward of
+York--of any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined to accept
+offers of a reconciliation tendered him by King Edward.
+
+Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence sailed with Warwick and
+joined with him in the proclamations scattered over England, declaring
+that the exiles were returning to "set right and justice to their
+places, and to reduce and redeem for ever the realm from its
+thraldom." Never a mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI. Perhaps
+it was as convenient to see which way the wind blew and to put in a
+name accordingly.
+
+On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was raised as a cry. In
+Nottinghamshire, where Edward lay, not a word was heard for York.
+There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had turned against him
+and off he rode to Lyme with a small following, took ship, and made
+for Holland. It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns gave
+chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter at Alkmaar where De la
+Groothuse, Governor of Holland, welcomed him in the name of the
+duke.[27] Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with which to pay
+his fare across the Channel but a gown lined with marten's fur, and as
+for his train, never so poor a company was seen.
+
+Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all England and official
+business was transacted in the name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless
+on his throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow and pretence
+and what was done in his name was done without his will or knowledge.
+
+Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his unbidden guest. He
+would rather have heard that his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade
+Groothuse show him every courtesy and supply him with necessaries and
+five hundred crowns a month for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps
+informed by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind blowing over in
+England was but a fickle breeze, he consented to forget his hereditary
+sympathies.
+
+    "The same day that the duke received news of the king's arrival in
+    Holland, I was come from Calais to Boulogne (where the duke then
+    lay) ignorant of the event and of the king's flight.[28] The duke
+    was first advised that he was dead, which did not trouble him much
+    for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of York.
+    Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter and of Somerset and
+    divers others of King Henry's faction, by which means he thought
+    himself assured of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared
+    the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content him that was
+    to come to him, I mean King Edward, whose sister he had married
+    and who was also brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden
+    Fleece and the duke the Garter.
+
+    "Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais accompanied by
+    a gentleman or two of this new faction of Henry, and gave me
+    instructions how to deal with this new world, urging me to
+    go because it was important for him to be well served in the
+    matter.[29] I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes,
+    and then dared not proceed because I found people fleeing for fear
+    of the English who were devastating the country.... Never before
+    had I needed a safe-conduct for the English are very honourable.
+    All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen these
+    mutations in the world."
+
+Commines was uncertain as to what he had better do and wanted
+instructions. "The duke sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go
+forward with the promise that if I were taken prisoner he would redeem
+me." New surprises met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known
+faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate of my lodgings and
+the very door of my chamber were a hundred white crosses and rhymes
+signifying that the King of France and Earl of Warwick were one--all
+of which seemed strange to me." Well received was Commines and
+entertained at dinner. It was told at table how within a quarter of an
+hour after the arrival of news from England every man wore this livery
+(the ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden was the change.
+"This is the first time that I ever knew how little stable are these
+mundane affairs."
+
+    "In all communications that passed between them and me, I repeated
+    that King Edward was dead, of which fact I said I was well
+    assured, notwithstanding that I knew the contrary, adding further
+    that though it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke of
+    Burgundy and the king and realm of England such that this accident
+    could not infringe it--whomever they would acknowledge as king him
+    would we recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the league should
+    remain firm and inviolate between us and the king and realm of
+    England save that for Edward we named Henry."
+
+Commines explains further that the wool trade was what made amity with
+England necessary to Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal
+cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly for peace."
+
+Charles made vague promises to his uninvited guest, declaring
+ostentatiously that his blood was Lancastrian. Nevertheless he
+finally consented to an interview with him of York, in spite of the
+remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset and Exeter. "The duke
+could not tell whom to please and either party he feared to displease.
+But in the end, because sharp war was upon him face to face, he
+inclined to the English dukes, accepting their promises against the
+Earl of Warwick, their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who was on the
+spot and very ill at ease," was quieted by secret assurances that the
+duke was obliged to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep the
+king but that he was bound to return to England and fearing for divers
+considerations altogether to discontent him, Charles pretended that he
+could not aid the king and forbade his subjects to enter his service."
+Privately, however, he gave him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's
+cross, and had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand, a
+harbour where all nations were received. Besides this he secretly
+hired fourteen well appointed "ships of the Easterlings, which
+promised to serve him till he landed in England and for fifteen days
+after, "great aid considering the times."
+
+King Edward departed out of Flanders in the year 1471, when the
+Duke of Burgundy went to wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the
+king.[30] "The said duke thought now howsoever the world went in
+England he could not speed amiss because he had friends on both
+sides."[31]
+
+Edward's adventures in England proved that he had not lost his hold
+there. Warwick's extraordinary brief success was but a flash in the
+pan. London opened her gates and then the pitched battle at Barnet
+gave a final verdict between the rival Houses which England accepted.
+This battle was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and the like
+speech of the two bodies caused hopeless confusion. Many friends slew
+each other unwittingly, and among the slain was the indefatigable,
+energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with his royal puppets. Only
+forty-four was he and worthy of a better and more statesmanlike
+career.
+
+On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son landed at Weymouth.
+Hearing of Warwick's death, they tried to reach Wales but were
+intercepted and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here the young prince,
+too, met his death. To Edward's direct command is attributed the
+murder of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which happened at
+about the same time. The desolated Margaret of Anjou lingered five
+years under restraint in England before she was ransomed by King
+Louis.
+
+    "Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten at London the
+    Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.
+
+    "God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke Hym that made all
+    and can undoo agayn whare Hym lyst."[32]
+
+Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on his foresight. His
+brother of the two Orders was himself again.
+
+    "The very day on which this fight happened [says Commines] the
+    Duke of Burgundy, being before Amiens, received letters from
+    the duchess his wife, that the King of England was not at all
+    satisfied with him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if
+    for very little cause he would have deserted him. To speak plainly
+    there never was great friendship between them afterwards. Yet the
+    Duke of Burgundy seemed to be extremely pleased at this news and
+    published it everywhere."
+
+A transaction of his own of this time, the duke did not publish. It
+was a procedure perhaps justified by these wonderful "mutations in the
+world" which impressed Commines as strange and terrible. The Duke of
+Burgundy caused a legal document to be drawn up attesting his own
+heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the same in the Abbey of
+St. Bertin with all due formality. If there came more "mutations"
+in the world whose very existence was a new experience to Philip de
+Commines, Charles was ready to interpose his own plank in the new
+structure.
+
+In the archives of the House of Croy in the château of Beaumont, rests
+this document, which was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471,
+in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to the statement
+that no one was truer heir to the Lancaster House than Charles of
+Burgundy.[33] Two canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the
+witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.
+
+It was expressly stipulated that if there were any delay in the duke's
+entering upon his English inheritance--which devolved to him
+through his mother,--a delay caused by motives of public utility of
+Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, this should not prejudice
+his rights or those of his successors. A mere deferring of assuring
+the titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. His delay ended
+in his death and Edward IV. never had to combat this claim of the
+brother-in-law who had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his
+throne.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Meyer is the earliest historian to tell this story and it
+is vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice
+lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York and
+Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between Englishmen on
+English soil. Three out of four kings died by violence. Eighty persons
+connected with the blood royal were executed or assassinated.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Ramsay, _Lancaster and York_, ii., 232 _et seq._; Oman,
+_Hundred Years' War_ and _Warwick, the King-maker_, are followed here
+in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 4: That the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge
+or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again denied by
+various authorities.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See Oman's _Warwick_, p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Rymer, _Fædera_, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on
+for about a year.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, 651.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "Quia nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut
+clemencia et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 216. The editor thinks that
+the speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was
+delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Il sent la France_.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Middleburg, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign manual"
+on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, _Histoire générale et
+particulière de Bourgogne_, etc., iv., cclxxi).]
+
+[Footnote 12: Good Friday, April 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 226.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Comines-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at
+Amboise, May, 12, 1470.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Plancher, iv., cclxi., etc.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Duke Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May
+29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Mémoires_, iii., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Duclos "Preuves," v., 296.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Chastellain, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure,
+those of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance is
+that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis accepts it.
+(Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 363.)]
+
+[Footnote 20: _See_ Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Aujourd'hui avons fait le mariage de la reine
+d'Angleterre et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating the
+alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the King's
+accounts for December, 1470: "à maistre Jehan le prestre, la somme de
+xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or à lui donnée par le roy, pour le
+restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance d'icellui seigneur,
+il avait baillée du sien au vicaire de Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur
+en a fait don en faveur de ce qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de
+Galles a la fille du Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the
+actual marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation.
+(Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also _Lettres de Louis XI_.,
+iv., 131.)]
+
+[Footnote 22: A group of smaller seigniories was also involved,
+Quercy, Périgord, La Rochelle, etc. _See_ letter-patent,
+(Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 97.)]
+
+[Footnote 23: Duclos, "Preuves" v., 302.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, iv^{ii},
+364.]
+
+[Footnote 25: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}, 364. He states that the king
+named all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Duclos, "Preuves," v., 307.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Commines, iii., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _See_ instructions given to him for this mission,
+Wavrin-Dupont, iii., 271.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Commines, iii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 31: As soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles
+published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]
+
+[Footnote 32: _Letters_, iii., 4.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _See_ Gachard, _Études et Notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas,_ ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant toutes
+les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que plus grant
+foy soit adjoustée à tout ce que cy desus est escript, avant signé ce
+présent instrument de nostre propre main et le fait sceller de nostre
+seau en signe de vérité, l'an et jour desusdit. [This in French, the
+body in Latin.]
+
+"CHARLES."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+1471
+
+
+All work had ceased at Paris for three days by the king's command,
+while praise was chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints male
+and female, for the victory won by Henry of Lancaster, in 1470, over
+the base usurper Edward de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made a
+special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at Poitiers to breathe in
+pious solitude his own prayers of thanksgiving for the happy event.
+The battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this abundant stream of
+gratitude, and there were other thanksgivings.[1]
+
+In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent letters from
+Canterbury to his good friends at Bruges,[2] acknowledging their
+valuable assistance to his brother Charles,[3] recognising his part in
+restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his throne. To his sister,
+the Duchess of Burgundy, the returned exile gave substantial proof
+of his gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture and
+trade.[4]
+
+Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss weather vane the King
+of England had swung out into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair
+weather over his head, while Louis was forced back into solitary
+impotence. He seemed singularly isolated. His English friends were
+gone, his nobles were again forming a hostile camp around Charles of
+France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten his late protestations
+of fraternal devotion, and there were many indications that the
+Anglo-Burgundian alliance might prove as serious a peril to France as
+it had in times gone by but not wholly forgotten.
+
+The two most important of the disputed towns on the Somme were,
+however, in Louis's possession, and Charles of Burgundy, ready to
+reduce Amiens by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his
+proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed in July. This
+afforded a valuable respite to the king, and he busied himself in
+energetic efforts to detach his brother from the group of malcontents.
+Various disquieting rumours about the prince's marriage projects
+caused his royal brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch a
+special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy Louis wrote as follows[5]:
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:
+
+    "Guiot du Chesney[6] has brought me despatches from Monsg. de
+    Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has, further, mentioned three
+    points to me: First, in behalf of Mme. de Savoy,[7] ... second, in
+    regard to M. d'Ursé ... third, touching the mission of Mons. de
+    Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the daughter of Monsg. de
+    Foix.... The Ursé matter I will leave to you, and will agree to
+    what you determine upon. On the spot you will be a better judge of
+    what I ought to say and what would be advantageous to me, than I
+    can here.
+
+    "In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage, you know what a
+    misfortune it would be to me. Use all your five senses to prevent
+    it. I am told that my brother does not really like the idea, and
+    it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has brought him to
+    consent in order to further the marriage of the duchess,[8] so
+    that in taking the sister, the duke will be relieved of this sum,
+    a condition that would please him greatly because he has nothing
+    to pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all the
+    accompanying claims and then be through with it. In effect, I beg
+    you make him agree to another [bride] before you leave, and do not
+    be in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair[9] can be
+    arranged you will place me in Paradise.
+
+    "_Item._ I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would not approve this
+    Aragon girl, because he himself has some hopes of the kingdom of
+    Aragon through his wife. If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of
+    this, I believe it would help along our case.
+
+    "_Item._ It seems to me that you have a splendid opportunity to be
+    very frank with my brother. For he has informed me through this
+    man that the duke [of Brittany] has paid no attention to the
+    representations made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray,
+    and since my brother himself confides this to me, you have an
+    opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and that I never
+    cherish him so highly as when he tells me the truth, and that I
+    now recognise that he does not desire to deceive me, since he
+    does not spare the duke [of Brittany] and that, since he sees him
+    opposed to me, he should return the seal that you know of and
+    refuse to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the
+    Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.
+
+    "If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as long as I live
+    I will harbour no misgiving of him and he shall be as puissant in
+    all the realm of France as I myself, as long as I live. In short,
+    Mons. du Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you will
+    place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until Monseigneur de
+    Lescun has arrived, and a good piece afterwards, even if you have
+    to play the invalid, and before you depart put our affair in
+    surety if you can, I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du
+    Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre Dame de Behuart
+    aid your negotiations. The women[10] of Mme. de Burgundy have
+    all been ill with the _mal chault,_ and it is reported that the
+    daughter is seriously afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is
+    already dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite certain of
+    the malady.
+
+    "Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.
+
+    "LOYS.
+
+    "TILHART."
+
+That the king's professed confidence in his brother did not remove all
+suspicions of that young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown
+by the following letter, written two days later than the above, to
+Lorenzo de' Medici:
+
+    "Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that our brother of
+    Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation from the oath he
+    swore to us, of which we send you a duplicate. Since you are a
+    great favourite with our Holy Father pray use your influence with
+    his Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation,
+    and that his messenger may not be able to do any negotiating. In
+    this you will do us a singular and agreeable pleasure which we
+    will recognise in the future as we have in the past on fitting
+    occasion....
+
+    "Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.
+
+    "LOYS."
+
+Louis does not seem to have taken his own doubts as to the very
+existence of Mary of Burgundy very seriously. While he was infinitely
+anxious to prevent her alliance with his brother, he made overtures to
+betroth her to his baby son, while he reminded her father in touching
+phrases that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and hence exactly
+the person to be her father-in-law.
+
+The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts to make terms between
+the king and the duke before the termination of the truce. The king
+was very hopeful of attaining this good result, and sweetly trustful
+of the duke's pacific and friendly intentions. He sternly refused to
+listen to suggestions that Charles meant to play him false and was
+very definite in his expressions of confidence. The following epistle
+to his envoys at the duke's court was an excellent document to fall by
+chance into Burgundian hands[11]:
+
+    "To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:
+
+    "My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received your letters
+    this evening at the hostelry of Montbazon where I came because I
+    have not yet dared to go to Amboise.[12] When I imparted to you
+    the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose of
+    delaying you in completing your business but only to advise you of
+    the dangers that were in the air. And to free you from all doubts
+    I assure you, that if Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to
+    confirm, by writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at
+    Orleans[13], I wish you to accept it and to clinch the matter and
+    I am quite determined to trust to it. As to your suspicion that
+    he may wish to make the chief promises in private letters without
+    putting it in a formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a
+    pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing I never withdraw
+    my decision.
+
+    "My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to it that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate assurance of the
+    letters that he is to issue. When I once have the letter such as
+    we agreed upon and he is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep
+    faith. If my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do
+    not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure you that my
+    greatest worldly desire is that the matter be finished, since he
+    has given verbal assurance that he wishes me well. You write that
+    the pronotary told you that I was negotiating in every direction.
+    By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by the words that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy said to you you can easily solve the
+    question, for he has only offered you what he mentioned before
+    when the matters were discussed. It looks to me as though they
+    were not free from traitors since they have Abbé de Begars and
+    Master Ythier Marchant.[14]
+
+    "A herald of the King of England came here on his way to Monsg. of
+    Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct to send a messenger to me
+    for this truce. Since your departure the council thought I ought
+    not to give any pass for more than forty days except to merchants.
+    If it please God and Our Lady that you may conclude your mission,
+    I assure you that as long as I live I will have no embassy either
+    large or small without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy
+    and I will only answer as if through him. I assure you that until
+    I hear from you whether Monsg. of Burgundy decides to conclude
+    this treaty or not as we agreed together, I will make no agreement
+    with any creature in the world and of that you may assure him.
+
+    "Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).
+
+    "Loys."
+
+At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly intercourse with the
+towns he proposed to cede.
+
+    "To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king: "Dear and
+    beloved, we have heard reports at length from Amiens and we are
+    well content with you.... Give credence to all my messengers say.
+    We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies have done
+    in our cause."
+
+At the Burgundian court the duke's friends thought that he would play
+the part of wisdom did he keep an army within call, and refrain from
+implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was, moreover, an
+impression abroad that the latter was not in a position to be very
+formidable.
+
+    "Once [says Commines][15] I was present when the Seigneur d'Ursé
+    [envoy from the Duke of Guienne] was talking in this wise and
+    urging the duke to mobilise his forces with all diligence. The
+    duke called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur d'Ursé
+    urging me to make my army as big as possible, and tells me that we
+    would do well for the realm. Do you think that I should wage a war
+    of benefit if I should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered
+    that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I love the welfare
+    of France more than Mons. d' Ursé imagines, for instead of the one
+    king that there is I would fain see six.'"
+
+The animus of this expression is clear. It implies a wish to see the
+duke's friends, the French nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head,
+until the titular monarch had no more power than half a dozen of his
+peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal terms that Charles's next
+moves were to disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard their
+alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis whose terms were wholly
+to his own advantage and implied complete desertion of the allied
+interest.
+
+    "This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and I was present[16]
+    and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon and the Chancellor of
+    France[17] in behalf of the king. When they departed they advised
+    the duke not to disband his army but to increase it, so that the
+    king their master might be the more inclined to cede promptly the
+    two places mentioned above. They took with them Simon de Quingey
+    to witness the king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors'
+    work. The king delayed this confirmation for several days.
+    Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother, the Duke of Guienne
+    ... shortly afterwards the said Simon returned, dismissed by the
+    king with very meagre phrases and without any oath being taken.
+    The duke felt mocked and insulted by this treatment and was very
+    indignant about it."[18]
+
+This story involves so serious a charge against Charles of Burgundy
+that the fact of his setting his signature to the treaty has been
+indignantly denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's
+truthfulness rather than accept the duke's betrayal of his friends. It
+is true that only a few months later than this negotiation, Commines
+himself forsook the duke's service for the king's, a change of base
+that might well throw suspicion on his estimate of his deserted
+master.
+
+Yet it must be remembered that he does not gloss over Louis's actions,
+even though he had an admiration for the success of his political
+methods, methods which Commines believed to be essential in dealing
+with national affairs. In many respects he gives more credit to the
+duke than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer chief. That
+there is no documentary evidence of such a treaty is mere negative
+evidence and of little importance.
+
+The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy was at a parting
+of the ways, in character as in action. His natural bent was to tell
+the truth and to adhere strictly to his given word. He felt that he
+owed it to his own dignity. He felt, too, that he was a person to
+command obedience to a promise whether pledged to him by king or
+commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe shocks had been dealt
+him. He had lost all faith in Louis, a faith that had really been
+founded on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction that the weak
+king must respect the redoubtable cousin of Burgundy.
+
+The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to make him adopt the
+tools used by his rival, or at least to attempt to do so. At the
+moment of the negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation
+was to regain the towns on the Somme. That accomplished, it is not
+probable that he would have abandoned his friends, the French
+peers, whom he desired to see become petty monarchs each in his own
+territory. There seems no doubt that words were used with singular
+disregard of their meaning. It is surprising that time was wasted in
+concocting elaborate phrases that dropped into nothingness at the
+slightest touch. In citing the above passage from Commines referring
+to the treaty, the close of the negotiations has been anticipated.
+Whether or not any draft of a treaty received the duke's signature,
+the king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when his brother's death
+freed him from the dread of dangerous alliance between Charles of
+France and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th, he was still
+uncertain as to the decree of fate and wrote as follows to the
+Governor of Rousillon[19]:
+
+    "Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the Duke of Burgundy
+    declares war against me, I will set out immediately for that
+    quarter [Brittany], and in a week we will finish the matter. On
+    the other hand, if peace be made we shall have everything without
+    a blow or without any risk of restoration. However, if you can get
+    hold of anything by negotiating and manoeuvring, why do it. As
+    to the artillery, it is close by you, and when it is time, and I
+    shall have heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."
+
+Ten days later he is more hopeful.[20]
+
+    "Since my last letter to you I have had news that Monsieur de
+    Guienne is dying and that there is no remedy for his case. One
+    of the most confidential persons about him has advised me by a
+    special messenger that he does not believe he will be alive a
+    fortnight hence.... The person who gave me this information is
+    the monk who repeated his Hours with M. de G[uienne.] I am much
+    abashed at this and have crossed myself from head to foot.
+
+    "Written at Moutils-lès-Tours, May 18th."
+
+This prognostic was correct. In less than a fortnight the Duke of
+Guienne lay dead, and the heavy suspicion rested upon his royal
+brother of having done more than acquiesce in the decree of fate.
+Whether or not there was any truth in this charge the king was
+certainly not heartbroken by the loss. Indeed, the event interested
+him less than the question of making the best use of the remainder of
+his truce with Charles. The following letters to Dammartin and the
+Duke of Milan belong to this time.
+
+    "Thank you for the pains you have taken but pray, as speedily as
+    you can, come here to draw up your ordinance for we only have
+    a fortnight more of the truce. I have sent the artillery and
+    soldiers to Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's
+    forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the seneschal of
+    Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company. Then if there are
+    more at large, form them into a body and send them to me and I
+    will find them a captain and pay all those who are willing to
+    stay.
+
+    "As to him,[21] make him talk on the way and learn whether he
+    would like to enter into an agreement in his brother's name, and
+    work it so that the duke will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at
+    all points for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know how,
+    for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun left here for any
+    other reason than to attempt to make an arrangement of some kind.
+
+    "Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser than I and will
+    know how to act far better than I can instruct you, but, above
+    all, I implore you come in all haste for without you we cannot
+    make an ordinance.
+
+    "Written at Xaintes, May 28th.
+
+    "LOYS."[22]
+
+    "AMBOISE, June 7th.
+
+    "Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Beloved brother and
+    cousin, we have received the letters you have written making
+    mention, as you have heard, that in the truce lately concluded
+    between us and the Duke of Burgundy up to April 1st next coming,
+    which will be the year 1473, the Duke of Burgundy has mentioned
+    you as his ally, which you do not like because you never asked the
+    Duke of Burgundy to do so, and you do not know whether he made
+    this statement on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who is
+    with him.
+
+    "Therefore, and because you do not mean to enter into alliance or
+    understanding with the Duke of Burgundy but wish to remain
+    our confederate and ally and have sworn to that effect before
+    notaries, and sealed your oath with your seal ... that you are no
+    ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that you renounce and repudiate
+    his nomination as such ... also you may be certain that on our
+    part we are determined to maintain all friendship between us and
+    you ... and if we make any treaty in the future we will expressly
+    include you in it and never will do otherwise."[23]
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised how while the truce is
+    still in being, the Duke of Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all
+    whom he found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished you to
+    know so that if you can find means to do him a like injury in his
+    country you will do it there and anywhere that you can without
+    sparing anything. I have good hopes that God will aid in avenging
+    us, considering the murders for which he is responsible within the
+    church and elsewhere, and because by virtue of the terms of their
+    surrender [they thought] they had saved their lives.
+
+    "Done at Angers, June 19th.
+
+    "P.S.--If the said place had been destroyed and rased as I ordered
+    this never would have happened. Therefore, see to it that all such
+    places be rased to the ground, for if this be not done the people
+    will be ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
+    damage to me."[24]
+
+One fact stated by Louis in this letter was true. Charles of Burgundy
+broke the truce when it had but two weeks to run, and thus put
+himself in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him wild with anger.
+Apparently he had not believed in the imminence of the danger,
+although he had been constantly informed of the progress of the
+prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand of Louis, not the
+judgment of God, that ended the life of the prince.
+
+    "On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472, so far as I remember
+    [says Commines] came letters from Simon de Quingey, the duke's
+    ambassador to the king, announcing the death of the Duke of
+    Guienne and that the king had recovered the majority of his
+    places. Messages from various localities followed headlong one on
+    the other, and every one had a different story of the death.
+
+    "The duke being in despair at the death, at the instigation of
+    other people as much concerned as himself, wrote letters full of
+    bitter accusations against the king to several towns--an action
+    that profited little for nothing was done about it.[25]... In this
+    violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle in Vermandois,
+    and commenced a kind of warfare such as he had never used before,
+    burning and destroying wherever he passed."
+
+It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines sails by the capital
+charges against the king. He neither accepts nor denies the king's
+crime, while frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an opportune
+circumstance for Louis. He apologises for mentioning any evil report
+of either king or duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
+truth without palliation.
+
+Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the Somme which refused
+the duke's summons to surrender, sent to it on June 10th. It seems
+possible that there was a misunderstanding between the citizens
+and the garrison which resulted in the slaughter of the Burgundian
+heralds. Whereupon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong upon the
+ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible vengeance on the town.
+
+When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage was over, but he was
+unreproving as he inspected the gruesome result. Into the great church
+itself he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the blood lying
+inches deep on the floor. The desecrated building was full of
+dead--men, women, and children--but the duke's only comment as he
+looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily I have good butchers
+with me," and he crossed himself piously.
+
+    "Those who were taken alive were hanged, except some few suffered
+    to escape by the compassionate common soldiers. Quite a number had
+    their hands chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I
+    was on the spot and needs must give some account of it."[26]
+
+The story of the duke's treatment of the innocent little town of Nesle
+is painted in colours quite as lurid as the king's murder of his
+brother. There is some ground for the denunciations of Charles,
+but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised clemency to the
+citizens on surrender and then basely broke his word, does not deserve
+credence. He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors were
+committed in passion, not in cold blood.[27]
+
+[Illustration: BURGUNDIAN STANDARD PRESERVED AT BEAUVAIS]
+
+It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indignation at his
+cousin's proceedings, coupled with his regrets that he himself had not
+destroyed the town.
+
+With the terrible report of the events at Nesle flying before his
+advance guard, Charles went on towards Normandy. Roye he gained
+easily, and then, passing by Compiègne where "Monseigneur the grand
+master" had intrenched himself, and Amiens with the good burghers whom
+Louis delighted to honour, he marched on until he reached Beauvais, an
+old town on the Thérain. Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had
+taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its defences, not even
+having its usual garrison or cannon, as it happened.
+
+Disappointed in his first expectation of picking the town like a
+cherry, Charles sat down before it. The siege that followed won
+a reputation beyond the warrant of its real importance from the
+extraordinary tenacity and energy of the people in their own defence.
+Every missile that the ingenuity of man or woman could imagine was
+used to drive back the besiegers when the town was finally invested.
+
+From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited, then an assault was
+ordered. Charles laughed at the idea of any serious resistance. "He
+asked some of his people whether they thought the citizens would wait
+for the assault. It was answered yes, considering their number even if
+they had nothing before them but a hedge."[28] He took this as a joke
+and said, "To-morrow you will not find a person." He thought that
+there would be a simple repetition of his experience at Dinant and
+Liege, and that the garrison would simply succumb in terror. When the
+Burgundians rushed at the walls their reception showed not only that
+every point had a defender, but also that those same defenders were
+provided with huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches--all
+most unpleasant things when thrown in the faces of men trying to scale
+a wall. Three hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants the
+difficulty of the task. Twelve hundred were slain and maimed, and the
+strength of the place was proven.
+
+Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme, but the weather
+came to the aid of the besieged. Heavy rains forced the troops to
+change camp. More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic assaults,
+losses that Charles could ill afford at the moment. Finally at the end
+of three fruitless weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians
+marched on to try to redeem their reputation in Normandy. Had Beauvais
+fallen, it would have been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany,
+against whom Louis had marched with all his forces and whom he had
+enveloped as in a net. This reverse was the first serious rebuff that
+had happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his fortunes.
+
+Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage to himself, and was not
+stinting in his reward to the plucky little town. Privileges and a
+reduction of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual procession
+was inaugurated in which women were to have precedence as a special
+recognition of their services with boiling water and other irregular
+weapons, while a special gift was bestowed on one particular girl,
+Jeanne Laisné, who had wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier
+just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not only was she endowed
+from the royal purse, but she and her husband and their descendants
+were declared tax free for ever.[29]
+
+_Charles to the Duke of Brittany_
+
+    "My good brother, I recommend myself to you with good heart. I
+    rather hoped to be able to march through Rouen, but the whole
+    strength of the foe was on the frontier, where was the _grand
+    master, of whose loyalty I have not the least doubt_, so that the
+    project could not be effected. I do not know what will happen.
+    Realising this, I have given subject for thought elsewhere and
+    I have pitched my camp between Rouen and Neufchâtel, intending,
+    however, to return speedily. If not I will exploit the war in
+    another quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert
+    myself to keep them from your route. My Burgundians and
+    Luxemburgers have done bravely in Champagne. I know, too, that you
+    have done well on your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned
+    the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will not injure you,
+    nor us, nor others, and I will not lay down arms without you, as
+    I am certain you will not without me. I will pursue the work
+    commenced by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord, may He give
+    you good and long life with a fruitful victory.
+
+    "Written at my camp near Boscise, September 4th.
+
+    "Your loyal brother,
+
+    "CHARLES."[30]
+
+The duke's course was marked by waste and devastation from the
+walls of Rouen to those of Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this
+desolation. By September, keen anxiety about his territories led him
+to fear staying so far from his own boundaries, and he decided to
+return. Through Picardy he marched eastward burning and laying waste
+as before.
+
+Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands, when Louis marched into
+Brittany against his weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis
+found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie, who had ridden in hot
+haste to Brittany, scattering from his saddle dire accusations of
+fratricide against Louis--this same Odet became silenced and took
+service with the king.[31] When reconcilations were effected, most
+kind to the returning ally or servant did Louis always show himself.
+
+On November 3d, a truce was struck between Louis and Charles, which,
+later, was renewed for a year. But never again did the two men come
+into actual conflict with each other, though they were on the eve of
+doing so in 1475.
+
+The period of the great coalitions among the nobles was at an end.
+Charles of France was dead and so, too, were others who were strong
+enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brittany showed no more
+energy. When again within his own territories, Charles of Burgundy
+became absorbed in other projects which he wished to perfect before he
+again measured steel with Louis.
+
+  "The Duke of Berry, he is dead,
+  Brittany doth nod his head,
+  Burgundy doth sulky sit,
+  While Louis works with every wit."[32]
+
+Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in France, a verse that
+probably never came to Charles's ears--though Louis might have
+listened to it cheerfully.
+
+Infinitely disastrous were the events of that summer to Charles of
+Burgundy. Not only had he lost in allies, not only had he squandered
+life and money uselessly in his reckless expedition over the north of
+France, but his own retinue was diminished and weakened by the men
+whom Louis had succeeded in luring from his service. The loss that
+Charles suffered was not only for the time but for posterity. Among
+those convinced that there was more scope for men of talent in France
+than in Burgundy was that clever observer of humanity who had been at
+Charles's side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip de Commines
+took French leave of his master and betook himself to Louis, who
+evidently was not surprised at his advent.
+
+The historian's own words in regard to this change of base are
+laconic: "About this time I entered the king's service (and it was
+the year 1472), who had received the majority of the servitors of his
+brother the Duke of Guienne. And he was then at Pont de Cé."[33] This
+passing from one lord to another happened on the night between the 7th
+and 8th of August, when the Burgundian army lay near Eu.
+
+The suddenness of the departure was probably due to the duke's
+discovery of his servant's intentions not yet wholly ripe, and those
+intentions had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in 1471, when
+Commines made a secret journey to the king. On his way back to
+Burgundy, he deposited a large sum of money at Tours. Evidently he
+did not dare put this under his own name, or claim it when it was
+confiscated as the property of a notorious adherent of Louis's
+foe.[34]
+
+When the fugitive reached the French court, however, he was amply
+recompensed for all his losses.[35] For, naturally, at his flight, all
+his Burgundian estates were abandoned.[36] It was at six o'clock on
+the morning of August 8th that the deed was signed whereby the duke
+transferred to the Seigneur de Quiévrain all the rights appertaining
+to Philip de Commines, "which rights together with all the property of
+whatever kind have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation because
+he has to-day, the date of this document, departed from our obedience
+and gone as a fugitive to the party opposed to us."[37]
+
+There are various surmises as to the cause of this precipitate
+departure. Not improbable is the suggestion that Charles often
+overstepped the bounds of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so
+runs one story, he found the historian sleeping on his bed where he
+had flung himself while awaiting his master. Charles pulled off one of
+his boots "to give him more ease" and struck him in the face with it.
+In derision the courtiers called Commines _tête bottée_, and their
+mocking sank deep into his soul.
+
+Contemporary writers make little of the chronicler's defection.
+These crossings from the peer's to the king's camp were accepted
+occurrences. But by Charles they were not accepted. There is
+a vindictive look about the hour when he disposes of his late
+confidant's possessions, only explicable by intense indignation not
+itemised in the deed approved by the court of Mons.[38]
+
+More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier de la Marche, though to
+him, also, came intimations that he would find a pleasant welcome at
+the French court. He, too, had opportunities galore to make links with
+Louis. The accounts teem with references to his secret missions
+here and there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all carefully
+itemised. So zealous was this messenger on his master's commissions,
+that his hackneys were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold
+for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XI. was not blind to the quality
+of La Marche's services, and he thought that they, too, might be
+diverted to his use.[39]
+
+    "Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has told me that
+    Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to enter my service and
+    I am afraid that there may be some deception. However, there is
+    nothing that I would like better than to have the said Sieur
+    de Cimay, as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the matter
+    stands, and if you see that it is in good earnest work for it with
+    all diligence. Whatever you pledge I will hold to. Advise me of
+    everything.
+
+    "Written at Cléry, October 16th [1472].
+
+    "To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor, Sire du
+    Bouchage."[40]
+
+But La Marche was not tempted, and was rewarded for his fidelity
+by high office in a duchy which, shortly after these events, was
+"annexed" to his master's domain.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Journal de Jean de Roye_, i., 258.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Commynes-Dupont, iii., 202.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Plancher, iv., cccvi., May 28th.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Rymer, _Foedera_, xi., 735. _Pro Ducissa Burgundiæ super
+Lana claccanda_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 256.]
+
+[Footnote 6: One of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's
+service.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Louis's sister Yolande.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of
+the Count de Foix.]
+
+[Footnote 9: This was an allusion to a proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile. Vaesen
+cannot explain the use of Aragon. Various documents relating to this
+negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet, iii., 156.)]
+
+[Footnote 10: Vaesen gives _femmes_, Duclos _filles_. The king was
+above all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lettres de Louis XI._., iv., 286.]
+
+[Footnote 12: There was a pestilence raging at Amboise.]
+
+[Footnote 13: At Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of
+November, there was a conference wherein the king apparently promised
+to restore St. Quentin and Amiens to Charles, if he would renounce his
+alliance with the dukes of Brittany and Guienne and would betroth his
+daughter to the dauphin.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Ythier Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received "signed and sealed
+blanks" from the two princes in order to enable him to hasten matters.
+(_Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 289.)]
+
+[Footnote 15: III., ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Cette paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois
+présent."]
+
+[Footnote 17: The king's envoys who had spent the winter in the
+Burgundian court. _See_ letter to them in December.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _See_ Kervyn, _Bulletin de l'Academie royale de
+Belgique_, p. 256. _Also_ Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Louis to the Vicomte de la Belliére, _Lettres_, etc.,
+iv., 319.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Louis to Dammartin, _Ibid_., 325. _Mars_ was written
+first and then replaced by _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Odet d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de
+Lescun.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres, XI_., iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472.]
+
+[Footnote 23: _Lettres_, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Lettres_, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. _See also_
+Duclos, v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two texts,
+but the differences do not affect the narrative.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Odet d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted to
+his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis broadcast
+over the land. The truth of the death is not proven. Frequent mentions
+of Guienne's condition occur through the letters of the winter '71-72.
+The story was that the poison, administered subtly by the king's
+orders, caused the illness of both the prince and his mistress, Mme.
+de Thouan. She died after two months of suffering, December 14th,
+while he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely
+shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably wretched and
+painful, a constant torture until death mercifully released him in
+May. Accusations of poisoning are often repeated in history. In this
+case, there was certainly a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In
+his manifestos, (Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's
+tools in compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre,
+and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.
+
+The story told by Brantôme _(OEuvres Complètes_ de Pierre de
+Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantôme, ii., 329. "Grands Capitaines
+Francois." There is nothing too severe for Brantôme to say about Louis
+XI.) is very detailed. A fool passed to Louis's service from that of
+the dead prince. While this man was attending his new master in the
+church of Notre Dame de Cléry, he heard him make this prayer to the
+Virgin: "Ah! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great friend in whom
+I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a suppliant to God in my
+behalf, be my advocate with Him so that He may pardon me for the death
+of my brother whom I had poisoned by this wicked Abbé of St. John. I
+confess it to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was to
+be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me pardoned and I know well
+what I will give thee."
+
+Brantôme tells further that the fool, using the privilege of free
+speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death at dinner
+in public and after that day was never seen again. On the other hand,
+the young duke's will was all to his brother's favour. Louis was
+made executor and legatee, "and if we have ever offended our beloved
+brother," dictated the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we
+with _débonnaire_ affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Commynes
+(1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious fabrication of
+Odet d'Aydie, and other authorities refer the cause to disease. The
+very date of the death varies from May 12th to May 24th.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Commines, iii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 27: There is a curious document in existence (see _Bulletins
+de L'Hist. de France_, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the event. It
+is the deposition of several old people who had been just old enough
+to remember that awful experience of their youth. Fifty years of
+repetition gave time for the growth of the story.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Legend makes it that Jeanne Laisné, called _Fouquet_,
+chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet. Hence
+her name was changed to _La Hachette_, and she is represented with a
+hatchet.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Barante, vii., 333.]
+
+[Footnote 31: _See_ Lavisse, iv^{ii.}, 368.]
+
+[Footnote 32:
+
+  "Berri est mort,
+  Bretagne dort,
+  Bourgogne hongne,
+  Le Roy besogne."
+
+Le Roux de Lincy, _Chants historiques et populaires du temps de Louis
+XI_.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Commines also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke
+of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the Duke of
+Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.)]
+
+[Footnote 34: Kirk (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only
+Louis's way of prodding him up to act.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Dupont (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not
+enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift of the
+principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not registered in
+_Parlement_ until December 13, 1473, and in the court of records May
+2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Commines become at last, and as such he
+married Helen de Chambes, January 27, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 36: It is strange that La Marche does not mention this
+defection.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See document quoted by Gachard, _Études et Notices_,
+etc. ii., 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preserved
+in the château of Beaumont.]
+
+[Footnote 38: _See also_ Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of
+this event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too corrupt for
+honest men to endure it.]
+
+[Footnote 39: _See_ Stein. _Étude_, etc., _sur Olivier de la _Marche_.
+(Mém. Couronnés) xlix.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Letter of Louis XI. in Bibl. Nat.: _Ibid._, p. 179.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+GUELDERS
+
+1473
+
+
+The affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were among the matters
+urgently demanding the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close
+of his campaign in France. The circumstances of the long-standing
+quarrel between Duke Arnold and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a
+scandal throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming reconciliation of the
+parties had not only been effected but celebrated in the town of Grave
+by a pleasant family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke,
+fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was he in bed, when he
+was aroused rudely, and carried off half clad to a dungeon in the
+castle of Buren, by the order of his son, who superintended the
+abduction in person and then became duke regnant. For over six years
+the old man languished in prison, actually taunted, from time to time,
+it is said, by Duke Adolf himself.
+
+Indignant remonstrances against this conduct were heard from various
+quarters, and were all alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles
+of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring his father to his
+presence, and to submit the dispute to his arbitration. Charles was
+too near and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded, and his
+peremptory invitation was accepted. Pending the decision, the
+two dukes were forced to be guests in his court, under a strict
+surveillance which amounted to an arrest.
+
+The first suggestion made by Charles was for a compromise between
+father and son. "Let Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in
+Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair income, while
+to Adolf be ceded the full power of administration." The latter was
+emphatic in his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather would I
+prefer to see my father thrown into a well and to follow him thither
+than to agree to such terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty-four
+years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold thought it would be a
+simple feat to fight out the dispute. "I saw them both several times
+in the duke's apartment and in the council chamber when they pleaded,
+each his own cause. I saw the old man offer a gage of battle to his
+son."[1] The senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry. A
+trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly fashion of ending his
+differences with his importunate heir.
+
+No settlement was effected before the French expedition, but Charles
+was not disposed to let the matter slip from his control, and when
+he proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under restraint, were
+obliged to follow in his train. At a leisure moment Charles intended
+to force them to accept his arbitration as final. Before that moment
+arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs, Adolf, succeeded in
+eluding surveillance and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made his
+way successfully to Namur disguised as a Franciscan monk. Then, at
+the ferry, he gave a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The
+liberality, inconsistent with his assumed rôle, aroused suspicion and
+led to the detection of his rank and identity. He was stayed in his
+flight and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a decision on
+his case by his self-constituted judge. This was not pronounced until
+the summer of 1473.
+
+By that time, Charles was resolved on another course of action than
+that of adjusting a family dispute in the capacity of puissant,
+impartial, and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour towards his
+father had been extraordinarily brutal and outrageous. Public comment
+had been excited to a wide degree. It was not an affair to be dealt
+with lightly by Duke Charles. The young Duchess of Guelders was
+Catharine of Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy, and
+Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden Fleece. In consideration of
+these links of family and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that
+the case should be tried with all formality.
+
+[Illustration: ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS (FROM THE ENGRAVING BY
+PINSSIO, AFTER THE DRAWING BY J. ROBERT)]
+
+On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was held at Valenciennes,[2]
+and the knights were asked to pass upon the conduct of their
+delinquent fellow, who was permitted to present his own brief through
+an attorney, but was detained in his own person at Namur. The
+innocence or guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point of
+interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was concerned. The latter had
+made an excellent bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke of
+Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a document wherein he sold
+to Charles all his administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for
+ninety-two thousand florins,[3] in consideration of Arnold's enjoying
+a life interest in half of the revenue of his ancient duchy. That
+clause soon lost its significance. The old man's life ceased in March,
+1473, and, by virtue of the contract, Charles proposed to enter into
+full possession of his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he
+was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal, quite beyond the pale of
+society, but that Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose
+hereditary claims had also been ignored by his grandfather.
+
+Before the knights of the Order as a final court, were rehearsed all
+the circumstances of the old family quarrel and of the late commercial
+transaction. Their verdict was the one desired by their chief. It was
+proven to their entire satisfaction that Arnold's sale of the duchy of
+Guelders and Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the deed
+executed by him was a perfect and valid instrument, whereby Charles of
+Burgundy was duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of, and to exert
+authority in, his new duchy at his pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he
+was condemned by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment as
+punishment for his unfilial and unjustifiable cruelty towards Arnold,
+late Duke of Guelders.
+
+Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars, but the people of
+Guelders were by no means disposed to accept unquestioned this deed
+of transfer, made when the two parties to the conveyance were in
+very unequal conditions of freedom. In order to convince them of the
+justice of his pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as efficient
+as his army of the preceding summer, and fell upon Guelders. A truce,
+a triple compact with France and England, had recently been renewed,
+so that for the moment his hands were free from complications, an
+event commented upon by Sir John Paston, as follows:
+
+    "April 16, 1473, CANTERBURY.
+
+    "As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys about the xxvi
+    day off March last, betwyn the Duke of Burgoyn and the Frense
+    Kings inbassators and Master William Atclyff ffor the king heer,
+    whiche is a pese be londe and be water tyll the ffyrst daye off
+    Apryll nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland, and also the
+    Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever."
+
+The writer had recently been in Charles's court. Writing from Calais
+in February, he says:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that the Duke of
+    Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth well. I was with them on
+    Thorysdaye last past at Gaunt."[4]
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pretender to the vacated
+sovereignty of Guelders. The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to
+urge his cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At the sight
+of Burgundian puissance, however, he was ready to be convinced, and
+accepted 24,000 florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness of
+the accession. Several of the cities manifested opposition to Charles,
+but yielded one after another. In Nimwegen--long hostile to Duke
+Arnold--there was a determined effort to support little Charles of
+Guelders who, with his sister, was in that city. The child made a
+pretty show on his little pony, and there were many declarations of
+devotion to his cause as he was put forward to excite sympathy. For
+three weeks, the town held out in his name. The resistance to the
+Burgundian troops was sturdy. When the gates gave way before their
+attacks the burghers defended the broken walls. Six hundred English
+archers were repulsed from an assault with such sudden energy that
+they left their banners sticking in the very breaches they thought
+they had won, fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But the game
+was unequal, and the combatants, convinced that discretion was the
+better part of valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a
+mediator with their would-be sovereign.
+
+On July 19th, a long civic procession headed by the burgomasters,
+wearing neither hats nor shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a
+prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the opposition to his
+accession were delivered over to the mercy of the victor. The garrison
+were accorded their lives and a tax was imposed on the city to
+indemnify the duke for his needless trouble, and Guelders was added
+_de facto_ to the list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various
+state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the mention of the
+circumstance of his accession to the sovereignty was simple and
+straightforward, as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la
+Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the date of August 18th and
+was one of the earliest issued by Charles in this new capacity.
+
+    "As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his life Duke of
+    Guelderland, these counties and duchy have lapsed to me, and by
+    the same token the offices of the land have escheated to our
+    disposition, and among others the office of master of the moneys
+    of those countships ... using the rights, etc., escheated to me,
+    and in consideration of the good and agreeable services already
+    rendered and continually rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de
+    la Marche, having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity,
+    and good diligence--for these causes and others we entrust the
+    office of master and overseer of moneys of the land of Guelders
+    to him, with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereto
+    pertaining. In testimony of this we have set our seal to these
+    papers. Done in our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 1473. Thus signed
+    by M. le duc."
+
+On the back of this document was written:
+
+    "To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la Marche ... took
+    the oath of office of master and overseer of the land and duchy of
+    Guelders."[5]
+
+The charge of the ducal children, Charles and Philippa, was entrusted
+to the duke who, in his turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise
+their education. In a comparatively brief time agitation in behalf
+of the disinherited heir ceased, and imperial ratification alone was
+required to stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the Burgundian
+domains. Under the circumstances the minor heirs were the emperor's
+wards, and it was his express duty to look to their interests, but
+Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert himself as their
+champion. On the contrary, the embassy that arrived from his court on
+August 14th was charged with felicitations to his dear friend, Charles
+of Burgundy, for his acquisition, and with assurances that the
+requisite investiture into his dignities should be given by his
+imperial hand at the duke's pleasure.[6]
+
+Communication between Frederic and Charles had been intermittently
+frequent during the past three years, and one subject of their letters
+was probably a reason why Charles had been willing to abandon a losing
+game in France to give another bias to his thoughts. He was lured
+on by the bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite form
+indeed, but full of promise that he might be enabled, eventually, to
+confer with Louis XI. from a better vantage ground than his position
+as first peer of France. The story of these hopes now becomes the
+story of Charles of Burgundy.
+
+When Sigismund of Austria completed his mortgage, in 1469, at St.
+Omer, and returned home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to
+divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth into the empty imperial
+coffers. An alliance between Mary of Burgundy and the young Archduke
+Maximilian seemed to him the most advantageous matrimonial bargain
+possible for the emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with
+all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish in his offers to be
+mediator between him and his new friend Charles.
+
+Frederic was impressed by Sigismund's enthusiastic exposition of the
+advantages of the match, and little time elapsed before his ambassador
+brought formal proposals to Charles for the alliance. The duke
+received the advances complacently and returned propositions
+significant of his personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his
+instructions to certain envoys sent to the intermediary, Sigismund,
+are plain. In unequivocal terms, his daughter's hand is made
+contingent on his own election as King of the Romans, that shadowy
+royalty which veiled the approach to the imperial throne.
+
+    "_Item_--And in regard to the said marriage, the ambassadors shall
+    inform Monseigneur of Austria that, since his departure from
+    Hesdin, certain people have talked to Monseigneur about this
+    marriage and mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be
+    willing to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the government of
+    the Kingdom of the Romans, with the stipulation that Monseigneur,
+    _arrived at the empire by the good pleasure of the emperor_ or
+    by his death, would, in his turn, procure the said crown of the
+    Romans for his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire
+    will be continued in the person of the emperor's son and his
+    descendants.
+
+    "_Item_--They shall tell him about a meeting between the imperial
+    and ducal ambassadors, at which meeting there was some talk of
+    making a kingdom out of certain lands of Monseigneur and
+    joining these to an _imperial_ vicariate of all the lands and
+    principalities lying along the Rhine."
+
+In the following paragraphs of this instruction,[7] Charles directs
+his envoys to make it clear to Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund)
+that the duke's interest in the plan does not spring from avarice or
+ambition. He is purely actuated by a yearning to employ his time and
+his strength for God's service and for the defence of the Faith, while
+still in his prime.
+
+Should the emperor refuse to approve the duke's nomination as King of
+the Romans, the ambassadors are instructed to say that they are not
+empowered to proceed with the marriage negotiations without first
+referring to their chief. They must ask leave to return with their
+report. If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound the emperor
+again about his sentiments, the envoys might await the result of his
+investigations. He was to be assured that while Charles was resolved
+to hold back until he was fully satisfied on this point, if it were
+once ceded, he would interpose no further delay in the celebration of
+the nuptials. He must know, however, just what power and revenue the
+emperor would attach to the proposed title. He was not willing to
+accept it without emoluments. His present financial burdens were
+already heavy, etc. The concluding items of the instructions had
+reference to the marriage settlements.
+
+A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream at this stage of
+Burgundo-Austrian negotiations. The title that Charles desired
+primarily was King of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign
+power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing imperial dignity.
+Significant is the intimation that after this preliminary title was
+conferred, its wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside
+voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient as death in making
+room for his appointed successor.
+
+Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally that a life of
+meditation would suit his tastes better than the imperial throne, but
+he seems in no wise to have been tempted by the offer made by Charles
+to relieve him of his onerous duties, and then to pass on the office
+to his son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the opportunity to enjoy
+an irresponsible ease. His answer to the duke was that he did not
+exercise sufficient influence over his electors to ensure their
+accepting his nominee as successor to the _imperium_.
+
+There was, however, one honour that lay wholly within his gift. If
+Charles desired higher rank, the emperor would be quite willing to
+erect his territories into a realm and to create him monarch of
+his own agglomerated possessions, welded into a new unity. This
+proposition wounded Charles keenly. He assured Sigismund[8] (January
+15, 1471) that his nomination as King of the Romans would never have
+occurred to him spontaneously. He had been assured that it was a
+darling project of the emperor, and he had simply been willing
+to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own, he refused the
+proposition with actual disdain.
+
+Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of Burgundy appeared on
+the scene successively. To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine,
+grandson of old King René of Anjou, she was formally betrothed.[9]
+
+"My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very redoubtable seigneur
+and father, I promise you that, you being alive, I will take none
+other than you and I promise to take you when God permits it." So
+wrote Mary with her own hand on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December
+3d, she declared all such pledges revoked as though they never had
+been made, and Nicholas, too, formally renounced his pretensions to
+her hand.
+
+There were several moments when Charles of France had appeared to be
+very near acceptance as Mary's husband, and several other princes
+seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father found his daughter very
+valuable as a means of attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as
+Commines says, he was not anxious to introduce any son-in-law into his
+family. His fortieth year was only completed in 1473, and he was by no
+means ready to range himself as an ancestor.
+
+At successive times the negotiations between Charles and Frederic were
+ruptured only to be renewed on some slightly different basis. Threaded
+together they made a story fraught with interest for Louis XI., and
+one that, very probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up to August,
+1472, it is a safe inference that Philip de Commines was fully
+cognisant of the propositions and counter-propositions, the
+understandings and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as well
+as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian envoys that appeared
+at one Burgundian camp after another. Probably there was nothing more]
+valuable in the store of learning carried by the astute historian from
+his first patron to his second than all this fund of confidential
+miscellany.
+
+It seems a fair surmise that Louis XI. enjoyed immensely the
+delightful private view into his rival's dreams, the disappointments
+and rehabilitation of his shattered visions. The relation would have
+made him not only fully aware of the reasons why Charles was diverted
+from his hot pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly informed as to
+the great obstacles lying in the path which the duke hoped to travel.
+Naturally, the king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin was
+inevitable. If his rival were disposed to wreck himself rashly on
+German shoals, the king was equally disposed to be an acquiescent
+onlooker and to spare his own powder.
+
+On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of the extent of his loss
+of prestige within the French realm in 1472. There had been other
+periods when the king had appeared triumphant over his aspiring nobles
+only to be again checked by their alliance. In the radical change
+undergone by the feudatories after Guienne's death and Brittany's
+reconciliation, there was, however, no opening left for the Duke
+of Burgundy's re-entry as a French political leader. It was this
+definitive cessation of his importance that Charles failed to
+recognise. Confident that his star was rising in the east he did
+not note the significance of its setting in the west. Thereupon the
+situation was,--Charles, believing that his plans were his own
+secret, _versus_ Louis, fully advised of those plans and alert to all
+incidents of the past, present, and future in a fashion impossible to
+the duke in his absorbed contemplation of his own prospects, blocking
+the scope of his view.
+
+With the emperor's congratulations at the duke's accession to
+Guelders, and his offers to invest him with the title, were coupled
+intimations that it was an opportune moment to resume consideration of
+an alliance between the Archduke Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The
+duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf de Soulz and Peter
+von Hagenbach proceeded to the Burgundian and Austrian courts
+respectively, as confidential envoys to discuss the marriage.[10]
+
+Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than he had been to the
+last imperial messenger, the Abbé de Casanova, who had restricted his
+proposals to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's. The duke had no
+intention of permitting any conference to proceed on that line. He was
+explicit as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised by a gift of
+ten thousand florins, explained by the phrase, "because Monseigneur
+recognised the love and affection borne him by the said count." That
+was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices, and estates were
+conferred, to take effect on the day when Monseigneur was named King
+of the Romans.
+
+The instructions to Hagenbach were definite, covering the ground
+of those previously mentioned, issued in 1470. He was, however,
+especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the duke did not require
+his abdication. He would be content to step into the shoes naturally
+vacated by his death.
+
+The final suggestion resulting from these parleyings was that an
+interview between the two principals would be far more satisfactory
+than any further interchange of messages. It was not only a propitious
+time for a conference, but it was necessary. The ceremony of
+investiture of the duke into his latest acquired fief made it
+evidently imperative that he should visit the emperor. And to
+preparations for that event, Charles turned his attention, now
+absolutely confident that the outcome must be to his satisfaction. He
+had as little comprehension of the character of the man with whom he
+was to deal as he had of Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some
+difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near his own frontier.
+Metz was selected and abandoned on account of an epidemic. Finally
+Trèves was appointed for the important occasion, and Frederic sent
+official invitations to the princes of the empire to follow him
+thither in October.
+
+Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY C. LAPLANTE)]
+
+Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous, another event had occurred
+that had an important bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of
+Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir. He had been
+relinquished as a son-in-law, but the geographical position of his
+duchy made the question of its sovereignty all important to Charles of
+Burgundy. If it could be under his own control, how convenient for
+the passage of his troops from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for
+duchies like many another can grow by what it feeds upon.
+
+Prepared to set out for his journey to Trèves, Charles hastened his
+movements and proceeded to Metz with an escort so large that it had a
+formidable aspect to the city fathers. Whether they feared that their
+free city was too tempting a base for attack on Lorraine or not, the
+magistrates yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian thousands
+without their walls. The emperor, too, was on his way to Trèves. Many
+of his suite were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might be found for
+Charles and his immediate retainers, indeed, but the troops must make
+themselves as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So said the
+burgomaster, and Charles was forced to yield and he made a splendid
+entry into the town under the prescribed conditions.
+
+His own paraphernalia had been forwarded from Antwerp, so that
+there should be an abundance of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his
+temporary quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had been scoured to
+secure game for the banquets.
+
+It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a humour to be pleased.
+He was annoyed about his troops; very probably he had intended leaving
+a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine if occasion
+offered. He cut short his stay in the town and marched on with his
+imposing escort to Trèves, whence he hoped to march out again a
+greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy had ever been.[11]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, iv., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Hist. de l'Ordre,_ etc., p. 64. One of the places to be
+filled at this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower
+of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace of the
+ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated in the minutes of
+the session that Adolf of Guelders was asked to nominate candidates
+from his prison, but he would not do it. Striking is Charles's remark
+on the nomination of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that
+the Order was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very
+excellent, he judged it more _à propos_ to distribute the five empty
+collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was elected, as
+was also Engelbert of Nassau.
+
+Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules of the Order.
+There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard for taking a gift of 20,000
+crowns from Louis XI. Payable as it was in terms, it savoured of a
+pension. Had Henry van Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's
+landing in England? etc.
+
+Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the disposition of
+the scarlet mantles now discarded by the chevaliers. It was decided
+after deliberation that they should be sold and the proceeds applied
+to the purchase of tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the
+treasurer was deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this
+connection that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or
+rather abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order and
+the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best to defer this
+point until his return from his proposed journey to Guelders. Lengthy,
+too, were the discussions upon the exact usage in respect to wearing
+the collar and insignia of the Order.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The first sum named was three hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _The Paston Letters, iii., 79._.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Mémoires Couronnés_, xlix., 180.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the Duke
+of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to Nimwegen where the
+ambassador of the emperor visited him.]
+
+[Footnote 7: This instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the
+Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been referred to
+1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to conclude that it belongs
+rather to 1470. The question of the marriage comes in at the end of
+the paper, the first part being devoted to Swiss affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Lenglet, iii., 192.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Toutey, p. 44; Chmel, _Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3._]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey, p. 46.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES
+
+1473
+
+
+On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor Frederic made his entry into the
+old Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days later, the Duke of
+Burgundy arrived and was welcomed most pompously outside of Trèves, by
+his suzerain.
+
+After the first greetings, ensued an argument about the etiquette
+proper for the occasion, an argument similar to those which had
+absorbed the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when the dauphin
+made his famous visit to Duke Philip. For thirty minutes, the emperor
+argued with his guest before feudal scruples were overcome and the
+vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side into the city.
+
+The entry was a grand sight, and crowds thronged the streets, more
+curious about the duke than about the emperor. Charles was then in the
+very prime of life. His personality commanded attention, but there
+were some among the onlookers who found it more striking than
+attractive. One bystander thought that the very splendour of his
+dress, wherein cloth of gold and pearls played a part, only brought
+into high relief the severity of his features. His great black eyes,
+his proud and determined air failed to cast into oblivion a certain
+effect of insignificance given by his square figure, broad shoulders,
+excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed from continuous
+riding.[l]
+
+There is, however, another word portrait of the duke as he looked in
+the year 1473, whose trend is more sympathetic.[2] "His stature was
+small and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark chestnut, eyes black
+and brilliant, his presence majestic but stern. He was high-spirited,
+magnanimous, courageous, intrepid, and impetuous. Capable of action,
+he lacked nothing but prudence to attain success."
+
+From the two descriptions emerges a fairly clear picture of an
+energetic man, somewhat undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert
+his dignity in a fashion that did not quite comport with his physical
+characteristics. The conviction that he was a very important personage
+with greater importance awaiting him, and his total lack of a sense of
+humour, combined with his inability to feel the pulse of a situation,
+undoubtedly affected his bearing and made it seem more pompous.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD IDEALISED BY RUBENS. IN THE IMPERIAL
+GALLERY AT VIENNA BY PERMISSION OF J.J. LOWY, VIENNA]
+
+The emperor was not an heroic figure in appearance any more than he
+was in the records of his reign, distinguished for being the feeblest
+as well as the longest in the annals of the empire. He was indolent,
+timid, irresolute, and incapable. His features and manners were
+vulgar, his intellect sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies,
+he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding his imperial sceptre.
+At Trèves he was accompanied by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a
+fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready to be fascinated by
+his proposed father-in-law, who was a striking contrast to his own
+languid and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous love of action.
+
+As the two princes rode together into the city, Charles's
+accoutrements attracted all eyes. The polished steel of his armour
+shone like silver. Over it hung a short mantle actually embroidered
+with diamonds and other precious stones to the value of two hundred
+thousand gold crowns. His velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out
+of compliment to the emperor, was ornamented with a diamond whose
+price no man could tell. Before him walked a page carrying his helmet
+studded with gems, while his magnificent black steed was heavily
+weighted down with its rich caparisons.
+
+Frederic III., very simple in his ordinary dress, had exerted himself
+to appear well to his great vassal. His robe of cloth of gold
+was fine, though it may have looked something like a luxurious
+dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish fashion and bordered
+with pearls. The emperor was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the
+tradition, by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but innocent
+doors that chanced to impede his way.
+
+The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and silver, walked by the side
+of an Ottoman prince, prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity
+by the pope himself. And then there was a host of nobles, great and
+small. Among them were Engelbert of Nassau[3] and the representative
+of the House of Orange-Châlons, whose titles were destined to be
+united in one person within the next half-century.
+
+The magnificence remained unrivalled in the history of royal
+conferences. The very troopers wore habits of cloth of gold over their
+steel, while their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed with silver
+bells. Surpassing all others, were the heralds-at-arms of the various
+individual states which acknowledged Charles as their sovereign,
+seigneur, count, or duke as the case might be. They preceded their
+liege lord, clad in their distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with
+colour. Before them were the trumpeters in white and blue, their very
+instruments silvered, while first of all rode one hundred golden
+haired boys, "an angel throng."
+
+It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite etiquette of escort,
+that the emperor and duke agreed to separate on the fairly neutral
+ground of the market-place. Each proceeded with his own suite to his
+lodgings, Frederic to the archbishop's palace, and Charles to
+the abbey of St. Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years
+previously, the honorary title of "Protector." His army was quartered
+within and without the city. Two days for repose and then the first
+official interview took place, which is described as follows, by an
+unknown correspondent, evidently in the ducal suite:[4]
+
+    "Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur waited upon the emperor
+    and escorted him to his own lodging which is in the abbey of St.
+    Maximin. My said lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat.
+    The emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy, and his
+    son was in a robe of green damask. As to their people, both suites
+    were very brave, jewelry and cloth of gold being as common as
+    satin or taffeta. Monseigneur received the emperor in a little
+    chamber decorated with hangings from Holland that many recognised.
+
+    "The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his mouthpiece to describe
+    the stress of Christianity and to urge Charles to lend his
+    assistance. Having listened to this address, Monseigneur requested
+    the emperor to please come into a larger place where more people
+    could hear his answer. Accordingly they entered a hall decorated
+    with the tapestry of Alexander, while the very ceiling was covered
+    with cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a double row of
+    seats. Benches and steps were spread over with tapestry wrought
+    with my lord's arms. Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais
+    with difficulty.... Mons., the chancellor, clad in velvet over
+    velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a discourse in beautiful Latin
+    as a response to what had been said by the seigneur of Mayence.
+    Then, showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected by
+    the king, he began with an account of the king's reception by
+    Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evidently the late duke], in his
+    own residence, and he continued down to the present day, dilating
+    upon the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis]
+    received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extortions he had
+    made since and desires to make. Never a word was forgotten, but
+    all was well stated, especially the case of M. de Guienne.[5]
+    Finally, Monseigneur declared that if his lands were in security,
+    there was nothing he would like better than to give aid to
+    Christianity.
+
+    "After this statement, which was marvellously honest, the emperor
+    arose from the throne, wine and spices were brought, and then
+    Monseigneur escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand
+    display of torches. This is the outline of what happened on
+    October 4th, in the said year lxxiii. And as to the future, next
+    Thursday the emperor will dine where Monseigneur lodges, _et là
+    fera les grants du roy_,[6] and there will be novelties. In regard
+    to the fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very
+    fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human, and benign.
+    I do not know with whom to compare his figure better than
+    Monseigneur de Croy, as he was eight or ten years ago, except that
+    his flesh is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor has
+    seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the major part
+    of the nobles present come from this locality. In regard to
+    Monseigneur's departure, there is no news, and they make great
+    cheer--this is all for this time."
+
+    The German scholars in the imperial party listened most
+    attentively to the style of the Netherlander's speech as well as
+    to his subject-matter. "More abundant in vocabulary than elegant
+    in Latinity," was their comment, a fault they considered marking
+    all French Latin. The audience found time to note the style for
+    the subject of the address did not interest them greatly. The
+    least observant onlooker knew that the main purpose of this
+    interview was not the plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic
+    appointed a committee to discuss that, whose members, Burgundian
+    and German in equal numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern
+    question while emperor and duke were absorbed in other matters.[7]
+    In their very first session, this committee decided that the
+    chief obstacle to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgundian
+    quarrel. This point was also raised by Charles in his first
+    conference with Frederic. No campaign was feasible until the
+    European powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI. was aiding
+    and abetting the heathen by being a disturbing element which
+    rendered this desired unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a
+    fresh commission to discuss European peace. And this insolvable
+    problem was a convenient blind for other discussions.
+
+    On October 5th, a Burgundian fête gave new occasion for a display
+    of wealth; "vulgar ostentation," sneered the less opulent German
+    nobles who tried to show that their pride was not wounded by the
+    sharp contrasts between imperial habits and those of a mere duke.
+    On their side, the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to
+    waste good things on boors so little accustomed to elegantly
+    equipped apartments that they used silken bedspreads to polish up
+    their boots!
+
+    A running commentary of international criticism, fine feasts,
+    ostensible negotiations about projects that probably no one
+    expected would come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent
+    and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on one side, feebly
+    accepted by the other while the two principals were together, and
+    petulantly disliked by the emperor as soon as he was alone again
+    --such was the course of the conference.
+
+    Frederic III. had one simple desire--to marry his son to the
+    Burgundian heiress. Charles desired many things, some of which are
+    clear and others obscure. The very fact that the emperor did not
+    at once refuse his demands, gave him confidence that all were
+    obtainable. Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal chief
+    by a display of his resources, and by showing the high esteem in
+    which he was held by all nations. There at Trèves, embassies came
+    to him from England, from various Italian and German states, and
+    from Hungary.
+
+    On October 15th, a treaty was signed that made the new Duke of
+    Lorraine virtually a vassal to Charles, an important step towards
+    Burgundian expansion. There was time and to spare for these many
+    comings and goings during the eight weeks of the sojourn at
+    Trèves, and the duke was not idle. That his own business hung
+    fire, he thought was due to the machinations of Louis XI. He had
+    no desire to prolong his visit, for he was well aware of the
+    risk involved in keeping his troops in Trèves.[8] At first the
+    magnificence of his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but
+    little by little, in spite of the duke's strict discipline, the
+    presence of idle soldiers became very onerous. Charles did not
+    hesitate to hang on the nearest tree a man caught in an illicit
+    act, but much lawlessness passed without his knowledge. Provisions
+    became very dear; there was some danger of an epidemic due to the
+    unsanitary conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so many
+    strangers. The precautions instituted by the Roman founders in
+    regard to their water supply had long since fallen into disuse.
+
+    Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite answer from the
+    emperor as to the proposed kingdom, the matrimonial alliance, and
+    his own status. Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then
+    substituted vague promises for present assent to the demands. But
+    when Charles, indignant, broke off negotiations on October 31st,
+    and began to prepare for immediate departure, Frederic became
+    anxious, renewed his overtures, and a new conference took place,
+    in which he consented to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the
+    proviso the sanction of his election should be obtained.
+
+    Charles promised to go against the Turk in person, and to place
+    a thousand men at Frederic's disposal, so soon as all points at
+    issue between him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that
+    his estates were erected into a kingdom, which should also
+    comprise the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the
+    duchies of Lorraine, Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be
+    a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, and
+    transmissible by heredity in the male and female line--a necessary
+    recognition of a woman's right, approved by both parties, for Mary
+    of Burgundy was to marry Maximilian.
+
+    Electoral confirmation alone was wanting, and in regard to that
+    there was much voluminous correspondence and much shuffling of
+    responsibility. The electors of Mayence and of Trèves were the
+    only ones present to speak for themselves, and they declared
+    that the matter ought to be referred to a full conclave of the
+    electoral college.[9] Let the candidate for royalty await the
+    decision of the next diet, appointed for November at Augsburg.
+
+    Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed this solution to
+    Charles, who replied haughtily that if his request were not
+    complied with he would join Louis XI. in a league hostile to the
+    empire. This was on November 6th. The Archbishop of Trèves then
+    suggested that if the question could not wait for a diet, at
+    least the electors should be summoned, especially the elector of
+    Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential with the emperor, and
+    who was a leader in the anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German
+    party. This seemed fair, but the emperor suddenly put on a show of
+    authority and declared, with an injured air, that he was perfectly
+    free to act on his own initiative without confirmation. In the
+    interests of Christianity and of the empire he would appoint
+    Charles of Burgundy chief of the crusade, and he would crown him
+    king.
+
+    The organised opposition to his plan came to the duke's ears and
+    made him very angry. Yet, at the same time, he had no desire
+    to dispense with electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the
+    imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure his kingdom into
+    permanent existence. It was finally decided that Frederic III.
+    should display his power to the extent of investing Charles
+    at once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more important
+    investiture should be postponed.
+
+    Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the market-place.
+    Frederic was exalted upon a high platform ascended by a flight
+    of steps. Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded and
+    unattended, rode slowly around the platform three times, "which
+    they say was the custom in such solemnities of investiture," adds
+    an eyewitness,[10] as though he considered the ceremony somewhat
+    archaic. Then the candidate dismounted, received the mantle of the
+    empire from an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the
+    emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying the insignia of
+    the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered on the Burgundian arms, was
+    carried before him. Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid
+    two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the oath of fealty and
+    service in low but distinct tones. Other rites followed, and then
+    Charles was proclaimed Duke of Guelders.
+
+    [Illustration: MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA, MEDAL]
+
+    Thus one object of the conference was attained, and all the
+    world thought it was only a question of time when the greater
+    investiture would be celebrated. Charles's star was in the
+    ascendant. There seemed no limit to the power he had acquired
+    over his suzerain, who apparently graciously nodded assent to his
+    requests, while the duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with
+    the King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory in all doubtful
+    issues. At the same time, his confidence in Frederic was by no
+    means perfect.
+
+    "The emperor is acting with perfect imperial authority and thinks
+    that no one has a right to dispute it, nevertheless the duke
+    yearns for the sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining
+    it."[11] The tone taken by Charles was that of humble ignorance.
+    "Little instructed as I am in imperial German law, I am anxious to
+    have your opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to erect a
+    kingdom." On November 8th, in the evening, the electors present in
+    Trèves declared that they were not exactly sure about the imperial
+    authority, but they were sure that it was not their duty to
+    discuss the legal attributes of imperial puissance.
+
+    Under these circumstances what remained to hinder the attainment
+    of Charles's desire? The emperor consented, and the only people
+    who could have stayed his consent expressly stated that his was
+    the final word, not theirs. It was easy for onlookers to conclude
+    not only that the coronation was certain but that it was done.
+
+    "Know that our lord the emperor has made the Duke of Burgundy a
+    king of the lands hereafter mentioned and has assured the royal
+    title to him and his heirs, male and female; all the territories
+    that he holds from the empire together with Guelderland lately
+    conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to the empire
+    in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy that formerly was held from
+    the crown of France; also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen,
+    and others belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories,
+    also imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he
+    receives from a Roman emperor."
+
+So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November 13th, trusting to the
+word of an envoy who had left matters in so advanced a state when he
+departed from Trèves that he felt safe in concluding that achievement
+had been reached.[12]
+
+Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too, were filled with
+rumours from Trèves. Most extraordinary is one of November 29th,
+intended to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, containing _exact
+details of the coronation of Charles as it had taken place five days
+previously_. The boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.[13]
+Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had instantly shown
+exceptional honour to the Burgundian resident. How exact it all
+sounded! Yet there was no truth in it.
+
+The vacillating emperor was affected by the attitude of his suite, and
+by their varying representations. There is no actual proof of French
+interference, but French agents had been seen in the city, and might
+have had private audiences with the emperor. Gradually, relations
+changed between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud, not
+dissipated by a three days' fête given by the duke (November
+19th-22d), evidently in farewell. Was Charles too exigeant with his
+demands, too chary of his daughter? Probably.
+
+On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty a simple convention
+was signed, postponing the coronation until February. Emperor and
+regal candidate were to meet again at Besançon, Cologne, or Basel. In
+the interval, Charles was to come to a satisfactory understanding with
+the electors and obtain their official endorsement for the imperial
+grant.
+
+November 25th was appointed, _not_ for the regal investiture, but for
+Frederic's departure. On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to
+his councillors and princes. The electors present were urged by the
+Burgundians to give their own conditional approval at least, and to
+consent to a reduction of the military obligations to be incurred
+by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where nobody wished to pledge
+anything definitely. There was an evident disposition to await some
+further issue before final action.
+
+The leave-taking between the bargain makers was expected to be as
+pompous as had been the entry into Trèves. It was far into the night
+of November 24th when the audience broke up. Little rest was there for
+the imperial suite, for when the tardy November sun arose above the
+eastern horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the Moselle. Not
+only had no imperial adieux been uttered, but no imperial debts had
+been settled. This was the news that was awaiting Charles when he
+awoke. Baffled he was, but not in his hope of being a king that day.
+No, only in his expectation of a stately pageant.[14] In all haste he
+sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly along the bank than the
+boat could sail, so as to overtake the traveller and urge him to wait
+for a few more words on divers topics. In one account it is reported
+that Frederic, though annoyed at the interruption, still assented to
+Hagenbach's request. No sooner was the latter away, however, than he
+changed his mind and continued his course.
+
+Rumour was busy, in regard to this strange exit of the emperor from
+the scene. The general belief among contemporaries was that it was on
+the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic turned his back on
+the scene. Take first the words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that
+he was in the very midst of the events can hardly be doubted:[15]
+
+    "But alas how easily and instantly human desires change, and how
+    fragile are the alliances and friendships of men, especially of
+    princes, which are not joined and confirmed by the glue of Christ
+    ... as the sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes
+    nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.' Suddenly,
+    forsooth, when they were thought to be harmonious in charity,
+    benevolence, and friendship, when they offered each other such
+    splendid entertainment, when they feasted together in regal luxury
+    in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has been said,
+    needed for the magnificence of such a great honour were made
+    ready and prepared, so that on the third day should occur the
+    celebration of that regal dignity _[fastigii],_ and the
+    _[provectio]_ promotion of a new king and the erection of a new
+    kingdom or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one,
+    now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with great
+    attention;--something occurred. I do not know what; hesitation or
+    suspicion, fancied or justified, unexpectedly affected the emperor
+    ... and embarking on his ship in the very early morning he sailed
+    down the river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated the
+    hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who believed that
+    he was to be elevated to a king. In a moment this hope was
+    extinguished like a candle.
+
+    "We were present there in the city of Trèves, attached to the
+    suite of neither prince, not serving or pretending to serve either
+    of them. But we ascertained nothing either then or later, although
+    we made many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure
+    and we are still ignorant of the truth. When the day broke after
+    the emperor's departure, and the duke was informed of the fact, he
+    was also assured that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was
+    opposite the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs. So he
+    sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to stay for a very
+    brief interview with the duke, assuring him that the very least
+    delay possible should occur if he did the favour. But no attention
+    was paid to the signals from the shore and the course was
+    continued."
+
+The bishop wrote these words some time after the event. There are
+other accounts preserved, actual letters written within a few days or
+weeks of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar ignorance of what
+had actually passed. The following gives several suggestions of
+difficulties not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar Cesner,
+secretary, writes to Master Johannes Gelthauss and others in
+Frankfort, from Cologne, on December 6th.[16] He was attached to
+the imperial service, and possibly was one of the few attendants on
+Frederic in the hasty journey from Trèves. After touching on Cologne
+affairs he proceeds:
+
+    "I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of Burgundy came
+    with all pomp for his coronation as king of the kingdom of
+    Burgundy and Friesland with twenty-six standards besides a
+    magnificent sceptre and crown. He also wished to take his duchy
+    and territories in Savoy[17] and Guelders and others in fief from
+    him [the emperor] and not from the empire.[18] This and other
+    extraordinary demands his imperial grace did not wish to grant,
+    and on that account he has broken off the interview and gone away.
+    Everything was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the
+    taking.[19] It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix. It may be
+    hoped not [_non speratur_]. You can understand me as well as your
+    faithful servant.
+
+    "Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh at me. I can
+    please my gracious lord and be worthy of praise if you will only
+    trust me.
+
+    "Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.
+
+    "To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss, Distinguished
+    advocate, master, preceptor of the city of Frankfort."
+
+The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:
+
+    "Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the second, Holland,
+    Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg, Namur, Hainaut, and the
+    dioceses of Liege, Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy,
+    Luxemburg, Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."
+
+The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed in secret
+conference.[20]
+
+Again the rumour that the final straw that broke the emperor's
+resolution was the duke's desire to take Savoy and Guelders from
+his hand alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this wish might
+indicate an attempt to separate a portion of territory from the empire
+in a way to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that his kingdom
+was an imperial fief, while, in reality, it was an independent realm,
+as he or his successors could declare at a convenient moment. But this
+seems at variance with his attested desire for electoral support.
+
+It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled. Yet, considering
+the emperor's personal characteristics, his last action does not
+seem inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity of his will,
+Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic, obstinate, yet conscious of his
+own weakness, personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate and
+much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant. The collision made him
+writhe uneasily and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as quietly
+as he could.
+
+The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent, and the
+magnificence again was significant of Burgundian wealth. Whether the
+duke would surely keep his pledge of sharing that wealth with the
+archduke if the emperor went so far that he could not draw back, was a
+consideration that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic. Had Mary of
+Burgundy accompanied her father, had the wedding of the daughter and
+investiture of the new king been planned for the same day, had the
+promises been exchanged simultaneously, the leave-taking might have
+passed, indeed, as a third ceremonial in all stateliness.
+
+If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain, it is not surprising.
+It was notorious how the duke had played fast and loose with his
+daughter's hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor as the
+greater advantages of another alliance were presented to him, or as
+the mere disadvantage of any marriage at all became unpleasantly near.
+Vigorous man of forty that he was, Charles had no personal desire to
+see a son-in-law, _in propria persona_, waiting for his shoes--a fact
+perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the rest of the world.
+
+The task of making the imperial adieux was entrusted to the imperial
+chamberlain, Ulrich von Montfort, who duly presented his master's
+formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of November 25th.
+"Important and urgent affairs had necessitated his presence elsewhere.
+The arrangement discussed between them was not broken but simply
+postponed until a more convenient occasion rendered its execution
+possible," etc.
+
+The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles was in a towering rage on
+receiving this communication. He clinched his fists, ground his teeth,
+and kicked the furniture about the room in which he had locked himself
+up.[21] But by the time these words were penned, these authors
+were better informed than Charles about the ultimate result of the
+emperor's intentions. The duke may have been angry, but he certainly
+controlled himself sufficiently to give several audiences in the
+course of the day--to envoys from Lorraine among others--and was ready
+to take his own departure by evening, not doubting that the crown and
+sceptre, carefully packed with the mountain of his valuable treasure,
+would assuredly fulfil their destiny in the near future. Trèves was
+left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last man to realise
+that in its silence were entombed for ever his chances of wearing the
+prematurely prepared insignia.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: This comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is
+quoted by De Bussière in his _Histoire de la Ligue contre Charles le
+Téméraire_, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that this contemporary
+had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Guillaume Faret or Farrel. His _Hist. de René II._ is
+lost. This citation from it is found in _La Guerre de René II. contre
+Charles le Hardi_, by P. Aubert Roland.]
+
+[Footnote 3: He had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the
+May meeting. From this time on some member of the Nassau family was
+prominent in Burgundian affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Gachard, _Doc. inédits_, i., 232. Letter from Trèves,
+October 4, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 5: About this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to
+unravel the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the chancellor
+of Brittany, _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 190.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gachard could not explain this phrase. It might easily
+refer to the desired investiture.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, _Mon. Habs_., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey bases this statement on three letters (October
+30, 31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector of
+Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Basin, _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI._, ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had been
+new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many times between the
+chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]
+
+[Footnote 11: Albert of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller,
+_Reichstag Theatrum_, p. 598.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 57.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Toutey, p. 60, note.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In this account, differing from the current
+tradition, Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (_Deutsche
+Reichsgeschichte,_ ii., 435).]
+
+[Footnote 15: Basin, ii., 325.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Preserved in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr.
+5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published by
+Karl Schellhass in _Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtewissenschaft,_
+(1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture of German and
+Latin.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Charles asked on October 23d, through his chancellor,
+for investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Under this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had
+lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]
+
+[Footnote 19: This means the throne from which Charles was to step
+down to receive the fief.]
+
+[Footnote 20: "Loquitur etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiæ et Burgundiæ
+sibi constituendes quæ audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam negare
+imperator quam dissimulare.
+
+"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones suas velle
+in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiæ et Frisiæ: in hoc Hollandia,
+Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum, Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses
+Leodiensis, Cameracensis et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum,
+Arthesia, Flandria, ecclesæque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis
+Verdunensis essent." (P. 1131.)
+
+Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that his
+statement is tradition but founded on what he might have heard from
+eye-witnesses.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chmel, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+1473-1474
+
+
+Late as it was in November, the weather was still very mild, and as
+the emperor and duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the
+former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter as he passed up
+the valley of the Moselle to that of the Ell, was hindered by autumn
+storms. The summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented heat and
+a prolonged drouth.[1] Forest fires raged unchecked on account of the
+dearth of water and, for the same reason, the mills stood still.
+The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, but the vintage was not
+profitable because the wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains
+in September prepared the ground for an untimely fertility. Trees
+blossomed and, though some fruits withered prematurely, cherries
+actually ripened. Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance
+as Charles rode to Lorraine.
+
+His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, where he stayed about
+a fortnight and received ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice,
+England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate, and Cologne.[2]
+The result of his conference with the last named was a declaration
+on the duke's part which seriously affected his later career. The
+condition of Cologne must be touched on as an essential part of this
+narrative.
+
+The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to pursue a line of policy in
+regard to the ecclesiastical elections in the diocese of Cologne that
+had succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463, he had tried to force
+the chapter to elect his candidate. They had refused to follow
+his leading, but their own choice, Robert, brother of the
+elector-palatine, did not prove a congenial chief, and the new prelate
+turned to Philip for aid when he found his chapter disposed to
+restrict both his revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in 1467,
+as the audacity of his opponents increased, the archbishop appealed to
+his brother, the elector, and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter
+was busy in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to Cologne,
+exhorting both chapter and city to be obedient to their chosen
+spiritual and lay lord. This intervention was resented. The breach
+widened between Robert and his people, culminating in actual
+hostilities. The chapter took possession of the town of Neuss,
+accepted Hermann of Hesse as their protector, and sent an embassy to
+Rome to state their grievances. The elector aided his brother and the
+belligerent parties grew in strength.
+
+The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided which cause to
+espouse, and finally chose the chapter's side, signing a five years'
+alliance with that body, which had officially renounced allegiance to
+Robert, pending the judgment of pope and emperor on the dissension.
+Such was the state of affairs when Charles entered into possession of
+Guelders and manifested a disposition to interest himself in Cologne.
+He informed the chapter that he was greatly displeased with their
+contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral," but the burghers showed
+so little inclination to heed his neighbourly advice that he tried
+harsher measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be molested in his
+domains.
+
+In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the hopes of imperial
+intervention.[3] While Charles was still in Guelders, Robert paid
+him a visit, held long conferences with him, and probably received
+promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance when he
+returned from the interview. During the sojourn of duke and emperor at
+Trèves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone, arrived from Rome
+with plenary powers to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were
+endorsed by Charles in a letter from Trèves.
+
+For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to refrain from interference,
+then something influenced him in another direction. When he arrived
+at Cologne in November, he received a warm welcome and costly gifts,
+which he repaid by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good
+city,"--cheap and easy benefits,--but he did not prove an efficient
+arbitrator, simply postponing any decision from day to day, though he
+was begged to settle all difficulties before Charles should attempt to
+relieve him of the trouble.
+
+True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he no longer felt the need
+of conciliating the emperor, and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473,
+he issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert was entirely in
+the right, his opponents in the wrong.[4] As these latter defied papal
+legate and arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of dispute,
+he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute himself defender of the
+insulted archbishop. At the same time, he despatched Ètienne de Lavin
+to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels. The declaration
+emboldened Robert to defy the emperor's summons to meet him and the
+papal legate. They both declared that they would take measures to
+bring him to obedience, but Frederic did not wish to tarry longer at
+Cologne. In January he took his departure, having directed Hermann of
+Hesse to protect that see against all aggression.
+
+Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto, there was no
+formal treaty between Charles and Robert, but there are two drafts for
+such a treaty in existence,[5] wherein the former pledged himself to
+force chapter, nobles, and city to submission, in consideration of the
+sum of 200,000 florins, while the archbishop gave permission to his
+ally to garrison all strongholds, including Cologne. Pending his
+autumn sojourn in the upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans
+regarding Cologne definitely in mind.
+
+
+
+_Lorraine_
+
+This duchy was even more interesting to Charles than Cologne, and
+there were many matters in its regard which demanded his urgent
+attention in 1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and conveniently
+adjacent to Burgundian lands. A natural means of annexation had been
+considered by Charles in the proposed marriage between Nicholas, Duke
+of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. When that project was abandoned to
+suit Charles's pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
+son-in-law until the latter's death in the spring of 1473. So
+unexpected was this event, that there was the usual suspicion of
+poisoning, and this crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
+XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly that monarch reaped
+no immediate advantage from the death, for the family to whom the
+succession passed was more friendly to Burgundy than to France.
+
+The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt Yolande of Anjou,
+daughter of old King René of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate
+Margaret, late Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of Vaudemont.
+The council of Lorraine lost no time in acknowledging Yolande as their
+duchess. She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her son René, aged
+twenty-two, where they were received hospitably, and then Yolande
+formally abdicated in favour of the young man, who was duly accepted
+as Duke of Lorraine.
+
+Now there was a large party of Burgundian sympathisers in Nancy, and
+it was probably owing to their pressure that very strong links were at
+once forged between Charles and the new sovereign of the duchy. The
+apprehension lest the former should protect the land as he had the
+heritage of his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was expressed by
+the timorous, but their counsels were overweighted, and, on October
+15th, René accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable to
+Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"--an office that the
+emperor had already been asked to change into suzerainty,--René
+cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Charles, giving
+the latter full permission to march his forces across Lorraine.
+Further, he pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
+places on the route "men bound by oath to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes,
+more, these were discharged from fidelity to Renè in case he abandoned
+Burgundian interests.
+
+Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles by adding her signature
+to that of her son. Charles feared, however, that the provisions
+might not be adhered to by the Lorrainers--so humiliating were the
+terms--and exacted in addition the signatures of the chief nobles. On
+November 18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested their
+approval of an act that practically delivered their land to a
+stranger,--evidence that they doubted the ability of their hereditary
+chief, and preferred Burgundy to France.
+
+There is a story that Charles tried other methods than diplomacy,
+before he got the better of the young duke in this bargain, that he
+actually had him stolen away from the castle of Joinville where he was
+staying with his mother.[6] Louis promptly came forward and arrested a
+nephew of the emperor, a student in the University of Paris, and kept
+him as a hostage until the release of René. Rumour, too, asserts that
+there was a treaty of Joinville, wherein René asserted his friendship
+with Louis, which was intermitted by his relations with Charles, to be
+resumed later. That also seems to be improbable. The formal alliance
+with Louis did not come then, though the king took immediate care
+to build up a party in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself
+informed of the progress of the new regime.
+
+From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to Nancy, where he was welcomed
+by his protégé, outside the city walls, and the two rode in together
+as the duke and the emperor had entered Trèves. Charles had been so
+long keeping up a show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that,
+undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first personage.[7] He
+refused, however, to accept the young man's hospitality, and spent the
+two days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie, where
+he felt more at ease in his conferences with Lorrainers willing to
+proceed further to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.
+
+The ally certainly became more exigeant. In various towns on the
+Moselle, Épinal, Charmes, Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were
+replaced by Burgundians. This immediate and arrogant use of the rights
+he had wrested from the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had been
+warm for Burgundy. René himself admired Charles as Maximilian had
+done. The strong man exercised a fascination over both youths, but
+the duke did not turn this admiration into real friendship,
+underestimating the character of his protégé. His measures, too, were
+taken without the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison
+after garrison was installed and commanded to obey his officers alone,
+while the soldiers were allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent
+to raids on a friendly country. As always, the agglomeration of
+mercenary companies was difficult to control. The duke did not succeed
+in having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in due restraint.
+Complaints began to pour into his headquarters. Public sentiment
+shifted day by day. The Burgundian became the personification of a
+public foe. Before Charles proceeded on his way to Alsace, René had
+begun to lose his admiration and it was not long before he impatiently
+awaited an opportunity to break with his too doughty protector.
+
+
+
+_Alsace_
+
+During the four years that Charles had delayed in coming to look at
+the result of the bargain of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant,
+Peter von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason to regret
+the easy-going absentee Austrian seigneurs. Much had been done,
+undoubtedly, in restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons. The
+roads were well policed, and safety was assured to travellers. "I
+spy," was the motto blazoned on the livery of the forces led by
+Hagenbach up and down the land, until he had unearthed lurking
+vagabonds. It was acknowledged that gold and silver could be carried
+openly from place to place, and that night journeys were as safe as
+day. Still, this advantageous change had not won popularity for the
+man who wrought it. Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to
+make their own little bargains with highwaymen or petty nobles,[8] a
+law unto themselves, than to meet the rigorous requisitions of the
+Burgundian tax collector.
+
+It was the country that had profited most by the new administration.
+The small towns had long enjoyed great independence, and had shown
+ability in managing their own affairs. They wanted no interference.
+Not liked by those whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was
+absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron hand, without
+acknowledging that its pressure had more good than evil in it.
+
+Then there were the neighbours to be considered. The Swiss had hated
+Sigismund and all Austrians, and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy
+as a power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took no pains to win their
+friendship. His insolent fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or
+"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked if not condoned by
+him, aroused bitter dislike to him in the confederated cantons,[9] and
+in their allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there was a growing
+sentiment in Helvetia that they would be happier if Austria had her
+own again, while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone had
+greatly increased.
+
+Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the opposition to his
+measures took a definite form long before the duke's arrival there.
+The various commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the quality of
+his bargain had all agreed in an urgent recommendation to the duke to
+redeem, at the earliest possible moment, all the troublesome mortgages
+honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach, too, was fully convinced of the
+necessity for this measure, but he was not provided with sufficient
+money to accomplish it.
+
+In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to lay a new tax on
+wine. This impost, called the "Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for
+two reasons. The burden was oppressive to the vintners and it was an
+illegal measure, as no sanction had been given by the local estates.
+Three towns, Thann, Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were
+determined to refuse payment.
+
+Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg, a stronghold dominating
+Thann, bombarded the town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were
+condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous rebellion against the
+just orders of their lawful governor. Some of these, indeed, were
+pardoned, though their estates were confiscated, but five or six
+were publicly executed, and their bodies hung exposed to view on the
+market-place, as a hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting
+Burgundian orders.
+
+One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim submissive, but Brisac
+proved more obstinate. The magistrates there did not resort to force.
+They declared there was no need, for they were fully protected by the
+article in the treaty of St. Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition
+of any tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined refusal made
+the lieutenant consent to refer the question to the Duke of Burgundy,
+and messengers were despatched to Trèves to represent the respective
+grievances of governor and governed. The collection of the tax was
+postponed until Charles could examine the situation.
+
+A determined effort to bring the independent town of Mulhouse under
+Burgundian sway was another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white
+heat that forged organised resistance to any extension of Burgundian
+authority. For three years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince the
+burghers of that imperial city that they would be wise to accept the
+duke's protection and have their debts paid. The latter were, indeed,
+oppressive, but there was fear lest "protection" might be more so, and
+conference after conference failed to produce the acquiescence desired
+by Hagenbach.
+
+In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared that if the
+burghers persisted in their refusal he would resort to force. Their
+reply was that Mulhouse could not take such an important step without
+consulting her friends, the Swiss. "Are the cantons going to help you
+pay your debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach. "Mulhouse is
+a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant that must be extirpated. Its
+submission would make a charming pleasure ground out of the Sundgau,
+Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew no city which he would prefer to
+Mulhouse for a sojourn," were his further statements.[10]
+
+Two days were given to the town council for an answer. Hagenbach
+remarked that it was useless to think that time could be gained until
+the mortgaged territories should return to Austria. "Far from planning
+redemption, Duke Sigismund is now preparing to cede to _Charles le
+téméraire_ as much again of his domain and vassals." Still Mulhouse
+was not convinced that the only course open to her was to let Charles
+pay her debts and receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming in the
+two days, but ready scribes had prepared many copies of Hagenbach's
+letter, which were sent to all who might be interested in checking
+these proposals of Burgundy.
+
+On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne and there the
+matter was weighed. Hagenbach's letter was shown to those who had
+not seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from her dilemma were
+carefully considered. Years ago a union had existed between the forest
+cantons and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions to renew
+this alliance so as to present a strong front to their Burgundian
+neighbour. The cantons had enough to do with their own affairs, but
+the result of the discussion was that, on March 14th, a ten-year
+Alsatian confederation was formed in imitation of the Swiss.
+
+The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse, Schlestadt, and two
+dioceses, and it is referred to as the _Basse-Union_ or the Lower
+Union, the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights of the
+contracting parties, to meet for discussion on various questions, and,
+specifically, to help Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, March
+19th, there was a fresh proposition to make an alliance between
+this _Basse-Union_ and the Swiss confederation. This required a
+_referendum_. Each Swiss delegate received a copy of the articles to
+take back to his constituents for their consideration. No bond between
+the confederation and the union was, however, in existence at the time
+when Charles was approaching Alsace. Various conciliatory measures
+on his part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition to him, but,
+nevertheless, there were frequent conferences about affairs. Diets
+were almost continuous and there were strenuous efforts to raise money
+to free Mulhouse from her hampering financial embarrassments.
+
+Hagenbach had not followed up his threats of immediate war measures,
+but it was known that he had obtained imperial authorisation to
+assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step which her allies hoped to
+forestall by settling her debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six
+hundred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, Basel four hundred,
+while Colmar, Schlestadt, Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to
+raise another four hundred. A diet was called at Basel for December
+11th, and Zürich and Lucerne were expected to enter into the union.
+The tidings of the duke's approach were undoubtedly a stimulus to
+these renewed efforts to make the league strong enough to withstand
+him. The sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May God protect us
+from his mighty hand," voiced probably a wide-spread dread.
+
+When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was large enough to
+inspire fear, but there was no opposition to his advance, though
+consultations, now at one city, now at another, were frequent. The
+duke paid little heed to their deliberations, under-estimating their
+importance, while he was gracious to any words of welcome offered to
+him. Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at Châtenois, and so
+did Colmar. The latter town expressed her willingness to receive him
+and an escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her refusal to
+admit a larger force within her walls. By this precaution, Charles was
+baffled in his plot to gain possession of the town, and so passed on
+his way.
+
+On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal entry into Brisac, where
+a temporary court was established, and where audience was given to
+various embassies with the customary Burgundian pomp. Meanwhile the
+troops, forced to camp without the walls, were a burden to the land,
+and seem to have been more odious than usual to their unwilling hosts.
+
+The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their knees and had their
+hopes raised high by their suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they
+failed to obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty of St. Omer
+should be observed in all respects. Among the envoys were many who
+undertook to remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition
+of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and the over-severity of
+Hagenbach's administration. The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged,
+notably by Berne. The representations of these last envoys were
+received most courteously. The duke rather thought that the city could
+be detached from the league, and therefore gave himself some trouble
+to establish friendly relations.
+
+To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory. He wrote a pleasant
+letter to the town and despatched a councillor thither, who would, he
+assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction. But an abortive
+_coup d'état_ on the part of the Burgundians, which would have given
+them possession of Basel, destroyed the effect of these reassuring
+phrases. The burghers were warned in time, looked to their defences,
+and banished from their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian
+sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully scrutinised before he was
+admitted within the walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The
+propriety of these precautions was soon proven.
+
+Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the official capital of the
+landgraviate. Thither marched his troops from every quarter. Those
+from Säckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found their shortest route over
+the bridge at Basel, and there they appeared and begged to be allowed
+to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the least foothold on the
+city's territory was sternly refused then and a week later, when the
+request was renewed. The method of introducing friendly troops into a
+town and then seizing it by a sudden _coup de main_ was what Charles
+had been suspected of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and
+there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of this rather stupid
+stratagem was planned, only to fail again, and this time to be
+peculiarly disastrous in its reflex action.
+
+The review took place and the strength of the Burgundian mercenaries
+was duly displayed to the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances
+were given to Brisac and the other towns that their suzerain
+would restrict his measures of taxation and administration to the
+stipulations of the contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when
+Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all that he had _not_
+restricted the powers of his lieutenant in any respect, but rather had
+endorsed his general method of procedure.
+
+One night was spent at Thann[11] and then the duke took his leave of
+the annexed region whose people had hoped so much from his visit to
+them. In mid-January he arrived at Besançon, his winter journeying
+being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly mild weather.
+
+Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the levying of the impost now
+approved by the duke, who had at the same time expressly ordered that
+the people were to be treated mildly, and that summary punishment
+was to check all excesses on the part of the eight hundred Picards
+employed by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector. The governor, however,
+saw no further need for gentle treatment or for respect to privileges.
+In Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set aside, and
+officers appointed by the governor. The corporation was curtailed
+of power, and the burghers were forced to prepare to march against
+Mulhouse.
+
+Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction, Hagenbach
+proceeded to give himself some relaxation. His own marriage took place
+on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion with great fêtes. It
+is of this period in Hagenbach's life that the stories of gross excess
+are told.[12] It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint
+towards the city, his personal passions, too, were permitted to run
+riot, and he spared no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.
+
+As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad Penny" on the little
+independent landowners, he tried to extend it to the territory of the
+Bishop of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which was reported to the
+duke, who promptly ordered his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he
+had taken and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not ready to
+meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer an issue, but he was wholly
+ignorant of the real strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then
+proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and waited for further
+action.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: De Roye, p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 2: He also issued administrative orders. It was at this time
+that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of accounts
+at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland provinces.
+This measure was bitterly resented by the local authorities.
+(Fredericq. _Le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_, p.
+183.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey,
+p. 64.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: Toutey, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]
+
+[Footnote 5:_See_ Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet,
+_Urkunden_, iv., 468, 470.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
+Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (_See_ Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, ii.,
+271.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: Toutey's suggestion.]
+
+[Footnote 8: All sons inherited their father's title, so that there
+were many landless lords.]
+
+[Footnote 9: At this period there were eight in the confederation,
+which was a loose structure in which each member preserved her
+individuality.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _See_ Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the _Cartulaire de
+Mulhouse_, iv., _et passim_. This last furnishes the details for these
+passages.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There
+are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. The
+duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) does not agree
+with that of Knebel and others. But the facts of the narrative are
+little affected by the variations. The following is the itinerary
+accepted by Toutey:
+
+Dep. from Ensisheim                    Jan.  8
+Stay at Thann                           "    9-10
+Dep. from Belfort                       "   11
+Besançon                                "   17
+Auxonne, slept                          "   18
+Dijon, a                                "   23
+Dijon, d                               Feb.  19, 1474
+Auxonne, slept                          "   20
+Dôle                                    "  21-March 8
+(Invested with the Franche Comté of Burgundy.)
+Besançon                              March 12 or 15
+Vesoul and Luxeuil                    March   23-28
+Lorraine                                "     28
+Luxemburg                              Apr.  4-June 9
+Easter fêtes                            "   10
+Fête of the Order of the Garter         "   23
+Brussels                               June 27]
+
+[Footnote 12: Kirk considers that they are well founded and too
+indecent to repeat.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+1474-1475
+
+
+"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious in his apparel,
+travelling in the greatness of his strength?" These words in Latin,
+on scrolls fluttering from the hands of living angels, met the eyes
+of Charles of Burgundy at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the
+confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle flattery of the
+implied comparison between him and the subject of the words of the
+prophet.[1]
+
+The traveller had slept at Périgny, about a league from the capital
+of Burgundy, so as to make the last stage of his journey thither in
+leisurely state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday, January 22d, the
+appointed day, made postponement of the ducal parade necessary, out
+of consideration for the precious hangings and costly ecclesiastical
+robes that were to grace the ceremonies of reception and investiture.
+Fortunately, Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds rode
+through the city streets at an early hour, proclaiming the duke's
+gracious intention to make his entry on that day. Immediately,
+tapestries were spread and every one was alert with the last
+preparations.
+
+[Illustration: A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century]
+
+Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like that cited, which
+were planted along the ducal way and on a succession of stagings
+erected for various exhibits. On the great city square, the platform
+was capacious and many actors played out divers roles. Here stood the
+scroll-bearing angels on either side of a living representation of
+Christ. In the background clustered three separate groups of people
+representing, respectively, the three Estates. Above their heads more
+inscriptions were to be read.[2] "All the nations desire to see the
+face of Solomon," "Behold him desired by all races," "Master, look on
+us, thy people," were among the legends.
+
+The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical,
+from other parts of the duke's domains participated, proceeded past
+all these soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy resembled
+Solomon in more ways than one, to the church of St. Benigne. Here
+pledges of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians and
+their ruler. The Abbé of Citeaux placed the ducal ring solemnly
+upon Charles's finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all the
+prerogatives of his predecessors.
+
+From the church, the train wound its way to the Ste. Chapelle, past
+more stages decorated with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as
+"A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any,"
+"The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold
+as a lion," etc.
+
+Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of investiture were
+performed, and followed by a banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal
+robes, and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with gold, pearls,
+and precious stones. After a repast, prelates, nobles, and civic
+deputies were convened in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where
+first they listened to a speech from the chancellor. When he had
+finished, the duke himself delivered an harangue wherein he expatiated
+on the splendours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. Wrongfully
+usurped by the French kings, it had been belittled into a duchy, a
+measure much to be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the speaker
+broke off abruptly with an ambiguous intimation "that he had in
+reserve certain things that none might know but himself."[3]
+
+What was the significance of these veiled allusions? It could not have
+been the simple scheme to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly
+known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an ostrich-like quality of
+mind which made him oblivious to the world's vision but even he could
+hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours regarding the
+interview of Trèves, rumours flying north, east, south, and west.
+Might not this suggestion of secrets yet untold have had reference to
+the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and himself to divide France
+between them?
+
+When his own induction into his heritage was accomplished, Charles was
+ready to pay the last earthly tribute to his parents. A cortège had
+been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the bodies of Philip and
+Isabella to their final resting-place in the tomb at Dijon, to which
+they were at last consigned.[4]
+
+A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city of his birth, and then
+went to Dôle where he was invested with the sovereignty of the
+Franche-Comté and confirmed the privileges. Thus after seven years of
+possession _de facto_, he first actually completed the formalities
+needful for the legal acquisition of his paternal heritage. The
+expansion of that heritage had been steady for over half a century.
+Every inch of territory that had come under the shadow of the family's
+administration had remained there, quickly losing its ephemeral
+character, so that temporary holdings were regarded in the same light
+as the estates actually inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke,
+count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction in the natures of his
+tenures. But just as the last link was legally riveted in his own
+chain of lands, he was to learn that there were other points of view.
+
+The statement is made and repeated, that the report of the duke's
+after-dinner speech at Dijon was a fresh factor in alarming the people
+in Alsace and Switzerland about his intentions, and making them hasten
+to shake off every tie that connected them with Charles and his
+ambitious projects of territorial expansion.[5] As a matter of fact,
+there had been for months constant agitation in the councils of the
+Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union as to the next action.
+
+Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent, antipathy to Austria
+was so deeply rooted that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the
+Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably the arguments that
+came from France were what carried conviction. It was a time when
+Louis spared no expense to attain the end he desired, while he posed
+as a benevolent neutral.[6] His servants worked underground. Their
+open work was very cautious. It was French envoys, however, who
+announced to the Swiss Diet, convened at Lucerne, that Sigismund was
+quite ready to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance and
+the redemption of his mortgaged lands.
+
+That was on January 21, 1474, the very day when the mortgagee was
+preparing to ride into Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his
+wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month and Sigismund's envoys
+were seated on the official benches at the Basel diet, ranking with
+the delegates from the cantons and the emissaries from France. On
+March 27th, the diet met at Constance, and for three days a debate
+went on which resulted in the drafting of the _Ewige Richtung_,
+the _Réglement définitif_, a document which contained a definite
+resolution that the mortgaged lands were to be completely withdrawn
+from Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This resolution was
+subscribed to by Sigismund and the Swiss cantons. Further, it was
+decided to ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St. Omer and
+to offer payment to Charles at Basel instead of Besançon.
+
+Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in his own mind that
+the legends of his birthplace were correct in their rating of his
+character and his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered
+Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was shortly after that
+festival, on April 17th, that a letter from Sigismund was delivered to
+him announcing in rather casual and off-hand terms that he was now in
+a position to repay the loan of 1469, made on the security of those
+Rhinelands. Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel 80,000
+florins, 40,000 the sum received by him, 10,000 paid in his behalf to
+the Swiss, and 30,000 which he understood that Charles had expended
+during his temporary incumbency,[7] and he, Sigismund, would resume
+the sovereignty in Alsace.
+
+It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish was. The expressions
+employed in the paper were, however, so ambiguous, the language so
+involved, that Charles expended severe criticism on his cousin's style
+before he proceeded to answer his subject-matter. To that he replied
+that the bargain between him and Sigismund was none of his seeking.
+The latter had implored his protection from the Swiss, had begged
+relief in his financial straits. Touched by his petitions, Charles
+had acceded to his prayers and the lands had enjoyed security under
+Burgundian protection as they never had under Austrian. Charles had
+duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he had done nothing to
+forfeit his title. The conditions of redemption offered by Sigismund
+were not those expressly stipulated. If a commission were sent to
+Besançon, the duke would see to it that the merits of the case were
+properly examined.
+
+"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose you have
+declared, in violation of the terms of the contract and of your
+princely word, we shall make resistance, trusting with God's help that
+our ability in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have used
+to repulse the attacks of the Swiss--those attacks from which you
+sought and received our protection."
+
+Before this letter reached its destination, the duke's deputy in the
+mortgaged lands had already found his resources wholly inadequate to
+maintain his master's authority. After Charles departed from Alsace,
+Hagenbach's increased insolence and abandonment of all the restraint
+that he had shown while awaiting the duke's visit soon became
+unbearable. The deliberations in Switzerland concerning their return
+to Austrian domination also naturally affected the Alsatians and made
+them bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.
+
+Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing admission to his
+garrisons. Brisac was in his hands already, and her fortifications
+held by mercenaries, but an order to the citizens to work, one and
+all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance with very
+serious results. It was at Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a
+hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the Rhinelands, proved
+the final provocation to rebellion.
+
+There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle, moreover, that this
+misuse of Easter Day was not Hagenbach's real crime. He simply
+wished to get all combatants out of the city before butchering the
+inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in time. That charge does
+not, however, seem substantiated by other evidence. But there is no
+doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a state of fury, fell
+upon the mercenaries, and killed many of them in spite of their own
+unarmed condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings, appeared
+at the window and offered various concessions, being actually humbled
+and intimidated by the unexpected turning of the submissive folk
+against him.
+
+But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the reach of conciliatory
+words. Some of the more intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a
+show of propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing their own
+ancient council, arbitrarily abolished by Hagenbach, while taking a
+new oath to the Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of 1469.
+They also despatched envoys to the duke with explanations of their
+proceedings, stating further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone to
+which protest was made; that they were not in revolt against Charles.
+The latter answered, "Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional
+government, by the time they received this order, felt strong enough
+to disregard it and to continue to act on their own initiative.
+
+Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but into irons. All fear of
+and respect for his authority was thrown to the winds, his offer of
+fourteen thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.
+
+Deputations came from the confederation to congratulate the officials
+_de facto_ and to promise aid. The next step gave the lie direct to
+the message sent to Charles upholding his authority while protesting
+against his lieutenant. Sigismund was urged to return to his own
+without further delay for legal formalities with his creditor. He
+assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the Austrian duke arrived in
+Brisac and picked up the reins of authority which he had joyfully
+dropped four years previously.
+
+The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion, singing a ready parody
+of an Easter hymn:[8]
+
+  "Christ is arisen, the _landvogt_ is in prison,
+  Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.
+  Kyrie Eleison!
+  Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,
+  But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.
+  Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the late governor was
+brought to trial. Instruments of torture sent from Basel were employed
+to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But there was nothing to
+confess. As a matter of fact the charges against him were for
+well-known deeds the character of which depended on the point of view.
+What the Alsatians declared were infringements of their rights, the
+duke's deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the terms of the
+treaty. In regard to his private career the prisoner persisted in
+his statement that he was no worse than other men and that all his
+so-called victims had been willing and well rewarded for their
+submission to him.
+
+On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared over and the trial began
+before a tribunal whose composition is not perfectly well known,
+but which certainly included delegates from the chief cities of the
+landgraviate, and from Strasburg, Basel, and Berne.[9]
+
+The trial was practically lynch law in spite of the cloak of legality
+thrown over it. Charles alone was Hagenbach's principal and he alone
+was responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic incompetence
+of the court was hotly urged by Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's
+self-appointed advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public opinion
+insisted upon extreme measures, and the sentence of capital punishment
+was promptly followed by execution.
+
+Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by the sword and be
+permitted to bequeath a portion of his property to the church of
+St. Étienne at Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth was
+confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn to Fribourg during the
+progress of the trial. Even Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged
+that the late governor made a dignified and Christian exit from the
+life he had not graced.
+
+Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger who brought him the
+news of this trial and execution, in the very presence of Sigismund
+who had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate, where he
+had appointed Oswald von Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus
+presuming to use sovereign power. This was not sufficient, however,
+to make the duke change his own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was
+entrusted with the commission of punishing the Alsatians for his
+brother's ignominious deposition, and he did his task grimly.
+According to the Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north,
+and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the south, did not have
+more than six or eight thousand men apiece, but they left Hun-like
+reputations behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in houses and
+churches, all in the name of the duke, contributed to the zeal with
+which the Austrian's return was ratified by popular acclamation, and
+with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the confederates were
+received.
+
+Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone and obscure in
+phraseology. A statement presented somewhat later to the emperor by
+the _Basse Union_ is more precise in the justification offered for the
+events and in the grievances rehearsed.[10] That is, Sigismund treats
+the transaction as a purely financial one, naturally completed between
+him and his creditor by the offer to liquidate his debt. The plea made
+by the Alsatians and their friends is, that Charles had failed to keep
+his solemn engagements and that his appointed lieutenant had been
+peculiarly odious and had broken the laws of God and man, and that the
+mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians, Lombardians, and their
+fellows, had pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the Sundgau,
+and the diocese of Basel. The charges are itemised.[11]
+
+    "All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy, has neither been
+    checked nor punished by him. In consequence, our gracious Seigneur
+    of Austria has been obliged to restore the land and people to his
+    sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he has done
+    with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation and total
+    destruction of land and people."
+
+Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle matters in person, but
+pursued his intention of reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control,
+undoubtedly thinking that the base which would then be open to the
+archbishop's protector on the lower Rhine would facilitate his
+operations in the upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic had
+emphatically declared that he alone was the Defender of the Diocese,
+and that the unholy alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace
+to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted him to abandon the
+enterprise and to accept mediation; those to the electors, princes,
+and cities of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against Burgundy
+until he himself arrived on the scene. There was a hot correspondence
+between all parties concerned, from which nothing resulted. Charles
+had various reasons for delay. There was trouble in other quarters of
+his domain. Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions
+for money, and the Franche-Comté was on the point of making active
+resistance to the imposition of the _gabelle_.
+
+In view of all these complications, Charles decided to prolong his
+truce with Louis XI., to May 1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased
+to continue to pursue his own plans under cover of neutrality. The
+determination of the anti-Burgundian coalition in Germany to keep
+Charles within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant sight to
+the French king, and he felt that he could afford to wait.
+
+In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg, forbidding all owing
+allegiance to the Duke of Burgundy to have any commercial relations
+with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with the cities of the
+_Basse Union_, and declaring the duke's intention to take the field
+at once, to reinstate the archbishop in his rightful see. This was a
+declaration of war and was speedily followed by the duke's advance
+to Maestricht, where he spent a few days in July, collecting a force
+which finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.
+
+On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which had again emphatically
+refused entry to him and his troops. Three days the duke gave himself
+for the reduction of the town, but there he remained encamped for
+nearly a whole year! Neuss was resolved to resist to the last
+extremity, while Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their
+assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers to the best of
+their ability. It was a period when Charles seemed to have only one
+sure ally, and that was Edward of England, whose own plans were
+forming for a mighty enterprise--no less than a new invasion of
+France.
+
+On July 25th, the very day that Charles was on his march up to Neuss,
+his envoys signed at London a treaty wherein the duke promised Edward
+six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer his realm of France."
+Nothing loth to dispose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn,
+pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, without any lien
+of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers,
+Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates
+of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories of Charles were to be
+exempt from homage. Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in
+France and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial interests
+forgotten; "to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded
+permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and
+to carry thither foreign merchandise."
+
+The year when Charles was waiting before the gates of Neuss was full
+of many abortive diplomatic efforts on the part of both the duke and
+Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to save something even
+from broken bargains. The Swiss not only counted on his friendship,
+but were constantly encouraged by his money, which emboldened them to
+send a letter of open defiance to Charles: "We declare to your most
+serene highness and to all of your people, in behalf of ourselves
+and our friends, an honourable and an open war." To the herald who
+delivered this document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"[12] He
+felt that he had been betrayed.
+
+This was on October 26th. The defiance was followed by a descent of
+the mountaineers upon Alsace, which Charles had not yet released
+from his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared to defend Burgundian
+interests at Héricourt, a good strategic position on the tiny Luzine.
+Here, the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the Count of Blamont
+arrived with two bodies of Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than
+twelve thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging force.
+His plan failed--the tables were turned. It was the Burgundians who
+were fiercely attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach was forced to
+surrender, obtaining honourable terms, however, and Sigismund put a
+garrison into Héricourt on November 16th.
+
+This was a tremendous surprise to Charles. That cowherds could repulse
+his well-trained troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.
+But he put aside all idea of punishing them for the moment, and
+continued to "reduce Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,"
+and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town in its determined
+resistance.
+
+The opprobrious names applied to the would-be and baffled conqueror at
+this time are curiously similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon
+a few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ himself, with
+demoniac attributes added, when Alexander was felt to be too mild a
+comparison. There was still a terrible fear of the duke's ambition,
+even though, in the face of all Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his
+men, and Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, while the world
+wondered at the duke's obstinacy displayed in the wrong place. The
+belief expressed several times by Commines that God troubled Charles's
+understanding out of very pity for France, was a current rumour.
+
+At the end of April an English embassy arrived at the camp, which was
+kept in a marvellous state of luxury, even though disease was not
+successfully curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the embassy
+was that Charles should raise this useless siege, fruitless as it
+promised to be, owing to the difficulty of cutting off the town's
+supplies. Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading army.
+He implored his dear brother to send him transports and to prepare to
+receive him when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a glimpse
+into the situation[13]:
+
+    "For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that the assege
+    lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn affoor Nuse, and the
+    Emperor hath besyged also not fferr from there a castill and
+    another town in lykewyse wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the
+    Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water off Somme
+    with 4000 spers; and sum men have that he woll, at the daye off
+    brekyng off trewse, or else beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys
+    heer. When I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.
+
+    "The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere and the Master off
+    the Rolls be comyng homwards ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke
+    I sholde be sek but iff I see it....
+
+    "For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde in to Flaundyrs
+    to purveye me off horse and herneys and percase I shall see the
+    essege at Nwse er I come ageyn."
+
+There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick at the sight than
+for John Paston, and he did grow weary of the further waiting and
+anxious, for his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On May 22d,
+there was a skirmish between his troops and the imperial forces,
+wherein Charles claimed the victory. In reality, there was none on
+either side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe his _amour
+propre_, and to convince him that an accommodation with Frederic would
+not detract from his dignity.
+
+A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched to help convey
+the English army, thirsting for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand
+men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to meet Edward IV., and
+swell his escort as he marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other
+matters also demanded Charles's personal attention. Months had elapsed
+and Héricourt was unpunished--Berne had not been reproved.
+
+René of Lorraine was formally admitted to the League of Constance on
+April 18, 1475, and was now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he
+had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a touch of old King René's
+theatrical taste in his grandson's method of despatching the herald
+who rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet on May 10th. The
+man was, however, so overcome at the first view of _le Téméraire_ that
+he hastily delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained
+gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of war, without uttering a word.
+Then he fell on his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.[14] Charles
+was so little displeased at the signs of the impression his presence
+made that, instead of being angry with the man, he gave him twelve
+florins for his good news. The terms of the declaration of war carried
+by the herald were as follows:
+
+    "To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the very high, etc.,
+    Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce defiance with fire and
+    blood against thee, thy countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and
+    other charge further have I not."[15]
+
+The reply was straightforward:
+
+    "Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge, whereby thou
+    hast given me subject for joy, and, to show you how matters are,
+    thou shalt wear my robe with this gift, and shalt tell thy master
+    that I will find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear
+    is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst not be afraid
+    to return, I desire my marshal and the king-at-arms of the Toison
+    d'Or to convoy thee in perfect safety, for I should be sorry if
+    thou didst not make thy report to thy master as befits a good and
+    loyal officer."
+
+Thus was Charles pressed from the south and lured to the north.
+Excellent reason for obeying the order of the pope's legate that duke
+and emperor must lay down arms under pain of excommunication did
+either belligerent refuse! The armistice accepted on May 28th was
+followed by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It was a truce
+strictly to the advantage of Frederic and Charles. The Rhine cities,
+Louis XI., René of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed in
+the expectations they had based on Frederic.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Plancher, _Histoire générale et particulière de
+Bourgogne, avec des notes et des preuves justificatives_, iv.,
+cccxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Preparations for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set
+on foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One Frère
+Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures for
+appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every phrase indicating
+leonine strength was noted down. The good brother died before the
+anticipated event came to pass but the result of his patient labour
+was preserved.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Dit qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de
+scavoir à nuls que à lui_ (Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii.).]
+
+[Footnote 4: Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii. The document
+describing this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is
+evidently an error and not accepted.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Toutey, p. 117.]
+
+[Footnote 6: There are many records in the_Bibl. nat._. of the sums
+paid out to the Swiss at this time.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, i., 92 et seq.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Kirk, ii., 488.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey, p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Text given by Toutey, _Pièces justificatives_, p. 442.]
+
+[Footnote 11: The details are very brutal and untranslatable.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Paston Letters_, iii., 122.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 244.]
+
+[Footnote 15: _Bulletin de l'acad. royale de Belgique_, 1887.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what to write to you of
+    the English, for thus far they have done nothing but dance at St.
+    Omer and we are not sure whether the King of England has landed.
+    If he has, it must be with so small a force that it makes no
+    noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville know anything,
+    nor do they believe that there will be any English here in XL
+    days. Tell the news to Monsg. de Comminge, and recommend my
+    interests to him as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de
+    Thierry and Mons. the vice-admiral."[1]
+
+Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later and he has heard of the
+truce. He seizes the occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne
+his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frederic has deserted us all!"[2]
+Well, it was not the first time! Thirty years previous, when Louis was
+dauphin, the emperor had tried to turn the Swiss against him. Had not
+God, knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave mountaineers, Louis
+would have been a victim of execrable treachery. The outcome had been
+wonderful, for an eternal friendship had sprung up between him and the
+Swiss which must be preserved.
+
+Meantime, Charles has made his own definite plan of the campaign which
+was to introduce Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The following
+letter from him to Edward IV. bears no date, but it was evidently
+written at about the time of the truce[3]:
+
+    "Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself to you. I have
+    listened carefully to your declaration through the pronotary, and
+    understand that you do not wish to land without my advice, for
+    which I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors
+    think you had better land in Guienne, others in Normandy, others
+    again at Calais. If you choose Guienne you will be far from my
+    assistance but my brother of Brittany could help you. Still it
+    would be a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to
+    Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your people nor I
+    for mine. Nor could the two forces make juncture without attack,
+    and my brother of Brittany would be very far from both. To my
+    mind, your best landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the
+    Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will soon gain
+    possession of cities and places, and you will be at the right hand
+    of my brother of Brittany and of me. Tell me how many ships you
+    want and where you wish me to send them and I will do it."
+
+On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival of the English, Louis
+hastened to Normandy to inspect the situation for himself. There he
+learned that his own naval forces stationed in the Channel to ward off
+the invaders had landed on the very day before his arrival, abandoning
+the task.
+
+    "When I heard that we took no action, I decided that my best plan
+    would be to turn my people loose in Picardy and let them lay
+    waste the country whence they [the English] expected to get their
+    supplies."[4]
+
+At the same time, the rumour that was permitted to be current in
+France was, that Charles of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at
+Neuss, and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend from him.
+He, meanwhile, was continuing his own preparations by strenuous
+endeavours to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies. After
+the signing of the convention with the emperor, the duke proceeded to
+Bruges to meet the Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand for
+subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish funds, on the plea that
+his expansion policy was ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst
+from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving him in the lurch and
+thus causing his failure at Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor
+soldiers had they sent him as loyal subjects should.
+
+[Illustration: KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+
+CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN
+EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK. POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I.]
+
+    "For whom does your prince labour? Is it for himself or for you,
+    for your defence? You slumber, he watches. You nestle in warmth,
+    he is cold. You are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the
+    wind and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease.... Henceforth you
+    shall be nothing more than subjects under a sovereign. I am and I
+    will be master, bearding those who oppose me."[5]
+
+Then turning to the prelates he continued: "Do you obey diligently and
+without poor excuses or your temporal goods shall be confiscated."
+To the nobles: "Obey or you shall lose your heads and your fiefs."
+Finally, he addressed the deputies of the third estate in a tone full
+of bitterness: "And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not obey
+my orders literally as my chancellor will explain them to you, you
+shall forfeit privileges, property, and life."
+
+All the fervency of this adjuration failed to convince the deputies of
+their duty, as conceived by the orator. They declared that they had
+levied troops and would levy more, for defence, but that the four
+members of Flanders were agreed that they would contribute nothing to
+offensive measures. Charles must accept their decision as his sainted
+father had done. The details of all the aid they had given him, 2500
+men for Neuss and many other contributions, were recapitulated.
+Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding phrases of their
+answer were as follows:
+
+    "As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen days every
+    man capable of bearing arms report at Ath, these were orders
+    impossible of execution, and unprofitable for you yourself. Your
+    subjects are merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
+    Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which your noble
+    ancestors have for four hundred years maintained the land,
+    commerce, most redoubtable seigneur, is irreconcilable with war."
+
+This answer gave the true key to the situation. The Estates of
+Flanders were determined to be bled no further for schemes in which
+they did not sympathise. When this memorial was presented to Charles
+he broke out into fresh invective about the base ingratitude of the
+Flemish: "Take back your paper," were his last words. "Make your own
+answer. _Talk_ as you wish, but _do_ your duty." This was on July
+12th. Charles had no further time to waste in argument. He was still
+convinced that the burghers would, in the end, yield to his demands.
+
+With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and reached Calais on July
+14th, where he had been preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her
+brother, who had actually landed on July 4th, with the best equipped
+army--about twenty-four thousand men--that had ever left the shores of
+England, and the latest inventions in besieging engines.
+
+The expedition proved a wretched failure--a miserable disappointment
+to the English at home, who had been lavish in their contributions.
+Charles seems to have been put out by the place of landing. His own
+plan is clear from the letter quoted. He wished the two armies of
+Edward and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory as they
+marched toward each other. The one thing that he objected to was a
+consolidation of the two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or
+an unwelcome situation to account was one of the duke's most
+deeply ingrained characteristics. He showed no inventiveness or
+resourcefulness. He held his own army at a distance from the English,
+much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to march unaided over
+regions rendered inhospitable by Louis's stern orders, and outside
+of cities ready to hold him at bay. "If you do not put yourself in a
+state of security, it will be necessary to destroy the city, to our
+regret," was the king's message to Rheims, and the most skilful of
+French engineers was fully prepared to make good the words.
+
+Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped on the field of
+Agincourt, where perhaps he dreamed of his ancestor's success, but
+no fresh blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He did not
+proceed to Paris, there was no coronation at Rheims, no comfortable
+reception within any gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis
+himself of giving the English a foothold, though he advised Edward to
+accept an invitation from St. Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however,
+proved another disappointment. Just as Edward was ready to enter,
+the gates opened to let out a troop which effectually repulsed the
+advancing foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his mind.
+
+"It is a miserable existence this of ours when we take toil and
+trouble enough to shorten our life, writing and saying things exactly
+opposite to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer of this
+elaborate network of pompous falsehoods[6] wherein every action was
+entangled. Louis XI trusted no one but himself, while he played
+with the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His fear of the
+invaders was soon allayed. "These English are of different metal from
+those whom you used to know. They keep close, they attempt nothing,"
+he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.
+
+It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was not a foe to be feared.
+Baffled and discouraged, he readily opened his ears to his French
+brother, and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every Englishman who
+helped incline his sovereign to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and
+coin did their work. Edward was easily led into the path of least
+resistance, and an interview between the rival kings was appointed
+for August 29th. Great preparations were made for their meeting on a
+bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating was erected. Like Pyramus
+and Thisbe, the two princes kissed each other through the barriers,
+and exchanged assurances of friendship. Edward was, indeed, so easy to
+convince that Louis was in absolute terror lest his English brother
+would accept his invitation to show him Paris before his return. No
+wonder Edward was deceived, for Louis was definite in his hospitable
+offers, suggesting that he would provide a confessor willing to give
+absolution for pleasant sins.
+
+The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy. On August 18th, he was
+staying at Peronne, whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It was
+ended without any intimation of Edward's change of heart towards the
+French king whom he had come to depose, though his plan was then ripe.
+On the 20th, Charles received a written communication with the news
+which Edward had disliked broaching orally, and was officially
+informed that the king had yielded to the wishes of his army, and was
+considering a treaty with Louis XI., wherein Edward's dear brother of
+Burgundy should receive honourable mention did he desire it.
+
+On hearing these most unwelcome tidings, Charles set off for the
+English camp in hot haste, attended by a small escort, and nursing
+his wrath as he rode.[7] King Edward was rather alarmed at the duke's
+aspect when the latter appeared, and asked whether he would not like a
+private interview. Charles disregarded his question. "Is it true? Have
+you made peace?" he demanded. Edward's attempt at smooth explanations
+was blocked by a flood of invectives poured out by Charles, who
+remembered himself sufficiently to speak in English so that the
+bystanders might have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches.
+He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual, pleasure-loving
+monarch, whose easeful ways were rapidly increasing his weight of
+flesh, with the heroism of other English Edwards with whom he was
+proud to claim kin. As to the offers to remember his interests in
+the perfidious peace that perfidious Albion was about to swear
+with equally perfidious France, his rejection was scornful indeed.
+"Negotiate for _me_! Arbitrate for _me_! Is it I who wanted the French
+crown? Leave _me_ to make my own truce. I will wait until you have
+been three months over sea." Among those who witnessed the scene were
+several Englishmen who sympathised with Charles--if we may believe
+Commines. "The Duke of Burgundy has said the truth," declared the Duke
+of Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Having given vent to his
+sentiments, Charles hurried away from his disappointing ally and
+reached Namur on the 22d, where he spent the night.
+
+Edward troubled himself little about his brother-in-law's summary of
+his character. He was tired of camp hardships, and both he and his men
+found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her gates to them at the
+order of Louis XI. Food and wine were lavished upon all alike. It
+was a delightful experience for the English soldiers to see tables
+groaning with good things spread in the very streets, and to be bidden
+to order what they would at the taverns with no consideration for the
+reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free of charge, until their
+host intimated to King Edward that his men were very intoxicated and
+that there were limits in all things. But Louis did not spare his
+money or his pains until he was sure that a bloodless victory had been
+won. He fully realised the importance of extravagant expenditure in
+order to reach the goal he had set himself.
+
+    "We must have the whole sum at Amiens before Friday evening,
+    besides what will be wanted for private gratifications to my Lord
+    Howard, and others who have had part in the arrangement.... Do not
+    fail in this that there may be no pretext for a rupture of what
+    has been already settled."
+
+Though they had now no rood of land, the English returned richer than
+they came, and they eased their _amour propre_ by calling the sums
+that had changed hands, "tribute money."[8]
+
+    "Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd Moodre, I recommende
+    me to youw. Pleas it yow to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage
+    of the kynges is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost
+    is comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to seye the
+    iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many of hys host be
+    passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and in especiall my Lorde off
+    Norfolk, and my bretheryn ....I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr
+    heer; for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come hyddre and
+    all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never a better stomake in my
+    lyffe and now in viij dayes I am crasyd ageyn."[9]
+
+Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and doubtless many others found
+the air more wholesome at home.
+
+Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider the affairs of Lorraine.
+He advised René of his intentions, in a manifesto which reached him
+on September 5th. The preamble contained a long list of the manifold
+benefits conferred upon Lorraine by the House of Burgundy. Then René
+was admonished to observe in every particular the terms of his own
+treaty with Charles, which he, René, had signed voluntarily, or the
+former would "make him know the difference between his friendship and
+his enmity."
+
+This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of Lorraine. For on September
+13th, his friend Louis XI. had signed a fresh treaty with Charles
+of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was marching mercenaries in
+Burgundian pay towards the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the
+French king abandoned the young protégé whom he had spared no pains
+to alienate from Burgundian protection. It was a moment when his one
+interest apparently was to settle accounts with the Count of St.
+Pol, who had been equally treacherous in his dealings with England,
+Burgundy, and France.[10]
+
+Having rested during the summer, the Burgundian troops were in fine
+trim when Charles marched to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat
+down before the capital in the last week of October. From his camp he
+wrote to the Duke of Milan:
+
+    "Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you. I have just
+    accepted a truce with the king for nine years to come, in the form
+    and manner contained at length in the copy of the articles which
+    I have given to your ambassador, resident with me . . . . And be
+    sure, _fratello mio_, that nothing would have induced me to accept
+    the truce, had you not been comprised therein. And, similarly, you
+    must be satisfied in all the pacts between the king and myself,
+    just as you were comprised in the convention lately made at Neuss.
+
+    "For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador about the troops
+    that can be furnished me, for which I am well content, praying you
+    to continue to serve me in accordance with the promises of your
+    ambassador. As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Duc de
+    Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now for delay as he
+    can travel in Lorraine as safely as in Lombardy, as I have said
+    to your ambassador. Pray the Lord to give you the desires of your
+    heart.
+
+
+    "Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day of October, 1475.
+
+    "CHARLES."[11]
+
+
+Some trifling assistance was offered to René by Strasburg and other
+foes to Burgundy, but it was wholly insufficient to rescue him from
+his difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the capitulation
+of Nancy on November 19th. The magistrates desired to hold out, but
+were forced by the populace to submit, and on November 30, 1475,
+Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly through the gate of Craffe
+into the capital of Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign
+duke.[12]
+
+This time Charles acted the role of a merciful and diplomatic
+conqueror. There was no cruelty permitted, and every evidence of
+conciliation was shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted the
+new order of things without further protest. At the end of December,
+Charles convened the Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace,
+addressed them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to be a good
+prince, demanded their attachment, confided his plans of expansion,
+and announced his intention of making Nancy the capital of his states.
+Again the duke's star rose. This acquisition seemed a sign of the
+reality of his dreams. Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching
+success bore fruit, inasmuch as the emperor changed the late
+convention into a firmer treaty signed on November 17th. Indeed had
+Charles died at that moment, there would have been little doubt that
+his dreamed-of kingdom had been simply prevented by a mere accident.
+
+The detailed story of all that had happened in the Swiss Confederation
+and the Lower Union, since their formal declaration of war against
+Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begining of 1476, the
+situation was, briefly, that Sigismund held the debated mortgaged
+lands, while the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant member
+of the league, had continued to carry on offensive operations against
+the duke and his allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The conquest
+of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the face of the fresh
+agreements between the duke and the emperor and the king.
+
+There was a short period of hesitation, marked by a truce till January
+1, 1476, between Charles and the confederates, a period when the timid
+among the allies urged their counsel of reconciliation at all hazards.
+Charles, too, seems to have desired an accord rather than hostilities,
+even though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for Héricourt. It
+was probably appeals from Yolande of Savoy that decided him to open a
+campaign in midwinter.
+
+    "The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote the Milanese
+    ambassador] in the reorganisation of his army according to new
+    ordinances, and in the regulation of his receipts and outlays that
+    he has scarcely given himself time to eat once in twenty-four
+    hours. He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the Count of
+    Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect no treaty, and do
+    not cease increasing their forces. In consequence, Duke Charles
+    intends leaving Nancy in six days to go towards the Jura. He
+    expects to take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which,
+    joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy, will swell his
+    army to the number of 25,000 combatants. His operations are so
+    planned that he will have more to gain than to lose."[13]
+
+
+When Charles left Nancy on January 11th, he issued one of his
+grandiloquent manifestoes declaring that he was acting in behalf of
+all princes and seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of the
+Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who had provoked his just
+wrath by ravaging his province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious
+act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain go off to make a
+pilgrimage just as he was on the eve of a campaign, but so he did,
+granting Campobasso leave of absence to visit the shrine of St. James
+at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised by the Italian to further
+the understanding with Louis XI., at which he arrived later.
+
+On across the Jura marched the Burgundian army, while the Swiss diet
+came to a slow and confused decision to prepare to meet him. He did
+not take the route generally expected, directly towards Berne, his
+chief antagonist, but turned aside and attacked the little fortress of
+Granson. The castle was not over strong. Efforts to provision it by
+water failed, and, finally, on February 28th, after a brief siege, the
+captain of the garrison, Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German
+forces, who represented to them that Charles was as generous as he was
+magnificent.
+
+If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the surrender was
+unconditional. Charles was soon on the spot. The four hundred and
+twelve soldiers, who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian army at
+bay for ten whole days, were made to march past his tent with bowed
+heads. Then he ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two to
+help in the executions. Four hours were occupied in fulfilling these
+pitiless orders. Panigarola arrived at the camp on the 29th,--it was
+leap year, 1476,--and found this accomplished and saw the bodies
+hanging on the trees, but he asserts that no word was broken.[14]
+Charles was now absolutely confident of complete success. "_Bellorum
+eventus dubii sunt_," remarked the prudent Milanese, however, and he
+was proved right.
+
+When the allied forces of the mountaineers finally arrived in the
+duke's neighbourhood a hot pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians,
+led by the duke in person, were thrown into utter confusion. The
+mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth yells and battle-cries of Uri
+and Unterwalden, simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles was
+pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only a defeat, but a complete
+rout. When the Swiss came in sight of the late garrison hanged to
+the trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn they massacred,
+hanged, and drowned every one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay
+hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives when they could, but
+their valuable artillery and their baggage, the mass of riches that
+Charles carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and gathered
+up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss, who cared little for the
+tapestries and jewels though they prized the gold. Such was the battle
+of Granson, on the 2nd of March.
+
+The fatal mistake committed by Charles was that he despised his enemy
+and underestimated his quality as well as his strength. Just before
+engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell upon their knees in
+prayer that the issue might be successful. This action deceived
+Charles into thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion was
+shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh broke out from the Burgundian
+ranks.[15]
+
+Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of Granson with the
+following rather barren words[16]:
+
+    "In short the Duke of Burgundy lost the day and was pushed back as
+    far as Jougne, where he stopped, and it is meet that I tell how
+    the duke's bodyguard saved themselves ... and reached Salins where
+    I saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle on account
+    of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the duke went to Noseret, and
+    you can understand that he was very sad and melancholy at having
+    lost the battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his army
+    shattered."
+
+On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to Margaret Paston from
+Calais:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde. ... Item, the
+    Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall
+    nott nowe be lykelyhod have it; wherffer the Frenshe kynge
+    cheryssheth hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn
+    the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off the Swechys
+    [Swiss] to conquer them butt the berded hym att an onsett place
+    and hathe dystrussyd hym and hathe slayne the most part of his
+    vanwarde and wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr
+    all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym; exceppte men and
+    horse ffledde nott but they roode that nyght xx myle; and so the
+    ryche saletts, heulmetts garters, nowchys[17] gelt and all is
+    goone with tente pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is
+    abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde karlys butte he
+    wolde nott beleve it and yitt men seye that he woll to them ageyn.
+    Gode spede them bothe."
+
+Many of the rumours that were current represented Charles as
+completely prostrated by his disaster. This was only half true.
+His efforts to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically, he
+certainly showed the effects of this campaign. He was attacked by a
+low fever, his stomach rejected food, insomnia afflicted his nights,
+and dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This condition was
+attributed to his fatigues and exposure in a hard climate, and to his
+habit of drinking warm barley-water in the morning. He was urged to
+use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard couch, while Yolande's own
+physician and one Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The latter
+claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles was not, however, fully
+recovered when he resumed his activities and held a review on May 9th.
+With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely to yield results,
+the whole number of troops was but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker
+felt that the duke was now trying to accomplish something quite beyond
+his resources.
+
+    "Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary[18]], we cannot
+    sufficiently wonder that you should have been so gravely deceived
+    and that, after having once found that you were lured into loss
+    and disgrace, again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth from
+    which you will either never escape, or escape only with damage and
+    shame.... Without risk to himself [your foe] has precipitated you
+    into an abyss and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of
+    your possessions and your life.... We exhort you to pause before
+    incurring heavier losses and greater dangers. If fortune smiles
+    upon you in your attack on that people, you will have the whole
+    empire against you. In the opposite event--which God avert--it
+    will be turned into a common tale how a mighty prince was overcome
+    by rustics whom there would have been no honour in conquering,
+    while to be conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace."
+
+This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its destination until after
+the prophecy had been fulfilled. Its warning would probably have been
+futile had Charles read it before he marched on towards Berne, on June
+8th. On the road that he chose lay the town of Morat, which had made
+ready for his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then on to Berne
+was his plan. His force succeeded in holding the ground and cutting
+off communication with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a messenger
+made his way through from the beleaguered city to Berne, and all the
+allies were then urged to do their best. The result was encouraging.
+"There are three times as many as at Granson, but let no one be
+dismayed, with God's help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of
+Berne.
+
+The encounter came on June 23d. The force was really a formidable one.
+René of Lorraine was among the commanders on the side of the Swiss.
+It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was savage; at two o'clock the
+assault was made and within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost all
+the infantry perished. The slain is estimated variously from ten
+to twenty-two thousand. Charles did not keep his vow to perish if
+defeated. To his assured allies he clung closely, and none had more
+reason to be faithful to him than Yolande of Savoy. After Granson he
+hastened to give the duchess his own view of the disaster:
+
+    "It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of your calmness and
+    constancy of soul; for the thought of your affliction weighed more
+    heavily upon me than what has befallen me ... every day diminishes
+    the inconvenience and proves that the loss in men is less than we
+    thought. _Such as it is it came from a mere skirmish_. The bulk
+    of the armies did not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they
+    fought the victory would have been mine. There has been none on
+    either side. God, I trust, reserves it for you and for me ... the
+    hope you have placed in me shall not be vain."
+
+Thus he wrote on March 7th to encourage his anxious protégée.
+
+[Illustration: A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT]
+
+After the second defeat it was to her that the duke turned again. In
+the very early morning after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at
+Morges on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard through the night.
+There he heard mass, breakfasted, rested awhile, and then rode on,
+reaching the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening, where
+Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming in full knowledge of the
+second disaster he had suffered.
+
+At the foot of the staircase, attended by her ladies, Yolande was
+waiting to greet her disappointed friend. Charles dismounted and
+kissed each member of the family in order of precedence, the little
+duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter, and the ladies
+in waiting. Yolande had had time to move out of her own suite of
+apartments and have them prepared for her guest's use, and there the
+two talked together confidentially, while their attendants waited
+patiently just out of earshot.
+
+Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to her son's room,
+returning to his own, showing signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola
+was absent, but another Milanese was among her suite, and he pressed
+forward as the duke re-entered the apartment, offering to carry any
+message to the Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, "It is well. That
+is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de la Marche and the Sire de
+Givry, commander of the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service,
+were summoned and had a long conference with Charles.
+
+Yolande was, apparently, more communicative to the Milanese Appiano
+than to Charles, but he saw that she was not frank with him. "She must
+throw herself on the protection of France or of Milan," he wrote to
+his master.[20] She was, however, clear in her own mind that she would
+not accept Sforza's protection any more than that of Charles. She
+absolutely refused to identify her fortunes with the latter. She was
+determined to go to Geneva, but no farther. The duke remained at Gex
+until the 27th, and renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross
+the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering to her own plan. The
+two parties set out from the castle together, their roads lying in
+opposite directions, but Charles escorted his hostess about half-way
+to Geneva, riding beside her carriage, and continuing his persuasions
+in a low voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a farewell kiss,
+and rode off. He was much displeased at her determination, and he
+speedily resolved upon other methods of making sure of her fidelity to
+him. La Marche thus relates the story:[21]
+
+    "After the duke had been discomfited the second time by the Swiss
+    before Morat, believing that he could do the thing secretly, he
+    made a plan to kidnap Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them
+    to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva, on my head to
+    capture Mme. of Savoy and her children and bring them to him. In
+    order to obey my prince and master I did his behest quite against
+    my heart, and I took madame and her children near the gate of
+    Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away from me (for it was
+    two o'clock in the night) by the means of some of our own company
+    who were subjects of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did
+    no more than their duty. What I did was simply to save my life,
+    for the duke, my master, was the kind that insisted on having his
+    will done under penalty of losing one's head. So I took my way,
+    and carried Mme. of Savoy behind me, and her two daughters
+    followed and two or three of her maids, and we took the road over
+    the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured of the second
+    son, and had him carried by a gentleman. I thought I was assured
+    of the Duke of Savoy, but he was stolen from me as I said. As
+    soon as we were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and
+    especially the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought and took
+    the duke back to Geneva, in which they had great joy. And I with
+    Mme. of Savoy and the little boy (who was not the duke), crossed
+    the mountain in the black night and came to a place called Mijoux,
+    and thence to St. Claude.
+
+    "You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer to the company,
+    and chiefly to me. I was in danger of my life because I had not
+    brought the Duke of Savoy. Then the duke went on to Salins without
+    speaking to me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted Mme.
+    of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take her to the castle of
+    Rochefort. Thence she was taken to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that
+    I had nothing more to do with her or her affairs."
+
+This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the tone in which La Marche
+relates it indicates that he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner,
+and might have been more willing to lend an ear to Louis's suggestions
+than he had been five years previously.
+
+It is not evident that he played his master false or that he was
+cognisant of the recapture of the little duke, but he says himself
+that he thought the attendants were absolutely justified in it.
+
+It is after this incident that the astute Panigarola returns and joins
+the duke's suite at Salins. He finds Charles a changed man, indulging
+in strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a couple of
+thousand more of his troops had been killed, "French at heart" as they
+were. He refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtaining the
+means of so doing, and sent her to the castle of the Sire of Rochefort
+for safe-keeping. Abstemious as he had been all his life, never taking
+wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which he now suddenly
+indulged went to his head.
+
+Rumours went abroad that his mental balance was shaken. That does
+not seem to have been true to the extent of insanity. He was only
+infinitely chagrined but he certainly put on a brave front and
+retained his self-confidence and declared
+
+    "They are wrong if they believe me defeated. Providence has
+    provided me with so many people and estates with such abundant
+    resources, that many such defeats would be needed to ruin them. At
+    the moment when the world imagines that I am annihilated, I will
+    reopen the campaign with an army of 150,000 men."[22]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Nos omnes relinquens, Ibid_., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Commynes-Dupont, i., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Lettres_, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Commines, iv., ch. vi.]
+[Footnote 7: Commines, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The terms of the treaty provided for a seven years'
+truce, with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil
+or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance went so far
+that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing the title of King of
+England and France.]
+
+[Footnote 9: _The Paston Letters_. Sir John Paston to his mother,
+Sept. 11, 1475.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The story must be omitted here. The constable was
+finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Dépêches Milanaises_, i., 253. The copy only is at
+Milan and there is no seal.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 380.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Dép. Milan_., i., 266.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Dép. Milan_., i., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Jomini lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had
+committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army resting on
+the lake, the other ill-secured at the foot of a wooded mountain.
+Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to have one of its wings
+resting on an unbridged stream, on a lake, or on the sea." Charles
+explained to Europe that he had been surprised, and his defeat was a
+mere bagatelle.]
+
+[Footnote 16: III., 216.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Embossed ornaments.]
+
+[Footnote l8: _Dép. Milan._, ii., 126.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Dép. Milan._, ii., 335.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Dep. Milan_., ii., 295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: III., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Dep. Milan_, ii., 339.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+1477
+
+
+It was manifestly impossible for Charles to attempt to retrieve his
+fortunes without having large sums of ready money at his command.
+He therefore proceeded to appeal to the guardians of each and every
+treasury in his various states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however,
+the only quarters whence succour was in the least probable. The
+Estates of the latter duchy met, deliberated, and resolved to make no
+pretence nor to "yield anything contrary to the duty which every one
+owes to his country."[1] A certain Sieur de Jarville, accompanied
+by other true Burgundians, undertook to report the proceedings to
+Charles,--a duty usually falling to the share of the presiding officer
+of the ecclesiastical chamber. The message which he carried was
+laconic but sturdy:
+
+"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave subjects and servitors,
+but as to what is asked in his behalf, it never has been done, it
+cannot be done, it never will be done."
+
+"Small people would never dare use such language," is the comment
+of the Burgundian chronicler, proud of the temerity of his fellow
+countrymen.
+
+In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were equally emphatic in
+their refusal to meet the duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved
+to call together a general assembly of deputies in the hope of finding
+them, collectively, more amenable. Writs of summons were issued very
+widely and a "States-general" was formally convened at Ghent on
+Friday, April 26, 1476.[2] At the last assembly of this nature, in
+1473, the duke had expressly promised, in consideration of an annual
+grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded to him, to refrain
+from further demands, and there was a spirit of sullen resentment in
+the air when this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened by
+Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points for consideration.
+Monseigneur wished his daughter Mary, "that most precious jewel," to
+join him in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to ensure her
+safe journey and that the duke requested the States to provide.
+Secondly he desired the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to
+meet his immediate requirements. Further, he requested each town to
+equip a specified number of horses at its own expense; he demanded the
+service of his tenants, fief and arrière-fief; and, in addition, he
+required that all other men, no matter what their condition, able to
+bear arms, should enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the
+troops should be set to guard the frontier, and the rest should be
+sent to the duke in Burgundy.
+
+It was a demand pure and simple for a universal call to arms, a
+national levy. The duke's paternal desire to see his daughter was the
+flimsiest of excuses that deceived no one for a moment.
+
+After the chancellor's exposition there was probably adjournment for
+discussion. The pensionary of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as
+spokesman to present the following report, as the result of their
+deliberations, to the duchess-regent.
+
+As for Mlle. of Burgundy, the deputies would ascertain the wishes
+of their principals, but the second request did not call for a
+referendum. The representatives were fully capable of settling the
+matter at once. Considering the heavy burdens laid on the people, and
+taking into account the promises made to them in 1473, that no
+further demands should be made on the public purse, the three Estates
+concurred in humbly petitioning Monseigneur to excuse them from
+granting his request.
+
+It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th) when this decision was
+communicated to the duchess in her own hotel. After a private colloquy
+between her and Hugonet, the chancellor told the messenger that it was
+quite right for the deputies to consult their principals before the
+heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship of her faithful
+subjects. That was a grave matter, but surely there was no reason why
+her "escort" could not be determined upon at once. In regard to the
+levies, Madame was not empowered to take any excuse. It was beyond her
+province. Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters had
+arrived from the duke urging the speedy execution of his previous
+instructions. The chancellor then appointed a committee to meet a
+committee from the States at 8 A.M. on the morrow at the convent of
+the Augustines.
+
+This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speedily notified that the
+States did not feel empowered to appoint a committee. The most they
+could do was to resolve themselves into a committee of the whole. The
+objection to this was that a small conference was far better suited
+to free discussion. It was easy for unqualified persons to enter the
+session of a large body. The States, however, were tenacious in their
+opinion that their writs did not qualify them to appoint committees.
+Every point must be threshed out in the presence of every deputy.
+_Potestas delegata non deleganda est_.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY MATHEY)]
+
+There was further negotiation, and it was not until Monday afternoon
+that Hugonet's commissioner brought a conciliatory message that if the
+gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in spite of the difficulty of
+discussion in an open meeting, talk over both points with them in
+full assembly. Again the States objected. They had no instructions
+whatsoever in regard to Mademoiselle, and could not discuss her
+movements either in public or in private session. As to levies, they
+repeated in detail all previous arguments, and expressed a fervent
+hope that Monseigneur would withdraw the request. It would, in the
+end, be more to Monseigneur's advantage, etc. Back and forth travelled
+the commissioner between States and duchess. The latter simply
+reiterated her dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit her
+father in May, with an adequate escort, in whose ranks must appear
+three prelates, three or four barons, fifty knights, and notable men
+from the "good towns," well armed.
+
+The States were then resolved into a committee of the whole, for a
+private deliberation, an action that probably enabled them to exclude
+the embarrassing spectators. In preparation for this, the diligent
+commissioner called apart one deputy from each contingent, and
+expatiated on the duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to
+eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's escort and the fiefs
+and arrière-fiefs, Monseigneur could manage to make suffice for the
+present, and these must be provided. These confidences were at once
+reported to the assembly, which then adjourned to think over the
+matter during the night.[3]
+
+When they met again on April 30th, the chancellor was ready with a new
+message from Madame: "Go home now, consult your principals, and return
+on May 15th." On the motion of some deputy, this date was changed to
+May 24th. Precautions were taken to prevent any binding action in the
+interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the reports to the separate
+groups of constituents was also agreed upon by the majority of the
+deputies. In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that province
+there was a reluctance to deny the obligations of the fiefs.
+
+When the deputies reassembled a month later, Hugonet tried to weaken
+the effect of their answer by a suggestion that it had better not
+be considered the final decision, but a mere informal expression of
+opinion. "There were so many strangers present," etc. The States
+determinedly refused to be trifled with. "Madame must not be
+displeased if they gave the result of their deliberations in the
+presence of the whole assembly, not by way of opinion, but as a formal
+and conclusive report." Their charge was restricted to this manner
+of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting them, asked, since their
+charge was thus restricted, whether they had also been limited in the
+number of times they might drink on their way.[4] The answer was:
+"Chancellor, come now, say what you wish. The answer shall be given as
+it was meant to be given."
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLE OF NANCY. REPRODUCED FROM KIRK'S
+"CHARLES THE BOLD," BY PERMISSION OF J.B. LIPPINCOTT CO.]
+
+The communication was so long that its delivery took from 3 to 8
+P.M. It was nothing more than a detailed apology for refusing the
+sovereign's demands. Several days more were consumed in unsuccessful
+efforts to cajole or browbeat the deputies into a more genial mood.
+The only concessions offered were insignificant, and to their
+resolution the deputies held firmly. "According to current rumour
+[concludes Gort Roelants's story] the ducal council would gladly have
+accepted a notable sum in lieu of the service of towns and of the
+fiefholders, but the States made no such offer."
+
+There was evidently a hope that better results might be obtained from
+a new assembly,[5] but none was held and the most earnest endeavours
+of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse enthusiasm for his
+plans. Moreover, when there seemed a prospect that the Netherlands
+might be attacked from France, the sympathy of even the duchess and
+council for offensive operations was chilled. Not only did Margaret
+fail to send her husband the extra supplies demanded, but she decided
+to appropriate the three months' subsidy, the chief item of regular
+ducal revenue, for protection of the Flemish frontier--an action that
+made Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes, indeed, they were
+necessary, but the people must provide them. The subsidy was lawfully
+his and he needed every penny of it. His army had not been destroyed.
+He was simply obliged to strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him.
+Flanders must do her part. They were deaf to this appeal, although a
+generous message was sent saying that if he were hard pressed they
+would go in person to rescue him from danger.
+
+The story of the assembly of the Estates of the two Burgundies is
+equally interesting as a picture of the clash between sovereign will
+and popular unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money-boxes.[6]
+The deputies convened at Salins on July 8th, in the presence of the
+duke himself. The session was opened by Jean de Grey, the president
+of the _parlement_ of the duchy, with a brief statement of the
+sovereign's needs. Then Charles took the floor, and delivered a
+tremendous harangue with a marvellous command of language. Panigarola
+declared that his allusions to parallel crises in ancient times were
+so apt and so fluent that it seemed as though the book of history lay
+opened before him and that he read from its pages.[7] The impression
+he made was plain to see.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF NANCY CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF
+ST. GERMAIN DES PRÉS (COMINES-LENGLET, III.)]
+
+His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disasters were open and
+aboveboard this time. There was no such pretence put forward as the
+escort of Mary. The argument was that any ruler, backed by his people
+unanimous in their willingness to give their last jewel for public
+purposes, must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc.
+
+His learned and able discourse was well received, according to other
+reporters besides the Milanese, but there was no hearty yielding to
+sentiment in the reply. Four days were consumed in deliberation before
+that was ready on July 12th. They had certainly considered that the
+grant of 100,000 florins annually for six years, accorded two years
+previously, was their share. But in view of the duke's appeal, they
+would endeavour to aid him. Let him stipulate which cities he wished
+fortified and they would assume charge of the work. Two favours they
+begged--that Charles should not rashly expose his person "for he was
+the sole prince of his glorious House," and that he should be ready
+to receive overtures of peace. "We will give life and property for
+defence, but we implore you to take no offensive step." Charles did
+not, perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and of his
+judgment that these words implied.
+
+Financial stress was not the duke's only difficulty in 1476. The
+defection of his allies continued, Yolande--that former good friend of
+his--was now a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to restore
+her to freedom and to her son's estates. Not that her restraint was
+in itself hard to bear. At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from
+Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished, except to depart.
+Couriers, too, were at her service apparently, who carried uninspected
+letters to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XI. Commines
+says that she hesitated to take refuge with the last lest he should
+promptly return her to Burgundian "protection." Yet her brother's
+hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong assurance against such
+action. Louis XI. was never so genial as when hearing some ill of
+Charles. "From what I have learned, I believe his Turk, his devil
+in this world, the person he loathes most intensely, is the Duke of
+Burgundy, with whom he can never live in amity." These words were sent
+by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan,[8] who was also turning slowly,
+with some periods of hesitation, to an alliance with Louis, now
+engaged in "following the hare with a cart."[9]
+
+On his side the king declared that he had no intention of troubling
+further about his obligations to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has himself
+broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a war when I please. But I
+have thought it best to temporise."
+
+[Illustration: COLUMN COMMEMORATING CHARLES AT NANCY AFTER THE DRAWING
+BY PERNOT]
+
+In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper and deeper into
+negotiations with any and every one whom he could turn against
+Charles. In October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne, --the
+territory that Edward IV. had failed to consign to the duke's
+sovereignty,--made a descent on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy.
+There was no attempt to stay her departure, and she was scrupulous, so
+it is said, in leaving money behind to pay for the Burgundian property
+carried off in her train--though it were nothing but an old crossbow.
+"Welcome, Madame the Burgundian," was the fraternal salutation which
+she received on her arrival at her brother's court. She replied that
+she was a good French woman and quite ready to obey his majesty's
+commands.[10]
+
+During the summer, Charles remained at La Rivière exerting every
+effort to levy an army. It was no easy task, and the review held on
+July 27th showed a meagre return for his exertions. But he did not
+slacken his efforts. Lists were immediately drawn up showing the
+vacancies in each company, and his money stress did not prevent
+his offering increased pay as an extra inducement to recruits. "An
+excellent means of encouragement," comments Panigarola.
+
+The necessity for his preparations was evident. An opportune legacy
+inherited by René of Lorraine enabled that dispossessed prince to work
+to better advantage than he had been able to do since Charles had
+convened the Estates of Lorraine at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day
+of the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a Swiss diet at
+Fribourg adopted resolutions regarding, a closer alliance with
+René.[11] Louis XI. ostensibly maintained his truce with Charles but
+he had intimated that a French army would wait in Dauphiné ready "to
+help adjust the affairs of Savoy," and, at about the same time when
+Yolande was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss embassy,
+so that René did not feel himself without support as he advanced to
+recover his city.
+
+The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were weak and indifferent--a
+brief siege, and the capital of Lorraine capitulated to Duke René.
+Charles was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His forces, too,
+were a mere shadow. Three to four thousand men rallied round him in
+the Franche-Comté, a few hundred joined him in Burgundy, and as he
+skirted the frontier of Champagne he received slight reinforcements
+from Luxemburg. Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops, and
+the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs as had, individually,
+respected the duke's appeal. In all, the forces at Charles's
+disposition amounted to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at
+Neuss or at Granson.
+
+At a diet of October 17th, the compact between René and the Swiss was
+confirmed, and the former was assured of efficient aid to help him
+repulse Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was need. The city
+of Toul refused admission to both dukes, but furnished provision for
+Charles's troops, so that for the moment he was the better off of the
+two. René then proceeded to provision Nancy and to prepare it for a
+siege, while he himself proceeded to Pont-à-Mousson, and for several
+days the two adversaries were only separated by the Moselle. Charles's
+army was augmented daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and
+England, and by fragments of the garrisons of the towns in Lorraine
+that had yielded to René and the latter fell back, little by little.
+Charles in his turn held Pont-à-Mousson, and proceeded along the road
+to Nancy, not deterred by the Lorrainers.
+
+It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Burgundy laid siege for the
+second time to Nancy. In thus entering into active hostilities, he was
+ignoring the advice of his councillors who were unanimous in begging
+him to devote the winter months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or
+Flanders. His position was really very dangerous. He had no base on
+which to rest as he had recovered no towns except Pont-à-Mousson. But
+he ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault after assault upon
+Nancy--all most valiantly repulsed. Within the walls, there was an
+amazing display of courage, energy, and good humour. As a matter of
+fact, the duke's reputation had waned, while the fear of his cruelty
+emboldened the burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate would
+be better than falling into his hands, was the general opinion.
+
+Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the garrisons seized every
+occasion to harry the Burgundians. Familiar with the lay of the land,
+with every cross-road and by-path, they were able to lie in wait for
+the foragers and to do much damage. Four hundred cavaliers, coming
+up from Burgundy, were attacked by one Malhortie de Rozière, and
+literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed sides with ease.
+Only a few escaped to report the fate of the others to Charles. Not
+long after, Malhortie, encouraged by this success, crept up to the
+Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and captured a goodly number
+of horses.
+
+The troops on which Charles counted most confidently were
+Campobasso's. Several attempts were made to warn him that treachery
+was possible in that quarter if the commander were too much
+exasperated by delays in payment, too much tried by the ill-temper of
+his employer. But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what was
+passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting the moment for his final
+defection, the Italian found it possible to enter into communication
+with René and to retard the operations of the siege so as to give time
+for the advance of the army of relief.
+
+The weather of this year was a marked contrast to the mild season of
+1473. The winter set in early and the cold became very severe, almost
+at once. Their sufferings made the burghers very impatient for the
+relief of whose coming they could get no certain assurance. The
+Burgundian lines were held so rigidly that the interchange of messages
+between the city and her friends was rendered very difficult.[12] One
+Suffren de Baschi tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged
+that René was levying troops in Switzerland and would soon be with
+them. Baschi fell into the duke's hands and was immediately hanged.
+One story says that Campobasso was among the interceders for his life
+and received a box on the ear for his pains, an insult that proved the
+last straw in his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however, declares
+that the Italian urged the death of the captive, fearful of the
+premature betrayal of his own intended treachery.
+
+This execution was one of those arbitrary acts condemned by public
+opinion as contrary to the code of warfare. Intense indignation among
+the Lorrainers and the Swiss forced René to retaliatory measures, and
+he ordered the execution of all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred
+and twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing an inscription
+to the effect that their death was the work of _le téméraire_. The
+rancour of the proceedings became terrible. No quarter was given in
+any engagements. Slaughter was the only thought on either side.
+
+Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a draper of Mirecourt,
+proved more successful than Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information,
+that René's army would leave Basel on December 26th, put heart into
+the beseiged and the bells rang out joyfully.
+
+Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at mediation between the
+combatants. The King of Portugal,[13] nephew of Isabella, appeared at
+his cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to the carnage, and
+in the name of humanity to stop a war that was horrible to all the
+world. In spite of his own stress, Charles managed to give his kinsman
+a splendid reception, but he waved aside his petition, and simply
+invited him to join him in his campaign.
+
+A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to march from Basel to Nancy,
+across the plains of Alsace. Meantime René had rallied about four
+thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to this was added an
+Alsatian force which had joined him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port.
+They were a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by routing
+a few Burgundians out of the houses where they had hidden, and
+massacring them publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles, was
+easily put to flight.
+
+On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh troops had reached St.
+Nicolas. He showed assurance, arrogance, and negligence. His belief in
+his star was fully restored. He actually did not take the trouble to
+try once more to ascertain the exact strength of the enemy. He had
+commissioned the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him at Basel, and
+refused to credit the statement that the Swiss were throwing in their
+fortunes with René. He thought that "the Child," as he contemptuously
+termed his adversary, had simply gone right and left to hire
+mercenaries, and he rather ridiculed the idea of taking such
+_canaille_ seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of a
+gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish them once for all.[14]
+
+It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were a different and far
+less efficient body than the volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
+French gold, scattered freely, had done its work in exciting the
+cupidity of every man who could bear arms. There were some staunch
+leaders, like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein, but their kind
+was in the minority. Berne aided with money rather than with men, but
+she was not a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages to
+ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was evident in every quarter. As
+the troops made their way over the Jura their behaviour showed that
+the late splendid booty had affected them. Plunder was their aim. When
+René reviewed these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending
+officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor of Alsace.[15]
+Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed over to the Duke of Lorraine, who
+appointed him marshal.
+
+On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held a council meeting. The
+opinion of the wisest, already given on previous occasions, was urged
+again:
+
+    "Do not risk battle. René is poor. If there are no immediate
+    engagements, his mercenaries will abandon him for lack of pay.
+    Raise the siege and depart for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army
+    can rest and be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will
+    be easy to fall upon René deprived of his troops."
+
+Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments. He was determined on
+facing the issue at once. Leaving a small force to sustain the siege,
+he ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of the 4th and a
+movement made towards St.-Nicolas. He selected a ground favourable
+for the manipulation of a large body, and placed his artillery on a
+plateau situated between Jarville and Neuville. It was not a good
+position, being hedged in on the right and in front by woods which
+could conceal the movements of a foe without impeding them. Only one
+way of retreat was open--towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's
+last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to cross several small
+streams and deceptive marshes, half frozen as they were, besides the
+river Meurthe, a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the
+flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread surprise, while
+in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe was more than possible.
+Curiously, the precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of
+Morat were repeated here--proof that Charles had not the qualities of
+a general who could learn by experience.[16]
+
+The exact force at his disposal on this occasion has been variously
+estimated. Considering the ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during
+the siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual combatants
+did not number more than ten thousand, all told. And only half of
+these were of any value--two thousand men under Galeotto, and
+three thousand Burgundians commanded by Charles and his immediate
+lieutenants. The remainder were unreliable mercenaries and the still
+more unreliable troops of Campobasso already pledged to the foe. La
+Marche estimates René's force at twelve thousand and adds: "The Duke
+of Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience, he had not two
+thousand fighting men."[17]
+
+The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by a Lorrainer, Vautrin
+Wuisse. The first manoeuvre was to divert the foe and turn him towards
+the woods, and then to attack his centre, which would at the same
+time be pressed at the front by the Lorraine forces, headed by René
+himself. The plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that they dared
+take the offensive, Charles was alert to the harsh cries of the "bull"
+of Uri and the "cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across the
+woods. A sudden presentiment saddened him. Putting on his helmet, he
+accidentally knocked off the lion bearing the legend _Hoc est signum
+Dei_. He replaced it and plunged into the mêlée.
+
+The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops and the duke's were the
+only ones to make sturdy resistance. The right wing of the army gave
+way under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry, "_Sauve qui
+pent_!" raised possibly by Campobasso's traitors, produced a terrible
+rout. Three quarters of the troops were in flight, while the duke
+still fought on with superhuman ferocity.
+
+Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected his own mercenaries
+as best he could, while Campobasso completed the treason that he had
+plotted with René, which had been partially accomplished four days
+previously, and calmly took up his position on the bridge of Bouxières
+on the Meurthe, to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then the
+besieged made a sudden sortie which increased the disorder. The battle
+proper was of short duration, with little bloodshed, but the pursuit
+was sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian army had left no
+loophole open for retreat.
+
+The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as Bouxières and
+inflicted carnage right and left on the route. It was easy work. The
+morasses were traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their arms,
+found it impossible to free themselves, when they once were entangled.
+They fell like flies before the fury of the mountaineers. The
+Lorrainers and Alsatians were more humane or more mercenary, for they
+took prisoners instead of killing indiscriminately. Charles fought
+desperately to the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged into
+the thick of the fight and risked his life in a reckless manner,
+but there is absolute uncertainty as to how he met his death. It is
+generally accepted that the last person to see him alive was one
+Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan captain. This
+lad, with an extra helmet swung over his shoulder, found himself
+close to the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops, noticed his horse
+stumble, was sure that the rider fell. The next moment, Colonna's
+attention was diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and knew no
+more of the day's events. The figure of Charles of Burgundy disappears
+from the view of man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the
+closing scenes of his life.
+
+At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine rode into the rescued
+city and re-entered his palace. At the gates was heaped up a ghastly
+memorial of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion to
+his cause. This was a pile of the bones of the foul animals they had
+consumed when other food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to
+their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe now became René's
+chief anxiety, and he despatched messengers to Metz and elsewhere
+to find out where Charles had taken refuge. The reports were all
+negative. The first positive assurance that the duke was dead came
+from young Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself introduced into
+René's presence on Monday evening. The page told his tale and declared
+that he could point out the precise place where he had seen the Duke
+of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, January 7th, a
+party went forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and were
+guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool which he asserted confidently
+was the very spot where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evidence
+went to give corroboration to his word, for the dozen or more bodies
+that lay strewn along the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool
+were close friends and followers of the duke, men who would, in all
+probability, have stayed faithfully by their master's person, a
+volunteer bodyguard as long as they drew breath. These bodies were all
+stripped naked. Harpies had already gathered what plunder they could
+find, and no apparel or accoutrements were left to show the difference
+in rank between noble and page. But the faces were recognisable and
+they were identified as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court.
+Separated from this group by a little space at the very edge of the
+pool, was another naked body in still more doleful plight. The face
+was disfigured beyond all semblance of what it might have been in
+life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one was imbedded in the frozen
+slime. Yet there was evidence on the poor forsaken remains that
+convinced the searchers that this was indeed the mortal part of the
+great duke. Two wounds from a pick and a blow above the ear--inflicted
+by "one named Humbert"--showed how death had been caused. The missing
+teeth corresponded to those lost by Charles, there was a scar just
+where he had received his wound at Montl'héry, the finger nails were
+long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula on the groin, and an
+ingrowing nail were additional marks of identification,--six definite
+proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this wretched sight, on that
+January morning, were men intimately acquainted with the duke's
+person.
+
+    "There were his physician, a Portuguese named Mathieu, and his
+    valets, besides Olivier de la Marche[18] and Denys his chaplain
+    who were taken thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It
+    has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and to know it
+    better it [the body] has been bathed in warm water and good wine
+    and cleansed. In that state it was recognisable by all who
+    had previously seen and known him. The page who had given the
+    information was taken to the king. Had it not been for him it
+    would never have been known what had become of him considering the
+    state and the place where he was found."[19]
+
+Before the body could be freed from the ice in which it was imbedded,
+implements had to be brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles hastened
+to the spot, when they heard the tidings, to show honour to the man
+who had been their accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted
+as escort as the burden was carried into the town and placed in a
+suitable chamber in the home of one George Marquiez. There seems to
+have been no insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference in
+the proceedings. The very spot where the bier rested for a moment was
+marked with a little black cross.
+
+As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became evident--a deep cut
+from a halberd in the head, spear thrusts through the thighs and
+abdomen--proofs of the closeness of the last struggle. When all the
+dignity possible had been given to the miserable human fragment and
+the chamber hung with conventional mourning, René came thither clad
+in black garments. Kneeling by the bier, he said: "Would to God, fair
+cousin, that your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you to the
+condition in which I see you."
+
+For five days the body lay in state before the high altar of the
+church of St. George, and the obsequies that followed were attended by
+René and his nobles, and the coffin was honourably placed among the
+ducal dead.
+
+Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried with the bones to
+which his name was given. When the Swiss turned their way homeward,
+their farewell words to René were: "If the Duke of Burgundy has
+escaped and should reopen war, tell us." "If he has assured his
+safety," René answered, "we will fight again when summer comes." There
+was no delay, however, in the division of the spoils. The Burgundian
+treasure was distributed among René's allies, and the ignorant
+soldiers received articles worth many times their pay, which they, in
+many cases, disposed of for an infinitesimal part of their value.
+
+As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and Mary of Burgundy wrote
+to Louis XI. from Ghent:
+
+"We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in the hands of his
+enemies." Other rumours continued to be current, not only for weeks
+but for years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that the vanished
+duke had retired to Brucsal in Swabia, where he led an austere life,
+_genus vitae horridum atque asperum_. Bets were made, too, on the
+chances of his return.[20]
+
+Louis XI. was a very pleasant person when news was brought him that he
+liked to hear. Commines and Bouchage together had told him about the
+defeat of Morat and had each received two hundred silver marks. It was
+a Seigneur de Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters from
+Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It was "really difficult for the
+king to keep his countenance so surprised was he with joy."[21] His
+letter to Craon was written on January 9th and ran as follows.[22]
+
+    "M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter and heard
+    the good news that you impart to me, for which I thank you as much
+    as I can. Now is the time to use all your five natural senses to
+    deliver the duchy and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the
+    duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne take your
+    troops and put yourselves within the land, and, if you love me,
+    keep as good order among your men as if you were in Paris, and
+    prove that I mean to treat them [the Burgundians] better than any
+    one in my realm."
+
+The "five natural senses" of the king's lieutenant were employed most
+loyally to his master's service. The duchy of Burgundy returned to the
+French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were convened by Louis XI,
+and there was no longer any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful
+peer in France.
+
+With the exception of Guelders the lands acquired by Charles fell
+away, but the remainder as inherited by him passed under the rule of
+his daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the House of Austria,
+through which it passed finally to the King of Spain.
+
+On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Burgundy had only just
+passed middle life. He was forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six
+days old, an age when a man has the right to look forward to new
+achievements. Every circumstance of the dreary and premature death was
+in glaring contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in insolent
+contradiction to his own estimation of the obligations assumed by Fate
+in his behalf. In certain details of the catastrophe there are, of
+course, accidents. No one could have predicted that the duke whose
+chief title was a synonym for magnificence, that this cherished heir
+to his House, who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his
+epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours long, unattended and
+uncared-for, naked and frozen on a bed of congealed mud, with a winter
+sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it overwhelmed him was too
+appalling for any foresight. But the great dream of the man's life
+that vanished with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere
+chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended by the battle of
+Nancy, other means of destruction, inevitable and sure, would have
+appeared. The projected erection of a solidified kingdom stretching
+from the North Sea to Switzerland and possibly to the Mediterranean,
+one that could hold the balance of power between France and Germany,
+contained elements of disintegration, latent at its foundation. It is
+clear, from a consideration of the Duke of Burgundy and his position
+in the Europe of his time, that the materials which he expected to
+mould into a realm were a collection of sentient units. Each separate
+one was instinct with individual life, individual desires, conscious
+of its own minute past, capable of directing its own contracted
+future. That the hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
+had lodged upon a head already dignified by a plurality of similar
+titles, was a mere chance and viewed by the burghers in a wholly
+different light from that in which this same overlord regarded it. The
+fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant, the merchants in
+Flanders, the vintners in Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings
+of an imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds, unmolested
+highways of commerce, vineyards free from the tramp of armies. And
+with their desires fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
+the political centralisation planned by their common ruler, often
+betrayed both ignorance and inconsistency. At various epochs some
+degree of imperialism for the Netherland group had been quite to
+popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and Hainaut, it had been conceded
+that Jacqueline of Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
+conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the exchange of sovereigns
+had been effected in spite of the manifest injustice involved in the
+transaction. But while there was willingness to accept any advantages
+that might accrue to a people from the reputation of a local overlord,
+it was never forgotten for an instant that his relation to his
+subjects was as their own count and strictly limited by conditions
+that had long existed within each petty territory. While Charles
+seemed to be on the straight road towards his goal, the people within
+each body politic of his inherited states were profoundly preoccupied
+with their own local concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
+feared demands upon their internal revenues for external purposes.
+
+It does not seem probable, however, that the abstract question of the
+projected kingdom was ever taken very seriously among those to be
+directly affected by the proposed change. The bars interposed by his
+own subjects in the duke's progress towards royalty were obstructions
+to his successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed, strenuous
+opposition to details was allied to a vague and passive acceptance of
+the whole. Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly as
+a revival, not as a novelty. The previous existence of a kingdom of
+Burgundy was undoubtedly a potent factor in the degree of progress
+made by Charles towards conjuring into new life a reincarnation of
+that ancient realm. Yet it was a factor clothed with a shadow rather
+than with the substance of truth. Geographically there was very little
+in common between the dominion projected more or less definitely in
+1473 and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they had successively
+existed. That of Charles corresponded very nearly to the ancient
+kingdom of Lorraine. Franche-Comté was the only ground common to the
+territories actually held by the duke and to the latest kingdom of
+Burgundy. His possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly beyond the
+limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine. But the old name survived in
+his ducal title, and it was that name that lent a semblance of reality
+to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle kingdom as outlined in the
+duke's mind more or less definitely or as bounded by his ambition.
+
+In retrospect it is clear that more was requisite for the realisation
+of the vision of the wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of
+a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group of lands. A modern
+writer has pointed out how infinitely subtle is the vital principle
+of a nation, one not even to be created by common interests. A
+_Zollverein_ is no _patria_. An element of sentiment is needful, and
+an element of growth.[23] The nation like the individual is the result
+of what has gone before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can
+command respect at home and abroad--that is the capital on which
+is based a national idea. To have wrought in common, to wish to
+accomplish more in the future, are essential conditions to be a
+people. "The existence of a nation is a plebiscite of every day, just
+as the existence of the individual is a perpetual affirmation of
+life."
+
+Now it is evident, in summing up the salient features of this failure,
+that a vital principle was not germinating in the inchoate mass.
+Charles himself never attained the rank of a national hero. More than
+that, with all his individual states, he never had any nation, great
+or small, at his back. Personally he was a man without a country. His
+father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite as French as his
+grandfather, Philip the Hardy, the first Duke of Burgundy out of the
+House of Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended his sway
+to many non-French-speaking peoples and was able to use the Flemish
+speech if it suited his whim. But that was as a condescension and as
+something extraneous. The chief of French peers remained his proudest
+title; his ability to influence French affairs, the task he liked
+best.
+
+His son was quite different in his attitude towards France. He
+minimised his degree of French blood royal. More than once he boasted
+of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock. He had certain
+characteristics of an immigrant, who has abandoned family traditions
+and is proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is to outshine
+what he has inherited. Charles was not exactly a stupid man, but he
+certainly was dazzled by his early surroundings into an overestimate
+of himself, into a conceit that was a tremendous stumbling-block in
+his path. He had not the kind of intelligence that would have enabled
+him to take at their worth the rhetorical phrases of adulation heaped
+upon him on festal occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very
+self-confidence, gave him a high conception of his duties. At his
+accession, he showed a sense of his responsibilities, a definite
+theory of conduct which he fully intended to act upon. His very belief
+in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of purpose. He was
+convinced that he could maintain law, order, justice in his domain,
+and he fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he left out of
+consideration the rights of the people, rights older than his dynasty.
+In his military career, too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest
+bent towards preserving the best conditions possible amid the
+brutalities of warfare. He curbed the soldiers' passions, he protected
+women, and was as relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as
+towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted himself to secure
+impartial equity for all alike. When he gave a promise, he fully
+intended to make his words good. It was only in the face of repeated
+deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous Louis XI. that
+Charles changed for the worse. Exasperated by the knowledge that the
+king's solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no intention of
+fulfilment, he attempted to adopt a similar policy and was singularly
+infelicitous in his imitation. His political methods degenerated into
+mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces, illumined by no clever
+intuition of where to draw the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was
+worth no more than the king's, and words were assuredly at a discount
+just then. A perusal of the international correspondence of the period
+leaves the reader marvelling why time was wasted in covering paper,
+with flimsy, insincere phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no
+true indication of the road to be travelled. There are, however,
+differences in the art of dissimulation and Charles never attained a
+mastery of the science.
+
+The adjective which has attached itself to his name in English in an
+inaccurate rendering of _le téméraire_ which belongs to him in French.
+There were other terms too applied to Charles at different periods of
+his career. He was Charles the Hardy in his early youth, Charles the
+Terrible in those last months when he tried to fortify himself with
+wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all times he might have been
+called Charles the self-absorbed, Charles the solitary. There have
+been many men more passionate, more uncontrolled, than Charles of
+Burgundy, whose personal magnetism yet enabled them to win friends and
+to keep them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure to command
+personal devotion, unquestioning loyalty, was one of his chief
+personal misfortunes. Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found
+many lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son received
+criticism for his faults even from the faithful among his servitors.
+How a reflection of his bearing glows out from the mirror turned
+casually upon him by Commines' skilful hand! Take the glimpse of Louis
+XI. as he lures on St. Pol's messenger to imitate Charles. The Sire
+de Créville inspired by the royal interest in his narration about an
+incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his cheeks, stamps his
+feet in a dictatorial manner, and swears by St. George as he quotes
+the duke's words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines, and a
+Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his liege lord so mocked. It is
+a time when St. Pol is trying to ride three horses at once and
+the French king takes this method to have Charles informed of his
+duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I grow a little deaf," and the
+flattered envoy repeats his dramatic performance in a way to engrave
+it on the memory of the duke's retainer.
+
+[Illustration: THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY]
+
+In thus touching on the traits of his former master, Commines does not
+show malice or even a dislike for the duke. He is much more severe
+about Louis--only he found the latter easier to serve.
+
+In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to have found any
+companionship that affected his life. He is lauded as a faithful
+husband to Isabella of Bourbon but her death seemed to make little
+difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York had the actual
+significance enjoyed by Isabella of Portugal as consort to Philip the
+Good with his notoriously roving fancy.
+
+Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of Burgundy tried to
+stand alone. Perhaps his chief happiness in life was that he never
+knew how insufficient for his desired task he was and how the new art
+of printing, the birth of Erasmus of Rotterdam, were the really great
+events of his brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good fortune
+that he never knew that no splendid achievement gave significance to
+his device: "I have undertaken it"--_Je lay emprins_.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Mém. de la soc. bourg. de géog. et d' hist_. Article by
+A. Cornereau, vi., 229.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Les états de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, _Études et notices
+hist,. des Pays-Bas_, i., I.)
+
+This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pensionary of
+Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of 1476. This so-called
+"States-general" was by no means a legislative assembly. When Philip
+the Good convened deputies from the various states at Bruges in 1463,
+it was to save himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals
+to ask for _aides_. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several
+times before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of
+self-convention and when a constitutional rôle was assured to the
+body; though not used for many years (_See_ Pirenne, ii., 379.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Pour y penser la nuit jusques aw lendemain_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _S'ils n'avaient point charge limitée quantefois ils
+devaient boire en chemin_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Compte-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. 1,
+1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are proofs that
+another assembly was confidently expected.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gingins la Sarra, ii., 354.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid_., 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro
+avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in
+Kirk, iii., 487.]
+
+[Footnote 9: An Italian phrase signifying to run down his game
+slowly.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Commines, v., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress
+of central Europe, the first of international congresses.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Huguénin Jeune, _Hist. de la guerre de Lorraine_, p.
+217.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking
+Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was refused on
+the score that Charles the Bold was menacing the safety of the French
+frontier. Alphonse's prayer for peace might have been instigated by
+thoughts of his own needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p.
+386.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Scott's _Anne of Geierstein_. This is the man whom
+the author makes the appointed instrument of the _Vehmgericht_ to slay
+Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Toutey, p. 388.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Mémoires_, iii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 18: It is strange that La Marche does not make more of
+this scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The duke
+remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like the poorest
+man in the world and I was taken and others." iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _La déconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par
+Monseigneur de Lorraine_. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493.
+
+This brief account was drawn up evidently before the duke's burial was
+known by the writer. It may have been written solely to please Louis
+XI. Still there is a simplicity about it that holds the attention,
+in spite of the fact that the story is not accepted by critical
+historians.]
+
+[Footnote 20: La Marche, iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Comines v., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres_ vi., p. 111.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Renan, _Qu'est ce qu'une nation_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the later years
+of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of Charles the Bold. Fairly
+adequate bibliographies can be found in Pirenne and Molinier (see
+list). The following list contains the full titles of the chief works
+to which direct reference is made in the text but falls far short of a
+complete description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which
+has coloured the treatment of the subject.
+
+When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by other writers the
+reference is to the later books only.
+
+_Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France_. Vol. i. (Paris, 1834.)
+Contains _Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du siège de Beauvais,
+en_ 1472, etc.
+
+BARANTE, M. DE. _Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de
+Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de Reiffenberg._ 6th ed. 10
+vols. (Brussels, 1835.)
+
+BASIN, THOMAS, 1412-1491. _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de
+Louis XI._ (Latin text). Ed. J.E.J. Quicherat. 2 vols. (Paris, 1855.)
+
+BEAUCOURT, G. DU FRESNE, MARQUIS DE. _Histoire de Charles VII_ . 6
+vols. (Paris, 1890.)
+
+BLOK, P.J. _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourgondisch-Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij._ (The Hague, 1884.)
+
+BRANTÔME, PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, SEIGNEUR DE. _OEuvres complètes de_.
+Ed. Ludovic Lalanne. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+BUDT, ADRIAN DE. _Chronicon Flandriæ. De Smet Corpus chron. Flandr.
+I_. (Brussels, 1837-65.)
+
+BUSSIÈRE, BARON MARIE-THÉODORE DE. _Histoire de la ligue formée contre
+Charles le téméraire_. (Paris, 1846.)
+
+_Cent nouvelles nouvelles, Les_. Édition revue sur les textes
+originaux, etc., par A.J.V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris, 1841.)
+
+CHABEUF, H. _Deux portraits bourguignons du XV^{e} siècle_. (Dijon,
+1893.) (Mémoires de la société bourguignonne de géographie et
+d'histoire. Vol. ix.)
+
+CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES, 1404-1475. _OEuvres._ (Ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove.)
+8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV._ 2 vols. (Hamburg,
+1843.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Urkunden zur Geschichte von Österreich, Steiermark,_
+etc. [Monumenta Habsburgica.] 2 vols. (Vienna, 1849.)
+
+CLÉMART, PIERRE. _Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_. (Paris, 1873.)
+
+_Collection de documents inédits sur l'histoire de France_.
+"Mélanges." (Ed. M. Champollion-Figeac.) (Paris, 1843.)
+
+COMMINES, PHILIP DE. _The Historie of_, Englished by Thomas Dannett.
+Anno 1596. With an introduction by Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.)
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Comines,_ 1447-1511. Nouvelle édition par
+Messieurs Godefroy, augmentée par M. l'Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4
+vols. Ref. (Comines-Lenglet.) (Paris, 1747.)
+
+This edition contains many letters, documents, etc., collected by
+M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy has been impugned in many
+instances. Those cited have been taken with a view to the later
+criticism upon them.
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle édition publiée avec
+une introduction et des notes par Bernard de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref.
+(Commynes-Mandrot.) (Paris, 1901.)
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle édition, revue sur les
+manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale, etc., par Mlle. Dupont. 3 vols.
+Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.) (Paris, 1840.)
+
+CORNEREAU, A. _Le palais des états de Bourgogne à Dijon_. (Dijon,
+1890.) (Mémoires de la soc. bourguignonne de géog. et d'hist., v.)
+
+COURTÉPÉE, M. _Description, générale et particulière du duché de
+Bourgogne_. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.)
+
+DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE. _Oeuvres complètes_. (Paris, 1878- 1904.) (Soc.
+des anciens textes français.) 11 vols.
+
+DES MAREZ, G. _L'organisation du travail à Bruxelles au XV^{e}
+siècle_. (Bruxelles, 1903-04.) (Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale
+de Belgique. Vol. lxv.-lxvi.)
+
+DEWEZ, M. _Histoire particulière des provinces belgiques sous le
+gouvernement des ducs et des comtes, pour servir de complément à
+l'histoire générale_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1834.)
+
+DU CLERCQ, JACQUES, 1420-1501. _Mémoires_. (Ed. Baron F. de
+Reiffenberg.) 4 vols. (Brussels, 1823.)
+
+DUCLOS, CHARLES P. _(Oeuvres complètes de_. Nouvelle édition. 9 vols.
+(Paris, 1820.)
+
+ESCOUCHY, MATHIEU D'(DE COUCY). _Chronique_. (1420?-1482 +.) (Ed. G.
+du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris, 1863.) (Soc. de l'hist. de
+France.)
+
+FREDERICQ, PAUL. _Le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_.
+(Brussels, 1875.)
+
+FREEMAN, EDWARD A. _The Historical Geography of Europe._ 2 vols. 3d
+edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 1903.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pièces inédites,_
+etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Collection des voyages des souverains des
+Pays-Bas._ 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Documents inédits concernant l'histoire de la
+Belgique_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Études et notices historiques concernant l'histoire
+des Pays-Bas._ 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.)
+
+_Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium_. (Marténe Coll. Vol. iv.) (Paris,
+1729.).
+
+GINGINS LA SARRA, LE BARON DE FRÉDERIC DE, Ed. _Dépêches des
+ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de Charles le Hardi_,
+1474-1477. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.)
+
+GOLLUT, M. LOYS. _Les mémoires historiques de la république séquanoise
+et des princes de la Franche-Comté de Bourgogne._ (Arbois, 1846.)
+
+JEUNE, HUGUÉNIN. _Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine et du siège de
+Nancy, par Charles le Téméraire, duc de Bourgogne,_ 1473-1477. (Metz,
+1837.)
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, LE BARON. [Ed. of works of Chastellain, Budt,
+etc.]; see article in _Bullétin de l'académie royale de Belgique_,
+1887, etc.
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE. _Histoire de Flandre_. 5 vols. (Brussels,
+1853-54.)
+
+KIRK, JOHN FOSTER. _History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy_. 3
+vols. (Philadelphia, 1864-1868.)
+
+LABORDE (L.E.S.J.), COMTE DE. _Les ducs de Bourgogne: Études sur les
+lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le XV^{e} siècle_, etc.
+"Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.)
+
+LACOMBLET, TH. J. _Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des Niederrheins._
+4 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1848.)
+
+LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE, 1422-1502. _Mémoires._ (1435-1488.) Paris,
+1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 vols.
+
+LAVISSE, ERNEST. _Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'à la
+révolution_. Publiée avec la collaboration de MM. Bayet, Block, Carré,
+Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Luchaire, Mariéjol, Petit-Dutaillis,
+etc. (Paris, 1893-.)
+
+The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI. is written
+by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University of Lille.
+(Reference used, Lavisse, IV^{11}.) (Paris, 1902.)
+
+LE FÉVRE, JEAN, SEIGNEUR DE ST. RÉMY. (_Toison d'or._) (1395-1463.)
+_Chronique._ 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+LE ROUX DE LINCY, A.J.V. _Chants historiques sur les règnes de Charles
+VII. et de Louis XI_.
+
+_Lettres de Louis XI_. (Paris, 1883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen, et
+Étienne Charavay,
+
+LOOMIS, LOUISE ROPES. _Medieval Hellenism_. (Columbia University,
+1906.)
+
+MARTÉNE, EDMUND. _Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum, Historicorum,
+Dogmaticorum, Moralium, Amplissium Collectio_. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.)
+
+_Mémoires et documents publiés par la société d'histoire de la suisse
+romande_. Vol. viii. "Mélanges." (Lausanne, 1849.)
+
+MEYER, J. _Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandricarum_. (Antwerp,
+1561.)
+
+MOLINET, JEAN. _Chronique_ (1474-1506.) (Paris, 1824-29.)
+
+This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting especially
+for the siege of Neuss.
+
+MONSTRELET, ENGUERRAND DE (d. 1453). _La Chronique_. (Paris, 1861.)
+
+MOLINIER, AUGUSTE. _Les sources de l'histoire de France des origines
+aux guerres d'Italie_. Vols. iv., v., 1461-1494. (Paris, 1904.)
+
+_Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde_.
+Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.)
+
+OMAN, CHARLES W.C. _Warwick the Kingmaker_. 1890. ONUFRIUS DE SANCTA
+CROCE, Bishop of Tricaria. _Mémoire sur les affaires de Liege_ (1468).
+(Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brussels, 1885.)
+
+OUDENBOSCH. _Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, historicorum_, etc.
+_Rerum Leodiensius. Opus Adriani de vetere Buseo_, 1343. See Marténe.
+
+PICQUÉ, CAMILLE. _Mémoire sur Philippe de Commines_. (Brussels, 1864.)
+Mém. couronnés par 1'acad. royale de Belgique, vol. xvi.
+
+PIOT, G.J.C., Ed. _Chronycke van Nederlandt_--1565. _Vlaamsche
+Kronijk_--1598. _Collection des chroniques belges_. (Brussels, 1836-.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Histoire de Belgique_. 2 vols. (Brussels, 1903.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique: catalogue
+méthodique et chronologique des sources et des ouvrages principaux
+relatifs à l'histoire de tous les Pays-Bas jusqu' en 1598_. (Brussels,
+1902.)
+
+PLANCHER, URBAIN. _Histoire générale et particulière de Bourgogne avec
+des notes et les preuves justificatives_, etc. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1739.)
+
+POICTIERS, ALIENOR DE. _Les honneurs de la cour_. (In Sainte-Palaye,
+_Mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie_, vol. 2, pp. 171-267.) (Paris,
+1781.)
+
+POLAIN, M.L. _Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège._ 4th ed.
+(Brussels, 1866.)
+
+PUTNAM, RUTH. _A Medieval Princess_. (New York, 1904.)
+
+RAM, P.F.X. DE. _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de Liège
+sous les princes-évêques Louis de Bourbon et Jean de Horne_, I vol.
+(Brussels, 1844.)
+
+RAMSAY, SIR JAMES H. _Lancaster and York, a Century of English
+History_ (A.D., 1399-1485). 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892.)
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Essai sur les enfants naturels de
+Philippe de Bourgogne_.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or_.
+(Brussels, 1830.)
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Mémoire sur le sejour de Louis XI. aux
+Pays-Bas_. Nouveaux mém. de l'acad. royale. 1829.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _De l'état de la population_, etc., _dans
+les Pays-Bas pendant le XV^{e} et le XVI^{e} siècle_. Mem. de l'acad.
+royale in 4°. (Brussels, 1822.) [Also editor of various works.]
+
+RODT, EMANUEL VON. _Die Feldzüge Karls des Kühnen_. 2 vols.
+(Schaffhausen, 1843.)
+
+ROLAND, P. AUBERT. _La guerre de René II. contre Charles le Hardi_.
+(Luxembourg, 1742.)
+
+ROYE, JEAN DE. _Chronique scandaleuse_. [A journal of the years
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+
+RUHL, GUSTAVE. _L'expedition des Franchimontoir en 1468_. Soc. d'art
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+
+RYMER, THOMAS. _Foedera, conventiones, litteræ et cujuscumque generis
+acta publica inter reges Angliæ et alios quosvis reges_, etc. 20 vols.
+Vol. xi. (London, 1704--1716.)
+
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+
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+
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+1620.) In fol.
+
+STEIN, H. "_Olivier de la Marche historien, poete et diplomate
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+(Brussels, 1888.)
+
+STOUFF, Louis. _Les comtes de Bourgogne et leurs villes domaniales_.
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+
+STOUFF, LOUIS. "Les possessions bourguignonnes dans la vallée du Rhin
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+(Paris, 1903.)
+
+TOUTEY, E. _Charles le téméraire et la ligue de Constance._ (Paris,
+1902.)
+
+VANDER MAELEN, PH. _Dictionnaire géographique de la province de
+Liège_. (Brussels, 1831.)
+
+WAGENAAR, JAN. _Vaderlandsche Historie_. 21 vols. (Amsterdam,
+1749-1759.)
+
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+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbeville
+Agincourt
+Aire
+Aix
+Alkmaar
+Alsace
+Alsace
+Amboise
+Amiens
+Amont
+Andernach
+Angers
+Anjou
+Anjou, Margaret of, Queen of England
+Anjou, René, King of
+Anjou, Yolande of, _see_ Vaudemont
+Antwerp
+Appiano, Antoine d' (Antonius de Aplano), Milanese ambassador
+Aragon
+Argau
+Armagnac
+Arras, Bishop of
+Arras, treaty
+Arson, Jehan d
+Arthur, King
+Artois
+Artois, Bonne of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Atclyff, William
+Ath
+Augsburg, Diet of
+Austria
+Austria, House of
+Austria, Maximilian, Archduke of, _see_ Maximilian
+Austria, Sigismund of (Count of Tyrol;
+  mortgages lands to Charles of Burgundy;
+  resumes sovereignty of mortgaged lands;
+Auvergne, Marshal d'
+Auxonne
+Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d
+Avesnes
+Avranches, Bishop of
+Aydie, Odet d'
+
+
+
+B
+
+"Bad Penny," the, tax
+Balue, Cardinal
+Bar, duchy of
+Barante, cited
+Bari, Duc de (Sforza)
+Barnet, battle of
+Barre, Corneille de la
+Barrois
+Baschi, Suffren de
+Basel
+Basel, Bishop of
+Basin, Thomas, cited
+_Basse-Union_
+Baume-les-Dames
+Bavaria, elector of
+Bavaria, Stephen of
+Beaujeu, Lord of
+Beaumont, château of
+Beauvais, siege of
+Bedford, John, Duke of, death of
+Begars, Abbé de
+Belfort
+Bellière, Vicomte de la
+Berne
+Berry, Bailiff of
+Berry, Charles of France, Duke of (Normandy and Guienne),
+  heads League of Public Weal;
+  character of;
+  Normandy given to;
+  won over by Louis;
+  Guienne given to;
+  proposed marriage of;
+  suspicious death of
+Besançon
+Biche, Guillaume de
+Biscay, Bay of
+Black Forest
+Bladet
+Blamont, Count of
+Blaumont, Seigneur de, Marshal of Burgundy
+Boccaccio
+Bohemia
+Bonn
+Borselen, Adrian van, Seigneur of Breda
+Borselen, Frank van (Count of Ostrevant;
+  death of
+Borselen, Henry van
+Boscise
+Bouchage, Monseigneur du
+Boudault, Jehan
+Boulogne
+Bourbon, Catharine of, _see_ Guelders
+Bourbon, Duchess of
+Bourbon, duchy of
+Bourbon, Duke of
+Bourbon, Isabella of (Countess of Charolais), _see_ Charolais
+Bourbon, Louis of, Bishop of Liege
+Bourges
+Bouvignes
+Bouxières
+Brabant, Anthony, Duke of
+Brabant, duchy of
+Brabant, Duke of
+Brandenburg, Albert, elector of
+Brandenburg, Margrave of
+Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de, cited
+Breda
+Brederode, Gijsbrecht of
+Breisgau
+Bresse, Philip de
+Brie
+Brisac (Breisach)
+Brittany, Duchess of
+Brittany, duchy of
+Brittany, Francis, Duke of,
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  ally of Charles of Burgundy;
+  is reconciled to Louis XI.
+Broeck, M. van der
+Bruchsal
+Bruges
+_Brunette_
+Brussels
+Bureau, Jehan
+Buren, castle of
+Burgundy, duchy of;
+  Estates of
+Burgundy, Franche-Comté of
+Burgundy, Anthony, Grand Bastard of
+Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Charles the Bold, (Count of Charolais), Duke of;
+  birth of;
+  elected knight of the Golden Fleece;
+  description of;
+  ancestry of;
+  imperial ambitions of;
+  education of;
+  weds Catherine of France;
+  takes official part in public affairs;
+  character of;
+  first campaign of;
+  entrusted with regency of Holland;
+  English sympathies of;
+  weds Isabella of Bourbon;
+  judicial methods of;
+  rejoices over birth of daughter;
+  strained relations with his father;
+  enmity between Louis and ;
+  at coronation of Louis XI;
+  fears plots against his life;
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  allies of;
+  letters of, to cities;
+  to Louis;
+  to Duchess Isabella;
+  to French council;
+  to Duke of Brittany;
+  to Sigismund;
+  to Edward IV.;
+  to Duke of Milan;
+  at battle of Montl'héry;
+  armies of;
+  dictates terms of treaty of Conflans;
+  marches against Liege;
+  destroys Dinant;
+  underestimates character and strength of enemies;
+  accedes to the dukedom;
+  invested with titles;
+  unpopularity of;
+  punishes Ghent;
+  reforms of;
+  weds Margaret of York;
+  ducal state of;
+  demands _aides_;
+  receives Louis at Peronne;
+  crushes revolt of Liege;
+  makes treaty of Peronne;
+  proposed sons-in-law for;
+  signs treaty of St. Omer;
+  takes lands from Sigismund;
+  relations of, with Swiss;
+  invested with Order of the Garter;
+  _Remonstrance_ presented to;
+  embassies to;
+  truces of, with Louis XI;
+  besieges Beauvais;
+  reverses of;
+  acquires duchy of Guelders;
+  negotiations between Emperor Frederic and;
+  interview of, with emperor at Trèves;
+  becomes "protector" of Lorraine;
+  interferes in Cologne affairs;
+  visits Alsace;
+  troubles with Alsace;
+  besieges Neuss;
+  war declared against;
+  makes truce with Frederic;
+  defeated at Héricourt;
+  besieges Nancy;
+  allies desert;
+  defeated at Granson;
+  at Morat;
+  convenes states-general;
+  last battle of;
+  death and burial of
+Burgundy, Cornelius, Bastard of
+Burgundy, David of, Bishop of Utrecht
+Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of;
+  ancestry of;
+  English sympathies of;
+  retires to convent;
+  burial of
+Burgundy, John the Fearless, Duke of;
+  death of
+Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Margaret of York, Duchess of
+Burgundy, Mary of (Duchess of Austria;
+  godfather of;
+  proposed marriages for
+Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, marriages of;
+  institutes Order of Golden Fleece;
+  children of;
+  alliance of;
+  signs treaty of Arras;
+  territories acquired by;
+  suppresses revolt in Bruges;
+  wealth and magnificence of;
+  crushes rebellion of Ghent;
+  gives Feast of the Pheasant;
+  plans crusade;
+  chooses second wife for Charles;
+  character of;
+  interferes in affairs of Utrecht, of Liege, and of Cologne;
+  hospitality of, to dauphin;
+  influenced by the Croys;
+  attends coronation of Louis XI;
+  illnesses of;
+  witnesses punishment of Dinant;
+  death and burial of;
+  epitaph of;
+  description of;
+  popularity of
+Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, Duke of
+Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard of
+
+
+
+C
+
+Cagnola
+Calabria, Duke of, _see_ Lorraine
+Calais
+Calixtus III.
+Cambray
+Campobasso, Antonello de, mercenary captain;
+  treachery of
+Canterbury
+Casanova
+Castile
+Castile, Henry IV., King of
+Castile, Jeanne of
+Cat, Gilles le
+Catto, Angelo
+Caux;
+  Bailiff of
+_Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les_
+_Cento Novelle_, by Boccaccio
+Cesner, Balthasar
+Chambéry
+Chambes, Helen de
+Chamont, Sire de
+Champagne
+Channel
+Charenton
+Charlemagne
+Charles IV.
+Charles (V.) the Wise, King of France
+Charles VII., King of France,
+  reconciliation of, with Philip of Burgundy;
+  character of;
+  letters of;
+  refuses to join crusade;
+  breach between dauphin and;
+  illness and death of;
+  institutes standing army
+Charles VIII., King of France
+Charles the Simple, King of France
+Charmes
+Charny, Count de
+Charny, Countess de
+Charolais, Catherine of France, Countess of;
+  death and burial of
+Charolais, Count of, _see_ Charles of Burgundy
+Charolais, Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of;
+  death of
+Chassa, Jehan de
+Chastellain, cited;
+  death of
+Château-Chinon
+Châtenois
+Chauny,
+Chesny, Guiot du
+Chevelast, Louis de
+Chimay, Count of
+Citeaux, Abbé of
+Clarence, Duke of
+Cléry
+Cleves, Adolph, Duke of
+Cleves, duchy of
+Cleves, Marie of, Duchess of Orleans
+Cods, the (party name)
+Colmar
+Cologne
+Cologne, Robert, Archbishop of
+Colonna, Baptista
+Commines (Commynes, Comines), Philip de,
+  enters service of Duke of Burgundy;
+  defection of;
+  cited
+Compiègne
+Compostella
+Conflans, treaty of
+Constance;
+  League of
+Constantinople
+Cordes, Monsieur de
+Corguilleray
+Cornwallis, Lord
+Corvinus, Matthias, King of Hungary
+Cosmo
+Court, Jehan de la
+Coutault, Monsieur
+Craon, Seigneur de
+Cret, Dion du
+Crèvecoeur, Philip of
+Crèvecoeur, Seigneur of
+Créville, Sire de
+Croy, A. de
+Croy, J. de
+Croy, Philip de
+Croy family, the
+_Cueillotte_, the (tax)
+Cyprus
+
+
+
+D
+
+Damian
+Dammartin, Count of
+  letters of Louis to
+Damme
+Dauphiné
+Dauxonne, Jacquemin
+De Bussière, cited
+Décapole, Alsatian, the
+De la Loere, secretary
+Dendermonde
+Denmark
+Denys, Chaplain
+Deschamps, Eustache, _Lay de Vaillance_ by
+Deventer
+Dieppe
+Diesbach, Ludwig von
+Dijon
+Dinant;
+  destruction of
+Dôle
+Dombourc
+Dompaire
+Dordrecht
+Du Clercq, cited
+Duclos, cited
+Dunois, Count
+Dunois, François
+Du Plessis, Seigneur
+
+
+
+E
+
+Easterlings
+l'Écluse
+Edward IV., King of England;
+  aided by Charles of Burgundy;
+  plans conquest of France;
+  character of;
+  makes peace with Louis XI.
+Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales;
+  death of
+Émeries, Antoine Raulin, Sire d' (Aymeries)
+Engelburg
+England alliance of,
+  with Burgundy;
+  with France;
+  French possessions of;
+  commercial relations of;
+  wars of the Roses in
+Ensisheim
+Épinal
+Erasmus
+Escalles, Seigneur d'
+Escouchy, Mathieu d,'
+  cited
+Estampes, Count d'
+Étampes
+Eu
+Eu, Count d'
+_Ewige Richtung_
+Exeter, Duke of
+Eyb, Ludwig von
+
+
+
+F
+
+Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume
+Favre, Jourdain
+Ferrara
+Ferrette, county of
+Flanders;
+  Estates of;
+  commerce of
+Flanders, Count of
+Florence
+Foix, Count de
+Foix, Eleanor de
+Foix, Gaston de
+Forli, Bishop of
+Fossombrone, Bishop of
+Fou, Ivon du
+France, alliance of, with Burgundy;
+  waning power of England in;
+  changed conditions in;
+  assembly of states-general of;
+  invasion of
+France, Admiral of, the
+France, Catherine, Daughter of, _see_ Charolais
+France, Charles of, Duke of Berry, _see_ Berry
+France, Jeanne of
+France, Michelle of, _see_ Burgundy
+Franche-Comté
+Franchimont
+Frankfort
+Frederic, elector palatine
+Frederic III., Emperor;
+  character of;
+  negotiations of, with Charles of Burgundy;
+  meets Charles at Trèves;
+  description of;
+  signs treaty with Charles
+Fribourg
+Friesland;
+  title of Lord of
+Friesland, West
+
+
+
+G
+
+_Gabelle_
+Gachard, cited
+Galeotto
+Garter, Order of the
+Gauthier, Dan
+Gautier, cited
+Gaveren;
+  battle of;
+  treaty of
+Gelthauss, Johannes
+Genappe
+Geneva
+Geneva
+Genoa
+Gex
+Ghent;
+  rebellion of;
+  submission of;
+  insurrection in;
+  humiliation of
+Gilles, Frère
+Givry, Sire de
+Gloucester, Duke of
+Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of
+Golden Fleece, Order of the, instituted;
+  assemblies of;
+  knights of
+Gorcum
+Görlitz, Elizabeth of
+Granson, battle of
+Grave
+Grenoble
+Grey, Jean de
+Groothuse, Louis de la
+Groothuse, Mathys de la
+Guelders, Adolf, Duke of;
+  imprisonment of
+Guelders, Arnold, Duke of;
+  death of
+Guelders, Catharine of Bourbon, Duchess of
+Guelders, Charles of
+Guelders, duchy of
+Guelders, Philippa of
+Guérin, Jean de
+Guienne, Charles of France,  Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Guienne, duchy of
+Guise
+Guisnes
+
+
+
+H
+
+Haarlem
+Hagenbach, Peter von;
+  Governor of  Alsace;
+  trial and execution of
+Hagenbach, Stephen von
+Hague, The
+Hainaut
+Ham
+Hanseatic League
+Heers, Raes de la Rivière, Lord of
+Heinsberg, John of, Bishop of Liege
+Hemricourt, Jacques de
+Henry IV., of Castile
+Henry V., King of England
+Henry VI., King of England;
+  character of;
+  death of
+Henry VII., King of England
+Héricourt
+Hermite, Tristan l'
+Hesdin
+Hesse, Hermann of
+Holland;
+  title of Count of
+Holland, Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of
+Holland, South
+Holland, William VI., Count of
+Honfleur
+Hooks, the (party name)
+Houthem
+Howard, Lord
+Hugonet, Chancellor
+Humbercourt, Seigneur de
+Hungary;
+  King of
+Huy
+
+
+
+I
+
+Innsbruck
+Irma, Jean
+Isabella of Portugal, Duchess  of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+
+
+
+J
+
+Jarville
+Jarville, Sieur de
+Jerusalem
+Joan of Arc
+Joinville, castle  of;
+  treaty of
+Jomini
+Jougne
+Jouvençal
+Juliers, Duke of
+Jura, the
+
+
+
+K
+
+Kaisersberg
+Kennemerland
+Kervyn de Lettenhove, Baron, cited
+Knebel, Johannes R.
+
+
+
+L
+
+La Hogue
+Laisné, Jeanne (Fouquet), _La Hachette_
+Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess of;
+  death of
+La Marche, Olivier de, cited;
+  knighted;
+  loyalty and zeal  of
+Lambert, Bishop of Tongres
+Lancaster, House of
+Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de
+Lanternier, Jehan
+Laon
+La Rivière
+La Rochelle
+Lauffen
+Lauffenberg
+Laurentian Library, the
+Lausanne
+Lavin, Étienne de
+League of Constance
+League of Public Weal
+Le Grand, Abbé
+Le Gros, Jehan
+Le Quesnoy
+Lescun, Seigneur de
+Liege, description of;
+  government of;
+  bishop-princes of;
+  rebellion of;
+  aided by Louis XI.;
+  punishment of
+Liege, bishopric of
+Lille
+Limbourg
+Livornia
+Loches
+Loisey, Anthony de
+Lombardy
+London
+Longjumeau
+Longueval, Hugues de
+Loreille, Thomas de
+Lorraine, duchy of
+Lorraine, Estates of
+Lorraine, Duke of
+Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou,  Duke of (Calabria);
+  death  of
+Lorraine, René, Duke of,  accepts Burgundian protection;
+  joins league  against Charles
+Louis XI., King of France;
+  rebels against Charles  VII.;
+  marries Charlotte of Savoy;
+  letters of, to Charles VII.;
+    to Dammartin;
+    to envoys;
+    to Count de Foix;
+    to Lorenzo de' Medici;
+    to Duke of Milan;
+    to Amiens;
+    to chancellor;
+  flees to Duke of Burgundy;
+  generosity of Duke Philip to;
+  is godfather of Mary of Burgundy;
+  tastes of;
+  duplicity of;
+  accession of;
+  ingratitude of;
+  character of;
+  enmity between Charles and;
+  nobles in league against;
+  policy of;
+  signs treaty of Conflans;
+  incites opposition to Charles of Burgundy;
+  breaks treaties;
+  makes visit to Peronne;
+  signs treaty at Peronne;
+  ally of the Swiss;
+  makes nucleus of standing army;
+  aids Earl of Warwick and Margaret of Anjou;
+  birth of son of;
+  makes truce with Charles;
+  suspected of death of brother;
+  rewards Beauvais;
+  wins over Edward IV.;
+  rejoices in death of Charles
+Louvain;
+  University of
+Lower Union, the, _see_ Basse-Union
+Lucerne
+Lude, Seigneur de
+Luxemburg, duchy of
+Luxemburg, John of
+Luxeuil
+Luzine River, the
+Lyme
+Lyons
+
+
+
+M
+
+Maestricht
+Maine
+Malhortie
+Mandrot, Bernard Édouard,
+  editor of Commynes' _Mémoires, Jean de Roye_, etc.,
+  cited
+Manton, Seigneur de
+Marchant, Ythier
+Marck, Adolph de la
+Marne River, the
+Marquiez, George
+Mas, Gilles du
+Mathieu
+Maximilian, Archduke of Austria;
+  proposed marriage of
+Mayence
+Mayence, Archbishop of
+Mayence, Duke of
+Mazilles, Jehan de
+Mechlin
+Medici, Lorenzo de'
+Metz
+Metz
+Meurin, secretary to Louis XI.
+Meurthe River, the
+Meuse River, the
+Meyer, J., cited
+Michel, the Rhetorician, cited
+Middelburg
+Milan
+Milan
+Mirecourt
+Mongleive
+Mons
+Montbazon
+Montereau, bridge of
+Montfort, Ulrich von
+Montgomery, Sir Thomas  (Mongomere)
+Montl'héry, battle of
+Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres
+Morat, battle of
+Morges
+Morvilliers, Chancellor
+Moselle River, the
+Moutils-lès-Tours
+Mulhouse
+
+
+
+N
+
+Namur
+Namur
+Nancy;
+  sieges of;
+  battle of
+Naples
+Naples, King of
+Napoleon
+Narbonne, Archbishop of
+Nassau, Engelbert of
+Nassau, John of
+_Nations_, the
+Nesle
+Netherlands, the;
+  states-general  of
+Neufchâtel
+Neufchâtel, Isabelle of
+Neuss
+Neuville
+Nevers
+Nevers, Charles, Count of
+Neville, Anne
+Nice
+Nimwegen
+Norfolk, Duchess of
+Normandy, Charles of France, Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Normandy, duchy of
+Norway
+Noseret
+Noyon
+Nuremberg
+
+
+
+O
+
+Obernai
+Oise River, the
+Onofrio de Santa Croce
+Orange, Prince of
+Oriole, Pierre d'
+Orleans
+Orleans, duchy of
+Orleans, Duke of
+Osterlings, the
+Ostrevant, Count of, _see_ Borselen
+Oudenarde
+Ourré, Gerard
+Oxford
+
+
+
+P
+
+Palatinate, the
+Palatine, Count;
+  the elector;
+  Frederic, elector
+Panigarola, Johannes Petrus,
+  Milanese ambassador, cited
+Paris
+Paris, University of
+Paston, Sir John, letters of
+Paston, John, the younger
+  (brother of above), letter of
+Paston, Margaret
+Pavia
+Pellet, Jean
+Pepin
+Perdriel, Henry
+Périgny
+Périgord
+Peronne, interview of Louis XI. and Charles at;
+  treaty of
+"Peronne, the Peace of"
+Perrenet
+Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author of Vol. IV^{II}, Lavisse,
+    _Hist. de France, see_ Lavisse.
+Petitpas
+Petrasanta, Franciscus, Milanese ambassador
+Pheasant, Feast of the
+Picardy
+Picquigny
+Plessis-les-Tours
+Pleume
+Podiebrad, George, ex-king of Bohemia
+Poictiers, Alienor de
+Poinsot, Jean
+Poitiers
+Poland
+Pont-à-Mousson
+Pont de Cé
+Porcupine, Order of the
+Portinari, Thomas
+Portugal
+Portugal, Alphonse V., King of
+Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Pot, Philip de
+Poucque, castle of
+Prussia
+Public Weal, War of, _see_ League
+
+
+
+Q
+
+Quaux River, the
+Quercy
+Quiévrain, Seigneur de
+Quingey, Simon de
+
+
+
+R
+
+Rampart, Jean
+Ratellois
+Ratisbon
+Ravestein, Madame de
+Ravestein, Monseigneur de
+Renty, Monseigneur de
+Rethel
+Rheims
+Rheims, Archbishop of
+Rheinfelden
+Rhine, the;
+  Valley
+Rhinelands, the
+Rhodes
+Rivers, Earl
+Roche, Henri de la
+Rochefort
+Rochefort, Sire of
+Rochefoucauld
+Roelants, Gort
+Romans, King of the
+Rome
+Romont, Count of
+Romorantin
+Roses, Wars of the
+Rossillon
+Rottelin, Marquise Hugues de
+Rotterdam
+Rouen
+Rousillon
+Rouvre
+Roye
+Rozière, Malhortie de
+Rubempré, the bastard of
+Rubempré, Jehan de
+Ruple, G.
+Russia
+
+
+
+S
+
+Saeckingen
+St. Bavon, Abbot of
+Ste. Beuve, cited
+St. Blaise, Abbé of
+St. Claude
+St. Cloud
+St. Denis
+St. Lievin, feast of
+St. Michel-sur-Loire
+St. Nicolas-du-Port
+St. Omer;
+  treaty of
+St. Pol, Count of
+  made constable of France;
+  treachery of;
+  execution of
+St. Quentin
+St. Remy, Jean le Févre, Seigneur de
+St. Thierry
+St. Trond
+Sale, Anthony de la
+Salesart
+Salins
+Salisbury, Bishop of
+Savoy, Charlotte of, marries the dauphin
+Savoy, duchy of
+Savoy, dukes of
+Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of;
+  ally of Charles the Bold;
+  kidnapped;
+  rescued
+Saxony, Duke of
+Saxony, elector of
+Schellhass, Karl
+Schiedam
+Schlestadt
+Scotland, Eleanor of, wife of Sigismund of Austria
+Scotland, Margaret of, wife of Louis, the dauphin
+Seine River, the
+Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke of Milan
+Sicily
+Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, _see_ Austria
+Sigismund, Emperor
+Sluis
+Snoy, Renier, cited
+Soleure
+Somerset, Duke of
+Somme, towns on the river,
+  ceded to Duke of Burgundy;
+  redemption of towns on the
+Sorel, Agnes
+Soulz, Rudolf de
+Spain
+Spain, King of
+Stein, Hertnid von
+Stein, Rudolph de
+Stephen, Martin
+Strasburg
+Strasburg, Bishop of
+Stuttgart
+Sundgau, the
+Swabia
+Swiss, the, valour of;
+  victories of;
+  allies of Louis XI.
+Swiss Cantons, the;
+  declare war against Charles the Bold
+Swynaerde
+Sylvius, Æneas
+
+
+
+T
+
+Talmont, Prince of
+Tewkesbury, battle of
+Texel, island of
+Thann
+Thérain, the
+Thérouanne, Bishop of
+Thierry
+Thierry, Monsieur de
+Thierstein, Oswald von
+Thionville
+Thouan, Mme. de
+Thouars, Guillaume de
+Thurgau
+Tilhart, secretary to Louis XI.
+Tongres;
+  bishops of
+Tonnerre, Count of
+Toul
+Touraine
+Tournay
+Tournay, Bishop of
+Tournehem
+Tours
+Toustain, Aloysius (Toussaint)
+Toustain, Guillaume
+Toutey, E., cited
+Trausch, cited
+Tree of Gold, jousts of the
+Trémoille, Jehan de la
+Trèves
+Trèves, Archbishop of
+Tuin
+Turin
+Turks, the, capture Constantinople;
+  proposed  crusade against
+
+
+
+U
+
+Unterwalden
+Uri
+Ursé, Seigneur d'
+Utenhove, Richard
+Utrecht
+
+
+
+V
+
+Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis (editor of _Lettres de Louis XI_.)
+Valenciennes
+Valois, House of
+Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou,  Duchess of
+Vendôme, Count of
+Venice
+Verard, Antoine
+Verdun
+Vere
+Vermandois
+Vermandois, Count de
+Vesoul
+Villeclerc, Demoiselle de
+Virnenbourg, Count of
+Visen, Charles de
+Vosges, the
+
+
+
+W
+
+Wailly
+Waldemar of Zürich
+Waldshut
+Walloon language, the
+Warwick, Earl of;
+  death of
+Wavrin, Philip de
+Wellington, Duke of
+Wenlock, governor of Calais
+Weymouth
+Wieringen, island of
+Woodville, Elizabeth
+Wuisse, Vautrin
+Wyler, Hans
+
+
+
+X
+
+Xaintes
+
+
+
+Y
+
+York, House of
+York, Margaret of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Ypres
+
+
+Z
+
+Zealand
+Zürich
+Zutphen
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Charles the Bold
+       Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477
+
+Author: Ruth Putnam
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14496]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES THE BOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Lesley Halamek and the PG Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<h1>CHARLES THE BOLD</h1>
+<br /><br />
+<h2>LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY</h2>
+<br /><br />
+<h3>1433-1477</h3>
+<br /><br />
+
+<h6>BY</h6>
+<br /><br />
+
+<h3>RUTH PUTNAM</h3>
+<br /><br />
+<h4>AUTHOR OF "WILLIAM THE SILENT," "A MEDIÆVAL PRINCESS," ETC.</h4>
+<br /><br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h4>G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h4>
+
+<h4>NEW YORK AND LONDON</h4>
+
+<h5>The Knickerbocker Press<br />
+
+1908</h5>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h5>COPYRIGHT 1908,</h5>
+
+<h6>BY</h6>
+
+<h5>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h5>
+
+<h6>The Knickerbocker Press, New York</h6>
+
+    <br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charlesbold">[plate 1]</a></span>
+	<p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image01charlesbold.jpg" width="400" height="613" alt="CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="piii">[page iii]</a></span>
+<h3>PREFACE</h3>
+<p>
+The admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy
+into the series of Heroes of the Nations, is
+justified by his relation to events rather than by
+his national or his heroic qualities. <i>"Il n'avait
+pas assez de sens ni de malice pour conduire ses
+entreprises,"</i> is one phrase of Philip de Commines
+in regard to the master he had once served. Render
+<i>sens</i> by <i>genius</i> and <i>malice</i> by <i>diplomacy</i> and the
+words are not far wrong. Yet in spite of the
+failure to obtain either a kingly or an imperial
+crown, the story of those same unaccomplished
+enterprises contains the germs of much that has
+happened later in the borderlands of France and
+Germany where the projected "middle kingdom"
+might have been erected. A sketch of the duke's
+character with its traits of ambition and shortcomings
+may therefore be placed, not unfitly,
+among the pen portraits of individuals who have
+attempted to change the map of Europe.</p>
+<p>
+The materials for an exhaustive study of the
+times, and of the participants in the scenes thereof,
+are almost overwhelming in quantity. Into this
+narrative, I have woven the words of contemporaries
+when these related what they saw and
+thought, or at least what they said they saw or
+thought, about events passing within their sight
+or their ken. The veracity attained is only that
+of a mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth.<span class="page"><a name="piv">[page iv]</a></span>
+And the rim in which these bits are set is too
+slender to contain all the illumination necessary.
+The narrative is, of necessity, partial and fragmentary,
+for a complete story would require a
+series of biographies presented in parallel columns.
+My own preliminary chapter to this book&mdash;a
+mere explanation of the presence of the dukes
+of Burgundy in the Netherlands&mdash;grew into an
+account of a sovereign whom they deposed and
+was published under the title of <i>A Mediæval
+Princess.</i></p>
+<p>
+John Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record
+of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Forty
+years have elapsed since that publication appeared
+and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the
+subject has been given out to the public, while
+separate phases of it have been minutely discussed
+by competent critics, so that at every point
+there is new temptation for the biographer to
+expand the theme where the scope of his work
+demands brevity.</p>
+<p>
+In using the later fruit of historical investigation,
+it is delightful for an American to find
+that scholars of all nations do justice to Mr.
+Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they
+may differ from his conclusions. It has been
+my privilege to be permitted free access to this
+scholar's collection of books, and I would here
+express my deep gratitude to the Kirk family for
+their generosity and courtesy towards me.</p>
+<p>
+After some preliminary reading at Brussels and<span class="page"><a name="pv">[page v]</a></span>
+Paris and in England, the work for this volume
+has been completed in America, where the opportunity
+of securing the latest results of research
+and criticism is constantly increasing, although
+these results are still lodged under many roofs.
+I have had many reasons to thank the librarians
+of New York, Boston, and Washington, and also
+those of Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell universities
+for courtesies and for serviceable aid;
+and just as many reasons to regret the meagreness
+of what can be put between two covers as the
+gleanings from so rich a harvest.</p>
+<p>
+One word further in explanation of the use
+of <i>Bold</i>. The adjective has been retained simply
+because it has been so long identified with
+Charles in English usage. I should have preferred
+the word <i>Rash</i> as a better equivalent for
+the contemporary term, applied to the duke in
+his lifetime,&mdash;<i>le téméraire</i>.</p>
+<p><span class="right">
+R.P.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><br />
+<span class="indent">WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.</span></p>
+
+  <br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="pvii">[page vii]</a></span>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><u>CONTENTS</u></h2>
+<table width="80%" align="center" summary="illustrations" border="0">
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top"><br />
+<a href="#I">CHAPTER I</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+CHILDHOOD</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+PAGE<br />
+1
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#II">CHAPTER II</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+YOUTH</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+24
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#III">CHAPTER III</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+45
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+67
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#V">CHAPTER V</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+86
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+109
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+130
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE NEW DUKE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+154
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+170
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#X">CHAPTER X</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+183
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+197
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XII">CHAPTER XII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+AN EASY VICTORY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+227
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+A NEW ACQUISITION</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+244
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+261
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XV">CHAPTER XV</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+293
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+GUELDERS</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+320
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+339
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+362
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE FIRST REVERSES</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+382
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XX">CHAPTER XX</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 AND 1476</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+402
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+427
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#BIBLIO">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+463
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+469
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+
+	<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+	<p class="center">
+	<img src="cbimages/010.jpg" width="300" height="170" alt="decorative panel" border="0" /></p>
+
+
+	<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="pxi">[page xi]</a></span>
+<h2><u>ILLUSTRATIONS</u></h2>
+
+<table width="80%" align="center" summary="illustrations" border="0">
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top"><br />
+<a href="#charlesbold">CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY</a><br />
+<p class="indent">
+From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date
+of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This
+portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed
+to Roger van der Weyden. That, however,
+shows a much stronger face.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+PAGE<br />
+<i>Frontispiece</i><br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#philipgood">PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE</a> <br />
+<p class="indent">
+From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brussels.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+4
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#avignon">A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Petit's <br /><i>Hist. de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+16
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#patronletters">PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON
+OF LETTERS</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a
+beautiful MS. copy in Brussels Library of Jacques
+de Guise's <i>Annales</i>. The author is depicted
+presenting his book to the duke, who is attended
+by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is
+attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden, to
+Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans
+Memling.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+18
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#castle">A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY</a><span class="page"><a name="pxii">[page xii]</a></span>
+<p class="indent">
+From Petit's <i>Hist. de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+24
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#accountbook">FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+31
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#poljester">COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, <i>Les
+ducs de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+46
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#statue">THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRÜCK</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+68
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#louis">LOUIS XI</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From an engraving by A. Boilly after a drawing by
+G. Boilly.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+84
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#philipandcharles">PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a drawing in a MS. at Arras.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+101
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlemont">BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY (JULY 16, 1465)</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+124
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#publicweal">LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE
+WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+128
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#anthony">ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+150
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#charlesgolfleece">CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A
+CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at
+Brussels.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+189
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#commines">PHILIP DE COMMINES</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+210
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#olivier">OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in
+<br /><i>Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale de Belgique,</i>
+xlix.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+232
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#mary1">MARY OF BURGUNDY</a><span class="page"><a name="pxiii">[page xiii]</a></span>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Barante, <br /><i>Les ducs de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+250
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#map">MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From Toutey, <i>Charles le téméraire</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+260
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#medal">MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+280
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#standard">BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+ 310
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#arnold">ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+322
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#mary2">MARY OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+After design by C. Laplante.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+336
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#charles2">CHARLES THE BOLD</a>
+<p class="indent">
+Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By
+permission of J. J. Löwy, Vienna.)</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+340
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#max">MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA</a>
+<p class="indent">Medal.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+350
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#church">A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From Petit's <i>Hist. de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+383
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#ruhmreich">KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH</a>
+<p class="indent">
+(These characters in Maximilian's poem of <i>Theuerdank</i>
+represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.)
+From a reproduction of a wood engraving by
+Schäufelein in edition of 1517.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+404
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlemorat">A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT</a>
+<p class="indent">
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+J. B. Lippincott Company.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+422
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#philibert">PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+After a design by Matthey reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+430
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlenancy">PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY</a><span class="page"><a name="pxiv">[page xiv]</a></span>
+<p class="indent">
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+the J. B. Lippincott Company.</p>
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+433
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlenancy2">THE BATTLE OF NANCY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+435
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#monumentnancy">A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From Barante, <i>Let ducs de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+436
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#charlestomb">THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+Church of Notre Dame, Bruges</p>
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+460
+<br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/015.jpg" width="300" height="159" alt="decorative panel" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="1">[page 1]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h1>CHARLES THE BOLD</h1>
+
+      <hr/>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="I">I</a></h2>
+
+<h3>CHILDHOOD</h3>
+
+<h4>1433-1440</h4>
+
+<p>
+On St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good
+people of Dijon were abroad, eager to catch
+what glimpses they might of certain stately functions
+to be formally celebrated by the Duke of
+Burgundy. The mere presence of the sovereign
+in the capital of his duchy was in itself a gala event
+from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions
+agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions
+successively. His residence was now here
+and now there, without long tarrying anywhere.
+His coming was usually very welcome. In times
+of peaceful submission to his behest, the city of
+his sojourn reaped many advantages besides
+the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond
+their wont. In the outlay for the necessities and
+the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal court, the
+expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary
+commercial activity enjoyed by the merchants,
+the fact that the burghers' own contributions to
+this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary<span class="page"><a name="2">[page 2]</a></span>
+oblivion.<a href="#I1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon
+was more significant than usual. It had lasted
+several weeks, and among its notable occasions
+was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden
+Fleece for the third anniversary of their Order.
+On this November 30th, Burgundy was to witness
+for the first time the pompous ceremonials
+inaugurated at Bruges in January, 1430. Three
+years had sufficed to render the new institution
+almost as well known as its senior English rival,
+the Order of the Garter, which it was destined to
+outshine for a brief period at least. Its foundation
+had formed part of the elaborate festivities
+accompanying the celebration of the marriage of
+Philip, Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal.
+As a signal honour to his bride, Philip published
+his intention of creating a new order of knighthood
+which would evince "his great and perfect
+love for the noble state of chivalry."</p>
+<p>
+Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the
+duke's real motives. It was whispered that a
+certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished
+by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair<span class="page"><a name="3">[page 3]</a></span>
+by a few merry courtiers, whereupon Philip declared
+that her tresses should be immortally honoured
+in the golden emblem of a new society.<a href="#I2"><sup>2</sup></a>
+But that may be set down as gossip. Philip's
+own assertion, when he instituted the Order of
+the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create
+a bulwark</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our
+Christian faith, and to honour and enhance the noble
+order of chivalry, and also for three reasons hereafter
+declared; first, to honour the ancient knights ...;<br />
+second, to the end that these present.... may exercise
+the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve;<br />
+third, that all gentlemen marking the honour paid
+to the knights will exert themselves to attain the
+dignity." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#I3"><sup>3</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+The special homage to the new duchess was
+expressed in the device</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<i>Aultre n'aray<br />
+Dame Isabeau tant que vivray</i> <a href="#I4"><sup>4</sup></a></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>
+This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella
+was, indeed, utterly disregarded by the bridegroom,
+but in outward and formal honour to her
+he never failed.</p>
+<p>
+The new institution was, from the beginning,
+pre-eminently significant of the duke's magnificent
+state existence, wherein his Portuguese consort<span class="page"><a name="4">[page 4]</a></span>
+proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet.
+Again and again during a period of thirty years,
+rich in diplomatic parleying, did Isabella act as
+confidential ambassador for her husband, and
+many were the negotiations conducted by her to
+his satisfaction.<a href="#I5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p>
+But it must be noted that whatever lay at the
+exact root of Philip's motives when he conceived
+the plan of his Order, the actual result of his foundation
+was not affected. He failed, indeed, to
+bring back into the world the ancient system of
+knighthood in its ideal purity and strength.
+Rather did he make a notable contribution to its
+decadence and speed its parting. What was
+brought into existence was a house of peers for
+the head of the Burgundian family, a body of
+faithful satellites who did not hamper their chief
+overmuch with the criticism permitted by the
+rules of their society, while their own glory added
+shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian
+court.</p>
+<span class="page1"><a name="philipgood">[plate 2]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image02philipgood.jpg" width="400" height="730" alt="PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the
+original number appointed to form the chosen
+circle of knights. This was speedily increased
+to thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the<span class="page"><a name="5">[page 5]</a></span>
+session of 1433, was the election of new members
+to fill vacancies and to round out the allotted
+tale.</p>
+
+<p>
+In their manner of accomplishing the appointed
+task, the new chevaliers had, from the outset,
+evinced a readiness to cast their votes to the satisfaction
+of their chief, even if his pleasure directly
+conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to
+obey. No candidate was to be eligible whose
+birth was not legitimate,<a href="#I6"><sup>6</sup></a> a regulation quite ignored
+when the duke proposed the names of his
+sons Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient
+knights did not refuse to open their ranks to
+these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a
+bar sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too,
+others of Philip's many illegitimate descendants
+were not rejected when their father proposed
+their names.</p>
+
+<p>
+Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new
+member should have proven himself a knight of
+renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one of the
+candidates proposed for election, though nominally
+a knight, had assuredly had no time to show
+his mettle. The dignity was his only because his
+spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle
+before his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength
+to grasp a rattle, and before he was even old
+enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his teeth<span class="page"><a name="6">[page 6]</a></span>
+upon.<a href="#I7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was
+Charles of Burgundy, Count of Charolais, son of
+the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the previous
+St. Martin's Eve, November 10th.<a href="#I8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The new chevaliers, with the exception of the
+Count of Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accustomed
+oath at the hands of the sovereign in a room
+of his palace."</p>
+
+<p>
+So runs the record. Jean le Févre, Seigneur de
+St. Remy, present on the occasion in his capacity
+of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle more communicative.<a href="#I9"><sup>9</sup></a>
+According to him, all the gentlemen
+were very joyous at their election as they
+received their collars and made their vows as
+stated. He excepted no member in the phrase
+about the joy displayed, though, as a matter
+of inference, the pleasure experienced by the
+Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat
+problematical.</p>
+
+<p>
+The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age
+of just twenty days when thus officially listed
+among the chevaliers present at the festival.<span class="page"><a name="7">[page 7]</a></span>
+Born on November 10th of this same year, 1433,<a href="#I10"><sup>10</sup></a>
+he had been knighted on the very day of his baptism,
+when Charles, Count of Nevers, and the
+Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former
+gave his name to the infant while the latter's
+name was destined to be identified with many
+unpleasant incidents in the career of the future
+man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason
+for the further item in the archives of the Golden
+Fleece:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into
+the same room. There the sovereign, his father, and
+the duchess, his mother, took the oath on his behalf.
+Afterwards the duke put the collars upon all." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#I11"><sup>11</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p>
+Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction
+that Charles of Burgundy was of different
+metal than the rest of the world. The great duke
+of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history
+of chivalry when he conferred its dignities
+upon a speechless, unconscious infant. The theory
+that knighthood was a personal acquisition had
+been maintained up to this period, the Children of
+France <a href="#I12"><sup>12</sup></a> alone being excepted from the rule, though
+in his <i>Lay de Vaillance</i> Eustache Deschamps
+complains that the degree of knighthood is actually<span class="page"><a name="8">[page 8]</a></span>
+conferred on those who are only ten or twelve
+years old, and who do not know what to do with
+the honour.<a href="#I13"><sup>13</sup></a> That plaint was written not later
+than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the
+poet's prediction that ruin of the institution was
+imminent when affected by such disorders seemed
+justified if, in 1433, even the years of the eligible
+age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not
+received the accolade until he was twenty-five.</p>
+
+<p>
+How his predecessor in Holland, Count William
+VI., had acquitted himself valiantly the moment
+that he was dubbed knight is told by Froissart,
+and the tales of other accolades of the period are
+too well known to need reference.</p>
+<p>
+It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished
+by his own mother. Having lost her first two
+infants, Isabella was solicitous for the welfare of
+this third child, who also proved her last. He
+was, moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle
+of France and Bonne of Artois, his first
+wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
+expended on the boy were repaid. Charles
+became a sturdy child who developed into youthful
+vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
+his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather
+than the English Lancastrians, from whom she
+was equally descended.</p>
+<p>
+His dark hair and his features were very different
+from the fair type of his paternal ancestors,
+the vigorous branch of the Valois family. Possibly<span class="page"><a name="9">[page 9]</a></span>
+other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese
+origin were intensified by close association with
+his mother, who supervised the education directed
+by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at
+The Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and
+official adviser to the duke's stadtholder in the
+administration.<a href="#I14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe
+his contemporaries, surprisingly so, considering
+his early taste for all martial pursuits and his
+intense interest in military operations.</p>
+<p>
+At two years of age he received his first lesson
+in horsemanship, on a wooden steed constructed
+for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a saddler
+of Brussels.</p>
+<p>
+His biographers repeat from each other statements
+of his proficiency in Latin. This must be
+balanced by noting that the only texts which he
+could have read were probably not classic. In
+the inventory of the various Burgundian libraries
+of the period, there are not six Greek and Latin
+classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not
+a single Roman historian in the original.<a href="#I15"><sup>15</sup></a> There
+was a translation of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi<span class="page"><a name="10">[page 10]</a></span>
+and late abridgments of Sallust, Suetonius, Lucan,
+and Cæsar,<a href="#I16"><sup>16</sup></a> with a French version of Valerius
+Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless
+these versions and a volume called <i>Les faits des
+Romains</i> were used as text-books to teach the
+young count about the world's conquerors. The
+last mentioned book shows what travesties of
+Roman history were gravely read in the fifteenth
+century.</p>
+
+<p>
+There are stories<a href="#I17"><sup>17</sup></a> that the bit of history most
+enjoyed by the pupil was the narrative of Alexander.
+Books about that hero were easy to come
+by long before the invention of printing, though
+Alexander would have had difficulty in recognising
+his identity under the strange mediæval motley
+in which his namesake wandered over the land.
+No single man, with the possible exception of
+Charlemagne, was so much written about or
+played so brilliantly the part of a hero to the Middle
+Ages and after.<a href="#I18"><sup>18</sup></a> The simplicity and universality
+of his success were of a type to appeal to the
+boy Charles, himself built on simple lines. The
+fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip
+stimulated his imagination and instilled in his
+breast hopes of conquering, not the whole world
+perhaps, but a good slice of territory which should
+enable him to hold his own between the emperor
+and the French king. Tales of definite schemes<span class="page"><a name="11">[page 11]</a></span>
+of early ambition are often fabricated in the later
+life of a conqueror, but in this case they may be believed,
+as all threads of testimony lead to the same
+conclusion.</p>
+<p>
+The air breathed by the boy when he first became
+conscious of his own individuality was certainly
+heavy with the aroma of satisfied ambition.
+The period of his childhood was a time when his
+father stood at the very zenith of his power. In
+1435, was signed the Treaty of Arras, the death-blow
+to the long coalition existing between Burgundy
+and England to the continual detriment
+of France. Philip was reconciled with great
+solemnity to the king, responsible in his dauphin
+days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy.
+After ostentatiously parading his filial resentment
+sixteen long years, Philip forgave Charles VII.
+his share in the death of John the Fearless, on the
+bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support
+to keep the French monarch on the throne whither
+the efforts of Joan of Arc had carried him from
+Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile.</p>
+<p>
+England's pretensions were repudiated. To
+be sure, the recent coronation of Henry VI. at
+Paris was not immediately forgotten, but while
+the Duke of Bedford had actually administered
+the government as regent, in behalf of his infant
+nephew, it was a mere shadow of his office that
+passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435,
+was almost coincident with the compact at Arras
+when the English Henry's realms across the Channel<span class="page"><a name="12">[page 12]</a></span>
+shrank to Normandy and the outlying fortresses
+of Picardy and Maine. Later events
+on English soil were to prove how little fitted was
+the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any kind.</p>
+<p>
+Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy
+rose triumphant with a seal set upon his
+personal importance.<a href="#I19"><sup>19</sup></a> His recognition of Charles
+VII. as lawful sovereign of France, and his reconciliation
+did not pass without signal gain to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>
+The king declared his own hands unstained by
+the blood of John of Burgundy, agreed to punish
+all those designated by Philip as actually responsible
+for that treacherous murder, and pledged
+himself to erect a cross on the bridge at Montereau,
+the scene of the crime. Further, he relinquished
+various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained
+by the crown from the moment when the junior
+branch of the Valois had been invested with the
+duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne,
+Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to
+the French sovereign on both banks of the Somme.
+To this last cession, however, was appended the
+condition that the towns included in this clause
+could be redeemed at the king's pleasure, for the
+sum of four hundred thousand gold crowns.
+Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of
+homage to himself, promised to demand no <i>aides</i>
+from the duke's subjects in case of war, and to
+assist his cousin if he were attacked from England.<span class="page"><a name="13">[page 13]</a></span>
+Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted
+with the emperor to Philip's disadvantage.<a href="#I20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+One clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness
+towards the powerful vassal. It provided
+that in case of Charles's failure to observe
+all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects
+would be justified in taking arms against him at
+the duke's orders. A similar clause occurs in certain
+treaties between an earlier French king and
+his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of
+the suzerain, not to that of the lesser lords.</p>
+<p>
+The duke was left in a position infinitely superior
+to that of the king, whose realm was terribly
+exhausted by the long contest with England, a
+contest wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's
+foot. French prosperity had been nibbled
+off like green foliage before a swarm of locusts,
+and the whole north-eastern portion of France was
+in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the
+other hand, the territories covered by Burgundy
+as an overlord had greatly increased during the
+sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
+aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships
+formed his domain, loosely hung together by reason
+of their several titles being vested in one person&mdash;titles
+which the bearer had inherited or
+assumed under various pretexts.</p>
+<p>
+Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy<span class="page"><a name="14">[page 14]</a></span>
+and county of Burgundy, came to him from his
+father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he
+bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself
+heir to his cousins in Brabant and Limbourg
+when Duke Anthony's second son followed his
+equally childless brother into a premature grave,
+and the claims were made good in spite of all opposition.
+Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut became
+his through the unwilling abdication of his other
+cousin, Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of
+her husband, Frank van Borselen, the last representative
+of the Bavarian House then formally
+resigned her titles, which she had already divested
+of all significance five years previously, when
+Philip of Burgundy had become her <i>ruward</i>, to
+relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of
+responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.<a href="#I21"><sup>21</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended
+in having the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added
+to his other designations. Also there were various places
+where his predecessor's name had to be effaced to make room
+for his. (Laborde, i., 345).]</p>
+<p>
+Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Brabant.
+Luxemburg was a later acquisition obtained
+through Elizabeth of Görlitz.</p>
+<p>
+There were very shady bits in the chapters about
+Philip's entry into many of his possessions, but
+it is interesting to note how cleverly the best colour
+is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche
+and other writers who enjoyed Burgundian patronage.
+Very gentle are the adjectives employed,<span class="page"><a name="15">[page 15]</a></span>
+and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the
+naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary
+criticism did occasionally make itself
+heard, especially from the emperor, who declared
+that the Netherland provinces must come to him
+as a lapsed imperial fief. For a time Philip denied
+that any links existed between his domain
+and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it
+convenient to discuss the question with Frederic
+III. at Besançon; still he never came to the point
+of paying homage.</p>
+<p>
+All these territories made a goodly realm for a
+mere duke. But they were individual entities centred
+around one head with little interconnection.</p>
+<p>
+Philip thought that the one thing needed to
+bring his possessions into a national life, as coherent
+as that of France, was a unity of legal existence
+among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain
+this unity was the one thought dominating
+the career of his successor, whose pompous introduction
+to life naturally inspired him with a high
+idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of
+greater dignities for himself and his successor than
+a bundle of titles,&mdash;a splendid, vain, fatal dream
+as it proved.</p>
+<p>
+As a final cement to the new friendship between
+Burgundy and France, it was also agreed at Arras
+that the heir of the former should wed a daughter
+of Charles VII. When the Count of Charolais was
+five years old, the Seigneur of Crèvec&oelig;ur,<a href="#I22"><sup>22</sup></a> "a<span class="page"><a name="16">[page 16]</a></span>
+wise and prudent gentleman" was despatched to
+the French court on divers missions, among which
+was the business of negotiating the projected alliance.
+A very joyous reception was accorded the
+envoy by the king and the queen, and his proposal
+was accepted in behalf of the second daughter,
+Catherine, easily substituted for an older sister,
+deceased between the first and second stages
+of negotiation.</p>
+
+<p>
+A year later, a formal betrothal took place at
+St Omer, whither the young bride was conducted,
+most honourably accompanied by the archbishops
+of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Vendôme,
+Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the
+Duke of Bourbon, named the Lord of Beaujeu,
+and various other distinguished nobles, besides a
+train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance
+on the princess, and an escort of three
+hundred horse.</p>
+<p>
+At the various cities where the party made halt
+they were graciously received, and all honour was
+paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of France. At
+Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and
+as she travelled on towards her destination, all the
+towns of Philip's obedience contributed their quota
+of welcome.</p>
+<p>
+At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming.
+When her approach was announced he rode out in
+person to greet her, attended by a brilliant escort.</p>
+<span class="page1"><a name="avignon">[plate 3]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image03avignon2.jpg" width="500" height="425" alt="A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready<span class="page"><a name="17">[page 17]</a></span>
+to burst into tune; the betrothal was confirmed
+amid joyousness and the ceremony was followed by
+tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.</p>
+<p>
+What a series of pompous betrothals between
+infant parties the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
+can show! Poor little puppets, in whose
+persons national interests were supposed to be
+centred, were made to lisp out their roles in international
+dramas whose final acts rarely were consistent
+with the promise of the prologue.</p>
+<p>
+Catherine did not live to become Duchess of
+Burgundy nor to temper the duel between her
+husband and her brother Louis. The remainder
+of her short existence was passed under the care of
+Duchess Isabella, sometimes in one city of the
+Netherlands, sometimes in another.</p>
+<p>
+La Marche<a href="#I23"><sup>23</sup></a> records one return of Philip to
+Brussels when his arrival was greeted by Charles
+of Burgundy, honourably accompanied by children
+of high birth about his age or less, some only
+eleven or twelve years old. There were with him
+Jehan de la Trémoille, Philip de Croy, Philip de
+Crèvec&oelig;ur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others.
+All were mounted on little horses harnessed like
+that of their governor, a very honest and wise
+gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et
+Ber d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man,
+well known, of good lineage, ready of speech and
+able to discuss matters of honour and of state.</p>
+
+<p>
+He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all<span class="page"><a name="18">[page 18]</a></span>
+exercise and sport.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman
+better adapted to supervise the education of a young
+prince than he.... Among his pupils were also
+Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#I24"><sup>24</sup></a></span> son of Philip, and
+the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were
+older than the first mentioned."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt
+in this youthful band of horse, and then tells how,
+within Brussels,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"he was received by the magistrates and conducted
+to his palace, where the Duchess of Burgundy awaited
+him holding by the hand Madame Catherine of France,
+Countess of Charolais. She was about twelve and
+seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and
+well conditioned for her age."</p>
+
+<p>
+At various state functions the Count and Countess
+of Charolais appeared together in public, and
+witnessed certain of the gorgeous and costly entertainments
+which were almost the daily food of
+the gay Burgundian court. One of these occasions
+was calculated to make a deep impression
+on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle
+of a proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep
+humiliation.</p>
+
+<span class="page1"><a name="patronletters">[plate 4]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image04patronletters.jpg" width="400" height="681" alt="PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERs THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND..." border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges,
+when the animosity of the burghers had caused<span class="page"><a name="19">[page 19]</a></span>
+the duchess to flee from their midst, holding her
+little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal
+safety. Philip suppressed the revolt, but, in his
+anger at its insolence, declared that never again
+would he set foot within the gates unless in company
+with his superior.</p>
+<p>
+Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella
+played a prominent part as her husband's representative,
+were those concerning the liberation
+of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in England,
+a prisoner, after the battle of Agincourt in
+1415. The last advice given by Henry V. to his
+brothers was that they should make this captivity
+perpetual. Therefore, whenever overtures
+were made for his redemption, a strong party,
+headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them
+vehemently.</p>
+<p>
+In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide
+of sentiment. Possibly the low state of the English
+exchequer made the duke's ransom more
+attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000
+golden crowns were accepted as his equivalent,
+and the exile of twenty-five years returned to
+France, having pledged himself never to bear
+arms against England.</p>
+<p>
+Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome
+him, and to escort him to St. Omer, where high
+revels were held in his honour and in that of his
+alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece.</p>
+<p>
+The week intervening between the betrothal
+and the nuptials was passed in a succession of banquets
+and tourneys, gorgeous in their elaboration.<span class="page"><a name="20">[page 20]</a></span>
+Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just
+then, the new Burgundian Order was convened
+and the Duke of Orleans was elected a Knight of
+the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented
+his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the
+Porcupine. Lord Cornwallis and other English
+gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans across
+the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor
+were they among the least favoured guests, adds
+Barante.</p>
+<p>
+Amity was triumphant, and there was a general
+feeling abroad that the returned exile was henceforth
+to be the ruling power in France. People
+began to look to him to act as the go-between in
+their behalf, to be their mediator with Charles
+VII., still little known at his best. Many towns
+turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend,
+and among them was Bruges. But it was not royal
+favours that Bruges sought. Her burghers felt
+great inconvenience from the breach with their
+sovereign duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his
+grace, they seized the opportunity of reminding
+Philip of his assertion, and they besought him to
+enter their gates in company with the Duke of
+Orleans, a prince of the blood, closer to the French
+sovereign than the Duke of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+After some demur, Philip consented to grant
+their petition. Possibly he was not loth to be
+persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges
+to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and
+to prepare a reception for their appeased sovereign,<span class="page"><a name="21">[page 21]</a></span>
+calculated to make him content with the late rebels.</p>
+<p>
+Before the grand cortège, composed of the two
+dukes, their consorts, and the dignitaries who had
+assisted in the feasts of marriage and of chivalry,
+reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were
+ready with a touching spectacle of humility and
+repentance.<a href="#I25"><sup>25</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+A league from the gates, the magistrates and
+burghers stood in the road awaiting the travellers
+from St. Omer. All were barefooted and bareheaded.
+Under the December sky they waited
+the approach of the stately procession. When
+the duke arrived, they all fell upon their knees and
+implored him to forgive the late troubles and to
+reinstate their city in his favour. Philip did not
+answer immediately&mdash;delay was always a feature
+of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Orleans,
+both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined
+their entreaties to the citizens' prayers. Again a
+pause, and then, as if generously yielding to pressure,
+Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes
+and their hats while he accepted at their hands the
+keys of all the gates. Then the long procession
+moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were
+the clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and beguins
+of the various convents and foundations,
+bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and many
+precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were
+the gilds and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent<span class="page"><a name="22">[page 22]</a></span>
+accoutrements freshly burnished to do
+honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
+overlord.</p>
+<p>
+Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, platforms
+and stages were erected, whereon were enacted
+dramatic performances, given continuously,
+to provide amusement for the collected crowds.
+Sometimes the presentation carried significance
+beyond mere entertainment. Here a maid, garbed
+as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which
+wore the collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine.
+This last beast was to symbolise the Orleans
+device, <i>Near and Far</i>, as the creature was
+supposed to project his spines to a distance.</p>
+<p>
+One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house
+with gold and the roof with silver leaves to betoken
+his satisfaction. Indeed, if we may believe
+the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had
+any city incurred so much expense to honour its
+lord. The duke permitted his heart to be touched
+by these proofs of devotion, and on the very evening
+of his arrival he evinced that his confidence
+was restored by sending the civic keys and a gracious
+message to the magistrates. At the news
+of this condescension the cries of "<i>Noël</i>" re-echoed
+afresh through the illuminated streets.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was not present at this entry, which
+took place on Saturday, December 11th, but Philip
+was so much entertained with the performance
+that he sent for his son, and on the following Saturday
+he and the Countess of Charolais came from<span class="page"><a name="23">[page 23]</a></span>
+Ghent to join the party. The Duke of Orleans
+and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the
+young couple, who were formally escorted to the
+palace by magistrates and citizens in a body. On
+the Sunday there were repetitions of some of
+the plays and every attention was offered by the
+Bruges burghers to their young guests. When
+Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December
+14th, what wonder that the lady wept in
+sorrow at leaving these gay Burgundian doings!</p>
+<p>
+While Charles did not actually witness the humiliation
+of the citizens, the seven-year-old boy
+would, undoubtedly, have heard and known sufficient
+of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware
+that the citizens who had dared defy his father
+were glad to buy back his smiles at any cost to
+their pride and purse. He would have known,
+too, that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence,
+and elsewhere joined the Bruges burghers in the
+welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a spectacle
+of the relations between a city and the ducal
+father not to be easily forgotten by the son.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#1">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="I1">The</a> indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of
+Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. <i>(Collection des
+voyages des souverains des Pays Bas</i>, i., 71.) Unfortunately,
+owing to the destruction of papers, only a few years are
+complete. Between 1428-1441, there is nothing. But the
+itinerary for 1441 and for other years shows how often the
+duke changed his residences. Sometimes he is accompanied
+by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de
+Charolais.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#3">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="I2">It</a> was also said that the woollen manufactures of Flanders
+were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#3">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="I3">Reiffenberg</a>, <i>Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or,</i> p. xxi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#3">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="I4">Hist.</a> de I'Ordre,</i> etc., p. i.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#4">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="I5">All</a> the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to the
+public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from
+the accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity:<br /><br />
+
+"To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber,
+for delivering to a certain person for certain causes and for
+secret matters of which Monseigneur does not wish further
+declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17 sous."
+
+(Laborde <i>Les Ducs de Bourgogne</i>, etc., "Preuves," i. xiii.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#5">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="I6">"Vingt-quatre</a> chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
+et sans reproches nés et procrées en léal mariage" <i>(see</i> description
+of the first list).&mdash;<i>Hist. de l'Ordre,</i> p. xxi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#6">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="I7">Jacquemin</a> Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living
+at Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich
+cloth of black silk draped about the baptismal font. Why
+mourning was used on this joyful occasion does not appear.
+(Laborde, i., 321.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#6">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="I8">Summary</a> of a register containing the acts of the Order
+of the Golden Fleece quoted in <i>Histoire de l'Ordre,</i> pp. 12, 13.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#6">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="I9">St.</a> Remy, <i>Chronique</i>, ii., 284.  St. Remy is usually called
+<i>Toison d'Or.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#7">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="I10">His</a> full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone remains
+of the palace where he was born.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#7">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="I11">Hist,</a> de l'Ordre,</i> p. 13.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#7">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="I12">Selden</a> <i>(Titles of Honor</i>, p. 457), however, says he knows
+not by what authority this statement is made and that he
+knows nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by
+Gautier for receiving knighthood.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#8">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="I13">Deschamps,</a> <i>&OElig;uvres Complètes</i>, ii., 214.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#9">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="I14">The</a> ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of
+Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one notable
+occasion, to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared
+in public accompanied by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan
+of the Hooks, and by Frank van Borselen, himself a Cod, the
+widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess of Holland.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="I15">Barante,</a> <i>Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne</i>, vi., 2, note
+by Reiffenberg.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="I16">See</a> <i>Catalogue des manuscrits des Ducs de Bourgogne,</i>
+"Résumé historique," i., lxxix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="I17">Barante,</a> vi., 2, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="I18">Loomis,</a> <i>Medieval Hellenism</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#12">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="I19">Pirenne,</a> <i>Histoire de Belgique</i>, ii., 231.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#13">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="I20">It</a> was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made.
+Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant,
+Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were
+lapsed fiefs, of the empire.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#14">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="I21">Putnam,</a> <i>A Medieval Princess</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#16">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="I22">Monstrelet,</a> <i>La Chronique</i>, v., 344.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#17">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="I23">La</a> Marche, <i>Mémoires</i>, ii., 50.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#18">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="I24">Reiffenberg,</a> <i>Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe de
+Bourgogne.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#21">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="I25">Meyer,</a> <i>Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum,
+</i> p. 296.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<span class="page"><a name="24">[page 24]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="II">II</a></h2>
+
+<h3>YOUTH</h3>
+
+<h4>1440-1453</h4>
+<p>
+The heir of Burgundy was still in very tender
+years when he began to take official part in
+public affairs, sometimes associated with one
+parent, sometimes with the other.</p>
+<p>
+There was a practical advantage in bringing the
+boy to the fore by which the duke was glad to
+profit. With his own manifold interests, it was
+impossible for him to be present in his various capitals
+as often as was demanded by the usage of
+the diverse individual seigniories. It was politic,
+therefore, to magnify the representative capacity
+of his son and of his consort in order to obtain the
+grants and <i>aides</i> which certain of his subjects declared
+could be given only when requested orally
+by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was
+Count Charles and the duchess who appeared in
+Holland to ask an <i>aide</i>.<a href="#II1"><sup>1</sup></a> In the following year,
+Charles accompanied his father when Philip made
+one of his rare visits&mdash;there were only three between
+1428 and 1466&mdash;to Holland and Zealand.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="castle">[plate 5]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image05castle.jpg" width="400" height="673" alt="A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="25">[page 25]</a></span>
+<p>
+Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants
+on this occasion, and he describes with great
+detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have
+their absentee count in their land.<a href="#II2"><sup>2</sup></a> Many
+matters could only be set aright by his authority.
+Among the complaints brought to him
+at Middelburg were accusations against a certain
+knight of high birth, Jehan de Dombourc.
+Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once
+and brought before him for trial. This was easier
+said than done. Warned of his danger, Dombourc,
+with four or five comrades, took refuge in the clock
+tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary
+that could not be taken by storm.<a href="#II3"><sup>3</sup></a> He was provided
+with a good store of food, this audacious
+criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There
+he remained three days, because, for the honour of
+the Church, they could not fire upon him.</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun
+come out and call to Jehan Dombourc, her brother,
+advising him to perish defending himself rather than
+to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands
+of the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced
+to surrender to his prince, and he was beheaded in the
+market-place at Middelburg, but, at the plea of his
+sister, the said nun, his body was delivered to her to
+be buried in consecrated ground."</p>
+<p>
+In this same visit Philip presided over the Zealand
+estates and the young count sat by his side,<span class="page"><a name="26">[page 26]</a></span>
+not as an idle spectator, but because usage required
+the presence of the heir as well as that of the
+Count of Zealand.</p>
+<p>
+When Charles was twelve he was present at an
+assembly of the Order of the Golden Fleece held
+in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind
+witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his
+description of the lavish magnificence of the
+affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the citizens
+into complying with the requests of their Count
+of Flanders.</p>
+<p>
+Charles played a prominent part in all the functions,
+and assisted in the election of his tutor,
+Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. Another candidate of
+that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Ostrevant,
+widower of Jacqueline, late Countess of
+Holland.</p>
+<p>
+In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at
+Brussels. "Honourably as befitted a king's
+daughter" was she buried at Ste. Gudule.<a href="#II4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Tireless in their devotion were the duke and
+duchess in her last illness, and Charles VII. despatched
+two skilled doctors to her aid but all efforts were vain.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Much bemourned was the princess for she was
+virtuous. God have pity on her soul"</p>
+
+<p>
+piously ejaculates La Marche.</p>
+
+<p>
+A little item <a href="#II5"><sup>5</sup></a> in the accounts suggests that a
+pleasant friendship had existed between the two<span class="page"><a name="27">[page 27]</a></span>
+young people:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Countess
+of Charolais, for a harp which she had bought
+from him and given to Ms. the Count of Charolais for
+him to play and take his amusement, xii francs." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II6"><sup>6</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+It is easy to surmise that music was not, however,
+the young count's favourite amusement. In
+Philip's court, tournaments were still held and
+afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad
+whose bent was undoubtedly towards a military
+career.</p>
+
+<p>
+One valiant actor in these tourneys where were
+revived the ancient traditions of knighthood, was
+Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all the characteristics
+of times past, fighting for fame in the
+present. In his youth, this aspirant for reputation
+swore a vow to meet thirty knights in combat
+before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated
+by a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the
+court of Burgundy, because the Netherlands were
+on the highroad between England and many points
+in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had
+the best chance of falling in with all the prowess
+that might be abroad. For stay-at-home prowess<span class="page"><a name="28">[page 28]</a></span>
+he cared naught. A delightful personage is Messire
+Jacques and a brave rôle does he play in the
+series of jousts, sporting gaily on the pages of the
+various Burgundian chroniclers, who recorded in
+their old age what they had seen in their youth.
+One description, however, of these encounters
+reads much like another and they need not be
+repeated.</p>
+<p>
+During his childhood Charles was a spectator
+only on the days of mimic battle. In his seventeenth
+year he was permitted to enter the lists as a
+regular combatant, a permission shared by his fellow
+pupils all eager to flesh their maiden spears.
+The duke arranged that his son should have a preliminary
+tilt a few days before the public affair in
+order to test his ability. All the courtiers&mdash;and
+apparently ladies were not excluded from the discussion
+on the matter&mdash;agreed that no better
+knight could be found for this purpose than
+Jacques de Lalaing, who, on his part, was highly
+honoured by being selected to gauge the untried
+capabilities of the prince.<a href="#II7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In the park at Brussels with the duke and duchess
+as onlookers, the preliminary encounter took
+place. At the very first attack, Charles struck
+Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his
+lance into many pieces. The duke was displeased
+because he thought that the knight had not exerted
+his full strength and was favouring his son. He
+accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must<span class="page"><a name="29">[page 29]</a></span>
+play in earnest and not hold his force in leash.
+Fresh lances were brought; again did the count
+withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances
+were shattered. This time the boy's mother was
+the dissatisfied one, thinking that the knight was
+too hard with his junior, but the duke only
+laughed.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Thus differed the parents. The one desired him
+to prove his manhood, the other was preoccupied
+with his safety. With these two courses the trial
+ended amid rounds of applause for the prince."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II8"><sup>8</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+The actual tourney was held on the Marketplace
+in Brussels before a distinguished assembly.
+Count Charles was escorted into the arena by his
+cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles.
+Seigneur d'Auxy, his tutor, stood near to watch
+the maiden efforts of the prince and his mates.
+He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for
+his bearing and his skill. He gave and received
+excellent thrusts, broke more than ten lances,
+and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening
+he received the prize from two princesses, and
+"Montjoye" was cried by the heralds in his honour.
+From that time forth, the count was considered
+a puissant and rude jouster and gained
+great renown.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"And that is the reason why I commence my memoirs
+about him and his deeds<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II9"><sup>9</sup></a></span> [continues La Marche,<span class="page"><a name="30"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 30]</span></a></span>
+on concluding his description of the tournament],
+and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour. As
+one who has been brought up with him from his youth
+in his father's service and in his own, I will touch upon
+his education, his morals, his character, and his habits
+from the moment when I first saw him as appears
+above in my memoirs.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As to his character, I will commence at the worst
+features. He was hot, active, and impetuous: as a
+child he was very eager to have his own way. Nevertheless,
+he had so much understanding and good sense
+that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no
+one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he.
+He did not take the name of God or the saints in vain,
+and held God in great fear and reverence. He learned
+well and had a retentive memory. He was fond of
+reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot
+and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and
+boats. Falconry, too, he loved and he hunted whenever
+he had leave. In archery he early excelled his
+comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was
+the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did
+he devote himself to good and excellent exercise."</p>
+
+<p>
+That the report of the lavishness and extravagance
+of the Burgundian court was no idle rumour,
+exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is attested
+to by every bit of contemporary evidence. Enthusiastic
+and loyal chroniclers dwell on the magnificence,
+and the arid details of bills paid show
+what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while
+the protests from taxpayers prove that this splendour<span class="page"><a name="31">[page 31]</a></span>
+did not grow like the lilies of the field.</p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="accountbook">[plate 6]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image06accountbook.jpg" width="400" height="585" alt="FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Philip's treasury had many separate compartments.
+There were many quarters to which he
+could turn for his needed supplies, but there were
+times when his exchequer ran very threateningly
+low, and his financial stress led him to be very
+conciliatory towards the burghers with full purses.</p>
+<p>
+In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the celebration
+of the feast of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece within her gates. Two years later, Philip
+appeared in person at a meeting of the <i>collace</i>, or
+municipal assembly, and delivered a harangue
+to the Ghentish magistrates and burghers, flattering
+them, moreover, by using their vernacular.
+The tenor of this speech was as follows:<a href="#II10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"My good and faithful friends, you know how I
+have been brought up among you from my infancy.
+That is why I have always loved you more than the inhabitants
+of all my other cities, and I have proved this
+by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that
+I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon
+me to-day when I have need of your support. Doubtless
+you are not ignorant of the condition of my father's
+treasury at the period of his death. The majority
+of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were in
+pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate
+vengeance compelled me to undertake a long and
+bloody war, during which the defence of my fortresses
+and of my cities, and the pay of my army have necessitated<span class="page"><a name="32"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 32]</span></a></span>
+outlays so large that it is impossible to estimate
+them. You know, too, that at the very moment
+when the war on France was at its height, I was obliged,
+in order to assure the protection of my country of
+Flanders, to take arms against the English in Hainaut,
+in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding costing
+me more than 10,000 <i>saluts d'or,</i> which I raised
+with difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed
+against Liege, in behalf of my countship of Namur,
+which sprang from the bosom of Flanders? It is not
+necessary to add to all these outlays those which I
+assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jerusalem,
+and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"It is true, however, that, yielding to the persuasions
+of the pope and the Council, I have now consented
+to put an end to the evils multiplied by war
+by forgetting my father's death, and by reconciling
+myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this
+treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in
+preserving to my subjects during the war the advantages
+of industry and of peace, they had submitted
+to heavy burdens in taxes and in voluntary contributions,
+and that it was my duty to re-establish order
+and justice in the administration. But everything
+went on as though the war had not ceased. All my
+frontiers have been menaced, and I found myself
+obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so
+useful to the defence of my other lands, especially
+of Brabant and Flanders.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In this way, my expenses continued to increase;
+all my resources are now exhausted, and the saddest
+part of it all is that the good cities and communes of
+Flanders and especially the country folk are at the
+very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many<span class="page"><a name="33"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 33]</span></a></span>
+of my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obliged
+to emigrate. Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty
+that I have little advantage from them. Nor do I
+reap more from my hereditary lands, for all are equally
+impoverished.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"A way must be found to ease the poor people,
+and at the same time to protect Flanders from insult,
+Flanders for whose sake I would risk my own person,
+although to arrive at this end, important measures
+have become imperative."</p>
+
+<p>
+After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally
+states that, in order to raise the requisite revenues,
+no method seemed to him so good and so simple as
+a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a
+term of twelve years. He promised to dispense
+with all other subsidies and to make his son swear
+to demand nothing further as long as the <i>gabelle</i>
+was imposed.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you
+consent to it I will renounce it if others prove of a different
+opinion, for I do not desire that the communes
+of Flanders be more heavily weighted than any other
+portion of my territory."</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke might have spared his trouble and his
+elaborate condescension. The answer to his conciliatory
+request was a flat refusal to consider
+the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to
+Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not be increased
+to the least degree without serious inconvenience.
+The Flemings were wroth at his imitating<span class="page"><a name="34">[page 34]</a></span>
+the worst custom of his French kinsmen.</p>
+<p>
+Philip departed from Ghent in great dudgeon.
+After a time he was persuaded that the indisposition
+of the town to meet his reasonable wishes was
+not due to the citizens at large, but to the machinations
+of a few unruly agitators among the magistrates.
+In 1449, therefore, he took a high-handed
+course of trying to direct the issue of the regular
+municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of
+magistrates on whose obedience he could rely.
+The appearance of Burgundian troops in Ghent,
+before the election of mid-August, aroused the
+wrath of the community, who thought that their
+most cherished franchises were in jeopardy.</p>
+<p>
+This was the beginning of a bitter struggle between
+Ghent and Philip. The duke found it no
+light matter to coerce the independent burghers
+into remembering that they were simply part of
+the Burgundian state. "<i>Tantæ molis erat liberam
+gentem in servitutem adigere</i>!" ejaculates Meyer in
+the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen
+months of active hostilities.<a href="#II11"><sup>11</sup></a> Matters were long
+in coming to an outbreak. Various points had
+been contended over, when Philip had endeavoured
+to change the seat of the great council, or
+to take divers measures tending to concentrate
+certain judicial or legislative functions for his own
+convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the
+autonomy of Ghent. His centripetal policy was
+disliked, but when his policy went further, and he<span class="page"><a name="35">[page 35]</a></span>
+attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike
+grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in
+open revolt.</p>
+
+<p>
+For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's
+estimation as mere insignificant unruliness. By
+1452, however, the date of the tourney above described,
+it became evident that a vital issue was at
+stake. The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to
+mediate between overlord and town, but without
+success. Owing to Philip's interference in the
+elections, the results were declared void, and when
+a new election was appointed, the Burgundians
+accused the city of hastily augmenting its number
+of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation
+laws. The gilds, too, evinced a readiness to be
+very lenient in their scrutiny of candidates for
+admission to their cherished privileges, preferring,
+for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy
+of furnished rooms was declared sufficient for enfranchisement,
+and there were cases where mere
+guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the
+lists as full-fledged citizens.</p>
+<p>
+By these means the popular party waxed very
+strong numerically. The sheriffs found themselves
+quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit
+of democracy in check. The regular government
+was overthrown, and the demagogues succeeded in
+electing three captains <i>(hooftmans)</i> invested with
+arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees
+of the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of
+very radical measures promulgated and joyfully<span class="page"><a name="36">[page 36]</a></span>
+confirmed by the populace, assembled on the
+Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the
+town meeting that ruled, not deputed authority.
+One ordinance stipulated that at the sound of
+the bell every burgher must hasten to the marketplace,
+to lend his voice to the deliberations.</p>
+<p>
+For a time various negotiations went on between
+Philip and envoys from Ghent. The latter took
+a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable terms
+that if the duke refused an accommodation with
+them, they would appeal to their suzerain, the King
+of France. No act of rebellion, overt or covert,
+exasperated Philip more than this suggestion.
+Charles VII. was only too ready to ignore those
+clauses in the treaty of Arras, releasing the duke
+from homage, and virtually acknowledging his
+complete independence in his French territories.
+The king accepted missives from his late vassal's
+city, without reprimanding the writers for their
+presumption in signing themselves "Seigneurs of
+Ghent."<a href="#II12"><sup>12</sup></a> His action, however, was confined to
+mild attempts at mediation.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was plain to the duke that his other towns
+would follow Ghent's resistance to his authority
+if there were hopes of her success. Therefore he
+threw aside all other interests for the time being,
+and exerted himself to levy a body of troops to
+crush Flemish pretensions. His counsellors advised<span class="page"><a name="37">[page 37]</a></span>
+him to sound the temper of other citizens
+and to ascertain whether their sympathies were
+with Ghent. Answers of feeble loyalty came back
+to him from the majority of the other towns. Undoubtedly
+they highly approved Ghent's efforts.
+They, too, could not afford to pay taxes fraught
+with danger to their commerce, nor to relinquish
+one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive
+crises throughout a long period of years. The
+only doubt in their minds was as to the ultimate
+success of the burghers to stem the course
+of Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first
+hedged, and then consented to aid the duke.
+This course was pursued by the Hollanders and
+the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted.</p>
+<p>
+The Ghenters succeeded in possessing themselves
+of the castle of Poucque by force, and of the
+village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking advantage
+in the latter case of the castellan's absence
+at church.</p>
+<p>
+When every part of his dominions had been canvassed
+for troops, and Philip was prepared for his
+first active campaign against Ghent, he was anxious
+to leave his heir under the protection of the
+duchess, conscious that the imminent contest
+would be bitter and deadly. A pretence was made
+that the young count's accoutrements were not
+ready, and that, therefore, he would have to remain
+in Brussels.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the completion
+of his accoutrements, and swore by St. George,
+the greatest oath he ever used, that he would rather<span class="page"><a name="38"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 38]</span></a></span>
+go in his shirt than not accompany his father to punish
+his impudent rebel subjects."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The approaching hostilities were watched by
+foreign merchants in dread of commercial disaster.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"On May 18th, the <i>nations</i> <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II14"><sup>14</sup></a></span> of the merchants of
+Bruges departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make
+peace between that city and the Duke of Burgundy,
+and there were <i>nations</i> of Spain, Aragon, Portugal,
+and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese, Genoese,
+and Luccans."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II15"><sup>15</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+But the men of Ghent were beyond the point
+where commercial arguments could stem their
+course. The very day that this company arrived
+in the city, the burghers sallied forth six
+or seven thousand strong, fully equipped for
+offensive warfare.</p>
+<p>
+Both the actual engagements and guerilla skirmishes
+that raged over a minute stretch of territory
+were characterised by an extraordinary
+ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip
+was determined to relieve, men were beheaded
+like sheep.</p>
+<p>
+In the first regular engagement in which Charles
+took part, he showed a brave front and learned
+the duties of a prince by rewarding others with the
+honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the
+course of the war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Burgundy,
+and the gallant Jacques de Lalaing. Philip<span class="page"><a name="39">[page 39]</a></span>
+grieved deeply over the death of the former, his
+favourite among his natural sons, and buried him
+with all honours in the Church of Ste-Gudule
+in Brussels. The title by which he was known,
+hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his
+brother Anthony. Lalaing, too, was greatly
+mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his
+thirty-third year.</p>
+<p>
+There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legitimate
+heir might also perish in these conflicts where
+there was no mercy, that Charles was persuaded
+to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would
+keep him by her side. She made a feast in his
+honour, but, to the surprise of all, the duchess,
+who had wished to protect her son from the mild
+perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with
+brave words to return to fight in all earnest for his
+inheritance.<a href="#II16"><sup>16</sup></a> He himself was very indignant at
+the efforts to treat him as a child.</p>
+
+<p>
+The first truce and negotiations for peace, initiated
+in the summer of 1452, were broken off
+because the conditions were unbearable to the
+Ghenters. Another year of warfare followed before
+the decisive battle of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced
+them sadly to succumb. There was no other
+course open to them. Not only were they defeated
+but their numbers were decimated.<a href="#II17"><sup>17</sup></a> With
+full allowance for exaggeration, it is certain that the<span class="page"><a name="40">[page 40]</a></span>
+loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at
+an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every
+humiliating detail. More, the defeated rebels were
+bidden to be grateful that their kind sovereign had
+imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to
+abating the severity of the articles, he declared
+that he would not change an <i>a</i> for a <i>b</i>.<a href="#II18"><sup>18</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The chief provisions were as follows: The
+deans of the gilds were deprived of participation
+in the election of sheriffs. The privileges of the
+naturalisation laws were considerably abridged.
+No sentence of banishment could be pronounced
+without the intervention of the duke's bailiff,
+whose authorisation, too, was required before
+the publication of edicts, ordinances, etc. The
+sheriffs were forbidden to place their names at the
+head of letters to the officers of the duke. The
+banners were to be delivered to the duke and
+placed under five locks, whose several keys should
+be deposited with as many different people, without
+whose consensus the banners could not be
+brought forth to lead the burghers to sedition.
+One gate was to be closed every Thursday in memory
+of the day when the citizens had marched
+through it to attack their liege lord, and another
+was to be barred up in perpetuity or at the pleasure
+of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his
+enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid<span class="page"><a name="41">[page 41]</a></span>
+by the city.</p>
+<p>
+July 30th was the date appointed for the final
+act of submission, the <i>amende honorable</i> of the
+unfortunate city. The scene was very similar to
+that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand
+citizens headed by the sheriffs, councillors, and
+captains of the burgher guard met the duke and
+his suite a league without the walls of Ghent.
+Bareheaded, barefooted, and divested of all their
+robes of office and of dignity, clad only in shirts
+and small clothes, these magistrates confessed
+that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly
+rebellion, and begged his pardon most humbly.</p>
+<p>
+The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gaveren,
+prepared to march out in the morning with
+his whole army in handsome array. Philip was
+magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same
+horse which he had used on the day of battle, with
+the various wounds received on that day ostentatiously
+plastered over to make a dramatic show
+of what the injured sovereign had suffered at the
+hands of his disloyal subjects.</p>
+<p>
+The civic procession was headed by the Abbot
+of St. Bavon and the Prior of the Carthusians.
+The burghers who followed the half-clad officials
+were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and
+ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust
+and cried, "Mercy on the town of Ghent." While
+they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman of
+the council made an elaborate speech in French,
+assuring the duke that if, out of his benign grace.
+he would take his loving and repentant subjects<span class="page"><a name="42">[page 42]</a></span>
+again into his favour, they would never again give
+him cause for reproach.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and
+the Count of Charolais, there present, pardoned the
+petitioners for their evil deeds. The men of Ghent
+re-entered their town more happy and rejoiced than
+can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille,
+having disbanded his army, that every one might
+return to their several homes." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II19"><sup>19</sup></a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The joy experienced by the conquered, here described
+by La Marche, as he looked back at the
+event from the calm retirement of his old age, was
+not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of
+this war was watched eagerly from other parts of
+Philip's dominion. His army was full of men from
+both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports
+to their own homes. Some passages from one of
+these reports by an unknown war correspondent
+run as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As to news from here, Monday after St. Magdalen's
+Day, Monseigneur the duke got the better of
+the Ghenters near Gaveren between ten and eleven
+o'clock. They attacked him near his quarters....
+The duke risked his own person in advance of his
+company in the very worst of the slaughter, which
+lasted from the said place up to Ghent, a distance of
+about two leagues. The slain number three or four
+thousand, more or less, and those drowned in the river
+of Quaux about two hundred.... This Tuesday,
+the date of writing, the army departs from their quarters<span class="page"><a name="43"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 43]</span></a></span>
+to advance on Ghent to demand the conditions
+lately offered them, and the bearer of this letter will
+tell you what is the result. M. the duke and his army
+marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of
+the citizens. They are very bitter and despondent.
+M. the marshall has been parleying. I hear that matters
+have been settled. I hear that the Ghenters' loss
+is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I cannot write
+more for I have no time owing to the haste of the
+messenger."</p>
+
+<p>
+This was written July 23d. There is another
+despatch of July 31st, giving the last news, which
+was "very joyous." The public apology had just
+been enacted&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as
+a confession that my said seigneur was victorious,
+those of Ghent have delivered up all their banners
+to the number of eighty. And on this day my said
+lord has created seven or eight knights and heralds
+in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II20"><sup>20</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+The duke's victory was certainly "inestimable"
+in its value to him, yet, in spite of the rigour enforced
+on this defeated people, they were not
+as crushed as they might have been had they<span class="page"><a name="44">[page 44]</a></span>
+submitted in 1445. Philip was clever enough to
+be more lenient than appeared at first. Ancient
+privileges were confirmed in a special compact,
+and the duke swore to maintain all former concessions
+in their entirety except in the points above
+specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed,
+and it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff
+refused to sustain the sheriffs in their exercise of
+justice, or tried to arrogate to himself more than his
+due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly,
+and more important than all, the duke made
+no attempt to revive the demand for the <i>gabelle</i>&mdash;salt
+was left free and untaxed. As a matter of
+fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfilment
+of every item of the treaty and, two years
+later, he increased certain privileges. He had
+cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to
+pit his strength again with Flemish communes.
+He had taught the audacious rebels a lesson and
+that sufficed him.<a href="#II21"><sup>21</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#24">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="II1">Blok</a>, <i>Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg. Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij,</i> p. 84.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#25">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="II2">La</a> Marche, ii., 79, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#25">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="II3">See</a> also <i>Chronijcke van Nederlant,</i> p. 76, and <i>Vlaamsche
+Kronijk,</i> p. 203. Ed. C. Piot.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#26">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="II4">D'Escouchy</a>, <i>Chronique</i>, i., 110.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#27">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="II5">The</a> items of the funeral expenses can be found in Laborde,
+i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#27">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="II6">In</a> that same year, 1440, in which this gift is recorded,
+there is another item showing how Charles took his amusement
+not only on the harp but in planning some of the elaborate
+surprises regularly introduced between courses in the
+banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter, for making the cover
+of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present to Monseigneur
+on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v
+francs" (Laborde, i., 381).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#28">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="II7">La</a> Marche, ii., 214.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#29">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="II8">Gachard</a> puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's
+outfit cost 360 livres.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#30">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="II9">La</a> Marche, i., ch. 21.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#31">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="II10">Kervyn</a>, <i>Histoire de Flandre</i>, iv. Kervyn quotes from
+the <i>Dagboek des gentsche collatie</i>, M. Schayes.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#34">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="II11">Meyer</a>, xvi., 303.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#36">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="II12">They</a> were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says
+that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of sheriffs
+and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their seignories.&mdash;(La
+Marche, ii., 221. <i>See also</i> d'Escouchy, ii., 25.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#38">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="II13">La</a> Marche, ii., 230.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#38">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="II14">Associations</a> of merchants in foreign cities.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#38">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="II15">Chastellain</a>, <i>&OElig;uvres</i>, ii., 221.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#39">[Footnote 16:</a> La <a name="II16">Marche</a>, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278.  See also
+<i>Chronique d'Adrian de Budt</i>, p. 242, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#40">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="II17">Meyer</a>, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313.  Lavisse, <i>Histoire
+de France</i>, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain
+(ii., 375) puts the number at 22-30,000, including those drowned
+by the duke's order. Du Clercq lets a certain sympathy
+for the rebellious people escape his pen. Chastellain
+and La Marche treat the antagonism to taxes as unreasonable.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#40">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="II18">Chastellain</a>, ii., 387.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#42">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="II19">La</a> Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for
+this event.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#43">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="II20">Revue</a> des sociétés savantes des départements</i>, 7me. série,
+6, p. 209.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated
+July 31 and August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont
+to the magistrates of Baume. The former was one of the
+highest officials in the Franche-Comté. The reporter might
+have been one of his secretaries. The two notes with their
+unsigned enclosures were discovered (1881)in the archives of
+the town of Baume-les-Dames.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#44">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="II21">Kervyn</a>, <i>Histoire de Flandre</i>, iv., 494.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="45">[page 45]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="III">III</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT</h3>
+
+<h4>1454</h4>
+<p>
+After the fatigues of this contest with Ghent,
+followed a period of relaxation for the Burgundian
+nobles at Lille, where a notable round of
+gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph
+of Cleves inaugurated the series with an entertainment
+where, among other things, he delighted his
+friends by a representation of the tale of the miraculous
+swan,<a href="#III1"><sup>1</sup></a> famous in the annals of his house
+for bringing the opportune knight down the Rhine
+to wed the forlorn heiress.</p>
+
+<p>
+When his satisfied guests took their leave,
+Adolph placed a chaplet on the head of one of the
+gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a
+new amusement for the company; and under
+the invitation lurked a tacit challenge to make
+the coming occasion more brilliant than the first.
+Again and again was this process repeated. Entertainment
+followed entertainment, all a mixture
+of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose preparation
+the successive hosts vied with each other to
+attain perfection.</p>
+<p>
+The hard times, the stress of ready money, so
+eloquently painted when the merchants were implored
+to take pity on their poverty-stricken lord,<span class="page"><a name="46">[page 46]</a></span>
+were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest
+tide for skilled craftsmen and artisans. Any one
+blessed with a clever or fantastic idea easily
+found a market for the product of his brain. He
+could see his poetic or quaint conception presented
+to an applauding public with a wealth of paraphernalia
+that a modern stage manager would not
+scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be
+inferred from the ducal accounts, which are eloquent
+with information about the creators of all
+this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the
+wage earned by a painter, while the plumbers
+received eight. These latter were called upon to
+coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often
+more grotesque than graceful.</p>
+<p>
+One fête followed another from the early autumn
+of 1453 to February, 1454, when "The Feast of
+the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was
+called, crowned the series with an elaborate magnificence
+that has never been surpassed.</p>
+<p>
+Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dramatic
+effect and it is more than possible that he
+instigated the progressive banquets for the express
+purpose of leading up to the occasion with which
+he intended to dazzle Europe.<a href="#III2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="poljester">[plate 7]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image07poljester.jpg" width="400" height="659" alt="COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+For the duke's thoughts were now turned from
+civic revolts to a great international movement
+which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost
+coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Philip's
+will had been the capitulation of Constantinople
+to the Turks. The event long dreaded by<span class="page"><a name="47">[page 47]</a></span>
+pope and Christendom had happened at last
+(May 29, 1453). Again and again was the necessity
+for a united opposition to the inroads of the
+dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve
+of St. Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bringing
+an official letter from the pope, setting forth
+the dire stress of the Christian Church, and imploring
+the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her
+saviour, and to assume the leadership of a crusade
+in her behalf against the encroaching Turk.<a href="#III3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer.
+Whatever the exact sequence of his plans in relation
+to the court revels, the result was that his
+own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for
+blazoning forth to the world with a flourish of trumpets
+his august intention of dislodging the invader
+from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.</p>
+<p>
+The superintendence of the arrangements for
+this all-eclipsing fête was entrusted, as La Marche
+relates,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of
+the Golden Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman,
+and to one Squire Jehan Boudault, a notable and discreet
+man. And the duke honoured me so far that he
+desired me to be consulted. Several councils were
+held for the matter to which the chancellor and the
+first chamberlain were invited. The latter had just returned
+from the war in Luxemburg already described.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"These council meetings were very important and
+very private, and after discussion it was decided what
+ceremonies and mysteries were to be presented. The<span class="page"><a name="48"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 48]</span></a></span>
+duke desired that I should personate the character
+of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at
+this assembly."</p>
+
+<p>
+As in many half amateur affairs the preparations
+took more time than was expected. At the
+first date set, all was not in readiness and the performance
+was postponed until February 17th.
+This entailed serious loss upon the provision merchants
+and they received compensation for the
+spoiled birds and other perishable edibles.<a href="#III4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript
+copied from an older one which contains the order of proceedings
+together with the text of all vows. There is a minute
+description in Mathieu d'Escouchy, who claims to have been
+present, and in a manuscript coming from Baluze, whose
+anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of
+the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most
+original. One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon,
+called Dion du Cret, received, in 1455, a sum of five francs
+and a half for having, at the order of the accountants, copied
+and written in parchment the history of the banquet of my
+said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453, containing
+fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note).
+It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with
+this account, which seems to have been merely a copy.]</p>
+<p>
+The gala-day opened with a tournament at
+which Adolph of Cleves again sported as Knight
+of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers.
+After the jousting, the guests adjourned to the banqueting
+hall, where fancy had indeed, run riot, to
+make ready for their admiring eyes and their
+sagacious palates. <i>Entremets</i> is the term applied
+to the elaborate set pieces and side-shows<span class="page"><a name="49">[page 49]</a></span>
+provided to entertain the feasters between courses,
+and these were on an unprecedented scale.</p>
+<p>
+Three tables stood prepared respectively for
+the duke and his suite, for the Count of Charolais,
+his cousins, and their comrades, and for the
+knights and ladies. The first table was decorated
+with marvellous constructions, among which was
+a cruciform church whose mimic clock tower was
+capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers.
+The enormous pie in which twenty-eight musicians
+were discovered when the crust was cut may
+have been the original of that pasty whose opening
+revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar
+plight. Wild animals wandered gravely at a
+machinist's will through deep forests, but in
+the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at
+least one live lion, for Gilles le Cat<a href="#III5"><sup>5</sup></a> received twenty
+shillings from the duke for the chain and locks
+he made to hold the savage beast fast "on the day
+of the said banquet."</p>
+
+<p>
+Again there was an anchored ship, manned with
+a full crew and rigged completely. "I hardly
+think," observes La Marche, "that the greatest
+ship in the world has a greater number of ropes
+and sails."</p>
+<p>
+Before the guests seated themselves they
+wandered around the hall and inspected the
+decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration
+exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the
+toothsome dainties provided for their delectation.</p>
+<p>
+During the progress of the banquet, the story of<span class="page"><a name="50">[page 50]</a></span>
+Jason was enacted. Time there certainly was for
+the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight dishes
+to every course, though he qualifies his statement
+by the admission that his memory might be inexact.
+These dishes were wheeled over the tables
+in little chariots before each person in turn.</p>
+<p>
+"Such were the mundane marvels that graced
+the fête," is the conclusion of La Marche's&nbsp;<a href="#III6"><sup>6</sup></a> exhaustive
+enumeration of the masterpieces from
+artists' workshops and ducal kitchen</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I will leave them now to record a pity moving
+<i>entremets</i> which seemed to be more special than the
+others. Through the portal whence the previous
+actors had made their entrance, came a giant larger
+without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long
+green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in
+Granada. His left hand held a great, old-fashioned
+two-bladed axe, his right hand led an elephant covered
+with silk. On its back was a castle wherein sat a
+lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of black
+cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse.&nbsp;<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III7"><sup>7</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Once within the hall and in sight of the noble
+company, like one who had work before her, she said
+to the giant, her conductor:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"'Giant, prithee let me stay<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;For I spy a noble throng<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To whom I wish to speak.'<br /><br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"At these words her guide conducted his charge
+before the ducal table and there she made a piteous<span class="page"><a name="51"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 51]</span></a></span>
+appeal to all assembled to come to rescue her, Holy
+Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving miscreants.
+As soon as she ceased speaking a body of officers
+entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms,
+bringing up the rear. This last carried a live pheasant
+ornamented with a rich collar of gold studded
+with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maidens,
+Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the
+duke, and Isabelle of Neufchâtel, escorted by two gentlemen
+of the Order. They all proceeded to the host.
+After greetings, Toison d'Or then said:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"'High and puissant prince and my redoubtable
+lord, here are ladies who recommend themselves very
+humbly to you because it is, and has been, the custom
+at great feasts and noble assemblies to present to the
+lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird
+whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am
+sent hither with these two demoiselles to present to you
+this noble pheasant, praying you to remember them.'</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"When these words were said, Monseigneur the
+duke, who knew for what purpose he had given
+the banquet, looked at the personified Church, and
+then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his
+bosom a document containing his vow to succour
+Christianity, as will appear later. The Church manifested
+her joy, and seeing that my said seigneur had
+given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst forth
+forth into rhyme:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+&nbsp;"'God be praised and highly served<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France.<br />
+Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed<br />
+Until it seemed thou wert reserved<br />
+<span class="page"><a name="52"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page&nbsp;52]</span></a></span>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To bring me my deliverance.<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Near and far I seek alliance<br />
+And pray to God to grant thee grace<br />
+To work His pleasure in thy place.<br /><br />
+
+&nbsp;"'0 every prince and noble, man and knight,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed.<br />
+Abandon ease, abjure delight,<br />
+Lift up your hand, each in his right,<br />
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Offer God the savings from thy greed.<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I take my leave, imploring each, indeed,<br />
+To risk his life for Christian gain,<br />
+To serve his God and 'suage my pain.'<br /><br />
+</blockquote>
+<p class="quote">
+"At this the giant led off the elephant and departed
+by the same way in which he had entered.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"When I had seen this <i>entremets</i>, that is, the
+Church and a castle on the back of such a strange
+beast, I pondered as to whether I could understand
+what it meant and could not make it out otherwise
+except that she had brought this beast, rare among
+us, in sign that she toiled and laboured in great adversity
+in the region of Constantinople, whose trials we
+know, and the castle in which she was signified Faith.
+Moreover, because this lady was conducted by this
+mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished to
+denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had
+chased her away and sought her destruction.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"As soon as this play was played out, the noble
+gentlemen, moved by pity and compassion, hastened
+to make vows, each in his own fashion."</p>
+
+<p>
+The vow of the Count of Charolais was as
+follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"I swear to God my creator, and to His glorious
+mother, to the ladies and to the pheasant, that, if my<span class="page"><a name="53"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 53]</span></a></span>
+very redoubtable lord and father embark on this
+holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I accompany
+him, I will go and will serve him as well
+as I can and know how to do."</p>
+
+<p>
+Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fantastic
+conditions being appended according to individual
+fancy. One gentleman decided never
+to go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were
+accomplished. Another that he would eat nothing
+on Fridays that had ever lived until he had
+had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand
+to hand, and of attacking, at peril of his life, the
+banner of the Grand Turk.</p>
+<p>
+Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tuesday
+and to wear no protection on his right arm.
+This last the duke refused to permit. Hugues de
+Longueval vowed that when he had once turned
+his face to the East he would abstain from wine
+until he had plunged his sword in an infidel's blood,
+and that he would devote two years to the crusade
+even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople
+were not recovered. Louis de Chevelast
+swore that no covering should protect his
+head until he had come to within four leagues of
+the infidels, and that he would fight a Turk on foot
+with nothing on his arm but a glove. There was
+the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets
+and many of the self-imposed penalties were as
+bizarre as the side-shows.</p>
+<p>
+There were so many chevaliers eager to bind
+themselves to the enterprise that the prolonged
+ceremony threatened to become tedious. The<span class="page"><a name="54">[page 54]</a></span>
+duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would
+be equally valid as the day.&nbsp;<a href="#III8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the
+banquet was finished and the cloth removed and every
+one began to walk around the room. To me it seemed
+like a dream, for, of all the decorations, soon nothing
+remained but the crystal fountain. When there was
+no further spectacle to distract me, then my understanding
+began to work and various considerations
+touching this business came into my mind. First, I
+pondered upon the outrageous excess and great expense
+incurred in a brief space by these banquets, for
+this fashion of progressive entertainments, with the
+hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time.
+All had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all,
+especially my said lord, had spent so much that I
+considered the whole thing outrageous and without
+any justification for the expense, except as regarded
+the <i>entremets</i> of the Church and the vows. Even that
+seemed to me too lightly treated for an important
+enterprise.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a
+gentleman, councillor and chamberlain, who was in
+my lord's confidence and with whom I had some acquaintance.
+To him I imparted my thoughts in the
+course of a friendly chat and his comment was as
+follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet
+entertainments would never have occurred except by<span class="page"><a name="55"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 55]</span></a></span>
+the secret desire of the duke to lead up to this very
+banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy purpose
+and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three
+years now since the distress of our Church was presented
+to the Knights of the Golden Fleece at Mons.
+My lord there dedicated his person and his wealth
+to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion of
+Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and
+money. Thanks be to God, he has attained there a
+good and honourable peace, as every one knows.
+Now it has chanced that, during this very period, the
+Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in
+their capture of Constantinople. The need of succour
+is very pressing and all that you have witnessed to-day
+is proof that the good duke is intent on the weal of
+Christendom.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+During the progress of this conversation, a new
+company was ushered into the hall, preceded by
+musicians. Here came <i>Grâce Dieu</i>, clad as a nun
+followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and
+black velvet ornamented with jewels. Not alone
+did they come. Each gentleman escorted a dame
+wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged
+round skirt <i>à la Portuguaise. Grâce Dieu</i> declared
+in rhyme that God had heard the pious resolution
+of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had forthwith
+sent her with her twelve attendants to promise
+him a happy termination to his enterprise. Her
+ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice, Reason, Prudence,
+and their sisters, were then presented to him.
+<i>Grâce Dieu</i> departs alone and no sooner has she
+disappeared than Philip's new attributes begin to
+dance to add to the good cheer. Among the knights<span class="page"><a name="56">[page 56]</a></span>
+was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among
+the ladies was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy,
+and the others were all of high birth. Not until
+two o'clock did the revels finally cease.</p>
+<p>
+It must be noted that La Marche's reflections
+upon the extravagance of the entertainment occur
+also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both drew
+their moralising from another author. It is
+stated by several reputable chroniclers that Olivier
+de la Marche himself represented the Church. That
+he merely wrote her lines is far more probable.
+Female performers certainly appeared freely in
+these as in other masques, and there was no
+reason for putting a handsome youth in this rôle
+of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans
+that La Marche claims to have heard discussed
+in the council meeting, he says plainly that he
+was to play the rôle of Holy Church, but as he
+makes no further allusion to the fact, it may be
+dismissed as one of his careless statements.</p>
+<p>
+This pompous announcement of big plans was
+the prelude to nothing! Yet it was by no means
+a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to
+make this crusade the crowning event of his
+life, and his proceedings immediately after the
+great fête were all to further that end. To obtain
+allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to ensure
+a peaceful succession for his son in case of his
+own death in the East&mdash;such were the cares demanding
+the duke's attention.</p>
+<p>
+The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was<span class="page"><a name="57">[page 57]</a></span>
+entrusted with the regency for the term of his
+father's sojourn abroad in quest of allies, and
+he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of
+government, but he was speedily recalled to Lille
+to submit once more to paternal authority before
+being left to his own devices and to maternal
+bias.</p>
+<p>
+For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the
+subject of their son's second marriage. Isabella
+wished that a bride should be sought in England,
+and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles
+himself. The important topic was discussed with
+more or less freedom among the young courtiers,
+until the drift of the conversations, whose burden
+was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came
+to Philip's ears, together with the information
+that one of his own children was among those who
+incited the count to independent desires about his
+future wife. Very stern was the duke in his reprimand
+to the two young men. He acknowledged
+that force of circumstances had once led him into
+friendly bonds with the foes of his own France,
+but never had he been "English at heart."
+Charles must accept his father's decision on pain
+of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip
+added, turning to the other son, destitute of
+status in the eyes of the law, "if I find that he
+counsels you to oppose my will, I will have
+him tied up in a sack and thrown into the
+sea." <a href="#III9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of<span class="page"><a name="58">[page 58]</a></span>
+Bourbon, daughter of the duke's sister, and the
+betrothal was hastily made. Even the approval
+of the bride's parents was dispensed with.
+This passed the more easily as the young lady herself
+was conveniently present in the Burgundian
+court under the guardianship of her aunt, the
+duchess, who had superintended her education.
+A papal dispensation was more necessary than
+paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far
+as the betrothal was concerned. To that extent
+was Philip obeyed. Then Charles returned to
+Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to
+obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enterprise.</p>
+<p>
+The duke's departure from Lille was made very
+privately at five o'clock in the morning. He was
+off before his courtiers were aware of his last
+preparations. That was a surprise, but not the
+only one in store for those left behind. In
+order to save every penny for his journey, Philip
+ordered radical retrenchment in his household
+expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his
+retainers were abolished and all alike found themselves
+forced to restrict their appetites to the dainties
+they could purchase with the table allowance
+accorded them. "The court's leg is broken,"
+said Michel, the rhetorician.<a href="#III10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In his own outlay there was no stinting; the
+duke's progress was pompous and stately as
+was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland,<span class="page"><a name="59">[page 59]</a></span>
+Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and obtained
+permission to show their friendship with
+ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of
+"<i>Vive Bourgogne</i>." Equally hospitable were the
+German cities. Game, wine, fodder, were offered
+for the traveller's use at every stage, as he and his
+suite rode to the imperial diet.</p>
+<p>
+At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The
+emperor whom he had come so far to see in person
+failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the plan of
+co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic
+simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially
+lazy, he shrank from committing himself to a difficult
+enterprise, nor was his ambition tempted by
+possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the
+crown of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had
+he been personally ambitious he might still have
+been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's project,
+in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing
+renown of the greatest duke of the Occident might
+throw a poor emperor as ally into the shade. The
+very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had
+chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he
+sent his secretary, Æneas Sylvius, to represent
+him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from pleasing
+to the visitor.</p>
+<p>
+There were other defections, too, from the
+diet. None of those present was in a position to
+aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter
+was brought forward and laid on the table to be
+discussed at the next diet, appointed to meet in
+November at Frankfort. But Philip would not<span class="page"><a name="60">[page 60]</a></span>
+wait for that. Germany did not agree with him.
+He was not well. Rumours there were of various
+kinds about his reasons for returning home. They
+do not seem to require much explanation, however.
+He had not been met half way in Germany and
+was highly displeased at the failure. Declining
+all further entertainment proffered by the cities,
+he travelled back to Besançon by way of Stuttgart
+and Basel. In the early autumn he was at
+Dijon.</p>
+<p>
+During this summer, negotiations about Charles's
+marriage had continued. The Duke of Bourbon
+was inclined to chaffer about the dowry demanded
+by Philip. One of the estates asked for was
+Chinon, and it was urged that it, a male fief,
+was not capable of alienation. Philip was not
+inclined to accept this reason as final and the
+negotiations hung fire, much to the distress of the
+Duchess of Bourbon, who feared a breach between
+her husband and brother. Naïve are the
+phrases in one of her letters as quoted by
+Chastellain:<a href="#III11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MY VERY DEAR SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I have heard all Boudault's message from you ...
+To be brief, Monseigneur is content and ready to accede
+the points that you demand. It seems to me
+that you ought to give him easy terms and that you
+ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against
+him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as
+done, I beg you to celebrate the nuptials as soon as
+possible although not without me as you have<span class="page"><a name="61"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 61]</span></a></span>
+promised me."&nbsp;<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III12"><sup>12</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The king, too, was interested in the matter, and
+wrote as follows to Duke Philip:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"DEAR AND MUCH LOVED BROTHER:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed
+me of the negotiations for the marriage of my cousin
+of Charolais, your son, to my cousin Isabella of Bourbon,
+his daughter, which marriage has been deferred,
+as he writes me, because he does not wish to alienate
+to his daughter the seignory of Château-Chinon. It
+is not possible for him to do this on account of the
+marriage agreement of our daughter Jeanne and my
+cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein it was stipulated
+that Château-Chinon should go to them and their
+heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female
+line, and in default of heirs male it must return to the
+crown as a true appanage of France.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Lest, peradventure, you may doubt the truth of
+this, and imagine that the point is urged by our cousin
+of Bourbon simply as an excuse for not ceding the
+estate, we assure you that it is true, and was considered
+in arranging the alliance of our daughter so that
+it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to
+make any alienation or transfer of the territory at the
+marriage of his daughter. We never would have
+permitted the marriage of our daughter without this
+express settlement. With this consideration it seems
+to me that you ought not to block the marriage in
+question, especially as my cousin says he is offering
+you an equivalent. He cannot do more as we have
+charged our councillor, the bailiff of Berry, to explain
+to you in full. So pray do not postpone the marriage
+for the above cause or for any cause, if by the permission<span class="page"><a name="62"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 62]</span></a></span>
+of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be
+lawfully completed.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+  "Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17.<br /><br />
+
+    "CHARLES.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="rindent">
+      CHALIGAUT."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+As the marriage was an event of importance,
+and the circumstances are simple historic facts, it
+is strange that there should be any uncertainty
+regarding the details of its solemnisation. But
+there is a certain vagueness about the narratives.
+One version is so amusing that it deserves a slight
+consideration.<a href="#III14"><sup>14</sup></a> The chronicler relates how
+Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay
+in the negotiations. Conscious of the sentiments
+of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared lest
+her well-known sympathies for England might
+prevail in the final decision.</p>
+
+<p>
+When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff
+of Berry came as the king's special envoy to discuss
+some aspects of the subject with him.
+The mission was gladly undertaken as the messenger
+had never seen Philip nor his court and
+he was pleased at the chance of meeting a personage
+whose fame rang through Europe. Very graciously
+was he received by the duke, who read the
+king's letters attentively and replied to the envoy's
+messages in general terms of courteous recognition,
+without making his own intention manifest. The
+bailiff waited for an answer, finding, in the meanwhile,<span class="page"><a name="63">[page 63]</a></span>
+that his days passed very agreeably.</p>
+<p>
+As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon
+Philip Pot had set out for the Netherlands, bearing
+the duke's orders to his son to celebrate his
+nuptials without further delay. The duke did
+not intend to be influenced by any one. It was
+his will that his son should accept the bride selected
+and that was all sufficient. The reason
+why the duke detained the king's messenger was
+that he "awaited news from Messire Philip de Pot,
+whom he had sent in all speed to his son to hasten
+the wedding."<a href="#III15"><sup>15</sup></a> The said gentleman found the
+count at Lille with the duchess, his mother, and
+he was so diligent in the discharge of his mission
+that he made all the arrangements himself and
+saw the wedding rites solemnised immediately.
+The bridegroom did not even know of the plan
+until the night preceding the important day.
+Then Philip Pot rode back to Dijon.</p>
+
+<p>
+When the duke was assured that the alliance
+was irrevocably sealed he was quite ready to answer
+the king's messenger, whom he at once invited
+to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip
+remarked:</p>
+<p>
+"Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a
+matter which I am humbly grateful for his interest
+in. You know my opinion. I had no desire to
+dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from
+Flanders; ask him his news and note his reply."</p>
+<p>
+"What tidings, Monsieur, do you bring us?</p>
+<p>
+Prithee impart it" said the bailiff to the chevalier.<span class="page"><a name="64">[page 64]</a></span>
+And the gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my
+faith, Monsieur bailiff, the greatest news that
+I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is
+married!"</p>
+<p>
+"Married! to whom?"</p>
+<p>
+"To whom?" responded the chevalier, "why, to
+his first cousin, Monseigneur's niece."</p>
+<p>
+Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's
+blank amazement. Again the latter had to be
+reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip
+Pot told him that it was so true that the wedded
+pair had spent the night together according to
+their lawful right.</p>
+<p>
+The bailiff did not know which way to turn. "So
+he acted out his two rôles. Returning thanks to
+the duke in the king's name with all formality, he
+then joined in the general laugh over the unsuspected
+trick. He was a man of the world and
+knew how to take advantage of sense and of
+folly."</p>
+<p>
+It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the
+wedding knot that the Countess of Charolais sent
+a messenger to announce the fact to her parents.
+They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made
+no further objection to any point, and the mooted
+territory of Chinon made part of the dower in
+spite of the reasons urged against it.</p>
+<p>
+As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at
+Dijon, Philip presented him with a round dozen
+stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks, and
+he went home a surprised and delighted man.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Monsieur<span class="page"><a name="65"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 65]</span></a></span>
+de Charolais married Mademoiselle de Bourbon
+and he married her on the eve of All Saints<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III16"><sup>16</sup></a></span> at Lille,
+and there was no festival because Duke Philip was
+then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the
+duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the
+ladies of Lille, but they were seated all together,
+as is usually done at an ordinary banquet, without
+mesdames holding state as would have been proper
+for such an occasion."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+It is evident from all the stories that Charles
+protested against his father's orders as much as
+he dared and then obeyed simply because he could
+not help himself.</p>
+<p>
+Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom
+proved a faithful husband in a court where marital
+fidelity was a rare trait.</p>
+<p>
+Philip's plans for the international union against
+the Turk were less easily completed than those
+for the union of his son and his niece. In November,
+the diet met at Frankfort; the expedition was
+discussed and some resolutions were passed, but
+nothing further was achieved.</p>
+<p>
+Charles VII. would not even promise co-operation
+on paper. He had gradually extended his
+own domain in French-speaking territory and had
+dislodged the English from every stronghold except
+Guisnes and Calais. Under him France was
+regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose,<span class="page"><a name="66">[page 66]</a></span>
+therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by
+Philip and he was wholly unwilling to risk it.
+From him Philip obtained only expressions of
+general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and
+more definite suggestions of the dangers that
+would menace Western Europe if all her natural
+defenders carried their arms and their fortunes
+to the East.</p>
+<p>
+When the anniversary of the great fête came
+round not a vow was yet fulfilled!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#45">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="III1">A</a> performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#46">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="III2">The</a> chroniclers are not at one on this point.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#47">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="III3">DuClercq</a>, <i>Mémoires</i>, ii., 159.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#48">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="III4">This</a> banquet at Lille was the subject of several descriptions
+by spectators or at least contemporary authors.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#49">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="III5">Laborde</a>, i., 127.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#50">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="III6">II</a>., 361.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#50">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="III7">The</a> text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion. <i>Béguine</i>
+is probably the right reading.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#54">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="III8">Mathieu</a> d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as though
+made then, and differs in many unessential points from La
+Marche's account.<br /><br />
+
+The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made
+his going dependent on the consent of the King of France, a
+condition very displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#57">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="III9">Du</a> Clerq, ii., 203.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#58">[Footnote 10:</a> '"<a name="III10">Michel</a> dit que le gigot de la cour était rompu."&mdash;La
+Marche, i., ch. xiv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#60">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="III11">Chastellain</a>, iii., 20, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#60">[Footnote 12:</a> "<a name="III12">Toute</a> fois que ce ne soit pas sans moy."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#62">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="III13">The</a> original, signed, is in the <i>Archives de la Côte-d'Or,</i> B.
+200. <i>See</i> Du Fresne de Beaucourt, <i>Histoire de Charles VII</i>., v.
+470.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#62">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="III14">Chastellain</a>, iii., 23, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#63">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="III15">Chastellain</a>, iii., 24]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#65">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="III16">The</a> chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain (iii.,
+25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch.
+cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallowe'en
+<i>(Les Honneurs de la Cour</i>, p. 187). The last was one
+of Isabella's ladies in waiting.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="67">[page 67]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="IV">IV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>BURGUNDY AND FRANCE</h3>
+
+<h4>1455-1456.</h4>
+<p>
+The duke's journey failed in accomplishing its
+object, but it proved an important factor in
+the development of the character of Charles of
+Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the
+government in his father's absence changed him
+from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he
+was, was plain to see.</p>
+<p>
+His character was built on singularly simple
+lines. Vigorous of body, intense of purpose, inclined
+to melancholy, he was profoundly convinced
+of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke
+in Christendom, as future successor to an uncrowned
+potentate, who could afford to treat
+lightly the authority of both king and emperor
+whose nominal vassal he was.</p>
+<p>
+The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an
+immense effect in enhancing the count's belief in
+his father's power, in causing him to forget that
+the communes of Flanders did not owe their existence
+to their overlord. As yet, Charles of Burgundy
+had not met a single check to his self-esteem,
+to his family pride. As a governor, he probably
+exercised his brief authority with the rigour of
+one new to the helm.</p>
+<span class="page"><a name="68">[page 68]</a></span>
+<p class="quote">
+"And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well
+and so virtuously in the task, that nothing deteriorated
+under his hand, and when the good duke returned
+from his journey, he found his lands as intact as
+before."</p>
+
+<p>
+Such, is La Marche's testimony.<a href="#IV1"><sup>1</sup></a> Intact undoubtedly,
+but possibly the satisfaction was not
+quite perfect. Du Clercq<a href="#IV2"><sup>2</sup></a> declares that Count
+Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge
+and made himself respected as a magistrate.
+Above all, he insisted that justice should be dealt
+out to all alike. The only danger in his methods
+was that he acted on impulse without sufficiently
+informing himself of the matter in hand, or hearing
+both sides of a controversy. As a result, his decisions
+were not always impartial and the father
+was preferred to the strenuous and impetuous son.
+"Not that Philip was often inclined to recognise
+other law than his own will, but he was more
+tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more
+guided by reason," adds a later author.<a href="#IV3"><sup>3</sup></a> There
+was an evident dread as to what might be the
+outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="statue">[plate 8]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image08statue.jpg" width="400" height="750" alt="THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRÜCK" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+The duke's chief measures after his return in
+February, 1455, seemed hardly calculated to
+arouse any great personal devotion to himself or
+a profound trust that his first consideration was
+for the advantage of his Netherland subjects. His
+thoughts were still turned to the East, and his
+main interest in the individual countships was as
+sources of supply for his Holy War. Considerable
+sums flowed into his exchequer that were never<span class="page"><a name="69">[page 69]</a></span>
+used for their destined purpose, but the duke cannot
+be justly accused of actual bad faith in amassing
+them. His intention to make the Eastern
+campaign remained firm for some years.</p>
+
+<p>
+In another matter, his despotic exercise of personal
+authority, far without the pale of his jurisdiction
+inherited or acquired, shows no shadow
+of excuse.</p>
+<p>
+In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical
+head was also lay lord. Here the counts of Holland
+possessed no voice. They were near neighbours,
+that was all. Philip ardently desired to be
+more in this tiny independent state in the midst of
+territories acknowledging his sway.</p>
+<p>
+In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and
+Philip was most anxious to have it filled by his son
+David, whom he had already made Bishop of
+Thérouanne by somewhat questionable methods.
+The Duke of Guelders also had a neighbourly interest
+in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet candidate,
+Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged.
+The chapter resolutely ignored the wishes of both
+dukes and the canons were almost unanimous in
+their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.<a href="#IV4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria,
+but not a single one for David of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral<span class="page"><a name="70">[page 70]</a></span>
+and an eminently worthy choice, both for his
+attainments and for his character. He was proclaimed
+in the cathedral, installed in the palace,
+and confirmed, as regarded his temporal power,
+by the emperor.</p>
+<p>
+Philip, however, refused to accept the returns,
+although not a single suffrage had been cast by
+the qualified electors for his son. He despatched
+the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new
+pope, Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late
+election and to confer the see upon David, out of
+hand. Philip's tender conscience found Gijsbrecht
+ineligible to an episcopal office because
+he had participated in the war against Ghent,
+certainly a weak plea in an age of militant bishops!</p>
+<p>
+The pope was afraid to offend the one man in
+Europe upon whose immediate aid he counted in
+the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift of
+four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys,
+the customary gift in asking papal confirmation
+for a bishop-elect, but secretly he delivered
+to Philip's ambassador letters patent
+creating David of Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.<a href="#IV5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically
+that David was elected to the see, and the
+Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
+Philip had to levy an army and come in person to
+support the new bishop.<a href="#IV6"><sup>6</sup></a> Du Clercq puts a
+different colour on the story and d'Escouchy<a href="#IV7"><sup>7</sup></a>
+implies that the whole trouble arose from party<span class="page"><a name="71">[page 71]</a></span>
+strife which had to be quelled in the interests of
+law and order.</p>
+
+<p>
+Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters
+by imposing upon them a spiritual director of
+acknowledged base birth, the right of choice lay
+with them and the emperor had confirmed their
+choice as far as the lay office was concerned.
+While the issue was undecided, the Estates
+of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and
+defender of the see to assure him a legal status
+pending the papal ratification. The people were
+prepared to support their candidate with arms, a
+game that Philip did not refuse, and the force of
+thirty thousand men with which he invaded the
+bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two
+and able to carry David of Burgundy to the
+episcopal throne, upon which he was seated in
+his father's presence, October 16, 1455.</p>
+<p>
+Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advantages
+from the situation. Alkmaar and Kennemerland
+redeemed certain forfeited privileges
+by means of their contributions to the duke's
+army. The city of Utrecht preferred a compromise
+to the risk of war. The bishop-elect, Gijsbrecht,
+consented to withdraw his claim, being
+permitted to retain the humbler office of provost
+of Utrecht and an annuity of four thousand guilders
+out of the episcopal revenues.</p>
+<p>
+Deventer was the only place which was obstinate
+enough to persist in her rebellion and Philip
+was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms by a
+siege when news was brought to him that a visitor<span class="page"><a name="72">[page 72]</a></span>
+had arrived at Brussels under circumstances which
+imperatively demanded his personal attention.</p>
+<p>
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since the
+Treaty of Arras, there had been great changes in
+France in the character both of the realm and of
+the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved
+himself to be a very different person from the inert
+king of Bourges.<a href="#IV8"><sup>8</sup></a> Old at twenty, Charles VII.
+seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers
+were replaced by others better chosen and his administration
+gradually became effective. Fortune
+favoured him in depriving England of the Duke of
+Bedford (1435), the one man who might have
+maintained English prestige abroad and peace at
+home during the youth of Henry VI. It was at a
+time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles
+VII. succeeded in assuming the offensive on the
+Continent and in wresting Normandy and Guienne
+from the late invader.</p>
+
+<p>
+But this territorial advantage was not all. Distinct
+progress had been made towards a national
+existence in France. The establishment of the
+nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid
+in curbing the depredations of the "<i>écorcheurs</i>,"
+the devastating, marauding bands which had
+harassed the provinces. There was new activity
+in agriculture and industry and commerce.<a href="#IV9"><sup>9</sup></a> The
+revival of letters and art, never completely stifled,
+proved the real vitality of France in spite of the
+depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal<span class="page"><a name="73">[page 73]</a></span>
+justice was reorganised, public finance was better
+administered. By 1456, misery had not, indeed,
+disappeared, but it was less dominant.</p>
+
+<p>
+The years of growing union between king and
+his kingdom were, however, years of discord
+between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis
+had not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his
+Burgundian cousin. Very poor and forlorn was
+his father at the time of the birth of his heir
+(1423).<a href="#IV10"><sup>10</sup></a> There was nothing in the treasury to
+pay the chaplain who baptised the child or the
+woman who nourished him. The latter received
+no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of
+fifteen pounds. The first allowance settled on
+the heir to his unconsecrated royal father's uncertain
+fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every
+feature of his infancy was a marked contrast to
+the early life of the Count of Charolais.</p>
+<p>
+From his seventeenth year Louis was in
+active opposition to the king, heading organised
+rebellion against him in the war called the <i>Praguerie</i>.
+Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his
+charge the administration of Dauphiné, thus practically
+banishing him honourably from the court
+where he was, evidently, a disturbing element.
+The only restrictions placed upon him in his provincial
+government were such as were necessary
+to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown.
+To these restrictions, however, Louis paid not
+the slightest heed. He assumed all the airs of
+an independent sovereign. He made wars and<span class="page"><a name="74">[page 74]</a></span>
+treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded
+to arrange his own marriage.</p>
+
+<p>
+At this time Louis was already a widower, having
+been married at the age of thirteen to Margaret
+of Scotland, who led a mournful existence at the
+French court, where she felt herself a desolate
+alien. Her death at the age of twenty was possibly
+due to slander. "Fie upon life," she said on
+her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
+the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk
+to me no more of it."</p>
+<p>
+Her husband cared less for her life than did
+Margaret herself. He took no interest in the
+inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
+charges against the princess, and was more than
+ready to turn to a new alliance. At the date of
+his widowerhood he was in Dauphiné and his
+own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of
+the Duke of Savoy. After negotiations in his
+own behalf he informed his father of his matrimonial
+project. It did not meet the views of
+Charles VII., who ordered his son to abandon the
+idea immediately.</p>
+<p>
+A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambéry
+to stop the dauphin's nuptials.<a href="#IV11"><sup>11</sup></a> The duke
+evaded an interview and the envoy was forced
+to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy.
+On the morrow of his arrival, he was taken to
+church, where the wedding ceremony was performed
+(March 10, 1451), but his seat was in such a remote
+place that he could barely catch a glimpse of the<span class="page"><a name="75">[page 75]</a></span>
+bridal procession, though he saw that Louis was
+clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two
+days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to
+the king, expressing regrets on the part of the
+Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made before
+the paternal prohibition arrived.</p>
+
+<p>
+Nine years were spent by Louis in Dauphiné.
+He introduced many administrative and judicial
+reforms, excellent in themselves but not popular.
+There were various protests and when he dared to
+impose taxes without the consent of the Estates,
+an appeal was made to the king begging him to
+check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles
+summoned his son to his presence. Instead of
+obeying this order in person, Louis sent envoys
+who were dismissed by his father with a curt response:
+"Let my son return to his duty and he
+shall be treated as a son. As to his fears, security
+to his person is pledged by my word, which my
+foes have never refused to accept."<a href="#IV12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Louis showed himself less compliant than his
+father's foes. As Charles approached Dauphiné,
+and made his preparations to enforce obedience,
+Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the
+Duke of Burgundy, and of the King of Castile,
+beside sending offerings to all the chief shrines in
+Christendom, imploring aid against parental wrath.
+Then his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He
+called the nobles of his principality to arms and
+bade the fortified towns prepare for siege, while
+he loftily declared that he would not trouble his<span class="page"><a name="76">[page 76]</a></span>
+father to seek him. He would meet him at Lyons.</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was directed
+by the king to take military possession of
+Dauphiné and to put the dauphin under arrest.
+As he was <i>en route</i> to fulfil these orders, the count
+heard that a day had been set by Louis for a great
+hunt. That an excellent opportunity might be
+afforded for securing his quarry in the course of
+the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's
+lieutenant. So there might have been had not
+the wily hunter received timely warning of the
+project for making <i>him</i> the game.</p>
+<p>
+At the hour appointed for the meet, the dauphin's
+suite rode to the rendezvous, but the prince
+turned his horse in the opposite direction and
+galloped away at full speed, attended by a few
+trusty followers. He hardly stopped even to take
+breath until he was out of his father's domain, and
+made no pause until he reached St. Claude, a small
+town in the Franche-Comté, where he threw himself
+on the kindness of the Prince of Orange.</p>
+<p>
+How gossip about this strange departure of
+the French heir fluttered here and there! Du
+Clercq<a href="#IV13"><sup>13</sup></a> tells the story with some variation from
+the above outline, laying more stress on the popular
+appeal to the king for relief from Louis's transgressions
+as governor of Dauphiné, and enlarging
+on the accusation that Louis was responsible for
+the death of <i>La belle Agnès</i>, "the first lady of the
+land possessing the king's perfect love." He adds
+that the dauphin was further displeased because<span class="page"><a name="77">[page 77]</a></span>
+the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de
+Villeclerc, was kept at court after her aunt's death.
+Wherever the king went he was followed by this
+lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
+this conduct of his father that had forced the son
+to absent himself from court life for twelve years
+and more, during which time he received no allowance
+as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
+obliged to make his own requisitions from his
+seigniory.</p>
+
+<p>
+There were other reports that the king was
+quite ready to accord his son his full state; others,
+again, that Charles drove Louis into exile from
+mere dislike and intended to make his second son
+his heir and successor. At this point Du Clercq's
+manuscript is broken off abruptly and the remainder
+of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where
+the text begins again, the author dismisses all
+this contradictory hearsay and says in his own
+character as veracious chronicler, "I concern myself
+only with what actually occurred. The dauphin
+gave a feast in the forest and then departed
+secretly to avoid being arrested by Dammartin."</p>
+<p>
+This flight was the not unnatural termination
+of a long series of misunderstandings between a
+father whose private conduct was not above criticism,
+and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute
+of respect for any person or thing except for the
+superstitious side of his religion.</p>
+<p>
+Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man
+whose mental development occurred during the
+later years of his life. When his son was under<span class="page"><a name="78">[page 78]</a></span>
+his personal influence his character was not one
+to instil filial deference, and Louis certainly cherished
+neither respect nor affection for the father
+whose inert years he remembered vividly.</p>
+<p>
+Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in
+Agnes Sorel's death which gave him especial reason
+to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
+of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he
+travelled as rapidly as his steed could go, and from
+that spot on Burgundian soil he despatched the
+following exemplary letter to his father:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LORD:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To your good grace I recommend myself as
+humbly as I can. Be pleased to know, my very redoubtable
+lord, that because, as you know, my uncle
+of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade against
+the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because
+my desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting,
+considering that our Holy Father the Pope bade me
+so to do, and that I am standard bearer of the Church,
+and that I took the oath by your command, I am now
+on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that
+I can take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Also, I wish to implore him to find means of reinstating
+me in your good grace, which is something that
+I desire most in the world. My very redoubtable
+lord, I pray God to give you good life and long.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+  "Written at St. Claude the last day of August.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br/>
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient son,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br/><br/>
+
+       "LOYS." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV14"><sup>14</sup></a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+This letter hardly succeeded in carrying conviction<span class="page"><a name="79">[page 79]</a></span>
+to the king. He characterised the projected
+expedition to Turkey as a farce, a pretence, and
+a frivolous excuse.<a href="#IV15"><sup>15</sup></a> Probably, too, he did not
+contradict his courtiers when they declared that
+the project had been in the wind a long time, and
+that the Duke of Burgundy would be prouder than
+ever to have the heir to France dependent on his
+protection.</p>
+
+<p>
+The epistle despatched, Louis continued his
+journey under the escort of the Seigneur de Blaumont,
+Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of thirty
+horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit
+of Tristan l'Hermite. The prince needed no spurs
+to make him flee. Even if his father did not intend
+to have him drowned in a sack his immediate
+liberty was certainly in jeopardy. "In truth
+this thing was a marvellous business. The Prince
+of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy were the
+two men whom the dauphin hated more than any
+one else, but necessity, which knows no law, overcame
+the distaste of the dauphin."<a href="#IV16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Louvain was the next place where Louis felt
+safe enough to rest. Here he wrote to the Duke
+of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his
+territory. The letter found Philip in camp before
+Deventer. It is evident that he was entirely
+taken by surprise, and was prepared to be very
+cautious in his correspondence with the French
+king. He assured him that he was willing to receive
+and honour Louis as his suzerain's heir, but<span class="page"><a name="80">[page 80]</a></span>
+he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the
+duke, for that heir's flight to his protection.</p>
+
+<p>
+His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many
+reassuring messages in addition to the epistle.
+Before he reached the French court, his news was
+no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The
+messenger was very eloquent in his assurances to
+the king that Philip was wholly innocent in the
+affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do
+not know what they discussed, but during that time
+news came that the king had garrisoned Compiègne,
+Lyons, and places where his lands touched the duke's
+territories. When the envoy returned to the duke,
+he published a manifesto ordering all who could
+bear arms to be in readiness." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV17"><sup>17</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Philip sent messages of welcome to Louis with
+apologies for his own inevitable absence, and the
+visitor was profuse in his return assurances to his
+uncle that he understood the delay and would not
+disturb his business for the world. "I have leisure
+enough to wait and it does not weary me. I am
+safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town which I
+have long wished to see." He showed his courtesy
+when the Count d'Étampes, Philip's nephew-in-law,
+presented his suite, by pronouncing each
+individual name and assuring its bearer that he
+had heard about him.<a href="#IV18"><sup>18</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The count was commissioned to conduct the<span class="page"><a name="81">[page 81]</a></span>
+dauphin to Brussels and we have the story of an
+eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the
+ducal family:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I saw the King of France, father of the present
+King Charles, chased away by his father Charles for
+some difference of which they say that the fair Agnes
+was the cause, and on account of which he took refuge
+with Duke Philip, for he had no means of subsistence.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to
+Brussels accompanied by about ten cavaliers and by
+the Marshal of Burgundy. At this time Duke Philip
+was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to receive
+the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and
+Madame de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant
+with Madame Mary of Burgundy, since then Duchess
+of Austria.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where
+were the ladies, at eight o'clock in the evening, about
+St. Martin's Day.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV20"><sup>20</sup></a></span> When the ladies heard that he
+was in the city they hastened down to the courtyard
+to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted
+and saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charolais
+and Mme. de Ravestein. All kneeled and then
+he kissed the other ladies of the court."</p>
+<p>
+Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter
+of an hour was consumed by a friendly altercation
+between Isabella and her guest as to the exact
+way in which they should enter the door, the<span class="page"><a name="82">[page 82]</a></span>
+dauphin resolute in his refusal to take precedence
+and Isabella equally resolute not even to walk by
+the side of the future king. "Monsieur, it seems
+to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for
+you wish me to do what befits me not." To this
+the dauphin replied that it was incumbent upon
+him to pay honour for there was none in the realm
+of France so poor as he, and that he would not
+have known whither to flee if not to his uncle
+Philip and to her.</p>
+<p>
+Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess
+and guest finally proceeded hand in hand to the
+chamber prepared for the latter and Isabella then
+took leave on bended knee.</p>
+<p>
+When the duke returned to Brussels this contention
+as to the proper etiquette was renewed. Isabella
+tried to retain the dauphin in his own apartment
+so that the duke should greet him there
+as befitted their relative rank. She was greatly
+chagrined, therefore, when Louis rushed down
+to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival.
+This punctilious hostess actually held the prince
+back by his coat to prevent his advancing towards
+the duke.</p>
+<p>
+Throughout the visit the minor points of etiquette
+were observed with the utmost care. Both
+duchess and countess refrained from employing
+their train-bearers when they entered the dauphin's
+presence. When he insisted that his hostess
+should walk by his side, she managed her own
+train if possible. If she accepted any aid from
+her gentlemen she was very careful to keep her hand<span class="page"><a name="83">[page 83]</a></span>
+upon the dress, so that technically she was still her
+own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess
+ate in the dauphin's presence, there was no cover
+to her dish and nothing was tasted in her behalf.</p>
+<p>
+The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis
+with every requisite, but he, too, never forgot for
+a moment that this dependent visitor was future
+monarch of France. Without doors as within,
+every minor detail of etiquette was observed. The
+duke never so far forgot himself in the ardour of
+the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance
+beyond the tail of the prince's steed.</p>
+<p>
+In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary
+of Burgundy was born. Our observant court
+lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed
+in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and
+at the baptism. Brussels rang with joyful bells
+and blazed with torches, four hundred supplied
+by the city ahd two hundred by the young father.
+Each torch weighed four or five pounds.</p>
+<p>
+The Count of Charolais was his own messenger
+to announce the birth of his daughter to the
+dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joyful
+was Louis to accept the invitation and to bestow
+his mother's name on the baby-girl. Ste.
+Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church
+of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony
+and richly adorned with Holland linen, velvet,
+and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her grandchild
+to the font,&mdash;a font draped with cramoisy
+velvet.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I<span class="page"><a name="84"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 84]</span></a></span>
+heard it said that there was no one on the left because
+there was none his equal. On that day, the duchess
+wore a round skirt <i>à la Portuguaise</i>, edged with fur.
+There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot
+state who carried it,"</p>
+
+<p>
+sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic.</p>
+<p>
+Later events made later chroniclers less enthusiastic
+about the honour paid to Mademoiselle<a href="#IV21"><sup>21</sup></a>
+Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La
+Marche's <i>Mémoires</i> at The Hague, the words "Lord!
+what a god-father!" appear in the margin of the
+page describing the baptism.<a href="#IV22"><sup>22</sup></a> But in these early
+days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have
+been a pleasant person and to have posed as the
+ruined poor relation, entirely free from pride at
+his high birth and delighted to repay hospitality
+by his general complaisance.</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles VII. received all the reports with somewhat
+cynical amusement. He had no great trust
+in his son. "Louis is fickle and changeable and
+I do not doubt that he will return here before long.
+I am not at all pleased with those who influence
+him," are his words as quoted by d'Escouchy.<a href="#IV23"><sup>23</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="louis">[plate 9]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image09louis.jpg" width="400" height="631" alt="LOUIS XI" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Undoubtedly, though, the king was much surprised
+at his son's action. He had rather expected
+him to take refuge somewhere but he never
+thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his
+protector&mdash;a strange choice to his mind. "My<span class="page"><a name="85">[page 85]</a></span>
+cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will eat
+his chickens" is reported as another comment of
+this impartial father.<a href="#IV24"><sup>24</sup></a> Like many a phrase, possibly
+the fruit of later harvests, this is an excellent
+epitome of the situation.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#68">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="IV1">I</a>.,ch. xxxi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#68">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="IV2">II</a>.,204.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#68">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="IV3">Barante</a>, vi.,50.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#69">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="IV4">Some</a> of the canons wrote their reasons after their recorded
+vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate member
+of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which
+office Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all
+the Sticht nobles were his relations," etc.&mdash;(Wagenaar, <i>Vaderlandsche
+Historie,</i> iv., 50.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#70">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="IV5">Du</a> Clercq, ii., 210.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#70">[Footnote 6:</a> <i><a name="IV6">Mémoires</a></i>, i., ch. xxxiii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#70">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="IV7">II</a>., 315.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#72">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="IV8">See</a> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 317.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#72">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="IV9">For</a> the effects of operations on a
+large scale see <i>Jacques C&oelig;ur and Charles VII</i>., by Pierre Clémart.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#73">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="IV10">Duclos</a></i>, "Hist. de Louis XI.," <i>&OElig;uvres Complètes</i> v., 8.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#74">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="IV11">Duclos</a>, iii., 78.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#75">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="IV12">See</a> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 292.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#76">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="IV13">II</a>.,223.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#78">[Footnote 14:</a> <i><a name="IV14">Lettres</a> de Louis XI</i>., i., 77.<br /><br/>
+
+According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter
+shows that <i>September 2nd</i> was written first and erased.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#79">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="IV15"></a>, iii., 185.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#79">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="IV16">Du</a> Clercq, ii., 228.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#80">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="IV17">Chastellain</a> iii., 197.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#80">[Footnote 18:</a> See <i><a name="IV18">Séjour</a> de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas;</i> Reiffenberg: Nouveaux
+mem. de l'Acad. Royale, 1829.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#81">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="IV19">Alienor</a> de Poictiers, <i>Les Honneurs de la Cour</i>, ii., 208.
+It was early in October.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#81">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="IV20">This</a> date, November 11th, does not agree with the others.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#84">[Footnote 21:</a> "<a name="IV21">At</a> that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was
+not the son of a sovereign."&mdash;La Marche, ii., 410, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#84">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="IV22">La</a> Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain!"]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#84">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="IV23">II</a>., 343.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#85">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="IV24">Chastellain</a>, iii., 185; Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 299.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="86">[page 86]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="V">V</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN</h3>
+
+<h4>1456-1461</h4>
+<p>
+The picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing
+in happy unison over the advent of an heiress
+to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with
+the dauphin participating in the family joy, shows
+the tranquil side of the first months of the long
+visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an incident
+had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin
+and Charles VII. were not the only father and
+son between whom relations were strained, and
+that a moment had arrived when the attitude of
+the Count of Charolais to the duke was no longer
+characterised by unquestioning filial obedience.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was on his way to Nuremberg<a href="#V1"><sup>1</sup></a> to fulfil
+a mission with certain German princes when the
+dauphin alighted in Brabant, like "a bird of ill
+omen," as he designated himself on one occasion.
+The count did not return to Brussels until January
+12, 1457. Thus he took no part in the hearty
+welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than
+possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly
+pleased with the state of affairs placidly existing
+by mid-winter.</p>
+
+<p>
+Instead of resuming the first position which he<span class="page"><a name="87">[page 87]</a></span>
+had enjoyed during his brief regency, or the honoured
+second that had been his after Philip came
+back, Charles was now relegated to a third place.
+Further, without having been consulted as to the
+policy, he found that he was forced into following
+his father's lead in treating a penniless refugee like
+an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and
+a joy. It is more than probable that Charles was
+already feeling somewhat hurt at the duke's
+warmth towards Louis when a serious breach
+occurred between father and son about another
+matter.</p>
+<p>
+It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant
+in his own household, and the count assumed that
+the appointment of a successor was something that
+lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the
+duke interfered in a peremptory fashion and insisted
+that the appointment should be made at
+his instance, the son refused to accept his authority,
+especially as his father's nominee was Philip
+de Croy, one of a family already over-dominant
+in the Burgundian court. At least, that was
+Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed
+his father's commands to bring his <i>ordonnance</i>, or
+household list, to the duke's oratory, he unhesitatingly
+carried the document which contained
+the name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d'Émeries, in
+place of Philip de Croy.</p>
+<p>
+The duke was very angry at this apparent contempt
+for his expressed wishes. Indignantly he
+threw the lists into the fire with the words, "Now
+look to your <i>ordonnances</i> for you will need new<span class="page"><a name="88">[page 88]</a></span>
+ones<a href="#V2"><sup>2</sup></a>."</p>
+
+<p>
+There was evidently a succession of violent
+scenes in which the duchess tried to stand between
+her husband and son. But Philip was beside himself
+with wrath and refused to listen to a word
+from her or from the dauphin, who also endeavoured
+to mediate<a href="#V3"><sup>3</sup></a>.</p>
+
+<p>
+Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself,
+ordered a horse, and rode out alone into the forest
+of Soignies. When he became calmer it was dark
+and he found himself far from the beaten tracks,
+in the midst of underbrush through which he
+could not ride. He dismounted and wandered
+on foot for hours in the January night until
+smoke guided him to a charcoal burner, who conducted
+him to the more friendly shelter of a forester's
+hut. In the morning he made his way to
+Genappe.</p>
+<p>
+Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned.
+Search parties seeking their sovereign were out all
+night. No one, however, was in such a state of
+dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he
+would be counted at fault when family dissensions
+followed so soon on his arrival. Delighted he was,
+therefore, to act as mediator between father and
+son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified<span class="page"><a name="89">[page 89]</a></span>
+state to listen to reason. Charles betook himself
+to Dendermonde for a time until the duke was
+ready to see him<a href="#V4"><sup>4</sup></a>. His young wife made the
+most of her expectations to soften her father-in-law's
+resentment, and between her entreaties and
+those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his
+gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over.</p>
+
+<p>
+There was one marked difference between this
+family dispute and the breach between the French
+king and the dauphin. In the latter case no feeling
+was involved. In the former, the son was
+really deeply wounded by what he deemed lack
+of parental affection for his interests. At the
+same time he was shocked by the bitter words and
+was, for the moment, so filled with contrition that
+he was eager to make any concession agreeable to
+the duke. He dismissed two of his servants<a href="#V5"><sup>5</sup></a>,
+suspected by his father of fomenting trouble between
+them, and he showed himself in general
+very willing to placate paternal displeasure.</p>
+
+<p>
+Reconciliation between duke and duchess was
+more difficult. Isabella resented Philip's reproaches<span class="page"><a name="90">[page 90]</a></span>
+for her sympathy with Charles. She
+said she had stepped between the two men because
+she had feared lest the duke might injure
+his son in his wrath<a href="#V6"><sup>6</sup></a>. This was in answer to the
+Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of
+Philip's displeasure. She concluded her dignified
+defence with an expression of her utter loneliness.
+Stranger in a strange land she had no one belonging
+to her but her son.</p>
+
+<p>
+She was certainly present at the baptism of her
+grandchild, but shortly afterwards she retired to
+a convent of the Grey Sisters, founded by herself,
+and rarely returned to the world or took part in
+its ceremonies during the remainder of her life.</p>
+<p>
+The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It
+is not probable that he had much personal liking
+for the guest upon whom his father heaped courtesies
+and solicitous care. On one occasion, when
+the two young men were hunting they were separated
+by chance. When Charles returned alone to
+the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his
+son's careless desertion of the guest in his charge.
+Again the court was organised into search parties
+and there was no rest until the dauphin was discovered
+some leagues from Brussels<a href="#V7"><sup>7</sup></a>. Here, also,
+it is an easy presumption that the Count of Charolais
+was a trifle sulky over his father's preoccupation
+in regard to the prince.</p>
+
+<p>
+The transient character of the dauphin's sojourn
+in his cousin's domains soon changed. In
+the summer of 1457, when news came that Dauphiné<span class="page"><a name="91">[page 91]</a></span>
+had submitted to Charles VII., when the
+successive embassies despatched by Philip to the
+king had all proved fruitless in their conciliatory
+efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent
+arrangements for the fugitive's comfort.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased
+to deprive you of Dauphiné ... you are to-day
+lord and prince without land. But, nevertheless,
+you shall not be without a country, for all that I have
+is yours and I place it within your hand without reserving
+aught except my life and that of my wife.
+Pray take heart. If God does not abandon me I will
+never abandon you <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#V8"><sup>8</sup></a></span>."</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke made good his words by giving his
+guest the estate of Genappe, of which Louis took
+possession at the end of July. Then as a further
+step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip
+sent for Charlotte of Savoy who had remained
+under her father's care ever since the formal marriage
+in 1451. She was now eighteen.</p>
+<p>
+It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe.
+Louis's favourite amusement of the chase was easy
+of access. "The court is at present at Louvain,"
+wrote a courtier<a href="#V9"><sup>9</sup></a> on July 1st, "and Monseigneur
+the Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good
+hunting and falconry and a great number of rabbits
+within and without the city." With killing
+of every kind at his service, what greater solace<span class="page"><a name="92">[page 92]</a></span>
+could a homeless prince expect?</p>
+
+<p>
+From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance,
+and the sum of 1200 livres, furnished by Philip
+for the dauphin's journey to his new abode, seemed
+a large provision. The pension then settled on
+him was 36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness
+arrived 1000 livres a month were provided for
+her private purse<a href="#V10"><sup>10</sup></a>.</p>
+
+<p>
+Pleasant was existence in this château. There
+was no dearth of company to throng around the
+prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no prejudice
+of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of
+duty towards his host to hamper him in making
+useful friends. A word here and a word there,
+aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had
+exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate,
+were very potent in intimating to many a Burgundian
+servant that there might come a time when
+a new king across the border might better appreciate
+their real value than their present or
+future sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the
+dauphin did not confine his invitations to sportsmen.
+The easy accessibility of the little court
+attracted men of science and of letters as well as
+others capable of making the time pass agreeably.
+When there was nothing else on foot, it is said that
+the company amused themselves by telling stories,
+each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collection
+of the <i>Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles</i><a href="#V11"><sup>11</sup></a>, named in<span class="page"><a name="93">[page 93]</a></span>
+imitation of Boccaccio's <i>Cento Novelle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>
+The first printed edition of this collection was
+issued in Paris, in 1486, by Antoine Verard, who
+thus admonishes the gentle reader: "Note that
+whenever <i>Monseigneur</i> is referred to, Monseigneur
+the Dauphin must be understood, who has since
+succeeded to the crown and is King Louis. Then
+he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy."
+Another editor asserts that <i>Monseigneur</i> is evidently
+the Duke of Burgundy and not Louis, and
+later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale
+wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio,
+and that the names of the narrators were as imaginative
+or rather as editorial as the rest of the volume.</p>
+<p>
+If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author
+would have given an appearance of verisimilitude
+to his fiction by mentioning the actual habitués
+of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count
+of Charolais does not appear at all. The duke
+tells three or more stories according to the interpretation
+given to <i>Monseigneur</i>. With three
+exceptions the tales are very coarse, nor does
+their wit atone for their licentiousness. Possibly
+Charles held himself aloof from the kind of talk
+they suggest. All reports make him rigid in standards
+of morality not observed by his fellows. That
+he had little to do with the court is certain, whatever
+his reason.</p>
+<p>
+Louis did not confine himself to the estate<span class="page"><a name="94">[page 94]</a></span>
+assigned him. There were various court visits
+to the Flemish towns where he was afforded excellent
+opportunities for seeing the wealth of
+the burghers and their status in the world of
+commerce.</p>
+<p>
+Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring
+his guest within her gates and give her an opportunity
+of displaying her regret for the past unpleasantness.
+"In his goodness," Philip at last
+yielded to their entreaties to make them a visit
+himself, but he decided not to take the prince or
+the count with him.<a href="#V12"><sup>12</sup></a> He was either afraid for
+their safety or else he did not care to bring a future
+French king into relation with citizens who might
+find it convenient to remember his suzerainty in
+order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign duke.<a href="#V13"><sup>13</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this
+state visit of reconciliation. The duke took the
+precaution to send scouts ahead to ascertain that
+the late rebels were sincere in their contrition,
+and that there was no danger of anarchist agitations.
+The report was brought back that all was
+calm and that joyful preparations were making
+to show appreciation of Philip's kindness.</p>
+<p>
+On April 22d, the duke slept at l'Écluse, and<span class="page"><a name="95">[page 95]</a></span>
+on the 23d he was gaily escorted into the city by
+knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland,
+Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor
+priests were in his train." As a further assurance
+to him of their peaceful intention, the citizens
+actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as
+to leave open exits.</p>
+<p>
+Once within the walls, the duke found the whole
+community, who had shown intelligent and sturdy
+determination not to endure arbitrary tyranny,
+ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical
+and classical parable whose one purpose was to
+prove how evil had been their ways. A pompous
+procession sang <i>Te Deum</i> as the duke rode in, and
+the first "mystery" that met his eyes within the
+gates was a wonderful representation of Abraham
+sacrificing Isaac, while the legend "All that the
+Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to
+refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to
+the Ghenters' perfect submission to Philip. A
+young girl stood ready to greet him with the words
+of Solomon, "I have found one my soul loves."<a href="#V14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p>
+Farther on there were various emblems all designed
+to compare Philip now to Cæsar, now to
+Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most
+humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed
+in a lion's skin, thus personifying the Lion of Flanders,
+leading Philip's horse by the bridle. <span class="page"><a name="96">[page 96]</a></span>
+"<i>Vive
+Bourgogne</i> is now our cry," was symbolised in
+every vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent.</p>
+<p>
+Not altogether explicable is this extreme self-abnegation.
+Civic prosperity must have returned
+in four years or there would have been no money
+for the outlay. Apparently, Philip's countenance
+was worth more to them than their pride.</p>
+<p>
+The birth and death of two children at Genappe
+gave the duke new reasons for showering ostentatious
+favours on his guest, and furnished the
+dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his
+own father, who answered him in kind.</p>
+<p>
+The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles:<a href="#V15"><sup>l5</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>The King to the Dauphin</i>, 1459.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"VERY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED SON:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"We have received the letters that you wrote us
+making mention that on July 27 our dear and much
+loved daughter, the dauphiness, was delivered of a
+fine boy, for which we have been and are very joyous,
+and it seems to me that the more God our Creator
+grants you favour, by so much the more you ought to
+praise and thank Him and refrain from angering Him,
+and in all things fulfil His commandments.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+  "Given at Compiègne, Aug.7th.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />
+
+    "CHARLES."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+During these five years, Charles was more or less
+aloof from the courts of his father and of their
+guest. He spent part of the time in Holland and
+part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The
+Count of St. Pol was one of his intimate friends,<span class="page"><a name="97">[page 97]</a></span>
+and a friend who managed to make many insinuations
+about the duke's treatment of his son and
+infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated
+with increasing fervency.</p>
+<p>
+There is a story that Charles went from Le
+Quesnoy to his father's court to demand a formal
+audience from the duke in order to lodge his protest
+against the Croys. Evidently relations were
+strained when such a degree of ceremony was
+needed between father and son.</p>
+<p>
+Gerard Ourré was commissioned to set forth the
+count's grievances, and he was in the midst of his
+carefully prepared statement when the duke interrupted
+him with the curt observation: "Have a
+care to say nothing but the truth and understand,
+it will be necessary to prove every assertion." The
+orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few
+moments, and then excused himself from completing
+his harangue. There were only a few nobles
+present and all were surprised at this embarrassment,
+as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then,
+seeing that his deputy was too much frightened
+to proceed, Charles took up the thread of his discourse.
+In a firm voice he continued the list of
+accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short
+in his turn. Peremptory was the duke in his command
+to his son to be silent and never again to
+refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip
+added "see to it that my son is satisfied with you,"
+and withdrew from the audience chamber.</p>
+<p>
+Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be<span class="page"><a name="98">[page 98]</a></span>
+conciliatory. "When you have repaired the ill
+you have wrought I will remember the good you
+have done," was the count's only reply. He took
+leave of his father with an outward show of love
+and respect and returned to his wife at Le Quesnoy,
+escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of
+Brussels, but with no better understanding
+between them.</p>
+<p>
+St. Pol found good ground to work on. He
+inflamed the count's discontent and his distrust
+of the duke's favourite until Charles despatched
+him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascertain
+what Charles VII. would do for the heir of
+Burgundy should he decide to take refuge in the
+French court.<a href="#V16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+At the first interview "I was not present," states
+the unknown reporter, but on succeeding occasions
+this man heard for himself that the king was
+ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais
+who "has no ill intentions against his father. All
+he wants to do is to separate him from the people
+who govern him badly."</p>
+<p>
+The conferences were held in the lodgings of
+Odet d'Aydie. Among those present was Dammartin
+and the matter was discussed in its various
+aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous witness
+were charged with drawing up a report of the
+discussion. When this was presented to the king
+it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good
+faith of the count's message. He had been assured<span class="page"><a name="99">[page 99]</a></span>
+that it was all a fiction especially designed by the
+Sieur de Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+Certain general promises were made in spite of
+this royal distrust, quite natural under the circumstances.
+If he decided to espouse the cause of
+Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given
+a command. It was evident that the count was
+by no means ready to go to all lengths, for St. Pol
+states in one of his conferences with the "late
+king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him
+that for two realms such as his he would not do a
+deed of villainy.</p>
+<p>
+Nothing came of this talk. It would have been
+a singular state of affairs had the heirs of France
+and Burgundy thus changed places in their fathers'
+courts. Spying and counterspying there were
+between the courts to a great extent and rumours
+in number. A certain Italian writes to the Duke
+of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he had
+been at Genappe and at Brussels:<a href="#V17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand
+that the reconciliation of the dauphin with the King
+of France would not be with the approval of the
+Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince laments
+that since he received the dauphin into his states, and
+treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred
+the implacable hatred of the king added to his ancient
+grievances. On the other hand, the affairs of
+England, on whose issue depends war or peace for the
+duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to him<span class="page"><a name="100"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 100]</span></a></span>
+honest to make advances to the king at this moment.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem
+to have carried into this affair the circumspection
+and reflection befitting a prince of his quality. He
+has maintained towards the duke the most complete
+silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition
+concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is anything
+in it, but if the thing were so it ought not to be
+secret. He does not believe that peace will be made
+between the dauphin and his father, and mentioned
+that his brother was on the embassy from duke to
+king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the
+bottom.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The dauphin it seems has been out of humour
+with the Duke of Burgundy on account of the luke-warmness
+shown for his interests by the ambassador
+sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The silent agreement which reigns between the
+dauphin and Monsg. de Charolais is one of the causes
+which has chilled this great love between the dauphin
+and the duke which existed at the beginning.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely,
+especially in almsgiving without considering his
+purse finds himself very hard pressed. He has only
+two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of Burgundy
+and that seems to force him into peace with
+the king. The duke expects nothing during the
+king's lifetime.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Everything makes me want to wait here for the
+arrival of news from England. It is expected daily,
+good or bad the last play must be made. The duke
+fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason is going
+to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of celebrating
+there the fête of the Toison d'Or he has ordered<span class="page"><a name="101">[page 101]</a></span>
+all his escort to be armed."</p>
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="philipandcharles">[plate 10]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image10philipandcharles.jpg" width="400" height="535" alt="PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+For a long time before his final illness the death
+of Charles VII. was anticipated. When it came
+it was a dolorous end.<a href="#V18"><sup>18</sup></a> At Genappe, the dauphin
+had been making his preparations for the wished-for
+event in many ways, all in exact opposition to
+his father's policy. In Italy and in Spain he sided
+with the opponents of Charles VII. In England,
+his sympathies were all for the House of York
+because his father was favourable to Henry of
+Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned
+with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV.,
+and was more than willing to see him invade
+France. With certain princes of Germany he
+entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while
+his father's own agents disclosed secrets to him
+from time to time.</p>
+
+<p>
+In his exile he kept reminding official bodies at
+Paris that he was heir to the throne. As dauphin
+he claimed the right to give orders to the <i>parlement</i>
+at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that
+he had a hand in the conspiracies which troubled
+the last year of his father's reign, but it is certain
+that he managed to win to himself a party within
+the royal circle.</p>
+<p>
+Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate,
+did not hesitate to suggest that Louis should be
+disinherited and his brother Charles put in his
+stead, but this Charles VII. would not accept. He
+kept hoping for Louis's submission. The latter,<span class="page"><a name="102">[page 102]</a></span>
+however, had no idea of this. He was sure that
+his father would not live to grow old. A trouble
+in his leg threatened to be cancerous. In July,
+there was a growth in his mouth. He died July
+22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him.</p>
+<p>
+After July 17th constant bulletins from the
+king's bedside came to Louis. Genappe was too
+far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes in order
+to receive his messages more speedily. Our chronicler
+Chastellain<a href="#V19"><sup>19</sup></a> begins his story of Louis's accession
+as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Since I am not English but French, I who am
+neither Spanish nor Italian but French, I have written
+of two Frenchmen, the one king, the other duke. I
+have written of their works and their quarrels and
+of the favour and glories which God has given them
+in their time.
+ </p>
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ <br />
+<p class="quote">
+"Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and meritorious
+works serve man on his bier and gain him
+eternal glory. O you Frenchmen, see the cause
+and the end in my labours!"</p>
+
+<p>
+The guest who had displayed so much humility
+and thankfulness when he arrived, who had deprecated
+honours to his high birth and desired to offer
+all the courtesies, departed from the residence so
+generously given him for five years in a very
+cavalier manner.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Now the king left the duke's territories without
+having taken leave nor said adieu to the Countess of<span class="page"><a name="103"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 103]</span></a></span>
+Charolais, <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#V20"><sup>20</sup></a></span> although he was in her neighbourhood,
+and he left behind him the queen, his wife. The said
+queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which
+to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered
+her to borrow the hackneys of the countess and chariots,
+too. Heartily did the countess accede to this request
+in spite of the fact that the thing seemed to
+her rather strange that a noble king, and one who
+had received so much honour and service from the
+House of Burgundy and had promised to recognise
+it when the hour came, should thus depart thence
+without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the
+countess would gladly have given the queen the hackneys
+as a gift if they had been asked, and she sent
+them to her by one of her equerries named Corneille
+de la Barre, together with chariots and waggons.
+And thus the queen left the country just as her husband
+had done without saying a word either to the
+duke or the countess, and Corneille went with her
+on foot to bring back the hackneys when the queen
+had arrived at the place of her desire."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam
+guest to show outward respect to his father's
+memory. The duke clad himself and his suite in
+deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at
+Avesnes, whither representatives from the University
+of Paris and from all parts of the realm had
+flocked to greet their new sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+It was a great concourse that marched from
+Avesnes as escort to the uncrowned king. Philip
+was magnificent in his appointments as he entered<span class="page"><a name="104">[page 104]</a></span>
+Rheims, and behind him came his son,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble
+company of knights and squires, attracted hearts
+and eyes in admiration of his rich array wherein
+cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and embroidery
+were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten
+pages and twenty-six archers, and this whole company
+numbered three hundred horse." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#V21"><sup>21</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had
+waited at St. Thierry. On the actual day of the
+coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
+that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims
+until seven o'clock. The king passed his night in
+a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no repose
+until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied
+at their toilets he slipped off alone to church.</p>
+<p>
+Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony.
+Very magnificent were the duke's robes and ermine
+when, as chief among the peers, he escorted his late
+guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
+simple was Louis. After the consecration, the
+king and his friends listened to an address from the
+Bishop of Tournay, in which he described in Latin
+the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.</p>
+<p>
+The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion.
+He felt that all future power was in his
+hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
+to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And<span class="page"><a name="105">[page 105]</a></span>
+for a time Louis was quite ready to foster this
+belief. When they entered Paris, the peer so far
+outshone the sovereign that there was general
+astonishment.<a href="#V22"><sup>22</sup></a> Moreover, whatever the latter
+did have was a gift. The very plate used on the
+royal table was a ducal present.<a href="#V23"><sup>23</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude
+of grateful humility. When he met the <i>parlement</i>
+of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about its reformation.
+It was to Philip that all the petitioners
+flocked. But Louis was conscious, too, that there
+would be a morrow in Burgundy, and he took care
+to be friendly with the count even while he was
+flattering the duke. For this purpose he found
+Guillaume de Biche a very useful go-between.<a href="#V24"><sup>24</sup></a>
+This was one of the retainers dismissed in 1457
+by Charles at his father's request. He had then
+passed into Louis's service. This man quickly
+insinuated himself into the king's graces, was admitted
+to his chamber at all hours, and walked
+arm in arm with the returned exile through Paris.</p>
+
+<p>
+The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries
+of the city well in his four years' residence. Louis
+found him an amusing companion and skilfully
+managed to flatter the count by his favour towards
+the man whom he had liked.</p>
+<p>
+For six weeks Philip remained in the capital<span class="page"><a name="106">[page 106]</a></span>
+and astonished the Parisians with the fêtes he
+offered. Equally astonished were they with their
+new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not
+attractive in person. His eyes were piercing but
+his visage was made plain by a disproportionate
+nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
+uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an
+old pilgrim's hat, ornamented by a leaden saint.
+As he rode into Abbeville in company with Philip,
+the simple folk who had never seen the king were
+greatly amazed at his appearance and said quite
+loud, "Benedicite! Is that a king of France, the
+greatest king in the world? All together his horse
+and dress are not worth twenty francs."<a href="#V25"><sup>25</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI.
+never lived very long in any one place. He did
+not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had the palace
+of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine
+became by preference his residence, where he lived
+alternately at Amboise and in his new château
+at Plessis-lès-Tours. But his sojourns were always
+brief. He wanted to know everything, and
+he wandered everywhere to see France and
+to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts,
+the chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian
+ambassador, show him on a perpetual journey.</p>
+<p>
+He would set out at break of day with five or
+six intimates dressed in grey cloth like pilgrims;
+archers and baggage followed at a distance. He<span class="page"><a name="107">[page 107]</a></span>
+would forbid any one to follow him, and often ordered
+the gates of the city he had left to be closed,
+or a bridge to be broken behind him. Ambassadors
+ordered to see him without fail, sometimes
+had to cross France to obtain an interview, at least
+if their object was something in which he was not
+much interested. Then he would often grant
+them an audience in some miserable little peasant
+hut.</p>
+<p>
+In the cities where he stopped he would lodge
+with a burgomaster or some functionary. To
+avoid harangues and receptions he would often
+arrive unannounced through a little alley. If
+forced to accept an <i>entrée</i> he stipulated that it
+should not be marked with magnificence. There
+never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies,
+balls, banquets, and tourneys. At his court young
+people were bored to death. He never ordered
+festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures
+were those of a simple private gentleman. He
+liked to dine out of his palace. Cagnola relates
+with surprise that he had seen the king dine after
+mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours.
+He invited small nobles and bourgeois to dine
+with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois
+women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speaking
+to and of women without reserve, sparing
+neither sister, mother, nor queen.</p>
+<p>
+Yet it was a sombre court. "Farewell dames,
+citizens, demoiselles, feasts, dances, jousts, and<span class="page"><a name="108">[page 108]</a></span>
+tournaments; farewell fair and gracious maids,
+mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Martial
+d'Auvergne. Pompous magnificence may
+have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit to
+Burgundy.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#86">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="V1">He</a> had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November
+19th.&mdash;<i>Archives du Nord</i>. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi.,
+113. No mention of this seems to appear elsewhere.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#88">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="V2">Chastellain</a> (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from
+the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel.
+The duke was so angry that it was hideous to see him.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#88">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="V3">La</a> Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain, iii.,
+230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The
+author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in
+her delicate state of health.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#89">[Footnote 4:</a> "<a name="V4">Thus</a> there was much coming and going: and it was ordered
+by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Ravestein
+and the king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to
+Dendermonde to learn the wishes of the Count of Charolais
+and his intentions, of which I am entitled to speak for I was
+despatched several times to Brussels in behalf of my said
+Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the Chancellor
+Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present
+affair"&mdash;(La Marche, ii., 419.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#89">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="V5">La</a> Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche,
+went to France and La Marche says that he himself often went
+to him to obtain valuable information.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#90">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="V6">La</a> Marche, ii., 418.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#90">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="V7">Du</a> Clercq, ii., 239.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#91">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="V8">Chastellain</a>, iii., 308.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#91">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="V9">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de Vébry to
+the Count de Vaudemart.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#92">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="V10">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#93">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="V11">Les</a> Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles</i>, ed. A.J.V. Le Roux. The
+stories are, as a rule, only retold tales.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#94">[Footnote 12:</a> "<a name="V12">The</a> spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais nor
+by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for
+certain reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer,
+P.322.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#94">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="V13">Kervyn</a>, <i>Hist. de Flandre</i>, v., 23. At this time Philip was
+ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parliament
+of Paris.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#95">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="V14">Meyer</a>, p. 321.<br /><br />
+
+All the legends were in Latin. <i>Inveni quem diligit anima
+mea.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#96">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="V15">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#98">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="V16">Report</a> of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., 195.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#99">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="V17">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt. vi., 326.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#101">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="V18">Lavisse</a>, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 321.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#102">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="V19">IV</a>., 21.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#103">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="V20">Chastellain</a>, iv., 45.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#104">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="V21">Chastellain</a> was not present, but he says of Philip's suite
+(iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have
+seen in writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never
+been seen in this kingdom."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#105">[Footnote 22:</a> "<a name="V22">And</a> I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all the
+nobles" (Chastellain, iv., 52).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#105">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="V23">When</a> return presents were distributed to the nobles
+Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#105">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="V24">Chastellain</a>, iv., 115.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#106">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="V25">Lavisse</a>, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 325.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="109">[page 109]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="VI">VI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL</h3>
+
+<h4>1464-1465</h4>
+<p>
+The era of good feeling between Louis XI. and
+his Burgundian kinsmen was of short duration,
+and no wonder. The rich rewards confidently
+expected as fitting recompense for five
+years' kindness more than cousinly, towards a
+penniless refugee were not forthcoming.</p>
+<p>
+The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary
+in certain ostentatious recognition towards his late
+host, but the fairly munificent pension, together
+with the charge of Normandy settled upon the
+Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical reminder
+of promises as regularly unfulfilled on each
+recurring quarter day, while the post of confidential
+adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip
+had intended to occupy, remained empty.</p>
+<p>
+Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now
+to one counsellor, now to another, and used such
+fragments of advice as pleased his whim and paid
+no further heed to the giver.</p>
+<p>
+Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred
+that change in Philip's bodily constitution that
+comes to all active men sooner or later. His health
+began to give way, his energies relaxed, and matters
+that had been of paramount importance<span class="page"><a name="110">[page 110]</a></span>
+throughout his career were allowed to slip into
+the background of his desires. In the famous
+treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater
+importance than that which placed the towns
+on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to
+a redemption of two hundred thousand gold
+crowns. Whether Charles VII. had actually
+pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at
+least during Philip's life does not seem assured,
+but that any sum would be insufficient to induce
+the duke to release them unless his intellect were
+somewhat deadened, is clear.</p>
+<p>
+In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack,
+possibly the result of his indulgence in the pleasures
+of the table during the prolonged festivities
+at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour.
+This was the time, by the way, when opportunity
+was afforded his courtiers to prove that devotion
+to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity.
+When his head was shaved by order of the court
+physician, more than five hundred nobles sacrificed
+their own locks so that their becoming curls
+might not remind their chief of his own bald head.
+The sacrifice was not always voluntary, adds an
+informant.<a href="#VI1"><sup>1</sup></a> Philip forced compliance with this
+new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be
+unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by
+nature's gift. This servility may have consoled
+Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In his<span class="page"><a name="111">[page 111]</a></span>
+depressed condition any solace was acceptable.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled
+state that Louis, through the mediation of the
+Croys, pushed forward his proposition to redeem
+the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying
+upon the chance that it would be no easy matter
+for the French king to wring the required sum
+from his impoverished land. Philip's assent
+was, however, promptly clinched by a cash
+payment of half the amount<a href="#VI2"><sup>2</sup></a>; the remainder
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>
+Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valuable
+bulwarks for the Netherland provinces, fine
+nurseries for the human material requisite for Burgundian
+armies, rich tax payers as they were, all
+tumbled into the outstretched hands of the duke's
+wily rival.</p>
+<p>
+The transaction was hurried through and completed
+before a rumour of its progress came to the
+ear of the interested heir. Charles was in Holland
+sulking and indignant. He had expected good
+results from his tender devotion during his father's
+acute illness, a devotion shared by Isabella of
+Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside
+from her convent seclusion when Philip was in
+need of her ministrations. But, in his convalescence,
+Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys
+whom Charles continued to distrust with bitterness<span class="page"><a name="112">[page 112]</a></span>
+that varied in its intensity, but which never
+vanished from his consciousness. The young
+man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious
+that personal danger to himself lurked in the air
+of his father's court.</p>
+<p>
+The various rumours of plots against his life
+may not all have been baseless. At last, one of
+own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was accused of
+having recourse to diabolic means of doing away
+with the duke's legitimate heir.<a href="#VI3"><sup>3</sup></a> Three little
+waxen images were found in his house, and it was
+alleged that he practised various magic arts withal
+in order to win the favour of the duke and of the
+French king, and still worse to cause Charles to
+waste away with a mysterious sickness. The
+accusations were sufficient to make Nevers
+resign all his offices in his kinsman's court and
+retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been wholly
+innocent he would have demanded trial at the
+hands of his peers of the Golden Fleece as behooved
+one of the order. But he withdrew
+undefended, and left his tattered reputation fluttering
+raggedly in the breeze of gossip.</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal
+court until a fresh incident drove him thither to
+give vent to his indignation. Only three days
+had Philip de Commines been page to Duke
+Philip, then resident at Lille, when an embassy
+headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France, was
+given audience in the presence of the Burgundian<span class="page"><a name="113">[page 113]</a></span>
+court, including the Count of Charolais.
+The future historian,<a href="#VI4"><sup>4</sup></a> then nineteen years old,
+was keenly alive to all that passed on that November
+fifth, 1464. Morvilliers used very bitter
+terms in his assertion that Charles had illegally
+stopped a little French ship of war and arrested
+a certain bastard of Rubempré on the false charge
+that his errand in Holland, where the incident
+occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles himself.
+Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir
+Olivier de La Marche had caused this tale to be
+bruited everywhere,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations
+resort. This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now
+demanded through his chancellor that Duke Philip
+should send this same Sir Olivier de La Marche
+prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case
+required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that
+the said Sir Olivier was steward of his house, born
+in the County of Burgundy and in no respect subject
+to the Crown of France."</p>
+
+<p>
+Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill
+to the king's honour he, the duke, would see to
+his punishment. As to the bastard of Rubempré,
+true it was that he had been apprehended in
+Holland,<a href="#VI5"><sup>5</sup></a> but there was adequate ground for his
+arrest as his behaviour had been strange, at least
+so thought the Count of Charolais. Philip added<span class="page"><a name="114">[page 114]</a></span>
+that if his son were suspicious</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his
+mother who had been the most jealous lady that ever
+lived. But notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that
+myself never were supicious, yet if I had been in my
+son's place at the same time that this bastard of
+Rubempré haunted those coasts I would surely have
+caused him to be apprehended as my son did."</p>
+
+<p>
+In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up
+Rubempré to the king were his innocence satisfactorily
+proven.</p>
+<p>
+Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging
+upon the treacherous designs of Francis, Duke
+of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately sworn
+brotherhood at the very moment when he was the
+honoured guest of King Louis at Tours. During
+this discussion the Count of Charolais became very
+restive. Finally he could no longer endure
+Morvilliers's indirect slurs, and</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously
+out of patience to hear such reproachful speeches
+used of his friend and confederate. But Morvilliers
+cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of Charolais, I am
+not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your
+father.' The said earl besought his father divers
+times to give him leave to answer, who in the end said
+unto him: 'I have answered for thee as methinketh
+the father should answer for the son, notwithstanding
+if thou have so great desire to speak bethink thyself
+to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that<span class="page"><a name="115">[page 115]</a></span>
+he could not imagine what had moved the earl to
+enter into the league with the Duke of Brittany
+unless it were because of a pension the king had
+once given him together with the government
+of Normandy and afterwards taken from him.</p>
+<p>
+In regard to Rubempré, Commines adds to
+his story Charles's own statement given on the
+morrow:</p>
+<p>
+"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever
+proved against him, though I confess the presumption
+to have been great. Five years after
+I myself saw him delivered out of prison." This
+from Commines. La Marche is less detailed in
+his record<a href="#VI6"><sup>6</sup></a> of the Rubempré incident:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The bastard was put in prison and the Count of
+Charolais sent me to Hesdin to the duke to inform
+him of the arrest and its cause. The good duke
+heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth
+he at once suspected that the craft of the King of
+France lurked at the bottom of the affair. Shortly
+afterwards the duke left Hesdin and returned to his
+own land, which did not please the King of France
+who despatched thither a great embassy with the
+Count d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that
+I should be delivered to him to be punished as he
+would, because he claimed that I had been the cause
+of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempré and also of
+the duke's departure from Hesdin without saying
+adieu to the King of France, but the good duke,
+moderate in all his actions, replied that I was his
+subject and his servitor, and that if the king or<span class="page"><a name="116"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 116]</span></a></span>
+any one else had a grievance against me he would
+investigate it. The matter was finally smoothed
+over [adds La Marche], and Louis evinced a readiness
+to conciliate his offended cousin."</p>
+
+<p>
+In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to
+be one not easily disposed of by soft phrases
+flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father
+and prepared in advance his defence to the
+chancellor. When he had finished his own statement
+about Rubempré, he proceeded to the point
+of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany,
+declaring that it was right and proper and that
+if King Louis knew what was to the advantage
+of the French sovereign, he would be glad to
+see his nobles welded together as a bulwark to his
+throne. As to his pension, he had never received
+but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had
+made no suit for the remainder nor for the government
+of Normandy. So long as he enjoyed the
+favour and good will of his father he had no need
+to crave favour of any man.</p>
+<p>
+"I think verily had it not been for the reverence
+he bore to his said father who was there present"
+continues the observant page, "and to whom he
+addressed his speech that he would have used
+much bitterer terms. In the end, Duke Philip
+very wisely and humbly besought the king not
+lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his
+son but to continue his favour towards them.
+Then the banquet was brought in and the ambassadors
+took their leave. As they passed out Charles<span class="page"><a name="117">[page 117]</a></span>
+stood apart from his father and said to the archbishop
+of Narbonne, who brought up the rear of
+the little company:</p>
+<p>
+"'Recommend me very humbly to the good
+grace of the king. Tell him he has had me scolded
+here by the chancellor but that he shall repent
+it before a year is past.'" His message was
+duly delivered and to this incident Commines
+attributes momentous results.</p>
+<p>
+Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which
+Louis's ambassadors treated him, indignant at
+the injury to his heritage by the redemption of
+the towns on the Somme, and further, already
+alienated from his royal cousin through the long
+series of petty occasions where the different
+natures of the two young men clashed, in this
+year 1464, Charles was certainly more than ready
+to enter into an open contest with the French
+monarch. It was not long before the opportunity
+came for him to do so with a certain éclat.</p>
+<p>
+In the early years of his own freedom, before
+he learned wisdom, Louis XI. had planted many
+seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful
+crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among
+the nobles of the land.</p>
+<p>
+One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the
+gradual growth of the body of standing troops
+instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These, in the
+regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guarantee
+of support without the aid of his nobles. By
+the date of Louis's accession, certain ducal houses<span class="page"><a name="118">[page 118]</a></span>
+besides that of Burgundy had grown very independent
+within their own boundaries: Orleans,
+Anjou, Bourbon, not to speak of Brittany.<a href="#VI7"><sup>7</sup></a> Now
+the efforts to curtail the prerogatives of these
+petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were
+steady and persistent in the new reign. They
+had no longer the power of coining money, of
+levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the
+judicial authority of the crown had been extended
+little by little over France. Then their privileges
+were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of the
+chase.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the accumulation of these invasions of
+local authority, added to a real disbelief in the
+king's ability, that led to a formation of a league
+among the nobles, designed to check the centralisation
+policy of the monarch, a League of Public
+Weal to form a bulwark against the tyrannical
+encroachments of their liege lord.</p>
+<p>
+Not to follow the steps of the growth of this
+coalition, it is sufficient for the thread of this
+narrative to say that it comprised all the great
+French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as
+others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as
+those whom he had slighted alike fell from his
+standards, distrustful of his ability to withstand
+organised opposition, and they threw in their lot
+with the protestors so as not to miss their share
+of the spoil.</p>
+<p>
+The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned,<span class="page"><a name="119">[page 119]</a></span>
+was in a mood when his ears were eagerly open
+to overtures from Louis's critics. The redemption
+of the towns on the Somme he was unable to
+prevent, but the affair left him very sore. Shortly
+after its completion, the count did, indeed, succeed
+in depriving the Croys of their ascendency
+over the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long
+desired victory was attained, the towns had one
+and all accepted their transfer and were under
+French sovereignty. When the count joined the
+league, the hope of ultimate restoration was undoubtedly
+prominent among the motives for his
+own course of action, though his intimacy with
+the chief leader of the revolt, the Duke of Brittany,
+might easily have led to the same result.</p>
+<p>
+Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had
+been especially wanting in tact during the first
+months of his reign. The king treated him as a vassal
+of France, while the duke held that he and his
+forbears owed simple homage to the crown, not
+dependence. Therefore, in order to resist being
+subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not
+to leave his estates except in a suitable manner.
+His messages to the king were sent in all ceremony,
+he rendered proper homage, declared
+his readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as
+a vassal for certain territories, but demanded
+freedom to exercise his hereditary rights and to
+enjoy his hereditary dignities.<a href="#VI8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+"Rude and strange" were the terms employed<span class="page"><a name="120">[page 120]</a></span>
+by the king in response to these statements, and
+then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
+the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose
+of the hands of Breton heiresses in unequal
+marriages, and to arrogate to himself other rights&mdash;all
+sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
+Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the
+league. Very delightful is Chastellain's colloquy
+with himself&nbsp;<a href="#VI9"><sup>9</sup></a> as to the difficulty of maintaining
+perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of
+this Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately
+the result of his patient efforts is lost.</p>
+
+<p>
+Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines,
+however, were both present in the Burgundian
+army and their stories are preserved. La Marche
+had reason to remember the first actual engagement
+between the royal and invading forces at
+Montl'héry, "because on that day I was made
+knight." He does not say, as does Commines,
+that this battle was against the king's desire.
+Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms and to
+coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by
+other methods. Not that they characterised
+themselves as rebellious, far from it. Clear and
+definite was their statement that in their
+obligation</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"to give order to the estate, the police and the
+government of the kingdom, the princes of the blood
+as chief supports of the crown, by whose advice and
+not by that of others, the business of the king and<span class="page"><a name="121"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 121]</span></a></span>
+of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
+their persons and their property, and in this laudable
+endeavour all virtuous citizens ought to aid."&nbsp;<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#VI10"><sup>10</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens,
+and the words were typical of similar appeals made
+in every quarter of the realm by the various
+feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In
+truth this war, ostentatiously called that of
+the Public Weal, was but a struggle on the part
+of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The
+weal demanded was home rule for the feudal
+chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a fierce
+protest against monarchical authority, against
+concentration. A king indeed, but a king in
+leading strings was the ideal of the peers.</p>
+<p>
+Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis
+almost alone, deserted by his brother the Duke
+of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
+unity, hedged in by their pompous and
+self-righteous assertions that all their thoughts
+were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
+needed lightening. Of all the great vassals,
+Gaston de Foix was the single one loyal to the
+king.</p>
+<p>
+The part of the great duke fell entirely to the<span class="page"><a name="122">[page 122]</a></span>
+share of the Count of Charolais. A small force
+was levied for him within the Netherlands, and he
+started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents
+from the two Burgundies and his brother
+peers of France with their own troops. His men
+were good individually but they had not been
+trained to act as one, and there was no coherence
+between the different companies.</p>
+<p>
+July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed
+rendezvous. He was first in the field.
+While he awaited his allies, his little army became
+restive at the situation in which they found
+themselves, fifty leagues from Burgundian territory
+with no stronghold as their base. It was
+urged again and again upon the count that his first
+consideration ought to be his men's safety. His
+allies had failed him. He should retreat. "I
+have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross
+the Seine if I have but a single page to follow
+me," was the leader's firm reply to these demands.</p>
+<p>
+The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges,
+and Charles decided that it was his mission to
+prevent Louis from entering his capital, to which
+he was advancing with great rapidity from the
+south. To carry out this purpose Charles disregarded
+all protests, crossed the Seine at St. Cloud,
+and made his way to the little village of Longjumeau,
+whither he was preceded by the Count
+of St. Pol, commanding one division of the Burgundian
+army. Montl'héry was a village still
+farther to the south, and here it was that La<span class="page"><a name="123">[page 123]</a></span>
+Marche and other gentlemen were knighted.
+This ceremony was evidently part of the count's
+endeavour to encourage his followers&mdash;all unwilling
+to risk an engagement before the arrival
+of the allies.</p>
+<p>
+To the king it was of infinite advantage that no
+delay should occur. Nevertheless, it was Charles
+who opened active hostilities on July 15th, with
+soldiers who had not broken their fast that day.
+Armed since early dawn, wearied by a forced
+march with a July sun beating down upon their
+heads, their movements hampered by standing
+wheat and rye, the men were at a tremendous
+disadvantage when they were led to the attack.
+It was a hot assault. No quarter was given,
+many fled. At length, Louis found himself abandoned
+by all save his body-guard. Pressed
+against the hill that bounded the grain fields,
+the king at last retreated up its slope into a
+castle on its summit.</p>
+<p>
+Charles rode impetuously after the retreating
+royalists. Separated from his men, he fell
+among the royal guard at the gate of the castle.
+There was a vehement assault resisted as vehemently
+by his meagre escort. Several fell and
+Charles himself received a sword wound on his
+neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised
+by the French, he might have been taken or slain
+in his resistance, when the Bastard of Burgundy
+rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed
+the count's condition. When night fell, no one<span class="page"><a name="124">[page 124]</a></span>
+knew where lay the advantage. The fugitives
+spread rumours that the king was dead and that
+Charles was in possession, others carried the
+reverse statements as they rode headlong to the
+nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with
+no credit to either leader. But in the darkness
+of the night, the king managed to slip out of his
+retreat and march quietly towards the greater
+security of Paris.</p>
+<p>
+It was a very shadowy victory that Charles
+proudly claimed. All through the night of July
+15th, the Burgundians were discussing whether
+to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds
+all recognised. Daybreak found the council in
+session when a peasant brought tidings that the
+foe had departed. The fires in sight only covered
+their retreat. To be sure that same foe had
+taken Burgundian baggage with them to Paris.
+But what of that? The Burgundians held the
+battlefield and they made the best of it.</p>
+<p>
+On July 16th, Louis supped with the military
+governor of Paris and "moved the company,
+nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his
+touching description of the perils he had met and
+escaped." Charles, meanwhile, effected a junction
+with his belated allies, Francis of Brittany and
+Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Étampes.
+Thither too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of
+Lorraine, but none of these leaguers could claim
+any share in the battle of Montl'héry.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlemont">[plate 11]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image11battlemont.jpg" width="400" height="516" alt="BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY (JULY 16, 1465)" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="125">[page 125]</a></span>
+<p>
+While these peers perfected their plans to force
+their chief into redressing the wrongs of the poor
+people, the king was showing a very pleasant
+side of his character to the Parisian citizens.
+In response to a petition that he should take
+advice on the conduct of his administration, he
+declared his perfect willingness to add to his
+council six burgesses, six members of <i>parlement</i>,
+and the same number from the university. Besides
+this concession, he relieved the weight of the
+imposts and hastened to restore certain financial
+franchises to the Church, to the university, and to
+various individuals. Three weeks were consumed
+in establishing friendly relations in this all important
+city, and then the king departed for Normandy
+to levy troops and to collect provisions for a siege.<a href="#VI11"><sup>11</sup></a>
+There was need for this last for the allies had
+moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris.</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the king's return to his capital on
+August 28th, a formidable array was encamped
+at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More
+formidable, however, they were in numbers than
+in strength. Like all confederated bodies there
+was inherent weakness, for there was no leader
+whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of
+Berry, heir presumptive to the throne, was the
+only one among the peers whose birth might have
+commanded the needful authority, but he had
+not sufficient personal character to assert his<span class="page"><a name="126">[page 126]</a></span>
+position. So the confederates remained a loose
+aggregation of small armies. The longer they
+remained in camp the weaker they grew, the
+more disintegrated. A pitched battle might
+have been a great advantage to these gallant
+defenders of the Public Weal of France and that
+was the last desire of their antagonist.</p>
+<p>
+Many skirmishes took place between the Parisians
+and the leaguers, but no engagement. Once,
+indeed, there were hurried preparations on the
+part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of
+whose imminence they were warned by a page
+before break of day, one misty morning. Yes,
+there was no doubt. The pickets could see the
+erect spears and furled banners of the enemy
+all ready to advance upon the unwary camp.
+Quick were the preparations. There were no
+laggards. The Duke of Calabria was more quickly
+armed than even the Count of Charolais. He
+came to a spot where a number of Burgundians,
+the count's own household stood, by the standard.
+Among them was Commines<a href="#VI12"><sup>l2</sup></a> and he heard the
+duke say: "We now have our desire, for the
+king is issued forth with his whole force and
+marches towards us as our scouts report. Wherefore
+let us determine to play the men. So soon
+as they be out of the town we will enter and
+measure with the long ell." By these words he
+meant that the soldiers would speedily have a<span class="page"><a name="127">[page 127]</a></span>
+chance to use their pikes as yard sticks to measure
+out their share of the booty. False prophet was
+the duke that time! When the daylight grew
+stronger, the upright spears and furled banners
+of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of thistles
+looming large in the magnifying morning mist!
+The princes took their disappointment philosophically,
+enjoyed early mass, and then had their
+breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>
+The young Commines is surprised that Paris
+and her environs were rich enough to feed so
+many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs
+changed. Negotiating back and forth became
+more frequent. The disintegration of the allies
+became more and more evident. Louis XI.
+bided his time and then took the extraordinary
+resolution to go in person to the camp at Charenton
+to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few
+attendants, practically unguarded, he went down
+the Seine. His coming had been heralded and
+the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive
+him, with the Count of St. Pol at his side.
+"Brother, do you pledge me safety?" (for the
+count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which
+the count responded: "Yes, as one brother to
+another."<a href="#VI13"><sup>13</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing could have been more genial than was
+the king. He assured Charles that he loved
+a man who kept his word beyond anything.</p>
+<p>
+Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the<span class="page"><a name="128">[page 128]</a></span>
+promise he had sent by the archbishop of
+Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he
+was a gentleman and true to the blood of France.
+Further, he disavowed the insolence of his chancellor
+towards Charles, and repeated that his
+cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You
+have kept your promise and that long before the
+day."<a href="#VI14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an
+opportunity to Charles and St. Pol to state,
+informally, the terms on which they would
+withdraw from their hostile footing, and count
+the weal restored to the oppressed public whose
+sorrows had moved them to a confederation.</p>
+<p>
+Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he
+accepted the requisition of those who felt that
+they were in a position to dictate, and after a
+little more parleying at later dates, the treaty
+of Conflans was duly arranged. It was none too
+soon for the allies. They could hardly have
+held together many days longer in the midst of
+the jealousies rife in their camps.</p>
+<p>
+The king paused at nothing. To his brother
+he gave Normandy, to Charles of Burgundy the
+towns on the Somme with guarantee of possession
+for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was
+made Constable of France.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="publicweal">[plate 12]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image12publicweal.jpg" width="400" height="445" alt="LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to
+Charles, lesser places and pensions to the other
+confederates. The contest ended with complete<span class="page"><a name="129">[page 129]</a></span>
+victory for the allies who were left with the
+proud consciousness that they had set a definite
+limit to royal pretensions, at least, on paper.</p>
+<p>
+After the treaty was signed, the king showed
+no resentment at his defeat but urged his cousin
+to amuse himself a while in Paris before returning
+home. Charles was rash, but he had not the
+temerity to trust himself so far. Pleading a
+promise to his father to enter no city gate until
+on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and
+soon returned to the Netherlands, where his own
+household had suffered change. During his absence,
+the Countess of Charolais had died and
+been buried at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly
+lauded for his perfect faithfulness to his wife, but
+her death seems to have made singularly little
+ripple on the surface of his life. The chroniclers
+touch on the event very casually, laying more
+stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI. to
+offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on
+the event itself.<a href="#VI15"><sup>15</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#110">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="VI1">La</a> Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the chamberlain
+to enforce this.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#111">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="VI2">The</a> receipt for this half payment was signed October 8,
+1462. (Comines, <i>Mémoires</i>, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii.,
+392-403.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#112">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="VI3">Du</a> Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#113">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="VI4">Commines</a>, <i>Mêmoires</i> I., ch. i. In the above passages Dannett's
+translation is followed for the racy English.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#113">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="VI5">Commines</a> says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#115">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="VI6">III</a>., 3.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#118">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="VI7">Lavisse</a> iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 336.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#119">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="VI8">Chastellain</a>, v., i, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#120">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="VI9">V</a>., II.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#121">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="VI10">Letter</a> of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of Amiens.
+(<i>Collection de Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France</i>.)
+"Mélanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS.
+in the Bibl. Nat. there are many letters private and public
+about these events.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#125">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="VI11">Since</a> its recovery from the English, there had been no
+duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to
+the king.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#126">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="VI12">I</a>., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be
+read in detail.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#127">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="VI13">I</a>., ch. xii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#128">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="VI14">Commines</a>, I., ch. xii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#129">[Footnote 15:</a> La <a name="VI15">Marche</a>, iii., p. 27.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="130">[page 130]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="VII">VII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>LIEGE AND ITS FATE</h3>
+
+<h4>1465-1467</h4>
+<p>
+"When we have finished here we shall make
+a fine beginning against those villains the
+Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on
+October 18th.<a href="#VII1"><sup>1</sup></a> Charles had no desire to rest on
+the laurels won before Paris. To another city
+he now turned his attention, to Liege which
+owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy.</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the days when the buried treasures
+of the soil filled the air with smoke, the valley
+where Liege lies was a lovely spot.<a href="#VII2"><sup>2</sup></a> Tradition
+tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop
+of Tongres, as he made a progress through his
+diocese was attracted by the beauties of the site
+where a few hovels then clustered near the Meuse.
+After looking down from the heights to the river's
+banks for a brief space, the bishop turned to his
+followers and said, as if uttering a prophecy:</p>
+<p>
+"Here is a place created by God for the salvation of<span class="page"><a name="131">[page 131]</a></span>
+many faithful souls. One day a prosperous city
+shall flourish here. Here I will build a chapel."
+Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised
+chapel became a shrine which attracted many
+pilgrims who returned to their various homes with
+glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.
+Little by little others came who did not leave,
+and by the seventh century when Bishop Lambert
+sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a small town.</p>
+
+<p>
+An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert.
+He gave himself no rest but travelled continually
+from one church to another in his diocese to look
+after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless
+prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke
+to the Frankish Pepin for a lawless deed
+excited the wrath of a certain noble, accessory
+to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was
+slain as he knelt before the altar in Monulphe's
+chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer the pious
+man did not hear the servants' calls, "Holy
+Lambert, Holy Lambert come to our aid," words
+that later became a war-cry when the bishop
+was exalted into the patron saint of the town.</p>
+<p>
+Not until the thirteenth century, however,
+when the episcopal see was finally established
+at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay
+overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege.
+Monulphe's little chapel had given way to a
+mighty church dedicated to the canonised Bishop
+Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost
+autonomous, the episcopal authority being restricted<span class="page"><a name="132">[page 132]</a></span>
+without the walls only by the distant
+emperor and still more distant pope. Within
+the walls, the same authority had by no means
+a perfectly free hand. There were certain
+features in the constitution of Liege which
+differentiated it from its sister towns in the
+Netherlands.</p>
+<p>
+Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly
+democratic manner. There was no distinction between
+the greater and lesser gilds, and, within these
+organisations, the franchise was given to the most
+ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple
+condition of attaining his fifteenth year. Moreover,
+the naturalisation laws were very easy.
+Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens
+and enjoyed eligibility to office as well as
+the franchise. The tenure of office being for
+one year only, there was opportunity for frequent
+participation in public affairs, an opportunity
+not neglected by the community.<a href="#VII3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic
+officers chosen by this liberal franchise. He was
+elected by the chapter of St. Lambert, subject to
+papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres
+of his jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his
+function there were many restrictions to his free
+administration, which papal and imperial sanction
+together were unable to remove.</p>
+<p>
+A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change
+in the laws without the consent of the estates,<span class="page"><a name="133">[page 133]</a></span>
+and he could administer justice only by means of
+the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be
+countersigned. When there was an issue between
+overlord and people, the question was submitted
+to the <i>schepens</i> or superior judges who, before they
+gave their opinion, consulted the various charters
+which had been granted from time to time,
+and which were not allowed to become dead letters.
+A permanent committee of the three orders supervised
+the executive and the administration of the
+laws. These "twenty-two" received an appeal
+from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb
+"In his own home the poor man is king," was
+very near the possible truth.</p>
+<p>
+Yet the wheels of government were by no
+means perfect in their running. Many were the
+conflicts between the different members of the
+state, and broils, with the character of civil war
+in miniature, were of frequent occurrence. The
+submergence of the aristocratic element, the
+nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power
+between the bishop-prince and the people. The
+commons exerted power beyond their intelligence.
+Annual elections, party contests headed by rival
+demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser
+extent, the smaller towns of the little state in
+continuous commotion.<a href="#VII4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The ecclesiastical origin of the community<span class="page"><a name="134">[page 134]</a></span>
+was evident at all points of daily life. The cathedral
+of St. Lambert was the pride of the city. Its
+chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place
+held by the aristocratic element in the other towns.</p>
+<p>
+In the cathedral, the holy standard of St.
+Lambert was suspended. At the outbreak of
+war this was taken down and carried to the door
+by the clergy in solemn procession. There it
+was unfurled and delivered to the commander
+of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white
+steed. When he received the precious charge he
+swore to defend it with his life.</p>
+<p>
+One object of popular veneration was this
+standard, another was the <i>perron</i>, an emblem of
+the civic organisation. This was a pillar of
+gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple
+surmounted by a cross. This stood on a pedestal
+in the centre of the square where was the <i>violet</i>
+or city hall. In front of the perron were proclaimed
+all the ordinances issued by the magistrates,
+or the decrees adopted by the people in
+general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin
+was rung, the deans of the gilds would hasten out
+with their banners and plant them near the
+perron as rallying points for the various gild
+members who poured out from forge, work-shop,<span class="page"><a name="135">[page 135]</a></span>
+and factory until the square was filled.</p>
+<p>
+There were two powerful weapons whereby the
+bishop-prince might enforce his will in opposition
+to that of his subjects did the latter become too
+obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the
+<i>schepens</i>, and he could pronounce an interdict
+of the Church which caused the cessation of all
+priestly functions. When this interdict was in
+action, civil suits between burghers could be adjudged
+by the municipal magistrates, but no
+criminals could be arrested or tried. The elementary
+principles of an organised society were
+thrown into confusion. Still worse confusion
+resulted from the bishop's last resort as prince of
+the Church. An interdict caused the church bells
+to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The
+celebration of the rites of baptism, of marriage,
+of burial ceased.<a href="#VII5"><sup>5</sup></a> The fear of such cessation was
+potent in its restraint, unless the populace were
+too far enraged to be moved by any consideration.</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Burgundian dukes extended their
+sway over one portion of Netherland territory
+after another, this little dominion maintained
+its complete independence of them. The fact that
+its princes were elective protected it from lapsing
+through heritage to the duke who had been so
+neatly proven heir to his divers childless kinsfolk.
+It was a rich little vineyard without his pale.</p>
+<p>
+They were clever people those Liegeois. Their<span class="page"><a name="136">[page 136]</a></span>
+Walloon language is a species of French with
+many peculiarities showing Frankish admixture.<a href="#VII6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+The race was probably a mixed one too, but its
+acquired characteristics made a very different
+person from a Hollander, a Frisian, or a Fleming,
+though there was a certain resemblance to the
+latter.</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful
+resources of coal and minerals which now glow
+above and below the furnace fires until, from a
+distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But
+the people were industrious and energetic in their
+crafts. It was a country of skilled workmen. The
+city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thousand
+inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers
+reported slain in the various battles in which the
+town was involved run into the thousands.<a href="#VII7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his
+success in the diocese of Utrecht, obtained a certain<span class="page"><a name="137">[page 137]</a></span>
+ascendency over the affairs of Liege by interfering
+in the election of a bishop. There was no
+natural vacancy at the moment. John of Heinsberg
+was the incumbent, a very pleasant prelate
+with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement
+and gay society, pleasures more easily obtainable
+in Philip's court than in his own, and his agreeable
+host found means of persuading him to resign all
+the cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke
+proceeded to place his own nephew, Louis of
+Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne.</p>
+<p>
+This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student
+at the University of Louvain, destitute of a single
+qualification for the office proposed. Nevertheless,
+all difficulties, technical and general were
+ignored, and a papal dispensation enabled the
+candidate even to dispense with the formality of
+taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered
+Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry
+into his future capital and was duly enthroned
+as bishop-prince in spite of his manifest unfitness
+for the place.</p>
+<p>
+Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his people,
+better than the promise of his youth, as some
+reckless princes have done. On the contrary,
+ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at
+drawn swords with his subjects. After a time
+he withdrew to Huy where he indulged in gross
+pleasures while he attempted to check the rebellious
+citizens of his capital by trying some of the
+measures of coercion used by his predecessors as a<span class="page"><a name="138">[page 138]</a></span>
+last resort.</p>
+<p>
+Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters
+dragged on for a long time. The people appealed
+to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the pope, and to
+the "pope better informed," but no redress was
+given. Philip continued to protect the bishop,
+and none dared put themselves in opposition to
+him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XI. for
+aid. Their appeal was heard and the king's
+agent arrived in the city just as one of the bishop's
+interdicts was about to be enforced, an interdict,
+too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the
+usual anathema if the provisions were not
+obeyed.</p>
+<p>
+It was the moment for a demagogue and one
+appeared in the person of Raes de la Rivière, lord
+of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be unbroken
+silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his followers
+proclaimed that every priest who refused
+to chant should be thrown into the river. Mass
+was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual
+conditions, and the presence of the French envoys
+gave new heart to the bishop's opponents. A
+treaty was signed between the Liegeois and Louis;
+wherein mutual pledges were made that no
+peace should be concluded with Burgundy in
+which both parties were not included. It was a
+solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when
+he signed the treaty of Conflans whose articles
+contained not a single reference to the Liegeois.</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of<span class="page"><a name="139">[page 139]</a></span>
+the battle of Montl'héry reaching Liege gave the
+victory to Louis, a report that spurred on the
+Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostility to
+their neighbour, still farther afield. The other
+towns of the Church state were infected by an anti-Burgundian
+sentiment. In Dinant this feeling was
+high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation
+of special animosity against the Count of Charolais.
+A rabble marched out of the city to the walls of
+Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy,
+carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its
+neck. Certain well-known emblems of Burgundy on
+a tattered mantle showed that this represented
+Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd
+declared that they were going to hang the effigy as
+his master, the King of France, had already hanged
+Count Charles in reality. Further, they said
+that he was no count at all, but the son of their
+old bishop, Heinsberg. They went so far as to
+suspend the effigy on a gallows and then riddled
+it with arrows and left it dangling like a scarecrow
+in sight of the citizens of Bouvignes.<a href="#VII8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The actual contents of the treaty made at
+Conflans did not reach Liege until messages from
+Louis had assured them that he had been mindful
+of their interests in making his own terms, assurances,
+however, coupled with advice to make peace
+with their good friend the duke. But there
+speedily came later information that the only
+mention of Liege in the new treaty was an apology<span class="page"><a name="140">[page 140]</a></span>
+that Louis had ever made friends in that
+city!</p>
+<p>
+The rebels lost heart at once. Without the
+king, they had no confidence in their own efforts.
+Envoys were despatched to Philip who refused
+to answer their humble requests for pardon until
+his son could decide what punishment the principality
+deserved. Nor was much delay to be
+anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming.
+Charles hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not
+pausing even to greet his father. By the third
+week of January, he was encamped between St.
+Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation
+from Liege found him. These envoys, between
+eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly
+because they feared attacks from their anti-peace
+fellow-citizens.<a href="#VII9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+They found Charles flushed by his recent
+achievement of bringing King Louis to his way of
+thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body
+than when it left the Netherlands. The troops
+were more skilled from their experience and elated
+at what they counted their success; more capable,
+too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a
+resolute leader, now inclined to despise councils
+with free discussion. The count's quick temper
+had gained him weight but it had made him feared.
+The slightest breach of discipline brought a thunder-cloud
+on his face. If we may believe one
+authority,<a href="#VII10"><sup>10</sup></a> he himself was often so lacking in<span class="page"><a name="141">[page 141]</a></span>
+discipline that he would strike an officer with a
+baton, and once at least, he killed a soldier with
+his own hand.</p>
+
+<p>
+His audience with the envoys resulted in a
+treaty, of which certain articles were so harsh
+that the messengers were insulted when the
+report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of
+thirty-two gilds voted to accept all the articles.
+A certain noble on pleasant terms with the count
+offered to carry the unpopular document back
+to him to ask for a modification of the harsh
+terms.</p>
+<p>
+By this time the weather was severe. Charles's
+troops were in need of repose, and it seemed
+prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles
+revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration
+of an increase of the war indemnity. With this
+change the treaty was accepted, and a Piteous
+Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege.
+Instead of owing allegiance to emperor and to
+pope alone as free imperial citizens, they agreed
+to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary
+protectors of Liege.</p>
+<p>
+When it was desired, Burgundian troops could
+march freely across the territory. Burgundian
+coins were declared valid at Burgundian values.
+No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian
+marches, and unqualified obedience was pledged
+to the new overlords. The same terms were
+conceded to all the rebel towns alike except<span class="page"><a name="142">[page 142]</a></span>
+to Dinant. The story of the personal insult to
+himself and his mother had reached the count's
+ears and he was not inclined to ignore the circumstance.
+His further action was, however,
+deferred.</p>
+<p>
+January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty<a href="#VII11"><sup>11</sup></a>
+and, after its conclusion, Charles ordered a review
+of his forces, a review that almost culminated in
+a pitched battle between army and citizens of
+St. Trond, and then on January 31st, the count
+returned to Brussels where there was a great display
+of Burgundian etiquette before the duke
+embraced his victorious son.</p>
+
+<p>
+Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the
+province at large, still more piteous was the
+lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from
+the participation in the treaty. Her fate remained
+uncertain for months. Other affairs occupied
+the Count of Charolais until late in the summer
+of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis,
+well freed from the allies pressing up to the gates
+of Paris, was in very different temper from Louis
+ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not
+only had he withdrawn his promises in regard
+to the duchy conferred on his brother, but he
+had begun taking other measures, ostensibly
+to prepare against a possible English invasion,
+which alarmed his cousin of Burgundy for the
+undisturbed possession of his recently recovered<span class="page"><a name="143">[page 143]</a></span>
+towns on the Somme.</p>
+<p>
+Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes,
+Charles despatched the following letter from
+Namur:<a href="#VII12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I recommend myself very humbly to your good
+grace and beg to inform you, Monseigneur, that
+recently I have been advised of something very surprising
+to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond doubt
+considering the source of my information. It is with
+much regret that I communicate it to you when I
+remember all the good words you have given to me this
+year, orally and in writing. Monseigneur, it is evident
+that there has been some agreement between
+your people and the English, and that the matter
+has been so well worked that you have consented,
+as I have heard, to yield them the land of Caux,
+Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to aid them
+in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu,
+and further, to cement with them certain alliances
+against me and my country in making them large
+offers greatly to my prejudice and, in order to complete
+the whole, they are to come to Dieppe.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you
+wish: but, Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns
+me, it seems to me that you would do better to leave
+my property in my hand than to be the instrument
+of putting it into the hands of the English or of any
+foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Monseigneur,
+that if such overtures or greater ones have
+been opened by your people that you will not commit<span class="page"><a name="144">[page 144]</a></span>
+yourself to them in any manner but will insist on
+their cessation, and that you will do this in a way
+that I may always have cause to remain your very
+humble servant as I desire to do with all my heart.
+Above all, write to me your good pleasure, and I implore
+you, Monseigneur, if there be any service that I
+can render you, I am the one who would wish to
+employ all that God has given me [to do it]. Written
+at Namur, August 16th.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"Your very humble and obedient subject,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />
+
+"CHARLES."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict
+the punishment that the culprits had, to his mind,
+too long escaped.</p>
+<p>
+Commines calls this a strong and rich town,
+superior even to Liege.<a href="#VII13"><sup>13</sup></a> A comparison of the two
+sites shows, however, that this statement could
+hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in
+a narrow space between the Meuse and high land.
+A lofty rock at one end of the town dominating
+the river is crowned by a fortress most picturesque
+in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how
+many inhabitants there actually were in the
+place in 1466, but there is no doubt as to their
+energy and character. As mentioned before, the
+artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their
+specialty, and their brass work was renowned far
+and wide. Pots and pans and other utensils
+were known as <i>Dinanderies</i>.</p>
+
+<p>
+The traffic in them was so important that<span class="page"><a name="145">[page 145]</a></span>
+Dinant had had her own commercial relations
+with England for a long period. Her merchants
+enjoyed the same privileges in London as the
+members of the Hanseatic League, and an English
+company was held in high respect at Dinant.<a href="#VII14"><sup>14</sup></a>
+The brass-founders' gild ranked at Dinant as the
+drapers at Louvain, and the weavers at Ghent.
+As a "great gild they formed a middle class between
+the lower gilds and the <i>bourgeois</i>," the merchants
+and richer folk.<a href="#VII15"><sup>15</sup></a> In municipal matters
+each of these three classes had a separate vote.</p>
+
+<p>
+As it happened, Dinant had not been very
+ready to open hostilities against the House of
+Burgundy though she was equally critical of
+Louis of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It
+was undoubtedly her rivalry with Bouvignes of
+Namur that brought her into the strife. That
+neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation,
+and the fact that it was safe under the Duke of
+Burgundy and backed by him as Count of Namur,
+had brought a Burgundian element into the local
+contest.</p>
+<p>
+The incidents of the insult to Charles and the
+aspersion on his mother's reputation undoubtedly
+were due to an irresponsible rabble rather than
+to any action that could properly be attributed
+to the leading men. Further, it really seems
+probable that the weight attached to the insulting
+act never occurred to the respectable burghers<span class="page"><a name="146">[page 146]</a></span>
+until they heard of it from others, so insignificant
+were the participants in it.</p>
+<p>
+As soon as it was realised that serious consequences
+might result from reckless folly, the
+authorities were quite ready to separate themselves
+from the event, and to arrest the culprits
+as common malefactors. Once, indeed, the prisoners
+were temporarily rescued by their friends,
+and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a
+suspicious circumstance that this happened just at
+a moment when there was renewed hope for help
+from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes
+were vain, the magistrates became seriously
+alarmed and ready to go to any lengths to avert
+Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following
+letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy:<a href="#VII16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The poor, humble and obedient servants and
+subjects of the most reverend father in God, Louis
+of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege; and your petty neighbours
+and borderers, the burgomaster's council and
+folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to
+their knowledge that the wrath of your grace has
+been aroused against the town on account of certain
+ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants thereof,
+in contempt of your honourable person. The city is
+as displeased about these words as it is possible to be,
+and far from wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested
+as many as could be found and now holds them in
+durance awaiting any punishment your <i>grace</i> may
+decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do
+your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your<span class="page"><a name="147"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 147]</span></a></span>
+anger to be appeased, holding the people of Dinant
+exonerated, and resting satisfied with the punishment
+of the guilty, inasmuch as the people are bitterly
+grieved on account of the insults and have, as before
+stated, arrested the culprits."</p>
+
+<p>
+With further apologies for any failure of duty
+towards the Duke of Burgundy, the petitioners
+humbly begged to be granted the same terms that
+Liege and the other towns had received. March
+31st is the date of this humble document. Months
+of doubt followed before the terrible experience
+of August proved the futility of their pleas, to
+which the ducal family refused to listen, so deep
+was their sense of personal aggrievement. Long
+as it was since the duchess had taken part in public
+affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And
+she, too, was implacable against the town where
+any citizen had dared accuse her of infidelity to
+her husband and to the Church whose interests
+were more to her than anything in the world
+except her son.<a href="#VII17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The petition was as unheeded as were all the
+representations of the would-be mediators. Again
+Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XI. and
+with assurances that after God his royal majesty
+was their only hope, besought him from mere<span class="page"><a name="148">[page 148]</a></span>
+charity and pity to persuade his cousin of Burgundy
+to forgive them. Apparently Louis took
+no notice of this appeal. Dinant's last hope was
+that her fellow-communes of Liege would refuse
+to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included.
+The sole concession, obtained by their envoys to
+Charles in the winter, had been a short truce afterwards
+extended to May, 1466.</p>
+<p>
+During that summer the critical position of the
+little town was well known. Some sympathisers
+offered aid but it was aid that there was possible
+danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from
+Liege, who had been expressly excluded from the
+terms of the peace, had joined the ranks of a certain
+free lance company called "The Companions
+of the Green Tent," as their only shelter was the
+interlaced branches of the forest. To Dinant
+came this band to aid in her defence.<a href="#VII18"><sup>18</sup></a> At one
+time it seemed as though a peaceful accommodation
+might be reached but it fell through. Not
+yet were the citizens ready to surrender their
+charters&mdash;"Franchises,&mdash;to the rescue," was a
+frequent cry and no treaty was made.</p>
+
+<p>
+Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the
+reduction of this place in person. Too feeble to
+ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a litter, and
+arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then attended
+by a small escort only, he proceeded to
+Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point whence he
+could command a view of the scene of his son's<span class="page"><a name="149">[page 149]</a></span>
+intended operations. As the crisis became imminent
+there were a few further efforts to effect a
+reconciliation. When these failed, the town prepared
+to meet the worst.<a href="#VII19"><sup>19</sup></a> Stories gravely related
+by Du Clercq<a href="#VII20"><sup>20</sup></a> represent the people of Dinant
+goaded to actual fury of resistance.</p>
+
+<p>
+By August 7th, the Burgundian troops made
+their appearance, winding down to the river. Conspicuous
+among the standards&mdash;and nobles from
+all Philip's dominions were in evidence&mdash;was the
+banner of the Count of Charolais, displaying St.
+George slaying the dragon.</p>
+<p>
+On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested
+and the siege began. Within the walls the most
+turbulent element had gained complete control of
+affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to
+the winds. From the walls they hurled words
+at the foe:</p>
+<p>
+"Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you
+have brought him here to perish?<a href="#VII21"><sup>21</sup></a> Your Count
+Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him go fight the
+King of France at Montl'héry. If he waits for
+the noble Louis or the Liegeois he will have to
+take to his heels," etc.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled
+with cannon-balls but there was no assault. By<span class="page"><a name="150">[page 150]</a></span>
+the sixth day the magistrates determined to send
+their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for
+mercy. The captain of the great gild of coppersmiths,
+Jean de Guérin, tried to encourage the
+faint-hearted to protest openly against this procedure.
+Seizing the city colours he declared:
+"I will trust to no humane sentiment. I am
+ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live
+or die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the
+town before the foe enter it." It was too late,
+the capitulation was made.</p>
+<p>
+When the keys were brought to Charles he
+remembered that he was not yet duke and ordered
+them presented to his father in his stead, and to
+his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task
+of formally accepting the surrender.</p>
+<p>
+It was late in the evening when the Bastard
+of Burgundy marched in. At first he held the
+incoming troops well under control, but the stores
+of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning
+there were wild scenes of disorder. When Charles
+arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday, just a
+week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness
+was checked with a strong hand. Any ill treatment
+of women was peculiarly repugnant to him,
+and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
+justice upon offenders.<a href="#VII22"><sup>22</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="anthony">[plate 13]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image13anthony.jpg" width="400" height="586" alt="ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+His entry into the fallen town was made with
+all the wonted Burgundian pomp. Nothing in the
+proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate<span class="page"><a name="151">[page 151]</a></span>
+manner. A council of war was held and the
+proceedings decided upon. The cruelty that was
+exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
+not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults
+to his mother and to himself rankled in the count's
+mind. As one author remarks<a href="#VII23"><sup>23</sup></a> with undoubted
+reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible
+for the insult were among those punished. After
+the siege, "pitiable it was to see, for the innocent
+suffered and the guilty escaped."</p>
+
+<p>
+Certain rich citizens bought their lives with
+large sums, others <i>were sold as slaves,</i><a href="#VII24"><sup>24</sup></a> or were
+hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into the
+Meuse.<a href="#VII25"><sup>25</sup></a> In the monasteries, life was conceded
+to the inmates but that was all. All their property
+was confiscated. The Count of St. Pol, now Constable
+of France, tried to intercede for the citizens
+with Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to
+no result. It might have been chance or it might
+have been intentional that at last flames completed
+the work of destruction. The abode of
+Adolph of Cleves, at the corner of Nôtre Dame,
+was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the
+morning of Thursday, August 28th.</p>
+
+<p>
+That Charles was responsible for this conflagration
+Du Clercq thinks is incredible.<a href="#VII26"><sup>26</sup></a> He would<span class="page"><a name="152">[page 152]</a></span>
+certainly have saved all ecclesiastical property
+which was almost completely consumed. Indeed,
+Charles gave orders to extinguish the flames as
+soon as they were discovered, but every one was
+so occupied with saving his own portion of booty
+that nothing was accomplished and the town-hall
+caught fire and the church of Nôtre Dame. From
+the latter some ornaments and treasures were
+saved and the bones of Ste. Perpète, with other
+holy relics, were rescued by Charles himself at risk
+to his own life.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"It was never known how the fire originated.
+Some say it was due to a defective flue. To my
+mind," [concludes the pious historian], <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#VII27"><sup>27</sup></a></span> "it was the
+Divine Will that Dinant should be destroyed on
+account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I
+trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone
+lost more than a hundred thousand crowns' value."</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Cy fust Dinant</i>, "Dinant was," is the sum of his
+description, four days after the conflagration. <a href="#VII28"><sup>28</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+On September 1st, Philip, who had remained
+at Bouvignes while all this passed under the
+direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down
+to Namur. It was almost a triumph,&mdash;that trip
+that proved one of the last ever made by the proud
+duke&mdash;and the procession on the river and the
+entry into Namur were closed by a humble embassy<span class="page"><a name="153">[page 153]</a></span>
+from Liege in regard to certain points of
+their peace.</p>
+<p>
+Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the
+Count of St. Pol's men had had no part in the
+plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the poor
+fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their
+mercies, as a compensation for this deprivation,
+the little town of Tuin, which had been rebellious
+and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, submitted
+to St. Pol, and then compounded the right
+of pillage for a round sum of money. Moreover,
+they promised to lay low their gates and their
+walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is
+said that the constable made ten thousand
+Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men felt
+ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant.</p>
+<p>
+Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare
+on the various towns of Liege territory. The
+people of Liege themselves seem to have varied
+in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being
+very humble in their petitions for peace and again
+very insolent. As a rule, this conduct seems to
+be traceable to their hope of Louis's support.
+On September 7th, there was one pitched battle
+where victory decided the final terms of the
+general peace, and after various skirmishes and
+submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the
+winter and joined his father at Brussels.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#130">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="VII1">Doc</a>. inédits sur l'hist. de France</i>. "Mélanges," ii., 398.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#130">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="VII2">Polain</a>, <i>Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège</i>,
+I, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#132">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="VII3">See</a> Kirk, <i>Charles the Bold</i>, i., 329.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#133">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="VII4">Jacques</a> de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of
+difficulty in Liege government:</p>
+<ol><li>
+The size of the council&mdash;two hundred, where twenty
+would do.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to
+size, when all were assembled by the council to vote on a
+matter.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+Facile naturalisation laws.</li></ol>
+<p class="footnote">
+(<i>See</i> Kirk, i., 325.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#135">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="VII5">In</a> many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is
+probable that it was only partially operative.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#136">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="VII6">See</a> Victor Hugo, <i>Le Rhin</i>, i. The Walloon dialect varies
+greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the
+"Prodigal Son" as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille:</p>
+<ul class="none"><li>
+LIEGE. Jésus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis.
+Li pus jone dérit à s'père: père dinnez-m'con qui m'dent riv'
+ni di vosse bin; et l'père lezi partagea s'bin.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+HUY. Jésus l'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li
+peus jone dérit a s'père etc.<br  /><br />
+</li><li>
+LILLE. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux garchens.
+L'pus jeune dit à sin père-mon père donez me ch que
+j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et l'père leu-z-a doné a chacun leu
+parchen. </li></ul>
+<p class="footnote">
+See also <i>Doc. inédits concernant l'hist. de la Belgique</i>,
+ii., 238, for comment on Scott's treatment of the language.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#136">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="VII7">The</a> numbers are probably exaggerated.  To-day it
+contains about two hundred thousand.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#139">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="VII8">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 203.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#140">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="VII9">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 249.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#141">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="VII10">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 239-262.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#142">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="VII11">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 285, 322. For letters and negotiations
+anterior to this peace see p. 197 <i>et seq</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#143">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="VII12">Duclos</a>, v., 236.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#144">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="VII13">Book</a> ii., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight thousand
+inhabitants.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#145">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="VII14">In</a> addition to Commines and Du Clercq <i>see also</i> Kirk, i.,
+385, for quotations from Borgnet and others.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#145">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="VII15">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 213, <i>et passim</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#146">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="VII16">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.,</i> ii., 350.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#147">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="VII17">Est</a> falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse
+de Bourgogne, à cause desdictes injures at conclut telle
+hayne sur cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a juré comme on
+dist que s'il li devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner
+cestedite ville en mettant toutes personnes à l'espée. (Gachard,
+<i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 222.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#148">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="VII18">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 337, <i>et passim</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#149">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="VII19">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 273.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#149">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="VII20">He</a> says messengers were put to death without regard
+to their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from
+limb. Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say
+mass, and the situation was strained to the last degree.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#149">[Footnote 21:</a> <i><a name="VII21">Qui</a> a mandé ce vieil monnart vostre duc</i>, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#150">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="VII22">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 278.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#151">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="VII23">De</a> Ram, <i>Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de Liége,</i>
+"Henricus de Merica," p. 159.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#151">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="VII24">Vel</a> vendebantur in servos. See De Ram <i>et passim</i> for
+documents.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#151">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="VII25">It</a> seems to be well attested that the prisoners were tied
+together and drowned.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#152">[Footnote 26:</a> <a name="VII26">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 280.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#152">[Footnote 27:</a> <i><a name="VII27">Ibid</a>.</i>, 281.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#152">[Footnote 28:</a> <a name="VII28">In</a> 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly
+called Dinant" and after that, little by little, the town came
+to life. (Gachard, <i>Analectes Belgiques</i>, 318, etc.).]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="154">[page 154]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="VIII">VIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE NEW DUKE</h3>
+
+<h4>1467</h4>
+<p>
+The Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where
+he witnessed the manner in which his authority
+was vindicated was his last effort. In
+the early summer following, on Friday, June 10th,
+Philip, then at Bruges, was taken ill and died on
+the following Monday, June 13th, between nine
+and ten in the evening.<a href="#VIII1"><sup>1</sup></a> Charles was summoned
+on the Sunday, and it seemed as though his horse's
+hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he rode, so
+swift was his course on the way to Bruges.</p>
+
+<p>
+When he reached the house where his father lay
+dying, he was told that speech had already ceased,
+but that there was still life. The count threw
+himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all
+tenderness, and implored a paternal benediction
+and pardon for all wherein he had offended his
+father. Near the duke stood his confessor who
+begged the dying man to make a sign if he could
+still understand what was said to him. On this<span class="page"><a name="155">[page 155]</a></span>
+admonition and in reply to his son's prayers,
+Philip turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him
+and pressed the hand which was laid upon his own,
+but further token was beyond his strength. The
+count stayed by his side until he breathed his
+last.</p>
+<p>
+Thus ended the life of a man who had been
+a striking figure in Europe for forty years.
+His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been
+fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the
+Holy Land from the invading Turks had proved
+vain. Many years had passed since he had had
+military success of any kind, and even in his
+earlier life his successes had been owing to diplomacy
+and to a happy conjunction of circumstances
+rather than to skilful generalship. He
+possessed pre-eminently the power of personality.</p>
+<p>
+When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge
+at Montereau and Philip came into his heritage,
+Henry V. of England was in the full flush of his
+prosperity, standing triumphant over England
+and France, and in a position to make good his
+claim with three stalwart brothers to back him.
+All these young men had died prematurely.
+Their only descendant was Henry VI., and that
+meagre and wretched representative of the ambitious
+Henry V. had had no spark of the character
+of his father and uncles. The one vigorous element
+in his life was his wife, Margaret of Anjou,
+who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband
+on his throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467,<span class="page"><a name="156">[page 156]</a></span>
+Edward of York was on that throne. Gone, too,
+was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded
+his early, whose son darkened his latter years.</p>
+<p>
+Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke
+Philip alone had marched steadily to every desired
+goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate list of
+his achievements in doggerel verses:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"John was born of Philip, child of good King John.<br />
+To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son.<br />
+Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed to me<br />
+Therein to follow him and rule them legally.<br />
+With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm greater grew.<br />
+Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too.<br />
+The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied,<br />
+By force of right and arms they have been pacified.<br />
+At one single time against me were maintained<br />
+French, English, German forces,&mdash;nothing have they gained.<br />
+Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great array.<br />
+From me he begged a peace and king was from that day!<br />
+The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered seven.<br />
+Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given.<br />
+Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted,<br />
+But I put them down. I would not be insulted.<br />
+In Barrois and Lorraine, King René warred upon me.<br />
+Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he.<br />
+Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee,<span class="page"><a name="157">[page&nbsp;157]</a></span><br />
+From me received his crown. Five years my guest was he.<br />
+Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land;<br />
+That now he's England's king is due my aid and hand.<br />
+To defend the Church, which is the House Divine,<br />
+The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order mine.<br />
+Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength,<br />
+My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length.<br />
+In later days I planned and most sincerely meant<br />
+To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent.<br />
+When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained,<br />
+Through my control alone as Pope was he retained.<br />
+In 1467, Time my goal has set.<br />
+When I am seventy-one, I pay Dame Nature's debt.<br />
+With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here.<br />
+As in life I ever was their equal and their peer.<br />
+Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed,<br />
+Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed!"</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+The territories thus named, that passed to the
+new duke, covered a goodly space of earth. Had
+Philip not slacked his ambition at a critical time,
+undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather
+than a ducal crown to his son. He did not so will
+it, and, moreover, in a way he had receded from
+his independence as he had accepted feudal obligations
+towards Louis XI. which he never had
+towards Charles VII.</p>
+<p>
+Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser
+of the French king, he had emphasised his position
+as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke of<span class="page"><a name="158">[page 158]</a></span>
+Burgundy <i>par excellence</i> that Philip died, as the
+typical peer whose luxury and magnificence far
+surpassed the state possible to his acknowledged
+liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of
+attempting to turn that ducal state into state
+royal, and of establishing a realm which should
+hold the balance of power between France and
+Germany.</p>
+<p>
+There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to
+which was the greater, the cleverer, the more
+powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles
+the duke. Had not the former been a beggarly
+suppliant at his father's gates, as dauphin? As
+king, had he not been forced to yield at the gates
+of his own capital to every demand made by
+Charles, standing as the conscientious representative
+of the public welfare of France?</p>
+<p>
+Had not Louis befriended the contumelious
+neighbour of Charles, only to learn that his Burgundian
+cousin could and would deal summarily
+with all protests against his authority among the
+lesser folk on Netherland territory?</p>
+<p>
+The Croys made an attempt to gain the new
+duke's friendship, as appears from this letter to
+Duke Charles:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has
+pleased Our Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw
+from the world the good Duke Philip, our beloved
+lord and father, prince of glorious memory, august
+duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron
+and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity,<span class="page"><a name="159"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 159]</span></a></span>
+and the dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds,
+he has won an immortal name among living men, and
+deserves to our mind to find grace before the merciful
+bounty of God whom we implore to pardon his faults.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous
+death shows what is to be expected by all mortals.
+How many lands, how many nobles, how many peoples,
+how many treasures, and how many powers would
+have been ready to prevent what has come to pass,
+and how many prayers would have risen to God
+could He have prevented this death!...</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is
+the end of all evils and the beginning of all benefits,
+but still your loss and ours cannot pass without affliction.
+Nevertheless, our most puissant lord, when we
+consider that we are not left orphans, and that you,
+his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause for
+comfort.</p>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"We implore you to be pleased to count us your
+loyal subjects and very humble servitors and to permit
+us to go to you, to thus declare ourselves, etc.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"A. DE CROY,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />
+"J. DE CROY."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La
+Marche was in England, whither he had accompanied
+the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to
+King Edward.<a href="#VIII2"><sup>2</sup></a> Right royally had the latter
+received the embassy.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Clad in purple, the garter on his leg and a great
+baton in his hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage
+worthy of being king, for he was a fine prince with a<span class="page"><a name="160"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 160]</span></a></span>
+grand manner. A count held the sword in front of
+him, and around his throne were from twenty to
+twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking
+like senators gathered together to advise their master."</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a
+tourney given in honour of the embassy which
+La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The
+Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian
+coat-of-arms with a bar sinister, made a fine
+record for himself.</p>
+<p>
+After the tournament he invited the ladies to a
+Sunday dinner,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"especially the Queen and her sisters and made great
+preparations therefor and then we departed, Thomas
+de Loreille, Bailiff of Caux, and I to go to Brittany to
+accomplish our embassy. We arrived at Pleume
+and were obliged to await wind and boats to go into
+Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke
+of Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great
+was the bastard's mourning when he heard of his
+father's death, and how the nobility who were with
+him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into
+tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all
+valour.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In his life he accomplished two things to the full.
+One was he died as the richest prince of his time, for
+he left four hundred thousand crowns of gold cash,
+seventy-two thousand marks of silver plate, without
+counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes garnished
+with precious stones, a large and well equipped
+library, and rich furniture. For the second, he died
+as the most liberal duke of his time. He married his<span class="page"><a name="161">[<span style="font-size:1.1em">page 161]</span></a></span>
+nieces at his own expense; he bore the whole cost of
+great wars several times. At his own expense, he
+refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave
+ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy
+at Rhodes; ... No one went from him who
+was not well recompensed. The state he maintained
+was almost royal. For five years he supported Monseigneur
+the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned
+that all the world spoke well of him."</p>
+<p>
+The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the
+English court and hastened to Bruges to join his
+brother, the Count of Charolais, who received him
+warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, "when
+I mention the said count I will call him the Duke
+of Burgundy as is reasonable."</p>
+<p>
+Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the
+church of St. Donat in Bruges, there to repose
+until it could be taken to Burgundy to be buried at
+Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses
+the funeral with a brief phrase as he was not himself
+present at Bruges, being busied in Brittany.
+There was a memorial service there, the finest he
+ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted
+in the chapel decorations, not merely pinned on,<a href="#VIII3"><sup>3</sup></a>
+a fact that impressed the chronicler. No nobles,
+not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
+put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared
+that none but him was worthy of the honour for so
+high a prince.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the<span class="page"><a name="162"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 162]</span></a></span>
+service I went to thank him for the reverence he had
+shown the House of Burgundy, and he responded that
+he had only done his duty. Then I finished my business
+as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again
+and returned to my new master."</p>
+
+<p>
+In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the
+Duke of Burgundy,<a href="#VIII4"><sup>4</sup></a> Chastellain recounts, more
+at length than La Marche, all that his great master
+had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe
+the duke as he knew him.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+He was medium in height, rather slight but
+straight as a rush, strong in hip and in arm, his
+figure well-knit. His neck was admirably proportioned
+to his body, his hand and foot were
+slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his
+veins were full-blooded. Like all his ancestors,
+his face was long, as was his nose, his forehead
+high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
+brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows
+the same colour, but the former curly, the
+latter were bushy and inclined to stand up like
+horns when he was angry. His mouth was well-proportioned,
+his lips full and high-coloured; his
+eyes were grey, sometimes arrogant but usually
+amiable in expression. His personality corresponded
+perfectly to his appearance. His countenance
+showed his character, and his character
+was a witness to the truth of his physiognomy.
+Nothing was contradictory, perfect was the
+harmony between the inner and the outer man,<span class="page"><a name="163"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 163]</span></a></span>
+between the nobility of thought and the simple
+dignity, well-poised and graceful. Among the
+great ones of this earth, he was like a star in
+heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
+and a man unique."</p>
+<p class="quote">
+It was for his bearing rather than his beauty
+that he commanded universal admiration. In a
+stable he would have looked like an image in a
+temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Whereever
+his body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready
+for the demands of the hour. He was singularly
+joyous and nicely tempered in speech with so
+much personal magnetism that he could mollify
+any enemy if he could only meet him face to face.
+His dress was always rich and appropriate. He
+was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in
+tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase.
+He liked to linger at the table and demanded good
+serving but was really moderate in his tastes,
+as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence
+ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never
+heard from him. To all alike his speech was courteous
+even when there was nothing to be gained.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips,
+his mouth was equal to his seal and his spoken
+word to his written. Loyal as fine gold and
+whole as an egg." Chastellain repeats himself
+somewhat in the profusion of his eulogy, but such
+are the main points of his characterisation. Then
+he proceeds to some qualifications:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I acknowledge<span class="page"><a name="164"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 164]</span></a></span>
+that he had faults. None is perfect except
+God. Often he was very careless in administration,
+and he neglected questions of justice, of finance,
+and of commerce in a way that may redound to the
+injury of his house. The excuse urged is that it was
+his deputies who were at fault. The answer to that
+is that he trusted too much to deputies and should not
+be excused for his confidence. A ruler ought to understand
+his business himself.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his
+heart at the desire of his eyes. At the desire of
+his heart he multiplied his pleasures. His wishes
+were easy to attain. What he wanted was offered
+freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his
+wife, a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For
+this I offer no excuse. To God I leave the cause.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Another fault was that he was not wise in his
+treatment of his nobles. Especially in his old age
+he often preferred the less worthy, the less capable
+advisers. The answer to this charge is that, as his
+health failed, whoever was by his side obtained ascendency
+over him and succeeded in keeping the others
+at a distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the
+excuse is to the princely invalid. In his solitude
+even valets used their power, as is not wonderful.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"He went late to mass and often out of hours.
+Sometimes he had it celebrated at two o'clock or even
+three, and in so doing he exceeded all Christian
+observance. For this there is no excuse that I dare
+allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had,
+indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for
+causes which he explained, <i>and he only</i> is responsible.
+God alone can judge about him.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered<span class="page"><a name="165"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 165]</span></a></span>
+for this neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice
+to deplore, nor the nature of man to lament the perdition
+of such a soul and of such a prince. Hell is not
+worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. O
+God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single
+virtuous act, do not suffer this man to descend
+therein!"</p>
+
+ <p>
+Having thus tried his best to give a vivid description
+of the father's personality, while acknowledging
+that he is not sure of the fate of
+his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an
+excellent moment to paint the son, too, for all
+time, in view of his mortality. "I will use the past
+tense so that my words may be good for always."</p>
+<p>
+Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than
+Duke Philip, but well formed, strong in arm and
+thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set and
+a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted
+to activity. The contour of his face was rounder
+than that of his father, his complexion brunette.
+His eyes were black and laughing, angelically
+clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as
+though his father looked out of them. Like his
+father's mouth was his, full and red. His nose
+was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair
+black. His forehead was fine, his neck white
+and well set, though always bent as he walked.
+He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but
+nevertheless he was a fine prince with a fair outer
+man.</p>
+<p>
+When he began to speak he often found difficulty<span class="page"><a name="166">[page 166]</a></span>
+in expressing himself, but once started his
+speech became fluent, even eloquent. His voice
+was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although
+he had studied the technique and was fond of
+music. In conversation he was more logical
+than his father, but very tenacious of his own
+opinion and vehement in its expression, although,
+at the bottom, he was just to all men.</p>
+<p>
+In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He
+listened to others' arguments judicially and gave
+them due weight before his own concluded the
+discussion. He was attentive to his own business
+to a fault, for he was rather more industrious
+than became a prince. Economical of his own
+time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates
+and worked them very hard. He was fond of his
+servants and fairly affable, though occasionally
+sharp in his words. His memory was long and his
+anger dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed
+him, but being naturally impetuous there was
+often a struggle between impulse and reason.</p>
+<p>
+He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the
+Virgin Mary, rigid in his fasts, lavish in charity.
+He was determined to avoid death and to hold
+on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's
+peer in valour. Like his father, he dressed
+richly; unlike him, he cared more for silver than
+for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual
+to princes and was always master of himself.
+He drank little wine, though he liked it, because
+he found that it engendered fever in him. His<span class="page"><a name="167">[page 167]</a></span>
+only beverage was water just coloured with wine.
+He was inclined to no indulgence or wantonness.
+"At the hour in which I write his taste for hard
+labour is excessive, but in other respects his good
+sense has dominated him, at least thus far. It is
+to be hoped that as his reign grows older he will
+curb his over-strenuous industry."</p>
+<p>
+As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets
+that circumstances have turned him towards
+England. Naturally he belonged to the French,
+and it was a pity that the machinations of the
+king, "whose crooked ways are well known to
+God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on
+his forehead he wears the fleur-de-lys."</p>
+<p>
+Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused
+of avarice, but defends him on the ground that he
+has been driven into collecting a large army. "A
+penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of
+another." "To take precautions in advance is a
+way to save honour and property," prudently adds
+the historian, who evidently flourishes his maxims
+to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's
+economy, which, quite as evidently, is not pleasing
+to him. "I have seen him the very opposite
+of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in
+largesse. When he came into his seigniory his
+nature did not change." It was simply the exigencies
+of his critical position that forced him to
+restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain
+the undeserved reputation for parsimony.</p>
+<p>
+It was also said that he was a very hard taskmaster,<span class="page"><a name="168">[page 168]</a></span>
+but as a matter of fact he demanded
+nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to
+undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was
+his own commander, drew up his own troops
+himself in battle array, and then passed from
+one end of the line to the other, encouraging the
+men individually with cheery words, promising
+them glory and profit, and pledging himself to
+share their dangers. In victory he was restrained
+and showed more mercy than cruelty.</p>
+<p>
+After expatiating on the points where Charles
+was like his father&mdash;conventional princely qualities
+&mdash;Chastellain adds: "In some respects they differed.
+The one was cold and the other boiling with
+ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other
+strenuous in his promptness; the elder negligent
+of his own concerns, the younger diligent and alert.
+They differed in the amount of time consumed
+at meals and in the number of guests whom they
+entertained. They differed more or less in their
+voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in
+the way in which they took solace and amusement."
+But in all other respects, "in life they marched
+side by side as equals and if it please God He will
+be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the
+final assurance of their eulogist.</p>
+<p>
+Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his adjectives
+about his patron, there is considerable
+discrimination between his summaries of the two
+dukes. It is very evident that from his accession
+Charles was less of a favourite than his father.<span class="page"><a name="169">[page 169]</a></span>
+While endeavouring to be as complimentary as
+possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out
+between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and
+thus never saw Charles's final disaster. But the
+violence of his character had inspired lack of confidence
+in his power of achievement, a violence
+that made people dislike him as Philip with all
+his faults was never disliked.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#154">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="VIII1">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 302 <i>et seq</i>. Erasmus was born in this
+year, 1467.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#159">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="VIII2">II</a>., 49.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#161">[Footnote 3:</a> "<a name="VIII3">Non</a> par armes attachées à espingles."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#162">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="VIII4">&OElig;uvres</a></i>, vii., 213.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="170">[page 170]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="IX">IX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY</h3>
+
+<h4>1467</h4>
+<p>
+After the dauphin was crowned at Rheims,
+he was monarch over all his domains.
+Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a
+series of ceremonies to perform before he was properly
+invested with the various titles worn by his
+father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be
+taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited.
+Then he had to exchange pledges of fidelity with
+his Flemish subjects before receiving recognition
+as Count of Flanders.</p>
+<p>
+According to the custom of his predecessors,
+Charles stayed at the little village of Swynaerde,
+near Ghent, the night before he made his "joyous
+entry" into that city. It had chanced that the
+day selected by Charles for the event was St.
+Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of the
+workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed
+conveniently in a portable shrine, rested in the
+cathedral church, whence they were carried once a
+year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession
+to the little village of Houthem, where the blessed
+saint had suffered martyrdom in the seventh century.<span class="page"><a name="171">[page 171]</a></span>
+All day and all night the saint's devotees,
+the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, remained
+at this spot. Merry did the festival become
+as the hours wore on, for good cheer was
+carried thither as well as the sacred shrine.</p>
+<p>
+Now the magistrates were a little apprehensive
+about the rival claims of the new count of
+Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They
+knew that they could not cut short the time-honoured
+celebration for the sake of the sovereign's
+inauguration, so they decided to prolong
+the former, and directed that the saint should leave
+town on Saturday and not return until Monday.
+This left Sunday free for the young count's entry.
+It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction
+of events to the city fathers, because the more
+turbulent portion of the citizens was sure to follow
+the saint.</p>
+<p>
+Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and
+dignified entrance,<a href="#IX1"><sup>1</sup></a> having paused at the gates to
+listen to the fair words of Master Mathys de Groothuse
+as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of
+Flanders, and requested God to receive the present
+one, when he, too, was forced to leave earth, as
+graciously as Ghent was receiving him that day.
+All passed well; oaths of fealty were duly taken
+and given at the church of St. John the Baptist.
+Charles himself pulled the bell rope according
+to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of
+Flanders was in possession. This all took place in<span class="page"><a name="172">[page 172]</a></span>
+the morning of June 28th. At the close of the
+ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and
+the magistrates to their dwellings.</p>
+
+<p>
+The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their
+holiday until Monday afternoon. It was five
+o'clock<a href="#IX2"><sup>2</sup></a> when the revellers returned to Ghent.
+Many of the saint's followers were, by that time,
+more or less under the influence of the contents
+of the casks which had formed part of the outward-bound
+burden. The protracted holiday-making
+had its natural sequence. There was, however,
+too much method in the next proceedings for it
+to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety.</p>
+
+<p>
+The procession passed through the city gate
+and entered a narrow street near the corn market,
+where stood a little house used as headquarters for
+the collection of the <i>cueillotte</i>, a tax on every article
+brought into the city for sale, and one particularly
+obnoxious to the people. Suddenly a cry
+was raised and echoed from rank to rank of St.
+Lievin's escort, "Down with the <i>cueillotte</i>."</p>
+<p>
+Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic
+crowd, quick to take a fantastic advantage of a
+situation, a second cry was heard: "St. Lievin
+must go through the house. Lievin is a saint
+who never turns aside from his route."</p>
+<p>
+Delightful thought, followed by speedy action.
+Axes were produced and wielded to good effect.</p>
+<p>
+Down came the miniature customs-house in a<span class="page"><a name="173">[page 173]</a></span>
+flash. Little pieces of the ruin were elevated on
+sticks and carried by some of the rabble as standards
+with the cry "I have it&mdash;I have it." As
+they marched the procession was constantly augmented
+and the cries become more decidedly
+revolutionary: "Kill, kill these craven spoilers
+of God and of the world.<a href="#IX3"><sup>3</sup></a> Where are they? Let
+us seek them out and slay them in their houses,
+those who have flourished at our pitiable expense."</p>
+
+<p>
+This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of
+St. Lievin's mantle, resistance to regularly instituted
+customs could hardly be described by any
+other name. Excited by their own temerity,
+the crowd now surged on to the great market-place
+in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where the
+Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint
+promptly to his safe abiding-place as was meet.</p>
+<p>
+There the lawless deeds&mdash;lawless to the duke's
+mind certainly&mdash;became more audacious. Counterparts
+of the very banners whose prohibition
+had been part of the sentence in 1453 were unfurled,<a href="#IX4"><sup>4</sup></a>
+and their possession alone proved insurrectionary
+premeditation on the part of the gild
+leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the
+young duke in their midst felt it was an open insult
+to him as sovereign count.</p>
+
+<p>
+His messenger failed to return from the market-place.
+His master became impatient and followed<span class="page"><a name="174">[page 174]</a></span>
+him to the scene of action with a small escort. As
+they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged
+them in. The nobles became alarmed and urged
+the duke to return, but cries from the crowd
+promised safety to his person. To the steps of the
+Hôtel de Ville rode the duke, his face dark, menacing
+with suppressed wrath.<a href="#IX5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+As he dismounted, he turned towards a man
+whom he thought he saw egging on a disturbance
+and struck him with his riding whip, saying, "I
+know you." The man was quick enough to
+realise the value of the duke's violence at that
+moment and cried, "Strike again," but the Seigneur
+Groothuse, who had already tried to check
+Charles's anger and to curb the popular turbulence,
+exclaimed, "For the love of God do not
+strike again!" The wiser burgher at once understood
+the unstable temper of the mob, which had
+been fairly civil to the duke up to this moment.
+There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the
+blow would cost him dear.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mischief
+was so imminent that God alone averted it,
+and there was not an archer or noble or man so full
+of assurance that he did not tremble with fear, nor
+one who would not have preferred to be in India
+for his own safety. Especially were they in terror
+for their young prince, who, they thought, was exposed
+to a dolorous death."</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster:<span class="page"><a name="175">[page 175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Do you not see that your life and ours hang on a
+silken thread? Do you think you can coerce a rabble
+like this by threats and hard words&mdash;a rabble who
+at this moment do not value you more than the least
+of us? They are beside themselves, they have neither
+reason nor understanding.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IX6"><sup>6</sup></a></span>... If you
+are ready to die, I am not, except in spite of myself.
+You must try quite a different method&mdash;appease
+them by sweetness and save your house and your
+life.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"What could you do alone? How the gods would
+laugh! Your courage is out of place here unless it
+enables you to calm yourself and give an example
+to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom
+you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They
+were within the town hall.] Show yourself and you
+will make an impression by your good sense and all
+will go well."</p>
+
+<p>
+To this eminently sound advice the young duke
+yielded. He appeared on a balcony or on the upper
+steps of the town hall and stood ready to harangue
+his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment
+sufficed to still the turmoil and the silence showed
+a readiness to hear him speak.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish,
+but he was wise enough to use that tongue. One
+trait of the Ghenters was respect for the person
+of their overlord. When that overlord showed
+any disposition to meet them half-way the response
+was usually immediate. So it was now. The<span class="page"><a name="176">[page 176]</a></span>
+crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin,
+and not to the duke's joyous entry, suddenly remembered
+that his welcome had been strangely
+ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings.
+"Take heart, Monseigneur. Have no fear. For
+you we will live and die and none shall be so
+audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fellows
+with no bump of reverence, endure it for the
+moment. Later you shall be avenged. No time
+now for fear."</p>
+<p>
+This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently
+appeased to address the crowd as "My children,"
+and to assure them that if they would but meet
+him in peaceful conference, their grievances
+should be redressed. "Welcome, welcome! we
+are indeed your children and recognise your
+goodness."</p>
+<p>
+Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech
+than was possible either to Charles's Flemish or to
+his mood. This address was equally well received,
+and matters were in train for the appointment of
+a conference between popular representatives and
+the new Count of Flanders, when suddenly a tall,
+rude fellow climbed up to the balcony from the
+square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to
+strike on the wall, he commanded attention and
+turned gravely to address the audience as though
+he were on the accredited list of speakers:</p>
+<p>
+"My brothers, down there assembled to set your
+complaints before your prince, your first wish&mdash;is
+it not?&mdash;is to punish the ill governors of this town<span class="page"><a name="177">[page 177]</a></span>
+and those who have defrauded you and him alike."</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle
+crowd.&mdash;"You desire the suppression of the <i>cueillotte</i>,
+do you not?"&mdash;"Yes, yes."&mdash;"You want all
+your gates opened again, your banners restored,
+and your privileges reinforced as of yore?"&mdash;"Yes,
+yes." The self-appointed envoy turned calmly to
+Charles and said:</p>
+<p>
+"Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have
+come together to ask you. This is your task. I
+have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear, they
+make my words their own."</p>
+<p>
+Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified
+ejaculation over the extraordinary insolence of
+this big villain, who thus audaciously associated
+himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty
+of God, think of such an outrageous and intolerable
+piece of villainy being committed before the
+eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to
+come and stand side by side with such a gentleman
+as our seigneur, and to proffer words inimical to
+his authority&mdash;words the poorest noble in the
+world would hardly have endured! And yet it
+was necessary for this noble prince to endure and
+to tolerate it for the moment, and needful that he
+should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough
+to kill him with grief."</p>
+<p>
+Groothuse's answer to the man was mild.
+Evidently he did not think it was a safe moment
+to exasperate the mob: "'My friend, there
+was no necessity of your intruding up here, a<span class="page"><a name="178">[page 178]</a></span>
+place reserved for the prince and his nobles.
+From below, you could have been heard and
+Monseigneur could have answered you as well
+there as here. He requires no advocate to make
+him content his people. You are a strange master.
+Get down. Go down below and keep to your
+mates. Monseigneur will do right by every one.'</p>
+<p>
+"Off went the rascal and I do not know what
+became of him. The duke and his nobles were
+simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage
+and his impudent daring."</p>
+<p>
+The sober report<a href="#IX7"><sup>7</sup></a> is less detailed and elaborate,
+but the thread is the same. Monseigneur, having
+returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur de la
+Groothuse, Jean Petitpas, and Richard Utenhove
+back to the market to invite the people to put
+their grievances in writing. A draft was made
+and carried to the duke. After he had examined
+it and discussed it with his council, he sent Monseigneur
+de la Groothuse back to the market-place
+to tell the people that he wanted to sleep
+on the proposition and would give his answer
+at an early hour on the morrow. All through the
+night the people remained in arms on the market-place.
+At about eight o'clock on June 30th
+Groothuse returned, thanked the people in the
+count's name for having kept such good watch,
+and was answered by cries of "<i>À bas la cueillotte</i>."</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he assured them that all was pardoned and
+that they should obtain what they had asked in<span class="page"><a name="179">[page 179]</a></span>
+the draft. Only he requested them to appoint
+a committee of six to present their demands to
+Monseigneur and then to go home. This they did.
+St. Lievin was restored to the church and his followers
+betook themselves to the gates specified
+in the treaty of Gaveren. These they broke
+down, and also destroyed another house where
+was a tax collector's office.</p>
+<p>
+"The report of these events carried to Monseigneur
+did not have a good effect upon his
+spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted
+the city." The members of the corporation with
+the two deans and the popular committee of six
+having obtained audience before his departure,
+Groothuse acted as spokesman: "We implore
+you in all humility to pardon us for the insult
+you have suffered, and to sign the paper presented.
+The bad have had more authority than the good,
+which could not be prevented, but we know truly
+that if the draft is not signed they will kill us."</p>
+<p>
+It is evident in all this story that the municipal
+authorities were frightened to death and that
+Charles allowed himself to be restrained to an
+extraordinary extent considering the undoubted
+provocation. His reasons for conciliatory measures
+were two, and literally were his ducats and
+his daughter. He had with him all the portable
+treasure and ready money that his father had had
+at Bruges, a large treasure and one on which he
+counted for his immediate military operations&mdash;operations
+very important to the position as a<span class="page"><a name="180">[page 180]</a></span>
+European power which he ardently desired to
+attain.</p>
+<p>
+Still more important was the fact that his young
+daughter, Mary, now eleven years old, was living
+in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of the city.
+If the unruly majority should realise their strength
+what easier for them than to seize the treasure
+and hold the daughter as hostage, until her father
+had acceded to every demand, and until democracy
+was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the
+neighbouring cities?</p>
+<p>
+Charles simply did not dare attempt further
+coercion of the democratic spirit until he was
+beyond the walls. It is evident that he was
+completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude
+towards him, as the city had always professed
+great personal attachment to him. But there
+was a difference between being heir and sovereign.
+The agreement was signed, with a mental reservation
+on the part of the Duke of Burgundy. He
+only intended to keep his pledge until he could see
+his way clear to make terms better to his liking.</p>
+<p>
+On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking
+his daughter and his treasure away, but a safe
+shelter for both was not easy to find. The duke's
+anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon
+her neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle
+fears. There were revolts of more or less importance
+at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and
+other places. Moreover, there was serious discussion
+in the estates assembled at Louvain as to<span class="page"><a name="181">[page 181]</a></span>
+whether Charles should be acknowledged as
+Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his
+cousin, the Count of Nevers, should be considered
+as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the late duke's
+title had never been considered perfect.</p>
+<p>
+Louis XI. seized the opportunity to urge the pretensions
+of the latter, and there were many reasons
+to recommend him, in the estimation of the
+Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a
+sovereign exclusively their own, instead of one
+with the widespread geographical interests of the
+Burgundian family. The final decision was, however,
+for Charles; a notice of the resolution of the
+deputies was sent to him at Mechlin, and he made
+his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he received
+homage from the nobles, the good cities,
+and the university.</p>
+<p>
+The various insurgent manifestations were
+promptly quelled one after another, but, with
+a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the
+duke was strongly impressed by them as personal
+insults. He blamed Ghent for their occurrence
+and deeply resented every one. Throughout
+Philip's whole career he remembered the localised
+tenure of his titles and the fact that they were not
+perfectly incontestable. For his own advantage
+he often found a conciliatory attitude the best
+policy. Charles considered all his rights heaven-born.
+Questioning his authority was rank rebellion.
+That he had accepted advice in regard to
+Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the<span class="page"><a name="182">[page 182]</a></span>
+nonce, did not mitigate his intense bitterness.</p>
+<p>
+In another town that gave him serious trouble
+at this time, nothing led him to curb the severity
+of his measures. Though only a "protector,"
+not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion
+in Liege he rigorously exacted the most complete
+and humiliating penalties. The city charters were
+abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As an
+unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth,
+walls and fortifications rased to the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The perron on the market-place of the said town
+shall be taken down, and then Monseigneur the duke
+shall treat it according to his pleasure. The city
+may not remake the said perron, nor replace another
+like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city.
+Nor shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms
+of Liege." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IX8"><sup>8</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+This was a terrible indignity for the city and a
+clear proof of their fear of their bishop's friend.</p>
+<p>
+The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent
+with the duke's power, and made the more timorous
+anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his
+mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their
+arguments, but the scene of abnegation and
+self-humiliation crowning their apology was not
+enacted until eighteen months after the events
+apologised for, when the new duke had still further
+proven his metal.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#171">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="IX1">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 210, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#172">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="IX2">Some</a> authorities make this five A.M., but the
+<i>Rapport</i> is probably correct.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#173">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="IX3">Chastellain</a>, v., 260 <i>et passim</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#173">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="IX4">So</a> say some historians. But it seems probable that the
+drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#174">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="IX5">Chastellain</a>, v., ch. 7, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#175">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="IX6">These</a> are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober
+<i>Rapport</i> is similar in purport.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#178">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="IX7">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 212. ]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#182">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="IX8">Gachard</a>. <i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 462, "<i>Instrument notarié</i>."]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="183">[page 183]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="X">X</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE</h3>
+
+<h4>1468</h4>
+<p>
+For many months before Philip's death there
+had been negotiations concerning Charles's
+marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling
+a closer bond with his mother than with his father,
+Charles's sympathy had ever been towards the
+Lancastrian party in England, the family to whom
+Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only
+the necessity for making a strong alliance against
+Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride from the
+House of York. It was on this business that La
+Marche and the great Bastard were engaged
+when Philip's death interrupted the discussion,
+which Charles did not immediately resume on his
+own behalf.</p>
+<p>
+Pending the final decision in regard to this
+important indication of his international policy,
+the duke busied himself with the adjustment of
+his court, there being many points in which he did
+not intend to follow his father's usage.<a href="#X1"><sup>1</sup></a> Philip's
+lavishness, without too close a query as to the
+disposition of every penny, was naturally very
+agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal
+air about his households. It was easy to come and
+go, and it was pleasant to have the handling<span class="page"><a name="184">[page 184]</a></span>
+of money and the giving of orders&mdash;orders which
+were fulfilled and richly paid without haggling.
+Charles had other notions. He was willing to pay,
+but he wanted to be sure of an adequate return.
+How he started in on his administration
+with reform ideas is delightfully told by Chastellain.<a href="#X2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+One of his first measures when he was finally
+established at Brussels was to secure more speedy
+execution of justice. He appointed a new provost,
+"a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently
+fitted to carry out perilous work." Then he determined
+to settle petty civil suits himself, as there
+were many which had dragged on for a long time.
+In order to do this and to receive complaints
+from poor people, he arranged to give audience
+three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and
+Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he required
+the attendance of all his nobles, seated
+before him on benches, each according to his
+rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so
+that few places were empty. Charles himself
+was elevated on a high throne covered with cloth
+of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judgments
+and heard and answered petitions, a process
+that sometimes lasted two or three hours
+and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent
+course of action and very praiseworthy. But in
+my time I have never heard of nor seen like action<span class="page"><a name="185"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 185]</span></a></span>
+taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the
+least similar.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"When the duke went through the city from
+place to place and from church to church, it was
+wonderful how much state and order was maintained
+and what a grand escort he had. Never a
+knight so old or so young who dared absent himself
+and never a squire was bold enough to squeeze
+himself into the knights' places."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was
+observed. Every one had to wait his turn in
+his proper room&mdash;the squires in the first, the
+knights in the second, and so on. All left the palace
+together to go to mass. As soon as the
+offering was made all the nobles were free to dine,
+but they were obliged to report themselves to the
+duke immediately after his repast. Any failure
+caused the forfeiture of the fee for the day. It
+was all very orderly and very dull.</p>
+<p>
+Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law-giver,
+paternal guide, philosopher, and friend to his
+people. From time to time he delivered harangues
+to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hearing,
+but certainly did not win popularity. The
+adulatory phrases used as mere conventionalities
+seemed to have actually turned his head. And
+those stock phrases were very grandiloquent.
+There is no doubt that such comparisons were
+used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the
+first deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the
+sins committed at the dolorous unjoyous entry<span class="page"><a name="186">[page 186]</a></span>
+into the Flemish capital.<a href="#X3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold
+double place, place of God and place of man, and have
+in yourself the double nature by office and commission
+in divine estate, and as your noble discretion knows
+and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator, of all
+offences committed against you, and who may be
+appeased by tears and by weeping as He permits
+Himself to be softened by contrition, entreaties, etc.,
+and resumes His natural benignity by forgetting
+things past [etc.].... Alas, what kindness
+did He use toward Adam, His first offender, upon
+whom through his son Seth He poured the oil of pity
+in five thousand future years, and then to Cain the
+first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his
+crime for ten generations etc. What did he do in
+Abraham's time, when He sent word to Lot that if
+there were ten righteous men in Sodom and Gomorrah
+He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In
+Ghent," etc. <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X4"><sup>4</sup></a></span></p>
+
+ <p>
+In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the<span class="page"><a name="187">[page 187]</a></span>
+duke's consent to grant forgiveness to Ghent is
+again compared to God's own mercy. The divine
+attributes were referred to again and again,
+not only on the pages of contemporaneous chroniclers
+who may be accused of desiring ducal patronage,
+but also in sober state papers.</p>
+<p>
+There was one antidote to this homage universally
+offered to Charles wherever there was no
+rebellion against him. One of the rules of the
+Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike
+should be subject to criticism by their fellows. In
+May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an assembly
+of the Order, the first over which he had presided.
+It was a fitting opportunity for the knights to
+express their sentiments. When it came to his
+turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to
+the representations that his conduct fell short of
+the ideals of chivalry because he was too economical,
+too industrious, too strenuous, and not sufficiently
+cognisant of the merits of his faithful
+subjects of high degrees.<a href="#X5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In these plaints, respectful as they are, there
+is perhaps a note of regret for the lavish and amusing
+good cheer of the late duke's times. Charles
+was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at
+this period. The vision of wide dominions was
+already in his dreams, and he was prudent enough
+to begin his preparations. And prudence is not
+a popular quality. Still his courtiers were not
+quite bereft of the gorgeous and spectacular entertainments<span class="page"><a name="188">[page 188]</a></span>
+to which the "good duke" had accustomed
+them. Soon after the assembly of the
+Order, the alliance between Duke Charles and
+Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our
+Burgundian Chastellain is not pleased with this
+marriage. That Charles inclined towards England
+at all was due to the French king, whom
+both he and his father had found untrustworthy.
+Again, had there been any other eligible <i>partie</i> in
+England Charles would never have allied himself
+with King Edward when all his sympathies were
+with the blood of Lancaster. But when King
+Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou, whose
+woes should have commanded pity, simply for the
+purpose of undermining the Duke of Burgundy,
+the latter felt it wise to make Edward his friend.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"That it was sore against his inclination he confessed
+to one who later revealed it to me, but he
+decided that it was better to injure another rather
+than be down-trodden and injured himself. <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X6"><sup>6</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"For a long time there had been little love lost
+between him and the king. The monarch feared the
+pride and haughtiness of his subject, and the subject
+feared the strength and profound subtilty of the
+king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the
+whip. And all this, alas, was the result of that
+cursed War of Public Weal cooked up by the French
+against their own king. When Charles was deeply
+involved in it he was deserted by the others and the
+whole weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so
+that he alone was blamed by the king, and he alone<span class="page"><a name="189"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 189]</span></a></span>
+was forced to look to his own safety and comfort. It
+is a pity when such things occur in a realm and
+among kinsfolk."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charlesgolfleece">[plate 14]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image14charlesgolfleece.jpg" width="400" height="578" alt="CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine
+when news came to him that the marriage
+was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
+it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the
+future result. But the king used all kinds of
+machinations to break off the alliance....
+God suffered two young proud princes to try
+their strength each at his will, often in ways that
+would have been incompatible in common affairs."</p>
+<p>
+The fullest account of the wedding is given
+by La Marche, an eyewitness of the event:<a href="#X7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Gilles du Mas, maître d'hôtel du Duc de Bretagne&mdash;to
+you I recommend myself. I have collected
+here roughly according to my stupid understanding
+what I saw of the said festival, to send it to you,
+beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me
+of the noble states and high deeds in your quarter
+... as becomes two friends of one rank and
+calling in two fraternal, allied and friendly houses.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"My lady and her company arrived at l'Écluse
+on a Saturday, June 25th, and on the morrow
+Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother of the
+duke, Mlle. of Burgundy and various other ladies
+and demoiselles visited Madame Margaret <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X8"><sup>8</sup></a></span> and only
+stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased<span class="page"><a name="190"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 190]</span></a></span>
+with her prospective daughter-in-law and could not
+say enough of her character and her virtues. There
+remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of the
+duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempré
+and various other ladies and gentlemen to act the
+hosts to the strange ladies and gentlemen who had
+crossed from England with the bride. The Count
+and Countess de Charny met Madame as she disembarked
+and never budged from her side until she
+had arrived at Bruges.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur
+of Burgundy made his way to l'Écluse with a small
+escort and entered the chateau at the rear. After
+supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights
+of the Order, he went very secretly to the hôtel of
+Dame Margaret, who had been warned of his intention,
+and was attended by the most important members
+of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's
+brother.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"At his arrival when they saw each other the
+greetings were very ceremonious and then the two
+sat down on one bench and chatted comfortably
+together for some time. After some conversation,
+the Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged
+plan of his own, kneeled before the two and made
+complimentary speeches. He was followed by M.
+de Charny, who spoke as follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"'Monseigneur, you have found what you desired
+and since God has brought this noble lady to port in
+safety and to your desire, it seems to me that you
+should not depart without proving the affection you
+bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now
+at this moment and give her your troth.'</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Monseigneur answered that it did not depend<span class="page"><a name="191"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 191]</span></a></span>
+upon him. Then the bishop spoke to Margaret and
+asked her what she thought. She answered that it
+was just for this and nothing else that the king of
+England had sent her over and she was quite ready
+to fulfil the king's command. Whereupon the
+bishop took their hands and betrothed them. Then
+Monseigneur departed and returned on the morrow
+to Bruges.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Dame Margaret remained at l'Écluse until the
+following Saturday and was again visited by Monseigneur.
+On Saturday the boats were richly decorated
+to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was
+received very honourably according to the capacity
+of that little town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July,
+Monseigneur the duke set out with a small escort
+between four and five o'clock in the morning, and
+went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready
+to receive him as all had been prearranged, and
+Monseigneur wedded her as was suitable, and the
+nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the
+Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles returned
+to his hotel at Bruges, and you may believe
+that during the progress of the other ceremonies
+he slept as if he were to be on watch on the following
+night.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of
+Luxemburg, John of Nassau, and others returned to
+Damme and paid their homage to the new duchess,
+and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully
+draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white
+cloth of gold made like a wedding garment as was
+proper. On her hair rested a crown and her other
+jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English
+ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by<span class="page"><a name="192"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 192]</span></a></span>
+her litter and the others behind. Five chariots followed
+the thirteen hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk,
+the most beautiful woman in England, being in the
+first. In this array Madame proceeded to Bruges and
+entered at the gate called Ste. Croix."</p>
+
+<p>
+There were too many names to be enumerated,
+but La Marche cannot forbear mentioning a noble
+Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of Breda,
+who had six horses covered with cloth of gold,
+jewelry, and silk.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I mention him for two reasons [he explains<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X9"><sup>9</sup></a></span>]:
+first, that he was the most brilliant in the procession,
+and the second is that by the will of God he died on
+the Wednesday from a trouble in his leg, which was
+a pity and much regretted by the nobility.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace
+was magnificent, with all the dignitaries in their
+order. So costly were the dresses of the ducal household
+that Charles expended more than forty thousand
+francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Prominent in this stately procession were the
+nations or foreign merchants in this order: Venetians,
+Florentines&mdash;at the head of the latter marched
+Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of the duke
+at the same time that he was chief of their nation
+and therefore dressed in their garb; Spaniards; Genoese&mdash;these
+latter showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on
+horseback guarded by St. George from the dragon.&mdash;Then
+came the Osterlings, 108 on horseback, followed
+by six pages, all clad in violet.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all<span class="page"><a name="193"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 193]</span></a></span>
+decorated with cloth of gold and silk and tapestries.
+As to the theatrical representations I can remember
+at least ten. There were Adam and Eve, Cleopatra
+married to King Alexander, and various others.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The reception at the palace was very formal.
+The dowager duchess herself received her daughter-in-law
+from the litter and escorted her by the hand
+to her chamber, and for the present we will leave
+the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrangement
+of the hôtel.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess
+was served <i>d'eschançon et d'escuyer tranchant et de
+pannetier</i>. All English, all knights and gentlemen
+of great houses, and the chief steward cried 'Knights
+to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get the
+food, and around the buffet marched all the relations
+of Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of
+great houses. And for that day Mme. the duchess
+the mother declined to be served <i>à couvert</i> but left the
+honour to her daughter-in-law as was right.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms
+for a little rest and there were some changes of dress.
+Then they all mounted their chariots and hackneys
+and issued forth on the streets in great triumph and
+wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Several
+days of festivity followed when the usual pantomimes
+and shows were in evidence.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fête, the
+grand <i>salle</i> was arranged in the same state as on the
+wedding day itself, except the grand buffet which
+stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet, too,
+was a grand affair and concluded the festivities.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur<span class="page"><a name="194"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 194]</span></a></span>
+departed for Holland on a pressing piece of business,
+and he took leave of the Duchess of Norfolk and the
+other lords and ladies of quality and gave them gifts
+each according to his rank. Thus ends the story
+of this noble festival, and for the present I know
+nothing worth writing you except that I am yours."</p>
+
+<p>
+To this may be added the letter of one of the
+Paston family who was in Margaret's train.<a href="#X10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr
+Margaret Paston dwelling at Caster, be thys delyveryed
+in hast.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Ryth reverend &amp; worchepfull Modyr, I recommend
+me on to you as humbylly as I can thynk,
+desyryng most hertly to her of your welfare &amp; hertsese
+whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my hert
+can thynk. Ples yt you to wete that at the makyng
+of thys byll my brodyr &amp; I &amp; all our felawshep wer
+in good helle, blyssyd be God.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as
+worchepfull as all the world can devyse it, &amp; ther wer
+never Englyshe men had so good cher owt of Inglong
+that ever I herd of.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can
+non send yow; savyng my Lady Margaret was maryed
+on Sonday last past at a town that is called Dame IIj
+myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the morning;
+&amp; sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr
+dener; &amp; ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully
+as all the world cowd devyse as with presession with
+ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny pepell that ever
+I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in<span class="page"><a name="195"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 195]</span></a></span>
+hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that
+ever I sye. And the same Sonday my Lord the Bastard
+took upon hym to answere xxiiij knyts &amp; gentylmen
+within viij dayis at jostys of pese &amp; when that
+they wer answered, they xxiiij &amp; hymselve shold
+torney with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on
+Monday next comyng; &amp; they that have jostyd with
+hym into thys day have been as rychly beseyn,
+&amp; hymselfe also, as clothe of gold &amp; sylk &amp; sylvyr &amp;
+goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger &amp;
+gold &amp; perle &amp; stonys they of the dukys coort neyther
+gentylmen nor gentylwomen they want non; for with
+owt that they have it by wyshys, by my trowthe,
+I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+
+<p class="quote1">
+And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords &amp; ladys &amp;
+gentylwomen knyts, sqwyers &amp; gentylmen I hert
+never of non lyek to it save King Artourys cort.
+And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor remembrance
+to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but
+that lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you
+when I come home whyche I trust to God shal not be
+long to; for we depart owt of Brygge homward on
+Twysday next comyng &amp; all folk that cam with my
+lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as
+shall abyd her styll with hyr whyche I wot well
+shall be but fewe.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that
+the Frenshe king is purposyd to mak wer upon hym
+hastyly &amp; that he is with in IIIj or v dayis jorney of
+Brugys &amp; the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next comyng
+forward to met with hym. God geve hym good sped
+&amp; all hys; for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest<span class="page"><a name="196"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 196]</span></a></span>
+felawshep that ever I cam among &amp; best can behave
+themselves &amp; most like gentlemen.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the
+Duke of Somerset &amp; all hys band departyd well
+beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that my Lady the
+Duchess cam thedyr &amp; they sey her that he is to
+Queen Margaret that was &amp; shal no more come
+her agen nor be holpyn by the Duke. No more; but
+I beseche you of your blessyng as lowly as I can,
+wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday
+onys. And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good
+mastras to my lytyll man &amp; to se that he go to scole.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+
+<p class="quote1">
+Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt
+Thomas.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Your sone &amp; humbyll servaunt,</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"J. PASTON THE YOUNGER."</p><br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#183">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="X1">Chastellain</a>, v., 570.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#184">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="X2">V</a>., 576.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#186">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="X3">This</a> deputation was composed of representatives from
+"all the city in its entirety in three chief members&mdash;the
+bourgeois and nobles, the fifty-two <i>métiers</i>, and the weavers
+who possess twelve different places in the city entirely for
+themselves and in their control." The formal apology was
+made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#186">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="X4">Ibid</a></i> 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467, Duke
+Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges
+which he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a deputation
+from the three members [<i>Trois membres</i>] of the city
+should come to Brussels to beg pardon on their knees, bareheaded,
+ungirded, for all the disorder of St. Lievin. This act
+of submission took place probably not until January, 1469,
+though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#187">[Footnote 5:</a> <i><a name="X5">Hist</a>, de l'Ordre</i>, etc., p. 511.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#188">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="X6">Chastellain</a>, V., 342.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#189">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="X7">III</a>., 101. Evidently this was composed for a separate
+work and then incorporated into the memoirs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#190">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="X8">There</a> is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the
+Bibliothèque de Burgogne. <i>See</i> also Wavrin, <i>Anchiennes
+Croniques d'Engleterre</i>, ii., 368.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#192">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="X9">III</a>., 108.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#194">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="X10">The</a> Paston Letters</i>, ii., 317.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="197">[page 197]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XI">XI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE MEETING AT PERONNE</h3>
+
+<h4>1468</h4>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"My brother, I beseech you in the name of our
+affection and of our alliance, come to my aid,
+come as speedily as you can, come without delay.
+Written by the own hand of your brother.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"FRANCIS."</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent
+appeal from the Duke of Brittany that followed
+Charles into Holland, whither he had hastened
+after the completion of the nuptial festivities.</p>
+<p>
+The titular Duke of Normandy found that his
+royal brother was in no wise inclined to fulfil
+the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally,
+Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into terror
+lest the king should invade his duchy and
+punish him for his share in the proceedings that
+had led up to that compact.</p>
+<p>
+It is in this year that Louis XI. begins to show
+his real astuteness. Very clever are his methods
+of freeing himself from the distasteful obligations
+assumed towards his brother. They had been
+easy to make when a hostile army was encamped
+at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy weighed
+lightly when balanced by the desire to separate
+the allies. That separation accomplished, the<span class="page"><a name="198">[page 198]</a></span>
+point of view changed. Relinquish Normandy,
+restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege
+lord after its long retention by the English kings?
+Louis's intention gradually became plain and he
+proved that he was no longer in the isolated
+position in which the War for Public Weal had
+found him. He had won to himself many adherents,
+while the general tone towards Charles of
+Burgundy had changed.<a href="#XI1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p>
+In April, 1468, the States-General of France
+assembled at Tours in response to royal writs issued
+in the preceding February.<a href="#XI2"><sup>2</sup></a> The chancellor,
+Jouvençal, opened the session with a tedious, long-winded
+harangue calculated to weary rather than
+to illuminate the assembly. Then the king took
+the floor and delivered a telling speech. With trenchant
+and well chosen phrases he set forth the reasons
+why Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of
+the French realm. The advantages of centralisation,
+the weakness of decentralisation, were skilfully
+drawn. The matter was one affecting the
+kingdom as a whole, in perpetuity; it was not for
+the temporal interests of the present incumbent
+of regal authority, who had only part therein for <span class="page"><a name="199">[page 199]</a></span>
+the brief space of his mortal journey. Louis's
+words are pathetic indeed, as he calls himself a
+sojourner in France, <i>en voyage</i> through life, as
+though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of
+ephemeral mankind was novel to his audience.
+He reiterated the statement that the interests
+involved were theirs, not his.</p>
+<p>
+It was a goodly body which listened to Louis.
+The greatest feudal lords, indeed, were not present,
+but many of the lesser nobility were, while sixty-four
+towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies.
+These hearers gave willing attention to the thesis
+that it was a burning shame for the French people
+to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the insolent
+peers from rebelling against their sovereign&mdash;those
+noble scions of the royal stock whose bounden
+duty it was to protect the state and the head of the
+royal house.</p>
+<p>
+What was the reason for their selfish insubordination?
+The root of the evil lay in the past,
+when extensive territories had been carelessly
+alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted
+to acquire too much independence of the crown,
+so that the monarchy was threatened with disruption.
+There was more to the same purpose
+and then the deputies deliberated on the answer
+to make to this speech from the throne. It was
+an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed
+the value of suggestion. Charles the Wise had
+thought that an estate yielding an income of
+twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a<span class="page"><a name="200">[page 200]</a></span>
+prince of the blood. Louis XI. was more generous.
+He was ready to allow his brother Charles
+a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to
+the government of Normandy&mdash;why! no king,
+either from fraternal affection or from fear of
+war, was justified in committing that province
+to other hands than his own.</p>
+<p>
+The States-General dissolved in perfect accord
+with the monarch, and a definite order was left
+in the king's hands, declaring that it was the
+judgment of the towns represented that concentration
+of power was necessary for the common
+welfare of France. Public opinion declared that
+national weakness would be inevitable if the feudatories
+were unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies.
+Above all, Normandy must be retained by the
+king. On no consideration should Louis leave it
+to his brother.<a href="#XI3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Before the dissolution of the assembly there
+was some discussion as to the probable attitude
+of the great nobles in regard to this platform of
+centralisation. Very timid were the comments on
+Charles of Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be
+an excellent mediator between the lesser dukes
+and the king? Would it not be better to suspend
+action until his opinion was known, etc? But at
+large there was less reserve. The statements
+were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever
+come to France from Burgundy. The present
+duke's father and grandfather had wrought all<span class="page"><a name="201">[page 201]</a></span>
+the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles,
+his illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest
+content with his paternal heritage. Ghent and
+Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too? Let
+the king recover the towns on the Somme.
+Rightfully they were French. Louis made no
+scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty of
+Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by
+undue influence. And this royal sentiment was
+repeated here and there with growing conviction
+of its justice.</p>
+<p>
+While Charles was occupied with the preparation
+for his wedding, Louis was engaged in levying
+troops and mobilising his forces, and these preparations
+continued throughout the summer of
+1468. Naturally, news of this zeal directed against
+the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany followed
+the traveller in Holland.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once
+to the king, reminding him that these seigneurs
+were his allies, and demanding that nothing should
+be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his
+remonstrance might be futile, and urged on by
+appeals from the dukes, Charles hastened to cut
+short his stay in Holland so that he might move
+nearer to the scene of Louis's activities. His purpose
+in going to the north had been twofold&mdash;to
+receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand,
+and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of
+money for which he saw immediate need if he
+were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from<span class="page"><a name="202">[page 202]</a></span>
+him.</p>
+<p>
+In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in
+Flanders to Middelburg, and thence made his progress
+through the cities of Zealand, receiving homage
+as he went. Next he passed to The Hague,
+where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland
+met him and gave him their oaths of fealty on
+July 21st. Fifty-six towns<a href="#XI4"><sup>4</sup></a> were represented
+and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks
+and the islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It
+is noteworthy," comments a Dutch historian,
+"that the people's oath was given first. The
+older custom was that the count should give the
+first pledge while the people followed suit."</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he was thus legally invested with
+sovereign power, Charles demanded a large <i>aide</i>
+from Holland and Zealand&mdash;480,000 crowns of
+fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin
+money for his new consort; 16,000 crowns as donations
+for various servants, and 4800 crowns towards
+his travelling expenses. The total sum was
+532,800 crowns. The share of Holland and West
+Friesland was 372,800 crowns, and of Zealand
+16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half
+years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest
+quota, 3549 crowns, and Schiedam the smallest,
+350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South Holland
+villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and<span class="page"><a name="203">[page 203]</a></span>
+the remainder was divided among the other cities
+and villages.</p>
+
+<p>
+There was considerable opposition to the assessments.
+In many cases the new imposts upon provisions
+pressed very heavily on the poor villagers.
+Having obtained promise of the grant, however,
+Charles left all further details in its regard to
+the local officials and returned to Brussels at the
+beginning of August to make his own preparation.
+For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the
+treaty of Conflans were plain, though there still
+fluttered a thin veil of friendship between the
+cousins. Gathering what forces he could mobilise,
+ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved
+westward and took up his quarters at Peronne on
+the river Somme.</p>
+<p>
+Louis had been bold in his utterance to the
+States-General as to his perfect right to ignore the
+treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his brother, and
+to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the
+summer of 1468 he made advances towards accomplishing
+the last-named desideratum. Brittany
+was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was
+diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis
+peaceably consented to renounce his close alliances
+with Burgundy and England, nominally at
+least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France
+to submit his claims to Normandy to the arbitration
+of Nicholas of Calabria and the Constable St. Pol.<a href="#XI5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with<span class="page"><a name="204">[page 204]</a></span>
+on some different basis. And in regard to him
+Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified his
+friends and caused the world to wonder as to his
+sanity. All previous attempts at mediation having
+failed&mdash;St. Pol was among the many who
+tried&mdash;the king determined to be his own messenger
+to parley with his Burgundian cousin. It is
+curious how small was his measure of personal
+pride. He had been negligent of his personal
+safety at Conflans, but even then Charles had
+better reason to respect and protect him than in
+1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years
+in every direction to harass and undermine the
+young duke's power, and when, too, the latter was
+aware of half of the machinations and suspicious
+of more.</p>
+<p>
+Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sudden
+hare-brained enterprise. There is much evidence
+that he nursed the project for many weeks
+without giving any intimation of his intentions.
+Nor was the situation as strange as it appears,
+looking backward.</p>
+<p>
+Charles had doubtless made all preparations
+to combat Louis if need were, and had chosen
+Peronne for his headquarters with the express
+purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the
+same time, he had published abroad that his military
+preparations were solely for the purpose of
+keeping his obligations to his allies. Now these<span class="page"><a name="205">[page 205]</a></span>
+obligations were momentarily removed by the action
+of those same allies. Francis of Brittany had
+entered into amicable relations with his sovereign,
+young Charles of France had accepted arbitration
+to settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers,
+while the correspondence between Louis and Liege,
+was still unknown to the Duke of Burgundy.
+For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no definite
+quarrel with the French king. But he was
+not in the least anxious for an interview with him.
+Charles was as far as ever from understanding
+his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of
+Louis's efforts to make friends in the Netherlands,
+Charles suspected enough to turn his youthful distrust
+of the man's character into mature conviction
+that friendship between them was impossible.
+But he could not refuse the royal overtures. His
+letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited visitor
+bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows:<a href="#XI6"><sup>6</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it
+be your desire to come to this city of Peronne in order
+that we may talk together, I swear and I promise
+you by my faith and on my honour that you may come,
+remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon,
+according to your pleasure and as often as it shall
+please you, freely and openly without any hindrance
+offered either to you or to any of your people by me
+or by any other for any cause that now exists or <i>that</i><span class="page"><a name="206"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 206]</span></a></span>
+<i>may hereafter arise</i>."</p>
+
+<p>
+Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential messenger
+between duke and king. He it was whom
+Charles had dismissed from his own service in 1456
+at his father's instance. From that time on the
+man had been in Louis's household, deep in his secrets
+it was said, and certainly admitted to his
+privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter
+was written by Charles in the presence of Biche,
+through whose hand it passed directly to the
+king.</p>
+<p>
+By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to
+move as soon as the safe-conduct arrived. No
+time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday, October
+9th, the king started out, accompanied by the
+Bishop of Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke
+of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue, St. Pol, a few more
+nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish
+guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of
+Crèvec&oelig;ur, with two hundred lances, met him on
+the way to act as his escort to the presence of
+the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of
+a stream a short distance out of Peronne.</p>
+<p>
+St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the
+duke as herald of Louis's approach. Then Charles
+rode forward to greet the traveller. As he came
+within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his
+saddle and was about to dismount when Louis, his
+head bared, prevented his action. Fervent were
+the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the
+duke's cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly<span class="page"><a name="207">[page 207]</a></span>
+about the latter's neck. Then he turned graciously
+to the by-standing nobles and greeted
+them by name. But his cousinly affection was
+not yet satisfied. Again he embraced Charles and
+held him half as long as before in his arms.
+How pleasant he was and how full of confidence
+towards this trusted cousin of his!</p>
+<p>
+The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two
+princes in the middle, and made a stately entry
+into Peronne at a little after mid-day.<a href="#XI7"><sup>7</sup></a> The chief
+building then and the natural place to lodge a royal
+visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair,
+ill furnished, and affording less comfort than a
+neighbouring house belonging to a city official.
+Here rooms had been prepared for the king and a
+few of his suite, the others being quartered through
+the town. At the door Charles took his leave and
+Louis entered alone with Cardinal Balue and the
+attendants he had chosen to keep near him.
+These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and
+were treated by their master with a familiarity
+very astonishing to the stately Burgundians.</p>
+
+<p>
+Louis entered the room assigned for his use,
+walked to the window, and looked out into the
+street. The sight that met his view was most
+disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the
+point of entering the castle. They were gentlemen<span class="page"><a name="208">[page 208]</a></span>
+just arrived from Burgundy with their lances,
+in response to a summons issued long before the
+present visit was anticipated. As he looked down
+on the troops, Louis recognised several men who
+had no cause to love him or to cherish his memory.
+There was, for instance, the queen's brother
+Philip de Bresse<a href="#XI8"><sup>8</sup></a> who had led a party against
+Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a time
+of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of
+his brother-in-law's profession and had visited
+him to obtain his mediation. The king had
+violated both the specified safe-conduct and
+ambassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De
+Bresse into the citadel of Loches, where he suffered
+a long confinement before he succeeded in making
+his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as
+well as in race. But with him on that October
+day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who had
+fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or
+another and had saved their liberty by flight,
+renouncing their allegiance to him for ever.
+Four there were in all who wore the cross of St.
+Andrew. Approaching Peronne as they had from
+the south, these new-comers had ridden in at the
+southern gates without intimation of this royal
+visitation extraordinary until they were almost
+face to face with guest and host. Their arrival
+was "a half of a quarter of an hour later than that
+of the king."</p>
+
+ <p>
+When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned<span class="page"><a name="209">[page 209]</a></span>
+what was going on, they hastened to the duke's
+chambers "to give him reverence." Monseigneur
+de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke
+that the three above named should be assured of
+their security notwithstanding the king's presence
+at Peronne,&mdash;of security such as he had pledged
+them in Burgundy and promised for the hour when
+they should arrive at his court. On their part
+they were ready to serve him towards all and
+against all. Which petition the duke granted
+orally. "The force conducted by the Marshal of
+Burgundy was encamped without the gates, and
+the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did
+the others I have mentioned."<a href="#XI9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+It was, however, a situation in which apprehension
+was not confined to the men of lower station.
+To Louis, looking down from his window, there
+seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these
+persons who had heavy grievances against him,
+and the unfortified private house seemed slight
+protection against their possible vengeance. Here,
+Charles might disavow injury to him as something
+happening quite without his knowledge. On
+ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under
+shelter patently ducal. There, there would be no
+doubt of responsibility did misfortune happen.</p>
+<p>
+Straightway the king sent a messenger to
+Charles asking for quarters within the castle. The
+request was granted and the uneasy guest passed<span class="page"><a name="210">[page 210]</a></span>
+through the massive portals between a double
+line of Burgundian men-at-arms. It was no cheerful,
+pleasant, palatial dwelling-place this little old
+castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that
+vain had been all assaults against it.<a href="#XI10"><sup>10</sup></a> Designed
+for a fortress rather than a residence, it had been
+repeatedly used as a prison, and the air of the
+whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls,
+dungeons which had seen many unwilling lodgers.
+Five centuries earlier than this date, Charles the
+Simple had languished to death in one of the
+towers.</p>
+
+<p>
+This change of arrangement, or rather the
+disquieting reason for the change, undoubtedly
+clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet
+outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts
+that the two princes directed their people to behave
+amicably to each other and that the commands
+were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days
+the desired conferences took place between Charles
+and Louis. The king's wishes were perfectly
+plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other
+alliances and to pledge himself to support his
+feudal chief, first and foremost, from all attacks of
+his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had submitted
+to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy
+would only accept terms equally satisfactory in
+their way, the pernicious alliance between the two
+would vanish, to the weal of French unity.</p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="commines">[plate 15]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image15commines.jpg" width="400" height="547" alt="PHILIP DE COMMINES" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Apparently the first discussion was heard by none<span class="page"><a name="211">[page 211]</a></span>
+except the Cardinal Balue and Guillaume de Biche.
+Charles was willing to pledge allegiance and to promise
+aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations
+that weakened the value of his words. Nothing
+could induce him to renounce alliance with other
+princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There
+was a second interview on the following day.
+Charles held tenaciously to his position. Then
+there came a sudden alteration in the situation,
+a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of
+view.</p>
+<p>
+The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the
+behests of her imperious neighbour, but the citizens
+had never ceased to hope that his unwelcome
+"protection" might be dispensed with; that, by
+the aid of French troops, they might eventually
+wrest themselves free from the Burgundian incubus.
+In spite of all promises to Charles, secret
+negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party
+and Louis XI. had never ceased. The latter never
+refused to admit the importunate embassies to his
+presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the
+city even in its ruined condition. He sent envoys
+as well as received them, and Commines states
+definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne,
+the fact of a confidential commission recently despatched
+to Liege had wholly slipped the king's
+mind.</p>
+<p>
+In that town the duke's lieutenant, Humbercourt,
+had been left to supervise the humiliating changes
+ordered. And the work of demolition was the only<span class="page"><a name="212">[page 212]</a></span>
+industry. Other ordinary business was at a standstill.
+For a period there was a sullen silence in the
+streets and the church bells were at rest. In
+April, a special legate from the pope arrived to see
+whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a
+better footing.</p>
+<p>
+It was about the same time that the States-General
+were meeting at Tours that, under the
+direction of this legate, Onofrio de Santa-Croce,
+the cathedral was purified with holy water, and
+Louis of Bourbon celebrated his very first mass,
+though he had been seated on the episcopal throne
+for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate
+between the city and the Duke of Burgundy.
+To Bruges he went to see Charles, and obtained
+permission to draft a project for the re-establishment
+of the civic government, to be submitted to
+the duke for approval.</p>
+<p>
+If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop
+by forcing him into performing his priestly rites
+he soon learned his mistake. That ecclesiastic
+speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed festivities,
+and then forsook the city and sailed away to
+Maestricht in a gaily painted barge, with gay companions
+to pass the summer in frivolous amusements
+suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the
+state of affairs when the report of Louis's extensive
+military preparations encouraged the Liegeois
+to hope that he was to take the field openly against
+the duke.</p>
+  <p>
+About the beginning of September, troops of<span class="page"><a name="213">[page 213]</a></span>
+forlorn and desperate exiles began to return to the
+city. They came, to be sure, with shouts of <i>Vive le
+Roi!</i> but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing
+to make any accommodation for the sake of being
+permitted to remain. "Better any fate at home
+than to live like wild beasts with the recollection
+that we had once been men."</p>
+<p>
+To make a long story short, Onofrio again
+endeavoured to rouse the bishop to a sense of his
+duty. Again he tried to make terms for the exiles
+and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was
+useless. Louis of Bourbon refused to approach
+nearer to Liege than Tongres, and declined to meet
+the advances of his despairing subjects. It was
+just at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived
+from Louis, despatched, as already stated, <i>before</i>
+Charles had consented to prolong the truce.</p>
+<p>
+Excited by their presence the Liegeois once
+more roused themselves to action. A force of
+two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced
+by night upon Tongres&mdash;also without
+walls&mdash;surrounded the house where lay their bishop,
+and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there
+was and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the
+mob respected the person of their bishop and of
+Humbercourt the chief Burgundian official. This
+event happened on October 9th, the very day that
+Louis rode recklessly into Peronne.</p>
+<p>
+On Wednesday, October 11th, the news of the
+fray reached Peronne, but news greatly exaggerated
+by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and<span class="page"><a name="214">[page 214]</a></span>
+Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly
+murdered in the very presence of Louis's own
+envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous
+crime! To follow the story of an eyewitness:<a href="#XI11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted
+the contrary, for such advertisments are never
+reported after one sort. At length others came who
+had seen certain canons slain and supposed the
+bishop<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI12"><sup>12</sup></a></span> to be of the number, as well as the said seigneur
+de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they
+said that they had seen the king's ambassadors in the
+attacking company and mentioned them by name.
+All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith
+believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that
+the king had come thither to abuse him, and gave
+commands to shut the gates of the castle and of the
+town, alleging a poor enough excuse, namely, that he
+did this on account of the disappearance of a little
+casket containing some good rings and money.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The king finding himself confined in the castle,
+a small one at that, and having seen a force of archers
+standing before the gate, was terrified for his person&mdash;the
+more so that he was lodged in the neighbourhood
+of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois had
+caused the death of one of his predecessors as king
+of France.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI13"><sup>13</sup></a></span> At that time, I was still with the duke
+and served him as chamberlain, and had free access<span class="page"><a name="215"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 215]</span></a></span>
+to his chamber when I would, for such was the usage
+in this household.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed,
+ordered all to leave his presence and said to a few of us
+that stayed with him that the king had come on purpose
+to betray him, and that he himself had tried to
+avoid his coming with all his strength, and that the
+meeting had been against his taste. Then he proceeded
+to recount the news from Liege, how the king
+had pulled all the wires through his ambassadors,
+and how his people had been slain. He was fearfully
+excited against the king. I veritably believe that if
+at that hour he had found those to whom he could
+appeal ready to sympathise with him and to advise
+him to work the king some mischief, he would have
+done so, at the least he would have imprisoned him in
+the great tower.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"None were present when the words fell from the
+duke but myself and two grooms of the chamber, one
+of whom was named Charles de Visen, a native of
+Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with his master.
+We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the
+duke as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same
+phrases on others, and a report of them ran through
+the city and penetrated to the very apartment of the
+king, who was greatly terrified, as was everyone, because
+of the danger that they saw imminent, and
+because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel
+when it has commenced between such great princes.
+Assuredly they were blameworthy in failing to notify
+their absent servants of this projected meeting.
+Great inconveniences were bound to arise from this
+negligence."</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness<span class="page"><a name="216">[page 216]</a></span>
+though he was, it must be remembered that when
+he wrote the account of this famous interview it
+was long after the event, and when his point of
+view was necessarily coloured by his service with
+Louis. Delightful, however, are the historian's
+own reflections that he intersperses with his plain
+narrative. To his mind the only period when it is
+safe for princes to meet is</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"in their youth when their minds are bent on pleasure.
+Then they may amuse themselves together.
+But after they are come to man's estate and are
+desirous each of over-reaching the other, such interviews
+do but increase their mutual hatred, even if
+they incur no personal peril (which is well-nigh impossible).
+Far wiser is it for them to adjust their
+differences through sage and good servants as I have
+said at length elsewhere in these memoirs."</p>
+
+<p>
+Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous
+instances of disastrous royal interviews before
+returning to his subject and to Peronne:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his
+new chapter] to tell the princes my opinion of such
+meetings.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI14"><sup>14</sup></a></span> Thus the gates were closed and guarded
+and two or three days passed by. However, the
+Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had
+Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and
+those only through the wicket. Nor did the duke see
+any of his people who had influence over him.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The first day there was consternation throughout<span class="page"><a name="217"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 217]</span></a></span>
+the city. By the second day the duke was a little
+calmed down. He held a council meeting all day
+and the greater part of the night. The king appealed
+to every one who could possibly aid him. He was
+lavish in his promises and ordered fifteen thousand
+crowns to be given where it might count, but the officer
+in charge of the disbursement of this sum acquitted
+himself ill and retained a part, as the king learned
+later.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The king was especially afraid of his former servants
+who had come with the army from Burgundy,
+as I mentioned above, men who were now in the
+service of the Duke of Normandy.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned
+council-meeting. Some held that the safe-conduct
+accorded to the king protected him, seeing that he
+fairly observed the peace as it had been stated in
+writing. Others rudely urged his capture without
+further ceremony, while others again advised sending
+for his brother, the Duke of Normandy, and concluding
+with him a peace to the advantage of all the
+princes of France. They who gave this advice
+thought that in case it was adopted, the king should be
+restrained of his liberty. Further, it was against all
+precedent to free so great a seigneur when he had
+committed so grave an offence.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw
+a man booted and spurred ready to depart with a
+packet of letters addressed to Monseigneur of Normandy,
+being in Brittany, and stayed only for the
+Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to
+naught. The king made overtures to leave as hostages
+the Duke of Bourbon, the cardinal, his brother, and
+the constable with a dozen others while he should be<span class="page"><a name="218"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 218]</span></a></span>
+permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was
+concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should
+repair their mischief or he would declare himself their
+foe. The appointed hostages were profuse in their
+offers to immolate themselves, at least they were in
+public. I do not know whether they would have
+said the same things in private. I rather suspect not.
+And in truth, I believe that those who were left
+would never have returned.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"On the third night after the arrival of the news,
+the duke never undressed, but lay down two or three
+times on his bed, and then rose and walked up and
+down. Such was his way when he was troubled.
+I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him
+from time to time. In the morning his fury was greater
+than ever, his tone very menacing, and he seemed
+ready to go to any extreme.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"However, he finally brought himself to say that
+if the king would swear the peace and would accompany
+him to Liege to help avenge Monsgn. of Liege,
+his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then he suddenly
+betook himself to the king's chamber and expressed
+himself to that effect. The king had a friend<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI15"><sup>15</sup></a></span>
+who warned him, assuring him that he should suffer
+no ill if he would concede these two points. Did he
+do otherwise he ran grave risk, graver than he would<span class="page"><a name="219"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 219]</span></a></span>
+ever incur again."</p>
+
+<p>
+When the duke entered the royal presence his
+voice trembled, so agitated was he and on the
+verge of breaking into a passion. He assumed
+a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and
+word as he demanded whether the king would
+keep the treaty of peace as it had been drafted,
+and whether he was ready to swear to it. "Yes"
+was the king's response. In truth, nothing had
+been added to the agreement made before Paris,
+or at least little as far as the Duke of Burgundy
+was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Normandy,
+it was stipulated that if he would renounce
+that province he should have Champagne and Brie
+besides other neighbouring territories for his share.</p>
+<p>
+Then the duke asked if the king would accompany
+him to avenge the outrage committed upon
+his cousin the bishop.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To which demand the king gave assent as soon as
+the peace was sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to
+Liege and with a small or large escort, just as the duke
+preferred. This answer pleased the duke immensely.
+In was brought the treaty, out of the king's coffer
+was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one
+carried by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of
+Victory, and thereupon the two swore the peace.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"This was now October 14th. In a minute the bells
+pealed out their joy throughout Peronne and all men
+were glad. It hath pleased the king since to attribute
+the credit of this pacification to me."</p>
+
+<p>
+There was undoubtedly an immense sense of relief<span class="page"><a name="220">[page 220]</a></span>
+in Peronne when this degree of accommodation
+was reached. The duke was unwilling, however,
+to have too much rejoicing in his domains until
+he had ascertained for himself the state of Liege.
+Among the letters despatched from Peronne this
+October 14th, was the following to the magistrates
+of Ypres:<a href="#XI16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we
+have to-day made peace and convention with Monseigneur
+the king, and that for this reason you might
+be inclined to let off fire-works and make other manifestations
+of joy, we hasten to advise you that ... our
+pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or
+assemblies in our town of Ypres on account of the said
+peace until we have subdued the people of Liege, and
+avenged the said outrage [described above]. This with
+God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point of
+departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved,
+may our Lord protect you.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14,
+1468."</p>
+
+<p>
+A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions
+to the magistrates of Ypres, possibly managing to
+slip them under the same cover.<a href="#XI17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace was concluded
+between the king and Monseigneur, and also between
+the king and the Duke of Berry. Here, bells are ringing
+and the <i>Te Deum</i> is sung. It is generally believed
+that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God deserves
+thanks for the result, for I assure you that last<span class="page"><a name="221"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 221]</span></a></span>
+night the outlook was not clear." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI18"><sup>18</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The king wrote as follows to his confidential
+lieutenant:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"PERONNE, October 14th.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the grand master, you are already
+informed how there has been discussion in my council
+and that of my brother-in-law of Burgundy, as to the
+best manner of adjusting certain differences between
+him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive
+at a conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here
+we have busied ourselves with the requisitions passing
+between us, so that to-day we have, thanks to our
+Lord, in the presence of all the nobles of the blood,
+prelates and other great and notable personages in
+great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn
+peace solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid,
+defend and succour each other for ever. Also on the
+same cross we have ratified the treaty of Arras with
+its corrections and other points which seemed productive
+of peace and amity.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy
+ordered thanksgivings in the churches of his lands,
+and in this town he has already had great solemnity.
+And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that
+the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the
+bishop of Liege, whom he is determined to deliver
+as quickly as possible, he has besought me as a favour
+to him, and also because the bishop is my kinsman
+whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege,
+not far from here. This I have agreed to, and have
+chosen as my escort a portion of the troops under<span class="page"><a name="222"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 222]</span></a></span>
+monseigneur the constable, in the hopes of a speedy
+return by the aid of God.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"And because it is for my weal and that of my
+subjects I write to you at once, because <i>I am sure</i>
+you will be pleased, and that you will order like
+solemnities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand master,
+as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible
+disband my <i>arriere ban</i> together with the free lances,
+and do every possible thing for the mass of poor
+folks; appoint well-to-do men as leaders in every bailiwick
+and district. Above all, see to it that they do
+not indulge in any new and startling conduct. That
+done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer me,
+I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any
+further action that may arise. Written at Peronne
+October 14th.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"Loys</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+MEURIN.</p><br />
+<p class="quote">
+"To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of
+Dammartin, grand master of France." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased
+for the purpose of passing Charles's censorship.
+He took the liberty of disregarding his master's
+orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held
+himself in readiness to go to fetch the errant
+monarch if he did not return speedily from the
+enemy's country. His letter to the king and the
+unwritten additions delivered by his confidential
+messengers terrified his liege lest too much zeal
+on his behalf in France might work him ill in<span class="page"><a name="223">[page 223]</a></span>
+Liege. A week later Louis writes again:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+NAMUR, Oct. 22nd.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR THE GRAND MASTER:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage.
+<i>Be assured that I make this journey to Liege under no
+constraint, and that I never took any journey with such
+good heart as I do this.</i> Since God and Our Lady
+have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur
+of Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over
+there take arms against me. Monseigneur the grand
+master, my friend, you have proved that you love me,
+and you have done me the greatest service that you
+can, and there is another service that you can do.
+The people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that
+I mean to deceive them, and people there [in France]
+think that I am a prisoner. Distrust between the
+two would be my ruin.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men,
+you know what we planned, you and I, touching the
+action of Armagnac. It seems to me that you ought
+to send your people straight ahead in that direction
+and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as I
+am out of this, and you can make what choice you will.
+M. the grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to
+Laon and await me there. Send me a messenger the
+minute you arrive and I will let you have frequent
+news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois are
+subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of
+Burgundy is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he
+has finished his work at Liege, and he desires my
+return more than I do. Francois Dunois will tell you
+what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur,<span class="page"><a name="224"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 224]</span></a></span>
+etc.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Writ at Namur, Oct. 22nd.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"LOUIS</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"TOUSSAINT.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of
+Dammartin, grand master of France." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI20"><sup>20</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and
+others also declare that Louis goes most gladly with
+his dear brother of Burgundy and that the affair
+will not require much time. To Cardinal Balue
+he writes only a few words, telling him that
+the messenger will be more communicative.</p>
+<p>
+Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn
+aside to visit the young Duchess of Burgundy, either
+at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the conjecture
+of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his surmise
+further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn
+was performed Chastellain's mystery of "The
+Peace of Peronne."<a href="#XI21"><sup>21</sup></a> Perhaps these verses, if put
+in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have
+pleased the princely spectators of the dramatic
+poem. Mutual admiration was the key-note
+of these flowery speeches while the other
+<i>dramatis personæ</i> expressed unstinted admiration<span class="page"><a name="225">[page 225]</a></span>
+for the wonderful deed accomplished by these two
+pure souls who have sworn peace when they
+might have brought dire war on their innocent
+subjects.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that
+proud knight, nor the great Charlemagne, nor the
+proud Duke of Mayence, nor Mongleive, the heir, from
+whom issued noble fruit, nor King Arthur, nor Oliver,
+nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens of victories
+approach or touch with hand or foot the work
+I treat of."</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+<br />
+<blockquote>
+[The king speaks.]</blockquote>
+<p class="quote">
+"Charles, be assured that Louis will be the re-establisher
+and provider of all that touches your honour and
+peace between you and him. That he will ever be
+appreciator of you and avenger, a nourisher of joy
+and love in repairing all that my predecessor did.</p>
+<blockquote>
+[The duke speaks.]</blockquote>
+<p class="quote">
+"And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his
+soul, wishes nothing better than to serve you and
+this realm and to extol your house. For I know that is
+the reason why I have glory and reputation. Then if
+it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep from
+blame."</p>
+
+<p>
+One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a
+note of doubt: "Charles, so many debates may
+occur, so many incidents and accidents in our
+various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded."</p>
+<p>
+Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare<span class="page"><a name="226">[page 226]</a></span>
+possibility of a new breach between him and his
+liege. The whole is a pæan at a love feast. If
+the two together heard their counterfeits express
+such perfect fidelity, how Louis XI. must
+have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced
+courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was
+quite capable of taking it all seriously, wholly unconscious
+that he had not cut the lion's claws for
+once and all.</p>
+
+<hr/>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#198">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XI1">See</a></i> Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 356.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#198">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XI2">The</a> letters of convocation bear the date February 26,
+1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th,
+they had returned home, and on May 2d they made a
+report. The items of expenditure are very exact. So hard
+had they ridden that a fine horse costing eleven crowns was
+used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van der Broeck,
+archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the register
+of the Council. <i>See</i> Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#200">[Footnote 3:</a> <i><a name="XI3">See</a></i> Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 356.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#202">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XI4">Dordrecht</a> was not among them. Her deputies held that
+it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later
+Charles received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, <i>Vaderlandsche
+Hist.</i>, iv., 101.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#203">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XI5">Treaty</a> of Ancenis, September 10, 1468. <i>See</i> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>.]
+One of the results of the War of Public Weal was that St. Pol
+was appointed constable of France.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#205">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XI6">The</a> original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.;
+Lenglet, iii., 19.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#207">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XI7">Commines</a> and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the
+basis of this narrative. (Gachard, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 196.) There is,
+however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous
+and commentating. <i>See also</i> Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc.
+Chastellain's MS. is lost.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#208">[Footnote 8:</a> <i><a name="XI8">See</a></i> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 397.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#209">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XI9">Ludwig</a> v. Diesbach, (<i>See</i> Kirk, i., 559.) The author was
+a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss
+affairs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#210">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XI10">It</a> was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#214">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XI11">Commines</a>, ii., ch. vii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#214">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XI12">The</a> bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the
+mob, but it was many years later.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#214">[Footnote 13:</a> <i><a name="XI13">Le</a> roi ... se voyait logé, rasibus d'une grosse tour ou
+un Comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien prédécesseur Roy
+de France</i>. (Commines, ii., ch. vii.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#216">[Footnote 14:</a> <i><a name="XI14">Memoires</a></i>, ii., ch. ix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#218">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XI15">Undoubtedly</a> Commines wishes it to be inferred that this
+was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines,
+whose memoirs remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive
+history of the times. There are the errors inevitable to any
+contemporary statement. Meyer, to be sure, says, apropos
+of an incident incorrectly reported, <i>Falsus in hoc ut in pluribus
+historicus</i>. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries later
+is also severe. <i>See</i>, too, "L'autorité historique de Ph. de
+Commynes," Mandrot, <i>Rev. Hist</i>., 73.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#220">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XI16">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 199.] </p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#220">[Footnote 17:</a> <i><a name="XI17">Ibid</a>.</i>, 200.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#221">[Footnote 18:</a> <i><a name="XI18">Waer</a> ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer ghestaen
+heeft.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#222">[Footnote 19:</a> <i><a name="XI19">Lettres </a>de Louis XI</i>, iii., 289. The king apparently never
+resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dauphin.
+His letters to him are very intimate.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#224">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="XI20">Lettres</a></i>, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#224">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XI21">Kervyn</a> ed., <i>&OElig;uvres de Chastellain</i>, vii., xviii. <i>See</i> poem,
+<i>ibid.</i>, 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence
+bears this line: "Here follows a mystery made because of the
+said peace of good intention in the thought that it would be
+observed by the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way
+out of the route between Peronne and Namur, where the party
+was on October 14th. It would hardly seem possible for
+journey and visit in so brief a time.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="227">[page 227]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XII">XII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>AN EASY VICTORY</h3>
+
+<h4>1468</h4>
+<p>
+It was in the midst of heavy rains that the
+journey was made to Namur and then on
+to the environs of Liege. Grim was the
+weather, befitting, in all probability, Charles's
+own mood. The king's escort was confined to
+very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body
+of three hundred troopers was permitted to follow
+him at a distance, while the faithful Dammartin
+across the border kept himself closely informed
+of every incident connected with the march that
+his scouts could gather, and in readiness to fall
+upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm,
+while he restrained his ardour for the moment in
+obedience to Louis's anxious command.</p>
+<p>
+By the fourth week of October the Franco-Burgundian
+party were settled close to Liege
+in straggling camps, separated from each other by
+hills and uneven ground. Long was the discussion
+in council meeting as to the best mode of procedure.
+Liege was absolutely helpless in the face of this
+coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless.
+Moats she had never possessed, for digging was
+well-nigh impossible on her rocky site covered by
+mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse.
+On account of this evident weakness, the king<span class="page"><a name="228">[page 228]</a></span>
+advised dismissing half the army as needless, advice
+that was not only rejected immediately but which
+excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith.
+Over a week passed and feeble Liege continued
+obstinate, while each division of the army manoeuvred
+to be first in the assault for the sake of
+the plunder. But advance was very difficult, for
+the soldiers were impeded in their movements
+by the slime. Wild were some of the night skirmishes
+over the uneven, slippery ground and
+amidst the little sheltering hills.</p>
+<p>
+On one occasion, "a great many were hurt and
+among the rest the Prince of Orange (whom I had
+forgotten to name before), who behaved that day
+like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved
+foot off the place he first possessed.</p>
+<p>
+The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he
+failed sometimes in order giving, and to say the
+truth, he behaved himself not so advisedly as
+many wished because of the king's presence."<a href="#XII1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+There is no doubt that Charles entertained
+increasingly sinister suspicions of his guest. He
+thought the king might either try to enter the city
+ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient
+allies by a specious explanation, or else he might
+succeed in effecting his escape without fulfilling
+his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday,
+October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own
+quarters were in a little suburb of mean, low houses,<span class="page"><a name="229">[page 229]</a></span>
+with rough ground and vineyards separating his
+camp from the city. Between his house and that
+of the king, both humble dwellings, was an old
+granary, occupied by a picked Burgundian force
+of three hundred men under special injunctions to
+keep close watch over the royal guest and see that
+he played no sudden trick. To further this purpose
+of espionage, they had made a breach in the
+walls with heavy blows of their picks.</p>
+<p>
+The men were wearied with all their marching
+and skirmishing, and in order to have them in
+fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered
+all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The
+exhausted troops gladly obeyed this injunction.
+Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so, too, were
+Philip de Commines and the few attendants that
+lay within the narrow ducal chamber. Only a
+dozen pickets mounted guard in the room over
+Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired
+eyes open by playing at dice.</p>
+<p>
+On that Saturday night when Charles was thus
+prudently gathering strength for the final tussle,
+the people of Liege also indulged in repose, counting
+on Sunday being a day of rest, that is,
+the major part of the burgher folk did within city
+limits. But another plan was on foot among some
+of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An
+attack on the Burgundian camp was planned by a
+band from Franchimont, a wild and wooded district,
+south of the episcopal see. The natives
+there had all the characteristics of mountaineers,<span class="page"><a name="230">[page 230]</a></span>
+although the heights of their rugged country
+reached only modest altitudes.<a href="#XII2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+These invaders were fortunate in obtaining
+as guides the owners of the very houses requisitioned
+for the lodgings of the two princes.
+Straight to their goal they progressed through
+paths quite unknown to the foe, and therefore
+unwatched. The highlanders made a mistake in
+not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where
+in the first confusion they might have accomplished
+their design upon the lives of Louis and of Charles
+or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a
+pause at a French nobleman's tent created a disturbance
+which roused the archers in the granary.
+The latter sallied out, to meet with a fierce counter-attack.
+In order to confuse them the mountaineers
+echoed the Burgundian cries, <i>Vive
+Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez, tuez</i>, and they were
+not always immediately identified by their harsh
+Liege accent.</p>
+<p>
+The highlanders were far outnumbered by the
+Burgundians, and it was only by dint of their
+desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy
+darkness and of the locality with its unknown
+roughness that the former inflicted the damage
+that they did.</p>
+<p>
+Commines and his fellows helped the duke into
+his cuirass, and stood by his person, while the
+king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved
+themselves good fellows, who never budged from<span class="page"><a name="231">[page 231]</a></span>
+their master's feet and shot arrow upon arrow out
+into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians
+than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's
+own host, the guide of the marauders to his own
+cottage door. There were many more victims
+and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter
+characterised by the passions of war and the
+conditions of a mere burglarious attack on private
+houses.</p>
+<p>
+Quaking with fear was the king. He thought
+that if the duke should now fail to make a complete
+conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang
+in the balance. At a hasty council meeting held
+that night, Charles was very doubtful as to the
+expediency of carrying out his proposed assault
+upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were
+the allies, a fact that caused Philip de Commines
+to comment,<a href="#XII3"><sup>3</sup></a> "scarcely fifteen days had elapsed
+since these two had sworn a definitive peace and
+solemnly promised to support each other loyally.
+But confidence could not enter in any way."</p>
+<p>
+Charles gave Louis permission to retire to
+Namur and wait until the duke had reduced the
+recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought
+it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until
+they parted company for ever, and the morrow
+found him in the duke's company as he marched
+on to Liege.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would
+have been wise to depart that night. He could have<span class="page"><a name="232"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 232]</span></a></span>
+done it for he had a hundred archers of his guard,
+various gentlemen of his household, and, near at hand,
+three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was
+stayed by considerations of honour. He did not wish
+to be accused of cowardice."</p>
+
+<p>
+Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely
+pair entered Liege, heard the king say: "March
+on, my brother, for you are the luckiest prince
+alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted
+lustily, "<i>Vive Bourgogne</i>," to the infinite dismay
+of his former friends, the burghers of Liege.</p>
+<p>
+The remainder of the history of that dire Sunday
+morning differs from that of other assaults
+only in harrowing details, and the extremity of the
+pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the conquerors.
+Charles had previously spared churches,
+and protected the helpless. Above all he had
+severely punished all ill treatment of respectable
+women. Little trace of this former restraint was
+to be seen on this occasion. The inhabitants were
+destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who
+fled from their homes leaving their untasted
+breakfasts to be eaten by the intruding soldiers,
+those who were scattered through the numerous
+churches, those who attempted to defend the
+breaches in the walls&mdash;all alike were treated without
+mercy.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="olivier">[plate 16]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image16olivier.jpg" width="400" height="657" alt="OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+The Cathedral of St. Lambert, Charles did
+endeavour to protect. "The duke himself went
+thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own
+hand, whereupon all the company departed and<span class="page"><a name="233">[page 233]</a></span>
+that particular church was not pillaged, but at
+the end the men who had taken refuge there were
+captured as well as the wealth of the church."</p>
+
+<p>
+At about midday Charles joined Louis at the
+episcopal palace, where the latter had found
+apartments better suited to his rank than the rude
+huts that had sheltered him for the past few days.
+The king was in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner
+in spite of the unsavoury scenes that were still
+in progress about him. He manifested great joy
+in the successful assault, and was lavish in his
+praises of the duke's courage, taking care that his
+admiring phrases should be promptly reported
+to his cousin.<a href="#XII4"><sup>4</sup></a> His one great preoccupation,
+however, was to return to his own realm.</p>
+<p>
+After dinner the duke and he made good cheer
+together. "If the king had praised his works
+behind his back, still more loud was he in his open
+admiration. And the duke was pleased." No
+telling sign of friendship for Charles had Louis
+spared that day, so terrified was he lest some
+testimony from his ancient protégés might prove
+his ruin. "Let the word be Burgundy," he had
+cried to his followers when the attack began.</p>
+<blockquote>"<i>Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne</i>."</blockquote>
+<p>
+There is another contemporaneous historian
+who somewhat apologetically relates the following
+incident of this interview.<a href="#XII5"><sup>5</sup></a> In this friendly
+Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he<span class="page"><a name="234">[page 234]</a></span>
+ought to treat Liege when his soldiers had finished
+their work. No trace of kindliness towards his
+old friends was there in the king's answer.</p>
+<p>
+"Once my father had a high tree near his house,
+inhabited by crows who had built their nests
+thereon and disturbed his repose by their chatter.
+He had the nests removed but the crows returned
+and built anew. Several times was this repeated.
+Then he had the tree cut down at the roots. After
+that my father slept quietly."</p>
+<p>
+Four or five days passed before Louis dared
+press the question of his return home. The following
+note written in Italian, dated on the day of the
+assault, is significant of his state of mind:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+LOUIS XI. TO THE COUNT DE FOIX</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the Prince:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered
+in great multitude and with force into this city of
+Liege, and because I have great desire to return, I
+advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will depart
+hence, and I will not cease riding without making any
+stops until I reach there.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII6"><sup>6</sup></a></span> I pray you to let me know
+what is to be done.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Writ at Liege, October 30th.</p>
+
+<p class="rindent1">
+"LOYS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br /></p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"DE LA LOERE."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his<span class="page"><a name="235">[page 235]</a></span>
+host that if he could be of any further aid he hoped
+his cousin would command him. If there were, indeed,
+nothing, he thought his best plan would be to
+go to Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded
+and published to insure its validity. Charles
+grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed his
+parting guest after the treaty had been again
+read aloud to the king so that he might dissent
+from any one of its articles or ever after hold his
+peace.</p>
+<p>
+Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm everything
+sworn to at Peronne. Just as he was departing
+he put one more query: "'If perchance my brother
+now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the
+share I accord him out of love to you, what do you
+want me to do?' The duke answered abruptly
+and without thought: 'If he does not wish to
+take it, but if you content him otherwise, I will
+trust to you two.' From this question and answer
+arose great things as you shall hear later.
+So the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de
+Cordes and d'Émeries, Grand Bailiff of Hainaut
+escorted him out of ducal territory."<a href="#XII7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"O wonderful and memorable crime of this king of
+the French [declares a contemporaneous Liege sympathiser.]<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII8"><sup>8</sup></a></span>
+Scarcely anything so bad can be found in
+ancient annals or in modern history. What could be
+more stupid or more perfidious, or a better instance<span class="page"><a name="236"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 236]</span></a></span>
+of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to
+arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake
+of his own safety? Not once but many times had
+he pledged them his faith, offering them defence
+and assistance against the same Burgundians. And
+now when they are overwhelmed and confounded
+by this Burgundian duke, this king actually co-operates
+with their foe, to their damage, wears that
+foe's insignia and dares to hide himself behind those
+emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he
+himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges
+of good faith! I am ashamed to commit this to
+writing, and to hand it down to posterity, knowing
+that it will seem incredible to many. But it is so
+notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so
+many adequate witnesses who have seen and heard
+these things that no room is left for doubt of their
+veracity except to one desiring to ignore the truth."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII9"><sup>9</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+November 2d is the date of Louis's departure.
+It needs no stretch of the imagination to believe
+the words of his little Swiss page, Diesbach, when
+he says that on reaching French soil Louis dismounted
+and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of
+joy that he was his own man again.<a href="#XII10"><sup>10</sup></a> Devoutly,
+too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his
+need. Still this joy was concealed under euphemistic
+phrases in his correspondence. On November
+5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan<span class="page"><a name="237">[page 237]</a></span>
+from Beaumont:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"We went in person with the duke against the
+Liegeois, on account of their rebellion and offence,
+and the city being reduced by force to the power
+of the duke, we have left him in some part of Liege as
+we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France."</p>
+
+<p>
+In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the
+brother of the faithful secretary Aloysius Toustain,
+who had written several of Louis's letters from
+Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis
+writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure
+his protégé a pleasant reception in the university.</p>
+<p>
+The ratification of the treaty took place duly
+at Paris on Saturday, November 19th, and the
+king also sternly forbade the circulation of any
+"paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory
+pamphlets" about Charles.<a href="#XII11"><sup>11</sup></a> The same informant
+tells us that loquacious birds were put under
+a ban.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by
+virtue of his commission addressed to a young man
+of Paris named Henry Perdriel, all the magpies, jays,
+and <i>chouettes</i>, caged or otherwise, were taken in
+charge, and a record was made of all the places where
+the said birds were taken and also all that they knew
+how to say, like <i>larron, paillart</i>, etc., <i>va hors, va! Perrette
+donnes moi à boire</i>, and various other phrases that
+they had been taught."</p>
+
+<p>
+Abbé le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was
+meant for Peronne instead of a mistress of Louis<span class="page"><a name="238">[page 238]</a></span>
+of that name. But this conjecture seems the only
+basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that <i>Peronne</i>
+was a word Louis could not bear to have
+uttered.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In the way of justice there is nothing going on
+here, [wrote one Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the
+president of Burgundy], except every day they hang
+and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been taken
+prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves.
+The city is well plundered, nothing remains but rubbish.
+For example I have not been able to find a sheet
+of paper fit for writing to you, but with all my pains
+could get nothing but some leaves from an old book." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII12"><sup>12</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Charles decided that nothing should be left
+standing except churches and ecclesiastical buildings.
+On November 9th, before the final fires
+were lit, he departed from the wretched town
+and went down the left bank of the Meuse to an
+abbey on the river, where he paused for the
+night. Four leagues distant from the city was
+this place, and from it were plainly visible the
+flames of the burning buildings on that grim St.
+Hubert's Day&mdash;a day when Liege had been wont
+to give vent to merriment.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"From all the dangers that had encompassed
+him, Charles escaped with his life, simply because
+his hour had not yet struck, and because he was
+God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning
+city," is the verdict of one chronicler who does
+not spare his fellow-Liegeois for their follies while<span class="page"><a name="239"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 239]</span></a></span>
+he profoundly pities their fate.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Out of the many contemporaneous accounts
+a portion of a private letter from the duke's cup-bearer
+to his sister is added:<a href="#XII14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recommend
+myself to you and to all my good friends, men
+and women in our parts, not forgetting my <i>beaux-pères,</i>
+Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray know that,
+thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound.
+As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick
+in the hands of the marshals at Namur, and the others
+are thin enough and have no grain to eat except hay.
+The weather, has, indeed, been enough to strike a chill
+to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left Burgundy
+there have not been three fine days in succession
+and we are in a worse state than wolves.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"You already know how we passed through Lorraine
+and Ratellois without troubling about Salesart
+or other French captains, nor the other Lorrainers
+either, although they were under orders to attack us,
+and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As
+we approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke
+sent Messire Pierre de Harquantbault<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII15"><sup>15</sup></a></span> to us to show
+us what road to take. He told us that the duke had
+made a treaty with the king, who had visited him,
+news that filled us with astonishment....</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+After skirmishing for several days we reached the<span class="page"><a name="240"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 240]</span></a></span>
+faubourgs of Liege and remained there three of
+four days under arms, with no sleep and little food,
+and our horses standing in the rain with no shelter
+but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king
+and the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up
+their quarters in certain houses near the faubourg.
+[... Constant firing was interchanged for several
+days. Sallies were essayed and men were slain.]</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Finally a direct attack was made on the king and
+Monseigneur and there were more of their people than
+ours and that night Monseigneur was in great danger.
+The following Sunday at 9 A.M. we began the
+assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing
+to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said
+city, some climbing and others scaling them with
+ladders. The standards of monseigneur the marshal
+and monsgn. de Renty who had been stationed together
+in the faubourgs, were the first within the said
+city which contained at that moment sixteen to eighteen
+thousand combatants, who were surprised when
+they saw their walls scaled.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"In a moment we entered crying 'Burgundy' and
+'city gained.' Ever so many of their people were
+slain and drowned in their flight. We flew to reach
+the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where
+a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the
+water. Our ensign stood in the midst of the fray on
+the market-place, in the hopes that they would rally
+for a combat but they rallied only to flee. While we
+held our position on the square several were created
+knights.... All the churches&mdash;more than four
+hundred&mdash;were pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured
+that they will be burnt together with the rest of<span class="page"><a name="241"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 241]</span></a></span>
+the city. Piteous it is to see what ill is wrought....
+[The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur
+two or three days. Then he departed, it is said for
+Brussels to await my said lord. It is a great thing to
+have seen the puissance of my master, <i>which is great
+enough to defeat an emperor</i>. I believe the Burgundians
+will shortly return to Burgundy.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I paid my respects to my said lord, who received
+me very well. At present I am listed<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII16"><sup>16</sup></a></span> among those
+whose term is almost expired and I am ready to follow
+him wherever he wishes until my service is out, which
+will be soon. I would have written before had I had
+any one to send it by. Pray write me about yourself
+by the first comer. Praying our Lord, beloved
+sister, to keep you. Written in Liege, November
+8, 1468.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"JEHAN DE MAZILLES."</p>
+
+<p>
+This sober letter and other accounts by reliable
+witnesses agree as to the terrible havoc wrought
+in the city by the assault on October 30th and
+by determined and systematic measures of destruction,
+both during Charles's ten days' sojourn for the
+express purpose of completing the punishment
+and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly
+fell short of the intention. The destruction was
+not complete as was that of Dinant. Vitality
+remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus
+intentionally preserved by the duke.</p>
+<p>
+Having watched the tongues of flame lap the
+unfortunate city, Charles turned with his army<span class="page"><a name="242">[page 242]</a></span>
+towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country
+which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent
+antagonists to Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de
+Mazilles is in close attendance and gives further
+details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles
+carried out his purpose of leaving no seed
+of resistance to germinate. Four nights and
+three days they sojourned in a certain little
+village while there was a hard frost and where,
+without unarming, they "slept under the trees
+and drank water." Meantime a small party
+was despatched by the duke to attack the stronghold
+of Franchimont. The despairing Liegeois
+who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it
+was taken by assault. A few more days and the
+duke was assured that Liege and her people were
+shorn of their strength. When the remnant of
+survivors began to creep back to the city and
+tried to recover what was left of their property,
+many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits
+succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years.</p>
+<p>
+In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too,
+demanded reimbursement for his trouble in bending
+these free citizens to his illegal will. The
+reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal perquisites,
+all difficult to collect, and many were the
+ponderous documents that passed on the subject.
+How justly pained sounds Charles's remonstrance
+on the default of payment of taxes to his friend,
+the city's lord!</p>
+<p>
+"Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these<span class="page"><a name="243">[page 243]</a></span>
+things, taking into account the terror of our departure
+to Brussels last January, we decide, my brother and I,
+that the payment of both <i>gabelle</i> and poll tax must be
+forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of
+such taxes under any colour or pretence. At the
+request of our brother and cousin we order the inhabitants
+of the said territories to pay both <i>gabelle</i> and
+poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed
+and for the time to come, under penalty of the confiscation
+of their goods and their persons."</p>
+<p>
+It was the old story of bricks without straw&mdash;taxes
+and rents for property ruthlessly destroyed
+were so easy. To this extent of tyranny had
+Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the
+treatment of Liege was a step towards Charles's
+final disaster. So much hatred was excited against
+him that his adherents fell off one by one when his
+luck began to fail him.</p>
+<p>
+No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this
+time, however. That month of November saw
+him master absolute wherever he was and he used
+his power autocratically. At Huy, he had a number
+of prisoners executed. At Louvain, at Brussels,
+he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness as an
+overlord.</p>
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#228">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XII1">Commines</a>, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place
+where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse
+exactly a hundred years later.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#230">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XII2">The</a> story of the "men of Franchimont" is questioned.
+Commines is the only authority for it.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#231">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XII3">II</a>., ch. xiii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#233">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XII4">Commines</a>, ii., ch. xiii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#234">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XII5">Oudenbosch</a>, <i>Veterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima Collectio</i>,
+ed. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de Veteri Busco, p. 1343.
+The writer acknowledges that the story is hearsay.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#234">[Footnote 6:</a> "<i><a name="XII6">Non</a> cessero di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna.
+Lettres,iii</i>., 300.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#235">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XII7">Commines</a>, ii., ch. xiv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#235">[Footnote 8:</a> "<i><a name="XII8">O</a> pr&oelig;clarum et memorabile facinus hujus regis Francorum</i>."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#236">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XII9">Basin</a>, <i>Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XI</i>.,
+Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in <i>Excerpta ex Amelgardi.
+De gestis Ludovici XI</i>., cap. xxiii. Martene's <i>Amplissima
+Collectio,</i> iv., 740 <i>et seq</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#236">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XII10">Quoted</a> in Kirk, i., 606, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#237">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XII11">Jean</a> de Roye, <i>Chronique Scandaleuse</i>, ed. Mandrot, i., 220.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#238">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XII12">Comines</a>-Lenglet, iii., 83.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#239">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XII13">Johannes </a>de Los, <i>Chronicon</i>, p. 60. <i>Quia hora nendum
+venerat.</i> De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liége."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#239">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XII14">Commynes</a>-Dupont, <i>Preuves</i>, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan
+de Mazilles to his sister.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#239">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XII15">Hagenbach</a>, later Governor of Alsace.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#241">[Footnote 16:</a> <i><a name="XII16">Conte</a> aux escros</i>. This word strictly applies to the prisoners
+on a jailer's list&mdash;evidently used in jest.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="244">[page 244]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XIII">XIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>A NEW ACQUISITION</h3>
+
+<h4>1469-1473</h4>
+<p>
+This successful expedition against Liege
+carried Charles of Burgundy to the very
+crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was
+moreover gratified by the regard shown to him
+at home and abroad. A man who could force
+a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful rôle
+enacted by Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a
+man to be respected if not loved. And messages
+of admiration and respect couched in various
+terms were despatched from many quarters to the
+duke as soon as he was at Brussels to receive them.</p>
+<p>
+Ghent had long since made apologies for the
+sorry reception accorded to their incoming Count
+of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed
+the formal <i>amende</i> until a convenient moment of
+leisure. January 15, 1469, was finally appointed
+for this ceremony and the occasion was utilised
+to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humiliation,
+to as many people as possible who might
+spread the report far and wide.</p>
+<p>
+It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the
+palace the snow was thick on the ground where a
+group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for an
+hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal
+presence. There, too, where every one could see<span class="page"><a name="245">[page 245]</a></span>
+those emblems of the artisans' corporate strength,
+fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the
+deans of the Ghentish <i>métiers</i>.<a href="#XIII1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Within, the great hall of the palace showed a
+splendid setting for a brilliant assembly. The
+most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the
+walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander,
+of Hannibal, and of other notable ancients formed
+the background for the duke and his nobles,
+knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As
+spectators, too, there were all the envoys and
+ambassadors then present in Brussels from
+"France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples,
+Aragon, Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Denmark,
+Russia, Livornia, Prussia, Austria, Milan,
+Lombardy, and other places."</p>
+<p>
+Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind
+of throne, and to his feet Olivier de la Marche
+conducted the civic procession of penitents.
+Before this pompous gathering, after a statement
+of the city's sin and sorrow, the precious charter
+called the Grand Privilege of Ghent was solemnly
+read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with
+a pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the
+penalties imposed upon, and accepted by, the citizens
+(closing of the gates, etc)., and then the
+paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pronounced
+the fault forgiven with the benediction,
+"By virtue of this submission and by keeping <span class="page"><a name="246">[page 246]</a></span>
+your promises and being good children, you shall
+enjoy our grace and we will be a good prince."
+"May our Saviour Jesus Christ confirm and preserve
+this peace to the end of this century," is
+the pious ejaculation with which the <i>Relation</i>
+closes.</p>
+<p>
+Among the witnesses of the above scene, when
+the independent citizens of Ghent meekly posed
+as the duke's children, were envoys from George
+Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed
+by the pope, he was seeking some favourable
+ally who might help him to recover his realm.
+He had conceived a plan for a coalition between
+Bohemia, Poland, Austria, and Hungary to present
+a solid rampart against the Turks, and strong
+enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He
+was ready for intrigue with any power and had
+approached Louis XI. and Matthias Corvinus,
+King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of
+Burgundy.<a href="#XIII2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit
+links with this same Matthias by suggesting that
+he might be the next emperor, assuring him that
+he could count on the support of the electors of
+Mayence, of Trèves, and of Saxony. He himself
+was world-weary and was anxious to exchange
+his imperial cares for the repose of the Church
+could he only find a safe guardian for his son,
+Maximilian, and a desirable successor for himself.<span class="page"><a name="247">[page 247]</a></span>
+Would not Matthias consider the two offices?</p>
+<p>
+Potent arguments like these induced Matthias
+not only to turn his back on Podiebrad, but to
+accept that deposed monarch's crown which the
+Bohemian nobles offered him May 3, 1469. Then
+he proceeded to ally himself with Frederic, elector
+palatine, and with the elector of Bavaria. This
+was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia
+made renewed offers of friendly alliance to Charles
+of Burgundy. In his name the Sire de Stein
+brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles
+which contained the provision that Podiebrad
+should support the election of Charles as King of
+the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two
+hundred thousand florins (Rhenish).<a href="#XIII3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+This modest sum was to secure not only Podiebrad's
+own vote but his "influence" with the
+Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony
+and the Margrave of Brandenburg.<a href="#XIII4"><sup>4</sup></a> While
+Podiebrad thus dangled the ultimate hopes of
+the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he
+over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of
+fact the royal exile had no "influence" at all
+with the first named elector, and the last, too,
+showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his
+unstable policy. Both were content to advise
+Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty
+overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of<span class="page"><a name="248">[page 248]</a></span>
+importance.</p>
+<p>
+Another negotiation which sought him unasked
+had, however, a material influence on the course
+of events, and must be touched on in some detail.
+Sigismund of Austria&mdash;first duke then archduke,&mdash;Count
+of Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic,
+was a member of the House of Habsburg. In
+1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and
+became brother-in-law of Louis during the term
+of the dauphin's first marriage. An indolent,
+extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated by
+his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol included
+certain territories lying far from his capital,
+Innsbruck. Certain portions of Upper Alsace,
+lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau
+in Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seigniories
+in the Black Forest were under his sway.</p>
+<p>
+These particular domains were so remote from
+Innsbruck that the authority of the hereditary
+overlord had long been eluded. The nobles pillaged
+the land near their castles very much at
+their own sweet will. The harassed burghers appealed
+to the Alsatian Décapole,<a href="#XIII5"><sup>5</sup></a> and again to the
+free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes
+obtained more than they wanted.</p>
+<p>
+Mulhouse was seriously affected by these lawless
+depredations. To her, Berne promised aid
+in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466, and
+at Berne's insistance the cowardly nobles restrained<span class="page"><a name="249">[page 249]</a></span>
+their license. But when the city attempted to
+extend its authority Sigismund interfered. Having
+no army, however, he could not recover Waldshut,
+which the Swiss claimed a right to annex,
+except by offering ten thousand florins for the
+town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men,
+he had, however, no means to pay this ransom
+and begged aid in every direction. Moreover, he
+feared further aggressions from the cantons, which
+were growing more daring. What man in Europe
+was better able to teach them a lesson than Charles,
+the destroyer of Liege, the stern curber of undue
+liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person
+to tame insolent Swiss cowherds?</p>
+<p>
+In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made
+known to Charles his desire for a bargain, intimating
+that in case of the duke's refusal, he would carry his
+wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was
+busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigismund's
+proposition. The latter tried to see Louis
+XI. personally in accordance with his imperial
+cousin's advice that an interview might be more
+effective than a letter.</p>
+<p>
+It did not prove a propitious time, however;
+Louis was deeply engaged with Burgundy and he
+was not disposed to take any steps that might
+estrange the Swiss&mdash;and any espousal of Sigismund's
+interests might alienate them. He did not even
+permit an opening to be made, but stopped Sigismund's
+approach to him by a message that he
+would not for a moment entertain a suggestion<span class="page"><a name="250">[page 250]</a></span>
+inimical to those dear friends of his in the cantons&mdash;a
+sentiment that quickly found its way to
+Switzerland.</p>
+<p>
+Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear,
+Sigismund decided that he would make another
+essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time
+face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he
+journeyed and found Charles in the midst of
+the ostentatious magnificence already described.
+Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a
+splendour hardly attained by the emperor in the
+most pompous functions of his court. Sigismund
+was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy
+prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's
+sole heiress led the Austrian to conceive the not
+unnatural idea that this attractive Burgundian
+wealth might be turned into the impoverished
+imperial coffers by a marriage between Mary of
+Burgundy and Maximilian, the emperor's son.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="mary1">[plate 17]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image17mary1.jpg" width="400" height="505" alt="MARY OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The visitor not only thought of this possibility,
+but he immediately broached it to Charles. The
+bait was swallowed. As to the main proposition
+which Sigismund had come expressly to make,
+that, too, was not rejected. The duke perceived
+that the transfer of the Rhenish lands to his jurisdiction
+might militate to his advantage. A passage
+would be opened towards the south for his troops
+without the need of demanding permission from
+any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble with
+the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the
+advantages of Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which<span class="page"><a name="251">[page 251]</a></span>
+he finally decided to accept. Probably he found
+his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not
+only did he broach the tempting alliance between
+Mary and Maximilian, but he, too, seems to have
+hinted that the title of "King of the Romans"
+might be added to the long list of appellations
+already signed by Charles.<a href="#XIII6"><sup>6</sup></a> As Sigismund was
+richer in kin, if not in coin, than the feeble Podiebrad,
+Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion
+which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in
+the course of the long conversations held at
+Bruges.</p>
+<p>
+Certain precautions were taken to protect
+Charles from being dragged into Swiss complications
+against his will, and then in May, 1469, the
+treaty of St. Omer was signed,<a href="#XIII7"><sup>7</sup></a> wherein the Duke
+of Burgundy accorded his protection to Sigismund
+of Austria and received from him all his seigniorial
+rights within certain specified territories.</p>
+<p>
+The most important part of this cession comprised
+Upper Alsace and the county of Ferrette,
+but there were also many other fragments of
+territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides
+lordship over various Rhenish cities, such as
+Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg, Waldshut
+and Brisac. This last named town commanded
+the route eastward, as Waldshut that to the southeast,
+and Thann the highway through the Vosges<span class="page"><a name="252">[page 252]</a></span>
+region.</p>
+<p>
+Fifty thousand florins was the price for the property
+and the claims transferred from Sigismund
+to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at once,
+in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The
+remainder was due on September 24th. On his
+part, Sigismund specifically recognised the duke's
+right to redeem all domains nominally his but
+mortgaged for the time being, certain estates or
+seignorial rights having been thus alienated for
+150 years.</p>
+<p>
+This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was
+a mortgage, but a mortgage with possession to the
+mortgagee and further restricted by the provision
+that there could be no redemption unless the
+mortgager could repay at Besançon the whole loan
+plus all the outlay made by the mortgagee up to
+that date. Instalment payments were expressly
+ruled out. The entire sum intact was made obligatory.
+Therefore the danger of speedy redemption
+did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man
+he had to deal with. Sigismund's lack of foresight
+and his prodigality were notorious. There
+was faint chance that he could ever command the
+amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was
+fairly justified in counting the mortgaged territory
+as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity.</p>
+<p>
+Sigismund pocketed his florins eagerly. Nothing
+could have been more welcome to him. But this
+relief from the pressure of his pecuniary embarrassment
+did not inspire him with love for the man<span class="page"><a name="253">[page 253]</a></span>
+who held his lost lands. His sentiments towards
+Charles were very similar to those of an heir towards
+a usurer who has helped him in a temporary
+strait by mulcting him of his natural rights.</p>
+<p>
+As for the emperor, when this transfer of territory
+was an accomplished fact, he began to take
+fright at the consequences. He did not like this
+intrusion of a powerful French peer into the imperial
+circle.<a href="#XIII8"><sup>8</sup></a> At the same time he was ready to
+make him share responsibility in any further
+difficulties that might arise between Sigismund
+and the Swiss.</p>
+<p>
+The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen
+difficulties for Charles on his own account, both
+foreign and domestic. His own relations with the
+Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had
+never before been so near a neighbour, while, within
+the Rhine lands, it was an open question whether
+the bartered inhabitants were to enjoy or regret
+their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of
+their sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference
+to Charles as was danger from the Confederation.
+Neither conciliation nor diplomacy
+was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the
+intricacies of the situation. He counted the landgraviate
+as definitely his by the treaty of St. Omer
+as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.</p>
+<p>
+The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley<span class="page"><a name="254">[page 254]</a></span>
+towns&mdash;a policy that might have won their allegiance&mdash;never
+occurred to him. They were his
+property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course
+of time, made lieutenant-governor in his behalf.</p>
+<p>
+Apart from all personal considerations of
+enmity and amity of natives and neighbours, the
+territory of Upper Alsace and the county of Ferrette,
+delivered from needy Austria to rich Burgundy,
+like a coat pawned by a poor student, was
+held under very complex and singular conditions.<a href="#XIII9"><sup>9</sup></a>
+The status of the bargain between Sigismund and
+Charles was in point of fact something between
+pawn and sale, according to the point of view.
+Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while
+Charles did not admit that possibility as remotely
+contingent. Nor was that the only peculiarity. The
+itemised list of the ceded territories as given in
+the treaty was far from telling the facts of the
+possessions passing to Sigismund's proxy.</p>
+<p>
+In the first place the Austrian seigniories were
+not compact. They were scattered here and there
+in the midst of lands ruled by others, as the Bishop
+of Strasburg, the Abbé of St. Blaise in the Black
+Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel
+and of Mulhouse, and others.</p>
+<p>
+The existent variety in the extent and nature<span class="page"><a name="255">[page 255]</a></span>
+of Austrian title was extraordinary. Nearly every
+possible combination of dismembered prerogative
+and actual tenure had resulted from the long series
+of ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or
+a quit-rent was the sole cession, and again a toll or a
+prerogative was almost the only residue remaining
+to the ostensible overlord, while all his former
+property or transferable birthright privileges
+were lodged in various hands on divers tenures.
+There were cases in which the mortgagee&mdash;noble,
+burgher, or municipal corporation&mdash;had taken
+the exact place of the Austrian duke and in so
+doing had become the vassal of his debtor,
+stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty.
+For in these bargains wherein elements of the
+Roman contract and feudal customs were curiously
+blended, two classes of rights had been invariably
+reserved by the ducal mortgagers:</p>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+(1) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured
+free circulation on the highways, the old Roman
+roads, all jurisdiction of passports and travellers'
+protection.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+(2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power
+to confer fiefs, of requisition of military service,
+of requesting <i>aids</i> and admission to strongholds,
+cities, or castles, <i>le droit de forteresse jurable et
+rendable</i>.</p>
+<p>
+In these regards the compact between Charles
+and Sigismund differed from all previous covenants
+not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke of
+Burgundy entered into the <i>sovereign</i> as well as<span class="page"><a name="256">[page 256]</a></span>
+into the mangled, maimed, and curtailed proprietary
+rights of the hereditary over-lord.</p>
+<p>
+In his assumption of this involved and doubtful
+property, Charles laid heavy responsibilities on
+his shoulders. The actual price of fifty thousand
+gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction
+of the pecuniary obligations incurred, while the
+weight of care was difficult to gauge. He succeeded
+to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose misrule
+had long been a curse to the land. The incursions
+of the Swiss, the repeated descents of the
+Rhine nobles from their crag-lodged strongholds
+to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants and
+plunged peaceful labourers into misery.</p>
+<p>
+Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the
+neighbouring cities repeatedly became the accomplices
+of these brigands, affording them asylums
+for refitting and free passage when they were
+laden with evident booty.</p>
+<p>
+In all departments of finance and administration
+disorder prevailed. The chief officials, castellans
+and councillors, enjoyed high salaries for neglected
+duties. The castles were in wretched repair and
+there were insufficient troops to guard the roads.
+There was no dependence upon the receipts nominally
+to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged
+lands, the lords simply levied what they could,
+without the slightest responsibility for the order
+of the domain; they did not hesitate to charge their
+suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no<span class="page"><a name="257">[page 257]</a></span>
+one would verify their declaration.</p>
+<p>
+In the territories of the immediate domain, the
+Austrian dukes and their officials had no notion
+of the rigid system maintained in Burgundy.
+Only here and there can little memoranda be
+found and these are confused and obscure. There
+is a dearth of accurate records like those voluminous
+registers of outlays kept by Burgundian receivers,
+registers so rich in detail that they are
+more valuable for the historian than any chronicle.</p>
+<p>
+Exact appraisal of the resources of these <i>pays
+de par de là</i> was very difficult. Between 1469
+and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain reliable
+information by means of as many successive commissions
+despatched to the Rhine valley by the
+Duke of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+Envoys drew up minutes of their observations
+in addition to their official reports and all were
+preserved in the archives. As these were written
+from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the
+accounts of the receivers now lost, etc., there is
+real value in the documents.</p>
+<p>
+The first commission in behalf of Burgundy
+was composed of two Germans and three Walloons.
+One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach,
+who won no enviable reputation in the later exercise
+of his office as lieutenant-governor of the
+annexed region, to which he was shortly afterwards
+appointed. This first commission entered
+into formal possession in Charles's name and
+instituted some desired reforms immediately,<span class="page"><a name="258">[page 258]</a></span>
+such as policing the highways, etc.</p>
+<p>
+The second commission made its visit in 1471.
+It consisted of Jean Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and
+Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of Amont.</p>
+<p>
+The third commission (1473) was under the
+auspices of Monseigneur Coutault, master of accounts
+at Dijon. He carried with him the report
+of his predecessors and made his additions
+thereto.</p>
+<p>
+Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June
+13, 1471) were vague and general. They were
+"to see the conduct of his affairs" <i>(voir la conduite
+de ses affaires</i>). The important point was to find
+out how much revenue could be obtained. As the
+duke's plan of expansion grew larger he had need
+of all his resources.</p>
+<p>
+The reports were eminently discouraging. Outlay
+was needed everywhere&mdash;income was small.
+As the chances of peculation diminished, the castellans
+deserted their posts and left the castles
+to decay. The Burgundian commission of 1471
+found the difficulties of their exploration increased
+by two items. Charles had not advanced an
+allowance for their expenses and they were anxious
+to be back at Vesoul by Michaelmas, the
+date of the change in municipal offices and of appropriations
+for the year. It was in hopes of
+receiving advance moneys that they delayed in
+starting, but the approaching election and coming
+winter finally decided them to set out, pay their
+own expenses, and complete the business as rapidly<span class="page"><a name="259">[page 259]</a></span>
+as they could in a fortnight.</p>
+<p>
+The summary of this report of 1471 was that
+there was little present prospect that Charles would
+be able to reimburse himself for his necessary expenses.
+An undue portion of authority and of
+revenue was legally lodged in alien hands. Charles
+was possessed of germs of rights rather than of
+actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria held
+all the best mortgages with their attendant emoluments.
+The immediate profits accruing to the
+Duke of Burgundy fell far short of the minimum
+necessary to disburse to keep his government, his
+strongholds, his highways in repair. Very disturbed
+were the good treasurer of Vesoul and the
+procureur-general of Amont at this state of affairs,
+and distressed at the prospect of the ampler
+receipts from Burgundy being required to relieve
+the pressing necessities of the poor territories <i>de
+par de là</i>.</p>
+<p>
+To avoid this contingency, the commissioners
+recommended the duke to redeem all the existing
+mortgages great and small. It would cost 140,000
+florins, but the revenue would at once increase
+with the new security which would immediately
+follow under firm Burgundian rule. Sole master,
+Charles could then enforce obedience from
+nobles and cities and better conditions would be
+inaugurated.</p>
+<p>
+Evidently this rational advice was not taken,
+for it is repeated by Coutault in 1473. Redemption
+of the mortgages, "if your affairs can afford<span class="page"><a name="260">[page 260]</a></span>
+it," is the counsel given by the chamber of accounts
+at Dijon, though this sage board adds that
+they were well aware that in the previous month
+Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hundred
+florins to redeem one wretched little <i>gagerie.</i>
+The native coffers of the region did not suffice to
+settle the salaries of the officers in charge.</p>
+<p>
+Such then was the new acquisition of Charles
+after four years of his administration. Peter
+von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this unremunerative
+territory, is a character painted
+in the darkest colours by all historians. It is
+more than probable that his unpopular efforts
+to make bricks without straw were largely
+responsible for his unenviable reputation.
+Ground between the upper and lower millstones
+of Charles's clamours for revenues and
+popular clamours that the people had nothing
+wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a
+taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying
+type, who made himself thoroughly hated by the
+people he was set to rule.</p>
+<p>
+It must be remembered that there was no cleft
+in nationality or in language between governor
+and governed. He was not a foreigner set over
+them. He was one of them raised to a high position.
+There was then no French element in
+Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and
+simple.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="map">[plate 18]</a></span>
+<p class="center">Click on <b>Map</b> to enlarge<br /><br />
+<a href="#largemap"><img src="cbimages/image18map1.jpg" width="400" height="661" alt="MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES" border="0" /></a></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#245">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XIII1">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 204-209. "Relation de l'assemblée
+solennelle tenue à Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#246">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XIII2">See</a>Toutey, <i>Charles le Téméraire et la ligue de Constance</i>,
+p. 7.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#247">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XIII3">See</a>  the text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., 116. Charles
+is characterised as <i>ducem strenuum in armis ac justitiæ
+præcipium zelatorem</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#247">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XIII4">See</a> Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 371.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#248">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XIII5">Thus</a> was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from
+Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confederation
+by the Emperor Charles IV.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#251">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XIII6">Toutey</a>, p. 11.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#251">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XIII7">See</a> "Fontes Rerum Austriacarum" Chmel, J., <i>Urkunden
+zur Geschichte von Osterreich</i>, etc., II<span class="super">2</span>, 223 <i>et passim</i>. One
+document, p. 229, has <i>Marz</i> as a misprint for <i>Mai</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#253">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XIII8">Charles</a> was, to be sure, already within that circle for some
+of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there
+were very shadowy.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#254">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XIII9">See</a> Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable article
+by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes
+dans la vallée du Rhin sous Charles le Téméraire," <i>Annales
+de l'Est,</i> vol. 18. This article, is the result of a careful
+examination of the reports made by Poinsot and Pellet,
+Charles's commissioners.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="261">[page 261]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XIV">XIV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>ENGLISH AFFAIRS</h3>
+
+<h4>1470-1471</h4>
+<p>
+In order to follow out the extension of Burgundian
+jurisdiction in one direction, the
+course of events in the duke's life has been anticipated
+a little. The thread of the story now returns
+to 1469, when Charles and Sigismund separated
+at St. Omer both well pleased with their bargain.
+Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges and
+then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his
+sojourn had been interrupted in 1468 by his alarm
+about French duplicity. In the glow caused by
+his past achievements, his present reputation, and
+future prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a
+mood to prove to his subjects his excellence as a
+paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey
+easy access was permitted to his presence and he
+was lavish in the time given to receiving petitions
+from the humblest plaintiff. The following gruesome
+incident is an illustration of the summary
+methods attributed to him.<a href="#XIV1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the
+governor, a man of noble birth, a knight, fell in
+love with a married woman who indignantly repudiated<span class="page"><a name="262">[page 262]</a></span>
+his advances. In revenge the governor had
+the husband arrested on a charge of high treason.
+The wife, left without a protector, continued
+obdurate to the knight until the alternative of her
+husband's release or his death was offered her as
+the reward for accepting the governor's base suit
+or as the penalty of her refusal. She chose to
+redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she
+went to the prison and was led to her husband
+truly, but he lay dead and in his coffin!</p>
+<p>
+When the Duke of Burgundy was once within
+the Zealand capital, this injured woman hastened
+to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner for justice.
+He heard her complaint and straightway summoned
+the ex-governor to his presence. The accused
+confessed that he had been carried away
+by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles
+of his long and faithful devotion to the late duke
+and to himself, and offered any possible reparation
+for his crime. The duke ordered him to marry his
+victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion,
+but was forced by her family to accept it. After
+the nuptial benediction, the knight again appeared
+before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff was
+satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly,
+"but not I." He remanded the bridegroom to
+prison, had him shriven and executed all within an
+hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown
+her second husband in his coffin as she had seen her
+first, and on the same spot. "It was a penalty
+that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the<span class="page"><a name="263">[page 263]</a></span>
+plaintiff died from the double shock."</p>
+<p>
+The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to
+Holland. Everywhere he evinced himself equally
+uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable
+and considerate towards the lower classes and
+humble folk. Various other stories related about
+him at this epoch are difficult to accept as authentic,
+for the main detail has appeared at other
+times under different guises. Wandering tales
+seem to alight, like birds of passage, on successive
+people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
+hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.</p>
+<p>
+The Hague was the duke's headquarters during
+two months, and there also he held open court and
+gave audience to many embassies in the midst of
+his administrative work pertaining to Holland
+and its nearest neighbours. He took measures to
+recover what he claimed had been usurped by
+Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make
+good the title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the
+wisp to successive Counts of Holland and never
+acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld
+together the various provinces the months passed,
+until a new turn of foreign events began to absorb
+the duke's whole attention.</p>
+<p>
+The details of English politics with all the reasons
+for revolution and counter-revolution involved
+in the complicated civil disorders, the Wars of
+the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can
+only be suggested in his biography. It must be
+remembered that the modern impression of English<span class="page"><a name="264">[page 264]</a></span>
+stability and French fickleness in political institutions,
+an impression casting reflections direct
+and indirect upon literature as well as history, is
+based on the changes in France from 1789 down
+to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century.
+Quite the reverse is the earlier tradition based on
+the kaleidoscopic shifts familiar to several generations
+of observers in the fifteenth century<a href="#XIV2"><sup>2</sup></a>; stable
+and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings
+of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across
+the Channel.</p>
+<p>
+Since 1461, Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster
+had been a passive prisoner, while Margaret of
+Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts to win
+adherents at home and abroad for her captive
+husband and her exiled son.<a href="#XIV3"><sup>3</sup></a> In 1463, she had received
+some aid, some encouragement from Philip
+of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward
+IV. as king and although, too, his personal sympathies
+were Yorkish rather than Lancastrian.</p>
+<p>
+It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into
+Lille, but later the duke himself entertained her
+munificently. The poverty-stricken exile probably
+found the accompanying ducal gifts more<span class="page"><a name="265">[page 265]</a></span>
+to the immediate purpose than the ducal feasts.
+Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed upon
+herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while
+various Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard
+times by useful sums of money.</p>
+<p>
+Pleasant though the recognition was, however,
+the pecuniary assistance was quite insufficient
+to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine years
+Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts
+were made to dislodge him. As he never forgot
+his mother's lineage, the sympathies of Charles of
+Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Margaret
+may have counted confidently on that sympathy
+proving valuable for her son as soon as
+Charles himself had a free hand. But when he
+came into his heritage, his marriage with Margaret
+of York put a definite end to those hopes.
+The new duke thereby declared his acceptance
+of the king whom the Earl of Warwick had seated
+upon the English throne. Then came clashing
+of wills between that king and his too powerful
+subject-adviser.<a href="#XIV4"><sup>4</sup></a> To punish his unruly royal
+protégé, Warwick turned his attention to the
+Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive
+to Edward IV. A marriage was planned between
+this possible future monarch and the earl's
+eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated
+at Calais without the king's knowledge (July,<span class="page"><a name="266">[page 266]</a></span>
+1469).</p>
+<p>
+In the same summer occurred a rising in Yorkshire,
+possibly instigated by Warwick.<a href="#XIV5"><sup>5</sup></a> The malcontents,
+sixty thousand strong, declared that
+the king was giving ear to base counsellors and
+must be coerced into better ways. An attempt
+to suppress this revolt by the royal troops resulted
+in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father
+of Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was
+taken prisoner and beheaded.</p>
+<p>
+Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to Warwick.
+Over the Channel hastened the earl and his
+new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king at
+Olney, and&mdash;Edward found himself if not exactly
+a prisoner, at least under restraint. Two sovereigns&mdash;both
+without power even over their own
+actions,&mdash;such was the situation in England at the
+end of 1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self-complacently
+regarding Louis XI. as a foe convinced
+of his own inferiority.</p>
+<p>
+A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal
+brother-in-law was probably the reason why Edward
+IV. was set at liberty, and why a reconciliation
+was patched up between him and his
+councillor, with full pardon for Warwick's adherents.
+But it was short-lived. A fresh outbreak in
+March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and
+Clarence sided with the rebels, the king was victorious,
+and his unfaithful friend and brother were
+again forced to flee under a shower of menaces<span class="page"><a name="267">[page 267]</a></span>
+hurled after them.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erle of Warrewyk
+our Rebell and Traytour come into oure seid
+Land we woll ... that ye doo Hym and Theym to
+be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto
+Us either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C.<i>l</i> of
+Land in Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or
+Mil. <i>Lib</i> in Redy money at his election." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV6"><sup>6</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the proclamation issued on March
+22d by the king himself at York.</p>
+<p>
+Between Edward and Charles a new link had
+just been forged in the chain of friendship. The
+Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by the
+duke:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"We have to-day received from our much honoured
+seigneur and brother, the king of England, his Order
+of the Garter together with the mantle and other
+ornaments and things appertaining to the said Order
+and have ... taken the oath according to the
+statutes of the Order.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal,
+February 4, 1469 [O.S.]." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV7"><sup>7</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Now it was in consideration of needs that might
+arise in the near future, following on the trail
+of these wide-reaching English convulsions, that
+Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for
+a strong military defence calculated to suit any<span class="page"><a name="268">[page 268]</a></span>
+emergency. Louis XI. had a permanent force at
+his command. He had made the beginning of the
+French standing army, the nucleus of one of
+those bodies that have ever since urged each
+other on to expensive growth from opposite sides
+of European frontiers. What one monarch possessed
+that must his near neighbour have.</p>
+<p>
+Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercenaries,
+were all alike unstable bulwarks for a nation.
+Nation as yet Charles had not, but he wanted to
+be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he
+issued an ordinance for the levy of a thousand
+lances, amounting to five thousand combatants,
+to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at
+call under officers of his own appointment. The
+ducal treasury could not stand the whole expense.
+To meet the deficit, Charles asked from his Netherland
+Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns
+for three years. Power to impose taxes he had
+none. A request to each individual province was
+all the requisition that he could make.</p>
+<p>
+In this case, most of the provinces approached
+had acceded to the demand, when the Estates of
+Flanders convened at Lille. Here the Chancellor
+of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of
+the demand, and then the session was changed to
+Bruges, where they debated on the merits of the
+request, urged on further by explanatory letters
+from Charles. Finally, a deputation was appointed
+by the Estates to go over to Ghent and
+present a <i>Remonstrance</i> to their impatient sovereign<span class="page"><a name="269">[page 269]</a></span>
+beggar.</p>
+<p>
+Three points were set forth. The deputies
+objected to this grant being asked only from the
+lands <i>de par de ça</i>&mdash;the Netherlands and not from
+the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite
+assessment imposed on each province. Thirdly,
+they desired a declaration that the fiefs and arrière-fiefs
+already bound to furnish troops should be
+exempt from share in this tax. The remonstrance
+was courtly in tone. Written in French, the concluding
+phrases were in Latin and suggested that
+nothing was more becoming a prince than clemency,
+especially towards his subjects.<a href="#XIV8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's
+response.<a href="#XIV9"><sup>9</sup></a> How could Burgundy furnish money?
+It is a poor land. It takes after France.<a href="#XIV10"><sup>10</sup></a> But
+its men make a third of the army. They are the
+Burgundian contribution. As to an assessment,
+what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid?
+Only out of malice is this idle point suggested.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"You act as you have always done&mdash;you Flemings.
+Neither to my father nor to me have you ever
+been liberal. What you have granted&mdash;sometimes
+more than our request&mdash;has always been given so
+tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish
+skulls are hard and thick and you cling to your stubborn<span class="page"><a name="270"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 270]</span></a></span>
+and perverse opinions.... I am half of
+France and half of Portugal and I know how to meet
+such heads as yours, ay and <i>will</i> do it. You have always
+either hated or despised your prince&mdash;if powerful
+you hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your
+hatred to your contempt. Not for your privileges or
+anything else will I permit myself to be trampled on&mdash;and
+I have the power to prevent such trampling."</p>
+
+<p>
+Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his
+demand, whose purpose mainly was for defence of
+Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate his visitors
+soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring
+that as to the fiefs and arrière-fiefs he would see to
+it that no double burdens were borne.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"And when you shall have determined to accord
+my request,&mdash;which you will assuredly do (and I do
+not mean to burden you further unless I am forced
+to it),&mdash;send some of your deputies after me to Lille or
+St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my council,
+I will determine the apportionment and we will
+speak also of other matters touching my province of
+Flanders."</p>
+
+<p>
+It was this vehement oratory&mdash;and this vehemence
+was repeated on many occasions&mdash;that did
+more to alienate Charles from his hereditary subjects
+than his actual demands. There is little
+doubt that his period of residence in their midst
+brought with it hatred rather than liking. No
+political error of his serves to explain the Flemish
+attitude towards the duke as does his method of
+address, the gratuitous contempt displayed towards<span class="page"><a name="271">[page 271]</a></span>
+burghers whose purses were needed for his
+game. The <i>aide</i> was granted, indeed, but it was
+levied with sullen reluctance.</p>
+<p>
+What cause Charles had to make his preparations,
+what were the proceedings of the English
+exiles may be seen from the following letters to his
+mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is
+probably in answer to her questionings; the second
+is a specimen of the epistles showered upon the
+border towns.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"TO MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LADY AND MOTHER,</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+MADAME THE DUCHESS, AT AIRE:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"May it please you to know that in regard to what
+the Sgr. de Crèvec&oelig;ur has written you about the
+king's proclamations that he intends to maintain his
+treaties and promises to me, etc., and has no desire
+to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects
+to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and
+his, assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary
+has been and is well known before the said publications
+and after. The Earl of Warwick is my foe and
+could not, according to the treaty existing between
+the king and me, be received in Normandy or elsewhere
+in the realm ... [complaints about the
+procedure have been sent to king and parliament and
+councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more, the
+Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext
+of carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which
+man was charged to spy upon my ships and by means
+of a caravel named the <i>Brunette</i>, sent for this purpose
+by the admiral, to cut the cables to set them adrift
+and founder&mdash;or to capture certain ships with such<span class="page"><a name="272"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 272]</span></a></span>
+captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find,
+and myself, too, if they were able.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy
+on my towns, etc., and those of the caravel called
+the <i>Brunette</i> were charged, if they failed in taking
+my ships, or in cutting their cables, to set fire to them&mdash;all
+in direct conflict with the terms of the treaties,
+and procedures that the king would never have tolerated
+had he had the slightest intention of maintaining
+his word ... [Charles does not consider Groothuse
+to blame at all, etc.]<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV11"><sup>11</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates
+of Ypres, June 10, 1470</i></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"DEAR FRIENDS:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"It has come to your knowledge how after the
+Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick were expelled
+from England on account of their sedition and
+their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both
+by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and
+on <i>Vendredi absolut</i><span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV12"><sup>12</sup></a></span> went so far as to capture by fraud
+ships and property belonging to our subjects, and
+have further done damage whenever opportunity
+presented itself.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"In order to repel them we have ordered them to be
+attacked on the sea. Moreover, at the same time
+we were advised that the same Clarence and Warwick
+and their people, after they were routed at sea by the
+troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King<span class="page"><a name="273"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 273]</span></a></span>
+of England, retreated to the marches of Normandy
+and were honourably received at Honfleur by the
+Admiral of France with all which they had saved
+from the raid on our subjects after the defeat.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"All this was direct infringement of the treaties
+lately made between Monseigneur the king and myself.
+Therefore, we wrote at once to Monsgr. the king
+begging him not to favour or aid the said Clarence
+and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere
+in his realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute
+the property of our subjects, and to show his will by
+publishing such prohibitions throughout Normandy
+and elsewhere where need is.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris,
+and to the council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The
+answer was that the king meant to keep the treaty
+between him and us and had ordered his subjects
+in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to
+our subjects ... but we have since learned
+that, notwithstanding, this same property has been
+distributed and ransoms have been negotiated in the
+sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and his
+officers.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means
+of the aid furnished by the king to the said Clarence
+and Warwick, the latter are enabled to continue the
+war on our subjects and not on the English, it being
+understood that they who were banished from England
+are not strong enough to return by the force
+of arms but must do so by friendship and favour....
+On account of the above and other depredations,
+we shall attack the said Warwick and Clarence
+on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is
+needful for the protection of our lands and subjects.</p><span class="page"><a name="274"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 274]</span></a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<br /><hr style="color:#aaaaaa" /><br /><br />
+<p class="quote1">
+"Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist
+him to recover England either with the help of Queen
+Margaret or by whatever other means he may propose....
+Only let him communicate his desires
+in this respect as speedily as possible and the
+king will lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of
+accomplishing it,"</p>
+
+<p>
+wrote the complaisant King of France in his
+directions to the confidential messenger sent to
+discuss matters with the English earl.<a href="#XIV14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+But that was not his language towards his
+cousin of Burgundy, whom he assured that there
+should be no infringement of their treaty, and that
+it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish
+property captured at sea in defiance of that treaty
+should be sold in French market-places. There
+is a hot correspondence,<a href="#XIV15"><sup>15</sup></a> that is, it is hot on
+the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are
+smoothly surprised at there being any cause for
+dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall be investigated,
+his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from
+the duke to two of Louis's council is emphatic in
+its expressions of doubt as to the good faith of
+these royal statements:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"The vessels which you assure me are destined by
+the king for an attack on England have attempted<span class="page"><a name="275"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 275]</span></a></span>
+nothing except against my subjects; but, by St.
+George, if some redress be not seen to, I will take the
+matter into my own hands without waiting for your
+motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV16"><sup>16</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent
+French merchants, coming peaceably to the
+fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of their private
+property, while the duke felt fully justified
+in stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to
+guard the Channel. Philip de Commines was one
+of the company who went at the duke's behest
+to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be
+faithful to King Edward, and to give no shelter
+to the rebellious earl and his protégé Clarence.<a href="#XIV17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an
+inconvenient moment. He temporised. To Warwick,
+he denied a personal interview, but at the
+same time he sent him a confidential emissary,
+Sr. du Plessis, to whom he wrote as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have
+for Warwick's return to England, as well because I
+wish to see him get the better of his enemies&mdash;or
+that at least through him the realm of England may
+be embroiled&mdash;as to avoid the questions which have
+arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you
+know that these Bretons and Burgundians have no
+other aim than to find a pretext for rupturing peace
+and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see<span class="page"><a name="276"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 276]</span></a></span>
+commenced under this colour.... Wherefore
+I pray you take pains, you and others there, to induce
+Mons. de Warwick to depart by all arguments possible.
+Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so that
+he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything
+else but his personal advantage."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV18"><sup>18</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment.
+The envoys sent by Louis to placate the
+duke's resentment at the incidents in connection
+with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that
+Louis meant well by him and his subjects, found
+Charles holding high state at St. Omer. When
+they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered
+sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above
+floor level, "higher than was the wont of king or
+emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head
+as the representatives of his feudal overlord
+bowed to him and he acknowledged their obeisance
+by a slight nod and a gesture permitting
+them to rise.</p>
+<p>
+Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered
+their address with a prosy speech. Burgundian
+officials revelled in grandiloquent
+phrases&mdash;which this time bored Charles, He cut
+short the harangue impatiently, took the floor himself,
+and made a statement of the injuries he had
+suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend,
+but he was aiding the foe of the duke's brother.
+The envoys repeated their sovereign's offers of
+redress. Charles declared that redress was impossible.<span class="page"><a name="277">[page 277]</a></span>
+Pained, very pained were the French
+envoys to think that a petty dispute could not
+be settled amicably. "The king desires to avoid
+friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress
+for every wrong. It will not be his fault if
+trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the king and you
+have a judge who is above you both."</p>
+<p>
+The insinuation that it was he who was ready to
+break the peace infuriated Charles. He started to
+his feet, his eyes flashing with fire. "Among us
+Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends
+become friends to our foes we send them to the
+hundred thousand devils of hell."<a href="#XIV19"><sup>19</sup></a> "A piece of
+bad taste to send by implication a king of France to
+a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave
+Chastellain, aghast at this impolite, emphatic,
+though indirect reference to Louis XI.</p>
+<p>
+Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers
+present at this occasion. After all, they, too,
+were French by nature. To wreck the new-made
+peace for the sake of the English alliance, which
+had never been really popular among them, that
+seemed an act of rash unwisdom.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because
+their chief thus implied contempt for the name
+of France to which the duke belonged. Not going
+quite so far as to call himself English, though that<span class="page"><a name="278"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 278]</span></a></span>
+was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother,
+ancient friend of England and enemy of France."</p>
+
+<p>
+There were, indeed, times when the duke was
+more emphatic in asserting his English blood.
+Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands
+which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates
+and citizens of Calais, whom he addresses,
+"O you my friends."<a href="#XIV20"><sup>20</sup></a> While reiterating that
+he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By
+St. George who knows me to be a better Englishman
+and more anxious for the weal of England
+than you other English ... [you] shall recognise
+that I am sprung from the blood of
+Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied
+with the circumstances.</p>
+<p>
+While he was so conscious of his own greatness,
+present and future, and of his own laudable intentions
+to do well by his subjects, it is quite possible,
+too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously
+by his failure to win popularity. For he
+was quite as unpopular with his courtiers as with
+his subjects. The former did not like the rigid
+court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting
+through audiences silent and stiff "as at a sermon,"
+and exposed to personal reprimands from
+their chief if there were the slightest lapses from
+his standard of conduct. They did not know on
+what meat the duke was feeding his imagination,
+an imagination that already saw him as Cæsar.<span class="page"><a name="279">[page 279]</a></span>
+Had he actually attained the loftier rank that he
+dreamed of, his premature arrogance might have
+been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible to
+the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his
+popularity during the years 1470-73.</p>
+<p>
+Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer,
+Louis had been relieved of anxiety in regard to
+the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers of
+an heir like his brother who might easily be used
+as a tool by some clever faction opposed to the
+ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was born
+to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant
+still were his words to his Burgundian
+cousin, but the moment was drawing near when
+his efforts to circumvent him were no longer
+secret.</p>
+<p>
+The embassy returned home. Possibly their
+report of the duke's passionate words goaded the
+king into discarding his mask of friendship. At
+any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in
+showing which side of the fresh English quarrel
+he meant to espouse. Margaret of Anjou hated
+the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had
+unseated her husband but because he had doubted
+her fidelity to that husband. Nevertheless, under
+Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her
+past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on
+fraternising with him on a basis of common hate
+for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed by
+the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the
+prince whose very legitimacy Warwick had questioned,<span class="page"><a name="280">[page 280]</a></span>
+with the earl's younger daughter. It was
+a singular union to be accepted by the parents,
+separated as they had been by the wall of insults
+interchanged during more than a decade of bitter
+enmity.</p>
+<p>
+Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession.
+She saw her seventeen-year-old son betrothed
+to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville, and
+later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick
+on a piece of the true cross in St. Mary's Church
+at Angers (August 4, 1470).</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July
+25th], I have sent you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put
+the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick in surety, and I
+order him to make such arrangements that the people
+of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity
+until he is there. To-day we have made the marriage
+of the Queen of England and of him, and hope to-morrow
+to have all in readiness to depart."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV21"><sup>21</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="medal">[plate 19]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image19medal.jpg" width="400" height="213" alt="MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme<span class="page"><a name="281">[page 281]</a></span>
+towns, insinuating opposition to the duke, and
+reminding the citizens that they were French at
+heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the
+Burgundian court, saying many things in secret
+besides those they said in public. Plenty there
+were that wished for war, remarks the observant
+Commines. Nobles like St. Pol and others could
+not maintain the same state in peace as in war,
+and state they loved. In time of war four hundred
+lances attended the constable, and he had a large
+allowance to maintain them from which he reaped
+many a profitable commission besides the fees of
+his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover,"
+adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to
+say among themselves that if there were no battles
+without, there would be quarrels within the realm."</p>
+<p>
+The matter of the grants to Charles of France
+had been settled to his royal brother's liking,
+not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne
+and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were
+withdrawn and Guienne substituted. When Normandy
+had been exchanged for Champagne and
+Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of
+Burgundy approved the change as he thought it
+assured him an obedient friend as neighbour.<a href="#XIV22"><sup>22</sup></a>
+The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne
+and Brie, was quite a different thing.</p>
+<p>
+Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away<span class="page"><a name="282">[page 282]</a></span>
+from Burgundy. Naturally, Charles was not content.
+Then, too, it looked as though he had lost
+a useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new
+Duke of Guienne was formally reconciled to his
+brother and took oath that his fraternal devotion
+to his monarch should never again waver.</p>
+<p>
+Long before Charles was completely convinced
+that Louis was not going to maintain the humble
+attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he became
+very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against
+him. "He hastened to Hesdin where he entered
+into jealousy of his servants" says Commines.
+That he was assured that there were reasons for
+his apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated
+as an open letter,<a href="#XIV23"><sup>23</sup></a> to various cities, wherein he
+makes a detailed statement of the plots against his
+life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of
+Duke Philip.</p>
+<p>
+Sorry return was this from one recognised as
+Bastard of Burgundy and brought up in the ducal
+household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa,
+Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave
+of the duke's service and made his way to the king
+in his castle of Amboise, where he had been pleasantly
+received and promised rich reward when he
+had "executed his damnable designs against our
+person."</p>
+<p>
+Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in
+Charles's court at St. Omer were arrested as suspicious,
+and that circumstance frightened Baldwin<span class="page"><a name="283">[page 283]</a></span>
+and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his
+retinue, his horses, and his baggage behind. He
+dreaded lest he might be attainted and convicted
+of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the
+king.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and
+clemency of God, we inform you of the events so that
+you may render thanks by public processions, solemn
+masses, sermons, and prayers, beseeching Him devoutly
+and from the heart that He will always guard
+and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and
+subjects from such plots.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in
+our castle of Hesdin, December 13, 1470.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"CHARLES.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"LE GROS."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not long before Charles had less reason
+to fear French "subtleties." At an assembly of
+notables<a href="#XIV24"><sup>24</sup></a> convened at Tours at the end of 1470,
+Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily
+for just two years, and made an open brief of his
+grievances against the duke.</p>
+<p>
+His case was cited with a luxury of detail
+more or less authentic. The interview at Peronne
+was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the
+Duke of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468,
+both obtained by undue pressure, had not been
+respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was
+obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.</p>
+<p>
+Even Commines shows that it is not surprising<span class="page"><a name="284">[page 284]</a></span>
+that there was unanimity<a href="#XIV25"><sup>25</sup></a> in the declaration
+that according to God and his conscience in all
+honour and justice the king was released from
+those treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion
+into Picardy as soon as possible.</p>
+<p>
+Charles's public accusations of plots against
+him did not go unanswered. Jehan de Chassa
+promptly issued a rejoinder:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has
+sent to divers places letters signed by himself and his
+secretary, Jehan le Gros, written at Hesdin, December
+13th, falsely charging me with plotting against his life
+with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy, and Jehan
+d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching
+my honour, feel bound to reply.... By God
+and by my soul I declare that these charges against me
+made by Charles of Burgundy are false and disloyal
+lies." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV26"><sup>26</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation
+at the slur on his character, but he remained in
+the French court as did many others who had
+formerly served Charles.</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his
+daughter in the hands of Margaret of Anjou, openly
+aided by Louis, sailed back to England in September
+But there had been one further change of
+base of which the earl was still unconscious. His
+elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in the Warwick-Lancaster<span class="page"><a name="285">[page 285]</a></span>
+alliance. It brought young Prince Edward
+to the fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence&mdash;long
+ready to replace Edward of York&mdash;of
+any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined
+to accept offers of a reconciliation tendered
+him by King Edward.</p>
+<p>
+Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence
+sailed with Warwick and joined with him in the
+proclamations scattered over England, declaring
+that the exiles were returning to "set right and
+justice to their places, and to reduce and redeem
+for ever the realm from its thraldom." Never a
+mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI.
+Perhaps it was as convenient to see which way
+the wind blew and to put in a name accordingly.</p>
+<p>
+On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was
+raised as a cry. In Nottinghamshire, where
+Edward lay, not a word was heard for York.
+There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had
+turned against him and off he rode to Lyme with a
+small following, took ship, and made for Holland.
+It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns
+gave chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter
+at Alkmaar where De la Groothuse, Governor of
+Holland, welcomed him in the name of the duke.<a href="#XIV27"><sup>27</sup></a>
+Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with
+which to pay his fare across the Channel but a gown
+lined with marten's fur, and as for his train, never
+so poor a company was seen.</p>
+<p>
+Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all<span class="page"><a name="286">[page 286]</a></span>
+England and official business was transacted in the
+name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless on his
+throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow
+and pretence and what was done in his name was
+done without his will or knowledge.</p>
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his
+unbidden guest. He would rather have heard that
+his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade Groothuse
+show him every courtesy and supply him
+with necessaries and five hundred crowns a month
+for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps informed
+by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind
+blowing over in England was but a fickle breeze,
+he consented to forget his hereditary sympathies.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The same day that the duke received news of the
+king's arrival in Holland, I was come from Calais to
+Boulogne (where the duke then lay) ignorant of the
+event and of the king's flight.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV28"><sup>28</sup></a></span> The duke was first advised
+that he was dead, which did not trouble him much
+for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of
+York. Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter
+and of Somerset and divers others of King Henry's
+faction, by which means he thought himself assured
+of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared
+the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content
+him that was to come to him, I mean King Edward,
+whose sister he had married and who was also
+brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden Fleece
+and the duke the Garter.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais
+accompanied by a gentleman or two of this new faction<span class="page"><a name="287"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 287]</span></a></span>
+of Henry, and gave me instructions how to deal
+with this new world, urging me to go because it was
+important for him to be well served in the matter.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV29"><sup>29</sup></a></span>
+I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes,
+and then dared not proceed because I found people
+fleeing for fear of the English who were devastating
+the country.... Never before had I needed a
+safe-conduct for the English are very honourable.
+All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen
+these mutations in the world."</p>
+
+<p>
+Commines was uncertain as to what he had
+better do and wanted instructions. "The duke
+sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go
+forward with the promise that if I were taken
+prisoner he would redeem me." New surprises
+met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known
+faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate
+of my lodgings and the very door of my chamber
+were a hundred white crosses and rhymes
+signifying that the King of France and Earl of
+Warwick were one&mdash;all of which seemed strange
+to me." Well received was Commines and entertained
+at dinner. It was told at table how within
+a quarter of an hour after the arrival of news
+from England every man wore this livery (the
+ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden
+was the change. "This is the first time that I
+ever knew how little stable are these mundane
+affairs."</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"In all communications that passed between them<span class="page"><a name="288"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 288]</span></a></span>
+and me, I repeated that King Edward was dead, of
+which fact I said I was well assured, notwithstanding
+that I knew the contrary, adding further that though
+it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke
+of Burgundy and the king and realm of England such
+that this accident could not infringe it&mdash;whomever
+they would acknowledge as king him would we
+recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the
+league should remain firm and inviolate between us
+and the king and realm of England save that for
+Edward we named Henry."</p>
+
+<p>
+Commines explains further that the wool trade
+was what made amity with England necessary to
+Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal
+cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly
+for peace."</p>
+<p>
+Charles made vague promises to his uninvited
+guest, declaring ostentatiously that his blood was
+Lancastrian. Nevertheless he finally consented
+to an interview with him of York, in spite of
+the remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset
+and Exeter. "The duke could not tell whom to
+please and either party he feared to displease.
+But in the end, because sharp war was upon him
+face to face, he inclined to the English dukes,
+accepting their promises against the Earl of Warwick,
+their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who
+was on the spot and very ill at ease," was quieted
+by secret assurances that the duke was obliged
+to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep
+the king but that he was bound to return to England<span class="page"><a name="289">[page 289]</a></span>
+and fearing for divers considerations altogether
+to discontent him, Charles pretended that
+he could not aid the king and forbade his subjects
+to enter his service." Privately, however, he gave
+him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's cross, and
+had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand,
+a harbour where all nations were received. Besides
+this he secretly hired fourteen well appointed
+"ships of the Easterlings, which promised to serve
+him till he landed in England and for fifteen days
+after, "great aid considering the times."</p>
+<p>
+King Edward departed out of Flanders in the
+year 1471, when the Duke of Burgundy went to
+wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the king.<a href="#XIV30"><sup>30</sup></a>
+"The said duke thought now howsoever the world
+went in England he could not speed amiss because
+he had friends on both sides."<a href="#XIV31"><sup>31</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Edward's adventures in England proved that he
+had not lost his hold there. Warwick's extraordinary
+brief success was but a flash in the pan.
+London opened her gates and then the pitched battle
+at Barnet gave a final verdict between the rival
+Houses which England accepted. This battle
+was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and
+the like speech of the two bodies caused hopeless
+confusion. Many friends slew each other unwittingly,
+and among the slain was the indefatigable,
+energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with<span class="page"><a name="290">[page 290]</a></span>
+his royal puppets. Only forty-four was he and
+worthy of a better and more statesmanlike career.</p>
+<p>
+On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son
+landed at Weymouth. Hearing of Warwick's
+death, they tried to reach Wales but were intercepted
+and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here
+the young prince, too, met his death. To Edward's
+direct command is attributed the murder
+of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which
+happened at about the same time. The desolated
+Margaret of Anjou lingered five years under
+restraint in England before she was ransomed by
+King Louis.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten
+at London the Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke
+Hym that made all and can undoo agayn whare Hym
+lyst."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV32"><sup>32</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on
+his foresight. His brother of the two Orders was
+himself again.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The very day on which this fight happened [says
+Commines] the Duke of Burgundy, being before
+Amiens, received letters from the duchess his wife,
+that the King of England was not at all satisfied with
+him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if for
+very little cause he would have deserted him. To
+speak plainly there never was great friendship between
+them afterwards. Yet the Duke of Burgundy seemed<span class="page"><a name="291"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 291]</span></a></span>
+to be extremely pleased at this news and published it
+everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>
+A transaction of his own of this time, the duke
+did not publish. It was a procedure perhaps
+justified by these wonderful "mutations in the
+world" which impressed Commines as strange
+and terrible. The Duke of Burgundy caused a
+legal document to be drawn up attesting his own
+heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the
+same in the Abbey of St. Bertin with all due
+formality. If there came more "mutations" in
+the world whose very existence was a new experience
+to Philip de Commines, Charles was ready
+to interpose his own plank in the new structure.</p>
+<p>
+In the archives of the House of Croy in the
+château of Beaumont, rests this document, which
+was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471,
+in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to
+the statement that no one was truer heir to the
+Lancaster House than Charles of Burgundy.<a href="#XIV33"><sup>33</sup></a> Two
+canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the
+witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.</p>
+<p>
+It was expressly stipulated that if there were any<span class="page"><a name="292">[page 292]</a></span>
+delay in the duke's entering upon his English inheritance&mdash;which
+devolved to him through his
+mother,&mdash;a delay caused by motives of public utility
+of Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy,
+this should not prejudice his rights or those of his
+successors. A mere deferring of assuring the
+titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights.
+His delay ended in his death and Edward IV. never
+had to combat this claim of the brother-in-law who
+had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his
+throne.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#261">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XIV1">Meyer</a> is the earliest historian to tell this story and it is
+vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#264">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XIV2">From</a> Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice
+lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York
+and Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between
+Englishmen on English soil. Three out of four kings died by
+violence. Eighty persons connected with the blood royal
+were executed or assassinated.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#264">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XIV3">Ramsay</a>, <i>Lancaster and York</i>, ii., 232 <i>et seq.</i>; Oman, <i>Hundred
+Years' War</i> and <i>Warwick, the King-maker</i>, are followed
+here in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#265">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XIV4">That</a> the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge
+or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again
+denied by various authorities.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#266">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XIV5">See</a> Oman's <i>Warwick</i>, p. 185.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#267">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XIV6">Rymer</a>, <i>Fædera</i>, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on
+for about a year.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#267">[Footnote 7:</a> <i><a name="XIV7">Ibid</a>.</i>, 651.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#269">[Footnote 8:</a> "<a name="XIV8">Quia</a> nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut clemencia
+et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#269">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XIV9">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 216. The editor thinks that the
+speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was
+delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#269">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="XIV10">Il</a> sent la France</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#272">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XIV11">Middleburg</a>, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign
+manual" on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, <i>Histoire
+générale et particulière de Bourgogne</i>, etc., iv., cclxxi).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#272">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XIV12">Good</a> Friday, April 20th.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#274">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XIV13">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 226.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#274">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XIV14">Comines</a>-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at Amboise,
+May, 12, 1470.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#274">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XIV15">Plancher</a>, iv., cclxi., etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#275">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XIV16">Duke</a> Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May
+29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#275">[Footnote 17:</a> <i><a name="XIV17">Mémoires</a></i>, iii., ch. iv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#276">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="XIV18">Duclos</a> "Preuves," v., 296.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#277">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="XIV19">Chastellain</a>, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure, those
+of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance
+is that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis
+accepts it. (Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 363.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#278">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="XIV20">See</a></i> Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#280">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XIV21">Aujourd'hui</a> avons fait le mariage de la reine d'Angleterre
+et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating
+the alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the
+King's accounts for December, 1470: "à maistre Jehan le prestre,
+la somme de xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or à lui donnée
+par le roy, pour le restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance
+d'icellui seigneur, il avait baillée du sien au vicaire de
+Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur en a fait don en faveur de ce
+qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de Galles a la fille du
+Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the actual
+marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation.
+(Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also <i>Lettres de
+Louis XI</i>., iv., 131.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#281">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="XIV22">A</a> group of smaller seigniories was also involved, Quercy,
+Périgord, La Rochelle, etc. <i>See</i> letter-patent,
+(Comines-Lenglet,
+"Preuves," iii., 97.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#282">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="XIV23">Duclos</a>, "Preuves" v., 302.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#283">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="XIV24">Comines</a>-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 364.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#284">[Footnote 25:</a> <i><a name="XIV25">See</a></i> Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 364. He states that the king named
+all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#284">[Footnote 26:</a> <a name="XIV26">Duclos</a>, "Preuves," v., 307.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#285">[Footnote 27:</a> <a name="XIV27">Commines</a>, iii., ch. v.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#286">[Footnote 28:</a> <a name="XIV28">Commines</a>, iii., ch. vi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#287">[Footnote 29:</a> <i><a name="XIV29">See</a></i> instructions given to him for this mission, Wavrin-Dupont,
+iii., 271.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#289">[Footnote 30:</a> <a name="XIV30">Commines</a>, iii., ch. vii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#289">[Footnote 31:</a> <a name="XIV31">As</a> soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles
+published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#290">[Footnote 32:</a> <i><a name="XIV32">Letters</a></i>, iii., 4.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#291">[Footnote 33:</a> <i><a name="XIV33">See</a></i> Gachard, <i>Études et Notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas,</i> ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant
+toutes les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que
+plus grant foy soit adjoustée à tout ce que cy desus est escript,
+avant signé ce présent instrument de nostre propre main et
+le fait sceller de nostre seau en signe de vérité, l'an et jour
+desusdit. [This in French, the body in Latin.]</p>
+<p class="rindent2">
+"CHARLES."]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="293">[page 293]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XV">XV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY</h3>
+
+<h4>1471</h4>
+<p>
+All work had ceased at Paris for three days
+by the king's command, while praise was
+chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints
+male and female, for the victory won by Henry
+of Lancaster, in 1470, over the base usurper Edward
+de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made
+a special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at
+Poitiers to breathe in pious solitude his own prayers
+of thanksgiving for the happy event. The
+battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this
+abundant stream of gratitude, and there were other
+thanksgivings.<a href="#XV1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent
+letters from Canterbury to his good friends
+at Bruges,<a href="#XV2"><sup>2</sup></a> acknowledging their valuable assistance
+to his brother Charles,<a href="#XV3"><sup>3</sup></a> recognising his
+part in restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his
+throne. To his sister, the Duchess of Burgundy,
+the returned exile gave substantial proof of his
+gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture<span class="page"><a name="294">[page 294]</a></span>
+and trade.<a href="#XV4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss
+weather vane the King of England had swung out
+into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair weather
+over his head, while Louis was forced back into
+solitary impotence. He seemed singularly isolated.
+His English friends were gone, his nobles
+were again forming a hostile camp around Charles
+of France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten
+his late protestations of fraternal devotion,
+and there were many indications that the Anglo-Burgundian
+alliance might prove as serious a peril
+to France as it had in times gone by but not
+wholly forgotten.</p>
+<p>
+The two most important of the disputed towns
+on the Somme were, however, in Louis's possession,
+and Charles of Burgundy, ready to reduce Amiens
+by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his
+proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed
+in July. This afforded a valuable respite to
+the king, and he busied himself in energetic efforts
+to detach his brother from the group of malcontents.
+Various disquieting rumours about
+the prince's marriage projects caused his royal
+brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch
+a special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy
+Louis wrote as follows:<a href="#XV5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<span class="page"><a name="295">[page 295]</a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Guiot du Chesney<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV6"><sup>6</sup></a></span> has brought me despatches
+from Monsg. de Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has,
+further, mentioned three points to me: First, in
+behalf of Mme. de Savoy,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV7"><sup>7</sup></a></span> ... second, in regard
+to M. d'Ursé ... third, touching the mission of
+Mons. de Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the
+daughter of Monsg. de Foix.... The Ursé
+matter I will leave to you, and will agree to what you
+determine upon. On the spot you will be a better
+judge of what I ought to say and what would be advantageous
+to me, than I can here.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage,
+you know what a misfortune it would be to me.
+Use all your five senses to prevent it. I am told
+that my brother does not really like the idea, and
+it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has
+brought him to consent in order to further the
+marriage of the duchess,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV8"><sup>8</sup></a></span> so that in taking the sister,
+the duke will be relieved of this sum, a condition that
+would please him greatly because he has nothing to
+pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all
+the accompanying claims and then be through
+with it. In effect, I beg you make him agree
+to another [bride] before you leave, and do not be
+in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV9"><sup>9</sup></a></span>
+can be arranged you will place me in Paradise.</p>
+<span class="page"><a name="296">[page 296]</a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item.</i> I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would
+not approve this Aragon girl, because he himself has
+some hopes of the kingdom of Aragon through his wife.
+If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of this, I believe
+it would help along our case.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item.</i> It seems to me that you have a splendid
+opportunity to be very frank with my brother. For
+he has informed me through this man that the duke
+[of Brittany] has paid no attention to the representations
+made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray, and
+since my brother himself confides this to me, you have
+an opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and
+that I never cherish him so highly as when he tells me
+the truth, and that I now recognise that he does not
+desire to deceive me, since he does not spare the duke
+[of Brittany] and that, since he sees him opposed to me,
+he should return the seal that you know of and refuse
+to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the
+Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as
+long as I live I will harbour no misgiving of him
+and he shall be as puissant in all the realm of France
+as I myself, as long as I live. In short, Mons. du
+Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you
+will place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until
+Monseigneur de Lescun has arrived, and a good piece
+afterwards, even if you have to play the invalid, and
+before you depart put our affair in surety if you can,
+I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du
+Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre
+Dame de Behuart aid your negotiations. The women<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV10"><sup>10</sup></a></span>
+of Mme. de Burgundy have all been ill with the<span class="page"><a name="297"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 297]</span></a></span>
+ <i>mal chault,</i> and it is reported that the daughter is seriously
+afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is already
+dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite
+certain of the malady.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"LOYS.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"TILHART."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+That the king's professed confidence in his
+brother did not remove all suspicions of that
+young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown
+by the following letter, written two days later
+than the above, to Lorenzo de' Medici:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that
+our brother of Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation
+from the oath he swore to us, of which we
+send you a duplicate. Since you are a great favourite
+with our Holy Father pray use your influence with his
+Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation,
+and that his messenger may not be able to
+do any negotiating. In this you will do us a singular
+and agreeable pleasure which we will recognise in the
+future as we have in the past on fitting occasion....</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"LOYS."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Louis does not seem to have taken his own
+doubts as to the very existence of Mary of Burgundy
+very seriously. While he was infinitely anxious
+to prevent her alliance with his brother, he
+made overtures to betroth her to his baby son,
+while he reminded her father in touching phrases
+that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and<span class="page"><a name="298">[page 298]</a></span>
+hence exactly the person to be her father-in-law.</p>
+<p>
+The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts
+to make terms between the king and the duke
+before the termination of the truce. The king
+was very hopeful of attaining this good result,
+and sweetly trustful of the duke's pacific and
+friendly intentions. He sternly refused to listen
+to suggestions that Charles meant to play him
+false and was very definite in his expressions of confidence.
+The following epistle to his envoys at
+the duke's court was an excellent document to
+fall by chance into Burgundian hands:<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV11"><sup>11</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received
+your letters this evening at the hostelry of
+Montbazon where I came because I have not yet
+dared to go to Amboise.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV12"><sup>12</sup></a></span> When I imparted to you
+the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose
+of delaying you in completing your business but
+only to advise you of the dangers that were in the air.
+And to free you from all doubts I assure you, that if
+Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to confirm, by
+writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at
+Orleans<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV13"><sup>13</sup></a></span>, I wish you to accept it and to clinch the
+matter and I am quite determined to trust to it. As
+to your suspicion that he may wish to make the chief<span class="page"><a name="299"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 299]</span></a></span>
+promises in private letters without putting it in a
+formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a
+pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing
+I never withdraw my decision.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to
+it that Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate
+assurance of the letters that he is to issue. When I
+once have the letter such as we agreed upon and he
+is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep faith. If
+my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do
+not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure
+you that my greatest worldly desire is that the matter
+be finished, since he has given verbal assurance that
+he wishes me well. You write that the pronotary
+told you that I was negotiating in every direction.
+By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by
+the words that Monseigneur of Burgundy said to
+you you can easily solve the question, for he has only
+offered you what he mentioned before when the
+matters were discussed. It looks to me as though
+they were not free from traitors since they have Abbé
+de Begars and Master Ythier Marchant.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV14"><sup>14</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"A herald of the King of England came here on his
+way to Monsg. of Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct
+to send a messenger to me for this truce. Since
+your departure the council thought I ought not to
+give any pass for more than forty days except to
+merchants. If it please God and Our Lady that you
+may conclude your mission, I assure you that as long
+as I live I will have no embassy either large or small<span class="page"><a name="300"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 300]</span></a></span>
+without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy
+and I will only answer as if through him. I assure
+you that until I hear from you whether Monsg. of
+Burgundy decides to conclude this treaty or not as
+we agreed together, I will make no agreement with
+any creature in the world and of that you may assure
+him.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"Loys."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly
+intercourse with the towns he proposed to cede.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king:
+"Dear and beloved, we have heard reports at
+length from Amiens and we are well content with you....
+Give credence to all my messengers say.
+We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies
+have done in our cause."</p>
+
+<p>
+At the Burgundian court the duke's friends
+thought that he would play the part of wisdom
+did he keep an army within call, and refrain from
+implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was,
+moreover, an impression abroad that the latter was
+not in a position to be very formidable.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Once [says Commines]<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV15"><sup>15</sup></a></span> I was present when the
+Seigneur d'Ursé [envoy from the Duke of Guienne]
+was talking in this wise and urging the duke to
+mobilise his forces with all diligence.  The duke
+called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur
+d'Ursé urging me to make my army as big as possible,<span class="page"><a name="301"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 301]</span></a></span>
+and tells me that we would do well for the realm.
+Do you think that I should wage a war of benefit if I
+should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered
+that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I
+love the welfare of France more than Mons. d' Ursé
+imagines, for instead of the one king that there is I
+would fain see six.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+The animus of this expression is clear. It implies
+a wish to see the duke's friends, the French
+nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head, until the
+titular monarch had no more power than half a
+dozen of his peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal
+terms that Charles's next moves were to
+disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard
+their alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis
+whose terms were wholly to his own advantage
+and implied complete desertion of the allied
+interest.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and
+I was present<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV16"><sup>16</sup></a></span> and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon
+and the Chancellor of France<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV17"><sup>17</sup></a></span> in behalf of the king.
+When they departed they advised the duke not to disband
+his army but to increase it, so that the king
+their master might be the more inclined to cede
+promptly the two places mentioned above. They
+took with them Simon de Quingey to witness the
+king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors'
+work. The king delayed this confirmation for several
+days. Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother,<span class="page"><a name="302"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 302]</span></a></span>
+the Duke of Guienne ... shortly afterwards
+the said Simon returned, dismissed by the king
+with very meagre phrases and without any oath
+being taken. The duke felt mocked and insulted
+by this treatment and was very indignant about it."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV18"><sup>18</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+This story involves so serious a charge against
+Charles of Burgundy that the fact of his setting
+his signature to the treaty has been indignantly
+denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's
+truthfulness rather than accept the duke's
+betrayal of his friends. It is true that only a few
+months later than this negotiation, Commines
+himself forsook the duke's service for the king's,
+a change of base that might well throw suspicion
+on his estimate of his deserted master.</p>
+<p>
+Yet it must be remembered that he does not
+gloss over Louis's actions, even though he had
+an admiration for the success of his political
+methods, methods which Commines believed to
+be essential in dealing with national affairs. In
+many respects he gives more credit to the duke
+than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer
+chief. That there is no documentary evidence
+of such a treaty is mere negative evidence and of
+little importance.</p>
+<p>
+The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy
+was at a parting of the ways, in character
+as in action. His natural bent was to tell the
+truth and to adhere strictly to his given word.<span class="page"><a name="303">[page 303]</a></span>
+He felt that he owed it to his own dignity. He felt,
+too, that he was a person to command obedience
+to a promise whether pledged to him by king or
+commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe
+shocks had been dealt him. He had lost all
+faith in Louis, a faith that had really been founded
+on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction
+that the weak king must respect the redoubtable
+cousin of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to
+make him adopt the tools used by his rival, or at
+least to attempt to do so. At the moment of the
+negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation
+was to regain the towns on the Somme. That
+accomplished, it is not probable that he would
+have abandoned his friends, the French peers,
+whom he desired to see become petty monarchs
+each in his own territory. There seems no doubt
+that words were used with singular disregard of
+their meaning.  It is surprising that time was
+wasted in concocting elaborate phrases that
+dropped into nothingness at the slightest touch.
+In citing the above passage from Commines referring
+to the treaty, the close of the negotiations
+has been anticipated. Whether or not any draft
+of a treaty received the duke's signature, the
+king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when
+his brother's death freed him from the dread of
+dangerous alliance between Charles of France
+and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th,
+he was still uncertain as to the decree of fate<span class="page"><a name="304">[page 304]</a></span>
+and wrote as follows to the Governor of Rousillon:<a href="#XV19"><sup>19</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the
+Duke of Burgundy declares war against me, I will set
+out immediately for that quarter [Brittany], and in
+a week we will finish the matter. On the other hand,
+if peace be made we shall have everything without a
+blow or without any risk of restoration. However,
+if you can get hold of anything by negotiating and
+manoeuvring, why do it. As to the artillery, it is
+close by you, and when it is time, and I shall have
+heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."</p>
+
+<p>
+Ten days later he is more hopeful.<a href="#XV20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Since my last letter to you I have had news that
+Monsieur de Guienne is dying and that there is no
+remedy for his case. One of the most confidential
+persons about him has advised me by a special messenger
+that he does not believe he will be alive a
+fortnight hence.... The person who gave me
+this information is the monk who repeated his Hours
+with M. de G[uienne.] I am much abashed at this
+and have crossed myself from head to foot.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Moutils-lès-Tours, May 18th."</p>
+
+<p>
+This prognostic was correct. In less than a
+fortnight the Duke of Guienne lay dead, and the
+heavy suspicion rested upon his royal brother of
+having done more than acquiesce in the decree of
+fate. Whether or not there was any truth in this
+charge the king was certainly not heartbroken by
+the loss. Indeed, the event interested him less<span class="page"><a name="305">[page 305]</a></span>
+than the question of making the best use of the
+remainder of his truce with Charles. The following
+letters to Dammartin and the Duke of Milan
+belong to this time.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Thank you for the pains you have taken but
+pray, as speedily as you can, come here to draw up
+your ordinance for we only have a fortnight more of
+the truce. I have sent the artillery and soldiers to
+Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's
+forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the
+seneschal of Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company.
+Then if there are more at large, form them
+into a body and send them to me and I will find them
+a captain and pay all those who are willing to stay.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As to him,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV21"><sup>21</sup></a></span> make him talk on the way and
+learn whether he would like to enter into an agreement
+in his brother's name, and work it so that the duke
+will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at all points
+for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know
+how, for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun
+left here for any other reason than to attempt to
+make an arrangement of some kind.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser
+than I and will know how to act far better than I
+can instruct you, but, above all, I implore you come
+in all haste for without you we cannot make an
+ordinance.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Xaintes, May 28th.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"LOYS."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV22"><sup>22</sup></a></span></p>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="306">[page 306]</a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+"AMBOISE, June 7th.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Beloved
+brother and cousin, we have received the letters
+you have written making mention, as you have heard,
+that in the truce lately concluded between us and
+the Duke of Burgundy up to April 1st next coming,
+which will be the year 1473, the Duke of Burgundy
+has mentioned you as his ally, which you do not like
+because you never asked the Duke of Burgundy to do
+so, and you do not know whether he made this statement
+on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who
+is with him.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Therefore, and because you do not mean to
+enter into alliance or understanding with the Duke of
+Burgundy but wish to remain our confederate and
+ally and have sworn to that effect before notaries,
+and sealed your oath with your seal ... that
+you are no ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that
+you renounce and repudiate his nomination as such ...
+also you may be certain that on our part
+we are determined to maintain all friendship between
+us and you ... and if we make any treaty in the
+future we will expressly include you in it and never
+will do <span style="font-size:1.1em">."<a href="#XV23"><sup>23</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised
+how while the truce is still in being, the Duke of
+Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all whom he
+found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished
+you to know so that if you can find means to do him
+a like injury in his country you will do it there and
+anywhere that you can without sparing anything. I
+have good hopes that God will aid in avenging us,
+considering the murders for which he is responsible<span class="page"><a name="307"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 307]</span></a></span>
+within the church and elsewhere, and because by virtue
+of the terms of their surrender [they thought]
+they had saved their lives.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Done at Angers, June 19th.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"P.S.&mdash;If the said place had been destroyed and
+rased as I ordered this never would have happened.
+Therefore, see to it that all such places be rased to the
+ground, for if this be not done the people will be
+ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
+damage to me."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV24"><sup>24</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+One fact stated by Louis in this letter was
+true. Charles of Burgundy broke the truce when
+it had but two weeks to run, and thus put himself
+in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him
+wild with anger. Apparently he had not believed
+in the imminence of the danger, although he had
+been constantly informed of the progress of the
+prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand
+of Louis, not the judgment of God, that ended the
+life of the prince.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472,
+so far as I remember [says Commines] came letters
+from Simon de Quingey, the duke's ambassador to
+the king, announcing the death of the Duke of Guienne
+and that the king had recovered the majority of his
+places. Messages from various localities followed
+headlong one on the other, and every one had a different
+story of the death.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The duke being in despair at the death, at the<span class="page"><a name="308"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 308]</span></a></span>
+instigation of other people as much concerned as
+himself, wrote letters full of bitter accusations against
+the king to several towns&mdash;an action that profited
+little for nothing was done about it.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV25"><sup>25</sup></a></span>... In this
+violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle
+in Vermandois, and commenced a kind of warfare
+such as he had never used before, burning and destroying
+wherever he passed."</p>
+
+<p>
+It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines
+sails by the capital charges against the king. He
+neither accepts nor denies the king's crime, while
+frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an
+opportune circumstance for Louis. He apologises<span class="page"><a name="309">[page 309]</a></span>
+for mentioning any evil report of either king or
+duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
+truth without palliation.</p>
+<p>
+Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the
+Somme which refused the duke's summons to surrender,
+sent to it on June 10th. It seems possible
+that there was a misunderstanding between the
+citizens and the garrison which resulted in the
+slaughter of the Burgundian heralds. Whereupon,
+the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong
+upon the ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible
+vengeance on the town.</p>
+<p>
+When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage
+was over, but he was unreproving as he inspected<span class="page"><a name="310">[page 310]</a></span>
+the gruesome result. Into the great church itself
+he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the
+blood lying inches deep on the floor. The desecrated
+building was full of dead&mdash;men, women,
+and children&mdash;but the duke's only comment as he
+looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily
+I have good butchers with me," and he crossed
+himself piously.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Those who were taken alive were hanged, except
+some few suffered to escape by the compassionate
+common soldiers. Quite a number had their hands
+chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I
+was on the spot and needs must give some account
+of it." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV26"><sup>26</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The story of the duke's treatment of the innocent
+little town of Nesle is painted in colours quite
+as lurid as the king's murder of his brother. There
+is some ground for the denunciations of Charles,
+but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised
+clemency to the citizens on surrender and then
+basely broke his word, does not deserve credence.
+He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors
+were committed in passion, not in cold blood.<a href="#XV27"><sup>27</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="standard">[plate 20]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image20standard.jpg" width="400" height="299" alt="BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indignation<span class="page"><a name="311">[page 311]</a></span>
+at his cousin's proceedings, coupled with his
+regrets that he himself had not destroyed the town.</p>
+<p>
+With the terrible report of the events at Nesle
+flying before his advance guard, Charles went on
+towards Normandy. Roye he gained easily, and
+then, passing by Compiègne where "Monseigneur
+the grand master" had intrenched himself, and
+Amiens with the good burghers whom Louis
+delighted to honour, he marched on until he
+reached Beauvais, an old town on the Thérain.
+Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had
+taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its
+defences, not even having its usual garrison or
+cannon, as it happened.</p>
+<p>
+Disappointed in his first expectation of picking
+the town like a cherry, Charles sat down before it.
+The siege that followed won a reputation beyond
+the warrant of its real importance from the extraordinary
+tenacity and energy of the people in their
+own defence. Every missile that the ingenuity of
+man or woman could imagine was used to drive back
+the besiegers when the town was finally invested.</p>
+<p>
+From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited,
+then an assault was ordered. Charles laughed at
+the idea of any serious resistance. "He asked
+some of his people whether they thought the citizens
+would wait for the assault. It was answered
+yes, considering their number even if they had
+nothing before them but a hedge."<a href="#XV28"><sup>28</sup></a> He took
+this as a joke and said, "To-morrow you will not<span class="page"><a name="312">[page 312]</a></span>
+find a person." He thought that there would
+be a simple repetition of his experience at
+Dinant and Liege, and that the garrison would
+simply succumb in terror. When the Burgundians
+rushed at the walls their reception showed not
+only that every point had a defender, but also
+that those same defenders were provided with
+huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches&mdash;all
+most unpleasant things when thrown in
+the faces of men trying to scale a wall. Three
+hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants
+the difficulty of the task. Twelve hundred were
+slain and maimed, and the strength of the place
+was proven.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme,
+but the weather came to the aid of the besieged.
+Heavy rains forced the troops to change camp.
+More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic
+assaults, losses that Charles could ill afford at the
+moment. Finally at the end of three fruitless
+weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians
+marched on to try to redeem their reputation in
+Normandy. Had Beauvais fallen, it would have
+been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany,
+against whom Louis had marched with all his
+forces and whom he had enveloped as in a net.
+This reverse was the first serious rebuff that had
+happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his
+fortunes.</p>
+<p>
+Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage
+to himself, and was not stinting in his reward to the<span class="page"><a name="313">[page 313]</a></span>
+plucky little town. Privileges and a reduction
+of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual
+procession was inaugurated in which women
+were to have precedence as a special recognition
+of their services with boiling water and other
+irregular weapons, while a special gift was bestowed
+on one particular girl, Jeanne Laisné, who had
+wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier
+just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not
+only was she endowed from the royal purse, but
+she and her husband and their descendants were
+declared tax free for ever.<a href="#XV29"><sup>29</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+<i>Charles to the Duke of Brittany</i></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"My good brother, I recommend myself to you
+with good heart. I rather hoped to be able to march
+through Rouen, but the whole strength of the foe was
+on the frontier, where was the <i>grand master, of whose
+loyalty I have not the least doubt</i>, so that the project
+could not be effected. I do not know what will happen.
+Realising this, I have given subject for thought
+elsewhere and I have pitched my camp between
+Rouen and Neufchâtel, intending, however, to return
+speedily. If not I will exploit the war in another
+quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert
+myself to keep them from your route. My Burgundians
+and Luxemburgers have done bravely in Champagne.
+I know, too, that you have done well on
+your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned<span class="page"><a name="314"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 314]</span></a></span>
+the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will
+not injure you, nor us, nor others, and I will
+not lay down arms without you, as I am certain
+you will not without me. I will pursue the work commenced
+by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord,
+may He give you good and long life with a fruitful
+victory.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at my camp near Boscise, September
+4th.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"Your loyal brother,</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"CHARLES."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV30"><sup>30</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+The duke's course was marked by waste and
+devastation from the walls of Rouen to those of
+Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this desolation.
+By September, keen anxiety about his
+territories led him to fear staying so far from
+his own boundaries, and he decided to return.
+Through Picardy he marched eastward burning
+and laying waste as before.</p>
+<p>
+Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands,
+when Louis marched into Brittany against his
+weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis
+found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie,
+who had ridden in hot haste to Brittany, scattering
+from his saddle dire accusations of fratricide
+against Louis&mdash;this same Odet became silenced and
+took service with the king.<a href="#XV31"><sup>31</sup></a> When reconcilations
+were effected, most kind to the returning ally or
+servant did Louis always show himself.</p>
+<p>
+On November 3d, a truce was struck between<span class="page"><a name="315">[page 315]</a></span>
+Louis and Charles, which, later, was renewed for
+a year. But never again did the two men come
+into actual conflict with each other, though they
+were on the eve of doing so in 1475.</p>
+<p>
+The period of the great coalitions among the
+nobles was at an end. Charles of France was
+dead and so, too, were others who were strong
+enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brittany
+showed no more energy. When again within
+his own territories, Charles of Burgundy became
+absorbed in other projects which he wished to
+perfect before he again measured steel with Louis.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"The Duke of Berry, he is dead,<br />
+Brittany doth nod his head,<br />
+Burgundy doth sulky sit,<br />
+While Louis works with every wit."<a href="#XV32"><sup>32</sup></a>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in
+France, a verse that probably never came to
+Charles's ears&mdash;though Louis might have listened
+to it cheerfully.</p>
+<p>
+Infinitely disastrous were the events of that
+summer to Charles of Burgundy. Not only had he
+lost in allies, not only had he squandered life and
+money uselessly in his reckless expedition over
+the north of France, but his own retinue was
+diminished and weakened by the men whom<span class="page"><a name="316">[page 316]</a></span>
+Louis had succeeded in luring from his service.
+The loss that Charles suffered was not only for
+the time but for posterity. Among those convinced
+that there was more scope for men of talent
+in France than in Burgundy was that clever
+observer of humanity who had been at Charles's
+side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip
+de Commines took French leave of his master
+and betook himself to Louis, who evidently was
+not surprised at his advent.</p>
+<p>
+The historian's own words in regard to this
+change of base are laconic: "About this time I
+entered the king's service (and it was the year
+1472), who had received the majority of the servitors
+of his brother the Duke of Guienne. And he
+was then at Pont de Cé."<a href="#XV33"><sup>33</sup></a> This passing from one
+lord to another happened on the night between
+the 7th and 8th of August, when the Burgundian
+army lay near Eu.</p>
+<p>
+The suddenness of the departure was probably
+due to the duke's discovery of his servant's intentions
+not yet wholly ripe, and those intentions
+had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in
+1471, when Commines made a secret journey
+to the king. On his way back to Burgundy,
+he deposited a large sum of money at Tours.
+Evidently he did not dare put this under his own
+name, or claim it when it was confiscated as the
+property of a notorious adherent of Louis's foe.<a href="#XV34"><sup>34</sup></a></p>
+<span class="page"><a name="317">[page 317]</a></span>
+<p>
+When the fugitive reached the French court,
+however, he was amply recompensed for all his
+losses.<a href="#XV35"><sup>35</sup></a> For, naturally, at his flight, all his
+Burgundian estates were abandoned.<a href="#XV36"><sup>36</sup></a> It was at
+six o'clock on the morning of August 8th that the
+deed was signed whereby the duke transferred
+to the Seigneur de Quiévrain all the rights appertaining
+to Philip de Commines, "which rights
+together with all the property of whatever kind
+have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation
+because he has to-day, the date of this document,
+departed from our obedience and gone as a fugitive
+to the party opposed to us."<a href="#XV37"><sup>37</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+There are various surmises as to the cause of this
+precipitate departure. Not improbable is the suggestion
+that Charles often overstepped the bounds
+of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so runs
+one story, he found the historian sleeping on his
+bed where he had flung himself while awaiting
+his master. Charles pulled off one of his boots<span class="page"><a name="318">[page 318]</a></span>
+"to give him more ease" and struck him in the
+face with it. In derision the courtiers called
+Commines <i>tête bottée</i>, and their mocking sank
+deep into his soul.</p>
+<p>
+Contemporary writers make little of the chronicler's
+defection. These crossings from the peer's
+to the king's camp were accepted occurrences.
+But by Charles they were not accepted. There
+is a vindictive look about the hour when he disposes
+of his late confidant's possessions, only
+explicable by intense indignation not itemised
+in the deed approved by the court of Mons.<a href="#XV38"><sup>38</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier
+de la Marche, though to him, also, came intimations
+that he would find a pleasant welcome at the
+French court. He, too, had opportunities galore
+to make links with Louis. The accounts teem
+with references to his secret missions here and
+there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all
+carefully itemised. So zealous was this messenger
+on his master's commissions, that his hackneys
+were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold
+for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XI. was
+not blind to the quality of La Marche's services,
+and he thought that they, too, might be diverted
+to his use.<a href="#XV39"><sup>39</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has<span class="page"><a name="319"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 319]</span></a></span>
+told me that Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to
+enter my service and I am afraid that there may be
+some deception. However, there is nothing that I
+would like better than to have the said Sieur de Cimay,
+as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the
+matter stands, and if you see that it is in good
+earnest work for it with all diligence. Whatever you
+pledge I will hold to. Advise me of everything.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Cléry, October 16th [1472].</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sire du Bouchage."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV40"><sup>40</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+But La Marche was not tempted, and was
+rewarded for his fidelity by high office in a duchy
+which, shortly after these events, was "annexed"
+to his master's domain.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#293">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XV1">Journal</a> de Jean de Roye</i>, i., 258.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#293">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XV2">Commynes</a>-Dupont, iii., 202.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#293">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XV3">Plancher</a>, iv., cccvi., May 28th.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#294">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XV4">Rymer</a>, <i>F&oelig;dera</i>, xi., 735. <i>Pro Ducissa Burgundiæ super
+Lana claccanda</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#294">[Footnote 5:</a> <i><a name="XV5">Lettres</a> de Louis XI.</i>, iv., 256.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XV6">One</a> of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's
+service.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XV7">Louis's</a> sister Yolande.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XV8">The</a> Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of
+the Count de Foix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XV9">This</a> was an allusion to a proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile.
+Vaesen cannot explain the use of Aragon.  Various documents
+relating to this negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet,
+iii., 156.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#296">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XV10">Vaesen</a> gives <i>femmes</i>, Duclos <i>filles</i>. The king was above
+all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#298">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="XV11">Lettres</a> de Louis XI.</i>., iv., 286.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#298">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XV12">There</a> was a pestilence raging at Amboise.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#298">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XV13">At</a> Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of
+November, there was a conference wherein the king apparently
+promised to restore St. Quentin and Amiens to Charles,
+if he would renounce his alliance with the dukes of Brittany
+and Guienne and would betroth his daughter to the dauphin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#299">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XV14">Ythier</a> Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage
+between Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received
+"signed and sealed blanks" from the two princes in order to
+enable him to hasten matters. (<i>Lettres de Louis XI.</i>, iv., 289.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#300">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XV15">III</a>., ch. viii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#301">[Footnote 16:</a> "<a name="XV16">Cette</a> paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois présent."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#301">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="XV17">The</a> king's envoys who had spent the winter in the Burgundian
+court. <i>See</i> letter to them in December.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#302">[Footnote 18:</a> <i><a name="XV18">See</a></i> Kervyn, <i>Bulletin de l'Academie royale de Belgique</i>, p.
+256. <i>Also</i> Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#304">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="XV19">Louis</a> to the Vicomte de la Belliére, <i>Lettres</i>, etc., iv., 319.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#304">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="XV20">Louis</a> to Dammartin, <i>Ibid</i>., 325. <i>Mars</i> was written first
+and then replaced by <i>Mai</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#305">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XV21">Odet</a> d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de Lescun.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#305">[Footnote 22:</a> <i><a name="XV22">Lettres</a>, XI</i>., iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#306">[Footnote 23:</a> <i><a name="XV23">Lettres</a></i>, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#307">[Footnote 24:</a> <i><a name="XV24">Lettres</a></i>, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. <i>See also</i> Duclos,
+v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two
+texts, but the differences do not affect the narrative.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#308">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="XV25">Odet</a> d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted
+to his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis
+broadcast over the land. The truth of the death is not proven.
+Frequent mentions of Guienne's condition occur through the
+letters of the winter '71-72. The story was that the poison,
+administered subtly by the king's orders, caused the illness
+of both the prince and his mistress, Mme. de Thouan. She
+died after two months of suffering, December 14th, while
+he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely
+shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably
+wretched and painful, a constant torture until death mercifully
+released him in May. Accusations of poisoning are
+often repeated in history. In this case, there was certainly
+a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In his manifestos,
+(Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's tools in
+compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre,
+and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+The story told by Brantôme <i>(&OElig;uvres Complètes</i> de Pierre
+de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantôme, ii., 329. "Grands
+Capitaines Francois." There is nothing too severe for Brantôme
+to say about Louis XI.) is very detailed. A fool
+passed to Louis's service from that of the dead prince.
+While this man was attending his new master in the church
+of Notre Dame de Cléry, he heard him make this prayer to
+the Virgin: "Ah! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great
+friend in whom I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a
+suppliant to God in my behalf, be my advocate with Him so
+that He may pardon me for the death of my brother whom I
+had poisoned by this wicked Abbé of St. John. I confess it
+to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was
+to be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me
+pardoned and I know well what I will give thee."</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Brantôme tells further that the fool, using the privilege of
+free speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death
+at dinner in public and after that day was never seen again.
+On the other hand, the young duke's will was all to his
+brother's favour. Louis was made executor and legatee,
+"and if we have ever offended our beloved brother," dictated
+the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we with <i>débonnaire</i>
+affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Commynes
+(1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious
+fabrication of Odet d'Aydie, and other authorities refer the
+cause to disease. The very date of the death varies from
+May 12th to May 24th.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#310">[Footnote 26:</a> <a name="XV26">Commines</a>, iii., ch. ix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#310">[Footnote 27:</a> <a name="XV27">There</a> is a curious document in existence (see <i>Bulletins
+de L'Hist. de France</i>, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the
+event. It is the deposition of several old people who had
+been just old enough to remember that awful experience of
+their youth. Fifty years of repetition gave time for the
+growth of the story.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#311">[Footnote 28:</a> <a name="XV28">Commines</a>, iii., ch. x.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#313">[Footnote 29:</a> <a name="XV29">Legend</a> makes it that Jeanne Laisné, called <i>Fouquet</i>,
+chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet.
+Hence her name was changed to <i>La Hachette</i>, and she is represented
+with a hatchet.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#314">[Footnote 30:</a> <a name="XV30">Barante</a>, vii., 333.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#314">[Footnote 31:</a> <i><a name="XV31">See</a></i> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 368.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#315">[Footnote 32:</a><span style="color:#ffffff"><a name="XV32">.</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="footnote1">
+"Berri est mort,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Bretagne dort,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Bourgogne hongne,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Le Roy besogne."</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Le Roux de Lincy, <i>Chants historiques et populaires du temps
+de Louis XI</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#316">[Footnote 33:</a> <a name="XV33">Commines</a> also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke
+of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the
+Duke of Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#316">[Footnote 34:</a> <a name="XV34">Kirk</a> (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only Louis's
+way of prodding him up to act.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#317">[Footnote 35:</a> <a name="XV35">Dupont</a> (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not
+enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift
+of the principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not
+registered in <i>Parlement</i> until December 13, 1473, and in the
+court of records May 2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Commines
+become at last, and as such he married Helen de
+Chambes, January 27, 1473.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#317">[Footnote 36:</a> <a name="XV36">It</a> is strange that La Marche does not mention this
+defection.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#317">[Footnote 37:</a> <a name="XV37">See</a> document quoted by Gachard, <i>Études et Notices</i>, etc.
+ii., 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preserved
+in the château of Beaumont.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#318">[Footnote 38:</a> <i><a name="XV38">See</a> also</i> Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of this
+event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too
+corrupt for honest men to endure it.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#318">[Footnote 39:</a> <i><a name="XV39">See</a></i> Stein. <i>Étude</i>, etc., <i>sur Olivier de la Marche</i>. (Mém.
+Couronnés) xlix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#319">[Footnote 40:</a> <a name="XV40">Letter</a> of Louis XI. in Bibl. Nat.: <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 179.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="320">[page 320]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XVI">XVI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>GUELDERS</h3>
+
+<h4>1473</h4>
+<p>
+The affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were
+among the matters urgently demanding
+the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close
+of his campaign in France. The circumstances of
+the long-standing quarrel between Duke Arnold
+and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a scandal
+throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming reconciliation
+of the parties had not only been effected
+but celebrated in the town of Grave by a pleasant
+family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke,
+fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was
+he in bed, when he was aroused rudely, and carried
+off half clad to a dungeon in the castle of
+Buren, by the order of his son, who superintended
+the abduction in person and then became
+duke regnant. For over six years the old man
+languished in prison, actually taunted, from time
+to time, it is said, by Duke Adolf himself.</p>
+<p>
+Indignant remonstrances against this conduct
+were heard from various quarters, and were all
+alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles
+of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring
+his father to his presence, and to submit the dispute
+to his arbitration. Charles was too near<span class="page"><a name="321">[page 321]</a></span>
+and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded,
+and his peremptory invitation was accepted.
+Pending the decision, the two dukes were forced
+to be guests in his court, under a strict surveillance
+which amounted to an arrest.</p>
+<p>
+The first suggestion made by Charles was for
+a compromise between father and son. "Let
+Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in
+Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair
+income, while to Adolf be ceded the full power of
+administration." The latter was emphatic in
+his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather
+would I prefer to see my father thrown into a well
+and to follow him thither than to agree to such
+terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty-four
+years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold
+thought it would be a simple feat to fight out the
+dispute. "I saw them both several times in the
+duke's apartment and in the council chamber
+when they pleaded, each his own cause. I saw the
+old man offer a gage of battle to his son."<a href="#XVI1"><sup>1</sup></a> The
+senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry.
+A trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly
+fashion of ending his differences with his importunate
+heir.</p>
+<p>
+No settlement was effected before the French
+expedition, but Charles was not disposed to let
+the matter slip from his control, and when he
+proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under
+restraint, were obliged to follow in his train. At<span class="page"><a name="322">[page 322]</a></span>
+a leisure moment Charles intended to force them
+to accept his arbitration as final. Before that
+moment arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs,
+Adolf, succeeded in eluding surveillance
+and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made
+his way successfully to Namur disguised as a
+Franciscan monk. Then, at the ferry, he gave
+a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The
+liberality, inconsistent with his assumed rôle,
+aroused suspicion and led to the detection of his
+rank and identity. He was stayed in his flight
+and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a
+decision on his case by his self-constituted judge.
+This was not pronounced until the summer of
+1473.</p>
+<p>
+By that time, Charles was resolved on another
+course of action than that of adjusting a family
+dispute in the capacity of puissant, impartial,
+and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour towards
+his father had been extraordinarily brutal
+and outrageous. Public comment had been excited
+to a wide degree. It was not an affair to
+be dealt with lightly by Duke Charles. The
+young Duchess of Guelders was Catharine of
+Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy,
+and Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden
+Fleece. In consideration of these links of family
+and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that
+the case should be tried with all formality.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="arnold">[plate 21]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image21arnold.jpg" width="400" height="631" alt="ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was
+held at Valenciennes,<a href="#XVI2"><sup>2</sup></a> and the knights were asked<span class="page"><a name="323">[page 323]</a></span>
+to pass upon the conduct of their delinquent
+fellow, who was permitted to present his own
+brief through an attorney, but was detained in
+his own person at Namur. The innocence or
+guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point
+of interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was
+concerned. The latter had made an excellent
+bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke
+of Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a
+document wherein he sold to Charles all his
+administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for
+ninety-two thousand florins,<a href="#XVI3"><sup>3</sup></a> in consideration of<span class="page"><a name="324">[page 324]</a></span>
+Arnold's enjoying a life interest in half of the
+revenue of his ancient duchy. That clause soon
+lost its significance. The old man's life ceased
+in March, 1473, and, by virtue of the contract,
+Charles proposed to enter into full possession of
+his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he
+was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal,
+quite beyond the pale of society, but that
+Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose
+hereditary claims had also been ignored by his
+grandfather.</p>
+<p>
+Before the knights of the Order as a final court,
+were rehearsed all the circumstances of the old
+family quarrel and of the late commercial transaction.
+Their verdict was the one desired by their
+chief. It was proven to their entire satisfaction
+that Arnold's sale of the duchy of Guelders and
+Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the
+deed executed by him was a perfect and valid
+instrument, whereby Charles of Burgundy was
+duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of,
+and to exert authority in, his new duchy at his
+pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he was condemned
+by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment
+as punishment for his unfilial and unjustifiable<span class="page"><a name="325">[page 325]</a></span>
+cruelty towards Arnold, late Duke of Guelders.</p>
+<p>
+Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars,
+but the people of Guelders were by no means disposed
+to accept unquestioned this deed of transfer,
+made when the two parties to the conveyance
+were in very unequal conditions of freedom.
+In order to convince them of the justice of his
+pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as efficient
+as his army of the preceding summer, and
+fell upon Guelders. A truce, a triple compact
+with France and England, had recently been
+renewed, so that for the moment his hands were
+free from complications, an event commented
+upon by Sir John Paston, as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"April 16, 1473, CANTERBURY.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys
+about the xxvi day off March last, betwyn the Duke of
+Burgoyn and the Frense Kings inbassators and Master
+William Atclyff ffor the king heer, whiche is a pese
+be londe and be water tyll the ffyrst daye off Apryll
+nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland,
+and also the Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever."</p>
+
+<p>
+The writer had recently been in Charles's court.
+Writing from Calais in February, he says:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that
+the Duke of Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth
+well. I was with them on Thorysdaye last past at
+Gaunt."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVI4"><sup>4</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pretender<span class="page"><a name="326">[page 326]</a></span>
+to the vacated sovereignty of Guelders.
+The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to urge his
+cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At
+the sight of Burgundian puissance, however, he
+was ready to be convinced, and accepted 24,000
+florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness
+of the accession. Several of the cities manifested
+opposition to Charles, but yielded one after
+another. In Nimwegen&mdash;long hostile to Duke
+Arnold&mdash;there was a determined effort to support
+little Charles of Guelders who, with his sister, was
+in that city. The child made a pretty show on
+his little pony, and there were many declarations
+of devotion to his cause as he was put forward to
+excite sympathy. For three weeks, the town
+held out in his name. The resistance to the Burgundian
+troops was sturdy. When the gates
+gave way before their attacks the burghers defended
+the broken walls. Six hundred English
+archers were repulsed from an assault with such
+sudden energy that they left their banners sticking
+in the very breaches they thought they had won,
+fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But
+the game was unequal, and the combatants, convinced
+that discretion was the better part of
+valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a
+mediator with their would-be sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+On July 19th, a long civic procession headed
+by the burgomasters, wearing neither hats nor
+shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a
+prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the<span class="page"><a name="327">[page 327]</a></span>
+opposition to his accession were delivered over to
+the mercy of the victor. The garrison were accorded
+their lives and a tax was imposed on the
+city to indemnify the duke for his needless
+trouble, and Guelders was added <i>de facto</i> to the
+list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various
+state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the
+mention of the circumstance of his accession to
+the sovereignty was simple and straightforward,
+as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la
+Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the
+date of August 18th and was one of the earliest
+issued by Charles in this new capacity.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his
+life Duke of Guelderland, these counties and duchy
+have lapsed to me, and by the same token the offices
+of the land have escheated to our disposition, and
+among others the office of master of the moneys of
+those countships ... using the rights, etc., escheated
+to me, and in consideration of the good and
+agreeable services already rendered and continually
+rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de la Marche,
+having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity,
+and good diligence&mdash;for these causes and others we
+entrust the office of master and overseer of moneys of
+the land of Guelders to him, with all the rights, duties,
+and privileges thereto pertaining. In testimony of
+this we have set our seal to these papers. Done in
+our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 1473. Thus
+signed by M. le duc."</p>
+
+<p>
+On the back of this document was written:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la<span class="page"><a name="328"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 328]</span></a></span>
+Marche ... took the oath of office of
+master and overseer of the land and duchy of
+Guelders."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVI5"><sup>5</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The charge of the ducal children, Charles and
+Philippa, was entrusted to the duke who, in his
+turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise
+their education. In a comparatively brief time
+agitation in behalf of the disinherited heir ceased,
+and imperial ratification alone was required to
+stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the
+Burgundian domains. Under the circumstances
+the minor heirs were the emperor's wards, and it
+was his express duty to look to their interests,
+but Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert
+himself as their champion. On the contrary,
+the embassy that arrived from his court on August
+14th was charged with felicitations to his dear
+friend, Charles of Burgundy, for his acquisition,
+and with assurances that the requisite investiture
+into his dignities should be given by his imperial
+hand at the duke's pleasure.<a href="#XVI6"><sup>6</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Communication between Frederic and Charles
+had been intermittently frequent during the past
+three years, and one subject of their letters was
+probably a reason why Charles had been willing to
+abandon a losing game in France to give another
+bias to his thoughts. He was lured on by the
+bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite<span class="page"><a name="329">[page 329]</a></span>
+form indeed, but full of promise that he might be
+enabled, eventually, to confer with Louis XI. from
+a better vantage ground than his position as first
+peer of France. The story of these hopes now
+becomes the story of Charles of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+When Sigismund of Austria completed his
+mortgage, in 1469, at St. Omer, and returned
+home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to
+divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth
+into the empty imperial coffers. An alliance
+between Mary of Burgundy and the young Archduke
+Maximilian seemed to him the most advantageous
+matrimonial bargain possible for the
+emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with
+all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish
+in his offers to be mediator between him and
+his new friend Charles.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic was impressed by Sigismund's enthusiastic
+exposition of the advantages of the match,
+and little time elapsed before his ambassador
+brought formal proposals to Charles for the alliance.
+The duke received the advances complacently
+and returned propositions significant of his
+personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his
+instructions to certain envoys sent to the intermediary,
+Sigismund, are plain. In unequivocal
+terms, his daughter's hand is made contingent on
+his own election as King of the Romans, that
+shadowy royalty which veiled the approach to the
+imperial throne.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item</i>&mdash;And in regard to the said marriage, the<span class="page"><a name="330"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 330]</span></a></span>
+ambassadors shall inform Monseigneur of Austria
+that, since his departure from Hesdin, certain people
+have talked to Monseigneur about this marriage and
+mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be willing
+to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the
+government of the Kingdom of the Romans, with the
+stipulation that Monseigneur, <i>arrived at the empire by
+the good pleasure of the emperor</i> or by his death, would,
+in his turn, procure the said crown of the Romans for
+his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire
+will be continued in the person of the emperor's son
+and his descendants.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item</i>&mdash;They shall tell him about a meeting between
+the imperial and ducal ambassadors, at which
+meeting there was some talk of making a kingdom
+out of certain lands of Monseigneur and joining these
+to an <i>imperial</i> vicariate of all the lands and principalities
+lying along the Rhine."</p>
+
+<p>
+In the following paragraphs of this instruction,<a href="#XVI7"><sup>7</sup></a>
+Charles directs his envoys to make it clear to
+Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund) that the
+duke's interest in the plan does not spring from
+avarice or ambition. He is purely actuated by a
+yearning to employ his time and his strength for
+God's service and for the defence of the Faith,
+while still in his prime.</p>
+<p>
+Should the emperor refuse to approve the<span class="page"><a name="331">[page 331]</a></span>
+duke's nomination as King of the Romans, the
+ambassadors are instructed to say that they are
+not empowered to proceed with the marriage
+negotiations without first referring to their chief.
+They must ask leave to return with their report.
+If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound
+the emperor again about his sentiments, the
+envoys might await the result of his investigations.
+He was to be assured that while Charles was
+resolved to hold back until he was fully satisfied
+on this point, if it were once ceded, he would
+interpose no further delay in the celebration of the
+nuptials. He must know, however, just what
+power and revenue the emperor would attach
+to the proposed title. He was not willing to
+accept it without emoluments. His present
+financial burdens were already heavy, etc. The
+concluding items of the instructions had reference
+to the marriage settlements.</p>
+<p>
+A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream
+at this stage of Burgundo-Austrian negotiations.
+The title that Charles desired primarily was King
+of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign
+power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing
+imperial dignity. Significant is the intimation
+that after this preliminary title was conferred, its
+wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside
+voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient
+as death in making room for his appointed
+successor.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally<span class="page"><a name="332">[page 332]</a></span>
+that a life of meditation would suit his tastes
+better than the imperial throne, but he seems
+in no wise to have been tempted by the offer
+made by Charles to relieve him of his onerous
+duties, and then to pass on the office to his
+son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the
+opportunity to enjoy an irresponsible ease. His
+answer to the duke was that he did not exercise
+sufficient influence over his electors to ensure
+their accepting his nominee as successor to the
+<i>imperium</i>.</p>
+<p>
+There was, however, one honour that lay wholly
+within his gift. If Charles desired higher rank,
+the emperor would be quite willing to erect his
+territories into a realm and to create him monarch
+of his own agglomerated possessions, welded into
+a new unity. This proposition wounded Charles
+keenly. He assured Sigismund<a href="#XVI8"><sup>8</sup></a> (January 15,
+1471) that his nomination as King of the Romans
+would never have occurred to him spontaneously.
+He had been assured that it was a darling project
+of the emperor, and he had simply been willing
+to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own,
+he refused the proposition with actual disdain.</p>
+<p>
+Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of
+Burgundy appeared on the scene successively.
+To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine, grandson
+of old King René of Anjou, she was formally
+betrothed.<a href="#XVI9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+"My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very<span class="page"><a name="333">[page 333]</a></span>
+redoubtable seigneur and father, I promise you
+that, you being alive, I will take none other than
+you and I promise to take you when God
+permits it." So wrote Mary with her own hand
+on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December 3d,
+she declared all such pledges revoked as though
+they never had been made, and Nicholas, too,
+formally renounced his pretensions to her hand.</p>
+<p>
+There were several moments when Charles of
+France had appeared to be very near acceptance
+as Mary's husband, and several other princes
+seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father
+found his daughter very valuable as a means of
+attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as Commines
+says, he was not anxious to introduce any
+son-in-law into his family. His fortieth year
+was only completed in 1473, and he was by no
+means ready to range himself as an ancestor.</p>
+<p>
+At successive times the negotiations between
+Charles and Frederic were ruptured only to
+be renewed on some slightly different basis.
+Threaded together they made a story fraught
+with interest for Louis XI., and one that, very
+probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up
+to August, 1472, it is a safe inference that Philip
+de Commines was fully cognisant of the propositions
+and counter-propositions, the understandings
+and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as
+well as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian
+envoys that appeared at one Burgundian camp
+after another. Probably there was nothing more<span class="page"><a name="334">[page 334]</a></span>
+valuable in the store of learning carried by the
+astute historian from his first patron to his second
+than all this fund of confidential miscellany.</p>
+<p>
+It seems a fair surmise that Louis XI. enjoyed
+immensely the delightful private view into his
+rival's dreams, the disappointments and rehabilitation
+of his shattered visions. The relation
+would have made him not only fully aware of the
+reasons why Charles was diverted from his hot
+pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly informed
+as to the great obstacles lying in the path
+which the duke hoped to travel. Naturally, the
+king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin
+was inevitable. If his rival were disposed to
+wreck himself rashly on German shoals, the king
+was equally disposed to be an acquiescent onlooker
+and to spare his own powder.</p>
+<p>
+On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of
+the extent of his loss of prestige within the French
+realm in 1472. There had been other periods
+when the king had appeared triumphant over
+his aspiring nobles only to be again checked by
+their alliance. In the radical change undergone
+by the feudatories after Guienne's death and
+Brittany's reconciliation, there was, however, no
+opening left for the Duke of Burgundy's re-entry
+as a French political leader. It was this definitive
+cessation of his importance that Charles failed
+to recognise. Confident that his star was rising
+in the east he did not note the significance of its
+setting in the west. Thereupon the situation<span class="page"><a name="335">[page 335]</a></span>
+was,&mdash;Charles, believing that his plans were his
+own secret, <i>versus</i> Louis, fully advised of those
+plans and alert to all incidents of the past, present,
+and future in a fashion impossible to the duke
+in his absorbed contemplation of his own prospects,
+blocking the scope of his view.</p>
+<p>
+With the emperor's congratulations at the
+duke's accession to Guelders, and his offers to
+invest him with the title, were coupled intimations
+that it was an opportune moment to resume
+consideration of an alliance between the Archduke
+Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The
+duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf
+de Soulz and Peter von Hagenbach proceeded
+to the Burgundian and Austrian courts respectively,
+as confidential envoys to discuss the
+marriage.<a href="#XVI10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than
+he had been to the last imperial messenger, the
+Abbé de Casanova, who had restricted his proposals
+to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's.
+The duke had no intention of permitting any conference
+to proceed on that line. He was explicit
+as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised
+by a gift of ten thousand florins, explained by the
+phrase, "because Monseigneur recognised the
+love and affection borne him by the said count."
+That was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices,
+and estates were conferred, to take effect on the
+day when Monseigneur was named King of the<span class="page"><a name="336">[page 336]</a></span>
+Romans.</p>
+<p>
+The instructions to Hagenbach were definite,
+covering the ground of those previously mentioned,
+issued in 1470. He was, however,
+especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the
+duke did not require his abdication. He would
+be content to step into the shoes naturally
+vacated by his death.</p>
+<p>
+The final suggestion resulting from these parleyings
+was that an interview between the two principals
+would be far more satisfactory than any
+further interchange of messages. It was not only
+a propitious time for a conference, but it was
+necessary. The ceremony of investiture of the
+duke into his latest acquired fief made it evidently
+imperative that he should visit the emperor.
+And to preparations for that event, Charles
+turned his attention, now absolutely confident
+that the outcome must be to his satisfaction.
+He had as little comprehension of the character of
+the man with whom he was to deal as he had of
+Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some
+difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near
+his own frontier. Metz was selected and abandoned
+on account of an epidemic. Finally Trèves
+was appointed for the important occasion, and
+Frederic sent official invitations to the princes of
+the empire to follow him thither in October.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="mary2">[plate 22]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image22mary2.jpg" width="400" height="747" alt="MARY OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous,
+another event had occurred that had an important
+bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of<span class="page"><a name="337">[page 337]</a></span>
+Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir.
+He had been relinquished as a son-in-law, but the
+geographical position of his duchy made the question
+of its sovereignty all important to Charles of
+Burgundy. If it could be under his own control,
+how convenient for the passage of his troops
+from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for
+duchies like many another can grow by what it
+feeds upon.</p>
+<p>
+Prepared to set out for his journey to Trèves,
+Charles hastened his movements and proceeded to
+Metz with an escort so large that it had a formidable
+aspect to the city fathers. Whether they
+feared that their free city was too tempting a
+base for attack on Lorraine or not, the magistrates
+yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian
+thousands without their walls. The emperor,
+too, was on his way to Trèves. Many of his suite
+were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might
+be found for Charles and his immediate retainers,
+indeed, but the troops must make themselves
+as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So
+said the burgomaster, and Charles was forced to
+yield and he made a splendid entry into the town
+under the prescribed conditions.</p>
+<p>
+His own paraphernalia had been forwarded
+from Antwerp, so that there should be an abundance
+of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his temporary
+quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had
+been scoured to secure game for the banquets.</p>
+<p>
+It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a<span class="page"><a name="338">[page 338]</a></span>
+humour to be pleased. He was annoyed about
+his troops; very probably he had intended leaving
+a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine
+if occasion offered. He cut short his stay in the
+town and marched on with his imposing escort to
+Trèves, whence he hoped to march out again a
+greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy
+had ever been.<a href="#XVI11"><sup>[11]</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#321">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XVI1">Commines</a>, iv., ch. i.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#323">[Footnote 2:</a> <i>Hist. <a name="XVI2">de</a> l'Ordre,</i> etc., p. 64. One of the places to be filled at
+this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower
+of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace
+of the ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated
+in the minutes of the session that Adolf of Guelders was
+asked to nominate candidates from his prison, but he would
+not do it. Striking is Charles's remark on the nomination
+of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that the Order
+was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very excellent,
+he judged it more <i>à propos</i> to distribute the five empty
+collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was
+elected, as was also Engelbert of Nassau.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules
+of the Order. There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard
+for taking a gift of 20,000 crowns from Louis XI. Payable
+as it was in terms, it savoured of a pension. Had Henry van
+Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's landing in
+England? etc.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the
+disposition of the scarlet mantles now discarded by the
+chevaliers. It was decided after deliberation that they
+should be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase of
+tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the treasurer was
+deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this connection
+that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or rather
+abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order
+and the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best
+to defer this point until his return from his proposed journey
+to Guelders. Lengthy, too, were the discussions upon the
+exact usage in respect to wearing the collar and insignia of the
+Order.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#323">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XVI3">The</a> first sum named was three hundred thousand.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#325">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="XVI4">The</a> Paston Letters, iii., 79.</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#328">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XVI5">See</a> <i>Mémoires Couronnés</i>, xlix., 180.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#328">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XVI6">Toutey</a>, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the
+Duke of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to
+Nimwegen where the ambassador of the emperor visited him.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#330">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XVI7">This</a> instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the
+Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been
+referred to 1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to
+conclude that it belongs rather to 1470. The question of the
+marriage comes in at the end of the paper, the first part
+being devoted to Swiss affairs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#332">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XVI8">Toutey</a>, p. 36.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#332">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XVI9">Lenglet</a>, iii., 192.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#336">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XVI10">Toutey</a>, p. 44; Chmel, <i>Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#338">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XVI11">Toutey</a>, p. 46.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="339">[page 339]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XVII">XVII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE MEETING AT TRÈVES</h3>
+
+<h4>1473</h4>
+<p>
+On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor
+Frederic made his entry into the old
+Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days
+later, the Duke of Burgundy arrived and was welcomed
+most pompously outside of Trèves, by his
+suzerain.</p>
+<p>
+After the first greetings, ensued an argument
+about the etiquette proper for the occasion, an
+argument similar to those which had absorbed
+the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when
+the dauphin made his famous visit to Duke Philip.
+For thirty minutes, the emperor argued with his
+guest before feudal scruples were overcome and
+the vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side
+into the city.</p>
+<p>
+The entry was a grand sight, and crowds
+thronged the streets, more curious about the
+duke than about the emperor. Charles was then
+in the very prime of life. His personality commanded
+attention, but there were some among
+the onlookers who found it more striking than
+attractive. One bystander thought that the very
+splendour of his dress, wherein cloth of gold
+and pearls played a part, only brought into high<span class="page"><a name="340">[page 340]</a></span>
+relief the severity of his features. His great
+black eyes, his proud and determined air failed
+to cast into oblivion a certain effect of insignificance
+given by his square figure, broad shoulders,
+excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed
+from continuous riding.<a href="#XVII1"><sup>l</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+There is, however, another word portrait of the
+duke as he looked in the year 1473, whose trend
+is more sympathetic.<a href="#XVII2"><sup>2</sup></a> "His stature was small
+and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark
+chestnut, eyes black and brilliant, his presence
+majestic but stern. He was high-spirited, magnanimous,
+courageous, intrepid, and impetuous.
+Capable of action, he lacked nothing but prudence
+to attain success."</p>
+<p>
+From the two descriptions emerges a fairly
+clear picture of an energetic man, somewhat
+undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert
+his dignity in a fashion that did not quite comport
+with his physical characteristics. The conviction
+that he was a very important personage
+with greater importance awaiting him, and his
+total lack of a sense of humour, combined with his
+inability to feel the pulse of a situation, undoubtedly
+affected his bearing and made it seem more pompous.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charles2">[plate 23]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image23charles2.jpg" width="400" height="527" alt="CHARLES THE BOLD" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="341">[page 341]</a></span>
+<p>
+The emperor was not an heroic figure in appearance
+any more than he was in the records of his
+reign, distinguished for being the feeblest as well
+as the longest in the annals of the empire. He
+was indolent, timid, irresolute, and incapable. His
+features and manners were vulgar, his intellect
+sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies,
+he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding
+his imperial sceptre. At Trèves he was accompanied
+by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a
+fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready
+to be fascinated by his proposed father-in-law,
+who was a striking contrast to his own languid
+and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous
+love of action.</p>
+<p>
+As the two princes rode together into the city,
+Charles's accoutrements attracted all eyes. The
+polished steel of his armour shone like silver. Over
+it hung a short mantle actually embroidered with
+diamonds and other precious stones to the value
+of two hundred thousand gold crowns. His
+velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out of
+compliment to the emperor, was ornamented
+with a diamond whose price no man could tell.
+Before him walked a page carrying his helmet
+studded with gems, while his magnificent black
+steed was heavily weighted down with its rich
+caparisons.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic III., very simple in his ordinary dress,
+had exerted himself to appear well to his great<span class="page"><a name="342">[page 342]</a></span>
+vassal. His robe of cloth of gold was fine, though
+it may have looked something like a luxurious
+dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish
+fashion and bordered with pearls. The emperor
+was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the tradition,
+by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but innocent
+doors that chanced to impede his way.</p>
+<p>
+The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and
+silver, walked by the side of an Ottoman prince,
+prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity by
+the pope himself. And then there was a host
+of nobles, great and small. Among them were
+Engelbert of Nassau<a href="#XVII3"><sup>3</sup></a> and the representative
+of the House of Orange-Châlons, whose titles were
+destined to be united in one person within the
+next half-century.</p>
+<p>
+The magnificence remained unrivalled in the
+history of royal conferences. The very troopers
+wore habits of cloth of gold over their steel, while
+their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed
+with silver bells. Surpassing all others, were
+the heralds-at-arms of the various individual
+states which acknowledged Charles as their sovereign,
+seigneur, count, or duke as the case might
+be. They preceded their liege lord, clad in their
+distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with colour.
+Before them were the trumpeters in white and
+blue, their very instruments silvered, while first<span class="page"><a name="343">[page 343]</a></span>
+of all rode one hundred golden haired boys, "an
+angel throng."</p>
+<p>
+It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite
+etiquette of escort, that the emperor and duke
+agreed to separate on the fairly neutral ground
+of the market-place. Each proceeded with his
+own suite to his lodgings, Frederic to the archbishop's
+palace, and Charles to the abbey of St.
+Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years
+previously, the honorary title of "Protector."
+His army was quartered within and without the
+city. Two days for repose and then the first
+official interview took place, which is described
+as follows, by an unknown correspondent, evidently
+in the ducal suite:<a href="#XVII4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur
+waited upon the emperor and escorted him to his own
+lodging which is in the abbey of St. Maximin. My said
+lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat. The
+emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy,
+and his son was in a robe of green damask. As to
+their people, both suites were very brave, jewelry
+and cloth of gold being as common as satin or taffeta.
+Monseigneur received the emperor in a little chamber
+decorated with hangings from Holland that many
+recognised.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his
+mouthpiece to describe the stress of Christianity and
+to urge Charles to lend his assistance. Having listened
+to this address, Monseigneur requested the<span class="page"><a name="344"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 344]</span></a></span>
+emperor to please come into a larger place where
+more people could hear his answer. Accordingly
+they entered a hall decorated with the tapestry of
+Alexander, while the very ceiling was covered with
+cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a
+double row of seats. Benches and steps were spread
+over with tapestry wrought with my lord's arms.
+Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais with
+difficulty.... Mons., the chancellor, clad
+in velvet over velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a
+discourse in beautiful Latin as a response to what
+had been said by the seigneur of Mayence. Then,
+showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected
+by the king, he began with an account of the king's
+reception by Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evidently
+the late duke], in his own residence, and he
+continued down to the present day, dilating upon
+the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis]
+received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extortions
+he had made since and desires to make. Never a
+word was forgotten, but all was well stated, especially
+the case of M. de Guienne.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII5"><sup>5</sup></a></span> Finally, Monseigneur
+declared that if his lands were in security, there was
+nothing he would like better than to give aid to
+Christianity.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"After this statement, which was marvellously
+honest, the emperor arose from the throne, wine
+and spices were brought, and then Monseigneur
+escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand
+display of torches. This is the outline of what happened
+on October 4th, in the said year lxxiii. And<span class="page"><a name="345"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 345]</span></a></span>
+as to the future, next Thursday the emperor will dine
+where Monseigneur lodges, <i>et là fera les grants du
+roy</i>,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII6"><sup>6</sup></a></span> and there will be novelties. In regard to the
+fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very
+fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human,
+and benign. I do not know with whom to compare
+his figure better than Monseigneur de Croy, as
+he was eight or ten years ago, except that his flesh
+is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor
+has seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the
+major part of the nobles present come from this locality.
+In regard to Monseigneur's departure, there is no
+news, and they make great cheer&mdash;this is all for this
+time."</p>
+
+<p>
+The German scholars in the imperial party
+listened most attentively to the style of the
+Netherlander's speech as well as to his subject-matter.
+"More abundant in vocabulary than
+elegant in Latinity," was their comment, a fault
+they considered marking all French Latin. The
+audience found time to note the style for the
+subject of the address did not interest them
+greatly. The least observant onlooker knew that
+the main purpose of this interview was not the
+plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic
+appointed a committee to discuss that, whose
+members, Burgundian and German in equal
+numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern
+question while emperor and duke were absorbed<span class="page"><a name="346">[page 346]</a></span>
+in other matters.<a href="#XVII7"><sup>7</sup></a> In their very first session,
+this committee decided that the chief obstacle
+to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgundian
+quarrel. This point was also raised by
+Charles in his first conference with Frederic.
+No campaign was feasible until the European
+powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI.
+was aiding and abetting the heathen by being a
+disturbing element which rendered this desired
+unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a fresh
+commission to discuss European peace. And
+this insolvable problem was a convenient blind
+for other discussions.</p>
+<p>
+On October 5th, a Burgundian fête gave new
+occasion for a display of wealth; "vulgar ostentation,"
+sneered the less opulent German nobles
+who tried to show that their pride was not
+wounded by the sharp contrasts between imperial
+habits and those of a mere duke. On their side,
+the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to
+waste good things on boors so little accustomed
+to elegantly equipped apartments that they used
+silken bedspreads to polish up their boots!</p>
+<p>
+A running commentary of international criticism,
+fine feasts, ostensible negotiations about
+projects that probably no one expected would
+come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent
+and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on
+one side, feebly accepted by the other while the
+two principals were together, and petulantly disliked<span class="page"><a name="347">[page 347]</a></span>
+by the emperor as soon as he was alone again
+&mdash;such was the course of the conference.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic III. had one simple desire&mdash;to marry
+his son to the Burgundian heiress. Charles
+desired many things, some of which are clear
+and others obscure. The very fact that the
+emperor did not at once refuse his demands,
+gave him confidence that all were obtainable.
+Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal
+chief by a display of his resources, and by showing
+the high esteem in which he was held by all nations.
+There at Trèves, embassies came to him from
+England, from various Italian and German states,
+and from Hungary.</p>
+<p>
+On October 15th, a treaty was signed that
+made the new Duke of Lorraine virtually a vassal
+to Charles, an important step towards Burgundian
+expansion. There was time and to spare for
+these many comings and goings during the eight
+weeks of the sojourn at Trèves, and the duke was
+not idle. That his own business hung fire, he
+thought was due to the machinations of Louis XI.
+He had no desire to prolong his visit, for he was
+well aware of the risk involved in keeping his
+troops in Trèves.<a href="#XVII8"><sup>8</sup></a> At first the magnificence of
+his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but
+little by little, in spite of the duke's strict discipline,
+the presence of idle soldiers became very
+onerous. Charles did not hesitate to hang on the
+nearest tree a man caught in an illicit act, but<span class="page"><a name="348">[page 348]</a></span>
+much lawlessness passed without his knowledge.
+Provisions became very dear; there was some
+danger of an epidemic due to the unsanitary
+conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so
+many strangers. The precautions instituted by
+the Roman founders in regard to their water
+supply had long since fallen into disuse.</p>
+<p>
+Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite
+answer from the emperor as to the proposed kingdom,
+the matrimonial alliance, and his own status.
+Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then
+substituted vague promises for present assent
+to the demands. But when Charles, indignant,
+broke off negotiations on October 31st, and
+began to prepare for immediate departure, Frederic
+became anxious, renewed his overtures, and
+a new conference took place, in which he consented
+to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the proviso
+the sanction of his election should be obtained.</p>
+<p>
+Charles promised to go against the Turk in
+person, and to place a thousand men at Frederic's
+disposal, so soon as all points at issue between
+him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that
+his estates were erected into a kingdom, which
+should also comprise the bishoprics of Liege,
+Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the duchies of Lorraine,
+Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be
+a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and
+Poland, and transmissible by heredity in the male
+and female line&mdash;a necessary recognition of a
+woman's right, approved by both parties, for<span class="page"><a name="349">[page 349]</a></span>
+Mary of Burgundy was to marry Maximilian.</p>
+<p>
+Electoral confirmation alone was wanting,
+and in regard to that there was much voluminous
+correspondence and much shuffling of responsibility.
+The electors of Mayence and of
+Trèves were the only ones present to speak for
+themselves, and they declared that the matter
+ought to be referred to a full conclave of the
+electoral college.<a href="#XVII9"><sup>9</sup></a> Let the candidate for royalty
+await the decision of the next diet, appointed for
+November at Augsburg.</p>
+<p>
+Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed
+this solution to Charles, who replied haughtily
+that if his request were not complied with he
+would join Louis XI. in a league hostile to the
+empire. This was on November 6th. The Archbishop
+of Trèves then suggested that if the question
+could not wait for a diet, at least the electors
+should be summoned, especially the elector of
+Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential
+with the emperor, and who was a leader in the
+anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German
+party. This seemed fair, but the emperor suddenly
+put on a show of authority and declared, with
+an injured air, that he was perfectly free to act
+on his own initiative without confirmation. In
+the interests of Christianity and of the empire he
+would appoint Charles of Burgundy chief of the<span class="page"><a name="350">[page 350]</a></span>
+crusade, and he would crown him king.</p>
+<p>
+The organised opposition to his plan came to the
+duke's ears and made him very angry. Yet, at
+the same time, he had no desire to dispense with
+electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the
+imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure
+his kingdom into permanent existence. It was
+finally decided that Frederic III. should display
+his power to the extent of investing Charles at
+once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more
+important investiture should be postponed.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="max">[plate 24]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image24max.jpg" width="400" height="717" alt="MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the
+market-place. Frederic was exalted upon a
+high platform ascended by a flight of steps.
+Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded
+and unattended, rode slowly around the platform
+three times, "which they say was the custom in
+such solemnities of investiture," adds an eyewitness,<a href="#XVII10"><sup>10</sup></a>
+as though he considered the ceremony
+somewhat archaic. Then the candidate dismounted,
+received the mantle of the empire from
+an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the
+emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying
+the insignia of the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered
+on the Burgundian arms, was carried before him.
+Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid
+two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the<span class="page"><a name="351">[page 351]</a></span>
+oath of fealty and service in low but distinct tones.
+Other rites followed, and then Charles was proclaimed
+Duke of Guelders.</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus one object of the conference was attained,
+and all the world thought it was only a question
+of time when the greater investiture would be
+celebrated. Charles's star was in the ascendant.
+There seemed no limit to the power he had acquired
+over his suzerain, who apparently graciously
+nodded assent to his requests, while the
+duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with the
+King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory
+in all doubtful issues. At the same time, his
+confidence in Frederic was by no means perfect.</p>
+<p>
+"The emperor is acting with perfect imperial
+authority and thinks that no one has a right to
+dispute it, nevertheless the duke yearns for the
+sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining
+it."<a href="#XVII11"><sup>11</sup></a> The tone taken by Charles was that of humble
+ignorance. "Little instructed as I am in imperial
+German law, I am anxious to have your
+opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to
+erect a kingdom." On November 8th, in the
+evening, the electors present in Trèves declared
+that they were not exactly sure about the imperial
+authority, but they were sure that it was
+not their duty to discuss the legal attributes of
+imperial puissance.</p>
+<p>
+Under these circumstances what remained to<span class="page"><a name="352">[page 352]</a></span>
+hinder the attainment of Charles's desire? The
+emperor consented, and the only people who
+could have stayed his consent expressly stated
+that his was the final word, not theirs. It was easy
+for onlookers to conclude not only that the coronation
+was certain but that it was done.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Know that our lord the emperor has made the
+Duke of Burgundy a king of the lands hereafter mentioned
+and has assured the royal title to him and his
+heirs, male and female; all the territories that he holds
+from the empire together with Guelderland lately
+conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to
+the empire in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy
+that formerly was held from the crown of France;
+also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen, and others
+belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories, also
+imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he
+receives from a Roman emperor."</p>
+
+<p>
+So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November
+13th, trusting to the word of an envoy who had
+left matters in so advanced a state when he departed
+from Trèves that he felt safe in concluding
+that achievement had been reached.<a href="#XVII12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too,
+were filled with rumours from Trèves. Most
+extraordinary is one of November 29th, intended
+to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, containing
+<i>exact details of the coronation of Charles
+as it had taken place five days previously</i>. The<span class="page"><a name="353">[page 353]</a></span>
+boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.<a href="#XVII13"><sup>13</sup></a>
+Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had instantly
+shown exceptional honour to the Burgundian
+resident. How exact it all sounded! Yet
+there was no truth in it.</p>
+<p>
+The vacillating emperor was affected by the
+attitude of his suite, and by their varying representations.
+There is no actual proof of French
+interference, but French agents had been seen
+in the city, and might have had private audiences
+with the emperor. Gradually, relations changed
+between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud,
+not dissipated by a three days' fête given by the
+duke (November 19th-22d), evidently in farewell.
+Was Charles too exigeant with his demands, too
+chary of his daughter? Probably.</p>
+<p>
+On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty
+a simple convention was signed, postponing the
+coronation until February. Emperor and regal
+candidate were to meet again at Besançon,
+Cologne, or Basel. In the interval, Charles was
+to come to a satisfactory understanding with the
+electors and obtain their official endorsement for
+the imperial grant.</p>
+<p>
+November 25th was appointed, <i>not</i> for the
+regal investiture, but for Frederic's departure.
+On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to
+his councillors and princes. The electors present
+were urged by the Burgundians to give their own
+conditional approval at least, and to consent to a<span class="page"><a name="354">[page 354]</a></span>
+reduction of the military obligations to be incurred
+by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where
+nobody wished to pledge anything definitely.
+There was an evident disposition to await some
+further issue before final action.</p>
+<p>
+The leave-taking between the bargain makers
+was expected to be as pompous as had been the
+entry into Trèves. It was far into the night of
+November 24th when the audience broke up.
+Little rest was there for the imperial suite, for when
+the tardy November sun arose above the eastern
+horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the
+Moselle. Not only had no imperial adieux been
+uttered, but no imperial debts had been settled.
+This was the news that was awaiting Charles when
+he awoke. Baffled he was, but not in his hope
+of being a king that day. No, only in his expectation
+of a stately pageant.<a href="#XVII14"><sup>14</sup></a> In all haste he
+sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly
+along the bank than the boat could sail, so as to
+overtake the traveller and urge him to wait for
+a few more words on divers topics. In one account
+it is reported that Frederic, though annoyed
+at the interruption, still assented to Hagenbach's
+request. No sooner was the latter away, however,
+than he changed his mind and continued his
+course.</p>
+<p>
+Rumour was busy, in regard to this strange<span class="page"><a name="355">[page 355]</a></span>
+exit of the emperor from the scene. The general
+belief among contemporaries was that it was on
+the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic
+turned his back on the scene. Take first the
+words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that he
+was in the very midst of the events can hardly
+be doubted:<a href="#XVII15"><sup>15</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"But alas how easily and instantly human desires
+change, and how fragile are the alliances and friendships
+of men, especially of princes, which are not joined
+and confirmed by the glue of Christ ... as the
+sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes
+nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.'
+Suddenly, forsooth, when they were thought to be
+harmonious in charity, benevolence, and friendship,
+when they offered each other such splendid entertainment,
+when they feasted together in regal luxury
+in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has
+been said, needed for the magnificence of such a great
+honour were made ready and prepared, so that on
+the third day should occur the celebration of that
+regal dignity <i>[fastigii],</i> and the <i>[provectio]</i> promotion
+of a new king and the erection of a new kingdom
+or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one,
+now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with
+great attention;&mdash;something occurred. I do not know
+what; hesitation or suspicion, fancied or justified, unexpectedly
+affected the emperor ... and embarking on
+his ship in the very early morning he sailed down the
+river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated
+the hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who<span class="page"><a name="356"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 356]</span></a></span>
+believed that he was to be elevated to a king. In a
+moment this hope was extinguished like a candle.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"We were present there in the city of Trèves, attached
+to the suite of neither prince, not serving
+or pretending to serve either of them. But we ascertained
+nothing either then or later, although we made
+many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure
+and we are still ignorant of the truth. When
+the day broke after the emperor's departure, and the
+duke was informed of the fact, he was also assured
+that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was opposite
+the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs.
+So he sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to
+stay for a very brief interview with the duke, assuring
+him that the very least delay possible should occur if
+he did the favour. But no attention was paid to the
+signals from the shore and the course was continued."</p>
+
+<p>
+The bishop wrote these words some time after
+the event. There are other accounts preserved,
+actual letters written within a few days or weeks
+of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar
+ignorance of what had actually passed. The
+following gives several suggestions of difficulties
+not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar
+Cesner, secretary, writes to Master Johannes
+Gelthauss and others in Frankfort, from Cologne,
+on December 6th.<a href="#XVII16"><sup>16</sup></a> He was attached to the imperial
+service, and possibly was one of the few<span class="page"><a name="357">[page 357]</a></span>
+attendants on Frederic in the hasty journey from
+Trèves. After touching on Cologne affairs he
+proceeds:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of
+Burgundy came with all pomp for his coronation as
+king of the kingdom of Burgundy and Friesland with
+twenty-six standards besides a magnificent sceptre
+and crown. He also wished to take his duchy and
+territories in Savoy<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII17"><sup>17</sup></a></span> and Guelders and others in fief
+from him [the emperor] and not from the empire.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII18"><sup>18</sup></a></span>
+This and other extraordinary demands his imperial
+grace did not wish to grant, and on that account he has
+broken off the interview and gone away. Everything
+was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the
+taking.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII19"><sup>19</sup></a></span> It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix.
+It may be hoped not [<i>non speratur</i>]. You can
+understand me as well as your faithful servant.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh
+at me. I can please my gracious lord and be worthy
+of praise if you will only trust me.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss,
+Distinguished advocate, master, preceptor of the city
+of Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>
+The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the<span class="page"><a name="358"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 358]</span></a></span>
+second, Holland, Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg,
+Namur, Hainaut, and the dioceses of Liege,
+Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy, Luxemburg,
+Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."</p>
+
+<p>
+The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed
+in secret conference.<a href="#XVII20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Again the rumour that the final straw that
+broke the emperor's resolution was the duke's
+desire to take Savoy and Guelders from his hand
+alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this
+wish might indicate an attempt to separate a
+portion of territory from the empire in a way
+to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that
+his kingdom was an imperial fief, while, in
+reality, it was an independent realm, as he or his
+successors could declare at a convenient moment.
+But this seems at variance with his attested
+desire for electoral support.</p>
+<p>
+It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled.
+Yet, considering the emperor's personal<span class="page"><a name="359">[page 359]</a></span>
+characteristics, his last action does not seem
+inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity
+of his will, Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic,
+obstinate, yet conscious of his own weakness,
+personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate
+and much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant.
+The collision made him writhe uneasily
+and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as
+quietly as he could.</p>
+<p>
+The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent,
+and the magnificence again was significant
+of Burgundian wealth. Whether the duke
+would surely keep his pledge of sharing that
+wealth with the archduke if the emperor went so
+far that he could not draw back, was a consideration
+that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic.
+Had Mary of Burgundy accompanied her father,
+had the wedding of the daughter and investiture
+of the new king been planned for the same day,
+had the promises been exchanged simultaneously,
+the leave-taking might have passed, indeed, as a
+third ceremonial in all stateliness.</p>
+<p>
+If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain,
+it is not surprising. It was notorious how the
+duke had played fast and loose with his daughter's
+hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor
+as the greater advantages of another alliance
+were presented to him, or as the mere disadvantage
+of any marriage at all became unpleasantly
+near. Vigorous man of forty that he was,
+Charles had no personal desire to see a son-in-law,<span class="page"><a name="360">[page 360]</a></span>
+<i>in propria persona</i>, waiting for his shoes&mdash;a fact
+perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the
+rest of the world.</p>
+<p>
+The task of making the imperial adieux was
+entrusted to the imperial chamberlain, Ulrich
+von Montfort, who duly presented his master's
+formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of
+November 25th. "Important and urgent affairs
+had necessitated his presence elsewhere. The
+arrangement discussed between them was not
+broken but simply postponed until a more convenient
+occasion rendered its execution possible,"
+etc.</p>
+<p>
+The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles
+was in a towering rage on receiving this communication.
+He clinched his fists, ground his teeth,
+and kicked the furniture about the room in which
+he had locked himself up.<a href="#XVII21"><sup>21</sup></a> But by the time
+these words were penned, these authors were
+better informed than Charles about the ultimate
+result of the emperor's intentions. The duke
+may have been angry, but he certainly controlled
+himself sufficiently to give several audiences in
+the course of the day&mdash;to envoys from Lorraine
+among others&mdash;and was ready to take his own
+departure by evening, not doubting that the
+crown and sceptre, carefully packed with the
+mountain of his valuable treasure, would assuredly
+fulfil their destiny in the near future. Trèves was
+left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last<span class="page"><a name="361">[page 361]</a></span>
+man to realise that in its silence were entombed
+for ever his chances of wearing the prematurely
+prepared insignia.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#340">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XVII1">This</a> comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is
+quoted by De Bussière in his <i>Histoire de la Ligue contre
+Charles le Téméraire</i>, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that
+this contemporary had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#340">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XVII2">Guillaume</a> Faret or Farrel. His <i>Hist. de René II.</i> is lost.
+This citation from it is found in <i>La Guerre de René II. contre
+Charles le Hardi</i>, by P. Aubert Roland.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#342">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XVII3">He</a> had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the
+May meeting. From this time on some member of the
+Nassau family was prominent in Burgundian affairs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#343">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XVII4">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inédits</i>, i., 232. Letter from Trèves, October
+4, 1473.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#344">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XVII5">About</a> this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to unravel
+the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the
+chancellor of Brittany, <i>Lettres de Louis XI</i>., v., 190.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#345">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XVII6">Gachard</a> could not explain this phrase. It might easily
+refer to the desired investiture.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#346">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XVII7">Chmel</a>, <i>Mon. Habs</i>., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#347">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XVII8">Toutey</a>, p. 53.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#349">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XVII9">Toutey</a> bases this statement on three letters (October 30,
+31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector
+of Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#350">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XVII10">Basin</a>, <i>Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XI.</i>,
+ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had
+been new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many
+times between the chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#351">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XVII11">Albert</a> of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller,
+<i>Reichstag Theatrum</i>, p. 598.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#352">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XVII12">Toutey</a>, p. 57.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#353">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XVII13">Toutey</a>, p. 60, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#354">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XVII14">In</a> this account, differing from the current tradition,
+Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (<i>Deutsche
+Reichsgeschichte,</i> ii., 435).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#355">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XVII15">Basin</a>, ii., 325.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#356">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XVII16">Preserved</a> in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr.
+5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published
+by Karl Schellhass in <i>Deutsche Zeitschrift für
+Geschichtewissenschaft,</i>
+(1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture
+of German and Latin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#357">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="XVII17">Charles</a> asked on October 23d, through his chancellor, for
+investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#357">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="XVII18">Under</a> this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had
+lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#357">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="XVII19">This</a> means the throne from which Charles was to step
+down to receive the fief.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#358">[Footnote 20:</a> "<a name="XVII20">Loquitur</a> etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiæ et Burgundiæ sibi
+constituendes quæ audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam
+negare imperator quam dissimulare.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones
+suas velle in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiæ et Frisiæ: in
+hoc Hollandia, Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum,
+Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses Leodiensis, Cameracensis
+et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum, Arthesia,
+Flandria, ecclesæque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis Verdunensis
+essent." (P. 1131.)</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that
+his statement is tradition but founded on what he might
+have heard from eye-witnesses.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#359">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XVII21">Chmel</a>, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="362">[page 362]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XVIII">XVIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE</h3>
+
+<h4>1473-1474</h4>
+<p>
+Late as it was in November, the weather was
+still very mild, and as the emperor and
+duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the
+former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter
+as he passed up the valley of the Moselle to that of
+the Ell, was hindered by autumn storms. The
+summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented
+heat and a prolonged drouth.<a href="#XVIII1"><sup>1</sup></a> Forest
+fires raged unchecked on account of the dearth of
+water and, for the same reason, the mills stood
+still. The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious,
+but the vintage was not profitable because the
+wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains in
+September prepared the ground for an untimely
+fertility. Trees blossomed and, though some fruits
+withered prematurely, cherries actually ripened.
+Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance
+as Charles rode to Lorraine.</p>
+<p>
+His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg,
+where he stayed about a fortnight and received
+ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice,<span class="page"><a name="363">[page 363]</a></span>
+England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate,
+and Cologne.<a href="#XVIII2"><sup>2</sup></a> The result of his conference
+with the last named was a declaration on the
+duke's part which seriously affected his later
+career. The condition of Cologne must be touched
+on as an essential part of this narrative.</p>
+<p>
+The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to
+pursue a line of policy in regard to the ecclesiastical
+elections in the diocese of Cologne that had
+succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463,
+he had tried to force the chapter to elect his candidate.
+They had refused to follow his leading,
+but their own choice, Robert, brother of the elector-palatine,
+did not prove a congenial chief, and
+the new prelate turned to Philip for aid when he
+found his chapter disposed to restrict both his
+revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in
+1467, as the audacity of his opponents increased,
+the archbishop appealed to his brother, the elector,
+and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter was busy
+in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to
+Cologne, exhorting both chapter and city to be
+obedient to their chosen spiritual and lay lord.
+This intervention was resented. The breach widened
+between Robert and his people, culminating<span class="page"><a name="364">[page 364]</a></span>
+in actual hostilities. The chapter took possession
+of the town of Neuss, accepted Hermann of Hesse
+as their protector, and sent an embassy to Rome
+to state their grievances. The elector aided his
+brother and the belligerent parties grew in strength.</p>
+<p>
+The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided
+which cause to espouse, and finally chose the
+chapter's side, signing a five years' alliance with
+that body, which had officially renounced allegiance
+to Robert, pending the judgment of pope
+and emperor on the dissension. Such was the
+state of affairs when Charles entered into possession
+of Guelders and manifested a disposition to
+interest himself in Cologne. He informed the
+chapter that he was greatly displeased with their
+contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral,"
+but the burghers showed so little inclination to
+heed his neighbourly advice that he tried harsher
+measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be
+molested in his domains.</p>
+<p>
+In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the
+hopes of imperial intervention.<a href="#XVIII3"><sup>3</sup></a> While Charles
+was still in Guelders, Robert paid him a visit, held
+long conferences with him, and probably received
+promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance
+when he returned from the interview.
+During the sojourn of duke and emperor at
+Trèves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone,
+arrived from Rome with plenary powers<span class="page"><a name="365">[page 365]</a></span>
+to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were
+endorsed by Charles in a letter from Trèves.</p>
+<p>
+For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to
+refrain from interference, then something influenced
+him in another direction. When he arrived
+at Cologne in November, he received a
+warm welcome and costly gifts, which he repaid
+by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good
+city,"&mdash;cheap and easy benefits,&mdash;but he did not
+prove an efficient arbitrator, simply postponing
+any decision from day to day, though he was
+begged to settle all difficulties before Charles
+should attempt to relieve him of the trouble.</p>
+<p>
+True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he
+no longer felt the need of conciliating the emperor,
+and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473, he
+issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert
+was entirely in the right, his opponents in the
+wrong.<a href="#XVIII4"><sup>4</sup></a> As these latter defied papal legate and
+arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of
+dispute, he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute
+himself defender of the insulted archbishop. At
+the same time, he despatched Ètienne de Lavin
+to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels.
+The declaration emboldened Robert to defy the
+emperor's summons to meet him and the papal
+legate. They both declared that they would take
+measures to bring him to obedience, but Frederic
+did not wish to tarry longer at Cologne. In
+January he took his departure, having directed<span class="page"><a name="366">[page 366]</a></span>
+Hermann of Hesse to protect that see against all
+aggression.</p>
+<p>
+Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto,
+there was no formal treaty between Charles
+and Robert, but there are two drafts for such a
+treaty in existence,<a href="#XVIII5"><sup>5</sup></a> wherein the former pledged
+himself to force chapter, nobles, and city to submission,
+in consideration of the sum of 200,000
+florins, while the archbishop gave permission to
+his ally to garrison all strongholds, including
+Cologne. Pending his autumn sojourn in the
+upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans
+regarding Cologne definitely in mind.</p>
+
+<h4><i>Lorraine</i></h4>
+<p>
+This duchy was even more interesting to Charles
+than Cologne, and there were many matters in its
+regard which demanded his urgent attention in
+1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and
+conveniently adjacent to Burgundian lands. A
+natural means of annexation had been considered
+by Charles in the proposed marriage between
+Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy.
+When that project was abandoned to suit Charles's
+pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
+son-in-law until the latter's death in the
+spring of 1473. So unexpected was this event, that
+there was the usual suspicion of poisoning, and this<span class="page"><a name="367">[page 367]</a></span>
+crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
+XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly
+that monarch reaped no immediate advantage
+from the death, for the family to whom the succession
+passed was more friendly to Burgundy
+than to France.</p>
+<p>
+The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt
+Yolande of Anjou, daughter of old King René
+of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate Margaret, late
+Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of
+Vaudemont. The council of Lorraine lost no
+time in acknowledging Yolande as their duchess.
+She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her
+son René, aged twenty-two, where they were
+received hospitably, and then Yolande formally
+abdicated in favour of the young man, who was
+duly accepted as Duke of Lorraine.</p>
+<p>
+Now there was a large party of Burgundian
+sympathisers in Nancy, and it was probably owing
+to their pressure that very strong links were at
+once forged between Charles and the new sovereign
+of the duchy. The apprehension lest the former
+should protect the land as he had the heritage of
+his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was
+expressed by the timorous, but their counsels
+were overweighted, and, on October 15th, René
+accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable
+to Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"&mdash;an
+office that the emperor had already
+been asked to change into suzerainty,&mdash;René
+cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive,<span class="page"><a name="368">[page 368]</a></span>
+with Charles, giving the latter full permission to
+march his forces across Lorraine. Further, he
+pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
+places on the route "men bound by oath
+to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes, more, these
+were discharged from fidelity to Renè in case he
+abandoned Burgundian interests.</p>
+<p>
+Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles
+by adding her signature to that of her son.
+Charles feared, however, that the provisions might
+not be adhered to by the Lorrainers&mdash;so humiliating
+were the terms&mdash;and exacted in addition the
+signatures of the chief nobles. On November
+18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested
+their approval of an act that practically delivered
+their land to a stranger,&mdash;evidence that they
+doubted the ability of their hereditary chief, and
+preferred Burgundy to France.</p>
+<p>
+There is a story that Charles tried other methods
+than diplomacy, before he got the better of the
+young duke in this bargain, that he actually had
+him stolen away from the castle of Joinville
+where he was staying with his mother.<a href="#XVIII6"><sup>6</sup></a> Louis
+promptly came forward and arrested a nephew of
+the emperor, a student in the University of Paris,
+and kept him as a hostage until the release of
+René. Rumour, too, asserts that there was a
+treaty of Joinville, wherein René asserted his<span class="page"><a name="369">[page 369]</a></span>
+friendship with Louis, which was intermitted by
+his relations with Charles, to be resumed later.
+That also seems to be improbable. The formal
+alliance with Louis did not come then, though
+the king took immediate care to build up a party
+in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself informed
+of the progress of the new regime.</p>
+<p>
+From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to
+Nancy, where he was welcomed by his protégé,
+outside the city walls, and the two rode in together
+as the duke and the emperor had entered
+Trèves. Charles had been so long keeping up a
+show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that,
+undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first
+personage.<a href="#XVIII7"><sup>7</sup></a> He refused, however, to accept the
+young man's hospitality, and spent the two
+days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie,
+where he felt more at ease in his conferences
+with Lorrainers willing to proceed further
+to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+The ally certainly became more exigeant. In
+various towns on the Moselle, Épinal, Charmes,
+Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were replaced
+by Burgundians. This immediate and
+arrogant use of the rights he had wrested from
+the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had
+been warm for Burgundy. René himself admired
+Charles as Maximilian had done. The strong
+man exercised a fascination over both youths,
+but the duke did not turn this admiration into real<span class="page"><a name="370">[page 370]</a></span>
+friendship, underestimating the character of his
+protégé. His measures, too, were taken without
+the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison
+after garrison was installed and commanded
+to obey his officers alone, while the soldiers were
+allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent to
+raids on a friendly country. As always, the
+agglomeration of mercenary companies was
+difficult to control. The duke did not succeed in
+having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in
+due restraint. Complaints began to pour into
+his headquarters. Public sentiment shifted day
+by day. The Burgundian became the personification
+of a public foe. Before Charles proceeded on
+his way to Alsace, René had begun to lose his
+admiration and it was not long before he impatiently
+awaited an opportunity to break with
+his too doughty protector.</p>
+
+<h4><i>Alsace</i></h4>
+<p>
+During the four years that Charles had delayed
+in coming to look at the result of the bargain
+of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant, Peter
+von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason
+to regret the easy-going absentee Austrian
+seigneurs. Much had been done, undoubtedly, in
+restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons.
+The roads were well policed, and safety was
+assured to travellers. "I spy," was the motto
+blazoned on the livery of the forces led by Hagenbach<span class="page"><a name="371">[page 371]</a></span>
+up and down the land, until he had unearthed
+lurking vagabonds. It was acknowledged that
+gold and silver could be carried openly from place
+to place, and that night journeys were as safe as
+day. Still, this advantageous change had not
+won popularity for the man who wrought it.
+Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to
+make their own little bargains with highwaymen
+or petty nobles,<a href="#XVIII8"><sup>8</sup></a> a law unto themselves, than to
+meet the rigorous requisitions of the Burgundian
+tax collector.</p>
+<p>
+It was the country that had profited most by
+the new administration. The small towns had
+long enjoyed great independence, and had shown
+ability in managing their own affairs. They
+wanted no interference. Not liked by those
+whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was
+absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron
+hand, without acknowledging that its pressure
+had more good than evil in it.</p>
+<p>
+Then there were the neighbours to be considered.
+The Swiss had hated Sigismund and all Austrians,
+and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy as a
+power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took
+no pains to win their friendship. His insolent
+fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or
+"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked
+if not condoned by him, aroused bitter dislike
+to him in the confederated cantons,<a href="#XVIII9"><sup>9</sup></a> and in their<span class="page"><a name="372">[page 372]</a></span>
+allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there
+was a growing sentiment in Helvetia that they
+would be happier if Austria had her own again,
+while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone
+had greatly increased.</p>
+<p>
+Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the
+opposition to his measures took a definite form
+long before the duke's arrival there. The various
+commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the
+quality of his bargain had all agreed in an urgent
+recommendation to the duke to redeem, at the
+earliest possible moment, all the troublesome
+mortgages honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach,
+too, was fully convinced of the necessity
+for this measure, but he was not provided with
+sufficient money to accomplish it.</p>
+<p>
+In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to
+lay a new tax on wine. This impost, called the
+"Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for two reasons.
+The burden was oppressive to the vintners and
+it was an illegal measure, as no sanction had been
+given by the local estates. Three towns, Thann,
+Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were
+determined to refuse payment.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg,
+a stronghold dominating Thann, bombarded the
+town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were
+condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous<span class="page"><a name="373">[page 373]</a></span>
+rebellion against the just orders of their lawful
+governor. Some of these, indeed, were pardoned,
+though their estates were confiscated, but five
+or six were publicly executed, and their bodies
+hung exposed to view on the market-place, as a
+hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting
+Burgundian orders.</p>
+<p>
+One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim
+submissive, but Brisac proved more obstinate.
+The magistrates there did not resort to force.
+They declared there was no need, for they were
+fully protected by the article in the treaty of St.
+Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition of any
+tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined
+refusal made the lieutenant consent to refer
+the question to the Duke of Burgundy, and
+messengers were despatched to Trèves to represent
+the respective grievances of governor and
+governed. The collection of the tax was postponed
+until Charles could examine the situation.</p>
+<p>
+A determined effort to bring the independent
+town of Mulhouse under Burgundian sway was
+another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white
+heat that forged organised resistance to any
+extension of Burgundian authority. For three
+years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince
+the burghers of that imperial city that they would
+be wise to accept the duke's protection and have
+their debts paid. The latter were, indeed, oppressive,
+but there was fear lest "protection"
+might be more so, and conference after conference<span class="page"><a name="374">[page 374]</a></span>
+failed to produce the acquiescence desired by
+Hagenbach.</p>
+<p>
+In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared
+that if the burghers persisted in their refusal
+he would resort to force. Their reply was that
+Mulhouse could not take such an important
+step without consulting her friends, the Swiss.
+"Are the cantons going to help you pay your
+debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach.
+"Mulhouse is a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant
+that must be extirpated. Its submission would
+make a charming pleasure ground out of the
+Sundgau, Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew
+no city which he would prefer to Mulhouse for
+a sojourn," were his further statements.<a href="#XVIII10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Two days were given to the town council for an
+answer. Hagenbach remarked that it was useless
+to think that time could be gained until the
+mortgaged territories should return to Austria.
+"Far from planning redemption, Duke Sigismund
+is now preparing to cede to <i>Charles le téméraire</i> as
+much again of his domain and vassals." Still
+Mulhouse was not convinced that the only course
+open to her was to let Charles pay her debts and
+receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming
+in the two days, but ready scribes had prepared
+many copies of Hagenbach's letter, which were
+sent to all who might be interested in checking<span class="page"><a name="375">[page 375]</a></span>
+these proposals of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne
+and there the matter was weighed. Hagenbach's
+letter was shown to those who had not
+seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from
+her dilemma were carefully considered. Years
+ago a union had existed between the forest cantons
+and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions
+to renew this alliance so as to present a strong front
+to their Burgundian neighbour. The cantons
+had enough to do with their own affairs, but the
+result of the discussion was that, on March 14th,
+a ten-year Alsatian confederation was formed in
+imitation of the Swiss.</p>
+<p>
+The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse,
+Schlestadt, and two dioceses, and it is referred
+to as the <i>Basse-Union</i> or the Lower Union,
+the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights
+of the contracting parties, to meet for discussion
+on various questions, and, specifically, to help
+Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later,
+March 19th, there was a fresh proposition to
+make an alliance between this <i>Basse-Union</i> and
+the Swiss confederation. This required a <i>referendum</i>.
+Each Swiss delegate received a copy
+of the articles to take back to his constituents for
+their consideration. No bond between the confederation
+and the union was, however, in existence
+at the time when Charles was approaching
+Alsace. Various conciliatory measures on his
+part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition<span class="page"><a name="376">[page 376]</a></span>
+to him, but, nevertheless, there were frequent
+conferences about affairs. Diets were almost
+continuous and there were strenuous efforts to
+raise money to free Mulhouse from her hampering
+financial embarrassments.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach had not followed up his threats
+of immediate war measures, but it was known
+that he had obtained imperial authorisation to
+assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step
+which her allies hoped to forestall by settling her
+debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six hundred
+florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred,
+Basel four hundred, while Colmar, Schlestadt,
+Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to raise
+another four hundred. A diet was called at
+Basel for December 11th, and Zürich and Lucerne
+were expected to enter into the union. The tidings
+of the duke's approach were undoubtedly
+a stimulus to these renewed efforts to make the
+league strong enough to withstand him. The
+sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May
+God protect us from his mighty hand," voiced
+probably a wide-spread dread.</p>
+<p>
+When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was
+large enough to inspire fear, but there was no
+opposition to his advance, though consultations,
+now at one city, now at another, were frequent.
+The duke paid little heed to their deliberations,
+under-estimating their importance, while he was
+gracious to any words of welcome offered to him.
+Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at<span class="page"><a name="377">[page 377]</a></span>
+Châtenois, and so did Colmar. The latter town
+expressed her willingness to receive him and an
+escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her
+refusal to admit a larger force within her walls.
+By this precaution, Charles was baffled in his plot
+to gain possession of the town, and so passed on
+his way.</p>
+<p>
+On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal
+entry into Brisac, where a temporary court was
+established, and where audience was given to
+various embassies with the customary Burgundian
+pomp. Meanwhile the troops, forced to camp
+without the walls, were a burden to the land,
+and seem to have been more odious than usual
+to their unwilling hosts.</p>
+<p>
+The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their
+knees and had their hopes raised high by their
+suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they failed to
+obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty
+of St. Omer should be observed in all respects.
+Among the envoys were many who undertook to
+remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition
+of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and
+the over-severity of Hagenbach's administration.
+The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged, notably by
+Berne. The representations of these last envoys
+were received most courteously. The duke rather
+thought that the city could be detached from the
+league, and therefore gave himself some trouble
+to establish friendly relations.</p>
+<p>
+To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory.<span class="page"><a name="378">[page 378]</a></span>
+He wrote a pleasant letter to the town and despatched
+a councillor thither, who would, he
+assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction.
+But an abortive <i>coup d'état</i> on the part of the
+Burgundians, which would have given them possession
+of Basel, destroyed the effect of these
+reassuring phrases. The burghers were warned in
+time, looked to their defences, and banished from
+their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian
+sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully
+scrutinised before he was admitted within the
+walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The
+propriety of these precautions was soon proven.</p>
+<p>
+Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the
+official capital of the landgraviate. Thither
+marched his troops from every quarter. Those
+from Säckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found
+their shortest route over the bridge at Basel, and
+there they appeared and begged to be allowed
+to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the
+least foothold on the city's territory was sternly
+refused then and a week later, when the request
+was renewed. The method of introducing friendly
+troops into a town and then seizing it by a sudden
+<i>coup de main</i> was what Charles had been suspected
+of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and
+there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of
+this rather stupid stratagem was planned, only to
+fail again, and this time to be peculiarly disastrous
+in its reflex action.</p>
+<p>
+The review took place and the strength of the<span class="page"><a name="379">[page 379]</a></span>
+Burgundian mercenaries was duly displayed to
+the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances were
+given to Brisac and the other towns that their
+suzerain would restrict his measures of taxation
+and administration to the stipulations of the
+contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when
+Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all
+that he had <i>not</i> restricted the powers of his lieutenant
+in any respect, but rather had endorsed his
+general method of procedure.</p>
+<p>
+One night was spent at Thann<a href="#XVIII11"><sup>11</sup></a> and then the
+duke took his leave of the annexed region whose
+people had hoped so much from his visit to them.<span class="page"><a name="380">[page 380]</a></span>
+In mid-January he arrived at Besançon, his winter
+journeying being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly
+mild weather.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the
+levying of the impost now approved by the duke,
+who had at the same time expressly ordered that
+the people were to be treated mildly, and that
+summary punishment was to check all excesses
+on the part of the eight hundred Picards employed
+by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector.
+The governor, however, saw no further need for
+gentle treatment or for respect to privileges. In
+Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set
+aside, and officers appointed by the governor.
+The corporation was curtailed of power, and the
+burghers were forced to prepare to march against
+Mulhouse.</p>
+<p>
+Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction,
+Hagenbach proceeded to give himself
+some relaxation. His own marriage took place
+on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion
+with great fêtes. It is of this period in Hagenbach's
+life that the stories of gross excess are told.<a href="#XVIII12"><sup>12</sup></a>
+It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint
+towards the city, his personal passions,
+too, were permitted to run riot, and he spared
+no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.</p>
+<p>
+As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad
+Penny" on the little independent landowners, he<span class="page"><a name="381">[page 381]</a></span>
+tried to extend it to the territory of the Bishop
+of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which
+was reported to the duke, who promptly ordered
+his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he had taken
+and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not
+ready to meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer
+an issue, but he was wholly ignorant of the real
+strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then
+proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and
+waited for further action.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#362">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XVIII1">De</a> Roye, p. 105.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#363">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XVIII2">He</a> also issued administrative orders. It was at this time
+that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of
+accounts at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland
+provinces. This measure was bitterly resented by the
+local authorities. (Fredericq. <i>Le rôle politique et social des
+ducs de Bourgogne</i>, p. 183.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#364">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XVIII3">Letters</a> are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey,
+p. 64.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#365">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XVIII4">Toutey</a>, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#366">[Footnote 5:</a> <i><a name="XVIII5">See</a></i> Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet,
+<i>Urkunden</i>, iv., 468, 470.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#368">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XVIII6">Jean</a> de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
+Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (<i>See</i> Toutey, p. 76; Kirk,
+ii., 271.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#369">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XVIII7">Toutey's</a> suggestion.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#371">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XVIII8">All</a> sons inherited their father's title, so that there were
+many landless lords.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#372">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XVIII9">At</a> this period there were eight in the confederation, which
+was a loose structure in which each member preserved her
+individuality.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#374">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="XVIII10">See</a></i> Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the <i>Cartulaire de Mulhouse</i>,
+iv., <i>et passim</i>. This last furnishes the details for these
+passages.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#379">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XVIII11">In</a> this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There
+are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers.
+The duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211)
+does not agree with that of Knebel and others. But the
+facts of the narrative are little affected by the variations.
+The following is the itinerary accepted by Toutey:</p>
+<table width="80%" align="center" summary=" The Duke's Itinerary">
+<tr>
+       <td class="note" width="60%">
+Dep. from Ensisheim <br />
+Stay at Thann <br />
+Dep. from Belfort <br />
+Besançon<br />
+Auxonne, slept<br />
+Dijon, a<br />
+Dijon, d<br />
+Auxonne, slept <br />
+Dôle<br />
+(Invested with the Franche Comté of Burgundy.)<br />
+Besançon<br />
+Vesoul and Luxeuil<br />
+Lorraine<br />
+Luxemburg<br />
+Easter fêtes<br />
+Fête of the Order of the Garter<br />
+Brussels <br />
+</td>
+       <td class="note">
+Jan.  8<br />
+"    9-10<br />
+"   11<br />
+"   17<br />
+ "   18<br />
+ "   23<br />
+ Feb.  19, 1474<br />
+ "   20<br />
+  "  21-March 8<br />
+ <br />
+  March 12 or 15 <br />
+March   23-28<br />
+ "     28<br />
+ Apr.  4-June 9<br />
+  "   10<br />
+   "   23<br />
+  June 27] <br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#380">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XVIII12">Kirk</a> considers that they are well founded and too indecent
+to repeat.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="382">[page 382]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XIX">XIX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE FIRST REVERSES</h3>
+
+<h4>1474-1475</h4>
+<p>
+"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious
+in his apparel, travelling in the
+greatness of his strength?" These words in
+Latin, on scrolls fluttering from the hands of
+living angels, met the eyes of Charles of Burgundy
+at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the
+confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle
+flattery of the implied comparison between him
+and the subject of the words of the prophet.<a href="#XIX1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The traveller had slept at Périgny, about a
+league from the capital of Burgundy, so as to
+make the last stage of his journey thither in leisurely
+state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday,
+January 22d, the appointed day, made postponement
+of the ducal parade necessary, out of consideration
+for the precious hangings and costly
+ecclesiastical robes that were to grace the ceremonies
+of reception and investiture. Fortunately,
+Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds
+rode through the city streets at an early hour,<span class="page"><a name="383">[page 383]</a></span>
+proclaiming the duke's gracious intention to
+make his entry on that day. Immediately, tapestries
+were spread and every one was alert with the
+last preparations.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="church">[plate 25]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image25church.jpg" width="400" height="284" alt="A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like
+that cited, which were planted along the ducal
+way and on a succession of stagings erected for
+various exhibits. On the great city square, the
+platform was capacious and many actors played
+out divers roles. Here stood the scroll-bearing
+angels on either side of a living representation of
+Christ. In the background clustered three separate
+groups of people representing, respectively,
+the three Estates. Above their heads more inscriptions
+were to be read.<a href="#XIX2"><sup>2</sup></a> "All the nations
+desire to see the face of Solomon," "Behold him
+desired by all races," "Master, look on us, thy
+people," were among the legends.</p>
+<p>
+The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay
+and ecclesiastical, from other parts of the duke's
+domains participated, proceeded past all these
+soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy
+resembled Solomon in more ways than one, to
+the church of St. Benigne. Here pledges of mutual
+fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians<span class="page"><a name="384">[page 384]</a></span>
+and their ruler. The Abbé of Citeaux
+placed the ducal ring solemnly upon Charles's
+finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all
+the prerogatives of his predecessors.</p>
+<p>
+From the church, the train wound its way to
+the Ste. Chapelle, past more stages decorated
+with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as "A
+lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth
+not away for any," "The lion hath roared, who
+will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold as a
+lion," etc.</p>
+<p>
+Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of
+investiture were performed, and followed by a
+banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal robes,
+and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with
+gold, pearls, and precious stones. After a repast,
+prelates, nobles, and civic deputies were convened
+in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where first
+they listened to a speech from the chancellor.
+When he had finished, the duke himself delivered
+an harangue wherein he expatiated on the splendours
+of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy.
+Wrongfully usurped by the French kings, it had
+been belittled into a duchy, a measure much to
+be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the
+speaker broke off abruptly with an ambiguous
+intimation "that he had in reserve certain things
+that none might know but himself."<a href="#XIX3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+What was the significance of these veiled allusions?<span class="page"><a name="385">[page 385]</a></span>
+It could not have been the simple scheme
+to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly
+known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an
+ostrich-like quality of mind which made him oblivious
+to the world's vision but even he could
+hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours
+regarding the interview of Trèves, rumours flying
+north, east, south, and west. Might not this suggestion
+of secrets yet untold have had reference
+to the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and
+himself to divide France between them?</p>
+<p>
+When his own induction into his heritage was
+accomplished, Charles was ready to pay the last
+earthly tribute to his parents. A cortège had
+been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the
+bodies of Philip and Isabella to their final resting-place
+in the tomb at Dijon, to which they were at
+last consigned.<a href="#XIX4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city
+of his birth, and then went to Dôle where he was
+invested with the sovereignty of the Franche-Comté
+and confirmed the privileges. Thus after
+seven years of possession <i>de facto</i>, he first actually
+completed the formalities needful for the legal
+acquisition of his paternal heritage. The expansion
+of that heritage had been steady for over
+half a century. Every inch of territory that had
+come under the shadow of the family's administration<span class="page"><a name="386">[page 386]</a></span>
+had remained there, quickly losing its
+ephemeral character, so that temporary holdings
+were regarded in the same light as the estates actually
+inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke,
+count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction
+in the natures of his tenures. But just as the last
+link was legally riveted in his own chain of lands, he
+was to learn that there were other points of view.</p>
+<p>
+The statement is made and repeated, that the
+report of the duke's after-dinner speech at Dijon
+was a fresh factor in alarming the people in Alsace
+and Switzerland about his intentions, and making
+them hasten to shake off every tie that connected
+them with Charles and his ambitious projects of
+territorial expansion.<a href="#XIX5"><sup>5</sup></a> As a matter of fact, there
+had been for months constant agitation in the
+councils of the Swiss Confederation and the Lower
+Union as to the next action.</p>
+<p>
+Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent,
+antipathy to Austria was so deeply rooted
+that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the
+Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably
+the arguments that came from France were
+what carried conviction. It was a time when
+Louis spared no expense to attain the end he
+desired, while he posed as a benevolent neutral.<a href="#XIX6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+His servants worked underground. Their open
+work was very cautious. It was French envoys,<span class="page"><a name="387">[page 387]</a></span>
+however, who announced to the Swiss Diet, convened
+at Lucerne, that Sigismund was quite ready
+to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance
+and the redemption of his mortgaged lands.</p>
+<p>
+That was on January 21, 1474, the very day
+when the mortgagee was preparing to ride into
+Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his
+wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month
+and Sigismund's envoys were seated on the official
+benches at the Basel diet, ranking with the delegates
+from the cantons and the emissaries from
+France. On March 27th, the diet met at Constance,
+and for three days a debate went on
+which resulted in the drafting of the <i>Ewige Richtung</i>,
+the <i>Réglement définitif</i>, a document which
+contained a definite resolution that the mortgaged
+lands were to be completely withdrawn from
+Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This
+resolution was subscribed to by Sigismund and
+the Swiss cantons. Further, it was decided to
+ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St.
+Omer and to offer payment to Charles at Basel
+instead of Besançon.</p>
+<p>
+Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in
+his own mind that the legends of his birthplace
+were correct in their rating of his character and
+his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered
+Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was
+shortly after that festival, on April 17th, that
+a letter from Sigismund was delivered to him announcing
+in rather casual and off-hand terms<span class="page"><a name="388">[page 388]</a></span>
+that he was now in a position to repay the loan of
+1469, made on the security of those Rhinelands.
+Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel
+80,000 florins, 40,000 the sum received by him,
+10,000 paid in his behalf to the Swiss, and 30,000
+which he understood that Charles had expended
+during his temporary incumbency,<a href="#XIX7"><sup>7</sup></a> and he, Sigismund,
+would resume the sovereignty in Alsace.</p>
+<p>
+It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish
+was. The expressions employed in the paper
+were, however, so ambiguous, the language so
+involved, that Charles expended severe criticism
+on his cousin's style before he proceeded to answer
+his subject-matter. To that he replied that the
+bargain between him and Sigismund was none of
+his seeking. The latter had implored his protection
+from the Swiss, had begged relief in his
+financial straits. Touched by his petitions,
+Charles had acceded to his prayers and the lands
+had enjoyed security under Burgundian protection
+as they never had under Austrian. Charles
+had duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he
+had done nothing to forfeit his title. The conditions
+of redemption offered by Sigismund were
+not those expressly stipulated. If a commission
+were sent to Besançon, the duke would see to
+it that the merits of the case were properly
+examined.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose
+you have declared, in violation of the terms of the<span class="page"><a name="389"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 389]</span></a></span>
+contract and of your princely word, we shall make
+resistance, trusting with God's help that our ability
+in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have
+used to repulse the attacks of the Swiss&mdash;those attacks
+from which you sought and received our protection."</p>
+
+<p>
+Before this letter reached its destination, the
+duke's deputy in the mortgaged lands had already
+found his resources wholly inadequate to maintain
+his master's authority. After Charles departed
+from Alsace, Hagenbach's increased insolence and
+abandonment of all the restraint that he had shown
+while awaiting the duke's visit soon became unbearable.
+The deliberations in Switzerland concerning
+their return to Austrian domination also
+naturally affected the Alsatians and made them
+bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.</p>
+<p>
+Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing
+admission to his garrisons. Brisac was in his
+hands already, and her fortifications held by mercenaries,
+but an order to the citizens to work, one
+and all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance
+with very serious results. It was at
+Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a
+hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the
+Rhinelands, proved the final provocation to
+rebellion.</p>
+<p>
+There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle,
+moreover, that this misuse of Easter Day was not
+Hagenbach's real crime. He simply wished to get
+all combatants out of the city before butchering
+the inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in<span class="page"><a name="390">[page 390]</a></span>
+time. That charge does not, however, seem substantiated
+by other evidence. But there is no
+doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a
+state of fury, fell upon the mercenaries, and killed
+many of them in spite of their own unarmed
+condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings,
+appeared at the window and offered various
+concessions, being actually humbled and intimidated
+by the unexpected turning of the submissive
+folk against him.</p>
+<p>
+But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the
+reach of conciliatory words. Some of the more
+intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a show of
+propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing
+their own ancient council, arbitrarily abolished
+by Hagenbach, while taking a new oath to the
+Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of
+1469. They also despatched envoys to the duke
+with explanations of their proceedings, stating
+further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone
+to which protest was made; that they were not
+in revolt against Charles. The latter answered,
+"Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional
+government, by the time they received this order,
+felt strong enough to disregard it and to continue
+to act on their own initiative.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but
+into irons. All fear of and respect for his authority
+was thrown to the winds, his offer of fourteen
+thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.</p>
+<p>
+Deputations came from the confederation to<span class="page"><a name="391">[page 391]</a></span>
+congratulate the officials <i>de facto</i> and to promise
+aid. The next step gave the lie direct to the
+message sent to Charles upholding his authority
+while protesting against his lieutenant. Sigismund
+was urged to return to his own without further
+delay for legal formalities with his creditor.
+He assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the
+Austrian duke arrived in Brisac and picked up the
+reins of authority which he had joyfully dropped
+four years previously.</p>
+<p>
+The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion,
+singing a ready parody of an Easter hymn:<a href="#XIX8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Christ is arisen, the <i>landvogt</i> is in prison,<br />
+Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyrie Eleison!<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyrie Eleison!"<br />
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the
+late governor was brought to trial. Instruments
+of torture sent from Basel were employed
+to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But
+there was nothing to confess. As a matter of
+fact the charges against him were for well-known
+deeds the character of which depended on the
+point of view. What the Alsatians declared
+were infringements of their rights, the duke's
+deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the
+terms of the treaty. In regard to his private<span class="page"><a name="392">[page 392]</a></span>
+career the prisoner persisted in his statement that
+he was no worse than other men and that all
+his so-called victims had been willing and well
+rewarded for their submission to him.</p>
+<p>
+On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared
+over and the trial began before a tribunal whose
+composition is not perfectly well known, but
+which certainly included delegates from the
+chief cities of the landgraviate, and from Strasburg,
+Basel, and Berne.<a href="#XIX9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The trial was practically lynch law in spite of
+the cloak of legality thrown over it. Charles alone
+was Hagenbach's principal and he alone was
+responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic
+incompetence of the court was hotly urged by
+Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's self-appointed
+advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public
+opinion insisted upon extreme measures, and the
+sentence of capital punishment was promptly followed
+by execution.</p>
+<p>
+Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by
+the sword and be permitted to bequeath a portion
+of his property to the church of St. Étienne at
+Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth
+was confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn
+to Fribourg during the progress of the trial. Even
+Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged that the
+late governor made a dignified and Christian exit
+from the life he had not graced.</p>
+<p>
+Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger<span class="page"><a name="393">[page 393]</a></span>
+who brought him the news of this trial and execution,
+in the very presence of Sigismund who
+had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate,
+where he had appointed Oswald von
+Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus
+presuming to use sovereign power. This was not
+sufficient, however, to make the duke change his
+own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was entrusted
+with the commission of punishing the
+Alsatians for his brother's ignominious deposition,
+and he did his task grimly. According to the
+Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north,
+and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the
+south, did not have more than six or eight thousand
+men apiece, but they left Hun-like reputations
+behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in
+houses and churches, all in the name of the duke,
+contributed to the zeal with which the Austrian's
+return was ratified by popular acclamation, and
+with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the
+confederates were received.</p>
+<p>
+Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone
+and obscure in phraseology. A statement presented
+somewhat later to the emperor by the
+<i>Basse Union</i> is more precise in the justification
+offered for the events and in the grievances rehearsed.<a href="#XIX10"><sup>10</sup></a>
+That is, Sigismund treats the transaction
+as a purely financial one, naturally completed
+between him and his creditor by the offer to
+liquidate his debt. The plea made by the Alsatians<span class="page"><a name="394">[page 394]</a></span>
+and their friends is, that Charles had failed
+to keep his solemn engagements and that his appointed
+lieutenant had been peculiarly odious
+and had broken the laws of God and man, and
+that the mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians,
+Lombardians, and their fellows, had
+pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the
+Sundgau, and the diocese of Basel. The charges
+are itemised.<a href="#XIX11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy,
+has neither been checked nor punished by him.
+In consequence, our gracious Seigneur of Austria has
+been obliged to restore the land and people to his
+sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he
+has done with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation
+and total destruction of land and people."</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle
+matters in person, but pursued his intention of
+reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control,
+undoubtedly thinking that the base which would
+then be open to the archbishop's protector on the
+lower Rhine would facilitate his operations in the
+upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic
+had emphatically declared that he alone was the
+Defender of the Diocese, and that the unholy
+alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace
+to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted
+him to abandon the enterprise and to accept
+mediation; those to the electors, princes, and cities<span class="page"><a name="395">[page 395]</a></span>
+of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against
+Burgundy until he himself arrived on the scene.
+There was a hot correspondence between all
+parties concerned, from which nothing resulted.
+Charles had various reasons for delay. There
+was trouble in other quarters of his domain.
+Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions
+for money, and the Franche-Comté was on the
+point of making active resistance to the imposition
+of the <i>gabelle</i>.</p>
+<p>
+In view of all these complications, Charles decided
+to prolong his truce with Louis XI., to May
+1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased to continue
+to pursue his own plans under cover of
+neutrality. The determination of the anti-Burgundian
+coalition in Germany to keep Charles
+within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant
+sight to the French king, and he felt that he could
+afford to wait.</p>
+<p>
+In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg,
+forbidding all owing allegiance to the Duke
+of Burgundy to have any commercial relations
+with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with
+the cities of the <i>Basse Union</i>, and declaring the
+duke's intention to take the field at once, to reinstate
+the archbishop in his rightful see. This was
+a declaration of war and was speedily followed
+by the duke's advance to Maestricht, where he
+spent a few days in July, collecting a force which
+finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.</p>
+<p>
+On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which<span class="page"><a name="396">[page 396]</a></span>
+had again emphatically refused entry to him and
+his troops. Three days the duke gave himself for
+the reduction of the town, but there he remained
+encamped for nearly a whole year! Neuss was
+resolved to resist to the last extremity, while
+Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their
+assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers
+to the best of their ability. It was a period when
+Charles seemed to have only one sure ally, and
+that was Edward of England, whose own plans
+were forming for a mighty enterprise&mdash;no less
+than a new invasion of France.</p>
+<p>
+On July 25th, the very day that Charles was
+on his march up to Neuss, his envoys signed at
+London a treaty wherein the duke promised
+Edward six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer
+his realm of France." Nothing loth to dispose
+of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn,
+pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs,
+without any lien of vassalage, the duchy of Bar,
+the countships of Champagne, Nevers, Rethel, Eu,
+and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the
+estates of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories
+of Charles were to be exempt from homage. Yes,
+and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in France
+and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial
+interests forgotten; "to the duchess his sister
+(to the Flemings) is accorded permission, to take
+from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead,
+and to carry thither foreign merchandise."</p>
+<p>
+The year when Charles was waiting before the<span class="page"><a name="397">[page 397]</a></span>
+gates of Neuss was full of many abortive diplomatic
+efforts on the part of both the duke and
+Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to
+save something even from broken bargains. The
+Swiss not only counted on his friendship, but
+were constantly encouraged by his money, which
+emboldened them to send a letter of open defiance
+to Charles: "We declare to your most serene
+highness and to all of your people, in behalf of
+ourselves and our friends, an honourable and an
+open war." To the herald who delivered this
+document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"<a href="#XIX12"><sup>12</sup></a>
+He felt that he had been betrayed.</p>
+<p>
+This was on October 26th. The defiance was
+followed by a descent of the mountaineers upon
+Alsace, which Charles had not yet released from
+his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared
+to defend Burgundian interests at Héricourt, a
+good strategic position on the tiny Luzine. Here,
+the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the
+Count of Blamont arrived with two bodies of
+Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than twelve
+thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging
+force. His plan failed&mdash;the tables were
+turned. It was the Burgundians who were fiercely
+attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach
+was forced to surrender, obtaining honourable
+terms, however, and Sigismund put a garrison into
+Héricourt on November 16th.</p>
+<p>
+This was a tremendous surprise to Charles.<span class="page"><a name="398">[page 398]</a></span>
+That cowherds could repulse his well-trained
+troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.
+But he put aside all idea of punishing
+them for the moment, and continued to "reduce
+Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,"
+and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town
+in its determined resistance.</p>
+<p>
+The opprobrious names applied to the would-be
+and baffled conqueror at this time are curiously
+similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon a
+few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ
+himself, with demoniac attributes added,
+when Alexander was felt to be too mild a comparison.
+There was still a terrible fear of the
+duke's ambition, even though, in the face of all
+Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his men, and
+Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates,
+while the world wondered at the duke's obstinacy
+displayed in the wrong place. The belief expressed
+several times by Commines that God troubled
+Charles's understanding out of very pity for
+France, was a current rumour.</p>
+<p>
+At the end of April an English embassy arrived
+at the camp, which was kept in a marvellous state
+of luxury, even though disease was not successfully
+curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the
+embassy was that Charles should raise this useless
+siege, fruitless as it promised to be, owing to the
+difficulty of cutting off the town's supplies.
+Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading
+army. He implored his dear brother to<span class="page"><a name="399">[page 399]</a></span>
+send him transports and to prepare to receive him
+when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a
+glimpse into the situation:<a href="#XIX13"><sup>13</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that
+the assege lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn
+affoor Nuse, and the Emperor hath besyged also not
+fferr from there a castill and another town in lykewyse
+wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the
+Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water
+off Somme with 4000 spers; and sum men have that
+he woll, at the daye off brekyng off trewse, or else
+beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys heer. When
+I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere
+and the Master off the Rolls be comyng homwards
+ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke I sholde be sek
+but iff I see it....</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde
+in to Flaundyrs to purveye me off horse and herneys
+and percase I shall see the essege at Nwse er I come
+ageyn."</p>
+
+<p>
+There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick
+at the sight than for John Paston, and he did
+grow weary of the further waiting and anxious, for
+his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On
+May 22d, there was a skirmish between his troops
+and the imperial forces, wherein Charles claimed
+the victory. In reality, there was none on either
+side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe
+his <i>amour propre</i>, and to convince him that an<span class="page"><a name="400">[page 400]</a></span>
+accommodation with Frederic would not detract
+from his dignity.</p>
+<p>
+A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched
+to help convey the English army, thirsting
+for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand
+men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to
+meet Edward IV., and swell his escort as he
+marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other
+matters also demanded Charles's personal attention.
+Months had elapsed and Héricourt was unpunished&mdash;Berne
+had not been reproved.</p>
+<p>
+René of Lorraine was formally admitted to the
+League of Constance on April 18, 1475, and was
+now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he
+had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a
+touch of old King René's theatrical taste in his
+grandson's method of despatching the herald who
+rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet
+on May 10th. The man was, however, so overcome
+at the first view of <i>le Téméraire</i> that he hastily
+delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained
+gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of
+war, without uttering a word. Then he fell on
+his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.<a href="#XIX14"><sup>14</sup></a> Charles
+was so little displeased at the signs of the impression
+his presence made that, instead of being
+angry with the man, he gave him twelve florins
+for his good news. The terms of the declaration
+of war carried by the herald were as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the<span class="page"><a name="401"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 401]</span></a></span>
+very high, etc., Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce
+defiance with fire and blood against thee, thy
+countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and other charge
+further have I not."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIX15"><sup>15</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The reply was straightforward:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge,
+whereby thou hast given me subject for joy, and, to
+show you how matters are, thou shalt wear my robe
+with this gift, and shalt tell thy master that I will
+find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear
+is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst
+not be afraid to return, I desire my marshal and the
+king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or to convoy thee in
+perfect safety, for I should be sorry if thou didst not
+make thy report to thy master as befits a good and
+loyal officer."</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus was Charles pressed from the south and
+lured to the north. Excellent reason for obeying
+the order of the pope's legate that duke and emperor
+must lay down arms under pain of excommunication
+did either belligerent refuse! The
+armistice accepted on May 28th was followed
+by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It
+was a truce strictly to the advantage of Frederic
+and Charles. The Rhine cities, Louis XI., René
+of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed
+in the expectations they had based on Frederic.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#382">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XIX1">Plancher</a>, <i>Histoire générale et particulière de Bourgogne,
+avec des notes et des preuves justificatives</i>, iv., cccxxviii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#383">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XIX2">Preparations</a> for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set on
+foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One
+Frère Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures
+for appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every
+phrase indicating leonine strength was noted down. The
+good brother died before the anticipated event came to pass
+but the result of his patient labour was preserved.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#384">[Footnote 3:</a> <i><a name="XIX3">Dit </a>qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de scavoir
+à nuls que à lui</i> (Plancher, <i>Preuves</i>, iv., cccxxxiii.).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#385">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XIX4">Plancher</a>, <i>Preuves</i>, iv., cccxxxiii. The document describing
+this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is
+evidently an error and not accepted.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#386">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XIX5">Toutey</a>, p. 117.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#386">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XIX6">There</a> are many records in the<i>Bibl. nat.</i>. of the sums paid
+out to the Swiss at this time.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#388">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XIX7">Chmel</a>, i., 92 et seq.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#391">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XIX8">Kirk</a>, ii., 488.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#392">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XIX9">Toutey</a>, p. 141.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#393">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XIX10">Text</a> given by Toutey, <i>Pièces justificatives</i>, p. 442.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#394">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XIX11">The</a> details are very brutal and untranslatable.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#397">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XIX12">Toutey</a>, p. 182.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#399">[Footnote 13:</a> <i><a name="XIX13">Paston</a> Letters</i>, iii., 122.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#400">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XIX14">Toutey</a>, p. 244.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#401">[Footnote 15:</a> <i><a name="XIX15">Bulletin</a> de l'acad. royale de Belgique</i>, 1887.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="402">[page 402]</a></span>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XX">XX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475</h3>
+
+
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what
+to write to you of the English, for thus far they have
+done nothing but dance at St. Omer and we are not
+sure whether the King of England has landed. If he
+has, it must be with so small a force that it makes
+no noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville
+know anything, nor do they believe that there will be
+any English here in XL days. Tell the news to Monsg.
+de Comminge, and recommend my interests to him
+as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de Thierry
+and Mons. the vice-admiral."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX1"><sup>1</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later
+and he has heard of the truce. He seizes the
+occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne
+his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frederic
+has deserted us all!"<a href="#XX2"><sup>2</sup></a> Well, it was not
+the first time! Thirty years previous, when
+Louis was dauphin, the emperor had tried
+to turn the Swiss against him. Had not God,
+knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave
+mountaineers, Louis would have been a victim of
+execrable treachery. The outcome had been wonderful,
+for an eternal friendship had sprung<span class="page"><a name="403">[page 403]</a></span>
+up between him and the Swiss which must be
+preserved.</p>
+<p>
+Meantime, Charles has made his own definite
+plan of the campaign which was to introduce
+Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The
+following letter from him to Edward IV. bears
+no date, but it was evidently written at about the
+time of the truce:<a href="#XX3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself
+to you. I have listened carefully to your declaration
+through the pronotary, and understand that
+you do not wish to land without my advice, for which
+I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors
+think you had better land in Guienne, others
+in Normandy, others again at Calais. If you choose
+Guienne you will be far from my assistance but my
+brother of Brittany could help you. Still it would be
+a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to
+Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your
+people nor I for mine. Nor could the two forces make
+juncture without attack, and my brother of Brittany
+would be very far from both. To my mind, your best
+landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the
+Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will
+soon gain possession of cities and places, and you will
+be at the right hand of my brother of Brittany and
+of me. Tell me how many ships you want and where
+you wish me to send them and I will do it."</p>
+
+<p>
+On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival
+of the English, Louis hastened to Normandy to<span class="page"><a name="404">[page 404]</a></span>
+inspect the situation for himself. There he
+learned that his own naval forces stationed in the
+Channel to ward off the invaders had landed on
+the very day before his arrival, abandoning the
+task.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"When I heard that we took no action, I decided
+that my best plan would be to turn my people loose
+in Picardy and let them lay waste the country whence
+they [the English] expected to get their supplies."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX4"><sup>4</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+At the same time, the rumour that was permitted
+to be current in France was, that Charles
+of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at Neuss,
+and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend
+from him. He, meanwhile, was continuing
+his own preparations by strenuous endeavours
+to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies.
+After the signing of the convention with the emperor,
+the duke proceeded to Bruges to meet the
+Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand
+for subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish
+funds, on the plea that his expansion policy was
+ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst
+from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving
+him in the lurch and thus causing his failure at
+Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor soldiers
+had they sent him as loyal subjects should.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="ruhmreich">[plate 26]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image26ruhmreich.jpg" width="400" height="521" alt="KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH - CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK.  POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I." border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p class="quote">
+"For whom does your prince labour? Is it for
+himself or for you, for your defence? You slumber,
+he watches. You nestle in warmth, he is cold. You<span class="page"><a name="405"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 405]</span></a></span>
+are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the wind
+and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease....
+Henceforth you shall be nothing more than subjects
+under a sovereign. I am and I will be master, bearding
+those who oppose me."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX5"><sup>5</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+Then turning to the prelates he continued:
+"Do you obey diligently and without poor excuses
+or your temporal goods shall be confiscated."
+To the nobles: "Obey or you shall lose your heads
+and your fiefs." Finally, he addressed the deputies
+of the third estate in a tone full of bitterness:
+"And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not
+obey my orders literally as my chancellor will
+explain them to you, you shall forfeit privileges,
+property, and life."</p>
+<p>
+All the fervency of this adjuration failed to
+convince the deputies of their duty, as conceived
+by the orator. They declared that they had levied
+troops and would levy more, for defence, but that
+the four members of Flanders were agreed that
+they would contribute nothing to offensive measures.
+Charles must accept their decision as his
+sainted father had done. The details of all the
+aid they had given him, 2500 men for Neuss and
+many other contributions, were recapitulated.
+Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding
+phrases of their answer were as follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen
+days every man capable of bearing arms report at Ath,<span class="page"><a name="406"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 406]</span></a></span>
+these were orders impossible of execution, and unprofitable
+for you yourself. Your subjects are
+merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
+Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which
+your noble ancestors have for four hundred years
+maintained the land, commerce, most redoubtable
+seigneur, is irreconcilable with war."</p>
+
+<p>
+This answer gave the true key to the situation.
+The Estates of Flanders were determined to be
+bled no further for schemes in which they did not
+sympathise. When this memorial was presented
+to Charles he broke out into fresh invective about
+the base ingratitude of the Flemish: "Take back
+your paper," were his last words. "Make your
+own answer. <i>Talk</i> as you wish, but <i>do</i> your duty."
+This was on July 12th. Charles had no further
+time to waste in argument. He was still convinced
+that the burghers would, in the end, yield
+to his demands.</p>
+<p>
+With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and
+reached Calais on July 14th, where he had been
+preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her brother,
+who had actually landed on July 4th, with the
+best equipped army&mdash;about twenty-four thousand
+men&mdash;that had ever left the shores of England,
+and the latest inventions in besieging engines.</p>
+<p>
+The expedition proved a wretched failure&mdash;a
+miserable disappointment to the English at home,
+who had been lavish in their contributions.
+Charles seems to have been put out by the place
+of landing. His own plan is clear from the letter<span class="page"><a name="407">[page 407]</a></span>
+quoted. He wished the two armies of Edward
+and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory
+as they marched toward each other. The one
+thing that he objected to was a consolidation of the
+two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or
+an unwelcome situation to account was one of the
+duke's most deeply ingrained characteristics. He
+showed no inventiveness or resourcefulness. He
+held his own army at a distance from the English,
+much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to
+march unaided over regions rendered inhospitable
+by Louis's stern orders, and outside of cities ready
+to hold him at bay. "If you do not put yourself
+in a state of security, it will be necessary to destroy
+the city, to our regret," was the king's message to
+Rheims, and the most skilful of French engineers
+was fully prepared to make good the words.</p>
+<p>
+Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped
+on the field of Agincourt, where perhaps he
+dreamed of his ancestor's success, but no fresh
+blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He
+did not proceed to Paris, there was no coronation
+at Rheims, no comfortable reception within any
+gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis himself
+of giving the English a foothold, though he
+advised Edward to accept an invitation from St.
+Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however, proved
+another disappointment. Just as Edward was
+ready to enter, the gates opened to let out a
+troop which effectually repulsed the advancing
+foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his<span class="page"><a name="408">[page 408]</a></span>
+mind.</p>
+<p>
+"It is a miserable existence this of ours when
+we take toil and trouble enough to shorten our
+life, writing and saying things exactly opposite
+to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer
+of this elaborate network of pompous falsehoods<a href="#XX6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+wherein every action was entangled. Louis XI
+trusted no one but himself, while he played with
+the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His
+fear of the invaders was soon allayed. "These
+English are of different metal from those whom
+you used to know. They keep close, they attempt
+nothing," he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.</p>
+<p>
+It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was
+not a foe to be feared. Baffled and discouraged, he
+readily opened his ears to his French brother,
+and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every
+Englishman who helped incline his sovereign
+to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and coin did
+their work. Edward was easily led into the path
+of least resistance, and an interview between
+the rival kings was appointed for August 29th.
+Great preparations were made for their meeting
+on a bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating
+was erected. Like Pyramus and Thisbe, the two
+princes kissed each other through the barriers,
+and exchanged assurances of friendship. Edward
+was, indeed, so easy to convince that Louis
+was in absolute terror lest his English brother
+would accept his invitation to show him Paris<span class="page"><a name="409">[page 409]</a></span>
+before his return. No wonder Edward was deceived,
+for Louis was definite in his hospitable
+offers, suggesting that he would provide a confessor
+willing to give absolution for pleasant sins.</p>
+<p>
+The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy.
+On August 18th, he was staying at Peronne,
+whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It
+was ended without any intimation of Edward's
+change of heart towards the French king whom
+he had come to depose, though his plan was then
+ripe. On the 20th, Charles received a written
+communication with the news which Edward
+had disliked broaching orally, and was officially
+informed that the king had yielded to the wishes
+of his army, and was considering a treaty with
+Louis XI., wherein Edward's dear brother of
+Burgundy should receive honourable mention did
+he desire it.</p>
+<p>
+On hearing these most unwelcome tidings,
+Charles set off for the English camp in hot haste,
+attended by a small escort, and nursing his wrath
+as he rode.<a href="#XX7"><sup>7</sup></a> King Edward was rather alarmed
+at the duke's aspect when the latter appeared,
+and asked whether he would not like a private
+interview. Charles disregarded his question. "Is
+it true? Have you made peace?" he demanded.
+Edward's attempt at smooth explanations was
+blocked by a flood of invectives poured out
+by Charles, who remembered himself sufficiently
+to speak in English so that the bystanders might<span class="page"><a name="410">[page 410]</a></span>
+have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches.
+He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual,
+pleasure-loving monarch, whose easeful ways were
+rapidly increasing his weight of flesh, with the
+heroism of other English Edwards with whom
+he was proud to claim kin. As to the offers to
+remember his interests in the perfidious peace
+that perfidious Albion was about to swear with
+equally perfidious France, his rejection was scornful
+indeed. "Negotiate for <i>me</i>! Arbitrate for
+<i>me</i>! Is it I who wanted the French crown?
+Leave <i>me</i> to make my own truce. I will wait
+until you have been three months over sea."
+Among those who witnessed the scene were several
+Englishmen who sympathised with Charles&mdash;if
+we may believe Commines. "The Duke of Burgundy
+has said the truth," declared the Duke of
+Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Having
+given vent to his sentiments, Charles
+hurried away from his disappointing ally and
+reached Namur on the 22d, where he spent the
+night.</p>
+<p>
+Edward troubled himself little about his brother-in-law's
+summary of his character. He was tired
+of camp hardships, and both he and his men
+found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her
+gates to them at the order of Louis XI. Food and
+wine were lavished upon all alike. It was a delightful
+experience for the English soldiers to see
+tables groaning with good things spread in the
+very streets, and to be bidden to order what they<span class="page"><a name="411">[page 411]</a></span>
+would at the taverns with no consideration for the
+reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free
+of charge, until their host intimated to King Edward
+that his men were very intoxicated and that
+there were limits in all things. But Louis did not
+spare his money or his pains until he was sure that
+a bloodless victory had been won. He fully realised
+the importance of extravagant expenditure
+in order to reach the goal he had set himself.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"We must have the whole sum at Amiens before
+Friday evening, besides what will be wanted for private
+gratifications to my Lord Howard, and others
+who have had part in the arrangement.... Do
+not fail in this that there may be no pretext for a
+rupture of what has been already settled."</p>
+<p>
+Though they had now no rood of land, the
+English returned richer than they came, and they
+eased their <i>amour propre</i> by calling the sums that
+had changed hands, "tribute money."<a href="#XX8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd
+Moodre, I recommende me to youw. Pleas it yow
+to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage of the kynges
+is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost is
+comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to
+seye the iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many
+of hys host be passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and<span class="page"><a name="412"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 412]</span></a></span>
+in especiall my Lorde off Norfolk, and my bretheryn
+....I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr heer;
+for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come
+hyddre and all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never
+a better stomake in my lyffe and now in viij dayes I
+am crasyd ageyn."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX9"><sup>9</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and
+doubtless many others found the air more wholesome
+at home.</p>
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider
+the affairs of Lorraine. He advised René of his
+intentions, in a manifesto which reached him on
+September 5th. The preamble contained a long
+list of the manifold benefits conferred upon Lorraine
+by the House of Burgundy. Then René was
+admonished to observe in every particular the
+terms of his own treaty with Charles, which he,
+René, had signed voluntarily, or the former would
+"make him know the difference between his
+friendship and his enmity."</p>
+<p>
+This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of
+Lorraine. For on September 13th, his friend
+Louis XI. had signed a fresh treaty with Charles
+of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was
+marching mercenaries in Burgundian pay towards
+the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the
+French king abandoned the young protégé whom
+he had spared no pains to alienate from Burgundian
+protection. It was a moment when his one<span class="page"><a name="413">[page 413]</a></span>
+interest apparently was to settle accounts with
+the Count of St. Pol, who had been equally treacherous
+in his dealings with England, Burgundy, and
+France.<a href="#XX10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Having rested during the summer, the Burgundian
+troops were in fine trim when Charles marched
+to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat down
+before the capital in the last week of October.
+From his camp he wrote to the Duke of Milan:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you.
+I have just accepted a truce with the king for nine
+years to come, in the form and manner contained at
+length in the copy of the articles which I have given to
+your ambassador, resident with me . . . . And
+be sure, <i>fratello mio</i>, that nothing would have induced
+me to accept the truce, had you not been comprised
+therein. And, similarly, you must be satisfied
+in all the pacts between the king and myself, just as
+you were comprised in the convention lately made at
+Neuss.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador
+about the troops that can be furnished me, for which
+I am well content, praying you to continue to serve me
+in accordance with the promises of your ambassador.
+As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Duc
+de Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now
+for delay as he can travel in Lorraine as safely as in
+Lombardy, as I have said to your ambassador. Pray
+the Lord to give you the desires of your heart.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day<span class="page"><a name="414"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 414]</span></a></span>
+of October, 1475.</p>
+<p class="rindent">"CHARLES."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX11"><sup>11</sup></a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Some trifling assistance was offered to René
+by Strasburg and other foes to Burgundy, but it
+was wholly insufficient to rescue him from his
+difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the
+capitulation of Nancy on November 19th. The
+magistrates desired to hold out, but were forced
+by the populace to submit, and on November 30,
+1475, Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly
+through the gate of Craffe into the capital of
+Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign
+duke.<a href="#XX12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+This time Charles acted the role of a merciful
+and diplomatic conqueror. There was no cruelty
+permitted, and every evidence of conciliation was
+shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted
+the new order of things without further protest.
+At the end of December, Charles convened the
+Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace, addressed
+them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to
+be a good prince, demanded their attachment,
+confided his plans of expansion, and announced his
+intention of making Nancy the capital of his
+states. Again the duke's star rose. This acquisition
+seemed a sign of the reality of his dreams.
+Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching
+success bore fruit, inasmuch as the emperor<span class="page"><a name="415">[page 415]</a></span>
+changed the late convention into a firmer treaty
+signed on November 17th. Indeed had Charles
+died at that moment, there would have been little
+doubt that his dreamed-of kingdom had been
+simply prevented by a mere accident.</p>
+<p>
+The detailed story of all that had happened in
+the Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union,
+since their formal declaration of war against
+Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begining
+of 1476, the situation was, briefly, that Sigismund
+held the debated mortgaged lands, while
+the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant
+member of the league, had continued to carry
+on offensive operations against the duke and his
+allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The conquest
+of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the
+face of the fresh agreements between the duke and
+the emperor and the king.</p>
+<p>
+There was a short period of hesitation, marked
+by a truce till January 1, 1476, between Charles
+and the confederates, a period when the timid
+among the allies urged their counsel of reconciliation
+at all hazards. Charles, too, seems to have
+desired an accord rather than hostilities, even
+though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for
+Héricourt. It was probably appeals from Yolande
+of Savoy that decided him to open a campaign in
+midwinter.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote
+the Milanese ambassador] in the reorganisation of his<span class="page"><a name="416"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 416]</span></a></span>
+army according to new ordinances, and in the regulation
+of his receipts and outlays that he has scarcely
+given himself time to eat once in twenty-four hours.
+He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the
+Count of Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect
+no treaty, and do not cease increasing their forces.
+In consequence, Duke Charles intends leaving Nancy
+in six days to go towards the Jura. He expects to
+take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which,
+joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy,
+will swell his army to the number of 25,000 combatants.
+His operations are so planned that he will
+have more to gain than to lose."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+When Charles left Nancy on January 11th, he
+issued one of his grandiloquent manifestoes declaring
+that he was acting in behalf of all princes and
+seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of
+the Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who
+had provoked his just wrath by ravaging his
+province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious
+act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain
+go off to make a pilgrimage just as he was on the
+eve of a campaign, but so he did, granting Campobasso
+leave of absence to visit the shrine of St.
+James at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised
+by the Italian to further the understanding with
+Louis XI., at which he arrived later.</p>
+<p>
+On across the Jura marched the Burgundian
+army, while the Swiss diet came to a slow and
+confused decision to prepare to meet him. He<span class="page"><a name="417">[page 417]</a></span>
+did not take the route generally expected, directly
+towards Berne, his chief antagonist, but turned
+aside and attacked the little fortress of Granson.
+The castle was not over strong. Efforts to provision
+it by water failed, and, finally, on February
+28th, after a brief siege, the captain of the garrison,
+Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German
+forces, who represented to them that Charles was
+as generous as he was magnificent.</p>
+<p>
+If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the surrender
+was unconditional. Charles was soon on
+the spot. The four hundred and twelve soldiers,
+who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian
+army at bay for ten whole days, were made to
+march past his tent with bowed heads. Then he
+ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two
+to help in the executions. Four hours were occupied
+in fulfilling these pitiless orders. Panigarola
+arrived at the camp on the 29th,&mdash;it was leap
+year, 1476,&mdash;and found this accomplished and saw
+the bodies hanging on the trees, but he asserts that
+no word was broken.<a href="#XX14"><sup>14</sup></a> Charles was now absolutely
+confident of complete success. "<i>Bellorum eventus
+dubii sunt</i>," remarked the prudent Milanese,
+however, and he was proved right.</p>
+<p>
+When the allied forces of the mountaineers
+finally arrived in the duke's neighbourhood a hot
+pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians, led by
+the duke in person, were thrown into utter confusion.
+The mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth<span class="page"><a name="418">[page 418]</a></span>
+yells and battle-cries of Uri and Unterwalden,
+simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles
+was pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only
+a defeat, but a complete rout. When the Swiss
+came in sight of the late garrison hanged to the
+trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn
+they massacred, hanged, and drowned every
+one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay
+hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives
+when they could, but their valuable artillery and
+their baggage, the mass of riches that Charles
+carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and
+gathered up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss,
+who cared little for the tapestries and jewels
+though they prized the gold. Such was the battle
+of Granson, on the 2nd of March.</p>
+<p>
+The fatal mistake committed by Charles was
+that he despised his enemy and underestimated
+his quality as well as his strength. Just before
+engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell
+upon their knees in prayer that the issue might be
+successful. This action deceived Charles into
+thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion
+was shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh
+broke out from the Burgundian ranks.<a href="#XX15"><sup>15</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of<span class="page"><a name="419">[page 419]</a></span>
+Granson with the following rather barren words:<a href="#XX16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"In short the Duke of Burgundy lost the day and
+was pushed back as far as Jougne, where he stopped,
+and it is meet that I tell how the duke's bodyguard
+saved themselves ... and reached Salins where I
+saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle
+on account of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the
+duke went to Noseret, and you can understand that
+he was very sad and melancholy at having lost the
+battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his
+army shattered."</p>
+<p>
+On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to
+Margaret Paston from Calais:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde.
+ ... Item, the Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd
+Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall nott nowe be lykelyhod
+have it; wherffer the Frenshe kynge cheryssheth
+hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn
+the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off
+the Swechys [Swiss] to conquer them butt the berded
+hym att an onsett place and hathe dystrussyd hym
+and hathe slayne the most part of his vanwarde and
+wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr
+all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym; exceppte
+men and horse ffledde nott but they roode that
+nyght xx myle; and so the ryche saletts, heulmetts
+garters, nowchys<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX17"><sup>17</sup></a></span> gelt and all is goone with tente
+pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is
+abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde<span class="page"><a name="420"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 420]</span></a></span>
+karlys butte he wolde nott beleve it and yitt men
+seye that he woll to them ageyn. Gode spede them
+bothe."</p>
+<p>
+Many of the rumours that were current represented
+Charles as completely prostrated by his
+disaster. This was only half true. His efforts
+to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically,
+he certainly showed the effects of this campaign.
+He was attacked by a low fever, his stomach
+rejected food, insomnia afflicted his nights, and
+dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This condition
+was attributed to his fatigues and exposure
+in a hard climate, and to his habit of drinking
+warm barley-water in the morning. He was
+urged to use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard
+couch, while Yolande's own physician and one
+Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The
+latter claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles
+was not, however, fully recovered when he resumed
+his activities and held a review on May 9th.
+With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely
+to yield results, the whole number of troops was
+but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker felt
+that the duke was now trying to accomplish
+something quite beyond his resources.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX18"><sup>18</sup></a></span>],
+we cannot sufficiently wonder that you should have
+been so gravely deceived and that, after having once
+found that you were lured into loss and disgrace,<span class="page"><a name="421"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 421]</span></a></span>
+again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth
+from which you will either never escape, or escape
+only with damage and shame.... Without risk to
+himself [your foe] has precipitated you into an abyss
+and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of your
+possessions and your life.... We exhort you to
+pause before incurring heavier losses and greater
+dangers. If fortune smiles upon you in your attack
+on that people, you will have the whole empire against
+you. In the opposite event&mdash;which God avert&mdash;it
+will be turned into a common tale how a mighty
+prince was overcome by rustics whom there would
+have been no honour in conquering, while to be
+conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace."</p>
+<p>
+This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its destination
+until after the prophecy had been fulfilled.
+Its warning would probably have been futile had
+Charles read it before he marched on towards
+Berne, on June 8th. On the road that he chose
+lay the town of Morat, which had made ready for
+his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then
+on to Berne was his plan. His force succeeded
+in holding the ground and cutting off communication
+with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a
+messenger made his way through from the beleaguered
+city to Berne, and all the allies were
+then urged to do their best. The result was encouraging.
+"There are three times as many as at
+Granson, but let no one be dismayed, with God's
+help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of Berne.</p>
+<p>
+The encounter came on June 23d. The force
+was really a formidable one. René of Lorraine<span class="page"><a name="422">[page 422]</a></span>
+was among the commanders on the side of the
+Swiss. It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was
+savage; at two o'clock the assault was made and
+within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost
+all the infantry perished. The slain is estimated
+variously from ten to twenty-two thousand.
+Charles did not keep his vow to perish if defeated.
+To his assured allies he clung closely, and none
+had more reason to be faithful to him than Yolande
+of Savoy. After Granson he hastened to give
+the duchess his own view of the disaster:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of
+your calmness and constancy of soul; for the
+thought of your affliction weighed more heavily
+upon me than what has befallen me ... every day
+diminishes the inconvenience and proves that the loss
+in men is less than we thought. <i>Such as it is it came
+from a mere skirmish</i>. The bulk of the armies did
+not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they
+fought the victory would have been mine. There
+has been none on either side. God, I trust, reserves
+it for you and for me ... the hope you have placed
+in me shall not be vain."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Thus he wrote on March 7th to encourage his anxious
+protégée.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlemorat">[plate 27]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image27largebattlemorat.jpg" width="600" height="409" alt="A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+After the second defeat it was to her that the
+duke turned again. In the very early morning
+after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at Morges
+on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard
+through the night. There he heard mass, breakfasted,<span class="page"><a name="423">[page 423]</a></span>
+rested awhile, and then rode on, reaching
+the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening,
+where Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming
+in full knowledge of the second disaster he had
+suffered.</p>
+<p>
+At the foot of the staircase, attended by her
+ladies, Yolande was waiting to greet her disappointed
+friend. Charles dismounted and kissed each
+member of the family in order of precedence, the
+little duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter,
+and the ladies in waiting. Yolande had had time
+to move out of her own suite of apartments and
+have them prepared for her guest's use, and there
+the two talked together confidentially, while their
+attendants waited patiently just out of earshot.</p>
+<p>
+Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to
+her son's room, returning to his own, showing
+signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola was absent,
+but another Milanese was among her suite, and
+he pressed forward as the duke re-entered the
+apartment, offering to carry any message to the
+Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, "It is well.
+That is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de
+la Marche and the Sire de Givry, commander of
+the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service,
+were summoned and had a long conference with
+Charles.</p>
+<p>
+Yolande was, apparently, more communicative
+to the Milanese Appiano than to Charles, but he
+saw that she was not frank with him. "She
+must throw herself on the protection of France<span class="page"><a name="424">[page 424]</a></span>
+or of Milan," he wrote to his master.<a href="#XX20"><sup>20</sup></a> She was,
+however, clear in her own mind that she would
+not accept Sforza's protection any more than
+that of Charles. She absolutely refused to
+identify her fortunes with the latter. She was
+determined to go to Geneva, but no farther.
+The duke remained at Gex until the 27th, and
+renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross
+the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering
+to her own plan. The two parties set out from
+the castle together, their roads lying in opposite
+directions, but Charles escorted his hostess
+about half-way to Geneva, riding beside her carriage,
+and continuing his persuasions in a low
+voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a
+farewell kiss, and rode off. He was much displeased
+at her determination, and he speedily
+resolved upon other methods of making sure of her
+fidelity to him. La Marche thus relates the story:<a href="#XX21"><sup>21</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"After the duke had been discomfited the second
+time by the Swiss before Morat, believing that he
+could do the thing secretly, he made a plan to kidnap
+Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them
+to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva,
+on my head to capture Mme. of Savoy and her children
+and bring them to him. In order to obey my prince
+and master I did his behest quite against my heart, and
+I took madame and her children near the gate of
+Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away
+from me (for it was two o'clock in the night) by the<span class="page"><a name="425"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 425]</span></a></span>
+means of some of our own company who were subjects
+of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did no more
+than their duty. What I did was simply to save my
+life, for the duke, my master, was the kind that insisted
+on having his will done under penalty of losing
+one's head. So I took my way, and carried Mme. of
+Savoy behind me, and her two daughters followed and
+two or three of her maids, and we took the road over
+the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured
+of the second son, and had him carried by a gentleman.
+I thought I was assured of the Duke of Savoy,
+but he was stolen from me as I said. As soon as we
+were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and especially
+the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought
+and took the duke back to Geneva, in which they had
+great joy. And I with Mme. of Savoy and the little
+boy (who was not the duke), crossed the mountain in
+the black night and came to a place called Mijoux, and
+thence to St. Claude.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer
+to the company, and chiefly to me. I was in danger
+of my life because I had not brought the Duke of Savoy.
+Then the duke went on to Salins without speaking to
+me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted
+Mme. of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take
+her to the castle of Rochefort. Thence she was taken
+to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that I had nothing
+more to do with her or her affairs."</p>
+
+<p>
+This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the
+tone in which La Marche relates it indicates that
+he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner, and
+might have been more willing to lend an ear to
+Louis's suggestions than he had been five years<span class="page"><a name="426">[page 426]</a></span>
+previously.</p>
+<p>
+It is not evident that he played his master false
+or that he was cognisant of the recapture of the
+little duke, but he says himself that he thought
+the attendants were absolutely justified in it.</p>
+<p>
+It is after this incident that the astute Panigarola
+returns and joins the duke's suite at Salins.
+He finds Charles a changed man, indulging in
+strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a
+couple of thousand more of his troops had been
+killed, "French at heart" as they were. He
+refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtaining
+the means of so doing, and sent her to the castle
+of the Sire of Rochefort for safe-keeping. Abstemious
+as he had been all his life, never taking
+wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which
+he now suddenly indulged went to his head.</p>
+<p>
+Rumours went abroad that his mental balance
+was shaken. That does not seem to have been
+true to the extent of insanity. He was only infinitely
+chagrined but he certainly put on a brave
+front and retained his self-confidence and declared</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"They are wrong if they believe me defeated.
+Providence has provided me with so many people
+and estates with such abundant resources, that
+many such defeats would be needed to ruin them.
+At the moment when the world imagines that I am
+annihilated, I will reopen the campaign with an army
+of 150,000 men."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX22"><sup>22</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#402">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XX1">Lettres</a> de Louis XI</i>., v., 368.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#402">[Footnote 2:</a> <i><a name="XX2">Nos</a> omnes relinquens, Ibid</i>., 371.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#403">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XX3">Commynes</a>-Dupont, i., 336.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#404">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="XX4">Lettres</a></i>, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#405">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XX5">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 249.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#408">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XX6">Commines</a>, iv., ch. vi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#409">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XX7">Commines</a>, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#411">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XX8">The</a> terms of the treaty provided for a seven years' truce,
+with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil
+or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance
+went so far that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing
+the title of King of England and France.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#412">[Footnote 9:</a> <i><a name="XX9">The</a> Paston Letters</i>. Sir John Paston to his mother, Sept.
+11, 1475.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#413">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XX10">The</a> story must be omitted here. The constable was
+finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#414">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="XX11">Dépêches</a> Milanaises</i>, i., 253. The copy only is at Milan
+and there is no seal.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#414">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XX12">Toutey</a>, p. 380.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#416">[Footnote 13:</a> <i><a name="XX13">Dép</a>. Milan</i>., i., 266.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#417">[Footnote 14:</a> <i><a name="XX14">Dép</a>. Milan</i>., i., 300.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#418">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XX15">Jomini</a> lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had
+committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army
+resting on the lake, the other ill-secured at the foot of a wooded
+mountain. Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to
+have one of its wings resting on an unbridged stream, on a lake, or on
+the sea." Charles explained to Europe that he had
+been surprised, and his defeat was a mere bagatelle.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#419">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XX16">III</a>., 216.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#419">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="XX17"></a> ornaments.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#420">[Footnote l8:</a> <i><a name="XX18">Dép</a>. Milan.</i>, ii., 126.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#422">[Footnote 19:</a> <i><a name="XX19">Dép</a>. Milan.</i>, ii., 335.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#424">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="XX20">Dep</a>. Milan</i>., ii., 295.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#424">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XX21">III</a>., 234.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#426">[Footnote 22:</a> <i><a name="XX22">Dep</a>. Milan</i>, ii., 339.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="427">[page 427]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XXI">XXI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF NANCY</h3>
+
+<h4>1477</h4>
+<p>
+It was manifestly impossible for Charles to
+attempt to retrieve his fortunes without
+having large sums of ready money at his command.
+He therefore proceeded to appeal to the
+guardians of each and every treasury in his various
+states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however,
+the only quarters whence succour was in the least
+probable. The Estates of the latter duchy met,
+deliberated, and resolved to make no pretence nor
+to "yield anything contrary to the duty which
+every one owes to his country."<a href="#XXI1"><sup>1</sup></a> A certain Sieur
+de Jarville, accompanied by other true Burgundians,
+undertook to report the proceedings to
+Charles,&mdash;a duty usually falling to the share of the
+presiding officer of the ecclesiastical chamber.
+The message which he carried was laconic but
+sturdy:</p>
+<p>
+"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave
+subjects and servitors, but as to what is asked in
+his behalf, it never has been done, it cannot be
+done, it never will be done."</p>
+<p>
+"Small people would never dare use such language,"
+is the comment of the Burgundian chronicler,<span class="page"><a name="428">[page 428]</a></span>
+proud of the temerity of his fellow countrymen.</p>
+<p>
+In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were
+equally emphatic in their refusal to meet the
+duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved to call
+together a general assembly of deputies in the hope
+of finding them, collectively, more amenable.
+Writs of summons were issued very widely and
+a "States-general" was formally convened at
+Ghent on Friday, April 26, 1476.<a href="#XXI2"><sup>2</sup></a> At the last
+assembly of this nature, in 1473, the duke had expressly
+promised, in consideration of an annual
+grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded
+to him, to refrain from further demands, and there
+was a spirit of sullen resentment in the air when
+this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened
+by Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points
+for consideration. Monseigneur wished his daughter
+Mary, "that most precious jewel," to join him
+in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to
+ensure her safe journey and that the duke requested
+the States to provide. Secondly he desired
+the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to<span class="page"><a name="429">[page 429]</a></span>
+meet his immediate requirements. Further, he
+requested each town to equip a specified number
+of horses at its own expense; he demanded the
+service of his tenants, fief and arrière-fief; and, in
+addition, he required that all other men, no matter
+what their condition, able to bear arms, should
+enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the
+troops should be set to guard the frontier, and
+the rest should be sent to the duke in Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+It was a demand pure and simple for a universal
+call to arms, a national levy. The duke's paternal
+desire to see his daughter was the flimsiest of excuses
+that deceived no one for a moment.</p>
+<p>
+After the chancellor's exposition there was
+probably adjournment for discussion. The pensionary
+of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as
+spokesman to present the following report, as the
+result of their deliberations, to the duchess-regent.</p>
+<p>
+As for Mlle. of Burgundy, the deputies would
+ascertain the wishes of their principals, but the
+second request did not call for a referendum.
+The representatives were fully capable of settling
+the matter at once. Considering the heavy burdens
+laid on the people, and taking into account the
+promises made to them in 1473, that no further
+demands should be made on the public purse, the
+three Estates concurred in humbly petitioning
+Monseigneur to excuse them from granting his<span class="page"><a name="430">[page 430]</a></span>
+request.</p>
+<p>
+It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th)
+when this decision was communicated to the
+duchess in her own hotel. After a private colloquy
+between her and Hugonet, the chancellor
+told the messenger that it was quite right for the
+deputies to consult their principals before the
+heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship
+of her faithful subjects. That was a grave matter,
+but surely there was no reason why her "escort"
+could not be determined upon at once. In regard
+to the levies, Madame was not empowered to
+take any excuse. It was beyond her province.
+Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters
+had arrived from the duke urging the speedy execution
+of his previous instructions. The chancellor
+then appointed a committee to meet a committee
+from the States at 8 A.M. on the morrow at the
+convent of the Augustines.</p>
+<p>
+This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speedily
+notified that the States did not feel empowered
+to appoint a committee. The most they
+could do was to resolve themselves into a committee
+of the whole. The objection to this was
+that a small conference was far better suited to
+free discussion. It was easy for unqualified persons
+to enter the session of a large body. The
+States, however, were tenacious in their opinion
+that their writs did not qualify them to appoint
+committees. Every point must be threshed out
+in the presence of every deputy. <i>Potestas delegata
+non deleganda est</i>.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="philibert">[plate 28]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image28philibert.jpg" width="400" height="604" alt="PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="431">[page 431]</a></span>
+<p>
+There was further negotiation, and it was not
+until Monday afternoon that Hugonet's commissioner
+brought a conciliatory message that if
+the gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in
+spite of the difficulty of discussion in an open
+meeting, talk over both points with them in full
+assembly. Again the States objected. They had
+no instructions whatsoever in regard to Mademoiselle,
+and could not discuss her movements either
+in public or in private session. As to levies, they
+repeated in detail all previous arguments, and expressed
+a fervent hope that Monseigneur would
+withdraw the request. It would, in the end, be
+more to Monseigneur's advantage, etc. Back and
+forth travelled the commissioner between States
+and duchess. The latter simply reiterated her
+dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit
+her father in May, with an adequate escort, in
+whose ranks must appear three prelates, three or
+four barons, fifty knights, and notable men from
+the "good towns," well armed.</p>
+<p>
+The States were then resolved into a committee
+of the whole, for a private deliberation, an action
+that probably enabled them to exclude the embarrassing
+spectators. In preparation for this,
+the diligent commissioner called apart one deputy
+from each contingent, and expatiated on the
+duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to
+eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's
+escort and the fiefs and arrière-fiefs, Monseigneur<span class="page"><a name="432">[page 432]</a></span>
+could manage to make suffice for the present, and
+these must be provided. These confidences were
+at once reported to the assembly, which then adjourned
+to think over the matter during the
+night.<a href="#XXI3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+When they met again on April 30th, the chancellor
+was ready with a new message from Madame:
+"Go home now, consult your principals, and return
+on May 15th." On the motion of some deputy,
+this date was changed to May 24th. Precautions
+were taken to prevent any binding action in the
+interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the
+reports to the separate groups of constituents was
+also agreed upon by the majority of the deputies.
+In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that
+province there was a reluctance to deny the
+obligations of the fiefs.</p>
+<p>
+When the deputies reassembled a month later,
+Hugonet tried to weaken the effect of their answer
+by a suggestion that it had better not be considered
+the final decision, but a mere informal
+expression of opinion. "There were so many
+strangers present," etc. The States determinedly
+refused to be trifled with. "Madame must not be
+displeased if they gave the result of their deliberations
+in the presence of the whole assembly, not
+by way of opinion, but as a formal and conclusive
+report." Their charge was restricted to this manner
+of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting
+them, asked, since their charge was thus restricted,<span class="page"><a name="433">[page 433]</a></span>
+whether they had also been limited in the number
+of times they might drink on their way.<a href="#XXI4"><sup>4</sup></a> The
+answer was: "Chancellor, come now, say what
+you wish. The answer shall be given as it was
+meant to be given."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlenancy">[plate 29]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image29battlenancy.jpg" width="400" height="692" alt="PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The communication was so long that its delivery
+took from 3 to 8 P.M. It was nothing more than
+a detailed apology for refusing the sovereign's
+demands. Several days more were consumed in
+unsuccessful efforts to cajole or browbeat the
+deputies into a more genial mood. The only
+concessions offered were insignificant, and to their
+resolution the deputies held firmly. "According
+to current rumour [concludes Gort Roelants's
+story] the ducal council would gladly have accepted
+a notable sum in lieu of the service of
+towns and of the fiefholders, but the States made
+no such offer."</p>
+<p>
+There was evidently a hope that better results
+might be obtained from a new assembly,<a href="#XXI5"><sup>5</sup></a> but
+none was held and the most earnest endeavours
+of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse
+enthusiasm for his plans. Moreover, when there
+seemed a prospect that the Netherlands might be
+attacked from France, the sympathy of even the
+duchess and council for offensive operations was
+chilled. Not only did Margaret fail to send her<span class="page"><a name="434">[page 434]</a></span>
+husband the extra supplies demanded, but she
+decided to appropriate the three months' subsidy,
+the chief item of regular ducal revenue, for protection
+of the Flemish frontier&mdash;an action that made
+Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes,
+indeed, they were necessary, but the people must
+provide them. The subsidy was lawfully his and
+he needed every penny of it. His army had not
+been destroyed. He was simply obliged to
+strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him. Flanders
+must do her part. They were deaf to this
+appeal, although a generous message was sent
+saying that if he were hard pressed they would
+go in person to rescue him from danger.</p>
+<p>
+The story of the assembly of the Estates of the
+two Burgundies is equally interesting as a picture
+of the clash between sovereign will and popular
+unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money-boxes.<a href="#XXI6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+The deputies convened at Salins on July
+8th, in the presence of the duke himself. The session
+was opened by Jean de Grey, the president
+of the <i>parlement</i> of the duchy, with a brief statement
+of the sovereign's needs. Then Charles took
+the floor, and delivered a tremendous harangue
+with a marvellous command of language. Panigarola
+declared that his allusions to parallel
+crises in ancient times were so apt and so fluent
+that it seemed as though the book of history lay
+opened before him and that he read from its
+pages.<a href="#XXI7"><sup>7</sup></a> The impression he made was plain to<span class="page"><a name="435">[page 435]</a></span>
+see.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlenancy2">[plate 30]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image30battlenancy2.jpg" width="400" height="499" alt="PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disasters
+were open and aboveboard this time. There
+was no such pretence put forward as the escort
+of Mary. The argument was that any ruler,
+backed by his people unanimous in their willingness
+to give their last jewel for public purposes,
+must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc.</p>
+<p>
+His learned and able discourse was well received,
+according to other reporters besides the Milanese,
+but there was no hearty yielding to sentiment in
+the reply. Four days were consumed in deliberation
+before that was ready on July 12th. They
+had certainly considered that the grant of 100,000
+florins annually for six years, accorded two years
+previously, was their share. But in view of the
+duke's appeal, they would endeavour to aid him.
+Let him stipulate which cities he wished fortified
+and they would assume charge of the work. Two
+favours they begged&mdash;that Charles should not
+rashly expose his person "for he was the sole prince
+of his glorious House," and that he should be
+ready to receive overtures of peace. "We will
+give life and property for defence, but we implore
+you to take no offensive step." Charles did not,
+perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and
+of his judgment that these words implied.</p>
+<p>
+Financial stress was not the duke's only difficulty
+in 1476. The defection of his allies continued,<span class="page"><a name="436">[page 436]</a></span>
+Yolande&mdash;that former good friend of his&mdash;was now
+a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to
+restore her to freedom and to her son's estates.
+Not that her restraint was in itself hard to bear.
+At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from
+Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished,
+except to depart. Couriers, too, were at her service
+apparently, who carried uninspected letters
+to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XI.
+Commines says that she hesitated to take refuge
+with the last lest he should promptly return
+her to Burgundian "protection." Yet her
+brother's hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong
+assurance against such action. Louis XI. was
+never so genial as when hearing some ill of Charles.
+"From what I have learned, I believe his Turk,
+his devil in this world, the person he loathes most
+intensely, is the Duke of Burgundy, with whom he
+can never live in amity." These words were sent
+by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan,<a href="#XXI8"><sup>8</sup></a> who was
+also turning slowly, with some periods of hesitation,
+to an alliance with Louis, now engaged in "following
+the hare with a cart."<a href="#XXI9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="monumentnancy">[plate 31]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image31monumentnancy.jpg" width="400" height="509" alt="A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+On his side the king declared that he had no
+intention of troubling further about his obligations
+to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has himself
+broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a
+war when I please. But I have thought it best<span class="page"><a name="437">[page 437]</a></span>
+to temporise."</p>
+
+<p>
+In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper
+and deeper into negotiations with any and every
+one whom he could turn against Charles. In
+October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne,
+&mdash;the territory that Edward IV. had failed to
+consign to the duke's sovereignty,&mdash;made a descent
+on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy.
+There was no attempt to stay her departure, and
+she was scrupulous, so it is said, in leaving money
+behind to pay for the Burgundian property carried
+off in her train&mdash;though it were nothing but
+an old crossbow. "Welcome, Madame the Burgundian,"
+was the fraternal salutation which she
+received on her arrival at her brother's court.
+She replied that she was a good French woman
+and quite ready to obey his majesty's commands.<a href="#XXI10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+During the summer, Charles remained at La
+Rivière exerting every effort to levy an army. It
+was no easy task, and the review held on July 27th
+showed a meagre return for his exertions. But
+he did not slacken his efforts. Lists were immediately
+drawn up showing the vacancies in each
+company, and his money stress did not prevent his
+offering increased pay as an extra inducement to
+recruits. "An excellent means of encouragement,"
+comments Panigarola.</p>
+<p>
+The necessity for his preparations was evident.
+An opportune legacy inherited by René of Lorraine
+enabled that dispossessed prince to work<span class="page"><a name="438">[page 438]</a></span>
+to better advantage than he had been able to do
+since Charles had convened the Estates of Lorraine
+at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day of
+the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a
+Swiss diet at Fribourg adopted resolutions regarding,
+a closer alliance with René.<a href="#XXI11"><sup>11</sup></a> Louis XI. ostensibly
+maintained his truce with Charles but
+he had intimated that a French army would wait
+in Dauphiné ready "to help adjust the affairs of
+Savoy," and, at about the same time when Yolande
+was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss
+embassy, so that René did not feel himself without
+support as he advanced to recover his city.</p>
+<p>
+The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were
+weak and indifferent&mdash;a brief siege, and the capital
+of Lorraine capitulated to Duke René. Charles
+was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His
+forces, too, were a mere shadow. Three to four
+thousand men rallied round him in the Franche-Comté,
+a few hundred joined him in Burgundy,
+and as he skirted the frontier of Champagne he
+received slight reinforcements from Luxemburg.
+Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops,
+and the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs
+as had, individually, respected the duke's appeal.
+In all, the forces at Charles's disposition amounted
+to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at
+Neuss or at Granson.</p>
+<p>
+At a diet of October 17th, the compact between<span class="page"><a name="439">[page 439]</a></span>
+René and the Swiss was confirmed, and the former
+was assured of efficient aid to help him repulse
+Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was
+need. The city of Toul refused admission to both
+dukes, but furnished provision for Charles's troops,
+so that for the moment he was the better off of
+the two. René then proceeded to provision
+Nancy and to prepare it for a siege, while he himself
+proceeded to Pont-à-Mousson, and for several
+days the two adversaries were only separated by
+the Moselle. Charles's army was augmented
+daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and England,
+and by fragments of the garrisons of the
+towns in Lorraine that had yielded to
+René and the latter fell back, little by little.
+Charles in his turn held Pont-à-Mousson, and
+proceeded along the road to Nancy, not deterred
+by the Lorrainers.</p>
+<p>
+It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Burgundy
+laid siege for the second time to Nancy.
+In thus entering into active hostilities, he was
+ignoring the advice of his councillors who were
+unanimous in begging him to devote the winter
+months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or
+Flanders. His position was really very dangerous.
+He had no base on which to rest as he had recovered
+no towns except Pont-à-Mousson. But he
+ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault
+after assault upon Nancy&mdash;all most valiantly
+repulsed. Within the walls, there was an amazing<span class="page"><a name="440">[page 440]</a></span>
+display of courage, energy, and good humour. As
+a matter of fact, the duke's reputation had waned,
+while the fear of his cruelty emboldened the
+burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate
+would be better than falling into his hands, was
+the general opinion.</p>
+<p>
+Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the garrisons
+seized every occasion to harry the Burgundians.
+Familiar with the lay of the land, with
+every cross-road and by-path, they were able to
+lie in wait for the foragers and to do much damage.
+Four hundred cavaliers, coming up from Burgundy,
+were attacked by one Malhortie de Rozière, and
+literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed
+sides with ease. Only a few escaped to report the
+fate of the others to Charles. Not long after, Malhortie,
+encouraged by this success, crept up to
+the Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and
+captured a goodly number of horses.</p>
+<p>
+The troops on which Charles counted most confidently
+were Campobasso's. Several attempts
+were made to warn him that treachery was possible
+in that quarter if the commander were too
+much exasperated by delays in payment, too
+much tried by the ill-temper of his employer.
+But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what
+was passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting
+the moment for his final defection, the Italian
+found it possible to enter into communication with
+René and to retard the operations of the siege so
+as to give time for the advance of the army of<span class="page"><a name="441">[page 441]</a></span>
+relief.</p>
+<p>
+The weather of this year was a marked contrast
+to the mild season of 1473. The winter set in
+early and the cold became very severe, almost at
+once. Their sufferings made the burghers very
+impatient for the relief of whose coming they
+could get no certain assurance. The Burgundian
+lines were held so rigidly that the interchange
+of messages between the city and her friends was
+rendered very difficult.<a href="#XXI12"><sup>12</sup></a> One Suffren de Baschi
+tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged
+that René was levying troops in Switzerland and
+would soon be with them. Baschi fell into the
+duke's hands and was immediately hanged. One
+story says that Campobasso was among the interceders
+for his life and received a box on the ear for
+his pains, an insult that proved the last straw in
+his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however,
+declares that the Italian urged the death of the
+captive, fearful of the premature betrayal of his
+own intended treachery.</p>
+<p>
+This execution was one of those arbitrary acts
+condemned by public opinion as contrary to the
+code of warfare. Intense indignation among the
+Lorrainers and the Swiss forced René to retaliatory
+measures, and he ordered the execution of
+all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred and
+twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing
+an inscription to the effect that their death was
+the work of <i>le téméraire</i>. The rancour of the<span class="page"><a name="442">[page 442]</a></span>
+proceedings became terrible. No quarter was
+given in any engagements. Slaughter was the
+only thought on either side.</p>
+<p>
+Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a
+draper of Mirecourt, proved more successful than
+Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information, that
+René's army would leave Basel on December 26th,
+put heart into the beseiged and the bells rang out
+joyfully.</p>
+<p>
+Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at
+mediation between the combatants. The King of
+Portugal,<a href="#XXI13"><sup>13</sup></a> nephew of Isabella, appeared at his
+cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to
+the carnage, and in the name of humanity to stop
+a war that was horrible to all the world. In spite
+of his own stress, Charles managed to give his
+kinsman a splendid reception, but he waved
+aside his petition, and simply invited him to join
+him in his campaign.</p>
+<p>
+A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to
+march from Basel to Nancy, across the plains of
+Alsace. Meantime René had rallied about four
+thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to
+this was added an Alsatian force which had joined
+him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port. They were
+a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by<span class="page"><a name="443">[page 443]</a></span>
+routing a few Burgundians out of the houses
+where they had hidden, and massacring them
+publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles,
+was easily put to flight.</p>
+<p>
+On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh
+troops had reached St. Nicolas. He showed assurance,
+arrogance, and negligence. His belief
+in his star was fully restored. He actually did
+not take the trouble to try once more to ascertain
+the exact strength of the enemy. He had commissioned
+the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him
+at Basel, and refused to credit the statement that
+the Swiss were throwing in their fortunes with
+René. He thought that "the Child," as he contemptuously
+termed his adversary, had simply
+gone right and left to hire mercenaries, and he
+rather ridiculed the idea of taking such <i>canaille</i>
+seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of
+a gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish
+them once for all.<a href="#XXI14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were
+a different and far less efficient body than the
+volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
+French gold, scattered freely, had done its work
+in exciting the cupidity of every man who could
+bear arms. There were some staunch leaders,
+like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein,
+but their kind was in the minority. Berne aided
+with money rather than with men, but she was not
+a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages<span class="page"><a name="444">[page 444]</a></span>
+to ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was
+evident in every quarter. As the troops made
+their way over the Jura their behaviour showed
+that the late splendid booty had affected them.
+Plunder was their aim. When René reviewed
+these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending
+officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor
+of Alsace.<a href="#XXI15"><sup>15</sup></a> Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed
+over to the Duke of Lorraine, who appointed him
+marshal.</p>
+<p>
+On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held
+a council meeting. The opinion of the wisest,
+already given on previous occasions, was urged
+again:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Do not risk battle. René is poor. If there are
+no immediate engagements, his mercenaries will abandon
+him for lack of pay. Raise the siege and depart
+for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army can rest and
+be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will
+be easy to fall upon René deprived of his troops."</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments.
+He was determined on facing the issue at once.
+Leaving a small force to sustain the siege, he
+ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of
+the 4th and a movement made towards St.-Nicolas.
+He selected a ground favourable for the
+manipulation of a large body, and placed his
+artillery on a plateau situated between Jarville<span class="page"><a name="445">[page 445]</a></span>
+and Neuville. It was not a good position, being
+hedged in on the right and in front by woods which
+could conceal the movements of a foe without
+impeding them. Only one way of retreat was
+open&mdash;towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's
+last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to
+cross several small streams and deceptive marshes,
+half frozen as they were, besides the river Meurthe,
+a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the
+flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread
+surprise, while in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe
+was more than possible. Curiously, the
+precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of
+Morat were repeated here&mdash;proof that Charles had
+not the qualities of a general who could learn by
+experience.<a href="#XXI16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The exact force at his disposal on this occasion
+has been variously estimated. Considering the
+ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during the
+siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual
+combatants did not number more than ten thousand,
+all told. And only half of these were of any
+value&mdash;two thousand men under Galeotto, and
+three thousand Burgundians commanded by
+Charles and his immediate lieutenants. The remainder
+were unreliable mercenaries and the still
+more unreliable troops of Campobasso already
+pledged to the foe. La Marche estimates René's
+force at twelve thousand and adds: "The Duke of
+Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience,<span class="page"><a name="446">[page 446]</a></span>
+he had not two thousand fighting men."<a href="#XXI17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by
+a Lorrainer, Vautrin Wuisse. The first manoeuvre
+was to divert the foe and turn him towards the
+woods, and then to attack his centre, which would
+at the same time be pressed at the front by the
+Lorraine forces, headed by René himself. The
+plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that
+they dared take the offensive, Charles was alert
+to the harsh cries of the "bull" of Uri and the
+"cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across
+the woods. A sudden presentiment saddened
+him. Putting on his helmet, he accidentally
+knocked off the lion bearing the legend <i>Hoc est
+signum Dei</i>. He replaced it and plunged into the
+mêlée.</p>
+<p>
+The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops
+and the duke's were the only ones to make sturdy
+resistance. The right wing of the army gave way
+under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry,
+"<i>Sauve qui pent</i>!" raised possibly by Campobasso's
+traitors, produced a terrible rout. Three quarters
+of the troops were in flight, while the duke still
+fought on with superhuman ferocity.</p>
+<p>
+Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected
+his own mercenaries as best he could, while Campobasso
+completed the treason that he had plotted
+with René, which had been partially accomplished
+four days previously, and calmly took up his position
+on the bridge of Bouxières on the Meurthe,<span class="page"><a name="447">[page 447]</a></span>
+to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then
+the besieged made a sudden sortie which increased
+the disorder. The battle proper was of short duration,
+with little bloodshed, but the pursuit was
+sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian
+army had left no loophole open for retreat.</p>
+<p>
+The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as
+Bouxières and inflicted carnage right and left on
+the route. It was easy work. The morasses were
+traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their
+arms, found it impossible to free themselves, when
+they once were entangled. They fell like flies
+before the fury of the mountaineers. The Lorrainers
+and Alsatians were more humane or more
+mercenary, for they took prisoners instead of killing
+indiscriminately. Charles fought desperately to
+the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged
+into the thick of the fight and risked his life in a
+reckless manner, but there is absolute uncertainty
+as to how he met his death. It is generally accepted
+that the last person to see him alive was one
+Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan
+captain. This lad, with an extra helmet
+swung over his shoulder, found himself close to
+the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops,
+noticed his horse stumble, was sure that the rider
+fell. The next moment, Colonna's attention was
+diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and
+knew no more of the day's events. The figure of
+Charles of Burgundy disappears from the view of
+man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the<span class="page"><a name="448">[page 448]</a></span>
+closing scenes of his life.</p>
+<p>
+At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine
+rode into the rescued city and re-entered his palace.
+At the gates was heaped up a ghastly memorial
+of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion
+to his cause. This was a pile of the bones
+of the foul animals they had consumed when other
+food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to
+their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe
+now became René's chief anxiety, and he despatched
+messengers to Metz and elsewhere to
+find out where Charles had taken refuge. The
+reports were all negative. The first positive assurance
+that the duke was dead came from young
+Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself
+introduced into René's presence on Monday
+evening. The page told his tale and declared that
+he could point out the precise place where he had
+seen the Duke of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on
+Tuesday morning, January 7th, a party went
+forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and
+were guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool
+which he asserted confidently was the very spot
+where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evidence
+went to give corroboration to his word, for
+the dozen or more bodies that lay strewn along
+the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool
+were close friends and followers of the duke, men
+who would, in all probability, have stayed faithfully
+by their master's person, a volunteer bodyguard
+as long as they drew breath. These bodies<span class="page"><a name="449">[page 449]</a></span>
+were all stripped naked. Harpies had already
+gathered what plunder they could find, and no
+apparel or accoutrements were left to show the
+difference in rank between noble and page. But
+the faces were recognisable and they were identified
+as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court.
+Separated from this group by a little space at the
+very edge of the pool, was another naked body in
+still more doleful plight. The face was disfigured
+beyond all semblance of what it might have been
+in life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one
+was imbedded in the frozen slime. Yet there was
+evidence on the poor forsaken remains that
+convinced the searchers that this was indeed the
+mortal part of the great duke. Two wounds from
+a pick and a blow above the ear&mdash;inflicted by "one
+named Humbert"&mdash;showed how death had been
+caused. The missing teeth corresponded to those
+lost by Charles, there was a scar just where he had
+received his wound at Montl'héry, the finger nails
+were long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula
+on the groin, and an ingrowing nail were additional
+marks of identification,&mdash;six definite
+proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this
+wretched sight, on that January morning, were
+men intimately acquainted with the duke's person.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"There were his physician, a Portuguese named
+Mathieu, and his valets, besides Olivier de la
+Marche<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XXI18"><sup>18</sup></a></span> and Denys his chaplain who were taken
+thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It<span class="page"><a name="450"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 450]</span></a></span>
+has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and
+to know it better it [the body] has been bathed in
+warm water and good wine and cleansed. In that
+state it was recognisable by all who had previously
+seen and known him. The page who had given the
+information was taken to the king. Had it not been
+for him it would never have been known what had
+become of him considering the state and the place
+where he was found."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XXI19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Before the body could be freed from the ice in
+which it was imbedded, implements had to be
+brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles
+hastened to the spot, when they heard the tidings,
+to show honour to the man who had been their
+accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted as
+escort as the burden was carried into the town and
+placed in a suitable chamber in the home of one
+George Marquiez. There seems to have been no
+insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference
+in the proceedings. The very spot where the
+bier rested for a moment was marked with a little
+black cross.</p>
+<p>
+As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became<span class="page"><a name="451">[page 451]</a></span>
+evident&mdash;a deep cut from a halberd in the
+head, spear thrusts through the thighs and abdomen&mdash;proofs
+of the closeness of the last struggle.
+When all the dignity possible had been given
+to the miserable human fragment and the chamber
+hung with conventional mourning, René came
+thither clad in black garments. Kneeling by the
+bier, he said: "Would to God, fair cousin, that
+your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you
+to the condition in which I see you."</p>
+<p>
+For five days the body lay in state before the
+high altar of the church of St. George, and the
+obsequies that followed were attended by René
+and his nobles, and the coffin was honourably
+placed among the ducal dead.</p>
+<p>
+Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried
+with the bones to which his name was given.
+When the Swiss turned their way homeward,
+their farewell words to René were: "If the Duke
+of Burgundy has escaped and should reopen war,
+tell us." "If he has assured his safety," René
+answered, "we will fight again when summer
+comes." There was no delay, however, in the
+division of the spoils. The Burgundian treasure
+was distributed among René's allies, and the ignorant
+soldiers received articles worth many times
+their pay, which they, in many cases, disposed of
+for an infinitesimal part of their value.</p>
+<p>
+As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and
+Mary of Burgundy wrote to Louis XI. from Ghent:</p>
+<p>
+"We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in<span class="page"><a name="452">[page 452]</a></span>
+the hands of his enemies." Other rumours continued
+to be current, not only for weeks but for
+years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that
+the vanished duke had retired to Brucsal in
+Swabia, where he led an austere life, <i>genus vitae
+horridum atque asperum</i>. Bets were made, too,
+on the chances of his return.<a href="#XXI20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Louis XI. was a very pleasant person when
+news was brought him that he liked to hear.
+Commines and Bouchage together had told him
+about the defeat of Morat and had each received
+two hundred silver marks. It was a Seigneur de
+Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters
+from Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It
+was "really difficult for the king to keep his countenance
+so surprised was he with joy."<a href="#XXI21"><sup>21</sup></a> His
+letter to Craon was written on January 9th and
+ran as follows.<a href="#XXI22"><sup>22</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter
+and heard the good news that you impart to me, for
+which I thank you as much as I can. Now is the time
+to use all your five natural senses to deliver the duchy
+and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the
+duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne
+take your troops and put yourselves within the land,
+and, if you love me, keep as good order among your
+men as if you were in Paris, and prove that I mean to
+treat them [the Burgundians] better than any one in<span class="page"><a name="453"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 453]</span></a></span>
+my realm."</p>
+
+<p>
+The "five natural senses" of the king's lieutenant
+were employed most loyally to his master's service.
+The duchy of Burgundy returned to the
+French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were
+convened by Louis XI, and there was no longer
+any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful
+peer in France.</p>
+<p>
+With the exception of Guelders the lands acquired
+by Charles fell away, but the remainder as
+inherited by him passed under the rule of his
+daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the
+House of Austria, through which it passed finally
+to the King of Spain.</p>
+<p>
+On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Burgundy
+had only just passed middle life. He was
+forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six days
+old, an age when a man has the right to look forward
+to new achievements. Every circumstance
+of the dreary and premature death was in glaring
+contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in
+insolent contradiction to his own estimation of the
+obligations assumed by Fate in his behalf. In
+certain details of the catastrophe there are, of
+course, accidents. No one could have predicted
+that the duke whose chief title was a synonym for
+magnificence, that this cherished heir to his House,
+who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his
+epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours
+long, unattended and uncared-for, naked and<span class="page"><a name="454">[page 454]</a></span>
+frozen on a bed of congealed mud, with a winter
+sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it overwhelmed
+him was too appalling for any foresight.
+But the great dream of the man's life that vanished
+with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere
+chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended
+by the battle of Nancy, other means of destruction,
+inevitable and sure, would have appeared.
+The projected erection of a solidified kingdom
+stretching from the North Sea to Switzerland and
+possibly to the Mediterranean, one that could hold
+the balance of power between France and Germany,
+contained elements of disintegration, latent
+at its foundation. It is clear, from a consideration
+of the Duke of Burgundy and his position
+in the Europe of his time, that the materials
+which he expected to mould into a realm were a
+collection of sentient units. Each separate one
+was instinct with individual life, individual desires,
+conscious of its own minute past, capable of
+directing its own contracted future. That the
+hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
+had lodged upon a head already dignified by a
+plurality of similar titles, was a mere chance and
+viewed by the burghers in a wholly different light
+from that in which this same overlord regarded it.
+The fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant,
+the merchants in Flanders, the vintners in
+Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings of an
+imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds,
+unmolested highways of commerce, vineyards free<span class="page"><a name="455">[page 455]</a></span>
+from the tramp of armies. And with their desires
+fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
+the political centralisation planned by their
+common ruler, often betrayed both ignorance and
+inconsistency. At various epochs some degree of
+imperialism for the Netherland group had been
+quite to popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and
+Hainaut, it had been conceded that Jacqueline of
+Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
+conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the
+exchange of sovereigns had been effected in spite
+of the manifest injustice involved in the transaction.
+But while there was willingness to accept
+any advantages that might accrue to a people from
+the reputation of a local overlord, it was never forgotten
+for an instant that his relation to his subjects
+was as their own count and strictly limited
+by conditions that had long existed within each
+petty territory. While Charles seemed to be on
+the straight road towards his goal, the people
+within each body politic of his inherited states
+were profoundly preoccupied with their own local
+concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
+feared demands upon their internal revenues for
+external purposes.</p>
+<p>
+It does not seem probable, however, that the
+abstract question of the projected kingdom was
+ever taken very seriously among those to be
+directly affected by the proposed change. The
+bars interposed by his own subjects in the duke's
+progress towards royalty were obstructions to his<span class="page"><a name="456">[page 456]</a></span>
+successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed,
+strenuous opposition to details was allied
+to a vague and passive acceptance of the whole.
+Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly
+as a revival, not as a novelty. The previous
+existence of a kingdom of Burgundy was undoubtedly
+a potent factor in the degree of progress
+made by Charles towards conjuring into new life
+a reincarnation of that ancient realm. Yet it
+was a factor clothed with a shadow rather than
+with the substance of truth. Geographically
+there was very little in common between the
+dominion projected more or less definitely in 1473
+and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they
+had successively existed. That of Charles corresponded
+very nearly to the ancient kingdom of
+Lorraine. Franche-Comté was the only ground
+common to the territories actually held by the
+duke and to the latest kingdom of Burgundy. His
+possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly beyond
+the limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine.
+But the old name survived in his ducal title, and
+it was that name that lent a semblance of reality
+to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle kingdom
+as outlined in the duke's mind more or less
+definitely or as bounded by his ambition.</p>
+<p>
+In retrospect it is clear that more was requisite
+for the realisation of the vision of the
+wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of
+a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group
+of lands. A modern writer has pointed out how<span class="page"><a name="457">[page 457]</a></span>
+infinitely subtle is the vital principle of a nation,
+one not even to be created by common interests.
+A <i>Zollverein</i> is no <i>patria</i>. An element of sentiment
+is needful, and an element of growth.<a href="#XXI23"><sup>23</sup></a> The nation
+like the individual is the result of what has gone
+before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can
+command respect at home and abroad&mdash;that is
+the capital on which is based a national idea.
+To have wrought in common, to wish to accomplish
+more in the future, are essential conditions
+to be a people. "The existence of a nation is a
+plebiscite of every day, just as the existence of
+the individual is a perpetual affirmation of
+life."</p>
+<p>
+Now it is evident, in summing up the salient
+features of this failure, that a vital principle was
+not germinating in the inchoate mass. Charles
+himself never attained the rank of a national hero.
+More than that, with all his individual states, he
+never had any nation, great or small, at his back.
+Personally he was a man without a country. His
+father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite
+as French as his grandfather, Philip the Hardy,
+the first Duke of Burgundy out of the House of
+Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended
+his sway to many non-French-speaking peoples and
+was able to use the Flemish speech if it suited his
+whim. But that was as a condescension and as
+something extraneous. The chief of French peers
+remained his proudest title; his ability to influence<span class="page"><a name="458">[page 458]</a></span>
+French affairs, the task he liked best.</p>
+<p>
+His son was quite different in his attitude
+towards France. He minimised his degree of
+French blood royal. More than once he boasted
+of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock.
+He had certain characteristics of an immigrant,
+who has abandoned family traditions and is
+proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is
+to outshine what he has inherited. Charles was
+not exactly a stupid man, but he certainly was
+dazzled by his early surroundings into an overestimate
+of himself, into a conceit that was a tremendous
+stumbling-block in his path. He had
+not the kind of intelligence that would have enabled
+him to take at their worth the rhetorical
+phrases of adulation heaped upon him on festal
+occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very self-confidence,
+gave him a high conception of his
+duties. At his accession, he showed a sense of his
+responsibilities, a definite theory of conduct which
+he fully intended to act upon. His very belief
+in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of
+purpose. He was convinced that he could maintain
+law, order, justice in his domain, and he
+fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he
+left out of consideration the rights of the people,
+rights older than his dynasty. In his military career,
+too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest bent
+towards preserving the best conditions possible
+amid the brutalities of warfare. He curbed the
+soldiers' passions, he protected women, and was as<span class="page"><a name="459">[page 459]</a></span>
+relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as
+towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted himself
+to secure impartial equity for all alike. When
+he gave a promise, he fully intended to make his
+words good. It was only in the face of repeated
+deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous
+Louis XI. that Charles changed for the worse.
+Exasperated by the knowledge that the king's
+solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no intention
+of fulfilment, he attempted to adopt
+a similar policy and was singularly infelicitous in
+his imitation. His political methods degenerated
+into mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces,
+illumined by no clever intuition of where to draw
+the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was
+worth no more than the king's, and words were
+assuredly at a discount just then. A perusal of
+the international correspondence of the period
+leaves the reader marvelling why time was
+wasted in covering paper, with flimsy, insincere
+phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no
+true indication of the road to be travelled. There
+are, however, differences in the art of dissimulation
+and Charles never attained a mastery of the science.</p>
+<p>
+The adjective which has attached itself to his
+name in English in an inaccurate rendering of <i>le
+téméraire</i> which belongs to him in French. There
+were other terms too applied to Charles at different
+periods of his career. He was Charles the Hardy
+in his early youth, Charles the Terrible in those
+last months when he tried to fortify himself with<span class="page"><a name="460">[page 460]</a></span>
+wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all
+times he might have been called Charles the self-absorbed,
+Charles the solitary. There have been
+many men more passionate, more uncontrolled,
+than Charles of Burgundy, whose personal magnetism
+yet enabled them to win friends and to keep
+them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure
+to command personal devotion, unquestioning
+loyalty, was one of his chief personal misfortunes.
+Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found many
+lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son received
+criticism for his faults even from the faithful
+among his servitors. How a reflection of his
+bearing glows out from the mirror turned casually
+upon him by Commines' skilful hand! Take the
+glimpse of Louis XI. as he lures on St. Pol's messenger
+to imitate Charles. The Sire de Créville
+inspired by the royal interest in his narration about
+an incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his
+cheeks, stamps his feet in a dictatorial manner,
+and swears by St. George as he quotes the duke's
+words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines,
+and a Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his
+liege lord so mocked. It is a time when St. Pol is
+trying to ride three horses at once and the French
+king takes this method to have Charles informed
+of his duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I
+grow a little deaf," and the flattered envoy repeats
+his dramatic performance in a way to engrave it
+on the memory of the duke's retainer.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charlestomb">[plate 32]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image32charlestomb.jpg" width="600" height="452" alt="THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+In thus touching on the traits of his former<span class="page"><a name="461">[page 461]</a></span>
+master, Commines does not show malice or even
+a dislike for the duke. He is much more severe
+about Louis&mdash;only he found the latter easier to
+serve.</p>
+<p>
+In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to
+have found any companionship that affected his
+life. He is lauded as a faithful husband to Isabella
+of Bourbon but her death seemed to make
+little difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York
+had the actual significance enjoyed by Isabella
+of Portugal as consort to Philip the Good with
+his notoriously roving fancy.</p>
+<p>
+Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of
+Burgundy tried to stand alone. Perhaps his chief
+happiness in life was that he never knew how
+insufficient for his desired task he was and how
+the new art of printing, the birth of Erasmus of
+Rotterdam, were the really great events of his
+brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good fortune
+that he never knew that no splendid
+achievement gave significance to his device:
+"I have undertaken it"&mdash;<i>Je lay emprins</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#427">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XXI1">Mém</a>. de la soc. bourg. de géog. et d' hist</i>. Article by A.
+Cornereau, vi., 229.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#428">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XXI2">Les</a> états de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, <i>Études et notices
+hist,. des Pays-Bas</i>, i., I.)</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pensionary
+of Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of
+1476. This so-called "States-general" was by no means a
+legislative assembly. When Philip the Good convened deputies
+from the various states at Bruges in 1463, it was to save
+himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals to ask
+for <i>aides</i>. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several times
+before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of
+self-convention and when a constitutional rôle was assured
+to the body; though not used for many years (<i>See</i> Pirenne,
+ii., 379.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#432">[Footnote 3:</a> <i><a name="XXI3">Pour</a> y penser la nuit jusques aw lendemain</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#433">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="XXI4">S'ils n'avaient point</a> charge limitée quantefois ils devaient
+boire en chemin</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#433">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XXI5">Compte</a>-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. 1,
+1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are
+proofs that another assembly was confidently expected.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#434">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XXI6">Gingins</a> la Sarra, ii., 354.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#435">[Footnote 7:</a> <i><a name="XXI7">Ibid</a></i>., 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro
+avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#436">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XXI8">Petrasanta</a> to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in
+Kirk, iii., 487.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#436">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XXI9">An</a> Italian phrase signifying to run down his game slowly.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#437">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XXI10">Commines</a>, v., ch. iv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#438">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XXI11">Toutey</a> calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress of
+central Europe, the first of international congresses.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#441">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XXI12">Huguénin</a> Jeune, <i>Hist. de la guerre de Lorraine</i>, p. 217.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#442">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XXI13">This</a> monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking
+Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was
+refused on the score that Charles the Bold was menacing
+the safety of the French frontier. Alphonse's prayer for
+peace might have been instigated by thoughts of his own
+needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p. 386.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#443">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XXI14">Toutey</a>, p. 387.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#444">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XXI15">See</a> Scott's <i>Anne of Geierstein</i>. This is the man whom
+the author makes the appointed instrument of the <i>Vehmgericht</i>
+to slay Charles.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#445">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XXI16">Toutey</a>, p. 388.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#446">[Footnote 17:</a> <i><a name="XXI17">Mémoires</a></i>, iii., 239.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#449">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="XXI18">It</a> is strange that La Marche does not make more of this
+scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The
+duke remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like
+the poorest man in the world and I was taken and others."
+iii., 240.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#450">[Footnote 19:</a> <i><a name="XXI19">La</a> déconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par
+Monseigneur de Lorraine</i>. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+This brief account was drawn up evidently before the
+duke's burial was known by the writer. It may have been
+written solely to please Louis XI. Still there is a simplicity
+about it that holds the attention, in spite of the fact that
+the story is not accepted by critical historians.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#452">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="XXI20">La</a> Marche, iii., 240.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#452">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XXI21">Comines</a> v., ch. x.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#452">[Footnote 22:</a> <i><a name="XXI22">Lettres</a></i> vi., p. 111.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#457">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="XXI23">Renan</a>, <i>Qu'est ce qu'une nation</i>.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="462">[page 462]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="463">[page 463]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2><a name="BIBLIO">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a></h2>
+<p class="quote">
+There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the
+later years of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of
+Charles the Bold. Fairly adequate bibliographies can be
+found in Pirenne and Molinier (see list). The following list
+contains the full titles of the chief works to which direct reference
+is made in the text but falls far short of a complete
+description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which
+has coloured the treatment of the subject.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by
+other writers the reference is to the later books only.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France</i>. Vol. i. (Paris,
+1834.) Contains <i>Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du
+siège de Beauvais, en</i> 1472, etc.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BARANTE, M. DE. <i>Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne de
+la maison de Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de
+Reiffenberg.</i> 6th ed. 10 vols. (Brussels, 1835.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BASIN, THOMAS, 1412-1491. <i>Histoire des règnes de Charles
+VII. et de Louis XI.</i> (Latin text). Ed. J.E.J. Quicherat.
+2 vols. (Paris, 1855.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BEAUCOURT, G. DU FRESNE, MARQUIS DE. <i>Histoire de
+Charles VII</i> . 6 vols. (Paris, 1890.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BLOK, P.J. <i>Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourgondisch-Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij.</i> (The Hague, 1884.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BRANTÔME, PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, SEIGNEUR DE. <i>&OElig;uvres
+complètes de</i>. Ed. Ludovic Lalanne. (Paris, 1876.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BUDT, ADRIAN DE. <i>Chronicon Flandriæ. De Smet
+Corpus chron. Flandr. I</i>. (Brussels, 1837-65.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BUSSIÈRE, BARON MARIE-THÉODORE DE. <i>Histoire de
+la ligue formée contre Charles le téméraire</i>. (Paris, 1846.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Cent nouvelles nouvelles, Les</i>. Édition revue sur les
+textes originaux, etc., par A.J.V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris,
+1841.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHABEUF, H. <i>Deux portraits bourguignons du XV<span class="super">e</span>
+siècle</i>. (Dijon, 1893.) (Mémoires de la société bourguignonne
+de géographie et d'histoire. Vol. ix.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES, 1404-1475. <i>&OElig;uvres.</i> (Ed. Kervyn<span class="page"><a name="464"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 464]</span></a></span>
+de Lettenhove.) 8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. <i>Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV.</i> 2 vols.
+(Hamburg, 1843.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. <i>Urkunden zur Geschichte von Österreich,
+Steiermark,</i> etc. [Monumenta Habsburgica.] 2 vols. (Vienna,
+1849.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CLÉMART, PIERRE. <i>Jacques C&oelig;ur et Charles VII</i>. (Paris,
+1873.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Collection de documents inédits sur l'histoire de France</i>.
+"Mélanges." (Ed. M. Champollion-Figeac.) (Paris, 1843.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+COMMINES, PHILIP DE.  <i>The Historie of</i>, Englished by
+Thomas Dannett. Anno 1596. With an introduction by
+Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires de Philippe de Comines,</i> 1447-1511. Nouvelle
+édition par Messieurs Godefroy, augmentée par M.
+l'Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4 vols. Ref. (Comines-Lenglet.)
+(Paris, 1747.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+This edition contains many letters, documents, etc.,
+collected by M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy
+has been impugned in many instances. Those cited
+have been taken with a view to the later criticism upon
+them.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes</i>. Nouvelle édition
+publiée avec une introduction et des notes par Bernard
+de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref. (Commynes-Mandrot.)
+(Paris, 1901.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes</i>. Nouvelle édition,
+revue sur les manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale,
+etc., par Mlle. Dupont. 3 vols. Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.)
+(Paris, 1840.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CORNEREAU, A.  <i>Le palais des états de Bourgogne à
+Dijon</i>. (Dijon, 1890.) (Mémoires de la soc. bourguignonne
+de géog. et d'hist., v.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+COURTÉPÉE, M. <i>Description, générale et particulière du
+duché de Bourgogne</i>. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE. <i>&OElig;uvres complètes</i>. (Paris, 1878-
+1904.) (Soc. des anciens textes français.) 11 vols.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DES MAREZ, G. <i>L'organisation du travail à Bruxelles
+au XV<span class="super">e</span> siècle</i>. (Bruxelles, 1903-04.) (Mémoires couronnés
+de l'acad. royale de Belgique. Vol. lxv.-lxvi.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DEWEZ, M. <i>Histoire particulière des provinces belgiques</i><span class="page"><a name="465"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 465]</span></a></span>
+<i>sous le gouvernement des ducs et des comtes, pour servir de
+complément à l'histoire générale</i>. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1834.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DU CLERCQ, JACQUES, 1420-1501. <i>Mémoires</i>. (Ed. Baron
+F. de Reiffenberg.) 4 vols. (Brussels, 1823.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DUCLOS, CHARLES P. <i>(&OElig;uvres complètes de</i>. Nouvelle
+édition. 9 vols. (Paris, 1820.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+ESCOUCHY, MATHIEU D'(DE COUCY). <i>Chronique</i>. (1420?-1482
++.) (Ed. G. du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris,
+1863.) (Soc. de l'hist. de France.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+FREDERICQ, PAUL. <i>Le rôle politique et social des ducs
+de Bourgogne</i>. (Brussels, 1875.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+FREEMAN, EDWARD A. <i>The Historical Geography of
+Europe.</i> 2 vols. 3d edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 1903.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P. <i>Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pièces
+inédites,</i> etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. <i>Collection des voyages des souverains
+des Pays-Bas.</i> 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. <i>Documents inédits concernant
+l'histoire de la Belgique</i>. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P. <i>Études et notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas.</i> 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium</i>. (Marténe Coll. Vol. iv.)
+(Paris, 1729.).</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GINGINS LA SARRA, LE BARON DE FRÉDERIC DE, Ed.
+<i>Dépêches des ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de
+Charles le Hardi</i>, 1474-1477. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GOLLUT, M. LOYS. <i>Les mémoires historiques de la république
+séquanoise et des princes de la Franche-Comté de
+Bourgogne.</i> (Arbois, 1846.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+JEUNE, HUGUÉNIN. <i>Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine
+et du siège de Nancy, par Charles le Téméraire, duc de
+Bourgogne,</i> 1473-1477. (Metz, 1837.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, LE BARON. [Ed. of works of
+Chastellain, Budt, etc.]; see article in <i>Bullétin de l'académie
+royale de Belgique</i>, 1887, etc.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE. <i>Histoire de Flandre</i>. 5 vols.
+(Brussels, 1853-54.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+KIRK, JOHN FOSTER. <i>History of Charles the Bold, Duke
+of Burgundy</i>. 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1864-1868.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LABORDE (L.E.S.J.), COMTE DE. <i>Les ducs de Bourgogne:</i><span class="page"><a name="466"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 466]</span></a></span>
+<i>Études sur les lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le
+XV<span class="super">e</span> siècle</i>, etc. "Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LACOMBLET, TH. J. <i>Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des
+Niederrheins.</i> 4 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1848.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE, 1422-1502. <i>Mémoires.</i> (1435-1488.)
+Paris, 1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 vols.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LAVISSE, ERNEST. <i>Histoire de France depuis les origines
+jusqu'à la révolution</i>. Publiée avec la collaboration de MM.
+Bayet, Block, Carré, Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Luchaire,
+Mariéjol, Petit-Dutaillis, etc. (Paris, 1893-.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI.
+is written by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University
+of Lille. (Reference used, Lavisse, IV<span class="super">II</span>.) (Paris, 1902.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LE FÉVRE, JEAN, SEIGNEUR DE ST. RÉMY. (<i>Toison d'or.</i>)
+(1395-1463.) <i>Chronique.</i> 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LE ROUX DE LINCY, A.J.V. <i>Chants historiques sur les
+règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XI</i>.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Lettres de Louis XI</i>. (Paris, 1883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen,
+et Étienne Charavay.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LOOMIS, LOUISE ROPES. <i>Medieval Hellenism</i>. (Columbia
+University, 1906.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MARTÉNE, EDMUND. <i>Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum,
+Historicorum, Dogmaticorum, Moralium, Amplissium
+Collectio</i>. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires et documents publiés par la société d'histoire
+de la suisse romande</i>. Vol. viii. "Mélanges." (Lausanne,
+1849.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MEYER, J. <i>Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandricarum</i>.
+(Antwerp, 1561.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MOLINET, JEAN. <i>Chronique</i> (1474-1506.) (Paris, 1824-29.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting
+especially for the siege of Neuss.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MONSTRELET, ENGUERRAND DE (d. 1453). <i>La Chronique</i>.
+(Paris, 1861.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MOLINIER, AUGUSTE. <i>Les sources de l'histoire de France
+des origines aux guerres d'Italie</i>. Vols. iv., v., 1461-1494.
+(Paris, 1904.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde</i>.
+Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+OMAN, CHARLES W.C. <i>Warwick the Kingmaker</i>. 1890.<span class="page"><a name="467"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 467]</span></a></span>
+ONUFRIUS DE SANCTA CROCE, Bishop of Tricaria. <i>Mémoire
+sur les affaires de Liege</i> (1468). (Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brussels,
+1885.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+OUDENBOSCH. <i>Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, historicorum</i>,
+etc. <i>Rerum Leodiensius. Opus Adriani de vetere
+Buseo</i>, 1343. See Marténe.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PICQUÉ, CAMILLE. <i>Mémoire sur Philippe de Commines</i>.
+(Brussels, 1864.) Mém. couronnés par 1'acad. royale de
+Belgique, vol. xvi.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PIOT, G.J.C., Ed. <i>Chronycke van Nederlandt</i>&mdash;1565.
+<i>Vlaamsche Kronijk</i>&mdash;1598. <i>Collection des chroniques belges</i>.
+(Brussels, 1836-.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PIRENNE, HENRI. <i>Histoire de Belgique</i>. 2 vols. (Brussels,
+1903.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PIRENNE, HENRI. <i>Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique:
+catalogue méthodique et chronologique des sources et des ouvrages
+principaux relatifs à l'histoire de tous les Pays-Bas jusqu'
+en 1598</i>. (Brussels, 1902.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PLANCHER, URBAIN. <i>Histoire générale et particulière de
+Bourgogne avec des notes et les preuves justificatives</i>, etc. 4 vols.
+(Dijon, 1739.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+POICTIERS, ALIENOR DE. <i>Les honneurs de la cour</i>. (In
+Sainte-Palaye, <i>Mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie</i>, vol. 2,
+pp. 171-267.) (Paris, 1781.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+POLAIN, M.L. <i>Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de
+Liège.</i> 4th ed. (Brussels, 1866.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PUTNAM, RUTH. <i>A Medieval Princess</i>. (New York, 1904.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RAM, P.F.X. DE. <i>Documents relatifs aux troubles du
+pays de Liège sous les princes-évêques Louis de Bourbon et
+Jean de Horne</i>,  I vol. (Brussels, 1844.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RAMSAY, SIR JAMES H. <i>Lancaster and York, a Century
+of English History</i> (A.D., 1399-1485). 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>Essai sur les enfants
+naturels de Philippe de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>Histoire de l'Ordre de la
+Toison d'Or</i>. (Brussels, 1830.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>Mémoire sur le sejour de
+Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas</i>. Nouveaux mém. de l'acad.
+royale. 1829.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>De l'état de la population</i>,
+etc., <i>dans les Pays-Bas pendant le XV<span class="super">e</span> et le XVI<span class="super">e</span> siècle</i>.<span class="page"><a name="468"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 468]</span></a></span>
+Mem. de l'acad. royale in 4°. (Brussels, 1822.)
+[Also editor of various works.]</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RODT, EMANUEL VON. <i>Die Feldzüge Karls des Kühnen</i>.
+2 vols. (Schaffhausen, 1843.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+ROLAND, P. AUBERT. <i>La guerre de René II. contre Charles
+le Hardi</i>. (Luxembourg, 1742.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+ROYE, JEAN DE. <i>Chronique scandaleuse</i>. [A journal of
+the years 1460-1483.] (Ed. Bernard de Mandrot.) 2 vols.
+(Paris, 1894-96.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RUHL, GUSTAVE. <i>L'expedition des Franchimontoir en
+1468</i>. Soc. d'art et d'histoire de Liège, ix. (Liege, 1895.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RYMER, THOMAS. <i>F&oelig;dera, conventiones, litteræ et cujuscumque
+generis acta publica inter reges Angliæ et alios quosvis
+reges</i>, etc. 20 vols. Vol. xi. (London, 1704-1716.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+SCHELLHASE, K. "Zur Trierer Zusammenkunft im Jahre
+1473." In <i>Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft</i>.
+Band VI. (Freiburg, 1891.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+SELDEN, JOHN. <i>Titles of Honor</i>. 3d ed. (London, 1672.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+SNOY, RENIER (Snoyus Reinerus). <i>De rebus Batavicis</i>.
+(Frankfurt, 1620.) In fol.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+STEIN, H. "<i>Olivier de la Marche historien, poete et diplomate
+Bourgogne</i>." In mén couronné etc., par l'acad. royale vol.
+xlix. (Brussels, 1888.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+STOUFF, Louis. <i>Les comtes de Bourgogne et leurs villes
+domaniales</i>. (Paris, 1899.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+STOUFF, LOUIS. "Les possessions bourguignonnes dans
+la vallée du Rhin sous Charles le téméraire." <i>Annales de
+l'est</i>. Vols. xvii.-xviii. (Paris, 1903.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+TOUTEY, E. <i>Charles le téméraire et la ligue de Constance.</i>
+(Paris, 1902.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+VANDER MAELEN, PH. <i>Dictionnaire géographique de la
+province de Liège</i>. (Brussels, 1831.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+WAGENAAR, JAN. <i>Vaderlandsche Historie</i>. 21 vols. (Amsterdam,
+1749-1759.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+WAVRIN, JEHAN DE (living 1465-1471). <i>Anchiennes
+croniques de Engleterre</i>. (Ed. Mlle. Dupont.) 3 vols. (Paris,
+1858-63.)</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="469">[page 469]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2><a name="INDEX">INDEX</a></h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#A">A</a> | <a href="#B">B</a> | <a href="#C">C</a> | <a href="#D">D</a> |
+<a href="#E">E</a> | <a href="#F">F</a> | <a href="#G">G</a> | <a href="#H">H</a> |
+<a href="#In">I</a> | <a href="#J">J</a> | <a href="#K">K</a> | <a href="#L">L</a> |
+<a href="#M">M</a> | <a href="#N">N</a> | <a href="#O">O</a> | <a href="#P">P</a> |
+<a href="#Q">Q</a> | <a href="#R">R</a> | <a href="#S">S</a> | <a href="#T">T</a> |
+<a href="#U">U</a> | <a href="#Va">V</a> | <a href="#W">W</a> | <a href="#Xa">X</a> |
+<a href="#Y">Y</a> | <a href="#Z">Z</a><br /><br />
+
+(Note: The Page number is the link to the reference.<br />
+Page<sup>x</sup> indicates that the reference is in <span class="note">[Footnote x:]</span> at the end of the chapter.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+	<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="A">A</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Abbeville, <a href="#106">106</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#143">143</a></li>
+<li>Agincourt, battle of, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#407">407</a></li>
+<li>Aire, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#271">271</a></li>
+<li>Aix, <a href="#357">357</a></li>
+<li>Alkmaar, <a href="#71">71</a>, <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Alsace, <a href="#239">239</a><sup>15</sup>, <a href="#260">260</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>,
+ <a href="#374">374</a>-376, <a href="#386">386</a>-391, <a href="#393">393</a>-395, <a href="#397">397</a>,
+ <a href="#442">442</a>, <a href="#444">444</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Alsace, Upper, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>Amboise, <a href="#106">106</a>, <a href="#274">274</a><sup>14</sup>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#306">306</a></li>
+<li>Amiens, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#121">121</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>,
+ <a href="#298">298</a><sup>13</sup>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#311">311</a>, <a href="#321">321</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>-411</li>
+<li>Amont, <a href="#43">43</a>, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#259">259</a></li>
+<li>Andernach, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Angers, <a href="#280">280</a>, <a href="#305">305</a>, <a href="#307">307</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, duchy of, <a href="#118">118</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, Margaret of, Queen of England, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>,
+ <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#274">274</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>-80, <a href="#284">284</a>, <a href="#290">290</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, René, King of, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#332">332</a>, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#400">400</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, Yolande of, <i>see</i> Vaudemont</li>
+<li>Antwerp, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#337">337</a></li>
+<li>Appiano, Antoine d' (Antonius de Aplano), Milanese ambassador, <a href="#423">423</a></li>
+<li>Aragon, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>-296</li>
+<li>Argau, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Armagnac, <a href="#223">223</a></li>
+<li>Arras, Bishop of, <a href="#70">70</a></li>
+<li>Arras, treaty of, <a href="#11">11</a>-13, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#36">36</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#110">110</a>,
+ <a href="#221">221</a></li>
+<li>Arson, Jehan d', <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#284">284</a></li>
+<li>Arthur, King, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Artois, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Artois, Bonne of, Duchess of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Atclyff, William, <a href="#325">325</a></li>
+<li>Ath, <a href="#406">406</a></li>
+<li>Augsburg, Diet of, <a href="#349">349</a></li>
+<li>Austria, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>-257,
+ <a href="#259">259</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>, <a href="#288">388</a></li>
+<li>Austria, House of, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li>
+<li>Austria, Maximilian, Archduke of, <i>see</i> Maximilian</li>
+<li>Austria, Sigismund of (Count of Tyrol), <a href="#248">248</a>;
+<ul class="index1">
+<li>mortgages lands to Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#250">250</a>-256, <a href="#329">329</a>-331,
+ <a href="#371">371</a>, <a href="#374">374</a>;</li>
+<li>resumes sovereignty of mortgaged lands, <a href="#387">387</a>-394, <a href="#415">415</a>,
+ <a href="#444">444</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Auvergne, Marshal d', <a href="#108">108</a></li>
+<li>Auxonne, <a href="#379">379</a></li>
+<li>Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d', <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>-18, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#29">29</a></li>
+<li>Avesnes, <a href="#102">102</a>, <a href="#103">103</a></li>
+<li>Avranches, Bishop of, <a href="#206">206</a></li>
+<li>Aydie, Odet d', <a href="#98">98</a>, <a href="#305">305</a><sup>21</sup>, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup>, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="B">B</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>"Bad Penny," the, tax, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#380">380</a>, <a href="#381">381</a></li>
+<li>Balue, Cardinal, <a href="#206">206</a>, <a href="#207">207</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#283">283</a></li>
+<li>Bar, duchy of, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Barante, cited, <a href="#10">10</a><sup>15</sup>, <a href="#10">10</a><sup>17</sup>, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#68">68</a><sup>3</sup>, <a href="#314">314</a><sup>30</sup></li>
+<li>Bari, Duc de (Sforza), <a href="#413">413</a></li>
+<li>Barnet, battle of, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>Barre, Corneille de la, <a href="#103">103</a></li>
+<li>Barrois, <a href="#156">156</a></li>
+<li>Baschi, Suffren de, <a href="#441">441</a>, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Basel, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#248">248</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#375">375</a>,
+  <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>-388, <a href="#391">391</a>-392, <a href="#394">394</a>, <a href="#442">442</a>-444</li>
+<li>Basel, Bishop of, <a href="#381">381</a></li>
+<li>Basin, Thomas, cited, <a href="#355">355</a></li>
+<li><i>Basse-Union</i>, the, <a href="#375">375</a>, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#381">381</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>,
+  <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#415">415</a></li>
+<li>Baume-les-Dames, <a href="#43">43</a></li>
+<li>Bavaria, elector of, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Bavaria, Stephen of, <a href="#69">69</a></li>
+<li>Beaujeu, Lord of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Beaumont, château of, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#317">317</a><sup>37</sup></li>
+<li>Beauvais, siege of, <a href="#311">311</a>-313</li>
+<li>Bedford, John, Duke of, death of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#72">72</a></li>
+<li>Begars, Abbé de, <a href="#299">299</a></li>
+<li>Belfort, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Bellière, Vicomte de la, <a href="#304">304</a><sup>19</sup></li>
+<li>Berne, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#249">249</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#376">376</a>,
+  <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#392">392</a>, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>,
+  <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#417">417</a>, <a href="#442">442</a>, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Berry, Bailiff of, <a href="#61">61</a>-64</li>
+<li>Berry, Charles of France, Duke of (Normandy and Guienne), heads League of Public Weal, <a href="#121">121</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>character of, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#126">126</a>;</li>
+  <li>Normandy given to, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#197">197</a>-200,
+  <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#217">217</a>;</li>
+<li>won over by Louis, <a href="#205">205</a>, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#220">220</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>;</li>
+  <li>Guienne given to, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>;</li>
+  <li>proposed marriage of, <a href="#294">294</a>-298, <a href="#333">333</a>;</li>
+  <li>suspicious death of, <a href="#302">302</a>-304, <a href="#307">307</a>-310, <a href="#314">314</a>-316,
+  <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#344">344</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Besançon, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#252">252</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#380">380</a>,
+  <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#388">388</a></li>
+<li>Biche, Guillaume de, <a href="#89">89</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#206">206</a>, <a href="#211">211</a></li>
+<li>Biscay, Bay of, <a href="#282">282</a></li>
+<li>Black Forest, the, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>Bladet, <a href="#291">291</a></li>
+<li>Blamont, Count of, <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#397">397</a></li>
+<li>Blaumont, Seigneur de, Marshal of Burgundy, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Boccaccio, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Bohemia, <a href="#245">245</a>-247, <a href="#348">348</a></li>
+<li>Bonn, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Borselen, Adrian van, Seigneur of Breda, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Borselen, Frank van (Count of Ostrevant), <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>Borselen, Henry van, <a href="#323">323</a></li>
+<li>Boscise, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+<li>Bouchage, Monseigneur du, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>-297, <a href="#319">319</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Boudault, Jehan, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#60">60</a></li>
+<li>Boulogne, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#286">286</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, Catharine of, <i>see</i> Guelders</li>
+<li>Bourbon, Duchess of, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#61">61</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, duchy of, <a href="#118">118</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, Duke of, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#61">61</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>, <a href="#206">206</a>,
+  <a href="#217">217</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, Isabella of (Countess of Charolais), <i>see</i> Charolais</li>
+<li>Bourbon, Louis of, Bishop of Liege, <a href="#137">137</a>-140, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#146">146</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>-214,
+  <a href="#218">218</a>-221</li>
+<li>Bourges, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#98">98</a></li>
+<li>Bouvignes, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#154">154</a></li>
+<li>Bouxières, <a href="#447">447</a></li>
+<li>Brabant, Anthony, Duke of, <a href="#14">14</a></li>
+<li>Brabant, duchy of, <a href="#13">13</a>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#253">253</a>,
+  <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#454">454</a></li>
+<li>Brabant, Duke of, <a href="#181">181</a></li>
+<li>Brandenburg, Albert, elector of, <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#351">351</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#352">352</a></li>
+<li>Brandenburg, Margrave of, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de, cited, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Breda, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Brederode, Gijsbrecht of, <a href="#69">69</a>-71</li>
+<li>Breisgau, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#374">374</a></li>
+<li>Bresse, Philip de, <a href="#208">208</a>, <a href="#209">209</a></li>
+<li>Brie, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#281">281</a></li>
+<li>Brisac (Breisach), <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>,
+  <a href="#379">379</a>-381, <a href="#389">389</a>, <a href="#391">391</a></li>
+<li>Brittany, Duchess of, <a href="#295">295</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Brittany, duchy of, <a href="#160">160</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Brittany, Francis, Duke of, joins League of Public Weal, <a href="#114">114</a>, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#118">118</a>-120,
+  <a href="#124">124</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>ally of Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#197">197</a>, <a href="#295">295</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#296">296</a>,
+    <a href="#298">298</a><sup>13</sup>, <a href="#312">312</a>-314;</li>
+  <li>is reconciled to Louis XI., <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#210">210</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>,
+    <a href="#315">315</a>, <a href="#334">334</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Broeck, M. van der, <a href="#198">198</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Bruchsal, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Bruges, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#18">18</a>-23, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>, <a href="#154">154</a>,
+  <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#179">179</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#190">190</a>-196,
+  <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>, <a href="#404">404</a>,
+  <a href="#406">406</a>, <a href="#428">428</a></li>
+<li><i>Brunette</i>, the, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#272">272</a></li>
+<li>Brussels, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#29">29</a>, <a href="#39">39</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>,
+  <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#186">186</a><sup>4</sup>, <a href="#243">243</a>-245, <a href="#325">325</a>,
+  <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#429">429</a></li>
+<li>Bureau, Jehan, <a href="#98">98</a></li>
+<li>Buren, castle of, <a href="#320">320</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, duchy of, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#257">257</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>,
+  <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#384">384</a>, <a href="#453">453</a>, <a href="#454">454</a>, <a href="#456">456</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>Estates of, <a href="#427">427</a>, <a href="#434">434</a>, <a href="#435">435</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Franche-Comté of, <a href="#14">14</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Anthony, Grand Bastard of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#123">123</a>, <a href="#150">150</a>,
+  <a href="#159">159</a>-161, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#195">195</a>, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard of, <a href="#282">282</a>-284</li>
+<li>Burgundy, Charles the Bold, (Count of Charolais), Duke of;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>birth of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#7">7</a>;</li>
+  <li>elected knight of the Golden Fleece, <a href="#5">5</a>-7;</li>
+  <li>description of, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#165">165</a>, <a href="#166">166</a>,
+    <a href="#339">339</a>-341;</li>
+  <li>ancestry of, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#269">269</a>, <a href="#270">270</a>,
+    <a href="#277">277</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#292">292</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>,
+    <a href="#457">457</a>, <a href="#458">458</a>;</li>
+  <li>imperial ambitions of, <a href="#10">10</a>, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>,
+    <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#328">328</a>-337, <a href="#347">347</a>-361,
+    <a href="#384">384</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>,
+    <a href="#454">454</a>-457;</li>
+  <li>education of, <a href="#9">9</a>-11, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#28">28</a>-30;</li>
+  <li>weds Catherine of France, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>;</li>
+  <li>takes official part in public affairs, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>,
+    <a href="#26">26</a>;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#67">67</a>, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#166">166</a>-168,
+    <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#277">277</a>, <a href="#301">301</a>-303, <a href="#310">310</a>,
+    <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#340">340</a>, <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#407">407</a>,
+    <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#440">440</a>, <a href="#443">443</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#458">458</a>-460;</li>
+  <li>first campaign of, <a href="#37">37</a>-42;</li>
+  <li>entrusted with regency of Holland, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#67">67</a>,
+    <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#87">87</a>;</li>
+  <li>English sympathies of, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#167">167</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>,
+    <a href="#264">264</a>-267, <a href="#271">271</a>-274, <a href="#277">277</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>,
+    <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>;</li>
+  <li>weds Isabella of Bourbon, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>-65;</li>
+  <li>judicial methods of, <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>-263;</li>
+  <li>rejoices over birth of daughter, <a href="#83">83</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>;</li>
+  <li>strained relations with his father, <a href="#86">86</a>-89, <a href="#96">96</a>-99, <a href="#111">111</a>,
+    <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>;</li>
+  <li>enmity between Louis and, <a href="#86">86</a>-93, <a href="#96">96</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>-117,
+    <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>, <a href="#271">271</a>-274, <a href="#282">282</a>-284, <a href="#303">303</a>,
+    <a href="#308">308</a>, <a href="#309">309</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>, <a href="#320">320</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <i>et passim;</i></li>
+  <li>at coronation of Louis XI., <a href="#104">104</a>, <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#109">109</a>;</li>
+  <li>fears plots against his life, <a href="#112">112</a>-117, <a href="#282">282</a>-284;</li>
+  <li>joins League of Public Weal, <a href="#114">114</a>-119, <a href="#121">121</a>;</li>
+  <li>allies of, <a href="#114">114</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>-126, <a href="#188">188</a>,
+    <a href="#197">197</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>,
+    <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#292">292</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>,
+    <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>-415,
+    <a href="#422">422</a>, <a href="#423">423</a>;</li>
+  <li>letters of, to cities, <a href="#121">121</a>, <a href="#220">220</a>, <a href="#242">242</a>,
+    <a href="#243">243</a>, <a href="#272">272</a>-274, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#363">363</a>,
+    <a href="#364">364</a>;
+    <ul class="index2"><li>to Louis, <a href="#143">143</a>-144, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duchess Isabella, <a href="#271">271</a>-272;</li>
+    <li>to French council, <a href="#274">274</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duke of Brittany, <a href="#313">313</a>-314;</li>
+    <li>to Sigismund, <a href="#388">388</a>-389;</li>
+    <li>to Edward IV., <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#407">407</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duke of Milan, <a href="#413">413</a>-414;</li>
+    <li>at battle of Montl'héry, <a href="#122">122</a>-124, <a href="#449">449</a>;</li></ul></li>
+  <li>armies of, <a href="#122">122</a>, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#404">404</a>,
+    <a href="#405">405</a>, <a href="#420">420</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>-439, <a href="#445">445</a>;</li>
+  <li>dictates terms of treaty of Conflans, <a href="#127">127</a>-129;</li>
+  <li>marches against Liege, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#130">130</a>, <a href="#140">140</a>-142,
+    <a href="#182">182</a>;</li>
+  <li>destroys Dinant, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>-153;</li>
+  <li>underestimates character and strength of enemies, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#226">226</a>,
+    <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#418">418</a>,
+    <a href="#443">443</a>;</li>
+  <li>accedes to the dukedom, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#170">170</a>;</li>
+  <li>invested with titles, <a href="#170">170</a>-172, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>,
+    <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#244">244</a>, <a href="#263">263</a>, <a href="#382">382</a>-387;</li>
+  <li>unpopularity of, <a href="#169">169</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>,
+    <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#243">243</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#269">269</a>-271, <a href="#278">278</a>,
+    <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#316">316</a>-318, <a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>;</li>
+  <li>punishes Ghent, <a href="#170">170</a>-180, <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>-187,
+    <a href="#244">244</a>-246;</li>
+  <li>reforms of, <a href="#183">183</a>-185, <a href="#258">258</a>;</li>
+  <li>weds Margaret of York, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>-194, <a href="#201">201</a>,
+    <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>;</li>
+  <li>ducal state of, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>, <a href="#276">276</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>,
+    <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>-344, <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>;</li>
+  <li>demands <i>aides</i>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>-271,
+    <a href="#404">404</a>-406, <a href="#427">427</a>-434;</li>
+  <li>receives Louis at Peronne, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>-221;</li>
+  <li>crushes revolt of Liege, <a href="#213">213</a>-219, <a href="#227">227</a>-234, <a href="#238">238</a>,
+    <a href="#241">241</a>-244;</li>
+  <li>makes treaty of Peronne, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>,
+    <a href="#236">236</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>;</li>
+  <li>proposed sons-in-law for, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>-333,
+    <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#360">360</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty of St. Omer, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>;</li>
+  <li>takes lands from Sigismund, <a href="#251">251</a>-261, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#388">388</a>,
+    <a href="#393">393</a>;</li>
+  <li>relations of, with Swiss, <a href="#253">253</a>;</li>
+  <li>invested with Order of the Garter, <a href="#267">267</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>;</li>
+  <li><i>Remonstrance</i> presented to, <a href="#269">269</a>;</li>
+  <li>embassies to, <a href="#276">276</a>-279, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#360">360</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>-363,
+    <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>;</li>
+  <li>truces of, with Louis XI., <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>-300,
+    <a href="#301">301</a>, <a href="#306">306</a>,<a href="#307"> 307</a>, <a href="#315">315</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>,
+    <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;</li>
+  <li>besieges Beauvais, <a href="#311">311</a>, <a href="#312">312</a>;</li>
+  <li>reverses of, <a href="#312">312</a>-315, <a href="#427">427</a>;</li>
+  <li>acquires duchy of Guelders, <a href="#320">320</a>-328, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>,
+    <a href="#350">350</a>, <a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#364">364</a>;</li>
+  <li>negotiations between Emperor Frederic and, <a href="#328">328</a>-334;</li>
+  <li>interview of, with emperor at Trèves, <a href="#337">337</a>-353, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>;</li>
+  <li>becomes "protector" of Lorraine, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#360">360</a>, <a href="#367">367</a>-370,
+    <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>;</li>
+  <li>interferes in Cologne affairs, <a href="#365">365</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>,
+    <a href="#395">395</a>;</li>
+  <li>visits Alsace, <a href="#375">375</a>-380;</li>
+  <li>troubles with Alsace, <a href="#389">389</a>-394;</li>
+  <li>besieges Neuss, <a href="#396">396</a>-399;</li>
+  <li>war declared against, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>,
+    <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes truce with Frederic, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>;</li>
+  <li>defeated at Héricourt, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>;</li>
+  <li>besieges Nancy, <a href="#413">413</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#439">439</a>-444;</li>
+  <li>allies desert, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>;</li>
+  <li>defeated at Granson, <a href="#417">417</a>-420;</li>
+  <li>at Morat, <a href="#421">421</a>-423, <a href="#435">435</a>;</li>
+  <li>convenes states-general, <a href="#429">429</a>-435;</li>
+  <li>last battle of, <a href="#444">444</a>-448;</li>
+  <li>death and burial of, <a href="#448">448</a>-454.</li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Cornelius, Bastard of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#38">38</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, David of, Bishop of Utrecht, <a href="#69">69</a>-71</li>
+<li>Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#4">4</a>, <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>,
+  <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#21">21</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#81">81</a>-83,
+  <a href="#88">88</a>-90, <a href="#189">189</a>, <a href="#190">190</a>, <a href="#193">193</a>, <a href="#271">271</a>,
+  <a href="#322">322</a>, <a href="#442">442</a>, <a href="#461">461</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>ancestry of, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>;</li>
+  <li>English sympathies of, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#62">62</a>;</li>
+  <li>retires to convent, <a href="#90">90</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#139">139</a>,
+    <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#147">147</a>;</li>
+  <li>burial of, <a href="#385">385</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, John the Fearless, Duke of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#156">156</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard of, <a href="#56">56</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Margaret of York, Duchess of, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>-195, <a href="#224">224</a>,
+  <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>,
+  <a href="#328">328</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#406">406</a>, <a href="#430">430</a>-434, <a href="#451">451</a>,
+  <a href="#461">461</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Mary of (Duchess of Austria),
+  <ul class="index1"><li>birth of, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#83">83</a>;</li>
+<li>godfather of, <a href="#83">83</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#90">90</a>,
+    <a href="#298">298</a>; <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>, <a href="#428">428</a>, <a href="#429">429</a>,
+    <a href="#431">431</a>, <a href="#435">435</a>, <a href="#451">451</a>;</li>
+  <li>proposed marriages for, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#296">296</a>,
+    <a href="#297">297</a>, <a href="#299">299</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>-333, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>,
+    <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, marriages of, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#8">8</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>institutes Order of Golden Fleece, <a href="#2">2</a>-4;</li>
+  <li>children of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#38">38</a>,
+    <a href="#51">51</a>, <a href="#56">56</a>, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#69">69</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>;</li>
+  <li>alliance of, with England, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>,
+    <a href="#265">265</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty of Arras, <a href="#11">11</a>-13, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>;</li>
+  <li>territories acquired by, <a href="#13">13</a>-15, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>;</li>
+  <li>suppresses revolt in Bruges, <a href="#18">18</a>-23;</li>
+  <li>wealth and magnificence of, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#31">31</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>,
+    <a href="#104">104</a>-106, <a href="#108">108</a>, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#160">160</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>,
+    <a href="#166">166</a>, <a href="#179">179</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>;</li>
+  <li>crushes rebellion of Ghent, <a href="#33">33</a>-44, <a href="#67">67</a>, <a href="#94">94</a>-96;</li>
+  <li>gives Feast of the Pheasant, <a href="#46">46</a>-56;</li>
+  <li>plans crusade, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#51">51</a>-60, <a href="#65">65</a>,
+    <a href="#66">66</a>, <a href="#68">68</a>-70;</li>
+  <li>chooses second wife for Charles, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>-65;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#88">88</a>, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#163">163</a>-165,
+    <a href="#171">171</a>, <a href="#405">405</a>, <a href="#428">428</a>, <a href="#457">457</a>;</li>
+  <li>interferes in affairs of Utrecht, of Liege, and of Cologne, <a href="#69">69</a>-71, <a href="#81">81</a>,
+    <a href="#136">136</a>-138;</li>
+  <li>hospitality of, to dauphin, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#80">80</a>, <a href="#82">82</a>-85,
+    <a href="#87">87</a>-94, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#102">102</a>, <a href="#104">104</a>,
+    <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#339">339</a>, <a href="#344">344</a>;</li>
+  <li>influenced by the Croys, <a href="#87">87</a>, <a href="#97">97</a>, <a href="#98">98</a>,
+    <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>;</li>
+  <li>attends coronation of Louis XI., <a href="#103">103</a>-106;</li>
+  <li>illnesses of, <a href="#109">109</a>-111, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>,
+    <a href="#154">154</a>;</li>
+  <li>witnesses punishment of Dinant, <a href="#148">148</a>-152, <a href="#154">154</a>;</li>
+  <li>death and burial of, <a href="#154">154</a>, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>-161,
+    <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#381">381</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>;</li>
+  <li>epitaph of, <a href="#156">156</a>-157;</li>
+  <li>description of, <a href="#162">162-163</a>;</li>
+  <li>popularity of, <a href="#163">163</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#243">243</a>, <a href="#460">460</a>,
+  <a href="#461">461</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, Duke of, <a href="#457">457</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard of, <a href="#51">51</a></li>
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="C">C</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Cagnola, <a href="#107">107</a></li>
+<li>Calabria, Duke of, <i>see</i> Lorraine</li>
+<li>Calais, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#266">266</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>,
+  <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#287">287</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#406">406</a>,
+  <a href="#411">411</a>, <a href="#412">412</a></li>
+<li>Calixtus III., Pope, <a href="#70">70</a></li>
+<li>Cambray, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Campobasso, Antonello de, mercenary captain, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>treachery of, <a href="#440">440</a>-447</li></ul></li>
+<li>Canterbury, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#325">325</a></li>
+<li>Casanova, Abbé de, <a href="#335">335</a></li>
+<li>Castile, Ferdinand, King of, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Castile, Henry IV., King of, <a href="#295">295</a></li>
+<li>Castile, Jeanne of, <a href="#295">295</a></li>
+<li>Cat, Gilles le, <a href="#49">49</a></li>
+<li>Catto, Angelo, <a href="#420">420</a></li>
+<li>Caux, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>Bailiff of, <a href="#160">160</a></li></ul></li>
+<li><i>Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les</i>, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li><i>Cento Novelle</i>, by Boccaccio, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Cesner, Balthasar, <a href="#356">356</a></li>
+<li>Chambéry, <a href="#74">74</a></li>
+<li>Chambes, Helen de, <a href="#317">317</a></li>
+<li>Chamont, Sire de, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>Champagne, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#313">313</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>,
+  <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Channel, the, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#266">266</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#404">404</a></li>
+<li>Charenton, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#127">127</a></li>
+<li>Charlemagne, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Charles IV., Emperor, <a href="#248">248</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Charles (V.) the Wise, King of France, <a href="#199">199</a></li>
+<li>Charles VII., King of France,
+<ul class="index1"><li>reconciliation of, with Philip of Burgundy, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#15">15</a>-17,
+    <a href="#36">36</a>, <a href="#110">110</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#77">77</a>, <a href="#78">78</a>;</li>
+  <li>letters of, <a href="#61">61</a>-62, <a href="#96">96</a>;</li>
+  <li>refuses to join crusade, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#66">66</a>;</li>
+  <li>breach between dauphin and, <a href="#73">73</a>-79, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>-86,
+    <a href="#89">89</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#102">102</a>;</li>
+  <li>illness and death of, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#102">102</a></li>
+  <li>institutes standing army, <a href="#117">117</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Charles VIII., King of France, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#297">297</a>, <a href="#298">298</a></li>
+<li>Charles the Simple, King of France, <a href="#210">210</a></li>
+<li>Charmes, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Charny, Count de, <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Charny, Countess de, <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Charolais, Catherine of France, Countess of, <a href="#2">2</a><sup>1</sup>, <a href="#16">16</a>-18, <a href="#23">23</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death and burial of, <a href="#17">17</a>, <a href="#26">26</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Charolais, Count of, <i>see</i> Charles of Burgundy</li>
+<li>Charolais, Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>-65, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#83">83</a>,
+  <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#88">88</a>, <a href="#89">89</a>, <a href="#103">103</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#461">461</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Chassa, Jehan de, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#284">284</a></li>
+<li>Chastellain, cited, <a href="#38">38</a><sup>15</sup>, <a href="#39">39</a><sup>16</sup>
+  <a href="#40">40</a><sup>18</sup>, <a href="#42">42</a><sup>19</sup>
+  <a href="#102">102</a>, <a href="#103">103</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#119">119</a><sup>8</sup>
+  <a href="#162">162</a>-169, <a href="#174">174</a>-178, <a href="#184">184</a>-186, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>,
+  <a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup>, <a href="#277">277</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#169">169</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Château-Chinon, <a href="#61">61</a></li>
+<li>Châtenois, <a href="#377">377</a></li>
+<li>Chauny, <a href="#205">205</a></li>
+<li>Chesny, Guiot du, <a href="#295">295</a></li>
+<li>Chevelast, Louis de, <a href="#53">53</a></li>
+<li>Chimay, Count of, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Citeaux, Abbé of, <a href="#384">384</a></li>
+<li>Clarence, Duke of, <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#267">267</a>, <a href="#272">272</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>,
+  <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Cléry, <a href="#319">319</a></li>
+<li>Cleves, Adolph, Duke of, <a href="#45">45</a>, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#151">151</a>, <a href="#191">191</a>, <a href="#326">326</a></li>
+<li>Cleves, duchy of, <a href="#348">348</a></li>
+<li>Cleves, Marie of, Duchess of Orleans, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#21">21</a>, <a href="#23">23</a></li>
+<li>Cods, the (party name), <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup></li>
+<li>Colmar, <a href="#375">375</a>-378</li>
+<li>Cologne, <a href="#138">138</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#356">356</a>, <a href="#357">357</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>,
+  <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Cologne, Robert, Archbishop of, <a href="#362">362</a>-366, <a href="#394">394</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#398">398</a></li>
+<li>Colonna, Baptista, <a href="#447">447</a>, <a href="#448">448</a></li>
+<li>Commines (Commynes, Comines), Philip de,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>enters service of Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>, <a href="#229">229</a>,
+    <a href="#230">230</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#286">286</a><sup>28</sup></li>
+  <li>defection of, <a href="#302">302</a>, <a href="#316">316</a>-319, <a href="#333">333</a>,
+    <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#461">461</a>;</li>
+  <li>cited, <a href="#115">115</a><sup>6</sup>, <a href="#117">117</a>, <a href="#120">120</a>, <a href="#126">126</a>,
+    <a href="#127">127</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#214">214</a>-219, <a href="#231">231</a>, <a href="#232">232</a>,
+    <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#284">284</a>, <a href="#286">286</a><sup>28</sup>-288,
+    <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>-303, <a href="#307">307</a>, <a href="#308">308</a>,
+    <a href="#333">333</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#408">408</a><sup>6</sup>
+    <a href="#409">409</a><sup>7</sup>, <a href="#436">436</a>,
+    <a href="#441">441</a>, <a href="#452">452</a>, <a href="#460">460</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Compiègne, <a href="#80">80</a>, <a href="#96">96</a>, <a href="#218">218</a>, <a href="#311">311</a></li>
+<li>Compostella, <a href="#416">416</a></li>
+<li>Conflans, treaty of, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#138">138</a>, <a href="#139">139</a>,
+  <a href="#197">197</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#204">204</a>, <a href="#219">219</a></li>
+<li>Constance, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>League of, <a href="#400">400</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Constantinople, <a href="#46">46</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#52">52</a>, <a href="#55">55</a></li>
+<li>Cordes, Monsieur de, <a href="#235">235</a></li>
+<li>Corguilleray, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Cornwallis, Lord, <a href="#20">20</a></li>
+<li>Corvinus, Matthias, King of Hungary, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Cosmo, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Court, Jehan de la, <a href="#27">27</a></li>
+<li>Coutault, Monsieur, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#259">259</a></li>
+<li>Craon, Seigneur de, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#301">301</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Cret, Dion du, <a href="#48">48</a></li>
+<li>Crèvec&oelig;ur, Philip of, <a href="#206">206</a></li>
+<li>Crèvec&oelig;ur, Seigneur of, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#271">271</a></li>
+<li>Créville, Sire de, <a href="#460">460</a></li>
+<li>Croy, A. de, <a href="#159">159</a></li>
+<li>Croy, J. de, <a href="#159">159</a></li>
+<li>Croy, Philip de, <a href="#17">17</a>, <a href="#87">87</a>, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#100">100</a></li>
+<li>Croy family, the, <a href="#7">7</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>,
+  <a href="#317">317</a><sup>37</sup>, <a href="#345">345</a></li>
+<li><i>Cueillotte</i>, the (tax), <a href="#172">172</a>, <a href="#177">177</a>, <a href="#178">178</a></li>
+<li>Cyprus, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+ </ul>
+
+<br />
+<ul class="index">
+	  <li><b><a name="D">D</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Damian, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Dammartin, Count of, <a href="#76">76</a>,<a href="#77">77</a>, <a href="#98">98</a>, <a href="#227">227</a>, <a href="#311">311</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>letters of Louis to, <a href="#221">221</a><sup>18</sup>-224,
+  <a href="#304">304</a><sup>20</sup>-307, <a href="#404">404</a><sup>4</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>Damme, <a href="#191">191</a>, <a href="#194">194</a></li>
+<li>Dauphiné, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Dauxonne, Jacquemin, <a href="#6">6</a><sup>7</sup></li>
+<li>De Bussière, cited, <a href="#340">340</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Décapole, Alsatian, the, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>De la Loere, secretary, <a href="#234">234</a></li>
+<li>Dendermonde, <a href="#89">89</a></li>
+<li>Denmark, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Denys, Chaplain, <a href="#449">449</a></li>
+<li>Deschamps, Eustache, <i>Lay de Vaillance</i> by, <a href="#7">7</a></li>
+<li>Deventer, <a href="#71">71</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#79">79</a></li>
+<li>Dieppe, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+<li>Diesbach, Ludwig von, <a href="#209">209</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#236">236</a></li>
+<li>Dijon, <a href="#1">1</a>-7, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#215">215</a>, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#260">260</a>,
+  <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#382">382</a>-387</li>
+<li>Dinant, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>-147;
+<ul class="index1"><li>destruction of, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>-153, <a href="#241">241</a>, <a href="#312">312</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Dôle, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#385">385</a></li>
+<li>Dombourc, Jehan de, <a href="#25">25</a></li>
+<li>Dompaire, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Dordrecht, <a href="#202">202</a><sup>4</sup></li>
+<li>Du Clercq, cited, <a href="#40">40</a><sup>17</sup>, <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#77">77</a>,
+  <a href="#149">149</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>, <a href="#153">153</a></li>
+<li>Duclos, cited, <a href="#296">296</a><sup>10</sup></li>
+<li>Dunois, Count, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Dunois, François, <a href="#223">223</a></li>
+<li>Du Plessis, Seigneur, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#280">280</a></li>
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="E">E</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Easterlings, the, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>l'Écluse, <a href="#95">95</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>-191</li>
+<li>Edward IV., King of England, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>, <a href="#159">159</a>,
+<a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>-267, <a href="#273">273</a>-275, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>,
+<a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>aided by Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#285">285</a>-291, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>;</li>
+  <li>plans conquest of France, <a href="#385">385</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>-400, <a href="#402">402</a>-404,
+  <a href="#406">406</a>-408;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#408">408</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes peace with Louis XI., <a href="#408">408</a>-411</li></ul></li>
+<li>Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#290">290</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Émeries, Antoine Raulin, Sire d' (Aymeries), <a href="#87">87</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>, <a href="#433">433</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Engelburg, the, <a href="#372">372</a></li>
+<li>England alliance of,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>with Burgundy, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#363">363</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>;</li>
+  <li>with France, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#408">408</a>-411;</li>
+  <li>French possessions of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>,
+  <a href="#198">198</a>, <a href="#287">287</a>;</li>
+  <li>commercial relations of, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>;</li>
+  <li>wars of the Roses in, <a href="#263">263</a>-267, <a href="#272">272</a>-274, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>,
+  <a href="#284">284</a>-292</li></ul></li>
+<li>Ensisheim, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#378">379</a>, <a href="#389">389</a></li>
+<li>Épinal, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Erasmus, <a href="#461">461</a></li>
+<li>Escalles, Seigneur d', <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Escouchy, Mathieu d,'
+  <ul class="index1"><li>cited, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#54">54</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#56">56</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>,
+  <a href="#84">84</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Estampes, Count d', <a href="#29">29</a>, <a href="#80">80</a>, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Étampes, <a href="#124">124</a></li>
+<li>Eu, <a href="#316">316</a>, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Eu, Count d', <a href="#115">115</a></li>
+<li><i>Ewige Richtung</i>, the, <a href="#387">387</a></li>
+<li>Exeter, Duke of, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#288">288</a></li>
+<li>Eyb, Ludwig von, <a href="#349">349</a><sup>9</sup></li>
+  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="F">F</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume <a href="#340">340</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Favre, Jourdain, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Ferrara, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Ferrette, county of, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#394">394</a> <i>et passim</i></li>
+<li>Flanders, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#33">33</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>,
+  <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#427">427</a>, <a href="#434">434</a>, <a href="#439">439</a>,
+  <a href="#444">444</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Estates of, <a href="#268">268</a>-271, <a href="#404">404</a>-406, <a href="#428">428</a>,
+  <a href="#429">429</a>;</li>
+  <li>commerce of, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#454">454</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Flanders, Count of, <a href="#170">170</a>, <a href="#171">171</a>, <a href="#176">176</a></li>
+<li>Florence <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Foix, Count de, <a href="#234">234</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Foix, Eleanor de, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Foix, Gaston de, <a href="#121">121</a></li>
+<li>Forli, Bishop of, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Fossombrone, Bishop of, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#365">365</a></li>
+<li>Fou, Ivon du, <a href="#280">280</a></li>
+<li>France, alliance of, with Burgundy, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>,
+<a href="#325">325</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>waning power of England in, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>,
+  <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>;</li>
+  <li>changed conditions in, <a href="#13">13</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#73">73</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>,
+  <a href="#269">269</a>;</li>
+  <li>assembly of states-general of, <a href="#198">198</a>-200, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>;</li>
+  <li>invasion of, <a href="#294">294</a>, etc.</li></ul></li>
+<li>France, Admiral of, the, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#273">273</a></li>
+<li>France, Catherine, Daughter of, <i>see</i> Charolais</li>
+<li>France, Charles of, Duke of Berry, <i>see</i> Berry</li>
+<li>France, Jeanne of, <a href="#61">61</a></li>
+<li>France, Michelle of, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Franche-Comté, the, <a href="#43">43</a>, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>,
+<a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Franchimont, <a href="#229">229</a>, <a href="#242">242</a></li>
+<li>Frankfort, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#356">356</a>, <a href="#357">357</a></li>
+<li>Frederic, elector palatine, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Frederic III., Emperor, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>-248, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#393">393</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>character of, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>, <a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>,
+  <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#365">365</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>;</li>
+  <li>negotiations of, with Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#328">328</a>-336, <a href="#345">345</a>-349, <a href="#394">394</a>,
+  <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>;</li>
+  <li>meets Charles at Trèves, <a href="#336">336</a>-357, <a href="#360">360</a>, <a href="#364">364</a>;</li>
+  <li>description of, <a href="#341">341</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>, <a href="#345">345</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty with Charles, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#415">415</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Fribourg, <a href="#392">392</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Friesland, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#69">69</a><sup>4</sup>, <a href="#358">358</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>title of Lord of, <a href="#263">263</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Friesland, West, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="G">G</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li><i>Gabelle</i>, the, <a href="#33">33</a>, <a href="#34">34</a>, <a href="#44">44</a>, <a href="#243">243</a>,
+<a href="#395">395</a></li>
+<li>Gachard, cited, <a href="#36">36</a><i>et passim</i></li>
+<li>Galeotto, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Garter, Order of the, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#159">159</a>, <a href="#267">267</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>,
+<a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Gauthier, Dan, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Gautier, cited, <a href="#7">7</a><sup>12</sup></li>
+<li>Gaveren, <a href="#37">37</a>, <a href="#41">41</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>battle of, <a href="#39">39</a>, <a href="#42">42</a>, <a href="#43">43</a>;</li>
+  <li>treaty of, <a href="#179">179</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Gelthauss, Johannes, <a href="#356">356</a></li>
+<li>Genappe, <a href="#88">88</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>-94, <a href="#99">99</a></li>
+<li>Geneva, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Geneva, Lake of, <a href="#422">422</a></li>
+<li>Genoa, <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Gex, <a href="#423">423</a>, <a href="#424">424</a></li>
+<li>Ghent, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#31">31</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#267">267</a>,
+<a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#428">428</a>, <a href="#451">451</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>rebellion of, <a href="#33">33</a>-39, <a href="#55">55</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>;</li>
+  <li>submission of, <a href="#40">40</a>-44, <a href="#46">46</a>, <a href="#94">94</a>-96;</li>
+  <li>insurrection in, <a href="#170">170</a>, <a href="#172">172</a>-182;</li>
+  <li>humiliation of, <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>, <a href="#186">186</a>, <a href="#244">244</a>-246</li></ul></li>
+<li>Gilles, Frère, <a href="#383">383</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Givry, Sire de, <a href="#423">423</a></li>
+<li>Gloucester, Duke of, <a href="#410">410</a></li>
+<li>Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, <a href="#19">19</a></li>
+<li>Golden Fleece, Order of the, instituted, <a href="#2">2</a>-4, <a href="#157">157</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>assemblies of, <a href="#2">2</a>-7, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#31">31</a>, <a href="#55">55</a>,
+  <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#190">190</a>, <a href="#193">193</a>,
+  <a href="#322">322</a>-324;</li>
+  <li>knights of, <a href="#5">5</a>-7, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>,
+  <a href="#322">322</a>, <a href="#323">323</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>, <a href="#401">401</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Gorcum, <a href="#113">113</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Görlitz, Elizabeth of, <a href="#14">14</a></li>
+<li>Granson, battle of, <a href="#417">417</a>-419, <a href="#421">421</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Grave, <a href="#320">320</a></li>
+<li>Grenoble, <a href="#101">101</a></li>
+<li>Grey, Jean de, <a href="#434">434</a></li>
+<li>Groothuse, Louis de la, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#272">272</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#286">286</a></li>
+<li>Groothuse, Mathys de la, <a href="#171">171</a>, <a href="#174">174</a>-179</li>
+<li>Guelders, Adolf, Duke of, <a href="#320">320</a>, <a href="#323">323</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>imprisonment of, <a href="#322">322</a>-325</li></ul></li>
+<li>Guelders, Arnold, Duke of, <a href="#69">69</a>, <a href="#320">320</a>-324;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#324">324</a>, <a href="#327">327</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Guelders, Catharine of Bourbon, Duchess of, <a href="#322">322</a></li>
+<li>Guelders, Charles of, <a href="#324">324</a>, <a href="#326">326</a>, <a href="#328">328</a>, <a href="#367">367</a></li>
+<li>Guelders, duchy of, <a href="#320">320</a>-326, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>, <a href="#350">350</a>,
+<a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li>
+<li>Guelders, Philippa of, <a href="#326">326</a>, <a href="#328">328</a></li>
+<li>Guérin, Jean de, <a href="#150">150</a></li>
+<li>Guienne, Charles of France,  Duke of, <i>see</i> Berry</li>
+<li>Guienne, duchy of, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>,
+<a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#403">403</a></li>
+<li>Guise, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Guisnes, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#287">287</a></li>
+
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="H">H</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Haarlem, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Hagenbach, Peter von, <a href="#110">110</a><sup>1</sup>, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>,
+<a href="#354">354</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Governor of  Alsace, <a href="#239">239</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#257">257</a>,
+  <a href="#260">260</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>-381, <a href="#389">389</a>, <a href="#390">390</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>;</li>
+  <li>trial and execution of, <a href="#390">390</a>-392</li></ul></li>
+<li>Hagenbach, Stephen von, <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#397">397</a></li>
+<li>Hague, The, <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#113">113</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#263">263</a></li>
+<li>Hainaut, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>,
+<a href="#239">239</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#433">433</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#455">455</a></li>
+<li>Ham, <a href="#206">206</a></li>
+<li>Hanseatic League, the, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Heers, Raes de la Rivière, Lord of, <a href="#138">138</a></li>
+<li>Heinsberg, John of, Bishop of Liege, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#139">139</a></li>
+<li>Henry IV., of Castile, <a href="#295">295</a><sup>9</sup></li>
+<li>Henry V., King of England, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#155">155</a></li>
+<li>Henry VI., King of England, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#99">99</a>,
+<a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>character of, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>;</li>
+  <li>death of, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#291">291</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Henry VII., King of England, <a href="#264">264</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Héricourt, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#415">415</a></li>
+<li>Hermite, Tristan l', <a href="#79">79</a></li>
+<li>Hesdin, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>-284, <a href="#330">330</a></li>
+<li>Hesse, Hermann of, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#398">398</a></li>
+<li>Holland, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>, <a href="#69">69</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>,
+<a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#263">263</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#454">454</a>,
+<a href="#455">455</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>title of Count of, <a href="#201">201</a>-203, <a href="#263">263</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Holland, Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of, <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>,
+<a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#455">455</a></li>
+<li>Holland, South, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#203">203</a></li>
+<li>Holland, William VI., Count of, <a href="#8">8</a></li>
+<li>Honfleur, <a href="#273">273</a></li>
+<li>Hooks, the (party name), <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup></li>
+<li>Houthem, <a href="#170">170</a></li>
+<li>Howard, Lord, <a href="#411">411</a></li>
+<li>Hugonet, Chancellor, <a href="#276">276</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#350">350</a><sup>10</sup>, <a href="#428">428</a>-433</li>
+<li>Humbercourt, Seigneur de, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>, <a href="#214">214</a>, <a href="#291">291</a></li>
+<li>Hungary, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#363">363</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>King of, <a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#420">420</a>-421</li></ul></li>
+<li>Huy, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#243">243</a></li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="In">I</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Innsbruck, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Irma, Jean, <a href="#392">392</a></li>
+<li>Isabella of Portugal, Duchess  of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="J">J</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Jarville, <a href="#445">445</a></li>
+<li>Jarville, Sieur de, <a href="#427">427</a></li>
+<li>Jerusalem, <a href="#161">161</a></li>
+<li>Joan of Arc, <a href="#11">11</a></li>
+<li>Joinville, castle  of, <a href="#368">368</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>treaty of, <a href="#369">369</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Jomini, <a href="#418">418</a><sup>15</sup></li>
+<li>Jougne, <a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#419">419</a></li>
+<li>Jouvençal, Chancellor, <a href="#198">198</a></li>
+<li>Juliers, Duke of, <a href="#326">326</a></li>
+<li>Jura, the, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#444">444</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	  <li><b><a name="K">K</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Kaisersberg, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Kennemerland, <a href="#71">71</a></li>
+<li>Kervyn de Lettenhove, Baron, cited, <a href="#218">218</a><sup>15</sup>,
+<a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Knebel, Johannes R., <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="L">L</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>La Hogue, <a href="#403">403</a></li>
+<li>Laisné, Jeanne (Fouquet), <i>La Hachette</i>, <a href="#313">313</a></li>
+<li>Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess of, <a href="#27">27</a>-29;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#39">39</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>La Marche, Olivier de, cited, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>, <a href="#25">25</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>,
+<a href="#29">29</a>, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#40">40</a><sup>17</sup>, <a href="#42">42</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>-50, <a href="#54">54</a>-56,
+<a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>-116, <a href="#120">120</a>,
+<a href="#159">159</a>-162, <a href="#189">189</a>-194, <a href="#232">232</a>, <a href="#419">419</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>,
+<a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#449">449</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>knighted, <a href="#120">120</a>, <a href="#123">123</a>;</li>
+  <li>loyalty and zeal  of, <a href="#159">159</a>-161, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#318">318</a>,
+  <a href="#319">319</a>, <a href="#327">327</a>, <a href="#328">328</a>, <a href="#423">423</a>, <a href="#425">425</a>,
+  <a href="#426">426</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Lambert, Bishop of Tongres, <a href="#131">131</a>, <a href="#132">132</a>, <a href="#134">134</a></li>
+<li>Lancaster, House of, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>,
+<a href="#291">291</a></li>
+<li>Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de, <a href="#47">47</a></li>
+<li>Lanternier, Jehan, <a href="#4">4</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Laon, <a href="#223">223</a></li>
+<li>La Rivière, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>La Rochelle, <a href="#281">281</a><sup>22</sup></li>
+<li>Lauffen, <a href="#378">378</a></li>
+<li>Lauffenberg, <a href="#251">251</a></li>
+<li>Laurentian Library, the, <a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Lausanne, <a href="#375">375</a></li>
+<li>Lavin, Étienne de, <a href="#365">365</a></li>
+<li>Lavisse, Ernest, <a href="#466">466</a></li>
+<li>League of Constance, <a href="#400">400</a></li>
+<li>League of Public Weal, <a href="#118">118</a>-129, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>,
+<a href="#204">204</a></li>
+<li>Le Grand, Abbé, <a href="#238">238</a></li>
+<li>Le Gros, Jehan, <a href="#283">283</a>, <a href="#284">284</a></li>
+<li>Le Quesnoy, <a href="#96">96</a>-98</li>
+<li>Lescun, Seigneur de, <a href="#295">295</a>, <a href="#296">296</a>, <a href="#305">305</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Liege, description of, <a href="#130">130</a>-132, <a href="#136">136</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>, <a href="#227">227</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>government of, <a href="#131">131</a>-135;</li>
+  <li>bishop-princes of, <a href="#131">131</a>-133, <a href="#135">135</a>, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>-214,
+  <a href="#218">218</a>-221;</li>
+  <li>rebellion of, <a href="#138">138</a>-140, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>,
+  <a href="#214">214</a>, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#363">363</a>;</li>
+  <li>aided by Louis XI., <a href="#138">138</a>, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>-213;</li>
+  <li>punishment of, <a href="#141">141</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>,
+  <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#228">228</a>-234,
+  <a href="#237">237</a>-241, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#312">312</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Liege, bishopric of, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Lille, <a href="#45">45</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>-56, <a href="#63">63</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>,
+<a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#270">270</a></li>
+<li>Limbourg, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Livornia, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Loches, <a href="#208">208</a></li>
+<li>Loisey, Anthony de, <a href="#238">238</a></li>
+<li>Lombardy, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#413">413</a></li>
+<li>London, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Longjumeau, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>Longueval, Hugues de, <a href="#53">53</a></li>
+<li>Loreille, Thomas de, <a href="#160">160</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, duchy of, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>-239, <a href="#337">337</a>, <a href="#338">338</a>,
+<a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#357">357</a><sup>18</sup>,
+<a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>,
+<a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#419">419</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, Estates of, the, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, Duke of, <a href="#124">124</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou,  Duke of (Calabria), <a href="#126">126</a>, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#332">332</a>,
+<a href="#333">333</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death  of, <a href="#337">337</a>, <a href="#357">357</a><sup>18</sup>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#367">367</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Lorraine, René, Duke of,  accepts Burgundian protection, <a href="#367">367</a>-370, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>,
+<a href="#444">444</a>, <a href="#446">446</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>joins league  against Charles, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>-414,
+  <a href="#422">422</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>-443, <a href="#451">451</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Louis XI., King of France, <a href="#17">17</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>rebels against Charles  VII., <a href="#73">73</a>-76;</li>
+  <li>marries Charlotte of Savoy, <a href="#74">74</a>, <a href="#75">75</a>;</li>
+  <li>letters of, to Charles VII., <a href="#78">78</a>, <a href="#79">79</a>;
+    <ul class="index2"><li>to Dammartin, <a href="#221">221</a>-224, <a href="#304">304</a>-307, <a href="#408">408</a>;</li>
+    <li>to envoys, <a href="#295">295</a>-301, <a href="#452">452</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Count de Foix, <a href="#234">234</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Lorenzo de' Medici, <a href="#297">297</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duke of Milan, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#306">306</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Amiens, <a href="#300">300</a>;</li>
+    <li>to chancellor, <a href="#402">402</a>;</li></ul></li>
+  <li>flees to Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#76">76</a>-79;</li>
+  <li>generosity of Duke Philip to, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#82">82</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>-94,
+  <a href="#96">96</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#339">339</a>;</li>
+  <li>is godfather of Mary of Burgundy, <a href="#83">83</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#90">90</a>,
+  <a href="#298">298</a>;</li>
+  <li>tastes of, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#92">92</a>, <a href="#107">107</a>, <a href="#108">108</a>;</li>
+  <li>duplicity of, <a href="#92">92</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#105">105</a>,
+  <a href="#138">138</a>-140, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#208">208</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#228">228</a>,
+  <a href="#231">231</a>, <a href="#233">233</a>-236, <a href="#271">271</a>-279, <a href="#281">281</a>-283,
+  <a href="#298">298</a>-300, <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#459">459</a>, <a href="#460">460</a>;</li>
+  <li>accession of, <a href="#102">102</a>-104, <a href="#170">170</a>;</li>
+  <li>ingratitude of, <a href="#102">102</a>-105, <a href="#109">109</a>, <a href="#116">116</a>; </li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#106">106</a>-109, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#408">408</a>;</li>
+  <li>enmity between Charles and, <a href="#114">114</a>-117, <a href="#333">333</a>-335, <a href="#344">344</a>,
+  <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#436">436</a>;</li>
+  <li>nobles in league against, <a href="#114">114</a>-125, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#312">312</a>-315;</li>
+  <li>policy of, <a href="#118">118</a>-121, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>-201,<a href="#203">203</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty of Conflans, <a href="#127">127</a>-129;</li>
+  <li>incites opposition to Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#146">146</a>-148, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>,
+  <a href="#204">204</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>, <a href="#215">215</a>,
+  <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>,
+  <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>, <a href="#443">443</a>;</li>
+  <li>breaks treaties, <a href="#197">197</a>-201, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>-284;</li>
+  <li>makes visit to Peronne, <a href="#204">204</a>-210, <a href="#213">213</a>-219, <a href="#244">244</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty at Peronne, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>, <a href="#236">236</a>,
+  <a href="#283">283</a>;</li>
+  <li>ally of the Swiss, <a href="#249">249</a>, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>,
+  <a href="#402">402</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes nucleus of standing army, <a href="#268">268</a>;</li>
+  <li>aids Earl of Warwick and Margaret of Anjou, <a href="#274">274</a>-276, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>;</li>
+  <li>birth of son of, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes truce with Charles, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#305">305</a>,
+  <a href="#306">306</a>, <a href="#315">315</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>,
+  <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;</li>
+  <li>suspected of death of brother, <a href="#307">307</a>-310, <a href="#314">314</a>, <a href="#344">344</a>;</li>
+  <li>rewards Beauvais, <a href="#313">313</a>;</li>
+  <li>wins over Edward IV., <a href="#408">408</a>-411;</li>
+  <li>rejoices in death of Charles, <a href="#452">452</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Louvain, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#92">92</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>,
+ <a href="#243">243</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>University of, <a href="#137">137</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Lower Union, the, <i>see</i> Basse-Union</li>
+<li>Lucerne, <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#387">387</a></li>
+<li>Lude, Seigneur de, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Luxemburg, duchy of, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>,
+<a href="#337">337</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#387">387</a>,
+<a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#439">439</a>, <a href="#444">444</a></li>
+<li>Luxemburg, John of, <a href="#191">191</a></li>
+<li>Luxeuil, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Luzine River, the, <a href="#397">397</a></li>
+<li>Lyme, <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Lyons, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#80">80</a></li>
+
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="M">M</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Maestricht, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#395">395</a></li>
+<li>Maine, <a href="#12">12</a></li>
+<li>Malhortie, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Mandrot, Bernard Édouard,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>editor of Commynes' <i>Mémoires, Jean de Roye</i>, etc.,</li>
+  <li>cited, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>Manton, Seigneur de, <a href="#425">425</a></li>
+<li>Marchant, Ythier, <a href="#299">299</a></li>
+<li>Marck, Adolph de la, <a href="#86">86</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Marne River, the, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>Marquiez, George, <a href="#450">450</a></li>
+<li>Mas, Gilles du, <a href="#189">189</a></li>
+<li>Mathieu, <a href="#449">449</a></li>
+<li>Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, <a href="#247">247</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>proposed marriage of, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>-331,
+  <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#341">341</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#349">349</a>,
+  <a href="#369">369</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Mayence, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#349">349</a></li>
+<li>Mayence, Archbishop of, <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#343">343</a>, <a href="#344">344</a></li>
+<li>Mazilles, Jehan de, <a href="#239">239</a>-242</li>
+<li>Mechlin, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#363">363</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Medici, Lorenzo de', <a href="#297">297</a></li>
+<li>Metz, <a href="#336">336</a>-338, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#448">448</a></li>
+<li>Metz, Bishop of, <a href="#445">445</a></li>
+<li>Meurin, secretary to Louis XI., <a href="#222">222</a></li>
+<li>Meurthe River, the, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#447">447</a></li>
+<li>Meuse River, the, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#151">151</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>, <a href="#227">227</a>,
+<a href="#228">228</a>, <a href="#238">238</a></li>
+<li>Meyer, J., cited, <a href="#34">34</a>, <a href="#218">218</a><sup>15</sup>,
+<a href="#261">261</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Michel, the Rhetorician, cited, <a href="#58">58</a></li>
+<li>Middelburg, <a href="#25">25</a>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#272">272</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#274">274</a></li>
+<li>Milan, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#414">414</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Milan, Duke of, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#305">305</a>, <a href="#306">306</a><sup>23</sup>,
+<a href="#413">413</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Mirecourt, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Mongleive, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Mons, <a href="#55">55</a>, <a href="#318">318</a>, <a href="#333">333</a></li>
+<li>Montbazon, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#300">300</a></li>
+<li>Montereau, bridge of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#155">155</a></li>
+<li>Montfort, Ulrich von, <a href="#360">360</a></li>
+<li>Montgomery, Sir Thomas  (Mongomere), <a href="#399">399</a></li>
+<li>Montl'héry, battle of, <a href="#120">120</a>, <a href="#122">122</a>-124, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#149">149</a>,
+<a href="#449">449</a></li>
+<li>Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres,  <a href="#130">130</a>, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Morat, battle of, <a href="#421">421</a>, <a href="#422">422</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#443">443</a>,
+<a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Morges, <a href="#422">422</a></li>
+<li>Morvilliers, Chancellor, <a href="#112">112</a>-117</li>
+<li>Moselle River, the, <a href="#339">339</a>, <a href="#354">354</a>, <a href="#355">355</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>,
+<a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#439">439</a></li>
+<li>Moutils-lès-Tours, <a href="#304">304</a></li>
+<li>Mulhouse, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>-380</li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	  <li><b><a name="N">N</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Namur, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>, <a href="#224">224</a>,
+<a href="#227">227</a>, <a href="#322">322</a>, <a href="#323">323</a>, <a href="#410">410</a></li>
+<li>Namur, county of, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>,
+<a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Nancy, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#448">448</a>, <a href="#450">450</a>, <a href="#452">452</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>sieges of, <a href="#413">413</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>-444;</li>
+  <li>battle of, <a href="#448">448</a>-452, <a href="#454">454</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Naples, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Naples, King of, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Napoleon, <a href="#398">398</a></li>
+<li>Narbonne, Archbishop of, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#117">117</a>-128</li>
+<li>Nassau, Engelbert of, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#342">342</a></li>
+<li>Nassau, John of, <a href="#191">191</a></li>
+<li><i>Nations</i>, the, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Nesle, <a href="#306">306</a>, <a href="#308">308</a>-311</li>
+<li>Netherlands, the, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#132">132</a>, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#269">269</a>,
+<a href="#314">314</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>states-general  of, <a href="#428">428</a>-434</li></ul></li>
+<li>Neufchâtel, <a href="#313">313</a></li>
+<li>Neufchâtel, Isabelle of, <a href="#51">51</a></li>
+<li>Neuss, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>-399, <a href="#404">404</a>, <a href="#405">405</a>, <a href="#413">413</a>,
+<a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Neuville, <a href="#445">445</a></li>
+<li>Nevers, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Nevers, Charles, Count of, <a href="#7">7</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#181">181</a></li>
+<li>Neville, Anne, <a href="#280">280</a></li>
+<li>Nice, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Nimwegen, <a href="#326">326</a>-328</li>
+<li>Norfolk, Duchess of, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#194">194</a>, <a href="#412">412</a></li>
+<li>Normandy, Charles of France, Duke of, <i>see</i> Berry</li>
+<li>Normandy, duchy of, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#109">109</a>, <a href="#125">125</a>,
+<a href="#198">198</a>, <a href="#200">200</a>, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>,
+<a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#311">311</a>, <a href="#312">312</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#404">404</a></li>
+<li>Norway, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Noseret, <a href="#419">419</a></li>
+<li>Noyon, <a href="#205">205</a></li>
+<li>Nuremberg, <a href="#86">86</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="O">O</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Obernai, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Oise River, the, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>Onofrio de Santa Croce, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#213">213</a></li>
+<li>Orange, Prince of, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#228">228</a></li>
+<li>Oriole, Pierre d,' <a href="#298">298</a></li>
+<li>Orleans, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#316">316</a></li>
+<li>Orleans, duchy of, <a href="#118">118</a></li>
+<li>Orleans, Duke of, <a href="#19">19</a>-23</li>
+<li>Osterlings, the, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Ostrevant, Count of, <i>see</i> Borselen</li>
+<li>Oudenarde, <a href="#38">38</a></li>
+<li>Ourré, Gerard, <a href="#97">97</a></li>
+<li>Oxford, <a href="#266">266</a></li>
+
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	 <li><b><a name="P">P</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Palatinate, the, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Palatine, Count, the, <a href="#254">254</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the elector, <a href="#363">363</a>, <a href="#364">364</a>;</li>
+  <li>Frederic, elector, <a href="#247">247</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Panigarola, Johannes Petrus, Milanese ambassador, cited, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#417">417</a>, <a href="#423">423</a>,
+<a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#434">434</a>, <a href="#435">435</a>, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>Paris, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#110">110</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>-128, <a href="#197">197</a>,
+<a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>,
+<a href="#407">407</a>, <a href="#409">409</a></li>
+<li>Paris, University of, <a href="#103">103</a>, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#368">368</a></li>
+<li>Paston, Sir John, letters of, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#411">411</a>,
+<a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#419">419</a>-420</li>
+<li>Paston, John, the younger (brother of above), letter of, <a href="#194">194</a>-196</li>
+<li>Paston, Margaret, <a href="#194">194</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#411">411</a>-412,
+<a href="#419">419</a></li>
+<li>Pavia, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Pellet, Jean, <a href="#254">254</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#258">258</a></li>
+<li>Pepin, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Perdriel, Henry, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Périgny, <a href="#382">382</a></li>
+<li>Périgord, <a href="#281">281</a><sup>22</sup></li>
+<li>Peronne, interview of Louis XI. and Charles at, <a href="#203">203</a>-226, <a href="#283">283</a>, <a href="#409">409</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>treaty of, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>-283</li></ul></li>
+<li>"Peronne, the Peace of," <a href="#224">224</a>-226</li>
+<li>Perrenet, <a href="#80">80</a></li>
+<li>Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author of Vol. IV<span class="super">II</span>, Lavisse, <i>Hist. de France, see</i> Lavisse.</li>
+<li>Petitpas, Jean, <a href="#178">178</a></li>
+<li>Petrasanta, Franciscus, Milanese ambassador, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Pheasant, Feast of the, <a href="#46">46</a>-56</li>
+<li>Picardy, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#284">284</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>, <a href="#404">404</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Picquigny, <a href="#408">408</a></li>
+<li>Plessis-les-Tours, <a href="#106">106</a></li>
+<li>Pleume, <a href="#160">160</a></li>
+<li>Podiebrad, George, ex-king of Bohemia, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#251">251</a></li>
+<li>Poictiers, Alienor de, cited, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#84">84</a></li>
+<li>Poinsot, Jean, <a href="#254">254</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#258">258</a></li>
+<li>Poitiers, <a href="#293">293</a></li>
+<li>Poland, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Pont-à-Mousson, <a href="#439">439</a></li>
+<li>Pont de Cé, <a href="#316">316</a></li>
+<li>Porcupine, Order of the, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#22">22</a></li>
+<li>Portinari, Thomas, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Portugal, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#270">270</a>, <a href="#277">277</a></li>
+<li>Portugal, Alphonse V., King of, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Pot, Philip de, <a href="#53">53</a>, <a href="#63">63</a>, <a href="#64">64</a></li>
+<li>Poucque, castle of, <a href="#37">37</a></li>
+<li>Prussia, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Public Weal, War of, <i>see</i> League</li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="Q">Q</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Quaux River, the, <a href="#42">42</a></li>
+<li>Quercy, <a href="#281">281</a><sup>22</sup></li>
+<li>Quiévrain, Seigneur de, <a href="#317">317</a></li>
+<li>Quingey, Simon de, <a href="#301">301</a>, <a href="#302">302</a>, <a href="#307">307</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="R">R</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Rampart, Jean, <a href="#9">9</a></li>
+<li>Ratellois, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Ratisbon, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#60">60</a></li>
+<li>Ravestein, Madame de, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Ravestein, Monseigneur de, <a href="#89">89</a><sup>4</sup></li>
+<li>Renty, Monseigneur de, <a href="#240">240</a></li>
+<li>Rethel, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Rheims, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#104">104</a>, <a href="#170">170</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>,
+<a href="#407">407</a></li>
+<li>Rheims, Archbishop of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Rheinfelden, <a href="#251">251</a></li>
+<li>Rhine, the, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#355">355</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Valley, <a href="#257">257</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Rhinelands, the, <a href="#388">388</a>, <a href="#389">389</a></li>
+<li>Rhodes, <a href="#161">161</a></li>
+<li>Rivers, Earl, <a href="#266">266</a></li>
+<li>Roche, Henri de la, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Rochefort, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Rochefort, Sire of, <a href="#426">426</a></li>
+<li>Rochefoucauld, <a href="#224">224</a></li>
+<li>Roelants, Gort, <a href="#428">428</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#429">429</a>, <a href="#433">433</a></li>
+<li>Romans, King of the, <a href="#329">329</a>-332</li>
+<li>Rome, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#364">364</a></li>
+<li>Romont, Count of, <a href="#416">416</a></li>
+<li>Romorantin, <a href="#62">62</a></li>
+<li>Roses, Wars of the, <a href="#263">263</a>-267, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>-292</li>
+<li>Rossillon, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Rottelin, Marquise Hugues de, <a href="#18">18</a></li>
+<li>Rotterdam, <a href="#461">461</a></li>
+<li>Rouen, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#275">275</a><sup>16</sup>, <a href="#313">313</a>, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+<li>Rousillon, <a href="#304">304</a></li>
+<li>Rouvre, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#436">436</a>, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>Roye, <a href="#311">311</a></li>
+<li>Rozière, Malhortie de, <a href="#440">440</a></li>
+<li>Rubempré, the bastard of, <a href="#113">113</a>-116</li>
+<li>Rubempré, Jehan de, <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Ruple, G., <a href="#220">220</a></li>
+<li>Russia, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="S">S</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Saeckingen, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#378">378</a></li>
+<li>St. Bavon, Abbot of, <a href="#41">41</a></li>
+<li>Ste. Beuve, cited, <a href="#218">218</a><sup>15</sup></li>
+<li>St. Blaise, Abbé of, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>St. Claude, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#78">78</a>, <a href="#425">425</a></li>
+<li>St. Cloud, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>St. Denis, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>St. Lievin, feast of, <a href="#170">170</a>-179</li>
+<li>St. Michel-sur-Loire, <a href="#297">297</a></li>
+<li>St. Nicolas-du-Port, <a href="#442">442</a>-444</li>
+<li>St. Omer, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#21">21</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>,
+<a href="#270">270</a>, <a href="#276">276</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>treaty of, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>,
+  <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#387">387</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>St. Pol, Count of, <a href="#54">54</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#97">97</a>-99, <a href="#122">122</a>, <a href="#127">127</a>,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>made constable of France, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#151">151</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>,
+  <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#204">204</a>, <a href="#206">206</a>, <a href="#218">218</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>;</li>
+  <li>treachery of, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#407">407</a>, <a href="#408">408</a>, <a href="#413">413</a>,
+  <a href="#460">460</a>;</li>
+  <li>execution of, <a href="#413">413</a><sup>10</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>St. Quentin, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#298">298</a><sup>13</sup>, <a href="#407">407</a></li>
+<li>St. Remy, Jean le Févre, Seigneur de, <a href="#6">6</a></li>
+<li>St. Thierry, <a href="#104">104</a></li>
+<li>St. Trond, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#153">153</a></li>
+<li>Sale, Anthony de la, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Salesart, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Salins, <a href="#419">419</a>, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#434">434</a></li>
+<li>Salisbury, Bishop of, <a href="#190">190</a>, <a href="#191">191</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, Charlotte of, marries the dauphin, <a href="#74">74</a>, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#91">91</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, duchy of, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#357">357</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, dukes of, <a href="#74">74</a>, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#425">425</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of, <a href="#208">208</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>ally of Charles the Bold, <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#420">420</a>,
+  <a href="#423">423</a>;</li>
+  <li>kidnapped, <a href="#424">424</a>-426, <a href="#436">436</a>;</li>
+  <li>rescued, <a href="#437">437</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Saxony, Duke of, <a href="#351">351</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Saxony, elector of, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Schellhass, Karl, <a href="#357">357</a><sup>16</sup></li>
+<li>Schiedam, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Schlestadt, <a href="#375">375</a>, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Scotland, Eleanor of, wife of Sigismund of Austria, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Scotland, Margaret of, wife of Louis, the dauphin, <a href="#74">74</a></li>
+<li>Seine River, the, <a href="#122">122</a>, <a href="#127">127</a>, <a href="#403">403</a></li>
+<li>Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke of Milan, <a href="#423">423</a>, <a href="#424">424</a></li>
+<li>Sicily, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, <i>see</i> Austria</li>
+<li>Sigismund, Emperor, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#15">15</a></li>
+<li>Sluis, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Snoy, Renier, cited, <a href="#357">357</a>, <a href="#358">358</a><sup>20</sup></li>
+<li>Soleure, <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#412">412</a></li>
+<li>Somerset, Duke of, <a href="#196">196</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#288">288</a></li>
+<li>Somme, towns on the river, ceded to Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#143">143</a>,
+<a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>redemption of towns on the, <a href="#110">110</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#117">117</a>,
+  <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#303">303</a>, <a href="#309">309</a>,
+  <a href="#334">334</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Sorel, Agnes, <a href="#76">76</a>-78, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Soulz, Rudolf de, <a href="#335">335</a></li>
+<li>Spain, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Spain, King of, <a href="#453">453</a></li>
+<li>Stein, Hertnid von, <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#349">349</a><sup>9</sup></li>
+<li>Stein, Rudolph de, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Stephen, Martin, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Strasburg, <a href="#248">248</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#392">392</a>, <a href="#393">393</a>,
+<a href="#414">414</a></li>
+<li>Strasburg, Bishop of, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>Stuttgart, <a href="#60">60</a></li>
+<li>Sundgau, the, <a href="#374">374</a>, <a href="#394">394</a></li>
+<li>Swabia, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Swiss, the, valour of, <a href="#249">249</a>-251, <a href="#256">256</a>, <a href="#381">381</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>,
+<a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#421">421</a>, <a href="#422">422</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>victories of, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#417">417</a>-422, <a href="#435">435</a>;</li>
+  <li>allies of Louis XI., <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>, <a href="#403">403</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Swiss Cantons, the, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#371">371</a>, <a href="#372">372</a>,
+<a href="#375">375</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#389">389</a>
+  <ul class="index1"><li>declare war against Charles the Bold, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>,
+  <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>-448, <a href="#451">451</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Swynaerde, <a href="#170">170</a></li>
+<li>Sylvius, Æneas, <a href="#59">59</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>         <!--Checked to Here-->
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="T">T</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Talmont, Prince of, <a href="#317">317</a><sup>35</sup></li>
+<li>Tewkesbury, battle of, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#293">293</a></li>
+<li>Texel, island of, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Thann, <a href="#252">252</a>, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#389">389</a></li>
+<li>Thérain, the, <a href="#311">311</a></li>
+<li>Thérouanne, Bishop of, <a href="#69">69</a></li>
+<li>Thierry, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Thierry, Monsieur de, <a href="#402">402</a></li>
+<li>Thierstein, Oswald von, <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#444">444</a></li>
+<li>Thionville, <a href="#362">362</a>, <a href="#365">365</a>, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Thouan, Mme. de, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Thouars, Guillaume de, <a href="#319">319</a></li>
+<li>Thurgau, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Tilhart, secretary to Louis XI., <a href="#297">297</a></li>
+<li>Tongres, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>bishops of, <a href="#130">130</a>, <a href="#131">131</a>, <a href="#213">213</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Tonnerre, Count of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Toul, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#439">439</a></li>
+<li>Touraine, <a href="#106">106</a></li>
+<li>Tournay, <a href="#198">198</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Tournay, Bishop of, <a href="#104">104</a></li>
+<li>Tournehem, <a href="#287">287</a></li>
+<li>Tours, <a href="#114">114</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#283">283</a>, <a href="#284">284</a>,
+<a href="#316">316</a></li>
+<li>Toustain, Aloysius (Toussaint), <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Toustain, Guillaume, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Toutey, E., cited, <a href="#438">438</a><sup>11</sup>, <i>et passim</i></li>
+<li>Trausch, cited, <a href="#340">340</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Tree of Gold, jousts of the, <a href="#193">193</a></li>
+<li>Trémoille, Jehan de la, <a href="#17">17</a></li>
+<li>Trèves, <a href="#336">336</a>-354, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#385">385</a></li>
+<li>Trèves, Archbishop of, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#351">351</a></li>
+<li>Tuin, <a href="#153">153</a></li>
+<li>Turin, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Turks, the, capture Constantinople, <a href="#46">46</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#55">55</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>proposed  crusade against, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#51">51</a>-53,
+  <a href="#56">56</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#66">66</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#78">78</a>, <a href="#79">79</a>,
+  <a href="#345">345</a>, <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#350">350</a></li></ul></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="U">U</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Unterwalden, <a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Uri, <a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Ursé, Seigneur d', <a href="#295">295</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#301">301</a></li>
+<li>Utenhove, Richard, <a href="#178">178</a></li>
+<li>Utrecht, <a href="#69">69</a>-71, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#263">263</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>,
+<a href="#352">352</a>-358, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+  <li><b><a name="Va">V</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis (editor of <i>Lettres de Louis XI</i>.), <a href="#295">295</a><sup>9</sup>,
+<a href="#296">296</a><sup>10</sup></li>
+<li>Valenciennes, <a href="#323">323</a></li>
+<li>Valois, House of, <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#457">457</a></li>
+<li>Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou,  Duchess of, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#368">368</a></li>
+<li>Vendôme, Count of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Venice, <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Verard, Antoine, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Verdun, <a href="#348">348</a></li>
+<li>Vere, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>Vermandois, <a href="#308">308</a></li>
+<li>Vermandois, Count de, <a href="#214">214</a></li>
+<li>Vesoul, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#259">259</a>, <a href="#379">379</a></li>
+<li>Villeclerc, Demoiselle de, <a href="#77">77</a></li>
+<li>Virnenbourg, Count of, <a href="#6">6</a></li>
+<li>Visen, Charles de, <a href="#215">215</a></li>
+<li>Vosges, the, <a href="#252">252</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="W">W</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Wailly, <a href="#322">322</a></li>
+<li>Waldemar of Zürich, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Waldshut, <a href="#249">249</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#252">252</a>, <a href="#378">378</a></li>
+<li>Walloon language, the, <a href="#136">136</a></li>
+<li>Warwick, Earl of, <a href="#265">265</a>-267, <a href="#271">271</a>-276, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>,
+<a href="#284">284</a>-290, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#290">290</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Wavrin, Philip de, <a href="#17">17</a></li>
+<li>Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#210">210</a><sup>10</sup></li>
+<li>Wenlock, governor of Calais, <a href="#275">275</a></li>
+<li>Weymouth, <a href="#290">290</a></li>
+<li>Wieringen, island of, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Woodville, Elizabeth, <a href="#266">266</a></li>
+<li>Wuisse, Vautrin, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Wyler, Hans, <a href="#417">417</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+  <li><b><a name="Xa">X</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Xaintes, <a href="#305">305</a></li>
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="Y">Y</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>York, House of, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>York, Margaret of, Duchess of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Ypres, <a href="#207">207</a><sup>7</sup>, <a href="#220">220</a>, <a href="#269">269</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#272">272</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+   <li><b><a name="Z">Z</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Zealand, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>,
+<a href="#69">69</a><sup>4</sup>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>,
+<a href="#262">262</a>, <a href="#274">274</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#455">455</a></li>
+<li>Zürich, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Zutphen, <a href="#323">323</a>, <a href="#324">324</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+
+	   <hr />
+<br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="largemap">[plate 33]</a></span>
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+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,14805 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Charles the Bold
+       Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477
+
+Author: Ruth Putnam
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14496]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES THE BOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Lesley Halamek and the PG Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD OF BURGUNDY (1433-1477) (FROM MS.
+STATUTE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, VIENNA) PAINTED
+BETWEEN 1518-1531]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+1433-1477
+
+
+BY
+
+
+RUTH PUTNAM
+
+AUTHOR OF "WILLIAM THE SILENT," "A MEDIAEVAL PRINCESS," ETC.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+
+The Knickerbocker Press
+
+1908
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+COPYRIGHT 1908,
+
+BY
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy into the series of Heroes
+of the Nations, is justified by his relation to events rather than by
+his national or his heroic qualities. _"Il n'avait pas assez de sens
+ni de malice pour conduire ses entreprises,"_ is one phrase of Philip
+de Commines in regard to the master he had once served. Render _sens_
+by _genius_ and _malice_ by _diplomacy_ and the words are not far
+wrong. Yet in spite of the failure to obtain either a kingly or an
+imperial crown, the story of those same unaccomplished enterprises
+contains the germs of much that has happened later in the borderlands
+of France and Germany where the projected "middle kingdom" might have
+been erected. A sketch of the duke's character with its traits of
+ambition and shortcomings may therefore be placed, not unfitly, among
+the pen portraits of individuals who have attempted to change the map
+of Europe.
+
+The materials for an exhaustive study of the times, and of the
+participants in the scenes thereof, are almost overwhelming
+in quantity. Into this narrative, I have woven the words of
+contemporaries when these related what they saw and thought, or at
+least what they said they saw or thought, about events passing within
+their sight or their ken. The veracity attained is only that of a
+mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth. And the rim in which
+these bits are set is too slender to contain all the illumination
+necessary. The narrative is, of necessity, partial and fragmentary,
+for a complete story would require a series of biographies presented
+in parallel columns. My own preliminary chapter to this book--a
+mere explanation of the presence of the dukes of Burgundy in the
+Netherlands--grew into an account of a sovereign whom they deposed and
+was published under the title of _A Mediaeval Princess._
+
+John Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record of Charles the Bold,
+Duke of Burgundy. Forty years have elapsed since that publication
+appeared and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the subject
+has been given out to the public, while separate phases of it have
+been minutely discussed by competent critics, so that at every point
+there is new temptation for the biographer to expand the theme where
+the scope of his work demands brevity.
+
+In using the later fruit of historical investigation, it is delightful
+for an American to find that scholars of all nations do justice to
+Mr. Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they may differ from his
+conclusions. It has been my privilege to be permitted free access to
+this scholar's collection of books, and I would here express my deep
+gratitude to the Kirk family for their generosity and courtesy towards
+me.
+
+After some preliminary reading at Brussels and Paris and in England,
+the work for this volume has been completed in America, where the
+opportunity of securing the latest results of research and criticism
+is constantly increasing, although these results are still lodged
+under many roofs. I have had many reasons to thank the librarians of
+New York, Boston, and Washington, and also those of Harvard, Columbia,
+and Cornell universities for courtesies and for serviceable aid; and
+just as many reasons to regret the meagreness of what can be put
+between two covers as the gleanings from so rich a harvest.
+
+One word further in explanation of the use of _Bold_. The adjective
+has been retained simply because it has been so long identified with
+Charles in English usage. I should have preferred the word _Rash_ as
+a better equivalent for the contemporary term, applied to the duke in
+his lifetime,--_le temeraire_.
+
+R.P.
+
+WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHAPTER I
+CHILDHOOD
+
+CHAPTER II
+YOUTH
+
+CHAPTER III
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+CHAPTER IV
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+CHAPTER V
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+CHAPTER VI
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+CHAPTER VII
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+CHAPTER IX
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+CHAPTER X
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+CHAPTER XI
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+CHAPTER XII
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+CHAPTER XV
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+GUELDERS
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+THE MEETING AT TREVES
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+CHAPTER XX
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 AND 1476
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+INDEX
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY          _Frontispiece_
+From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date
+of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This
+portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed
+to Roger van der Weyden. That, however,
+shows a much stronger face.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brussels.
+
+A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON
+OF LETTERS
+From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a
+beautiful MS. copy in Brussels Library of Jacques
+de Guise's _Annales_. The author is depicted
+presenting his book to the duke, who is attended
+by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is
+attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden, to
+Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans
+Memling.
+
+A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK
+
+COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER
+From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, _Les
+ducs de Bourgogne_,
+
+THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRUeCK
+
+LOUIS XI
+From an engraving by A. Boilly after a drawing by
+G. Boilly.
+
+PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+From a drawing in a MS. at Arras.
+
+BATTLE OF MONTL'HERY (JULY 16, 1465)
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE
+WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY
+After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery.
+
+CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A
+CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at
+Brussels.
+
+PHILIP DE COMMINES
+
+OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in
+_Memoires couronnes de l'acad. royale de Belgique,_
+xlix.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Barante, _Les ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES
+From Toutey, _Charles le temeraire_.
+
+MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS
+
+ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS
+From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+After design by C. Laplante.
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By
+permission of J. J. Loewy, Vienna.)
+
+MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA
+Medal.
+
+A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_,
+
+KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+(These characters in Maximilian's poem of _Theuerdank_
+represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.)
+From a reproduction of a wood engraving by
+Schaeufelein in edition of 1517.
+
+A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY
+After a design by Matthey reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+the J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+From contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY
+From Barante, _Let ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+Church of Notre Dame, Bruges
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+1433-1440
+
+
+On St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good people of Dijon were
+abroad, eager to catch what glimpses they might of certain stately
+functions to be formally celebrated by the Duke of Burgundy. The mere
+presence of the sovereign in the capital of his duchy was in itself
+a gala event from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions
+agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions successively. His
+residence was now here and now there, without long tarrying anywhere.
+His coming was usually very welcome. In times of peaceful submission
+to his behest, the city of his sojourn reaped many advantages besides
+the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond their wont. In the
+outlay for the necessities and the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal
+court, the expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary commercial
+activity enjoyed by the merchants, the fact that the burghers' own
+contributions to this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary
+oblivion.[1]
+
+This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon was more significant
+than usual. It had lasted several weeks, and among its notable
+occasions was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden Fleece for the
+third anniversary of their Order. On this November 30th, Burgundy was
+to witness for the first time the pompous ceremonials inaugurated at
+Bruges in January, 1430. Three years had sufficed to render the new
+institution almost as well known as its senior English rival, the
+Order of the Garter, which it was destined to outshine for a brief
+period at least. Its foundation had formed part of the elaborate
+festivities accompanying the celebration of the marriage of Philip,
+Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal. As a signal honour to his
+bride, Philip published his intention of creating a new order of
+knighthood which would evince "his great and perfect love for the
+noble state of chivalry."
+
+Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the duke's real motives. It
+was whispered that a certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished
+by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair by a few merry
+courtiers, whereupon Philip declared that her tresses should be
+immortally honoured in the golden emblem of a new society.[2] But that
+may be set down as gossip. Philip's own assertion, when he instituted
+the Order of the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create a
+bulwark
+
+    "for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our Christian
+    faith, and to honour and enhance the noble order of chivalry, and
+    also for three reasons hereafter declared; first, to honour the
+    ancient knights ...; second, to the end that these present.... may
+    exercise the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve; third, that
+    all gentlemen marking the honour paid to the knights will exert
+    themselves to attain the dignity." [2]
+
+The special homage to the new duchess was expressed in the device
+
+  _Aultre n'aray
+   Dame Isabeau tant que vivray[4]_
+
+This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella was, indeed, utterly
+disregarded by the bridegroom, but in outward and formal honour to her
+he never failed.
+
+The new institution was, from the beginning, pre-eminently significant
+of the duke's magnificent state existence, wherein his Portuguese
+consort proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet. Again and again
+during a period of thirty years, rich in diplomatic parleying, did
+Isabella act as confidential ambassador for her husband, and many were
+the negotiations conducted by her to his satisfaction.[5]
+
+But it must be noted that whatever lay at the exact root of Philip's
+motives when he conceived the plan of his Order, the actual result of
+his foundation was not affected. He failed, indeed, to bring back into
+the world the ancient system of knighthood in its ideal purity and
+strength. Rather did he make a notable contribution to its decadence
+and speed its parting. What was brought into existence was a house
+of peers for the head of the Burgundian family, a body of faithful
+satellites who did not hamper their chief overmuch with the criticism
+permitted by the rules of their society, while their own glory added
+shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian court.
+
+Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the original number appointed
+to form the chosen circle of knights. This was speedily increased to
+thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the session of 1433, was
+the election of new members to fill vacancies and to round out the
+allotted tale.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN
+FLEECE]
+
+In their manner of accomplishing the appointed task, the new
+chevaliers had, from the outset, evinced a readiness to cast their
+votes to the satisfaction of their chief, even if his pleasure
+directly conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to obey. No
+candidate was to be eligible whose birth was not legitimate,[6] a
+regulation quite ignored when the duke proposed the names of his sons
+Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient knights did not refuse to open
+their ranks to these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a bar
+sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too, others of Philip's many
+illegitimate descendants were not rejected when their father proposed
+their names.
+
+Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new member should have
+proven himself a knight of renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one
+of the candidates proposed for election, though nominally a knight,
+had assuredly had no time to show his mettle. The dignity was his only
+because his spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle before
+his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength to grasp a rattle, and
+before he was even old enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his
+teeth upon.[7]
+
+Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was Charles of Burgundy,
+Count of Charolais, son of the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the
+previous St. Martin's Eve, November 10th.[8]
+
+    "The new chevaliers, with the exception of the Count of
+    Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accustomed oath at the hands
+    of the sovereign in a room of his palace."
+
+
+So runs the record. Jean le Fevre, Seigneur de St. Remy, present on
+the occasion in his capacity of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle
+more communicative.[9] According to him, all the gentlemen were very
+joyous at their election as they received their collars and made their
+vows as stated. He excepted no member in the phrase about the joy
+displayed, though, as a matter of inference, the pleasure experienced
+by the Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat problematical.
+
+The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age of just twenty days
+when thus officially listed among the chevaliers present at the
+festival. Born on November 10th of this same year, 1433,[10] he had
+been knighted on the very day of his baptism, when Charles, Count of
+Nevers, and the Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former gave
+his name to the infant while the latter's name was destined to be
+identified with many unpleasant incidents in the career of the future
+man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason for the further item
+in the archives of the Golden Fleece:
+
+    "As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into the same room.
+    There the sovereign, his father, and the duchess, his mother, took
+    the oath on his behalf. Afterwards the duke put the collars upon
+    all." [11]
+
+
+Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction that Charles of
+Burgundy was of different metal than the rest of the world. The great
+duke of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history of chivalry
+when he conferred its dignities upon a speechless, unconscious infant.
+The theory that knighthood was a personal acquisition had been
+maintained up to this period, the Children of France[12] alone being
+excepted from the rule, though in his _Lay de Vaillance_ Eustache
+Deschamps complains that the degree of knighthood is actually
+conferred on those who are only ten or twelve years old, and who do
+not know what to do with the honour.[13] That plaint was written not
+later than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the poet's
+prediction that ruin of the institution was imminent when affected by
+such disorders seemed justified if, in 1433, even the years of the
+eligible age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not received the
+accolade until he was twenty-five.
+
+How his predecessor in Holland, Count William VI., had acquitted
+himself valiantly the moment that he was dubbed knight is told by
+Froissart, and the tales of other accolades of the period are too well
+known to need reference.
+
+It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished by his own mother.
+Having lost her first two infants, Isabella was solicitous for the
+welfare of this third child, who also proved her last. He was,
+moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle of France and Bonne of
+Artois, his first wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
+expended on the boy were repaid. Charles became a sturdy child who
+developed into youthful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
+his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather than the English
+Lancastrians, from whom she was equally descended.
+
+His dark hair and his features were very different from the fair type
+of his paternal ancestors, the vigorous branch of the Valois family.
+Possibly other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese origin were
+intensified by close association with his mother, who supervised the
+education directed by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at The
+Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and official adviser to the
+duke's stadtholder in the administration. [14]
+
+Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe his contemporaries,
+surprisingly so, considering his early taste for all martial pursuits
+and his intense interest in military operations.
+
+At two years of age he received his first lesson in horsemanship, on
+a wooden steed constructed for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a
+saddler of Brussels.
+
+His biographers repeat from each other statements of his proficiency
+in Latin. This must be balanced by noting that the only texts which
+he could have read were probably not classic. In the inventory of the
+various Burgundian libraries of the period, there are not six Greek
+and Latin classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not a
+single Roman historian in the original.[15] There was a translation
+of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi and late abridgments of Sallust,
+Suetonius, Lucan, and Caesar,[16] with a French version of Valerius
+Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless these versions and a volume
+called _Les faits des Romains_ were used as text-books to teach the
+young count about the world's conquerors. The last mentioned book
+shows what travesties of Roman history were gravely read in the
+fifteenth century.
+
+There are stories[17] that the bit of history most enjoyed by the
+pupil was the narrative of Alexander. Books about that hero were easy
+to come by long before the invention of printing, though Alexander
+would have had difficulty in recognising his identity under the
+strange mediaeval motley in which his namesake wandered over the land.
+No single man, with the possible exception of Charlemagne, was so
+much written about or played so brilliantly the part of a hero to
+the Middle Ages and after.[18] The simplicity and universality of his
+success were of a type to appeal to the boy Charles, himself built on
+simple lines. The fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip
+stimulated his imagination and instilled in his breast hopes of
+conquering, not the whole world perhaps, but a good slice of territory
+which should enable him to hold his own between the emperor and the
+French king. Tales of definite schemes of early ambition are often
+fabricated in the later life of a conqueror, but in this case they may
+be believed, as all threads of testimony lead to the same conclusion.
+
+The air breathed by the boy when he first became conscious of his
+own individuality was certainly heavy with the aroma of satisfied
+ambition. The period of his childhood was a time when his father stood
+at the very zenith of his power. In 1435, was signed the Treaty of
+Arras, the death-blow to the long coalition existing between Burgundy
+and England to the continual detriment of France. Philip was
+reconciled with great solemnity to the king, responsible in his
+dauphin days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy. After
+ostentatiously parading his filial resentment sixteen long years,
+Philip forgave Charles VII. his share in the death of John the
+Fearless, on the bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support to
+keep the French monarch on the throne whither the efforts of Joan of
+Arc had carried him from Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile.
+
+England's pretensions were repudiated. To be sure, the recent
+coronation of Henry VI. at Paris was not immediately forgotten, but
+while the Duke of Bedford had actually administered the government as
+regent, in behalf of his infant nephew, it was a mere shadow of his
+office that passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435, was
+almost coincident with the compact at Arras when the English Henry's
+realms across the Channel shrank to Normandy and the outlying
+fortresses of Picardy and Maine. Later events on English soil were to
+prove how little fitted was the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any
+kind.
+
+Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy rose triumphant
+with a seal set upon his personal importance.[19] His recognition of
+Charles VII. as lawful sovereign of France, and his reconciliation did
+not pass without signal gain to himself.
+
+The king declared his own hands unstained by the blood of John of
+Burgundy, agreed to punish all those designated by Philip as actually
+responsible for that treacherous murder, and pledged himself to erect
+a cross on the bridge at Montereau, the scene of the crime. Further,
+he relinquished various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained by the
+crown from the moment when the junior branch of the Valois had been
+invested with the duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne,
+Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to the French sovereign on
+both banks of the Somme. To this last cession, however, was appended
+the condition that the towns included in this clause could be redeemed
+at the king's pleasure, for the sum of four hundred thousand gold
+crowns. Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of homage to
+himself, promised to demand no _aides_ from the duke's subjects
+in case of war, and to assist his cousin if he were attacked from
+England. Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted with the
+emperor to Philip's disadvantage.[20]
+
+One clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness towards the
+powerful vassal. It provided that in case of Charles's failure to
+observe all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects would be
+justified in taking arms against him at the duke's orders. A similar
+clause occurs in certain treaties between an earlier French king and
+his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of the suzerain, not
+to that of the lesser lords.
+
+The duke was left in a position infinitely superior to that of the
+king, whose realm was terribly exhausted by the long contest with
+England, a contest wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's
+foot. French prosperity had been nibbled off like green foliage before
+a swarm of locusts, and the whole north-eastern portion of France
+was in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the other hand, the
+territories covered by Burgundy as an overlord had greatly increased
+during the sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
+aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships formed his domain,
+loosely hung together by reason of their several titles being vested
+in one person--titles which the bearer had inherited or assumed under
+various pretexts.
+
+Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy and county of Burgundy,
+came to him from his father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he
+bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself heir to his cousins in
+Brabant and Limbourg when Duke Anthony's second son followed his
+equally childless brother into a premature grave, and the claims were
+made good in spite of all opposition. Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut
+became his through the unwilling abdication of his other cousin,
+Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of her husband, Frank van
+Borselen, the last representative of the Bavarian House then
+formally resigned her titles, which she had already divested of all
+significance five years previously, when Philip of Burgundy had become
+her _ruward_, to relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of
+responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.[21]
+
+Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended in having
+the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added to his other
+designations. Also there were various places where his predecessor's
+name had to be effaced to make room for his. (Laborde, i., 345).]
+
+Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Brabant. Luxemburg was a later
+acquisition obtained through Elizabeth of Goerlitz.
+
+There were very shady bits in the chapters about Philip's entry into
+many of his possessions, but it is interesting to note how cleverly
+the best colour is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche and
+other writers who enjoyed Burgundian patronage. Very gentle are the
+adjectives employed, and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the
+naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary criticism
+did occasionally make itself heard, especially from the emperor, who
+declared that the Netherland provinces must come to him as a lapsed
+imperial fief. For a time Philip denied that any links existed between
+his domain and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it convenient
+to discuss the question with Frederic III. at Besancon; still he never
+came to the point of paying homage.
+
+All these territories made a goodly realm for a mere duke. But
+they were individual entities centred around one head with little
+interconnection.
+
+Philip thought that the one thing needed to bring his possessions into
+a national life, as coherent as that of France, was a unity of legal
+existence among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain this
+unity was the one thought dominating the career of his successor,
+whose pompous introduction to life naturally inspired him with a high
+idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of greater dignities for
+himself and his successor than a bundle of titles,--a splendid, vain,
+fatal dream as it proved.
+
+As a final cement to the new friendship between Burgundy and France,
+it was also agreed at Arras that the heir of the former should wed a
+daughter of Charles VII. When the Count of Charolais was five years
+old, the Seigneur of Crevecoeur,[22] "a wise and prudent gentleman"
+was despatched to the French court on divers missions, among which
+was the business of negotiating the projected alliance. A very joyous
+reception was accorded the envoy by the king and the queen, and his
+proposal was accepted in behalf of the second daughter, Catherine,
+easily substituted for an older sister, deceased between the first and
+second stages of negotiation.
+
+A year later, a formal betrothal took place at St Omer, whither
+the young bride was conducted, most honourably accompanied by the
+archbishops of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Vendome,
+Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the Duke of Bourbon, named the
+Lord of Beaujeu, and various other distinguished nobles, besides a
+train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance on the
+princess, and an escort of three hundred horse.
+
+At the various cities where the party made halt they were graciously
+received, and all honour was paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of
+France. At Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and as she
+travelled on towards her destination, all the towns of Philip's
+obedience contributed their quota of welcome.
+
+At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming. When her approach was
+announced he rode out in person to greet her, attended by a brilliant
+escort.
+
+[Illustration: A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON]
+
+Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready to burst into tune;
+the betrothal was confirmed amid joyousness and the ceremony was
+followed by tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.
+
+What a series of pompous betrothals between infant parties the
+fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can show! Poor little puppets, in
+whose persons national interests were supposed to be centred, were
+made to lisp out their roles in international dramas whose final acts
+rarely were consistent with the promise of the prologue.
+
+Catherine did not live to become Duchess of Burgundy nor to temper the
+duel between her husband and her brother Louis. The remainder of
+her short existence was passed under the care of Duchess Isabella,
+sometimes in one city of the Netherlands, sometimes in another.
+
+La Marche[23] records one return of Philip to Brussels when his
+arrival was greeted by Charles of Burgundy, honourably accompanied
+by children of high birth about his age or less, some only eleven or
+twelve years old. There were with him Jehan de la Tremoille, Philip
+de Croy, Philip de Crevecoeur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others. All
+were mounted on little horses harnessed like that of their governor, a
+very honest and wise gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et Ber
+d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man, well known, of good lineage,
+ready of speech and able to discuss matters of honour and of state.
+
+He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all exercise and sport.
+
+    "Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman better adapted
+    to supervise the education of a young prince than he.... Among his
+    pupils were also Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy,[24] son of Philip,
+    and the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were older than the
+    first mentioned."
+
+La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt in this youthful band
+of horse, and then tells how, within Brussels,
+
+    "he was received by the magistrates and conducted to his palace,
+    where the Duchess of Burgundy awaited him holding by the hand
+    Madame Catherine of France, Countess of Charolais. She was about
+    twelve and seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and
+    well conditioned for her age."
+
+At various state functions the Count and Countess of Charolais
+appeared together in public, and witnessed certain of the gorgeous
+and costly entertainments which were almost the daily food of the gay
+Burgundian court. One of these occasions was calculated to make a deep
+impression on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle of a
+proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep humiliation.
+
+In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges, when the animosity of
+the burghers had caused the duchess to flee from their midst, holding
+her little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal safety. Philip
+suppressed the revolt, but, in his anger at its insolence, declared
+that never again would he set foot within the gates unless in company
+with his superior.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERS
+
+THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND WITH ONE OF PHILIP'S
+SONS FROM MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "HIST. DES DUCS DE
+BOURGOGNE"]
+
+Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella played a prominent part
+as her husband's representative, were those concerning the liberation
+of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in England, a prisoner, after
+the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The last advice given by Henry V.
+to his brothers was that they should make this captivity perpetual.
+Therefore, whenever overtures were made for his redemption, a strong
+party, headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them vehemently.
+
+In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide of sentiment. Possibly
+the low state of the English exchequer made the duke's ransom more
+attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000 golden crowns were
+accepted as his equivalent, and the exile of twenty-five years
+returned to France, having pledged himself never to bear arms against
+England.
+
+Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome him, and to escort him
+to St. Omer, where high revels were held in his honour and in that of
+his alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece.
+
+The week intervening between the betrothal and the nuptials was
+passed in a succession of banquets and tourneys, gorgeous in their
+elaboration. Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just then,
+the new Burgundian Order was convened and the Duke of Orleans was
+elected a Knight of the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented
+his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the Porcupine. Lord
+Cornwallis and other English gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans
+across the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor were they among
+the least favoured guests, adds Barante.
+
+Amity was triumphant, and there was a general feeling abroad that the
+returned exile was henceforth to be the ruling power in France. People
+began to look to him to act as the go-between in their behalf, to be
+their mediator with Charles VII., still little known at his best. Many
+towns turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend, and among them
+was Bruges. But it was not royal favours that Bruges sought. Her
+burghers felt great inconvenience from the breach with their sovereign
+duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his grace, they seized the
+opportunity of reminding Philip of his assertion, and they besought
+him to enter their gates in company with the Duke of Orleans, a
+prince of the blood, closer to the French sovereign than the Duke of
+Burgundy.
+
+After some demur, Philip consented to grant their petition. Possibly
+he was not loth to be persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges
+to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and to prepare a
+reception for their appeased sovereign, calculated to make him content
+with the late rebels.
+
+Before the grand cortege, composed of the two dukes, their consorts,
+and the dignitaries who had assisted in the feasts of marriage and of
+chivalry, reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were ready with a
+touching spectacle of humility and repentance.[25]
+
+A league from the gates, the magistrates and burghers stood in the
+road awaiting the travellers from St. Omer. All were barefooted and
+bareheaded. Under the December sky they waited the approach of the
+stately procession. When the duke arrived, they all fell upon their
+knees and implored him to forgive the late troubles and to reinstate
+their city in his favour. Philip did not answer immediately--delay was
+always a feature of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Orleans,
+both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined their entreaties to the
+citizens' prayers. Again a pause, and then, as if generously yielding
+to pressure, Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes and their
+hats while he accepted at their hands the keys of all the gates. Then
+the long procession moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were the
+clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and beguins of the various
+convents and foundations, bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and
+many precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were the gilds
+and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent accoutrements freshly
+burnished to do honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
+overlord.
+
+Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, platforms and stages
+were erected, whereon were enacted dramatic performances, given
+continuously, to provide amusement for the collected crowds. Sometimes
+the presentation carried significance beyond mere entertainment. Here
+a maid, garbed as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which wore the
+collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine. This last beast was to
+symbolise the Orleans device, _Near and Far_, as the creature was
+supposed to project his spines to a distance.
+
+One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house with gold and the
+roof with silver leaves to betoken his satisfaction. Indeed, if we
+may believe the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had any city
+incurred so much expense to honour its lord. The duke permitted his
+heart to be touched by these proofs of devotion, and on the very
+evening of his arrival he evinced that his confidence was restored by
+sending the civic keys and a gracious message to the magistrates. At
+the news of this condescension the cries of "_Noel_" re-echoed afresh
+through the illuminated streets.
+
+Charles was not present at this entry, which took place on Saturday,
+December 11th, but Philip was so much entertained with the performance
+that he sent for his son, and on the following Saturday he and the
+Countess of Charolais came from Ghent to join the party. The Duke of
+Orleans and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the young couple,
+who were formally escorted to the palace by magistrates and citizens
+in a body. On the Sunday there were repetitions of some of the plays
+and every attention was offered by the Bruges burghers to their young
+guests. When Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December
+14th, what wonder that the lady wept in sorrow at leaving these gay
+Burgundian doings!
+
+While Charles did not actually witness the humiliation of the
+citizens, the seven-year-old boy would, undoubtedly, have heard and
+known sufficient of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware that
+the citizens who had dared defy his father were glad to buy back his
+smiles at any cost to their pride and purse. He would have known, too,
+that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, and elsewhere joined the
+Bruges burghers in the welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a
+spectacle of the relations between a city and the ducal father not to
+be easily forgotten by the son.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of
+Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. _(Collection des voyages
+des souverains des Pays Bas_, i., 71.) Unfortunately, owing to
+the destruction of papers, only a few years are complete. Between
+1428-1441, there is nothing. But the itinerary for 1441 and for other
+years shows how often the duke changed his residences. Sometimes he
+is accompanied by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de
+Charolais.]
+
+[Footnote 2: It was also said that the woollen manufactures of
+Flanders were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Reiffenberg, _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or,_ p.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _ Hist. de I'Ordre,_ etc., p. i.]
+
+[Footnote 5: All the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to
+the public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from the
+accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity:
+
+"To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber, for delivering
+to a certain person for certain causes and for secret matters of which
+Monseigneur does not wish further declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17
+sous."
+
+(Laborde _Les Ducs de Bourgogne_, etc., "Preuves," i. xiii.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: "Vingt-quatre chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
+et sans reproches nes et procrees en leal mariage" _(see_ description
+of the first list).--_Hist. de l'Ordre,_ p. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Jacquemin Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living at
+Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich cloth of black
+silk draped about the baptismal font. Why mourning was used on this
+joyful occasion does not appear. (Laborde, i., 321.)]
+
+[Footnote 8: Summary of a register containing the acts of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece quoted in _Histoire de l'Ordre,_ pp. 12, 13.]
+
+[Footnote 9: St. Remy, _Chronique_, ii., 284. St. Remy is usually
+called _Toison d'Or._]
+
+[Footnote 10: His full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone
+remains of the palace where he was born.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Hist, de l'Ordre,_ p. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Selden _(Titles of Honor_, p. 457), however, says he
+knows not by what authority this statement is made and that he knows
+nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by Gautier for
+receiving knighthood.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Deschamps, _OEuvres Completes_, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of
+Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one notable occasion,
+to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared in public accompanied
+by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan of the Hooks, and by Frank van
+Borselen, himself a Cod, the widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess
+of Holland.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Barante, _Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne_, vi., 2, note
+by Reiffenberg.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _Catalogue des manuscrits des Ducs de Bourgogne,_
+"Resume historique," i., lxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Barante, vi., 2, note.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Loomis, _Medieval Hellenism_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Pirenne, _Histoire de Belgique_, ii., 231.]
+
+[Footnote 20: It was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made.
+Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant, Holland,
+Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were lapsed fiefs, of the
+empire.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Putnam, _A Medieval Princess_.
+
+[Footnote 22: Monstrelet, _La Chronique_, v., 344.]
+
+[Footnote 23: La Marche, _Memoires_, ii., 50.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Reiffenberg, _Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe
+de Bourgogne._]
+
+[Footnote 25: Meyer, _Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum, _
+p. 296.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+YOUTH
+
+1440-1453
+
+
+The heir of Burgundy was still in very tender years when he began to
+take official part in public affairs, sometimes associated with one
+parent, sometimes with the other.
+
+There was a practical advantage in bringing the boy to the fore by
+which the duke was glad to profit. With his own manifold interests, it
+was impossible for him to be present in his various capitals as often
+as was demanded by the usage of the diverse individual seigniories. It
+was politic, therefore, to magnify the representative capacity of his
+son and of his consort in order to obtain the grants and _aides_ which
+certain of his subjects declared could be given only when requested
+orally by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was Count Charles
+and the duchess who appeared in Holland to ask an _aide_.[1] In the
+following year, Charles accompanied his father when Philip made one
+of his rare visits--there were only three between 1428 and 1466--to
+Holland and Zealand.
+
+[Illustration: A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY]
+
+Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants on this occasion, and he
+describes with great detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have
+their absentee count in their land.[2] Many matters could only be
+set aright by his authority. Among the complaints brought to him at
+Middelburg were accusations against a certain knight of high birth,
+Jehan de Dombourc. Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once and
+brought before him for trial. This was easier said than done. Warned
+of his danger, Dombourc, with four or five comrades, took refuge in
+the clock tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary that
+could not be taken by storm.[2] He was provided with a good store of
+food, this audacious criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There he
+remained three days, because, for the honour of the Church, they could
+not fire upon him.
+
+"And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun come out and call to
+Jehan Dombourc, her brother, advising him to perish defending himself
+rather than to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands of
+the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced to surrender to
+his prince, and he was beheaded in the market-place at Middelburg,
+but, at the plea of his sister, the said nun, his body was delivered
+to her to be buried in consecrated ground."
+
+In this same visit Philip presided over the Zealand estates and the
+young count sat by his side, not as an idle spectator, but because
+usage required the presence of the heir as well as that of the Count
+of Zealand.
+
+When Charles was twelve he was present at an assembly of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece held in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind
+witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his description of the
+lavish magnificence of the affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the
+citizens into complying with the requests of their Count of Flanders.
+
+Charles played a prominent part in all the functions, and assisted in
+the election of his tutor, Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. Another candidate
+of that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Ostrevant, widower of
+Jacqueline, late Countess of Holland.
+
+In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at Brussels.
+"Honourably as befitted a king's daughter" was she buried at Ste.
+Gudule.[4]
+
+    "Tireless in their devotion were the duke and duchess in her last
+    illness, and Charles VII. despatched two skilled doctors to her
+    aid but all efforts were vain.
+
+    "Much bemourned was the princess for she was virtuous. God have
+    pity on her soul"
+
+piously ejaculates La Marche.
+
+A little item[5] in the accounts suggests that a pleasant friendship
+had existed between the two young people:
+
+    "To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Countess of Charolais,
+    for a harp which she had bought from him and given to Ms. the
+    Count of Charolais for him to play and take his amusement, xii
+    francs."[6]
+
+It is easy to surmise that music was not, however, the young count's
+favourite amusement. In Philip's court, tournaments were still held
+and afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad whose bent was
+undoubtedly towards a military career.
+
+One valiant actor in these tourneys where were revived the ancient
+traditions of knighthood, was Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all
+the characteristics of times past, fighting for fame in the present.
+In his youth, this aspirant for reputation swore a vow to meet thirty
+knights in combat before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated by
+a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the court of Burgundy,
+because the Netherlands were on the highroad between England and many
+points in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had the best
+chance of falling in with all the prowess that might be abroad. For
+stay-at-home prowess he cared naught. A delightful personage is
+Messire Jacques and a brave role does he play in the series of jousts,
+sporting gaily on the pages of the various Burgundian chroniclers,
+who recorded in their old age what they had seen in their youth. One
+description, however, of these encounters reads much like another and
+they need not be repeated.
+
+During his childhood Charles was a spectator only on the days of mimic
+battle. In his seventeenth year he was permitted to enter the lists
+as a regular combatant, a permission shared by his fellow pupils all
+eager to flesh their maiden spears. The duke arranged that his son
+should have a preliminary tilt a few days before the public affair in
+order to test his ability. All the courtiers--and apparently ladies
+were not excluded from the discussion on the matter--agreed that no
+better knight could be found for this purpose than Jacques de Lalaing,
+who, on his part, was highly honoured by being selected to gauge the
+untried capabilities of the prince.[7]
+
+In the park at Brussels with the duke and duchess as onlookers, the
+preliminary encounter took place. At the very first attack, Charles
+struck Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his lance into many
+pieces. The duke was displeased because he thought that the knight
+had not exerted his full strength and was favouring his son. He
+accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must play in earnest and not
+hold his force in leash. Fresh lances were brought; again did
+the count withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances were
+shattered. This time the boy's mother was the dissatisfied one,
+thinking that the knight was too hard with his junior, but the duke
+only laughed.
+
+    "Thus differed the parents. The one desired him to prove his
+    manhood, the other was preoccupied with his safety. With these
+    two courses the trial ended amid rounds of applause for the
+    prince."[8]
+
+The actual tourney was held on the market-place in Brussels before a
+distinguished assembly. Count Charles was escorted into the arena by
+his cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles. Seigneur d'Auxy,
+his tutor, stood near to watch the maiden efforts of the prince and
+his mates. He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for his bearing
+and his skill. He gave and received excellent thrusts, broke more
+than ten lances, and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening he
+received the prize from two princesses, and "Montjoye" was cried
+by the heralds in his honour. From that time forth, the count was
+considered a puissant and rude jouster and gained great renown.
+
+    "And that is the reason why I commence my memoirs about him and
+    his deeds[9] [continues La Marche, on concluding his description
+    of the tournament], and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour.
+    As one who has been brought up with him from his youth in his
+    father's service and in his own, I will touch upon his education,
+    his morals, his character, and his habits from the moment when I
+    first saw him as appears above in my memoirs.
+
+    "As to his character, I will commence at the worst features. He
+    was hot, active, and impetuous: as a child he was very eager to
+    have his own way. Nevertheless, he had so much understanding and
+    good sense that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no
+    one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he. He did not
+    take the name of God or the saints in vain, and held God in great
+    fear and reverence. He learned well and had a retentive memory. He
+    was fond of reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot
+    and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and boats. Falconry,
+    too, he loved and he hunted whenever he had leave. In archery he
+    early excelled his comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was
+    the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did he devote
+    himself to good and excellent exercise."
+
+That the report of the lavishness and extravagance of the Burgundian
+court was no idle rumour, exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is
+attested to by every bit of contemporary evidence. Enthusiastic and
+loyal chroniclers dwell on the magnificence, and the arid details of
+bills paid show what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while
+the protests from taxpayers prove that this splendour did not grow
+like the lilies of the field.
+
+[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE OF AN ACCOUNT-BOOK XVTH CENTURY]
+
+Philip's treasury had many separate compartments. There were many
+quarters to which he could turn for his needed supplies, but there
+were times when his exchequer ran very threateningly low, and his
+financial stress led him to be very conciliatory towards the burghers
+with full purses.
+
+In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the celebration of the feast of
+the Order of the Golden Fleece within her gates. Two years later,
+Philip appeared in person at a meeting of the _collace_, or municipal
+assembly, and delivered a harangue to the Ghentish magistrates and
+burghers, flattering them, moreover, by using their vernacular. The
+tenor of this speech was as follows[10]:
+
+    "My good and faithful friends, you know how I have been brought
+    up among you from my infancy. That is why I have always loved you
+    more than the inhabitants of all my other cities, and I have
+    proved this by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that
+    I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon me to-day when
+    I have need of your support. Doubtless you are not ignorant of the
+    condition of my father's treasury at the period of his death. The
+    majority of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were
+    in pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate vengeance
+    compelled me to undertake a long and bloody war, during which the
+    defence of my fortresses and of my cities, and the pay of my
+    army have necessitated outlays so large that it is impossible to
+    estimate them. You know, too, that at the very moment when the war
+    on France was at its height, I was obliged, in order to assure the
+    protection of my country of Flanders, to take arms against the
+    English in Hainaut, in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding
+    costing me more than 10,000 _saluts d'or,_ which I raised with
+    difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed against Liege, in
+    behalf of my countship of Namur, which sprang from the bosom of
+    Flanders? It is not necessary to add to all these outlays those
+    which I assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jerusalem,
+    and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+    "It is true, however, that, yielding to the persuasions of the
+    pope and the Council, I have now consented to put an end to the
+    evils multiplied by war by forgetting my father's death, and by
+    reconciling myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this
+    treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in preserving
+    to my subjects during the war the advantages of industry and of
+    peace, they had submitted to heavy burdens in taxes and in
+    voluntary contributions, and that it was my duty to re-establish
+    order and justice in the administration. But everything went on as
+    though the war had not ceased. All my frontiers have been menaced,
+    and I found myself obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so
+    useful to the defence of my other lands, especially of Brabant and
+    Flanders.
+
+    "In this way, my expenses continued to increase; all my resources
+    are now exhausted, and the saddest part of it all is that the good
+    cities and communes of Flanders and especially the country folk
+    are at the very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many of
+    my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obliged to emigrate.
+    Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty that I have little
+    advantage from them. Nor do I reap more from my hereditary lands,
+    for all are equally impoverished.
+
+    "A way must be found to ease the poor people, and at the same time
+    to protect Flanders from insult, Flanders for whose sake I would
+    risk my own person, although to arrive at this end, important
+    measures have become imperative."
+
+After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally states that, in order
+to raise the requisite revenues, no method seemed to him so good and
+so simple as a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a term of
+twelve years. He promised to dispense with all other subsidies and to
+make his son swear to demand nothing further as long as the _gabelle_
+was imposed.
+
+    "Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you consent to it I
+    will renounce it if others prove of a different opinion, for I do
+    not desire that the communes of Flanders be more heavily weighted
+    than any other portion of my territory."
+
+The duke might have spared his trouble and his elaborate
+condescension. The answer to his conciliatory request was a flat
+refusal to consider the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to
+Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not be increased to the least
+degree without serious inconvenience. The Flemings were wroth at his
+imitating the worst custom of his French kinsmen.
+
+Philip departed from Ghent in great dudgeon. After a time he was
+persuaded that the indisposition of the town to meet his reasonable
+wishes was not due to the citizens at large, but to the machinations
+of a few unruly agitators among the magistrates. In 1449, therefore,
+he took a high-handed course of trying to direct the issue of the
+regular municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of magistrates
+on whose obedience he could rely. The appearance of Burgundian troops
+in Ghent, before the election of mid-August, aroused the wrath of the
+community, who thought that their most cherished franchises were in
+jeopardy.
+
+This was the beginning of a bitter struggle between Ghent and Philip.
+The duke found it no light matter to coerce the independent burghers
+into remembering that they were simply part of the Burgundian state.
+"_Tantae molis erat liberam gentem in servitutem adigere_!" ejaculates
+Meyer in the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen months
+of active hostilities.[11] Matters were long in coming to an outbreak.
+Various points had been contended over, when Philip had endeavoured
+to change the seat of the great council, or to take divers measures
+tending to concentrate certain judicial or legislative functions for
+his own convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the autonomy of
+Ghent. His centripetal policy was disliked, but when his policy went
+further, and he attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike
+grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in open revolt.
+
+For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's estimation as mere
+insignificant unruliness. By 1452, however, the date of the tourney
+above described, it became evident that a vital issue was at stake.
+The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to mediate between overlord and
+town, but without success. Owing to Philip's interference in the
+elections, the results were declared void, and when a new election was
+appointed, the Burgundians accused the city of hastily augmenting its
+number of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation laws. The gilds,
+too, evinced a readiness to be very lenient in their scrutiny of
+candidates for admission to their cherished privileges, preferring,
+for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy of furnished rooms was
+declared sufficient for enfranchisement, and there were cases where
+mere guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the lists as
+full-fledged citizens.
+
+By these means the popular party waxed very strong numerically. The
+sheriffs found themselves quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit
+of democracy in check. The regular government was overthrown, and the
+demagogues succeeded in electing three captains _(hooftmans)_
+invested with arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees of
+the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of very radical measures
+promulgated and joyfully confirmed by the populace, assembled on the
+Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the town meeting that
+ruled, not deputed authority. One ordinance stipulated that at the
+sound of the bell every burgher must hasten to the market-place, to
+lend his voice to the deliberations.
+
+For a time various negotiations went on between Philip and envoys from
+Ghent. The latter took a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable
+terms that if the duke refused an accommodation with them, they would
+appeal to their suzerain, the King of France. No act of rebellion,
+overt or covert, exasperated Philip more than this suggestion. Charles
+VII. was only too ready to ignore those clauses in the treaty of
+Arras, releasing the duke from homage, and virtually acknowledging his
+complete independence in his French territories. The king accepted
+missives from his late vassal's city, without reprimanding the writers
+for their presumption in signing themselves "Seigneurs of Ghent."[12]
+His action, however, was confined to mild attempts at mediation.
+
+It was plain to the duke that his other towns would follow Ghent's
+resistance to his authority if there were hopes of her success.
+Therefore he threw aside all other interests for the time being, and
+exerted himself to levy a body of troops to crush Flemish pretensions.
+His counsellors advised him to sound the temper of other citizens and
+to ascertain whether their sympathies were with Ghent. Answers of
+feeble loyalty came back to him from the majority of the other towns.
+Undoubtedly they highly approved Ghent's efforts. They, too, could
+not afford to pay taxes fraught with danger to their commerce, nor to
+relinquish one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive crises
+throughout a long period of years. The only doubt in their minds was
+as to the ultimate success of the burghers to stem the course of
+Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first hedged, and then
+consented to aid the duke. This course was pursued by the Hollanders
+and the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted.
+
+The Ghenters succeeded in possessing themselves of the castle of
+Poucque by force, and of the village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking
+advantage in the latter case of the castellan's absence at church.
+
+When every part of his dominions had been canvassed for troops, and
+Philip was prepared for his first active campaign against Ghent, he
+was anxious to leave his heir under the protection of the duchess,
+conscious that the imminent contest would be bitter and deadly. A
+pretence was made that the young count's accoutrements were not ready,
+and that, therefore, he would have to remain in Brussels.
+
+    "But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the completion of his
+    accoutrements, and swore by St. George, the greatest oath he ever
+    used, that he would rather go in his shirt than not accompany his
+    father to punish his impudent rebel subjects."[13]
+
+The approaching hostilities were watched by foreign merchants in dread
+of commercial disaster.
+
+    "On May 18th, the _nations_[14] of the merchants of Bruges
+    departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make peace between that
+    city and the Duke of Burgundy, and there were _nations_ of Spain,
+    Aragon, Portugal, and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese,
+    Genoese, and Luccans."[15]
+
+But the men of Ghent were beyond the point where commercial arguments
+could stem their course. The very day that this company arrived in the
+city, the burghers sallied forth six or seven thousand strong, fully
+equipped for offensive warfare.
+
+Both the actual engagements and guerilla skirmishes that raged over
+a minute stretch of territory were characterised by an extraordinary
+ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip was determined to
+relieve, men were beheaded like sheep.
+
+In the first regular engagement in which Charles took part, he showed
+a brave front and learned the duties of a prince by rewarding others
+with the honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the course of the
+war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Burgundy, and the gallant Jacques
+de Lalaing. Philip grieved deeply over the death of the former, his
+favourite among his natural sons, and buried him with all honours in
+the Church of Ste-Gudule in Brussels. The title by which he was known,
+hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his brother Anthony.
+Lalaing, too, was greatly mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his
+thirty-third year.
+
+There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legitimate heir might also
+perish in these conflicts where there was no mercy, that Charles was
+persuaded to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would keep
+him by her side. She made a feast in his honour, but, to the surprise
+of all, the duchess, who had wished to protect her son from the mild
+perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with brave words to return
+to fight in all earnest for his inheritance.[16] He himself was very
+indignant at the efforts to treat him as a child.
+
+The first truce and negotiations for peace, initiated in the summer of
+1452, were broken off because the conditions were unbearable to the
+Ghenters. Another year of warfare followed before the decisive battle
+of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced them sadly to succumb. There was
+no other course open to them. Not only were they defeated but their
+numbers were decimated.[17] With full allowance for exaggeration, it
+is certain that the loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at
+an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every humiliating detail.
+More, the defeated rebels were bidden to be grateful that their kind
+sovereign had imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to abating
+the severity of the articles, he declared that he would not change an
+_a_ for a _b_.[18]
+
+The chief provisions were as follows: The deans of the gilds were
+deprived of participation in the election of sheriffs. The privileges
+of the naturalisation laws were considerably abridged. No sentence of
+banishment could be pronounced without the intervention of the duke's
+bailiff, whose authorisation, too, was required before the publication
+of edicts, ordinances, etc. The sheriffs were forbidden to place their
+names at the head of letters to the officers of the duke. The banners
+were to be delivered to the duke and placed under five locks, whose
+several keys should be deposited with as many different people,
+without whose consensus the banners could not be brought forth to lead
+the burghers to sedition. One gate was to be closed every Thursday in
+memory of the day when the citizens had marched through it to attack
+their liege lord, and another was to be barred up in perpetuity or
+at the pleasure of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his
+enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid by the city.
+
+July 30th was the date appointed for the final act of submission, the
+_amende honorable_ of the unfortunate city. The scene was very similar
+to that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand citizens headed by the
+sheriffs, councillors, and captains of the burgher guard met the
+duke and his suite a league without the walls of Ghent. Bareheaded,
+barefooted, and divested of all their robes of office and of dignity,
+clad only in shirts and small clothes, these magistrates confessed
+that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly rebellion, and
+begged his pardon most humbly.
+
+The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gaveren, prepared to march
+out in the morning with his whole army in handsome array. Philip was
+magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same horse which he had used
+on the day of battle, with the various wounds received on that day
+ostentatiously plastered over to make a dramatic show of what the
+injured sovereign had suffered at the hands of his disloyal subjects.
+
+The civic procession was headed by the Abbot of St. Bavon and the
+Prior of the Carthusians. The burghers who followed the half-clad
+officials were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and
+ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust and cried, "Mercy on
+the town of Ghent." While they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman
+of the council made an elaborate speech in French, assuring the
+duke that if, out of his benign grace. he would take his loving and
+repentant subjects again into his favour, they would never again give
+him cause for reproach.
+
+    "At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and the Count of
+    Charolais, there present, pardoned the petitioners for their evil
+    deeds. The men of Ghent re-entered their town more happy and
+    rejoiced than can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille,
+    having disbanded his army, that every one might return to their
+    several homes." [19]
+
+The joy experienced by the conquered, here described by La Marche, as
+he looked back at the event from the calm retirement of his old age,
+was not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of this war was
+watched eagerly from other parts of Philip's dominion. His army was
+full of men from both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports to
+their own homes. Some passages from one of these reports by an unknown
+war correspondent run as follows:
+
+    "As to news from here, Monday after St. Magdalen's Day,
+    Monseigneur the duke got the better of the Ghenters near Gaveren
+    between ten and eleven o'clock. They attacked him near his
+    quarters.... The duke risked his own person in advance of his
+    company in the very worst of the slaughter, which lasted from the
+    said place up to Ghent, a distance of about two leagues. The slain
+    number three or four thousand, more or less, and those drowned in
+    the river of Quaux about two hundred.... This Tuesday, the date of
+    writing, the army departs from their quarters to advance on Ghent
+    to demand the conditions lately offered them, and the bearer of
+    this letter will tell you what is the result. M. the duke and
+    his army marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of the
+    citizens. They are very bitter and despondent. M. the marshall has
+    been parleying. I hear that matters have been settled. I hear that
+    the Ghenters' loss is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I
+    cannot write more for I have no time owing to the haste of the
+    messenger."
+
+This was written July 23d. There is another despatch of July 31st,
+giving the last news, which was "very joyous." The public apology had
+just been enacted--
+
+    "and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as a confession
+    that my said seigneur was victorious, those of Ghent have
+    delivered up all their banners to the number of eighty. And on
+    this day my said lord has created seven or eight knights and
+    heralds in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable."[20]
+
+The duke's victory was certainly "inestimable" in its value to him,
+yet, in spite of the rigour enforced on this defeated people, they
+were not as crushed as they might have been had they submitted in
+1445. Philip was clever enough to be more lenient than appeared at
+first. Ancient privileges were confirmed in a special compact, and the
+duke swore to maintain all former concessions in their entirety except
+in the points above specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed, and
+it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff refused to sustain the
+sheriffs in their exercise of justice, or tried to arrogate to himself
+more than his due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly, and
+more important than all, the duke made no attempt to revive the demand
+for the _gabelle_--salt was left free and untaxed. As a matter of
+fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfilment of every item
+of the treaty and, two years later, he increased certain privileges.
+He had cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to pit his strength
+again with Flemish communes. He had taught the audacious rebels a
+lesson and that sufficed him.[21]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Blok, _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg.
+Oostenrijksche Heerschappij,_ p. 84.]
+
+[Footnote 2: La Marche, ii., 79, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See also _Chronijcke van Nederlant,_ p. 76, and
+_Vlaamsche Kronijk,_ p. 203. Ed. C. Piot.]
+
+[Footnote 4: D'Escouchy, _Chronique_, i., 110.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The items of the funeral expenses can be found in
+Laborde, i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In that same year, 1440, in which this gift is recorded,
+there is another item showing how Charles took his amusement not only
+on the harp but in planning some of the elaborate surprises regularly
+introduced between courses in the banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter,
+for making the cover of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present
+to Monseigneur on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v
+francs" (Laborde, i., 381).]
+
+[Footnote 7: La Marche, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's
+outfit cost 360 livres.]
+
+[Footnote 9: La Marche, i., ch. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv. Kervyn quotes from
+the _Dagboek des gentsche collatie_, M. Schayes.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Meyer, xvi., 303.]
+
+[Footnote 12: They were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says
+that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of
+sheriffs and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their
+seignories.--(La Marche, ii., 221. _See also_ d'Escouchy, ii., 25.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: La Marche, ii., 230.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Associations of merchants in foreign cities.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, _OEuvres_, ii., 221.]
+
+[Footnote 16: La Marche, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278. See also
+_Chronique d'Adrian de Budt_, p. 242, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Meyer, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313. Lavisse, _Histoire
+de France_, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain (ii., 375)
+puts the number at 22-30,000, including those drowned by the duke's
+order. Du Clercq lets a certain sympathy for the rebellious people
+escape his pen. Chastellain and La Marche treat the antagonism to
+taxes as unreasonable.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Chastellain, ii., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 19: La Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for
+this event.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Revue des societes savantes des departements_, 7me.
+serie, 6, p. 209.
+
+These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated July 31 and
+August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont to the magistrates
+of Baume. The former was one of the highest officials in the
+Franche-Comte. The reporter might have been one of his secretaries.
+The two notes with their unsigned enclosures were discovered (1881)in
+the archives of the town of Baume-les-Dames.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv., 494.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+1454
+
+
+After the fatigues of this contest with Ghent, followed a period of
+relaxation for the Burgundian nobles at Lille, where a notable
+round of gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph of Cleves
+inaugurated the series with an entertainment where, among other
+things, he delighted his friends by a representation of the tale of
+the miraculous swan,[1] famous in the annals of his house for bringing
+the opportune knight down the Rhine to wed the forlorn heiress.
+
+When his satisfied guests took their leave, Adolph placed a chaplet on
+the head of one of the gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a new
+amusement for the company; and under the invitation lurked a tacit
+challenge to make the coming occasion more brilliant than the first.
+Again and again was this process repeated. Entertainment followed
+entertainment, all a mixture of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose
+preparation the successive hosts vied with each other to attain
+perfection.
+
+The hard times, the stress of ready money, so eloquently painted when
+the merchants were implored to take pity on their poverty-stricken
+lord, were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest tide for skilled
+craftsmen and artisans. Any one blessed with a clever or fantastic
+idea easily found a market for the product of his brain. He could see
+his poetic or quaint conception presented to an applauding public with
+a wealth of paraphernalia that a modern stage manager would not
+scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be inferred from the ducal
+accounts, which are eloquent with information about the creators of
+all this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the wage earned by a
+painter, while the plumbers received eight. These latter were called
+upon to coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often more
+grotesque than graceful.
+
+One fete followed another from the early autumn of 1453 to February,
+1454, when "The Feast of the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was
+called, crowned the series with an elaborate magnificence that has
+never been surpassed.
+
+Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dramatic effect and it is
+more than possible that he instigated the progressive banquets for the
+express purpose of leading up to the occasion with which he intended
+to dazzle Europe.[2]
+
+[Illustration: COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER]
+
+For the duke's thoughts were now turned from civic revolts to a great
+international movement which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost
+coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Philip's will had been
+the capitulation of Constantinople to the Turks. The event long
+dreaded by pope and Christendom had happened at last (May 29, 1453).
+Again and again was the necessity for a united opposition to the
+inroads of the dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve of St.
+Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bringing an official letter
+from the pope, setting forth the dire stress of the Christian Church,
+and imploring the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her saviour,
+and to assume the leadership of a crusade in her behalf against the
+encroaching Turk.[2]
+
+Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer. Whatever the exact
+sequence of his plans in relation to the court revels, the result was
+that his own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for blazoning
+forth to the world with a flourish of trumpets his august intention of
+dislodging the invader from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.
+
+The superintendence of the arrangements for this all-eclipsing fete
+was entrusted, as La Marche relates,
+
+    "to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of the Golden
+    Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman, and to one Squire Jehan
+    Boudault, a notable and discreet man. And the duke honoured me so
+    far that he desired me to be consulted. Several councils were held
+    for the matter to which the chancellor and the first chamberlain
+    were invited. The latter had just returned from the war in
+    Luxemburg already described.
+
+    "These council meetings were very important and very private, and
+    after discussion it was decided what ceremonies and mysteries were
+    to be presented. The duke desired that I should personate the
+    character of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at this
+    assembly."
+
+As in many half amateur affairs the preparations took more time than
+was expected. At the first date set, all was not in readiness and the
+performance was postponed until February 17th. This entailed serious
+loss upon the provision merchants and they received compensation for
+the spoiled birds and other perishable edibles.[4]
+
+The gala-day opened with a tournament at which Adolph of Cleves again
+sported as Knight of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers. After
+the jousting, the guests adjourned to the banqueting hall, where fancy
+had indeed, run riot, to make ready for their admiring eyes and their
+sagacious palates. _Entremets_ is the term applied to the elaborate
+set pieces and side-shows provided to entertain the feasters between
+courses, and these were on an unprecedented scale.
+
+Three tables stood prepared respectively for the duke and his suite,
+for the Count of Charolais, his cousins, and their comrades, and for
+the knights and ladies. The first table was decorated with marvellous
+constructions, among which was a cruciform church whose mimic clock
+tower was capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers. The
+enormous pie in which twenty-eight musicians were discovered when the
+crust was cut may have been the original of that pasty whose opening
+revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar plight. Wild animals
+wandered gravely at a machinist's will through deep forests, but in
+the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at least one live lion,
+for Gilles le Cat[5] received twenty shillings from the duke for the
+chain and locks he made to hold the savage beast fast "on the day of
+the said banquet."
+
+Again there was an anchored ship, manned with a full crew and rigged
+completely. "I hardly think," observes La Marche, "that the greatest
+ship in the world has a greater number of ropes and sails."
+
+Before the guests seated themselves they wandered around the hall
+and inspected the decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration
+exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the toothsome dainties
+provided for their delectation.
+
+During the progress of the banquet, the story of Jason was enacted.
+Time there certainly was for the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight
+dishes to every course, though he qualifies his statement by the
+admission that his memory might be inexact. These dishes were wheeled
+over the tables in little chariots before each person in turn.
+
+"Such were the mundane marvels that graced the fete," is the
+conclusion of La Marche's[6] exhaustive enumeration of the
+masterpieces from artists' workshops and ducal kitchen.
+
+    "I will leave them now to record a pity moving _entremets_ which
+    seemed to be more special than the others. Through the portal
+    whence the previous actors had made their entrance, came a giant
+    larger without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long
+    green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in Granada.
+    His left hand held a great, old-fashioned two-bladed axe, his
+    right hand led an elephant covered with silk. On its back was a
+    castle wherein sat a lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of
+    black cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse.[7]
+
+    "Once within the hall and in sight of the noble company, like one
+    who had work before her, she said to the giant, her conductor:
+
+      "'Giant, prithee let me stay
+        For I spy a noble throng
+        To whom I wish to speak.'
+
+     "At these words her guide conducted his charge before the ducal
+    table and there she made a piteous appeal to all assembled to come
+    to rescue her, Holy Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving
+    miscreants. As soon as she ceased speaking a body of officers
+    entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms, bringing up the rear.
+    This last carried a live pheasant ornamented with a rich collar of
+    gold studded with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maidens,
+    Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the duke, and Isabelle
+    of Neufchatel, escorted by two gentlemen of the Order. They all
+    proceeded to the host. After greetings, Toison d'Or then said:
+
+    "'High and puissant prince and my redoubtable lord, here are
+    ladies who recommend themselves very humbly to you because it is,
+    and has been, the custom at great feasts and noble assemblies to
+    present to the lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird
+    whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am sent hither with
+    these two demoiselles to present to you this noble pheasant,
+    praying you to remember them.'
+
+    "When these words were said, Monseigneur the duke, who knew for
+    what purpose he had given the banquet, looked at the personified
+    Church, and then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his
+    bosom a document containing his vow to succour Christianity, as
+    will appear later. The Church manifested her joy, and seeing that
+    my said seigneur had given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst
+    forth forth into rhyme:
+
+      "'God be praised and highly served
+        By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France.
+        Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed
+        Until it seemed thou wert reserved
+        To bring me my deliverance.
+        Near and far I seek alliance
+        And pray to God to grant thee grace
+        To work His pleasure in thy place.
+
+      "'0 every prince and noble, man and knight,
+        Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed.
+        Abandon ease, abjure delight,
+        Lift up your hand, each in his right,
+        Offer God the savings from thy greed.
+        I take my leave, imploring each, indeed,
+        To risk his life for Christian gain,
+        To serve his God and 'suage my pain.'
+
+    "At this the giant led off the elephant and departed by the same
+    way in which he had entered.
+
+    "When I had seen this _entremets_, that is, the Church and a
+    castle on the back of such a strange beast, I pondered as to
+    whether I could understand what it meant and could not make it out
+    otherwise except that she had brought this beast, rare among us,
+    in sign that she toiled and laboured in great adversity in the
+    region of Constantinople, whose trials we know, and the castle in
+    which she was signified Faith. Moreover, because this lady was
+    conducted by this mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished
+    to denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had chased her away
+    and sought her destruction.
+
+    "As soon as this play was played out, the noble gentlemen, moved
+    by pity and compassion, hastened to make vows, each in his own
+    fashion."
+
+    The vow of the Count of Charolais was as follows: "I swear to God
+    my creator, and to His glorious mother, to the ladies and to the
+    pheasant, that, if my very redoubtable lord and father embark on
+    this holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I accompany him,
+    I will go and will serve him as well as I can and know how to do."
+
+Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fantastic conditions being
+appended according to individual fancy. One gentleman decided never to
+go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were accomplished. Another
+that he would eat nothing on Fridays that had ever lived until he
+had had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand to hand, and of
+attacking, at peril of his life, the banner of the Grand Turk.
+
+Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tuesday and to wear no
+protection on his right arm. This last the duke refused to permit.
+Hugues de Longueval vowed that when he had once turned his face to the
+East he would abstain from wine until he had plunged his sword in an
+infidel's blood, and that he would devote two years to the crusade
+even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople were not
+recovered. Louis de Chevelast swore that no covering should protect
+his head until he had come to within four leagues of the infidels,
+and that he would fight a Turk on foot with nothing on his arm but a
+glove. There was the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets and
+many of the self-imposed penalties were as bizarre as the side-shows.
+
+There were so many chevaliers eager to bind themselves to the
+enterprise that the prolonged ceremony threatened to become tedious.
+The duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would be equally valid
+as the day.[8]
+
+The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made his going
+dependent on the consent of the King of France, a condition very
+displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]
+
+    "To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the banquet was
+    finished and the cloth removed and every one began to walk
+    around the room. To me it seemed like a dream, for, of all the
+    decorations, soon nothing remained but the crystal fountain.
+    When there was no further spectacle to distract me, then my
+    understanding began to work and various considerations touching
+    this business came into my mind. First, I pondered upon the
+    outrageous excess and great expense incurred in a brief space by
+    these banquets, for this fashion of progressive entertainments,
+    with the hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time. All
+    had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all, especially my
+    said lord, had spent so much that I considered the whole thing
+    outrageous and without any justification for the expense, except
+    as regarded the _entremets_ of the Church and the vows. Even that
+    seemed to me too lightly treated for an important enterprise.
+
+    "Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a gentleman,
+    councillor and chamberlain, who was in my lord's confidence and
+    with whom I had some acquaintance. To him I imparted my thoughts
+    in the course of a friendly chat and his comment was as follows:
+
+    "'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet entertainments
+    would never have occurred except by the secret desire of the duke
+    to lead up to this very banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy
+    purpose and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three years
+    now since the distress of our Church was presented to the Knights
+    of the Golden Fleece at Mons. My lord there dedicated his person
+    and his wealth to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion
+    of Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and money. Thanks
+    be to God, he has attained there a good and honourable peace, as
+    every one knows. Now it has chanced that, during this very period,
+    the Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in their
+    capture of Constantinople. The need of succour is very pressing
+    and all that you have witnessed to-day is proof that the good duke
+    is intent on the weal of Christendom.'"
+
+During the progress of this conversation, a new company was ushered
+into the hall, preceded by musicians. Here came _Grace Dieu_, clad
+as a nun followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and black velvet
+ornamented with jewels. Not alone did they come. Each gentleman
+escorted a dame wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged
+round skirt _a la Portuguaise. Grace Dieu_ declared in rhyme that God
+had heard the pious resolution of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had
+forthwith sent her with her twelve attendants to promise him a happy
+termination to his enterprise. Her ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice,
+Reason, Prudence, and their sisters, were then presented to him.
+_Grace Dieu_ departs alone and no sooner has she disappeared than
+Philip's new attributes begin to dance to add to the good cheer. Among
+the knights was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among the ladies
+was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy, and the others were all of high
+birth. Not until two o'clock did the revels finally cease.
+
+It must be noted that La Marche's reflections upon the extravagance of
+the entertainment occur also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both
+drew their moralising from another author. It is stated by several
+reputable chroniclers that Olivier de la Marche himself represented
+the Church. That he merely wrote her lines is far more probable.
+Female performers certainly appeared freely in these as in other
+masques, and there was no reason for putting a handsome youth in this
+role of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans that La Marche
+claims to have heard discussed in the council meeting, he says plainly
+that he was to play the role of Holy Church, but as he makes no
+further allusion to the fact, it may be dismissed as one of his
+careless statements.
+
+This pompous announcement of big plans was the prelude to nothing! Yet
+it was by no means a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to
+make this crusade the crowning event of his life, and his proceedings
+immediately after the great fete were all to further that end. To
+obtain allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to ensure a peaceful
+succession for his son in case of his own death in the East--such were
+the cares demanding the duke's attention.
+
+The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was entrusted with the regency
+for the term of his father's sojourn abroad in quest of allies, and
+he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of government, but he was
+speedily recalled to Lille to submit once more to paternal authority
+before being left to his own devices and to maternal bias.
+
+For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the subject of their son's
+second marriage. Isabella wished that a bride should be sought in
+England, and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles himself. The
+important topic was discussed with more or less freedom among the
+young courtiers, until the drift of the conversations, whose burden
+was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came to Philip's ears,
+together with the information that one of his own children was among
+those who incited the count to independent desires about his future
+wife. Very stern was the duke in his reprimand to the two young men.
+He acknowledged that force of circumstances had once led him into
+friendly bonds with the foes of his own France, but never had he been
+"English at heart." Charles must accept his father's decision on pain
+of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip added, turning to the
+other son, destitute of status in the eyes of the law, "if I find that
+he counsels you to oppose my will, I will have him tied up in a sack
+and thrown into the sea."[9]
+
+The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of Bourbon, daughter
+of the duke's sister, and the betrothal was hastily made. Even the
+approval of the bride's parents was dispensed with. This passed the
+more easily as the young lady herself was conveniently present in the
+Burgundian court under the guardianship of her aunt, the duchess,
+who had superintended her education. A papal dispensation was more
+necessary than paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far as
+the betrothal was concerned. To that extent was Philip obeyed. Then
+Charles returned to Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to
+obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enterprise.
+
+The duke's departure from Lille was made very privately at five
+o'clock in the morning. He was off before his courtiers were aware of
+his last preparations. That was a surprise, but not the only one in
+store for those left behind. In order to save every penny for his
+journey, Philip ordered radical retrenchment in his household
+expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his retainers were abolished
+and all alike found themselves forced to restrict their appetites to
+the dainties they could purchase with the table allowance accorded
+them. "The court's leg is broken," said Michel, the rhetorician.[10]
+
+In his own outlay there was no stinting; the duke's progress was
+pompous and stately as was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland,
+Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and obtained permission to show
+their friendship with ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of
+"_Vive Bourgogne_." Equally hospitable were the German cities. Game,
+wine, fodder, were offered for the traveller's use at every stage, as
+he and his suite rode to the imperial diet.
+
+At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The emperor whom he had come
+so far to see in person failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the
+plan of co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic
+simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially lazy, he shrank from
+committing himself to a difficult enterprise, nor was his ambition
+tempted by possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the crown
+of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had he been personally ambitious
+he might still have been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's
+project, in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing renown of the
+greatest duke of the Occident might throw a poor emperor as ally
+into the shade. The very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had
+chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he sent his secretary,
+AEneas Sylvius, to represent him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from
+pleasing to the visitor.
+
+There were other defections, too, from the diet. None of those present
+was in a position to aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter
+was brought forward and laid on the table to be discussed at the next
+diet, appointed to meet in November at Frankfort. But Philip would
+not wait for that. Germany did not agree with him. He was not well.
+Rumours there were of various kinds about his reasons for returning
+home. They do not seem to require much explanation, however. He had
+not been met half way in Germany and was highly displeased at the
+failure. Declining all further entertainment proffered by the cities,
+he travelled back to Besancon by way of Stuttgart and Basel. In the
+early autumn he was at Dijon.
+
+During this summer, negotiations about Charles's marriage had
+continued. The Duke of Bourbon was inclined to chaffer about the dowry
+demanded by Philip. One of the estates asked for was Chinon, and it
+was urged that it, a male fief, was not capable of alienation. Philip
+was not inclined to accept this reason as final and the negotiations
+hung fire, much to the distress of the Duchess of Bourbon, who feared
+a breach between her husband and brother. Naive are the phrases in one
+of her letters as quoted by Chastellain[11]:
+
+    "MY VERY DEAR SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,
+
+    "I have heard all Boudault's message from you ... To be brief,
+    Monseigneur is content and ready to accede the points that you
+    demand. It seems to me that you ought to give him easy terms and
+    that you ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against
+    him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as done, I beg you to
+    celebrate the nuptials as soon as possible although not without me
+    as you have promised me."[12]
+
+The king, too, was interested in the matter, and wrote as follows to
+Duke Philip:
+
+    "DEAR AND MUCH LOVED BROTHER:
+
+    "Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed me of the
+    negotiations for the marriage of my cousin of Charolais, your son,
+    to my cousin Isabella of Bourbon, his daughter, which marriage
+    has been deferred, as he writes me, because he does not wish to
+    alienate to his daughter the seignory of Chateau-Chinon. It is not
+    possible for him to do this on account of the marriage agreement
+    of our daughter Jeanne and my cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein
+    it was stipulated that Chateau-Chinon should go to them and their
+    heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female line, and in
+    default of heirs male it must return to the crown as a true
+    appanage of France.
+
+    "Lest, peradventure, you may doubt the truth of this, and imagine
+    that the point is urged by our cousin of Bourbon simply as an
+    excuse for not ceding the estate, we assure you that it is true,
+    and was considered in arranging the alliance of our daughter so
+    that it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to make any
+    alienation or transfer of the territory at the marriage of his
+    daughter. We never would have permitted the marriage of our
+    daughter without this express settlement. With this consideration
+    it seems to me that you ought not to block the marriage in
+    question, especially as my cousin says he is offering you an
+    equivalent. He cannot do more as we have charged our councillor,
+    the bailiff of Berry, to explain to you in full. So pray do not
+    postpone the marriage for the above cause or for any cause, if
+    by the permission of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be
+    lawfully completed.
+
+    "Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17.
+
+    "CHARLES.[13]
+
+    CHALIGAUT."
+
+
+As the marriage was an event of importance, and the circumstances
+are simple historic facts, it is strange that there should be any
+uncertainty regarding the details of its solemnisation. But there is a
+certain vagueness about the narratives. One version is so amusing that
+it deserves a slight consideration.[14] The chronicler relates how
+Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay in the negotiations.
+Conscious of the sentiments of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared
+lest her well-known sympathies for England might prevail in the final
+decision.
+
+When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff of Berry came as the
+king's special envoy to discuss some aspects of the subject with him.
+The mission was gladly undertaken as the messenger had never seen
+Philip nor his court and he was pleased at the chance of meeting a
+personage whose fame rang through Europe. Very graciously was he
+received by the duke, who read the king's letters attentively and
+replied to the envoy's messages in general terms of courteous
+recognition, without making his own intention manifest. The bailiff
+waited for an answer, finding, in the meanwhile, that his days passed
+very agreeably.
+
+As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon Philip Pot had set
+out for the Netherlands, bearing the duke's orders to his son to
+celebrate his nuptials without further delay. The duke did not intend
+to be influenced by any one. It was his will that his son should
+accept the bride selected and that was all sufficient. The reason why
+the duke detained the king's messenger was that he "awaited news from
+Messire Philip de Pot, whom he had sent in all speed to his son to
+hasten the wedding."[15] The said gentleman found the count at Lille
+with the duchess, his mother, and he was so diligent in the discharge
+of his mission that he made all the arrangements himself and saw the
+wedding rites solemnised immediately. The bridegroom did not even know
+of the plan until the night preceding the important day. Then Philip
+Pot rode back to Dijon.
+
+When the duke was assured that the alliance was irrevocably sealed
+he was quite ready to answer the king's messenger, whom he at once
+invited to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip remarked:
+
+"Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a matter which I am
+humbly grateful for his interest in. You know my opinion. I had no
+desire to dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from Flanders; ask him
+his news and note his reply."
+
+"What tidings, Monsieur, do you bring us?
+
+Prithee impart it" said the bailiff to the chevalier. And the
+gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my faith, Monsieur bailiff, the
+greatest news that I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is
+married!"
+
+"Married! to whom?"
+
+"To whom?" responded the chevalier, "why, to his first cousin,
+Monseigneur's niece."
+
+Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's blank amazement. Again the
+latter had to be reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip Pot
+told him that it was so true that the wedded pair had spent the night
+together according to their lawful right.
+
+The bailiff did not know which way to turn. "So he acted out his
+two roles. Returning thanks to the duke in the king's name with all
+formality, he then joined in the general laugh over the unsuspected
+trick. He was a man of the world and knew how to take advantage of
+sense and of folly."
+
+It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the wedding knot that the
+Countess of Charolais sent a messenger to announce the fact to her
+parents. They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made no further
+objection to any point, and the mooted territory of Chinon made part
+of the dower in spite of the reasons urged against it.
+
+As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at Dijon, Philip presented
+him with a round dozen stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks,
+and he went home a surprised and delighted man.
+
+    "About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Monsieur de Charolais
+    married Mademoiselle de Bourbon and he married her on the eve of
+    All Saints[16] at Lille, and there was no festival because Duke
+    Philip was then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the
+    duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the ladies of
+    Lille, but they were seated all together, as is usually done at
+    an ordinary banquet, without mesdames holding state as would have
+    been proper for such an occasion."
+
+It is evident from all the stories that Charles protested against his
+father's orders as much as he dared and then obeyed simply because he
+could not help himself.
+
+Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom proved a faithful
+husband in a court where marital fidelity was a rare trait.
+
+Philip's plans for the international union against the Turk were less
+easily completed than those for the union of his son and his niece. In
+November, the diet met at Frankfort; the expedition was discussed and
+some resolutions were passed, but nothing further was achieved.
+
+Charles VII. would not even promise co-operation on paper. He had
+gradually extended his own domain in French-speaking territory and had
+dislodged the English from every stronghold except Guisnes and Calais.
+Under him France was regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose,
+therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by Philip and he was
+wholly unwilling to risk it. From him Philip obtained only expressions
+of general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and more definite
+suggestions of the dangers that would menace Western Europe if all her
+natural defenders carried their arms and their fortunes to the East.
+
+When the anniversary of the great fete came round not a vow was yet
+fulfilled!
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The chroniclers are not at one on this point.]
+
+[Footnote 3: DuClercq, _Memoires_, ii., 159.]
+
+[Footnote 4: This banquet at Lille was the subject of several
+descriptions by spectators or at least contemporary authors.
+
+The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript copied from an
+older one which contains the order of proceedings together with the
+text of all vows. There is a minute description in Mathieu d'Escouchy,
+who claims to have been present, and in a manuscript coming from
+Baluze, whose anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of
+the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most original.
+One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon, called Dion du Cret,
+received, in 1455, a sum of five francs and a half for having, at the
+order of the accountants, copied and written in parchment the history
+of the banquet of my said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453,
+containing fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note).
+It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with this
+account, which seems to have been merely a copy.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Laborde, i., 127.]
+
+[Footnote 6: II., 361.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion.
+_Beguine_ is probably the right reading.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Mathieu d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as
+though made then, and differs in many unessential points from La
+Marche's account.
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clerq, ii., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 10:'"Michel dit que le gigot de la cour etait rompu."--La
+Marche, i., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Chastellain, iii., 20, note.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "Toute fois que ce ne soit pas sans moy."]
+
+[Footnote 13: The original, signed, is in the _Archives de la
+Cote-d'Or,_ B. 200. _See_ Du Fresne de Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
+VII_., v. 470.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Chastellain, iii., 23, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 24]
+
+
+[Footnote 16: The chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain
+(iii., 25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch.
+cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallowe'en _(Les
+Honneurs de la Cour_, p. 187). The last was one of Isabella's ladies
+in waiting.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+1455-1456.
+
+
+The duke's journey failed in accomplishing its object, but it proved
+an important factor in the development of the character of Charles of
+Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the government in his father's
+absence changed him from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he
+was, was plain to see.
+
+His character was built on singularly simple lines. Vigorous of
+body, intense of purpose, inclined to melancholy, he was profoundly
+convinced of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke in
+Christendom, as future successor to an uncrowned potentate, who could
+afford to treat lightly the authority of both king and emperor whose
+nominal vassal he was.
+
+The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an immense effect in enhancing
+the count's belief in his father's power, in causing him to forget
+that the communes of Flanders did not owe their existence to their
+overlord. As yet, Charles of Burgundy had not met a single check to
+his self-esteem, to his family pride. As a governor, he probably
+exercised his brief authority with the rigour of one new to the helm.
+
+    "And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well and so virtuously
+    in the task, that nothing deteriorated under his hand, and when
+    the good duke returned from his journey, he found his lands as
+    intact as before."
+
+Such, is La Marche's testimony.[1] Intact undoubtedly, but possibly
+the satisfaction was not quite perfect. Du Clercq[2] declares that
+Count Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge and made
+himself respected as a magistrate. Above all, he insisted that justice
+should be dealt out to all alike. The only danger in his methods was
+that he acted on impulse without sufficiently informing himself of the
+matter in hand, or hearing both sides of a controversy. As a result,
+his decisions were not always impartial and the father was preferred
+to the strenuous and impetuous son. "Not that Philip was often
+inclined to recognise other law than his own will, but he was more
+tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more guided by reason," adds
+a later author.[2] There was an evident dread as to what might be the
+outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour.
+
+The duke's chief measures after his return in February, 1455, seemed
+hardly calculated to arouse any great personal devotion to himself or
+a profound trust that his first consideration was for the advantage of
+his Netherland subjects. His thoughts were still turned to the East,
+and his main interest in the individual countships was as sources of
+supply for his Holy War. Considerable sums flowed into his exchequer
+that were never used for their destined purpose, but the duke cannot
+be justly accused of actual bad faith in amassing them. His intention
+to make the Eastern campaign remained firm for some years.
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF CHARLES THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK]
+
+In another matter, his despotic exercise of personal authority, far
+without the pale of his jurisdiction inherited or acquired, shows no
+shadow of excuse.
+
+In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical head was also lay
+lord. Here the counts of Holland possessed no voice. They were near
+neighbours, that was all. Philip ardently desired to be more in this
+tiny independent state in the midst of territories acknowledging his
+sway.
+
+In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and Philip was most anxious
+to have it filled by his son David, whom he had already made Bishop of
+Therouanne by somewhat questionable methods. The Duke of Guelders
+also had a neighbourly interest in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet
+candidate, Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged. The chapter
+resolutely ignored the wishes of both dukes and the canons were almost
+unanimous in their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.[4]
+
+A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria, but not a single
+one for David of Burgundy.
+
+Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral and an eminently
+worthy choice, both for his attainments and for his character. He was
+proclaimed in the cathedral, installed in the palace, and confirmed,
+as regarded his temporal power, by the emperor.
+
+Philip, however, refused to accept the returns, although not a single
+suffrage had been cast by the qualified electors for his son. He
+despatched the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new pope,
+Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late election and to confer
+the see upon David, out of hand. Philip's tender conscience found
+Gijsbrecht ineligible to an episcopal office because he had
+participated in the war against Ghent, certainly a weak plea in an age
+of militant bishops!
+
+The pope was afraid to offend the one man in Europe upon whose
+immediate aid he counted in the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift
+of four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys, the customary
+gift in asking papal confirmation for a bishop-elect, but secretly
+he delivered to Philip's ambassador letters patent creating David of
+Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.[5]
+
+The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically that David was elected
+to the see, and the Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
+Philip had to levy an army and come in person to support the new
+bishop.[6] Du Clercq puts a different colour on the story and
+d'Escouchy[7] implies that the whole trouble arose from party strife
+which had to be quelled in the interests of law and order.
+
+Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters by imposing upon
+them a spiritual director of acknowledged base birth, the right of
+choice lay with them and the emperor had confirmed their choice as far
+as the lay office was concerned. While the issue was undecided, the
+Estates of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and defender of the
+see to assure him a legal status pending the papal ratification. The
+people were prepared to support their candidate with arms, a game that
+Philip did not refuse, and the force of thirty thousand men with which
+he invaded the bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two and
+able to carry David of Burgundy to the episcopal throne, upon which he
+was seated in his father's presence, October 16, 1455.
+
+Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advantages from the situation.
+Alkmaar and Kennemerland redeemed certain forfeited privileges by
+means of their contributions to the duke's army. The city of Utrecht
+preferred a compromise to the risk of war. The bishop-elect,
+Gijsbrecht, consented to withdraw his claim, being permitted to retain
+the humbler office of provost of Utrecht and an annuity of four
+thousand guilders out of the episcopal revenues.
+
+Deventer was the only place which was obstinate enough to persist in
+her rebellion and Philip was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms
+by a siege when news was brought to him that a visitor had arrived at
+Brussels under circumstances which imperatively demanded his personal
+attention.
+
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since the Treaty of Arras, there
+had been great changes in France in the character both of the realm
+and of the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved himself to
+be a very different person from the inert king of Bourges.[8] Old at
+twenty, Charles VII. seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers
+were replaced by others better chosen and his administration gradually
+became effective. Fortune favoured him in depriving England of the
+Duke of Bedford (1435), the one man who might have maintained English
+prestige abroad and peace at home during the youth of Henry VI. It was
+at a time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles VII. succeeded
+in assuming the offensive on the Continent and in wresting Normandy
+and Guienne from the late invader.
+
+But this territorial advantage was not all. Distinct progress had been
+made towards a national existence in France. The establishment of
+the nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid in curbing the
+depredations of the "_ecorcheurs_," the devastating, marauding
+bands which had harassed the provinces. There was new activity in
+agriculture and industry and commerce.[9] The revival of letters and
+art, never completely stifled, proved the real vitality of France in
+spite of the depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal justice was
+reorganised, public finance was better administered. By 1456, misery
+had not, indeed, disappeared, but it was less dominant.
+
+The years of growing union between king and his kingdom were, however,
+years of discord between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis had
+not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his Burgundian cousin. Very
+poor and forlorn was his father at the time of the birth of his heir
+(1423).[10] There was nothing in the treasury to pay the chaplain who
+baptised the child or the woman who nourished him. The latter received
+no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of fifteen pounds.
+The first allowance settled on the heir to his unconsecrated royal
+father's uncertain fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every feature of
+his infancy was a marked contrast to the early life of the Count of
+Charolais.
+
+From his seventeenth year Louis was in active opposition to the
+king, heading organised rebellion against him in the war called
+the _Praguerie_. Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his charge the
+administration of Dauphine, thus practically banishing him honourably
+from the court where he was, evidently, a disturbing element. The only
+restrictions placed upon him in his provincial government were such
+as were necessary to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown. To
+these restrictions, however, Louis paid not the slightest heed. He
+assumed all the airs of an independent sovereign. He made wars and
+treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded to arrange his own
+marriage.
+
+At this time Louis was already a widower, having been married at the
+age of thirteen to Margaret of Scotland, who led a mournful existence
+at the French court, where she felt herself a desolate alien. Her
+death at the age of twenty was possibly due to slander. "Fie upon
+life," she said on her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
+the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk to me no more of it."
+
+Her husband cared less for her life than did Margaret herself. He took
+no interest in the inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
+charges against the princess, and was more than ready to turn to a new
+alliance. At the date of his widowerhood he was in Dauphine and his
+own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Savoy.
+After negotiations in his own behalf he informed his father of his
+matrimonial project. It did not meet the views of Charles VII., who
+ordered his son to abandon the idea immediately.
+
+A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambery to stop the
+dauphin's nuptials.[11] The duke evaded an interview and the envoy was
+forced to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy. On the morrow
+of his arrival, he was taken to church, where the wedding ceremony was
+performed (March 10, 1451), but his seat was in such a remote place
+that he could barely catch a glimpse of the bridal procession, though
+he saw that Louis was clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two
+days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to the king, expressing
+regrets on the part of the Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made
+before the paternal prohibition arrived.
+
+Nine years were spent by Louis in Dauphine. He introduced many
+administrative and judicial reforms, excellent in themselves but not
+popular. There were various protests and when he dared to impose taxes
+without the consent of the Estates, an appeal was made to the king
+begging him to check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles
+summoned his son to his presence. Instead of obeying this order in
+person, Louis sent envoys who were dismissed by his father with a curt
+response: "Let my son return to his duty and he shall be treated as a
+son. As to his fears, security to his person is pledged by my word,
+which my foes have never refused to accept."[12]
+
+Louis showed himself less compliant than his father's foes. As Charles
+approached Dauphine, and made his preparations to enforce obedience,
+Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the Duke of Burgundy,
+and of the King of Castile, beside sending offerings to all the chief
+shrines in Christendom, imploring aid against parental wrath. Then
+his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He called the nobles of his
+principality to arms and bade the fortified towns prepare for siege,
+while he loftily declared that he would not trouble his father to seek
+him. He would meet him at Lyons.
+
+Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was directed by the king to take
+military possession of Dauphine and to put the dauphin under arrest.
+As he was _en route_ to fulfil these orders, the count heard that
+a day had been set by Louis for a great hunt. That an excellent
+opportunity might be afforded for securing his quarry in the course
+of the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's lieutenant. So
+there might have been had not the wily hunter received timely warning
+of the project for making _him_ the game.
+
+At the hour appointed for the meet, the dauphin's suite rode to the
+rendezvous, but the prince turned his horse in the opposite direction
+and galloped away at full speed, attended by a few trusty followers.
+He hardly stopped even to take breath until he was out of his father's
+domain, and made no pause until he reached St. Claude, a small town
+in the Franche-Comte, where he threw himself on the kindness of the
+Prince of Orange.
+
+How gossip about this strange departure of the French heir fluttered
+here and there! Du Clercq[13] tells the story with some variation from
+the above outline, laying more stress on the popular appeal to the
+king for relief from Louis's transgressions as governor of Dauphine,
+and enlarging on the accusation that Louis was responsible for the
+death of _La belle Agnes_, "the first lady of the land possessing the
+king's perfect love." He adds that the dauphin was further displeased
+because the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de Villeclerc,
+was kept at court after her aunt's death. Wherever the king went he
+was followed by this lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
+this conduct of his father that had forced the son to absent himself
+from court life for twelve years and more, during which time he
+received no allowance as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
+obliged to make his own requisitions from his seigniory.
+
+There were other reports that the king was quite ready to accord his
+son his full state; others, again, that Charles drove Louis into exile
+from mere dislike and intended to make his second son his heir and
+successor. At this point Du Clercq's manuscript is broken off abruptly
+and the remainder of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where the
+text begins again, the author dismisses all this contradictory hearsay
+and says in his own character as veracious chronicler, "I concern
+myself only with what actually occurred. The dauphin gave a feast
+in the forest and then departed secretly to avoid being arrested by
+Dammartin."
+
+This flight was the not unnatural termination of a long series of
+misunderstandings between a father whose private conduct was not above
+criticism, and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute of respect for
+any person or thing except for the superstitious side of his religion.
+
+Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man whose mental development
+occurred during the later years of his life. When his son was under
+his personal influence his character was not one to instil filial
+deference, and Louis certainly cherished neither respect nor affection
+for the father whose inert years he remembered vividly.
+
+Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in Agnes Sorel's death which
+gave him especial reason to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
+of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he travelled as rapidly
+as his steed could go, and from that spot on Burgundian soil he
+despatched the following exemplary letter to his father:
+
+    "MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LORD:
+
+    "To your good grace I recommend myself as humbly as I can. Be
+    pleased to know, my very redoubtable lord, that because, as you
+    know, my uncle of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade
+    against the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because my
+    desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting, considering that
+    our Holy Father the Pope bade me so to do, and that I am standard
+    bearer of the Church, and that I took the oath by your command, I
+    am now on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that I can
+    take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith.
+
+    "Also, I wish to implore him to find means of reinstating me in
+    your good grace, which is something that I desire most in the
+    world. My very redoubtable lord, I pray God to give you good life
+    and long.
+
+    "Written at St. Claude the last day of August.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient son,
+
+    "LOYS."[14]
+
+
+This letter hardly succeeded in carrying conviction to the king.
+He characterised the projected expedition to Turkey as a farce, a
+pretence, and a frivolous excuse.[15] Probably, too, he did not
+contradict his courtiers when they declared that the project had
+been in the wind a long time, and that the Duke of Burgundy would
+be prouder than ever to have the heir to France dependent on his
+protection.
+
+The epistle despatched, Louis continued his journey under the escort
+of the Seigneur de Blaumont, Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of
+thirty horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit of Tristan
+l'Hermite. The prince needed no spurs to make him flee. Even if his
+father did not intend to have him drowned in a sack his immediate
+liberty was certainly in jeopardy. "In truth this thing was a
+marvellous business. The Prince of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy
+were the two men whom the dauphin hated more than any one else,
+but necessity, which knows no law, overcame the distaste of the
+dauphin."[16]
+
+Louvain was the next place where Louis felt safe enough to rest. Here
+he wrote to the Duke of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his
+territory. The letter found Philip in camp before Deventer. It is
+evident that he was entirely taken by surprise, and was prepared to be
+very cautious in his correspondence with the French king. He assured
+him that he was willing to receive and honour Louis as his suzerain's
+heir, but he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the duke, for
+that heir's flight to his protection.
+
+His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many reassuring messages in
+addition to the epistle. Before he reached the French court, his
+news was no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The messenger was very
+eloquent in his assurances to the king that Philip was wholly innocent
+in the affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet
+
+    "stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do not know what
+    they discussed, but during that time news came that the king had
+    garrisoned Compiegne, Lyons, and places where his lands touched
+    the duke's territories. When the envoy returned to the duke, he
+    published a manifesto ordering all who could bear arms to be in
+    readiness."[17]
+
+Philip sent messages of welcome to Louis with apologies for his
+own inevitable absence, and the visitor was profuse in his return
+assurances to his uncle that he understood the delay and would not
+disturb his business for the world. "I have leisure enough to wait and
+it does not weary me. I am safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town
+which I have long wished to see." He showed his courtesy when the
+Count d'Etampes, Philip's nephew-in-law, presented his suite, by
+pronouncing each individual name and assuring its bearer that he had
+heard about him.[18]
+
+The count was commissioned to conduct the dauphin to Brussels and we
+have the story of an eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the
+ducal family:
+
+    "I saw the King of France, father of the present King Charles,
+    chased away by his father Charles for some difference of which
+    they say that the fair Agnes was the cause, and on account of
+    which he took refuge with Duke Philip, for he had no means of
+    subsistence.[19]
+
+    "The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to Brussels accompanied
+    by about ten cavaliers and by the Marshal of Burgundy. At this
+    time Duke Philip was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to
+    receive the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and Madame
+    de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant with Madame Mary of
+    Burgundy, since then Duchess of Austria.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where were the ladies,
+    at eight o'clock in the evening, about St. Martin's Day.[20] When
+    the ladies heard that he was in the city they hastened down to the
+    courtyard to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted and
+    saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charolais and Mme. de
+    Ravestein. All kneeled and then he kissed the other ladies of the
+    court."
+
+Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter of an hour was
+consumed by a friendly altercation between Isabella and her guest as
+to the exact way in which they should enter the door, the dauphin
+resolute in his refusal to take precedence and Isabella equally
+resolute not even to walk by the side of the future king. "Monsieur,
+it seems to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for you wish
+me to do what befits me not." To this the dauphin replied that it was
+incumbent upon him to pay honour for there was none in the realm of
+France so poor as he, and that he would not have known whither to flee
+if not to his uncle Philip and to her.
+
+Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess and guest finally
+proceeded hand in hand to the chamber prepared for the latter and
+Isabella then took leave on bended knee.
+
+When the duke returned to Brussels this contention as to the proper
+etiquette was renewed. Isabella tried to retain the dauphin in his own
+apartment so that the duke should greet him there as befitted their
+relative rank. She was greatly chagrined, therefore, when Louis
+rushed down to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival. This
+punctilious hostess actually held the prince back by his coat to
+prevent his advancing towards the duke.
+
+Throughout the visit the minor points of etiquette were observed with
+the utmost care. Both duchess and countess refrained from employing
+their train-bearers when they entered the dauphin's presence. When he
+insisted that his hostess should walk by his side, she managed her own
+train if possible. If she accepted any aid from her gentlemen she was
+very careful to keep her hand upon the dress, so that technically she
+was still her own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess ate in the
+dauphin's presence, there was no cover to her dish and nothing was
+tasted in her behalf.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis with every requisite, but he,
+too, never forgot for a moment that this dependent visitor was future
+monarch of France. Without doors as within, every minor detail of
+etiquette was observed. The duke never so far forgot himself in the
+ardour of the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance beyond
+the tail of the prince's steed.
+
+In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary of Burgundy was born.
+Our observant court lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed
+in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and at the baptism.
+Brussels rang with joyful bells and blazed with torches, four hundred
+supplied by the city ahd two hundred by the young father. Each torch
+weighed four or five pounds.
+
+The Count of Charolais was his own messenger to announce the birth of
+his daughter to the dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joyful
+was Louis to accept the invitation and to bestow his mother's name on
+the baby-girl. Ste. Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church
+of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony and richly adorned
+with Holland linen, velvet, and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her
+grandchild to the font,--a font draped with cramoisy velvet.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I heard it said that
+    there was no one on the left because there was none his equal. On
+    that day, the duchess wore a round skirt _a la Portuguaise_, edged
+    with fur. There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot
+    state who carried it,"
+
+sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic.
+
+Later events made later chroniclers less enthusiastic about the honour
+paid to Mademoiselle[21] Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La
+Marche's _Memoires_ at The Hague, the words "Lord! what a god-father!"
+appear in the margin of the page describing the baptism.[22] But in
+these early days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have been
+a pleasant person and to have posed as the ruined poor relation,
+entirely free from pride at his high birth and delighted to repay
+hospitality by his general complaisance.
+
+Charles VII. received all the reports with somewhat cynical amusement.
+He had no great trust in his son. "Louis is fickle and changeable and
+I do not doubt that he will return here before long. I am not at all
+pleased with those who influence him," are his words as quoted by
+d'Escouchy.[23]
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI FROM THE ENGRAVING BY A. BOILLY, AFTER THE
+DRAWING BY J. BOILLY]
+
+Undoubtedly, though, the king was much surprised at his son's action.
+He had rather expected him to take refuge somewhere but he never
+thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his protector--a strange
+choice to his mind. "My cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will
+eat his chickens" is reported as another comment of this impartial
+father.[24] Like many a phrase, possibly the fruit of later harvests,
+this is an excellent epitome of the situation.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: I.,ch. xxxi.]
+
+[Footnote 2:II.,204.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Barante, vi.,50.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Some of the canons wrote their reasons after their
+recorded vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate member
+of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which office
+Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all the Sticht nobles
+were his relations," etc.--(Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Historie,_ iv.,
+50.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: Du Clercq, ii., 210.]
+
+[Footnote 6: _Memoires_, i., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 7: II., 315.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 317.]
+
+[Footnote 9: For the effects of operations on a large scale see
+_Jacques Coeur and Charles VII_., by Pierre Clemart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Duclos_, "Hist. de Louis XI.," _OEuvres Completes_ v.,
+8.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Duclos, iii., 78.]
+
+[Footnote 12: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 292.]
+
+[Footnote 13: II.,223.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Lettres de Louis XI_., i., 77.
+
+According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter shows
+that _September 2nd_ was written first and erased.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 185.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Du Clercq, ii., 228.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Chastellain iii., 197.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Sejour de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas;_ Reiffenberg:
+Nouveaux mem. de l'Acad. Royale, 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Alienor de Poictiers, _Les Honneurs de la Cour_, ii.,
+208. It was early in October.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This date, November 11th, does not agree with the
+others.]
+
+[Footnote 21: "At that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was
+not the son of a sovereign."--La Marche, ii., 410, note.]
+
+[Footnote 22: La Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain!"]
+
+[Footnote 23: II., 343.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iii., 185; Lavisse iv^{ii}., 299.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+1456-1461
+
+
+The picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing in happy unison over the
+advent of an heiress to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with the
+dauphin participating in the family joy, shows the tranquil side of
+the first months of the long visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an
+incident had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin and Charles
+VII. were not the only father and son between whom relations were
+strained, and that a moment had arrived when the attitude of the Count
+of Charolais to the duke was no longer characterised by unquestioning
+filial obedience.
+
+Charles was on his way to Nuremberg[1] to fulfil a mission with
+certain German princes when the dauphin alighted in Brabant, like "a
+bird of ill omen," as he designated himself on one occasion. The count
+did not return to Brussels until January 12, 1457. Thus he took no
+part in the hearty welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than
+possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly pleased with the
+state of affairs placidly existing by mid-winter.
+
+Instead of resuming the first position which he had enjoyed during his
+brief regency, or the honoured second that had been his after Philip
+came back, Charles was now relegated to a third place. Further,
+without having been consulted as to the policy, he found that he
+was forced into following his father's lead in treating a penniless
+refugee like an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and a joy. It
+is more than probable that Charles was already feeling somewhat hurt
+at the duke's warmth towards Louis when a serious breach occurred
+between father and son about another matter.
+
+It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant in his own household,
+and the count assumed that the appointment of a successor was
+something that lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the duke
+interfered in a peremptory fashion and insisted that the appointment
+should be made at his instance, the son refused to accept his
+authority, especially as his father's nominee was Philip de Croy, one
+of a family already over-dominant in the Burgundian court. At least,
+that was Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed his father's
+commands to bring his _ordonnance_, or household list, to the duke's
+oratory, he unhesitatingly carried the document which contained the
+name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d'Emeries, in place of Philip de Croy.
+
+The duke was very angry at this apparent contempt for his expressed
+wishes. Indignantly he threw the lists into the fire with the words,
+"Now look to your _ordonnances_ for you will need new ones[2]."
+
+There was evidently a succession of violent scenes in which the
+duchess tried to stand between her husband and son. But Philip was
+beside himself with wrath and refused to listen to a word from her or
+from the dauphin, who also endeavoured to mediate[2].
+
+Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself, ordered a horse,
+and rode out alone into the forest of Soignies. When he became calmer
+it was dark and he found himself far from the beaten tracks, in the
+midst of underbrush through which he could not ride. He dismounted and
+wandered on foot for hours in the January night until smoke guided him
+to a charcoal burner, who conducted him to the more friendly shelter
+of a forester's hut. In the morning he made his way to Genappe.
+
+Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned. Search parties seeking
+their sovereign were out all night. No one, however, was in such a
+state of dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he would be counted
+at fault when family dissensions followed so soon on his arrival.
+Delighted he was, therefore, to act as mediator between father and
+son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified state to listen to
+reason. Charles betook himself to Dendermonde for a time until the
+duke was ready to see him[4]. His young wife made the most of her
+expectations to soften her father-in-law's resentment, and between
+her entreaties and those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his
+gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over.
+
+There was one marked difference between this family dispute and the
+breach between the French king and the dauphin. In the latter case no
+feeling was involved. In the former, the son was really deeply wounded
+by what he deemed lack of parental affection for his interests. At the
+same time he was shocked by the bitter words and was, for the moment,
+so filled with contrition that he was eager to make any concession
+agreeable to the duke. He dismissed two of his servants[5], suspected
+by his father of fomenting trouble between them, and he showed himself
+in general very willing to placate paternal displeasure.
+
+Reconciliation between duke and duchess was more difficult. Isabella
+resented Philip's reproaches for her sympathy with Charles. She said
+she had stepped between the two men because she had feared lest the
+duke might injure his son in his wrath[6]. This was in answer to the
+Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of Philip's displeasure.
+She concluded her dignified defence with an expression of her utter
+loneliness. Stranger in a strange land she had no one belonging to her
+but her son.
+
+She was certainly present at the baptism of her grandchild, but
+shortly afterwards she retired to a convent of the Grey Sisters,
+founded by herself, and rarely returned to the world or took part in
+its ceremonies during the remainder of her life.
+
+The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It is not probable that
+he had much personal liking for the guest upon whom his father heaped
+courtesies and solicitous care. On one occasion, when the two young
+men were hunting they were separated by chance. When Charles returned
+alone to the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his son's
+careless desertion of the guest in his charge. Again the court was
+organised into search parties and there was no rest until the dauphin
+was discovered some leagues from Brussels[7]. Here, also, it is an
+easy presumption that the Count of Charolais was a trifle sulky over
+his father's preoccupation in regard to the prince.
+
+The transient character of the dauphin's sojourn in his cousin's
+domains soon changed. In the summer of 1457, when news came that
+Dauphine had submitted to Charles VII., when the successive embassies
+despatched by Philip to the king had all proved fruitless in their
+conciliatory efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent
+arrangements for the fugitive's comfort.
+
+    "Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased to deprive you
+    of Dauphine ... you are to-day lord and prince without land. But,
+    nevertheless, you shall not be without a country, for all that I
+    have is yours and I place it within your hand without reserving
+    aught except my life and that of my wife. Pray take heart. If God
+    does not abandon me I will never abandon you[8]."
+
+The duke made good his words by giving his guest the estate of
+Genappe, of which Louis took possession at the end of July. Then as a
+further step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip sent for
+Charlotte of Savoy who had remained under her father's care ever since
+the formal marriage in 1451. She was now eighteen.
+
+It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe. Louis's favourite
+amusement of the chase was easy of access. "The court is at present
+at Louvain," wrote a courtier[9] on July 1st, "and Monseigneur the
+Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good hunting and falconry and
+a great number of rabbits within and without the city." With killing
+of every kind at his service, what greater solace could a homeless
+prince expect?
+
+From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance, and the sum of 1200
+livres, furnished by Philip for the dauphin's journey to his new
+abode, seemed a large provision. The pension then settled on him was
+36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness arrived 1000 livres a month
+were provided for her private purse[10].
+
+Pleasant was existence in this chateau. There was no dearth of company
+to throng around the prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no
+prejudice of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of duty towards
+his host to hamper him in making useful friends. A word here and
+a word there, aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had
+exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate, were very potent
+in intimating to many a Burgundian servant that there might come a
+time when a new king across the border might better appreciate their
+real value than their present or future sovereign.
+
+Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the dauphin did not confine his
+invitations to sportsmen. The easy accessibility of the little court
+attracted men of science and of letters as well as others capable of
+making the time pass agreeably. When there was nothing else on foot,
+it is said that the company amused themselves by telling stories,
+each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collection of the _Cent
+Nouvelles Nouvelles_[11], named in imitation of Boccaccio's _Cento
+Novelle_.
+
+The first printed edition of this collection was issued in Paris, in
+1486, by Antoine Verard, who thus admonishes the gentle reader: "Note
+that whenever _Monseigneur_ is referred to, Monseigneur the Dauphin
+must be understood, who has since succeeded to the crown and is King
+Louis. Then he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy." Another
+editor asserts that _Monseigneur_ is evidently the Duke of Burgundy
+and not Louis, and later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale
+wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio, and that the
+names of the narrators were as imaginative or rather as editorial as
+the rest of the volume.
+
+If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author would have given an
+appearance of verisimilitude to his fiction by mentioning the actual
+habitues of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count of Charolais
+does not appear at all. The duke tells three or more stories according
+to the interpretation given to _Monseigneur_. With three exceptions
+the tales are very coarse, nor does their wit atone for their
+licentiousness. Possibly Charles held himself aloof from the kind of
+talk they suggest. All reports make him rigid in standards of morality
+not observed by his fellows. That he had little to do with the court
+is certain, whatever his reason.
+
+Louis did not confine himself to the estate assigned him. There were
+various court visits to the Flemish towns where he was afforded
+excellent opportunities for seeing the wealth of the burghers and
+their status in the world of commerce.
+
+Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring his guest within her
+gates and give her an opportunity of displaying her regret for the
+past unpleasantness. "In his goodness," Philip at last yielded to
+their entreaties to make them a visit himself, but he decided not to
+take the prince or the count with him.[12] He was either afraid for
+their safety or else he did not care to bring a future French king
+into relation with citizens who might find it convenient to remember
+his suzerainty in order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign
+duke.[13]
+
+Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this state visit of
+reconciliation. The duke took the precaution to send scouts ahead to
+ascertain that the late rebels were sincere in their contrition, and
+that there was no danger of anarchist agitations. The report was
+brought back that all was calm and that joyful preparations were
+making to show appreciation of Philip's kindness.
+
+On April 22d, the duke slept at l'Ecluse, and on the 23d he was gaily
+escorted into the city by knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland,
+Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor priests were in his
+train." As a further assurance to him of their peaceful intention,
+the citizens actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as to
+leave open exits.
+
+Once within the walls, the duke found the whole community, who had
+shown intelligent and sturdy determination not to endure arbitrary
+tyranny, ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical and
+classical parable whose one purpose was to prove how evil had been
+their ways. A pompous procession sang _Te Deum_ as the duke rode in,
+and the first "mystery" that met his eyes within the gates was a
+wonderful representation of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, while the
+legend "All that the Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to
+refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to the Ghenters'
+perfect submission to Philip. A young girl stood ready to greet him
+with the words of Solomon, "I have found one my soul loves."[14]
+
+All the legends were in Latin. _Inveni quem diligit anima mea._]
+
+Farther on there were various emblems all designed to compare
+Philip now to Caesar, now to Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most
+humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed in a lion's skin,
+thus personifying the Lion of Flanders, leading Philip's horse by the
+bridle. "_Vive Bourgogne_ is now our cry," was symbolised in every
+vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent.
+
+Not altogether explicable is this extreme self-abnegation. Civic
+prosperity must have returned in four years or there would have been
+no money for the outlay. Apparently, Philip's countenance was worth
+more to them than their pride.
+
+The birth and death of two children at Genappe gave the duke new
+reasons for showering ostentatious favours on his guest, and furnished
+the dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his own father, who
+answered him in kind.
+
+The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles[l5]:
+
+  _The King to the Dauphin_, 1459.
+    "VERY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED SON:
+
+    "We have received the letters that you wrote us making mention
+    that on July 27 our dear and much loved daughter, the dauphiness,
+    was delivered of a fine boy, for which we have been and are very
+    joyous, and it seems to me that the more God our Creator grants
+    you favour, by so much the more you ought to praise and thank
+    Him and refrain from angering Him, and in all things fulfil His
+    commandments.
+
+    "Given at Compiegne, Aug.7th.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+
+During these five years, Charles was more or less aloof from the
+courts of his father and of their guest. He spent part of the time in
+Holland and part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The Count of St.
+Pol was one of his intimate friends, and a friend who managed to
+make many insinuations about the duke's treatment of his son and
+infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated with increasing
+fervency.
+
+There is a story that Charles went from Le Quesnoy to his father's
+court to demand a formal audience from the duke in order to lodge his
+protest against the Croys. Evidently relations were strained when such
+a degree of ceremony was needed between father and son.
+
+Gerard Ourre was commissioned to set forth the count's grievances, and
+he was in the midst of his carefully prepared statement when the duke
+interrupted him with the curt observation: "Have a care to say nothing
+but the truth and understand, it will be necessary to prove every
+assertion." The orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few
+moments, and then excused himself from completing his harangue.
+There were only a few nobles present and all were surprised at this
+embarrassment, as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then, seeing that
+his deputy was too much frightened to proceed, Charles took up the
+thread of his discourse. In a firm voice he continued the list of
+accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short in his turn.
+Peremptory was the duke in his command to his son to be silent and
+never again to refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip
+added "see to it that my son is satisfied with you," and withdrew from
+the audience chamber.
+
+Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be conciliatory. "When you
+have repaired the ill you have wrought I will remember the good you
+have done," was the count's only reply. He took leave of his father
+with an outward show of love and respect and returned to his wife at
+Le Quesnoy, escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of Brussels,
+but with no better understanding between them.
+
+St. Pol found good ground to work on. He inflamed the count's
+discontent and his distrust of the duke's favourite until Charles
+despatched him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascertain what
+Charles VII. would do for the heir of Burgundy should he decide to
+take refuge in the French court.[16]
+
+At the first interview "I was not present," states the unknown
+reporter, but on succeeding occasions this man heard for himself that
+the king was ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais who
+"has no ill intentions against his father. All he wants to do is to
+separate him from the people who govern him badly."
+
+The conferences were held in the lodgings of Odet d'Aydie. Among those
+present was Dammartin and the matter was discussed in its various
+aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous witness were charged with
+drawing up a report of the discussion. When this was presented to the
+king it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good faith of the
+count's message. He had been assured that it was all a fiction
+especially designed by the Sieur de Burgundy.
+
+Certain general promises were made in spite of this royal distrust,
+quite natural under the circumstances. If he decided to espouse the
+cause of Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given a command.
+It was evident that the count was by no means ready to go to all
+lengths, for St. Pol states in one of his conferences with the "late
+king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him that for two realms
+such as his he would not do a deed of villainy.
+
+Nothing came of this talk. It would have been a singular state of
+affairs had the heirs of France and Burgundy thus changed places in
+their fathers' courts. Spying and counterspying there were between
+the courts to a great extent and rumours in number. A certain Italian
+writes to the Duke of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he
+had been at Genappe and at Brussels:[17]
+
+    "M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand that the
+    reconciliation of the dauphin with the King of France would not be
+    with the approval of the Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince
+    laments that since he received the dauphin into his states,
+    and treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred the
+    implacable hatred of the king added to his ancient grievances. On
+    the other hand, the affairs of England, on whose issue depends war
+    or peace for the duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to
+    him honest to make advances to the king at this moment.
+
+    "M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem to have carried
+    into this affair the circumspection and reflection befitting a
+    prince of his quality. He has maintained towards the duke the
+    most complete silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition
+    concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is anything in it,
+    but if the thing were so it ought not to be secret. He does not
+    believe that peace will be made between the dauphin and his
+    father, and mentioned that his brother was on the embassy from
+    duke to king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the
+    bottom.
+
+    "The dauphin it seems has been out of humour with the Duke of
+    Burgundy on account of the luke-warmness shown for his interests
+    by the ambassador sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy.
+
+    "The silent agreement which reigns between the dauphin and Monsg.
+    de Charolais is one of the causes which has chilled this great
+    love between the dauphin and the duke which existed at the
+    beginning.
+
+    "Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely, especially in
+    almsgiving without considering his purse finds himself very hard
+    pressed. He has only two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of
+    Burgundy and that seems to force him into peace with the king. The
+    duke expects nothing during the king's lifetime.
+
+    "Everything makes me want to wait here for the arrival of news
+    from England. It is expected daily, good or bad the last play must
+    be made. The duke fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason
+    is going to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of celebrating
+    there the fete of the Toison d'Or he has ordered all his escort to
+    be armed."
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD. FROM A
+CONTEMPORARY SKETCH IN MS.]
+
+For a long time before his final illness the death of Charles VII. was
+anticipated. When it came it was a dolorous end.[18] At Genappe, the
+dauphin had been making his preparations for the wished-for event in
+many ways, all in exact opposition to his father's policy. In Italy
+and in Spain he sided with the opponents of Charles VII. In England,
+his sympathies were all for the House of York because his father was
+favourable to Henry of Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned
+with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV., and was more than
+willing to see him invade France. With certain princes of Germany he
+entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while his father's own
+agents disclosed secrets to him from time to time.
+
+In his exile he kept reminding official bodies at Paris that he was
+heir to the throne. As dauphin he claimed the right to give orders to
+the _parlement_ at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that he had a
+hand in the conspiracies which troubled the last year of his father's
+reign, but it is certain that he managed to win to himself a party
+within the royal circle.
+
+Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate, did not hesitate to
+suggest that Louis should be disinherited and his brother Charles put
+in his stead, but this Charles VII. would not accept. He kept hoping
+for Louis's submission. The latter, however, had no idea of this. He
+was sure that his father would not live to grow old. A trouble in his
+leg threatened to be cancerous. In July, there was a growth in his
+mouth. He died July 22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him.
+
+After July 17th constant bulletins from the king's bedside came to
+Louis. Genappe was too far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes
+in order to receive his messages more speedily. Our chronicler
+Chastellain[19] begins his story of Louis's accession as follows:
+
+    "Since I am not English but French, I who am neither Spanish nor
+    Italian but French, I have written of two Frenchmen, the one king,
+    the other duke. I have written of their works and their quarrels
+    and of the favour and glories which God has given them in their
+    time.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and meritorious works
+    serve man on his bier and gain him eternal glory. O you Frenchmen,
+    see the cause and the end in my labours!"
+
+The guest who had displayed so much humility and thankfulness when he
+arrived, who had deprecated honours to his high birth and desired to
+offer all the courtesies, departed from the residence so generously
+given him for five years in a very cavalier manner.
+
+    "Now the king left the duke's territories without having taken
+    leave nor said adieu to the Countess of Charolais,[20] although he
+    was in her neighbourhood, and he left behind him the queen, his
+    wife. The said queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which
+    to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered her to borrow
+    the hackneys of the countess and chariots, too. Heartily did the
+    countess accede to this request in spite of the fact that the
+    thing seemed to her rather strange that a noble king, and one who
+    had received so much honour and service from the House of Burgundy
+    and had promised to recognise it when the hour came, should thus
+    depart thence without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the
+    countess would gladly have given the queen the hackneys as a gift
+    if they had been asked, and she sent them to her by one of her
+    equerries named Corneille de la Barre, together with chariots and
+    waggons. And thus the queen left the country just as her husband
+    had done without saying a word either to the duke or the countess,
+    and Corneille went with her on foot to bring back the hackneys
+    when the queen had arrived at the place of her desire."
+
+Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam guest to show outward
+respect to his father's memory. The duke clad himself and his suite
+in deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at Avesnes, whither
+representatives from the University of Paris and from all parts of the
+realm had flocked to greet their new sovereign.
+
+It was a great concourse that marched from Avesnes as escort to the
+uncrowned king. Philip was magnificent in his appointments as he
+entered Rheims, and behind him came his son,
+
+    "the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble company of
+    knights and squires, attracted hearts and eyes in admiration of
+    his rich array wherein cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and
+    embroidery were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten pages
+    and twenty-six archers, and this whole company numbered three
+    hundred horse."[21]
+
+This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had waited at St. Thierry. On
+the actual day of the coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
+that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims until seven o'clock. The
+king passed his night in a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no
+repose until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied at their toilets he
+slipped off alone to church.
+
+Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony. Very magnificent were
+the duke's robes and ermine when, as chief among the peers, he
+escorted his late guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
+simple was Louis. After the consecration, the king and his friends
+listened to an address from the Bishop of Tournay, in which he
+described in Latin the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion. He felt that all
+future power was in his hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
+to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And for a time Louis was
+quite ready to foster this belief. When they entered Paris, the peer
+so far outshone the sovereign that there was general astonishment.[22]
+Moreover, whatever the latter did have was a gift. The very plate used
+on the royal table was a ducal present.[23]
+
+Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude of grateful humility.
+When he met the _parlement_ of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about
+its reformation. It was to Philip that all the petitioners flocked.
+But Louis was conscious, too, that there would be a morrow in
+Burgundy, and he took care to be friendly with the count even while he
+was flattering the duke. For this purpose he found Guillaume de Biche
+a very useful go-between.[24] This was one of the retainers dismissed
+in 1457 by Charles at his father's request. He had then passed into
+Louis's service. This man quickly insinuated himself into the king's
+graces, was admitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked arm in
+arm with the returned exile through Paris.
+
+The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries of the city well in
+his four years' residence. Louis found him an amusing companion and
+skilfully managed to flatter the count by his favour towards the man
+whom he had liked.
+
+For six weeks Philip remained in the capital and astonished the
+Parisians with the fetes he offered. Equally astonished were they
+with their new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not attractive in
+person. His eyes were piercing but his visage was made plain by a
+disproportionate nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
+uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an old pilgrim's hat,
+ornamented by a leaden saint. As he rode into Abbeville in company
+with Philip, the simple folk who had never seen the king were greatly
+amazed at his appearance and said quite loud, "Benedicite! Is that a
+king of France, the greatest king in the world? All together his horse
+and dress are not worth twenty francs."[25]
+
+From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI. never lived very long in
+any one place. He did not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had
+the palace of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine became by
+preference his residence, where he lived alternately at Amboise and
+in his new chateau at Plessis-les-Tours. But his sojourns were always
+brief. He wanted to know everything, and he wandered everywhere to
+see France and to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts, the
+chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian ambassador, show him on a
+perpetual journey.
+
+He would set out at break of day with five or six intimates dressed in
+grey cloth like pilgrims; archers and baggage followed at a distance.
+He would forbid any one to follow him, and often ordered the gates of
+the city he had left to be closed, or a bridge to be broken behind
+him. Ambassadors ordered to see him without fail, sometimes had to
+cross France to obtain an interview, at least if their object was
+something in which he was not much interested. Then he would often
+grant them an audience in some miserable little peasant hut.
+
+In the cities where he stopped he would lodge with a burgomaster or
+some functionary. To avoid harangues and receptions he would often
+arrive unannounced through a little alley. If forced to accept an
+_entree_ he stipulated that it should not be marked with magnificence.
+There never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies, balls, banquets,
+and tourneys. At his court young people were bored to death. He never
+ordered festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures were those
+of a simple private gentleman. He liked to dine out of his palace.
+Cagnola relates with surprise that he had seen the king dine after
+mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours. He invited small nobles
+and bourgeois to dine with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois
+women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speaking to and of women
+without reserve, sparing neither sister, mother, nor queen.
+
+Yet it was a sombre court. "Farewell dames, citizens, demoiselles,
+feasts, dances, jousts, and tournaments; farewell fair and gracious
+maids, mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Martial d'Auvergne.
+Pompous magnificence may have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit
+to Burgundy.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: He had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November
+19th.--_Archives du Nord_. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 113. No
+mention of this seems to appear elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Chastellain (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from
+the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel. The duke
+was so angry that it was hideous to see him.]
+
+[Footnote 3: La Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain,
+iii., 230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The
+author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in her delicate
+state of health.]
+
+[Footnote 4: "Thus there was much coming and going: and it was ordered
+by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Ravestein and the
+king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to Dendermonde to learn the
+wishes of the Count of Charolais and his intentions, of which I am
+entitled to speak for I was despatched several times to Brussels in
+behalf of my said Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the
+Chancellor Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present
+affair"--(La Marche, ii., 419.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: La Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche, went
+to France and La Marche says that he himself often went to him to
+obtain valuable information.]
+
+[Footnote 6: La Marche, ii., 418.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Du Clercq, ii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, iii., 308.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de Vebry to the
+Count de Vaudemart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, ed. A.J.V. Le Roux. The
+stories are, as a rule, only retold tales.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "The spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais
+nor by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for certain
+reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer, P.322.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: Kervyn, _Hist. de Flandre_, v., 23. At this time Philip
+was ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parliament of
+Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Meyer, p. 321.
+
+[Footnote 15: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Report of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., 195.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: Du Fresne de Beaucourt. vi., 326.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 321.]
+
+[Footnote 19: IV., 21.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Chastellain, iv., 45.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chastellain was not present, but he says of Philip's
+suite (iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have seen in
+writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never been seen in
+this kingdom."]
+
+[Footnote 22: "And I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all
+the nobles" (Chastellain, iv., 52).]
+
+[Footnote 23: When return presents were distributed to the nobles
+Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iv., 115.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 325.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+1464-1465
+
+
+The era of good feeling between Louis XI. and his Burgundian kinsmen
+was of short duration, and no wonder. The rich rewards confidently
+expected as fitting recompense for five years' kindness more than
+cousinly, towards a penniless refugee were not forthcoming.
+
+The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary in certain
+ostentatious recognition towards his late host, but the fairly
+munificent pension, together with the charge of Normandy settled upon
+the Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical reminder of promises
+as regularly unfulfilled on each recurring quarter day, while the post
+of confidential adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip had
+intended to occupy, remained empty.
+
+Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now to one counsellor,
+now to another, and used such fragments of advice as pleased his whim
+and paid no further heed to the giver.
+
+Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred that change in
+Philip's bodily constitution that comes to all active men sooner or
+later. His health began to give way, his energies relaxed, and matters
+that had been of paramount importance throughout his career were
+allowed to slip into the background of his desires. In the famous
+treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater importance than that
+which placed the towns on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to a
+redemption of two hundred thousand gold crowns. Whether Charles VII.
+had actually pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at least
+during Philip's life does not seem assured, but that any sum would be
+insufficient to induce the duke to release them unless his intellect
+were somewhat deadened, is clear.
+
+In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack, possibly the result
+of his indulgence in the pleasures of the table during the prolonged
+festivities at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour. This was
+the time, by the way, when opportunity was afforded his courtiers to
+prove that devotion to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity. When
+his head was shaved by order of the court physician, more than five
+hundred nobles sacrificed their own locks so that their becoming curls
+might not remind their chief of his own bald head. The sacrifice was
+not always voluntary, adds an informant.[1] Philip forced compliance
+with this new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be
+unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by nature's gift. This
+servility may have consoled Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In
+his depressed condition any solace was acceptable.
+
+It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled state that Louis,
+through the mediation of the Croys, pushed forward his proposition to
+redeem the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying upon the chance
+that it would be no easy matter for the French king to wring the
+required sum from his impoverished land. Philip's assent was, however,
+promptly clinched by a cash payment of half the amount[2]; the
+remainder followed.
+
+Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valuable bulwarks for the
+Netherland provinces, fine nurseries for the human material requisite
+for Burgundian armies, rich tax payers as they were, all tumbled into
+the outstretched hands of the duke's wily rival.
+
+The transaction was hurried through and completed before a rumour of
+its progress came to the ear of the interested heir. Charles was in
+Holland sulking and indignant. He had expected good results from his
+tender devotion during his father's acute illness, a devotion shared
+by Isabella of Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside from her
+convent seclusion when Philip was in need of her ministrations. But,
+in his convalescence, Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys
+whom Charles continued to distrust with bitterness that varied in its
+intensity, but which never vanished from his consciousness. The young
+man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious that personal danger
+to himself lurked in the air of his father's court.
+
+The various rumours of plots against his life may not all have been
+baseless. At last, one of own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was
+accused of having recourse to diabolic means of doing away with the
+duke's legitimate heir.[2] Three little waxen images were found in his
+house, and it was alleged that he practised various magic arts withal
+in order to win the favour of the duke and of the French king, and
+still worse to cause Charles to waste away with a mysterious sickness.
+The accusations were sufficient to make Nevers resign all his offices
+in his kinsman's court and retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been
+wholly innocent he would have demanded trial at the hands of his peers
+of the Golden Fleece as behooved one of the order. But he withdrew
+undefended, and left his tattered reputation fluttering raggedly in
+the breeze of gossip.
+
+Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal court until a fresh
+incident drove him thither to give vent to his indignation. Only three
+days had Philip de Commines been page to Duke Philip, then resident at
+Lille, when an embassy headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France,
+was given audience in the presence of the Burgundian court, including
+the Count of Charolais. The future historian,[4] then nineteen years
+old, was keenly alive to all that passed on that November fifth, 1464.
+Morvilliers used very bitter terms in his assertion that Charles had
+illegally stopped a little French ship of war and arrested a certain
+bastard of Rubempre on the false charge that his errand in Holland,
+where the incident occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles
+himself. Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir Olivier de La Marche
+had caused this tale to be bruited everywhere,
+
+    "especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations resort.
+    This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now demanded through his
+    chancellor that Duke Philip should send this same Sir Olivier de
+    La Marche prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case
+    required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that the said Sir
+    Olivier was steward of his house, born in the County of Burgundy
+    and in no respect subject to the Crown of France."
+
+Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill to the king's honour
+he, the duke, would see to his punishment. As to the bastard of
+Rubempre, true it was that he had been apprehended in Holland,[5] but
+there was adequate ground for his arrest as his behaviour had been
+strange, at least so thought the Count of Charolais. Philip added that
+if his son were suspicious
+
+    "he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his mother
+    who had been the most jealous lady that ever lived. But
+    notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that myself never were supicious, yet
+    if I had been in my son's place at the same time that this bastard
+    of Rubempre haunted those coasts I would surely have caused him to
+    be apprehended as my son did."
+
+In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up Rubempre to the king were
+his innocence satisfactorily proven.
+
+Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging upon the treacherous
+designs of Francis, Duke of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately
+sworn brotherhood at the very moment when he was the honoured guest
+of King Louis at Tours. During this discussion the Count of Charolais
+became very restive. Finally he could no longer endure Morvilliers's
+indirect slurs, and
+
+    "made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously out of patience
+    to hear such reproachful speeches used of his friend and
+    confederate. But Morvilliers cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of
+    Charolais, I am not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your
+    father.' The said earl besought his father divers times to give
+    him leave to answer, who in the end said unto him: 'I have
+    answered for thee as methinketh the father should answer for the
+    son, notwithstanding if thou have so great desire to speak bethink
+    thyself to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.'"
+
+Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that he could not imagine
+what had moved the earl to enter into the league with the Duke of
+Brittany unless it were because of a pension the king had once given
+him together with the government of Normandy and afterwards taken from
+him.
+
+In regard to Rubempre, Commines adds to his story Charles's own
+statement given on the morrow:
+
+"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever proved against him, though
+I confess the presumption to have been great. Five years after I
+myself saw him delivered out of prison." This from Commines. La Marche
+is less detailed in his record[6] of the Rubempre incident:
+
+    "The bastard was put in prison and the Count of Charolais sent me
+    to Hesdin to the duke to inform him of the arrest and its cause.
+    The good duke heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth
+    he at once suspected that the craft of the King of France lurked
+    at the bottom of the affair. Shortly afterwards the duke left
+    Hesdin and returned to his own land, which did not please the King
+    of France who despatched thither a great embassy with the Count
+    d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that I should be delivered to
+    him to be punished as he would, because he claimed that I had been
+    the cause of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempre and also of the
+    duke's departure from Hesdin without saying adieu to the King of
+    France, but the good duke, moderate in all his actions, replied
+    that I was his subject and his servitor, and that if the king or
+    any one else had a grievance against me he would investigate it.
+    The matter was finally smoothed over [adds La Marche], and Louis
+    evinced a readiness to conciliate his offended cousin."
+
+In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to be one not easily disposed
+of by soft phrases flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father
+and prepared in advance his defence to the chancellor. When he had
+finished his own statement about Rubempre, he proceeded to the point
+of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany, declaring that it was
+right and proper and that if King Louis knew what was to the advantage
+of the French sovereign, he would be glad to see his nobles welded
+together as a bulwark to his throne. As to his pension, he had never
+received but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had made no suit
+for the remainder nor for the government of Normandy. So long as he
+enjoyed the favour and good will of his father he had no need to crave
+favour of any man.
+
+"I think verily had it not been for the reverence he bore to his said
+father who was there present" continues the observant page, "and to
+whom he addressed his speech that he would have used much bitterer
+terms. In the end, Duke Philip very wisely and humbly besought the
+king not lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his son but to
+continue his favour towards them. Then the banquet was brought in and
+the ambassadors took their leave. As they passed out Charles stood
+apart from his father and said to the archbishop of Narbonne, who
+brought up the rear of the little company:
+
+"'Recommend me very humbly to the good grace of the king. Tell him he
+has had me scolded here by the chancellor but that he shall repent it
+before a year is past.'" His message was duly delivered and to this
+incident Commines attributes momentous results.
+
+Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which Louis's ambassadors
+treated him, indignant at the injury to his heritage by the redemption
+of the towns on the Somme, and further, already alienated from his
+royal cousin through the long series of petty occasions where the
+different natures of the two young men clashed, in this year 1464,
+Charles was certainly more than ready to enter into an open contest
+with the French monarch. It was not long before the opportunity came
+for him to do so with a certain eclat.
+
+In the early years of his own freedom, before he learned wisdom, Louis
+XI. had planted many seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful
+crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among the nobles of the
+land.
+
+One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the gradual growth of
+the body of standing troops instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These,
+in the regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guarantee of support
+without the aid of his nobles. By the date of Louis's accession,
+certain ducal houses besides that of Burgundy had grown very
+independent within their own boundaries: Orleans, Anjou, Bourbon, not
+to speak of Brittany.[7] Now the efforts to curtail the prerogatives
+of these petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were steady and
+persistent in the new reign. They had no longer the power of coining
+money, of levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the judicial
+authority of the crown had been extended little by little over France.
+Then their privileges were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of
+the chase.
+
+It was the accumulation of these invasions of local authority, added
+to a real disbelief in the king's ability, that led to a formation of
+a league among the nobles, designed to check the centralisation policy
+of the monarch, a League of Public Weal to form a bulwark against the
+tyrannical encroachments of their liege lord.
+
+Not to follow the steps of the growth of this coalition, it is
+sufficient for the thread of this narrative to say that it comprised
+all the great French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as
+others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as those whom he had
+slighted alike fell from his standards, distrustful of his ability to
+withstand organised opposition, and they threw in their lot with the
+protestors so as not to miss their share of the spoil.
+
+The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned, was in a mood when
+his ears were eagerly open to overtures from Louis's critics. The
+redemption of the towns on the Somme he was unable to prevent, but the
+affair left him very sore. Shortly after its completion, the count
+did, indeed, succeed in depriving the Croys of their ascendency over
+the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long desired victory was attained,
+the towns had one and all accepted their transfer and were under
+French sovereignty. When the count joined the league, the hope of
+ultimate restoration was undoubtedly prominent among the motives for
+his own course of action, though his intimacy with the chief leader of
+the revolt, the Duke of Brittany, might easily have led to the same
+result.
+
+Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had been especially wanting in
+tact during the first months of his reign. The king treated him as a
+vassal of France, while the duke held that he and his forbears owed
+simple homage to the crown, not dependence. Therefore, in order to
+resist being subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not to leave
+his estates except in a suitable manner. His messages to the king
+were sent in all ceremony, he rendered proper homage, declared his
+readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as a vassal for certain
+territories, but demanded freedom to exercise his hereditary rights
+and to enjoy his hereditary dignities.[8]
+
+"Rude and strange" were the terms employed by the king in response to
+these statements, and then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
+the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose of the hands of
+Breton heiresses in unequal marriages, and to arrogate to himself
+other rights--all sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
+Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the league. Very delightful
+is Chastellain's colloquy with himself[9] as to the difficulty of
+maintaining perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of this
+Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately the result of his patient
+efforts is lost.
+
+Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines, however, were both
+present in the Burgundian army and their stories are preserved. La
+Marche had reason to remember the first actual engagement between the
+royal and invading forces at Montl'hery, "because on that day I was
+made knight." He does not say, as does Commines, that this battle was
+against the king's desire. Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms
+and to coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by other methods.
+Not that they characterised themselves as rebellious, far from it.
+Clear and definite was their statement that in their obligation
+
+    "to give order to the estate, the police and the government of the
+    kingdom, the princes of the blood as chief supports of the crown,
+    by whose advice and not by that of others, the business of the
+    king and of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
+    their persons and their property, and in this laudable endeavour
+    all virtuous citizens ought to aid."[10]
+
+Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens, and the words were
+typical of similar appeals made in every quarter of the realm by the
+various feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In truth this war,
+ostentatiously called that of the Public Weal, was but a struggle on
+the part of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The weal demanded
+was home rule for the feudal chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a
+fierce protest against monarchical authority, against concentration. A
+king indeed, but a king in leading strings was the ideal of the peers.
+
+Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis almost alone, deserted by his
+brother the Duke of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
+unity, hedged in by their pompous and self-righteous assertions that
+all their thoughts were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
+needed lightening. Of all the great vassals, Gaston de Foix was the
+single one loyal to the king.
+
+The part of the great duke fell entirely to the share of the Count of
+Charolais. A small force was levied for him within the Netherlands,
+and he started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents from the
+two Burgundies and his brother peers of France with their own troops.
+His men were good individually but they had not been trained to act as
+one, and there was no coherence between the different companies.
+
+July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed rendezvous. He
+was first in the field. While he awaited his allies, his little army
+became restive at the situation in which they found themselves, fifty
+leagues from Burgundian territory with no stronghold as their base. It
+was urged again and again upon the count that his first consideration
+ought to be his men's safety. His allies had failed him. He should
+retreat. "I have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross the
+Seine if I have but a single page to follow me," was the leader's firm
+reply to these demands.
+
+The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges, and Charles decided that
+it was his mission to prevent Louis from entering his capital, to
+which he was advancing with great rapidity from the south. To carry
+out this purpose Charles disregarded all protests, crossed the Seine
+at St. Cloud, and made his way to the little village of Longjumeau,
+whither he was preceded by the Count of St. Pol, commanding one
+division of the Burgundian army. Montl'hery was a village still
+farther to the south, and here it was that La Marche and other
+gentlemen were knighted. This ceremony was evidently part of the
+count's endeavour to encourage his followers--all unwilling to risk an
+engagement before the arrival of the allies.
+
+To the king it was of infinite advantage that no delay should occur.
+Nevertheless, it was Charles who opened active hostilities on July
+15th, with soldiers who had not broken their fast that day. Armed
+since early dawn, wearied by a forced march with a July sun beating
+down upon their heads, their movements hampered by standing wheat and
+rye, the men were at a tremendous disadvantage when they were led to
+the attack. It was a hot assault. No quarter was given, many fled.
+At length, Louis found himself abandoned by all save his body-guard.
+Pressed against the hill that bounded the grain fields, the king at
+last retreated up its slope into a castle on its summit.
+
+Charles rode impetuously after the retreating royalists. Separated
+from his men, he fell among the royal guard at the gate of the castle.
+There was a vehement assault resisted as vehemently by his meagre
+escort. Several fell and Charles himself received a sword wound on his
+neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised by the French, he might
+have been taken or slain in his resistance, when the Bastard of
+Burgundy rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed the count's
+condition. When night fell, no one knew where lay the advantage. The
+fugitives spread rumours that the king was dead and that Charles was
+in possession, others carried the reverse statements as they rode
+headlong to the nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with no
+credit to either leader. But in the darkness of the night, the king
+managed to slip out of his retreat and march quietly towards the
+greater security of Paris.
+
+It was a very shadowy victory that Charles proudly claimed. All
+through the night of July 15th, the Burgundians were discussing
+whether to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds all
+recognised. Daybreak found the council in session when a peasant
+brought tidings that the foe had departed. The fires in sight only
+covered their retreat. To be sure that same foe had taken Burgundian
+baggage with them to Paris. But what of that? The Burgundians held the
+battlefield and they made the best of it.
+
+On July 16th, Louis supped with the military governor of Paris and
+"moved the company, nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his
+touching description of the perils he had met and escaped." Charles,
+meanwhile, effected a junction with his belated allies, Francis of
+Brittany and Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Etampes. Thither
+too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of Lorraine, but none of these
+leaguers could claim any share in the battle of Montl'hery.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MONTL'HERY, JULY 16, 1465 (COMINES, ED.
+LENGLET DU FRESNOY, 1.)]
+
+While these peers perfected their plans to force their chief into
+redressing the wrongs of the poor people, the king was showing a very
+pleasant side of his character to the Parisian citizens. In response
+to a petition that he should take advice on the conduct of his
+administration, he declared his perfect willingness to add to his
+council six burgesses, six members of _parlement_, and the same number
+from the university. Besides this concession, he relieved the weight
+of the imposts and hastened to restore certain financial franchises to
+the Church, to the university, and to various individuals. Three weeks
+were consumed in establishing friendly relations in this all important
+city, and then the king departed for Normandy to levy troops and to
+collect provisions for a siege.[11] There was need for this last for
+the allies had moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris.
+
+Before the king's return to his capital on August 28th, a formidable
+array was encamped at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More
+formidable, however, they were in numbers than in strength. Like all
+confederated bodies there was inherent weakness, for there was no
+leader whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of Berry, heir
+presumptive to the throne, was the only one among the peers whose
+birth might have commanded the needful authority, but he had not
+sufficient personal character to assert his position. So the
+confederates remained a loose aggregation of small armies. The longer
+they remained in camp the weaker they grew, the more disintegrated.
+A pitched battle might have been a great advantage to these gallant
+defenders of the Public Weal of France and that was the last desire of
+their antagonist.
+
+Many skirmishes took place between the Parisians and the leaguers, but
+no engagement. Once, indeed, there were hurried preparations on the
+part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of whose imminence they
+were warned by a page before break of day, one misty morning. Yes,
+there was no doubt. The pickets could see the erect spears and furled
+banners of the enemy all ready to advance upon the unwary camp. Quick
+were the preparations. There were no laggards. The Duke of Calabria
+was more quickly armed than even the Count of Charolais. He came to a
+spot where a number of Burgundians, the count's own household stood,
+by the standard. Among them was Commines[l2] and he heard the duke
+say: "We now have our desire, for the king is issued forth with his
+whole force and marches towards us as our scouts report. Wherefore let
+us determine to play the men. So soon as they be out of the town we
+will enter and measure with the long ell." By these words he meant
+that the soldiers would speedily have a chance to use their pikes as
+yard sticks to measure out their share of the booty. False prophet
+was the duke that time! When the daylight grew stronger, the upright
+spears and furled banners of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of
+thistles looming large in the magnifying morning mist! The princes
+took their disappointment philosophically, enjoyed early mass, and
+then had their breakfast.
+
+The young Commines is surprised that Paris and her environs were rich
+enough to feed so many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs changed.
+Negotiating back and forth became more frequent. The disintegration of
+the allies became more and more evident. Louis XI. bided his time and
+then took the extraordinary resolution to go in person to the camp at
+Charenton to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few attendants,
+practically unguarded, he went down the Seine. His coming had been
+heralded and the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive him, with
+the Count of St. Pol at his side. "Brother, do you pledge me safety?"
+(for the count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which the count
+responded: "Yes, as one brother to another."[13]
+
+Nothing could have been more genial than was the king. He assured
+Charles that he loved a man who kept his word beyond anything.
+
+Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the promise he had sent by
+the archbishop of Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he was
+a gentleman and true to the blood of France. Further, he disavowed the
+insolence of his chancellor towards Charles, and repeated that his
+cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You have kept your promise
+and that long before the day."[14]
+
+Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an opportunity to Charles and
+St. Pol to state, informally, the terms on which they would withdraw
+from their hostile footing, and count the weal restored to the
+oppressed public whose sorrows had moved them to a confederation.
+
+Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he accepted the requisition of
+those who felt that they were in a position to dictate, and after a
+little more parleying at later dates, the treaty of Conflans was duly
+arranged. It was none too soon for the allies. They could hardly have
+held together many days longer in the midst of the jealousies rife in
+their camps.
+
+The king paused at nothing. To his brother he gave Normandy, to
+Charles of Burgundy the towns on the Somme with guarantee of
+possession for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was made
+Constable of France.
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI. WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR
+OF PUBLIC WEAL TAKEN FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF ST.
+GERMAIN DES PRES (COMINES-LENGLET, II., FRONTISPIECE)]
+
+Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to Charles, lesser places and
+pensions to the other confederates. The contest ended with complete
+victory for the allies who were left with the proud consciousness
+that they had set a definite limit to royal pretensions, at least, on
+paper.
+
+After the treaty was signed, the king showed no resentment at his
+defeat but urged his cousin to amuse himself a while in Paris before
+returning home. Charles was rash, but he had not the temerity to trust
+himself so far. Pleading a promise to his father to enter no city gate
+until on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and soon returned
+to the Netherlands, where his own household had suffered change.
+During his absence, the Countess of Charolais had died and been buried
+at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly lauded for his perfect faithfulness
+to his wife, but her death seems to have made singularly little ripple
+on the surface of his life. The chroniclers touch on the event very
+casually, laying more stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI.
+to offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on the event
+itself.[15]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: La Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the
+chamberlain to enforce this.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The receipt for this half payment was signed October
+8, 1462. (Comines, _Memoires_, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii.,
+392-403.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Du Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, _Memoires_ I., ch. i. In the above passages
+Dannett's translation is followed for the racy English.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Commines says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum.]
+
+[Footnote 6: III., 3.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Lavisse iv^{ii}., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, v., i, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 9: V., II.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Letter of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of
+Amiens. (_Collection de Documents inedits sur l'histoire de France_.)
+"Melanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS. in the Bibl.
+Nat. there are many letters private and public about these events.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Since its recovery from the English, there had been no
+duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to the king.]
+
+[Footnote 12: I., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be
+read in detail.]
+
+[Footnote 13: I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commines, I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 15: La Marche, iii., p. 27.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+1465-1467
+
+
+"When we have finished here we shall make a fine beginning against
+those villains the Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on
+October 18th.[1] Charles had no desire to rest on the laurels won
+before Paris. To another city he now turned his attention, to Liege
+which owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy.
+
+Before the days when the buried treasures of the soil filled the
+air with smoke, the valley where Liege lies was a lovely spot.[2]
+Tradition tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop of
+Tongres, as he made a progress through his diocese was attracted by
+the beauties of the site where a few hovels then clustered near the
+Meuse. After looking down from the heights to the river's banks for
+a brief space, the bishop turned to his followers and said, as if
+uttering a prophecy:
+
+"Here is a place created by God for the salvation of many faithful
+souls. One day a prosperous city shall flourish here. Here I will
+build a chapel." Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised chapel
+became a shrine which attracted many pilgrims who returned to their
+various homes with glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.
+Little by little others came who did not leave, and by the seventh
+century when Bishop Lambert sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a
+small town.
+
+An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert. He gave himself no
+rest but travelled continually from one church to another in his
+diocese to look after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless
+prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke to the Frankish
+Pepin for a lawless deed excited the wrath of a certain noble,
+accessory to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was slain as he knelt
+before the altar in Monulphe's chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer
+the pious man did not hear the servants' calls, "Holy Lambert, Holy
+Lambert come to our aid," words that later became a war-cry when the
+bishop was exalted into the patron saint of the town.
+
+Not until the thirteenth century, however, when the episcopal see was
+finally established at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay
+overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege. Monulphe's little
+chapel had given way to a mighty church dedicated to the canonised
+Bishop Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost autonomous, the
+episcopal authority being restricted without the walls only by the
+distant emperor and still more distant pope. Within the walls, the
+same authority had by no means a perfectly free hand. There were
+certain features in the constitution of Liege which differentiated it
+from its sister towns in the Netherlands.
+
+Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly democratic manner.
+There was no distinction between the greater and lesser gilds, and,
+within these organisations, the franchise was given to the most
+ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple condition of
+attaining his fifteenth year. Moreover, the naturalisation laws were
+very easy. Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens and
+enjoyed eligibility to office as well as the franchise. The tenure of
+office being for one year only, there was opportunity for frequent
+participation in public affairs, an opportunity not neglected by the
+community.[2]
+
+The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic officers chosen by
+this liberal franchise. He was elected by the chapter of St. Lambert,
+subject to papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres of his
+jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his function there were many
+restrictions to his free administration, which papal and imperial
+sanction together were unable to remove.
+
+A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change in the laws without the
+consent of the estates, and he could administer justice only by means
+of the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be countersigned. When
+there was an issue between overlord and people, the question was
+submitted to the _schepens_ or superior judges who, before they gave
+their opinion, consulted the various charters which had been granted
+from time to time, and which were not allowed to become dead letters.
+A permanent committee of the three orders supervised the executive and
+the administration of the laws. These "twenty-two" received an appeal
+from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb "In his own home the
+poor man is king," was very near the possible truth.
+
+Yet the wheels of government were by no means perfect in their
+running. Many were the conflicts between the different members of the
+state, and broils, with the character of civil war in miniature, were
+of frequent occurrence. The submergence of the aristocratic element,
+the nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power between the
+bishop-prince and the people. The commons exerted power beyond their
+intelligence. Annual elections, party contests headed by rival
+demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser extent, the smaller
+towns of the little state in continuous commotion[4].
+
+The ecclesiastical origin of the community was evident at all points
+of daily life. The cathedral of St. Lambert was the pride of the city.
+Its chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place held by the
+aristocratic element in the other towns.
+
+In the cathedral, the holy standard of St. Lambert was suspended. At
+the outbreak of war this was taken down and carried to the door by the
+clergy in solemn procession. There it was unfurled and delivered to
+the commander of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white steed. When
+he received the precious charge he swore to defend it with his life.
+
+One object of popular veneration was this standard, another was the
+_perron_, an emblem of the civic organisation. This was a pillar of
+gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple surmounted by a cross.
+This stood on a pedestal in the centre of the square where was the
+_violet_ or city hall. In front of the perron were proclaimed all the
+ordinances issued by the magistrates, or the decrees adopted by the
+people in general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin was rung,
+the deans of the gilds would hasten out with their banners and plant
+them near the perron as rallying points for the various gild members
+who poured out from forge, work-shop, and factory until the square was
+filled.
+
+There were two powerful weapons whereby the bishop-prince might
+enforce his will in opposition to that of his subjects did the latter
+become too obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the _schepens_,
+and he could pronounce an interdict of the Church which caused the
+cessation of all priestly functions. When this interdict was in
+action, civil suits between burghers could be adjudged by the
+municipal magistrates, but no criminals could be arrested or tried.
+The elementary principles of an organised society were thrown into
+confusion. Still worse confusion resulted from the bishop's last
+resort as prince of the Church. An interdict caused the church bells
+to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The celebration of the
+rites of baptism, of marriage, of burial ceased.[5] The fear of such
+cessation was potent in its restraint, unless the populace were too
+far enraged to be moved by any consideration.
+
+While the Burgundian dukes extended their sway over one portion of
+Netherland territory after another, this little dominion maintained
+its complete independence of them. The fact that its princes were
+elective protected it from lapsing through heritage to the duke who
+had been so neatly proven heir to his divers childless kinsfolk. It
+was a rich little vineyard without his pale.
+
+They were clever people those Liegeois. Their Walloon language is
+a species of French with many peculiarities showing Frankish
+admixture.[6] The race was probably a mixed one too, but its acquired
+characteristics made a very different person from a Hollander, a
+Frisian, or a Fleming, though there was a certain resemblance to the
+latter.
+
+In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful resources of coal and
+minerals which now glow above and below the furnace fires until, from
+a distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But the people were
+industrious and energetic in their crafts. It was a country of skilled
+workmen. The city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thousand
+inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers reported slain in
+the various battles in which the town was involved run into the
+thousands.[7]
+
+In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his success in the diocese
+of Utrecht, obtained a certain ascendency over the affairs of Liege by
+interfering in the election of a bishop. There was no natural vacancy
+at the moment. John of Heinsberg was the incumbent, a very pleasant
+prelate with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement and gay society,
+pleasures more easily obtainable in Philip's court than in his own,
+and his agreeable host found means of persuading him to resign all the
+cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke proceeded to place his
+own nephew, Louis of Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne.
+
+This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student at the University of
+Louvain, destitute of a single qualification for the office proposed.
+Nevertheless, all difficulties, technical and general were ignored,
+and a papal dispensation enabled the candidate even to dispense with
+the formality of taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered
+Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry into his future
+capital and was duly enthroned as bishop-prince in spite of his
+manifest unfitness for the place.
+
+Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his people, better than the
+promise of his youth, as some reckless princes have done. On the
+contrary, ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at drawn
+swords with his subjects. After a time he withdrew to Huy where he
+indulged in gross pleasures while he attempted to check the rebellious
+citizens of his capital by trying some of the measures of coercion
+used by his predecessors as a last resort.
+
+Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters dragged on for a long
+time. The people appealed to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the
+pope, and to the "pope better informed," but no redress was given.
+Philip continued to protect the bishop, and none dared put themselves
+in opposition to him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XI. for aid.
+Their appeal was heard and the king's agent arrived in the city
+just as one of the bishop's interdicts was about to be enforced,
+an interdict, too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the usual
+anathema if the provisions were not obeyed.
+
+It was the moment for a demagogue and one appeared in the person of
+Raes de la Riviere, lord of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be
+unbroken silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his followers
+proclaimed that every priest who refused to chant should be thrown
+into the river. Mass was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual
+conditions, and the presence of the French envoys gave new heart to
+the bishop's opponents. A treaty was signed between the Liegeois
+and Louis; wherein mutual pledges were made that no peace should be
+concluded with Burgundy in which both parties were not included. It
+was a solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when he signed the
+treaty of Conflans whose articles contained not a single reference to
+the Liegeois.
+
+Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of the battle of
+Montl'hery reaching Liege gave the victory to Louis, a report that
+spurred on the Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostility to their
+neighbour, still farther afield. The other towns of the Church state
+were infected by an anti-Burgundian sentiment. In Dinant this feeling
+was high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation of special
+animosity against the Count of Charolais. A rabble marched out of the
+city to the walls of Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy,
+carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its neck. Certain
+well-known emblems of Burgundy on a tattered mantle showed that this
+represented Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd declared
+that they were going to hang the effigy as his master, the King of
+France, had already hanged Count Charles in reality. Further, they
+said that he was no count at all, but the son of their old bishop,
+Heinsberg. They went so far as to suspend the effigy on a gallows and
+then riddled it with arrows and left it dangling like a scarecrow in
+sight of the citizens of Bouvignes.[8]
+
+The actual contents of the treaty made at Conflans did not reach Liege
+until messages from Louis had assured them that he had been mindful of
+their interests in making his own terms, assurances, however, coupled
+with advice to make peace with their good friend the duke. But there
+speedily came later information that the only mention of Liege in the
+new treaty was an apology that Louis had ever made friends in that
+city!
+
+The rebels lost heart at once. Without the king, they had no
+confidence in their own efforts. Envoys were despatched to Philip who
+refused to answer their humble requests for pardon until his son could
+decide what punishment the principality deserved. Nor was much delay
+to be anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming. Charles
+hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not pausing even to greet his
+father. By the third week of January, he was encamped between St.
+Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation from Liege found him.
+These envoys, between eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly
+because they feared attacks from their anti-peace fellow-citizens.[9]
+
+They found Charles flushed by his recent achievement of bringing King
+Louis to his way of thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body than
+when it left the Netherlands. The troops were more skilled from
+their experience and elated at what they counted their success; more
+capable, too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a resolute
+leader, now inclined to despise councils with free discussion. The
+count's quick temper had gained him weight but it had made him feared.
+The slightest breach of discipline brought a thunder-cloud on his
+face. If we may believe one authority,[10] he himself was often so
+lacking in discipline that he would strike an officer with a baton,
+and once at least, he killed a soldier with his own hand.
+
+His audience with the envoys resulted in a treaty, of which certain
+articles were so harsh that the messengers were insulted when the
+report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of thirty-two gilds voted to
+accept all the articles. A certain noble on pleasant terms with the
+count offered to carry the unpopular document back to him to ask for a
+modification of the harsh terms.
+
+By this time the weather was severe. Charles's troops were in need of
+repose, and it seemed prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles
+revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration of an increase of
+the war indemnity. With this change the treaty was accepted, and a
+Piteous Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege. Instead
+of owing allegiance to emperor and to pope alone as free imperial
+citizens, they agreed to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary
+protectors of Liege.
+
+When it was desired, Burgundian troops could march freely across the
+territory. Burgundian coins were declared valid at Burgundian values.
+No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian marches, and unqualified
+obedience was pledged to the new overlords. The same terms were
+conceded to all the rebel towns alike except to Dinant. The story of
+the personal insult to himself and his mother had reached the count's
+ears and he was not inclined to ignore the circumstance. His further
+action was, however, deferred.
+
+January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty[11] and, after its
+conclusion, Charles ordered a review of his forces, a review that
+almost culminated in a pitched battle between army and citizens of St.
+Trond, and then on January 31st, the count returned to Brussels where
+there was a great display of Burgundian etiquette before the duke
+embraced his victorious son.
+
+Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the province at large, still
+more piteous was the lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from the
+participation in the treaty. Her fate remained uncertain for months.
+Other affairs occupied the Count of Charolais until late in the summer
+of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis, well freed from the
+allies pressing up to the gates of Paris, was in very different temper
+from Louis ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not only had
+he withdrawn his promises in regard to the duchy conferred on his
+brother, but he had begun taking other measures, ostensibly to prepare
+against a possible English invasion, which alarmed his cousin of
+Burgundy for the undisturbed possession of his recently recovered
+towns on the Somme.
+
+Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes, Charles despatched the
+following letter from Namur:[12]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I recommend myself very humbly to your good grace and beg to
+    inform you, Monseigneur, that recently I have been advised of
+    something very surprising to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond
+    doubt considering the source of my information. It is with much
+    regret that I communicate it to you when I remember all the good
+    words you have given to me this year, orally and in writing.
+    Monseigneur, it is evident that there has been some agreement
+    between your people and the English, and that the matter has been
+    so well worked that you have consented, as I have heard, to yield
+    them the land of Caux, Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to
+    aid them in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu, and
+    further, to cement with them certain alliances against me and my
+    country in making them large offers greatly to my prejudice and,
+    in order to complete the whole, they are to come to Dieppe.
+
+    "Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you wish: but,
+    Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns me, it seems to me that
+    you would do better to leave my property in my hand than to be the
+    instrument of putting it into the hands of the English or of any
+    foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Monseigneur, that
+    if such overtures or greater ones have been opened by your people
+    that you will not commit yourself to them in any manner but will
+    insist on their cessation, and that you will do this in a way that
+    I may always have cause to remain your very humble servant as I
+    desire to do with all my heart. Above all, write to me your good
+    pleasure, and I implore you, Monseigneur, if there be any service
+    that I can render you, I am the one who would wish to employ all
+    that God has given me [to do it]. Written at Namur, August 16th.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient subject,
+
+    "CHARLES."
+
+Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict the punishment that the
+culprits had, to his mind, too long escaped.
+
+Commines calls this a strong and rich town, superior even to
+Liege.[13] A comparison of the two sites shows, however, that this
+statement could hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in a
+narrow space between the Meuse and high land. A lofty rock at one
+end of the town dominating the river is crowned by a fortress most
+picturesque in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how many
+inhabitants there actually were in the place in 1466, but there is
+no doubt as to their energy and character. As mentioned before, the
+artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their specialty, and
+their brass work was renowned far and wide. Pots and pans and other
+utensils were known as _Dinanderies_.
+
+The traffic in them was so important that Dinant had had her own
+commercial relations with England for a long period. Her merchants
+enjoyed the same privileges in London as the members of the Hanseatic
+League, and an English company was held in high respect at Dinant.[14]
+The brass-founders' gild ranked at Dinant as the drapers at Louvain,
+and the weavers at Ghent. As a "great gild they formed a middle class
+between the lower gilds and the _bourgeois_," the merchants and richer
+folk.[15] In municipal matters each of these three classes had a
+separate vote.
+
+As it happened, Dinant had not been very ready to open hostilities
+against the House of Burgundy though she was equally critical of Louis
+of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It was undoubtedly her rivalry
+with Bouvignes of Namur that brought her into the strife. That
+neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation, and the fact that
+it was safe under the Duke of Burgundy and backed by him as Count of
+Namur, had brought a Burgundian element into the local contest.
+
+The incidents of the insult to Charles and the aspersion on his
+mother's reputation undoubtedly were due to an irresponsible rabble
+rather than to any action that could properly be attributed to the
+leading men. Further, it really seems probable that the weight
+attached to the insulting act never occurred to the respectable
+burghers until they heard of it from others, so insignificant were the
+participants in it.
+
+As soon as it was realised that serious consequences might result
+from reckless folly, the authorities were quite ready to separate
+themselves from the event, and to arrest the culprits as common
+malefactors. Once, indeed, the prisoners were temporarily rescued by
+their friends, and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a suspicious
+circumstance that this happened just at a moment when there was
+renewed hope for help from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes
+were vain, the magistrates became seriously alarmed and ready to go
+to any lengths to avert Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following
+letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy:[16]
+
+    "The poor, humble and obedient servants and subjects of the most
+    reverend father in God, Louis of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege; and
+    your petty neighbours and borderers, the burgomaster's council and
+    folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to their knowledge
+    that the wrath of your grace has been aroused against the town on
+    account of certain ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants
+    thereof, in contempt of your honourable person. The city is as
+    displeased about these words as it is possible to be, and far from
+    wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested as many as could be
+    found and now holds them in durance awaiting any punishment your
+    _grace_ may decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do
+    your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your anger to be
+    appeased, holding the people of Dinant exonerated, and resting
+    satisfied with the punishment of the guilty, inasmuch as the
+    people are bitterly grieved on account of the insults and have, as
+    before stated, arrested the culprits."
+
+With further apologies for any failure of duty towards the Duke of
+Burgundy, the petitioners humbly begged to be granted the same terms
+that Liege and the other towns had received. March 31st is the date
+of this humble document. Months of doubt followed before the terrible
+experience of August proved the futility of their pleas, to which the
+ducal family refused to listen, so deep was their sense of personal
+aggrievement. Long as it was since the duchess had taken part in
+public affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And she, too, was
+implacable against the town where any citizen had dared accuse her of
+infidelity to her husband and to the Church whose interests were more
+to her than anything in the world except her son.[17]
+
+The petition was as unheeded as were all the representations of the
+would-be mediators. Again Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XI.
+and with assurances that after God his royal majesty was their only
+hope, besought him from mere charity and pity to persuade his cousin
+of Burgundy to forgive them. Apparently Louis took no notice of this
+appeal. Dinant's last hope was that her fellow-communes of Liege would
+refuse to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included. The sole
+concession, obtained by their envoys to Charles in the winter, had
+been a short truce afterwards extended to May, 1466.
+
+During that summer the critical position of the little town was well
+known. Some sympathisers offered aid but it was aid that there was
+possible danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from Liege, who had
+been expressly excluded from the terms of the peace, had joined the
+ranks of a certain free lance company called "The Companions of the
+Green Tent," as their only shelter was the interlaced branches of the
+forest. To Dinant came this band to aid in her defence.[18] At one
+time it seemed as though a peaceful accommodation might be reached but
+it fell through. Not yet were the citizens ready to surrender their
+charters--"Franchises,--to the rescue," was a frequent cry and no
+treaty was made.
+
+Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the reduction of this
+place in person. Too feeble to ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a
+litter, and arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then attended by a small
+escort only, he proceeded to Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point
+whence he could command a view of the scene of his son's intended
+operations. As the crisis became imminent there were a few further
+efforts to effect a reconciliation. When these failed, the town
+prepared to meet the worst.[19] Stories gravely related by Du
+Clercq[20] represent the people of Dinant goaded to actual fury of
+resistance.
+
+By August 7th, the Burgundian troops made their appearance, winding
+down to the river. Conspicuous among the standards--and nobles from
+all Philip's dominions were in evidence--was the banner of the Count
+of Charolais, displaying St. George slaying the dragon.
+
+On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested and the siege began.
+Within the walls the most turbulent element had gained complete
+control of affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to the winds.
+From the walls they hurled words at the foe:
+
+"Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you have brought him
+here to perish?[21] Your Count Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him
+go fight the King of France at Montl'hery. If he waits for the noble
+Louis or the Liegeois he will have to take to his heels," etc.
+
+It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled with cannon-balls but
+there was no assault. By the sixth day the magistrates determined
+to send their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for mercy. The
+captain of the great gild of coppersmiths, Jean de Guerin, tried to
+encourage the faint-hearted to protest openly against this procedure.
+Seizing the city colours he declared: "I will trust to no humane
+sentiment. I am ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live or
+die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the town before the foe
+enter it." It was too late, the capitulation was made.
+
+When the keys were brought to Charles he remembered that he was not
+yet duke and ordered them presented to his father in his stead, and to
+his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task of formally accepting
+the surrender.
+
+It was late in the evening when the Bastard of Burgundy marched in. At
+first he held the incoming troops well under control, but the stores
+of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning there were wild scenes
+of disorder. When Charles arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday,
+just a week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness was checked
+with a strong hand. Any ill treatment of women was peculiarly
+repugnant to him, and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
+justice upon offenders.[22]
+
+[Illustration: ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY AFTER HANS MEMLING. DRESDEN
+GALLERY]
+
+His entry into the fallen town was made with all the wonted Burgundian
+pomp. Nothing in the proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate
+manner. A council of war was held and the proceedings decided upon.
+The cruelty that was exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
+not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults to his mother and to
+himself rankled in the count's mind. As one author remarks[23] with
+undoubted reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible for
+the insult were among those punished. After the siege, "pitiable it
+was to see, for the innocent suffered and the guilty escaped."
+
+Certain rich citizens bought their lives with large sums, others _were
+sold as slaves,_[24] or were hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into
+the Meuse.[25] In the monasteries, life was conceded to the inmates
+but that was all. All their property was confiscated. The Count of St.
+Pol, now Constable of France, tried to intercede for the citizens with
+Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to no result. It might have been
+chance or it might have been intentional that at last flames completed
+the work of destruction. The abode of Adolph of Cleves, at the corner
+of Notre Dame, was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the
+morning of Thursday, August 28th.
+
+That Charles was responsible for this conflagration Du Clercq thinks
+is incredible.[26] He would certainly have saved all ecclesiastical
+property which was almost completely consumed. Indeed, Charles gave
+orders to extinguish the flames as soon as they were discovered, but
+every one was so occupied with saving his own portion of booty that
+nothing was accomplished and the town-hall caught fire and the church
+of Notre Dame. From the latter some ornaments and treasures were saved
+and the bones of Ste. Perpete, with other holy relics, were rescued by
+Charles himself at risk to his own life.
+
+    "It was never known how the fire originated. Some say it was
+    due to a defective flue. To my mind," [concludes the pious
+    historian],[27] "it was the Divine Will that Dinant should be
+    destroyed on account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I
+    trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone lost more than
+    a hundred thousand crowns' value."
+
+_Cy fust Dinant_, "Dinant was," is the sum of his description, four
+days after the conflagration.[28]
+
+On September 1st, Philip, who had remained at Bouvignes while all this
+passed under the direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down to
+Namur. It was almost a triumph,--that trip that proved one of the last
+ever made by the proud duke--and the procession on the river and the
+entry into Namur were closed by a humble embassy from Liege in regard
+to certain points of their peace.
+
+Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the Count of St. Pol's men
+had had no part in the plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the
+poor fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their mercies, as a
+compensation for this deprivation, the little town of Tuin, which had
+been rebellious and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, submitted
+to St. Pol, and then compounded the right of pillage for a round sum
+of money. Moreover, they promised to lay low their gates and their
+walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is said that the
+constable made ten thousand Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men
+felt ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant.
+
+Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare on the various towns of
+Liege territory. The people of Liege themselves seem to have varied
+in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being very humble in their
+petitions for peace and again very insolent. As a rule, this conduct
+seems to be traceable to their hope of Louis's support. On September
+7th, there was one pitched battle where victory decided the final
+terms of the general peace, and after various skirmishes and
+submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the winter and joined
+his father at Brussels.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Doc. inedits sur l'hist. de France_. "Melanges," ii.,
+398.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Polain, _Recits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liege_,
+I, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See Kirk, _Charles the Bold_, i., 329.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Jacques de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of
+difficulty in Liege government:
+
+1. The size of the council--two hundred, where twenty would do.
+
+2. The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to size, when
+all were assembled by the council to vote on a matter.
+
+3. Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen.
+
+4. Facile naturalisation laws. (_See_ Kirk, i., 325.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: In many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is
+probable that it was only partially operative.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See Victor Hugo, _Le Rhin_, i. The Walloon dialect varies
+greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the "Prodigal Son"
+as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille:
+
+LIEGE. Jesus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis. Li pus jone derit
+a s'pere: pere dinnez-m'con qui m'dent riv' ni di vosse bin; et l'pere
+lezi partagea s'bin.
+
+HUY. Jesus l'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li peus jone derit a
+s'pere etc.
+
+LILLE. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux garchens. L'pus jeune
+dit a sin pere-mon pere donez me ch que j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et
+l'pere leu-z-a done a chacun leu parchen.
+
+See also _Doc. inedits concernant l'hist. de la Belgique_, ii., 238,
+for comment on Scott's treatment of the language.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The numbers are probably exaggerated. To-day it contains
+about two hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Du Clercq, iv., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clercq, iv., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Clercq, iv., 239-262.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., ii., 285, 322. For letters and
+negotiations anterior to this peace see p. 197 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Duclos, v., 236.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Book ii., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight
+thousand inhabitants.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In addition to Commines and Du Clercq _see also_ Kirk,
+i., 385, for quotations from Borgnet and others.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 213, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. ined.,_ ii., 350.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Est falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse
+de Bourgogne, a cause desdictes injures at conclut telle hayne sur
+cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a jure comme on dist que s'il li
+devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner cestedite ville en
+mettant toutes personnes a l'espee. (Gachard, _Doc. ined_., ii.,
+222.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., ii., 337, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Du Clercq, iv., 273.]
+
+[Footnote 20: He says messengers were put to death without regard to
+their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from limb.
+Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say mass, and the
+situation was strained to the last degree.]
+
+[Footnote 21: _Qui a mande ce vieil monnart vostre duc_, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Du Clercq, iv., 278.]
+
+[Footnote 23: De Ram, _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de
+Liege,_ "Henricus de Merica," p. 159.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Vel vendebantur in servos. See De Ram _et passim_ for
+documents.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It seems to be well attested that the prisoners were
+tied together and drowned.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Du Clercq, iv., 280.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _Ibid._, 281.]
+
+[Footnote 28: In 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly
+called Dinant" and after that, little by little, the town came to
+life. (Gachard, _Analectes Belgiques_, 318, etc.).]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+1467
+
+
+The Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where he witnessed the manner in
+which his authority was vindicated was his last effort. In the early
+summer following, on Friday, June 10th, Philip, then at Bruges, was
+taken ill and died on the following Monday, June 13th, between nine
+and ten in the evening.[1] Charles was summoned on the Sunday, and it
+seemed as though his horse's hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he
+rode, so swift was his course on the way to Bruges.
+
+When he reached the house where his father lay dying, he was told that
+speech had already ceased, but that there was still life. The count
+threw himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all tenderness,
+and implored a paternal benediction and pardon for all wherein he had
+offended his father. Near the duke stood his confessor who begged the
+dying man to make a sign if he could still understand what was said
+to him. On this admonition and in reply to his son's prayers, Philip
+turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him and pressed the hand which
+was laid upon his own, but further token was beyond his strength. The
+count stayed by his side until he breathed his last.
+
+Thus ended the life of a man who had been a striking figure in Europe
+for forty years. His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been
+fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the Holy Land from the
+invading Turks had proved vain. Many years had passed since he had
+had military success of any kind, and even in his earlier life his
+successes had been owing to diplomacy and to a happy conjunction
+of circumstances rather than to skilful generalship. He possessed
+pre-eminently the power of personality.
+
+When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge at Montereau and Philip
+came into his heritage, Henry V. of England was in the full flush of
+his prosperity, standing triumphant over England and France, and in a
+position to make good his claim with three stalwart brothers to back
+him. All these young men had died prematurely. Their only descendant
+was Henry VI., and that meagre and wretched representative of the
+ambitious Henry V. had had no spark of the character of his father and
+uncles. The one vigorous element in his life was his wife, Margaret
+of Anjou, who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband on his
+throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467, Edward of York was on that
+throne. Gone, too, was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded
+his early, whose son darkened his latter years.
+
+Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke Philip alone had marched
+steadily to every desired goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate
+list of his achievements in doggerel verses:
+
+  "John was born of Philip, child of good King John.
+  To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son.
+  Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed to me
+  Therein to follow him and rule them legally.
+  With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm greater grew.
+  Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too.
+  The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied,
+  By force of right and arms they have been pacified.
+  At one single time against me were maintained
+  French, English, German forces,--nothing have they gained.
+  Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great array.
+  From me he begged a peace and king was from that day!
+  The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered seven.
+  Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given.
+  Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted,
+  But I put them down. I would not be insulted.
+  In Barrois and Lorraine, King Rene warred upon me.
+  Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he.
+  Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee,
+  From me received his crown. Five years my guest was he.
+  Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land;
+  That now he's England's king is due my aid and hand.
+  To defend the Church, which is the House Divine,
+  The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order mine.
+  Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength,
+  My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length.
+  In later days I planned and most sincerely meant
+  To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent.
+  When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained,
+  Through my control alone as Pope was he retained.
+  In 1467, Time my goal has set.
+  When I am seventy-one, I pay Dame Nature's debt.
+  With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here.
+  As in life I ever was their equal and their peer.
+  Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed,
+  Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed!"
+
+The territories thus named, that passed to the new duke, covered
+a goodly space of earth. Had Philip not slacked his ambition at a
+critical time, undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather than a
+ducal crown to his son. He did not so will it, and, moreover, in a
+way he had receded from his independence as he had accepted feudal
+obligations towards Louis XI. which he never had towards Charles VII.
+
+Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser of the French king, he had
+emphasised his position as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke
+of Burgundy _par excellence_ that Philip died, as the typical peer
+whose luxury and magnificence far surpassed the state possible to his
+acknowledged liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of attempting
+to turn that ducal state into state royal, and of establishing a realm
+which should hold the balance of power between France and Germany.
+
+There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to which was the greater, the
+cleverer, the more powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles the
+duke. Had not the former been a beggarly suppliant at his father's
+gates, as dauphin? As king, had he not been forced to yield at the
+gates of his own capital to every demand made by Charles, standing as
+the conscientious representative of the public welfare of France?
+
+Had not Louis befriended the contumelious neighbour of Charles, only
+to learn that his Burgundian cousin could and would deal summarily
+with all protests against his authority among the lesser folk on
+Netherland territory?
+
+The Croys made an attempt to gain the new duke's friendship, as
+appears from this letter to Duke Charles:
+
+    "Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has pleased Our
+    Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw from the world the good
+    Duke Philip, our beloved lord and father, prince of glorious
+    memory, august duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron
+    and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity, and the
+    dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds, he has won an
+    immortal name among living men, and deserves to our mind to find
+    grace before the merciful bounty of God whom we implore to pardon
+    his faults.
+
+    "Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous death shows what
+    is to be expected by all mortals. How many lands, how many nobles,
+    how many peoples, how many treasures, and how many powers would
+    have been ready to prevent what has come to pass, and how many
+    prayers would have risen to God could He have prevented this
+    death!...
+
+    "Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is the end of all
+    evils and the beginning of all benefits, but still your loss
+    and ours cannot pass without affliction. Nevertheless, our most
+    puissant lord, when we consider that we are not left orphans, and
+    that you, his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause
+    for comfort.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "We implore you to be pleased to count us your loyal subjects
+    and very humble servitors and to permit us to go to you, to thus
+    declare ourselves, etc.
+
+    "A. DE CROY, "J. DE CROY."
+
+At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La Marche was in England,
+whither he had accompanied the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to
+King Edward.[2] Right royally had the latter received the embassy.
+
+    "Clad in purple, the garter on his leg and a great baton in his
+    hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage worthy of being king, for he
+    was a fine prince with a grand manner. A count held the sword
+    in front of him, and around his throne were from twenty to
+    twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking like
+    senators gathered together to advise their master."
+
+Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a tourney given in honour
+of the embassy which La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The
+Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian coat-of-arms with a bar
+sinister, made a fine record for himself.
+
+After the tournament he invited the ladies to a Sunday dinner,
+
+    "especially the Queen and her sisters and made great preparations
+    therefor and then we departed, Thomas de Loreille, Bailiff of
+    Caux, and I to go to Brittany to accomplish our embassy. We
+    arrived at Pleume and were obliged to await wind and boats to
+    go into Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke of
+    Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great was the bastard's
+    mourning when he heard of his father's death, and how the nobility
+    who were with him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into
+    tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all valour.
+
+    "In his life he accomplished two things to the full. One was he
+    died as the richest prince of his time, for he left four hundred
+    thousand crowns of gold cash, seventy-two thousand marks of silver
+    plate, without counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes
+    garnished with precious stones, a large and well equipped library,
+    and rich furniture. For the second, he died as the most liberal
+    duke of his time. He married his nieces at his own expense; he
+    bore the whole cost of great wars several times. At his own
+    expense, he refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave
+    ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy at Rhodes; ...
+    No one went from him who was not well recompensed. The state
+    he maintained was almost royal. For five years he supported
+    Monseigneur the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned that all the
+    world spoke well of him."
+
+The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the English court and hastened
+to Bruges to join his brother, the Count of Charolais, who received
+him warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, "when I mention the said
+count I will call him the Duke of Burgundy as is reasonable."
+
+Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the church of St. Donat
+in Bruges, there to repose until it could be taken to Burgundy to be
+buried at Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses the funeral
+with a brief phrase as he was not himself present at Bruges, being
+busied in Brittany. There was a memorial service there, the finest
+he ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted in the chapel
+decorations, not merely pinned on,[2] a fact that impressed the
+chronicler. No nobles, not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
+put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared that none but him was
+worthy of the honour for so high a prince.
+
+    "So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the service I went to
+    thank him for the reverence he had shown the House of Burgundy,
+    and he responded that he had only done his duty. Then I finished
+    my business as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again and
+    returned to my new master."
+
+In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the Duke of Burgundy,[4]
+Chastellain recounts, more at length than La Marche, all that his
+great master had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe the duke
+as he knew him.
+
+    He was medium in height, rather slight but straight as a rush,
+    strong in hip and in arm, his figure well-knit. His neck was
+    admirably proportioned to his body, his hand and foot were
+    slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his veins were
+    full-blooded. Like all his ancestors, his face was long, as was
+    his nose, his forehead high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
+    brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows the same
+    colour, but the former curly, the latter were bushy and inclined
+    to stand up like horns when he was angry. His mouth was
+    well-proportioned, his lips full and high-coloured; his eyes were
+    grey, sometimes arrogant but usually amiable in expression.
+    His personality corresponded perfectly to his appearance. His
+    countenance showed his character, and his character was a witness
+    to the truth of his physiognomy. Nothing was contradictory,
+    perfect was the harmony between the inner and the outer man,
+    between the nobility of thought and the simple dignity,
+    well-poised and graceful. Among the great ones of this earth, he
+    was like a star in heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
+    and a man unique."
+
+    It was for his bearing rather than his beauty that he commanded
+    universal admiration. In a stable he would have looked like an
+    image in a temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Whereever his
+    body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready for the demands of the
+    hour. He was singularly joyous and nicely tempered in speech with
+    so much personal magnetism that he could mollify any enemy if he
+    could only meet him face to face. His dress was always rich and
+    appropriate. He was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in
+    tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase. He liked to linger
+    at the table and demanded good serving but was really moderate in
+    his tastes, as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence
+    ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never heard from him. To
+    all alike his speech was courteous even when there was nothing to
+    be gained.
+
+    "Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips, his mouth was equal
+    to his seal and his spoken word to his written. Loyal as fine gold
+    and whole as an egg." Chastellain repeats himself somewhat in
+    the profusion of his eulogy, but such are the main points of his
+    characterisation. Then he proceeds to some qualifications:
+
+    "In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I acknowledge that he
+    had faults. None is perfect except God. Often he was very careless
+    in administration, and he neglected questions of justice, of
+    finance, and of commerce in a way that may redound to the injury
+    of his house. The excuse urged is that it was his deputies who
+    were at fault. The answer to that is that he trusted too much to
+    deputies and should not be excused for his confidence. A ruler
+    ought to understand his business himself.
+
+    "Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his heart at the
+    desire of his eyes. At the desire of his heart he multiplied his
+    pleasures. His wishes were easy to attain. What he wanted was
+    offered freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his wife,
+    a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For this I offer no
+    excuse. To God I leave the cause.
+
+    "Another fault was that he was not wise in his treatment of his
+    nobles. Especially in his old age he often preferred the less
+    worthy, the less capable advisers. The answer to this charge is
+    that, as his health failed, whoever was by his side obtained
+    ascendency over him and succeeded in keeping the others at a
+    distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the excuse is to the
+    princely invalid. In his solitude even valets used their power, as
+    is not wonderful.
+
+    "He went late to mass and often out of hours. Sometimes he had
+    it celebrated at two o'clock or even three, and in so doing he
+    exceeded all Christian observance. For this there is no excuse
+    that I dare allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had,
+    indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for causes which he
+    explained, _and he only_ is responsible. God alone can judge about
+    him.
+
+    "It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered for this
+    neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice to deplore, nor the
+    nature of man to lament the perdition of such a soul and of such a
+    prince. Hell is not worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. 0
+    God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single virtuous act, do
+    not suffer this man to descend therein!"
+
+Having thus tried his best to give a vivid description of the father's
+personality, while acknowledging that he is not sure of the fate of
+his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an excellent moment
+to paint the son, too, for all time, in view of his mortality. "I will
+use the past tense so that my words may be good for always."
+
+Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than Duke Philip, but well
+formed, strong in arm and thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set
+and a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted to activity.
+The contour of his face was rounder than that of his father, his
+complexion brunette. His eyes were black and laughing, angelically
+clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as though his father
+looked out of them. Like his father's mouth was his, full and red. His
+nose was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair black. His forehead
+was fine, his neck white and well set, though always bent as he
+walked. He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but nevertheless
+he was a fine prince with a fair outer man.
+
+When he began to speak he often found difficulty in expressing
+himself, but once started his speech became fluent, even eloquent.
+His voice was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although he had
+studied the technique and was fond of music. In conversation he was
+more logical than his father, but very tenacious of his own opinion
+and vehement in its expression, although, at the bottom, he was just
+to all men.
+
+In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He listened to others'
+arguments judicially and gave them due weight before his own concluded
+the discussion. He was attentive to his own business to a fault, for
+he was rather more industrious than became a prince. Economical of his
+own time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates and worked them
+very hard. He was fond of his servants and fairly affable, though
+occasionally sharp in his words. His memory was long and his anger
+dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed him, but being naturally
+impetuous there was often a struggle between impulse and reason.
+
+He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the Virgin Mary, rigid in
+his fasts, lavish in charity. He was determined to avoid death and
+to hold on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's peer in
+valour. Like his father, he dressed richly; unlike him, he cared more
+for silver than for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual to
+princes and was always master of himself. He drank little wine, though
+he liked it, because he found that it engendered fever in him. His
+only beverage was water just coloured with wine. He was inclined to no
+indulgence or wantonness. "At the hour in which I write his taste for
+hard labour is excessive, but in other respects his good sense has
+dominated him, at least thus far. It is to be hoped that as his reign
+grows older he will curb his over-strenuous industry."
+
+As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets that circumstances
+have turned him towards England. Naturally he belonged to the French,
+and it was a pity that the machinations of the king, "whose crooked
+ways are well known to God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on
+his forehead he wears the fleur-de-lys."
+
+Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused of avarice, but
+defends him on the ground that he has been driven into collecting
+a large army. "A penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of
+another." "To take precautions in advance is a way to save honour and
+property," prudently adds the historian, who evidently flourishes
+his maxims to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's economy,
+which, quite as evidently, is not pleasing to him. "I have seen him
+the very opposite of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in
+largesse. When he came into his seigniory his nature did not change."
+It was simply the exigencies of his critical position that forced him
+to restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain the undeserved
+reputation for parsimony.
+
+It was also said that he was a very hard taskmaster, but as a matter
+of fact he demanded nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to
+undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was his own commander, drew up
+his own troops himself in battle array, and then passed from one end
+of the line to the other, encouraging the men individually with cheery
+words, promising them glory and profit, and pledging himself to share
+their dangers. In victory he was restrained and showed more mercy than
+cruelty.
+
+After expatiating on the points where Charles was like his
+father--conventional princely qualities --Chastellain adds: "In some
+respects they differed. The one was cold and the other boiling with
+ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other strenuous in his
+promptness; the elder negligent of his own concerns, the younger
+diligent and alert. They differed in the amount of time consumed at
+meals and in the number of guests whom they entertained. They differed
+more or less in their voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in
+the way in which they took solace and amusement." But in all other
+respects, "in life they marched side by side as equals and if it
+please God He will be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the
+final assurance of their eulogist.
+
+Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his adjectives about his
+patron, there is considerable discrimination between his summaries of
+the two dukes. It is very evident that from his accession Charles
+was less of a favourite than his father. While endeavouring to be
+as complimentary as possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out
+between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and thus never saw
+Charles's final disaster. But the violence of his character had
+inspired lack of confidence in his power of achievement, a violence
+that made people dislike him as Philip with all his faults was never
+disliked.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Du Clercq, iv., 302 _et seq_. Erasmus was born in this
+year, 1467.]
+
+[Footnote 2: II., 49.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "Non par armes attachees a espingles."]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Oeuvres_, vii., 213.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+1467
+
+
+After the dauphin was crowned at Rheims, he was monarch over all his
+domains. Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a series of
+ceremonies to perform before he was properly invested with the various
+titles worn by his father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be
+taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited. Then he had
+to exchange pledges of fidelity with his Flemish subjects before
+receiving recognition as Count of Flanders.
+
+According to the custom of his predecessors, Charles stayed at the
+little village of Swynaerde, near Ghent, the night before he made his
+"joyous entry" into that city. It had chanced that the day selected by
+Charles for the event was St. Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of
+the workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed conveniently in a
+portable shrine, rested in the cathedral church, whence they were
+carried once a year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession to
+the little village of Houthem, where the blessed saint had suffered
+martyrdom in the seventh century. All day and all night the saint's
+devotees, the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, remained at
+this spot. Merry did the festival become as the hours wore on, for
+good cheer was carried thither as well as the sacred shrine.
+
+Now the magistrates were a little apprehensive about the rival claims
+of the new count of Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They knew
+that they could not cut short the time-honoured celebration for the
+sake of the sovereign's inauguration, so they decided to prolong the
+former, and directed that the saint should leave town on Saturday and
+not return until Monday. This left Sunday free for the young count's
+entry. It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction of events to
+the city fathers, because the more turbulent portion of the citizens
+was sure to follow the saint.
+
+Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and dignified entrance,[1]
+having paused at the gates to listen to the fair words of Master
+Mathys de Groothuse as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of
+Flanders, and requested God to receive the present one, when he, too,
+was forced to leave earth, as graciously as Ghent was receiving him
+that day. All passed well; oaths of fealty were duly taken and given
+at the church of St. John the Baptist. Charles himself pulled the
+bell rope according to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of
+Flanders was in possession. This all took place in the morning of June
+28th. At the close of the ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and
+the magistrates to their dwellings.
+
+The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their holiday until Monday
+afternoon. It was five o'clock[2] when the revellers returned to
+Ghent. Many of the saint's followers were, by that time, more or less
+under the influence of the contents of the casks which had formed part
+of the outward-bound burden. The protracted holiday-making had its
+natural sequence. There was, however, too much method in the next
+proceedings for it to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety.
+
+The procession passed through the city gate and entered a narrow
+street near the corn market, where stood a little house used as
+headquarters for the collection of the _cueillotte_, a tax on every
+article brought into the city for sale, and one particularly obnoxious
+to the people. Suddenly a cry was raised and echoed from rank to rank
+of St. Lievin's escort, "Down with the _cueillotte_."
+
+Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic crowd, quick to take a
+fantastic advantage of a situation, a second cry was heard: "St.
+Lievin must go through the house. Lievin is a saint who never turns
+aside from his route."
+
+Delightful thought, followed by speedy action. Axes were produced and
+wielded to good effect.
+
+Down came the miniature customs-house in a flash. Little pieces of
+the ruin were elevated on sticks and carried by some of the rabble as
+standards with the cry "I have it--I have it." As they marched
+the procession was constantly augmented and the cries become more
+decidedly revolutionary: "Kill, kill these craven spoilers of God and
+of the world.[2] Where are they? Let us seek them out and slay them in
+their houses, those who have flourished at our pitiable expense."
+
+This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of St. Lievin's mantle,
+resistance to regularly instituted customs could hardly be described
+by any other name. Excited by their own temerity, the crowd now surged
+on to the great market-place in front of the Hotel de Ville, where the
+Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint promptly to his
+safe abiding-place as was meet.
+
+There the lawless deeds--lawless to the duke's mind certainly--became
+more audacious. Counterparts of the very banners whose prohibition
+had been part of the sentence in 1453 were unfurled,[4] and their
+possession alone proved insurrectionary premeditation on the part of
+the gild leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the young duke in
+their midst felt it was an open insult to him as sovereign count.
+
+His messenger failed to return from the market-place. His master
+became impatient and followed him to the scene of action with a small
+escort. As they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged them in. The
+nobles became alarmed and urged the duke to return, but cries from
+the crowd promised safety to his person. To the steps of the Hotel de
+Ville rode the duke, his face dark, menacing with suppressed wrath.[5]
+
+As he dismounted, he turned towards a man whom he thought he saw
+egging on a disturbance and struck him with his riding whip, saying,
+"I know you." The man was quick enough to realise the value of the
+duke's violence at that moment and cried, "Strike again," but the
+Seigneur Groothuse, who had already tried to check Charles's anger and
+to curb the popular turbulence, exclaimed, "For the love of God do
+not strike again!" The wiser burgher at once understood the unstable
+temper of the mob, which had been fairly civil to the duke up to this
+moment. There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the blow would cost
+him dear.
+
+    "Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mischief was so
+    imminent that God alone averted it, and there was not an archer
+    or noble or man so full of assurance that he did not tremble with
+    fear, nor one who would not have preferred to be in India for his
+    own safety. Especially were they in terror for their young prince,
+    who, they thought, was exposed to a dolorous death."
+
+It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster:
+
+    "Do you not see that your life and ours hang on a silken thread?
+    Do you think you can coerce a rabble like this by threats and hard
+    words--a rabble who at this moment do not value you more than the
+    least of us? They are beside themselves, they have neither reason
+    nor understanding.[6]... If you are ready to die, I am not, except
+    in spite of myself. You must try quite a different method--appease
+    them by sweetness and save your house and your life.
+
+    "What could you do alone? How the gods would laugh! Your courage
+    is out of place here unless it enables you to calm yourself and
+    give an example to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom
+    you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They were within the town
+    hall.] Show yourself and you will make an impression by your good
+    sense and all will go well."
+
+To this eminently sound advice the young duke yielded. He appeared on
+a balcony or on the upper steps of the town hall and stood ready to
+harangue his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment sufficed to still
+the turmoil and the silence showed a readiness to hear him speak.
+
+Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish, but he was wise enough
+to use that tongue. One trait of the Ghenters was respect for the
+person of their overlord. When that overlord showed any disposition to
+meet them half-way the response was usually immediate. So it was now.
+The crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin, and not to the
+duke's joyous entry, suddenly remembered that his welcome had been
+strangely ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings. "Take heart,
+Monseigneur. Have no fear. For you we will live and die and none shall
+be so audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fellows with no bump
+of reverence, endure it for the moment. Later you shall be avenged. No
+time now for fear."
+
+This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently appeased to address the
+crowd as "My children," and to assure them that if they would but meet
+him in peaceful conference, their grievances should be redressed.
+"Welcome, welcome! we are indeed your children and recognise your
+goodness."
+
+Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech than was possible either
+to Charles's Flemish or to his mood. This address was equally
+well received, and matters were in train for the appointment of a
+conference between popular representatives and the new Count of
+Flanders, when suddenly a tall, rude fellow climbed up to the balcony
+from the square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to strike on
+the wall, he commanded attention and turned gravely to address the
+audience as though he were on the accredited list of speakers:
+
+"My brothers, down there assembled to set your complaints before your
+prince, your first wish--is it not?--is to punish the ill governors of
+this town and those who have defrauded you and him alike."
+
+"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle crowd.--"You desire the
+suppression of the _cueillotte_, do you not?"--"Yes, yes."--"You
+want all your gates opened again, your banners restored, and your
+privileges reinforced as of yore?"--"Yes, yes." The self-appointed
+envoy turned calmly to Charles and said:
+
+"Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have come together to ask you.
+This is your task. I have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear,
+they make my words their own."
+
+Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified ejaculation over the
+extraordinary insolence of this big villain, who thus audaciously
+associated himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty of God,
+think of such an outrageous and intolerable piece of villainy being
+committed before the eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to
+come and stand side by side with such a gentleman as our seigneur, and
+to proffer words inimical to his authority--words the poorest noble in
+the world would hardly have endured! And yet it was necessary for this
+noble prince to endure and to tolerate it for the moment, and needful
+that he should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough to kill him
+with grief."
+
+Groothuse's answer to the man was mild. Evidently he did not think it
+was a safe moment to exasperate the mob: "'My friend, there was no
+necessity of your intruding up here, a place reserved for the prince
+and his nobles. From below, you could have been heard and Monseigneur
+could have answered you as well there as here. He requires no advocate
+to make him content his people. You are a strange master. Get down. Go
+down below and keep to your mates. Monseigneur will do right by every
+one.'
+
+"Off went the rascal and I do not know what became of him. The duke
+and his nobles were simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage and his
+impudent daring."
+
+The sober report[7] is less detailed and elaborate, but the thread is
+the same. Monseigneur, having returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur
+de la Groothuse, Jean Petitpas, and Richard Utenhove back to the
+market to invite the people to put their grievances in writing. A
+draft was made and carried to the duke. After he had examined it and
+discussed it with his council, he sent Monseigneur de la Groothuse
+back to the market-place to tell the people that he wanted to sleep
+on the proposition and would give his answer at an early hour on the
+morrow. All through the night the people remained in arms on the
+market-place. At about eight o'clock on June 30th Groothuse returned,
+thanked the people in the count's name for having kept such good
+watch, and was answered by cries of "_A bas la cueillotte_."
+
+Then he assured them that all was pardoned and that they should obtain
+what they had asked in the draft. Only he requested them to appoint a
+committee of six to present their demands to Monseigneur and then to
+go home. This they did. St. Lievin was restored to the church and his
+followers betook themselves to the gates specified in the treaty of
+Gaveren. These they broke down, and also destroyed another house where
+was a tax collector's office.
+
+"The report of these events carried to Monseigneur did not have a good
+effect upon his spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted the city."
+The members of the corporation with the two deans and the popular
+committee of six having obtained audience before his departure,
+Groothuse acted as spokesman: "We implore you in all humility to
+pardon us for the insult you have suffered, and to sign the paper
+presented. The bad have had more authority than the good, which could
+not be prevented, but we know truly that if the draft is not signed
+they will kill us."
+
+It is evident in all this story that the municipal authorities were
+frightened to death and that Charles allowed himself to be restrained
+to an extraordinary extent considering the undoubted provocation. His
+reasons for conciliatory measures were two, and literally were his
+ducats and his daughter. He had with him all the portable treasure and
+ready money that his father had had at Bruges, a large treasure
+and one on which he counted for his immediate military
+operations--operations very important to the position as a European
+power which he ardently desired to attain.
+
+Still more important was the fact that his young daughter, Mary, now
+eleven years old, was living in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of
+the city. If the unruly majority should realise their strength what
+easier for them than to seize the treasure and hold the daughter as
+hostage, until her father had acceded to every demand, and until
+democracy was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the neighbouring
+cities?
+
+Charles simply did not dare attempt further coercion of the democratic
+spirit until he was beyond the walls. It is evident that he was
+completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude towards him, as the
+city had always professed great personal attachment to him. But there
+was a difference between being heir and sovereign. The agreement was
+signed, with a mental reservation on the part of the Duke of Burgundy.
+He only intended to keep his pledge until he could see his way clear
+to make terms better to his liking.
+
+On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking his daughter and his
+treasure away, but a safe shelter for both was not easy to find.
+The duke's anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon her
+neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle fears. There were revolts
+of more or less importance at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and
+other places. Moreover, there was serious discussion in the estates
+assembled at Louvain as to whether Charles should be acknowledged as
+Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his cousin, the Count of
+Nevers, should be considered as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the
+late duke's title had never been considered perfect.
+
+Louis XI. seized the opportunity to urge the pretensions of the
+latter, and there were many reasons to recommend him, in the
+estimation of the Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a sovereign
+exclusively their own, instead of one with the widespread geographical
+interests of the Burgundian family. The final decision was, however,
+for Charles; a notice of the resolution of the deputies was sent to
+him at Mechlin, and he made his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he
+received homage from the nobles, the good cities, and the university.
+
+The various insurgent manifestations were promptly quelled one after
+another, but, with a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the duke
+was strongly impressed by them as personal insults. He blamed Ghent
+for their occurrence and deeply resented every one. Throughout
+Philip's whole career he remembered the localised tenure of his titles
+and the fact that they were not perfectly incontestable. For his own
+advantage he often found a conciliatory attitude the best policy.
+Charles considered all his rights heaven-born. Questioning his
+authority was rank rebellion. That he had accepted advice in regard
+to Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the nonce, did not
+mitigate his intense bitterness.
+
+In another town that gave him serious trouble at this time, nothing
+led him to curb the severity of his measures. Though only a
+"protector," not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion in Liege
+he rigorously exacted the most complete and humiliating penalties. The
+city charters were abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As
+an unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth, walls and
+fortifications rased to the ground.
+
+    "The perron on the market-place of the said town shall be taken
+    down, and then Monseigneur the duke shall treat it according to
+    his pleasure. The city may not remake the said perron, nor replace
+    another like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city. Nor
+    shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms of Liege."[8]
+
+This was a terrible indignity for the city and a clear proof of their
+fear of their bishop's friend.
+
+The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent with the duke's power, and
+made the more timorous anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his
+mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their arguments, but the
+scene of abnegation and self-humiliation crowning their apology was
+not enacted until eighteen months after the events apologised for,
+when the new duke had still further proven his metal.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 210, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Some authorities make this five A.M., but the _Rapport_
+is probably correct.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Chastellain, v., 260 _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: So say some historians. But it seems probable that the
+drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Chastellain, v., ch. 7, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 6: These are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober
+_Rapport_ is similar in purport.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 212. ]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard. _Doc. ined_., ii., 462, "_Instrument notarie_."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+1468
+
+
+For many months before Philip's death there had been negotiations
+concerning Charles's marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling a
+closer bond with his mother than with his father, Charles's sympathy
+had ever been towards the Lancastrian party in England, the family to
+whom Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only the necessity for
+making a strong alliance against Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride
+from the House of York. It was on this business that La Marche and
+the great Bastard were engaged when Philip's death interrupted the
+discussion, which Charles did not immediately resume on his own
+behalf.
+
+Pending the final decision in regard to this important indication of
+his international policy, the duke busied himself with the adjustment
+of his court, there being many points in which he did not intend to
+follow his father's usage.[1] Philip's lavishness, without too close
+a query as to the disposition of every penny, was naturally very
+agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal air about his
+households. It was easy to come and go, and it was pleasant to have
+the handling of money and the giving of orders--orders which were
+fulfilled and richly paid without haggling. Charles had other notions.
+He was willing to pay, but he wanted to be sure of an adequate
+return. How he started in on his administration with reform ideas is
+delightfully told by Chastellain.[2]
+
+One of his first measures when he was finally established at Brussels
+was to secure more speedy execution of justice. He appointed a new
+provost, "a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently fitted to
+carry out perilous work." Then he determined to settle petty civil
+suits himself, as there were many which had dragged on for a long
+time. In order to do this and to receive complaints from poor people,
+he arranged to give audience three times a week, Monday, Wednesday,
+and Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he required the
+attendance of all his nobles, seated before him on benches, each
+according to his rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so that
+few places were empty. Charles himself was elevated on a high throne
+covered with cloth of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judgments
+and heard and answered petitions, a process that sometimes lasted two
+or three hours and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers.
+
+    "In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent course of action and
+    very praiseworthy. But in my time I have never heard of nor seen
+    like action taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the
+    least similar.
+
+    "When the duke went through the city from place to place and from
+    church to church, it was wonderful how much state and order was
+    maintained and what a grand escort he had. Never a knight so old
+    or so young who dared absent himself and never a squire was bold
+    enough to squeeze himself into the knights' places."
+
+At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was observed. Every one had
+to wait his turn in his proper room--the squires in the first, the
+knights in the second, and so on. All left the palace together to go
+to mass. As soon as the offering was made all the nobles were free
+to dine, but they were obliged to report themselves to the duke
+immediately after his repast. Any failure caused the forfeiture of the
+fee for the day. It was all very orderly and very dull.
+
+Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law-giver, paternal guide,
+philosopher, and friend to his people. From time to time he delivered
+harangues to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hearing, but
+certainly did not win popularity. The adulatory phrases used as mere
+conventionalities seemed to have actually turned his head. And those
+stock phrases were very grandiloquent. There is no doubt that such
+comparisons were used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the first
+deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the sins committed at the
+dolorous unjoyous entry into the Flemish capital.[2]
+
+    "My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold double place, place
+    of God and place of man, and have in yourself the double nature
+    by office and commission in divine estate, and as your noble
+    discretion knows and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator,
+    of all offences committed against you, and who may be appeased
+    by tears and by weeping as He permits Himself to be softened by
+    contrition, entreaties, etc., and resumes His natural benignity by
+    forgetting things past [etc.].... Alas, what kindness did He use
+    toward Adam, His first offender, upon whom through his son Seth He
+    poured the oil of pity in five thousand future years, and then to
+    Cain the first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his crime
+    for ten generations etc. What did he do in Abraham's time, when He
+    sent word to Lot that if there were ten righteous men in Sodom and
+    Gomorrah He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In Ghent,"
+    etc.[4]
+
+In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the duke's consent to grant
+forgiveness to Ghent is again compared to God's own mercy. The divine
+attributes were referred to again and again, not only on the pages
+of contemporaneous chroniclers who may be accused of desiring ducal
+patronage, but also in sober state papers.
+
+There was one antidote to this homage universally offered to Charles
+wherever there was no rebellion against him. One of the rules of the
+Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike should be subject to
+criticism by their fellows. In May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an
+assembly of the Order, the first over which he had presided. It was a
+fitting opportunity for the knights to express their sentiments. When
+it came to his turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to the
+representations that his conduct fell short of the ideals of chivalry
+because he was too economical, too industrious, too strenuous, and not
+sufficiently cognisant of the merits of his faithful subjects of high
+degrees.[5]
+
+In these plaints, respectful as they are, there is perhaps a note of
+regret for the lavish and amusing good cheer of the late duke's times.
+Charles was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at this period. The
+vision of wide dominions was already in his dreams, and he was prudent
+enough to begin his preparations. And prudence is not a popular
+quality. Still his courtiers were not quite bereft of the gorgeous and
+spectacular entertainments to which the "good duke" had accustomed
+them. Soon after the assembly of the Order, the alliance between Duke
+Charles and Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our Burgundian
+Chastellain is not pleased with this marriage. That Charles inclined
+towards England at all was due to the French king, whom both he and
+his father had found untrustworthy. Again, had there been any other
+eligible _partie_ in England Charles would never have allied himself
+with King Edward when all his sympathies were with the blood of
+Lancaster. But when King Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou,
+whose woes should have commanded pity, simply for the purpose of
+undermining the Duke of Burgundy, the latter felt it wise to make
+Edward his friend.
+
+    "That it was sore against his inclination he confessed to one who
+    later revealed it to me, but he decided that it was better to
+    injure another rather than be down-trodden and injured himself.[6]
+
+    "For a long time there had been little love lost between him and
+    the king. The monarch feared the pride and haughtiness of his
+    subject, and the subject feared the strength and profound subtilty
+    of the king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the whip. And
+    all this, alas, was the result of that cursed War of Public Weal
+    cooked up by the French against their own king. When Charles was
+    deeply involved in it he was deserted by the others and the whole
+    weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so that he alone was
+    blamed by the king, and he alone was forced to look to his own
+    safety and comfort. It is a pity when such things occur in a realm
+    and among kinsfolk."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+
+FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN LENGLET DU FRESNOY
+EDITION OF COMINES]
+
+
+Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine when news came to
+him that the marriage was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
+it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the future result. But
+the king used all kinds of machinations to break off the alliance....
+God suffered two young proud princes to try their strength each at
+his will, often in ways that would have been incompatible in common
+affairs."
+
+The fullest account of the wedding is given by La Marche, an
+eyewitness of the event[7]:
+
+    "Gilles du Mas, maitre d'hotel du Duc de Bretagne--to you I
+    recommend myself. I have collected here roughly according to my
+    stupid understanding what I saw of the said festival, to send it
+    to you, beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me of the
+    noble states and high deeds in your quarter ... as becomes two
+    friends of one rank and calling in two fraternal, allied and
+    friendly houses.
+
+    "My lady and her company arrived at l'Ecluse on a Saturday, June
+    25th, and on the morrow Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother
+    of the duke, Mlle. of Burgundy and various other ladies and
+    demoiselles visited Madame Margaret[8] and only
+
+stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased with her
+prospective daughter-in-law and could not say enough of her character
+and her virtues. There remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of
+the duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempre and various other
+ladies and gentlemen to act the hosts to the strange ladies and
+gentlemen who had crossed from England with the bride. The Count and
+Countess de Charny met Madame as she disembarked and never budged from
+her side until she had arrived at Bruges.
+
+"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur of Burgundy made his
+way to l'Ecluse with a small escort and entered the chateau at the
+rear. After supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights of the
+Order, he went very secretly to the hotel of Dame Margaret, who had
+been warned of his intention, and was attended by the most important
+members of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's
+brother.
+
+    "At his arrival when they saw each other the greetings were very
+    ceremonious and then the two sat down on one bench and chatted
+    comfortably together for some time. After some conversation, the
+    Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged plan of his own,
+    kneeled before the two and made complimentary speeches. He was
+    followed by M. de Charny, who spoke as follows:
+
+    "'Monseigneur, you have found what you desired and since God has
+    brought this noble lady to port in safety and to your desire, it
+    seems to me that you should not depart without proving the
+    affection  you bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now
+    at this moment and give her your troth.'
+
+    "Monseigneur answered that it did not depend upon him. Then the
+    bishop spoke to Margaret and asked her what she thought. She
+    answered that it was just for this and nothing else that the king
+    of England had sent her over and she was quite ready to fulfil
+    the king's command. Whereupon the bishop took their hands and
+    betrothed them. Then Monseigneur departed and returned on the
+    morrow to Bruges.
+
+    "Dame Margaret remained at l'Ecluse until the following Saturday
+    and was again visited by Monseigneur. On Saturday the boats were
+    richly decorated to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was
+    received very honourably according to the capacity of that little
+    town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July, Monseigneur the duke set out
+    with a small escort between four and five o'clock in the morning,
+    and went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready to receive
+    him as all had been prearranged, and Monseigneur wedded her as was
+    suitable, and the nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the
+    Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles returned to his hotel
+    at Bruges, and you may believe that during the progress of the
+    other ceremonies he slept as if he were to be on watch on the
+    following night.
+
+    "Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of Luxemburg, John of
+    Nassau, and others returned to Damme and paid their homage to the
+    new duchess, and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully
+    draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white cloth of gold made
+    like a wedding garment as was proper. On her hair rested a crown
+    and her other jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English
+    ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by her litter
+    and the others behind. Five chariots followed the thirteen
+    hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk, the most beautiful woman in
+    England, being in the first. In this array Madame proceeded to
+    Bruges and entered at the gate called Ste. Croix."
+
+There were too many names to be enumerated, but La Marche cannot
+forbear mentioning a noble Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of
+Breda, who had six horses covered with cloth of gold, jewelry, and
+silk.
+
+    "I mention him for two reasons [he explains[9]]: first, that he
+    was the most brilliant in the procession, and the second is that
+    by the will of God he died on the Wednesday from a trouble in his
+    leg, which was a pity and much regretted by the nobility.
+
+    "The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace was magnificent,
+    with all the dignitaries in their order. So costly were the
+    dresses of the ducal household that Charles expended more than
+    forty thousand francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone.
+
+    "Prominent in this stately procession were the nations or foreign
+    merchants in this order: Venetians, Florentines--at the head of
+    the latter marched Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of
+    the duke at the same time that he was chief of their nation and
+    therefore dressed in their garb; Spaniards; Genoese--these latter
+    showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on horseback guarded by
+    St. George from the dragon.--Then came the Osterlings, 108 on
+    horseback, followed by six pages, all clad in violet.
+
+    "Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all decorated with
+    cloth  of gold and silk and tapestries. As to the theatrical
+    representations I can remember at least ten. There were Adam and
+    Eve, Cleopatra married to King Alexander, and various others.
+
+    "The reception at the palace was very formal. The dowager duchess
+    herself received her daughter-in-law from the litter and escorted
+    her by the hand to her chamber, and for the present we will leave
+    the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrangement of the
+    hotel.
+
+    "In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess was served
+    _d'eschancon et d'escuyer tranchant et de pannetier_. All English,
+    all knights and gentlemen of great houses, and the chief steward
+    cried 'Knights to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get
+    the food, and around the buffet marched all the relations of
+    Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of great houses. And
+    for that day Mme. the duchess the mother declined to be served _a
+    couvert_ but left the honour to her daughter-in-law as was right.
+
+    "After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms for a little rest
+    and there were some changes of dress. Then they all mounted their
+    chariots and hackneys and issued forth on the streets in great
+    triumph and wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Several
+    days of festivity followed when the usual pantomimes and shows were
+    in evidence.
+
+    "Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fete, the grand _salle_ was
+    arranged in the same state as on the wedding day itself, except the
+    grand buffet which stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet,
+    too, was a grand affair and concluded the festivities.
+
+    On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur departed for
+    Holland on a pressing piece of business, and he took leave of the
+    Duchess of Norfolk and the other lords and ladies of quality and
+    gave them gifts each according to his rank. Thus ends the story
+    of this noble festival, and for the present I know nothing worth
+    writing you except that I am yours."
+
+To this may be added the letter of one of the Paston family who was in
+Margaret's train.[10]
+
+    "John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston:
+
+    "To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr Margaret Paston
+    dwelling at Caster, be thys delyveryed in hast.
+
+    "Ryth reverend & worchepfull Modyr, I recommend me on to you as
+    humbylly as I can thynk, desyryng most hertly to her of your
+    welfare & hertsese whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my
+    hert can thynk. Ples yt you to wete that at the makyng of thys
+    byll my brodyr & I & all our felawshep wer in good helle, blyssyd
+    be God.
+
+    "As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as worchepfull as all
+    the world can devyse it, & ther wer never Englyshe men had so good
+    cher owt of Inglong that ever I herd of.
+
+    "As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can non send yow;
+    savyng my Lady Margaret was maryed on Sonday last past at a town
+    that is called Dame IIj myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the
+    morning; & sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr dener;
+    & ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully as all the world cowd
+    devyse as with presession with ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny
+    pepell that ever I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in
+    hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that ever I sye.
+    And the same Sonday my Lord the Bastard took upon hym to answere
+    xxiiij knyts & gentylmen within viij dayis at jostys of pese &
+    when that they wer answered, they xxiiij & hymselve shold torney
+    with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on Monday next
+    comyng; & they that have jostyd with hym into thys day have been
+    as rychly beseyn, & hymselfe also, as clothe of gold & sylk &
+    sylvyr & goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger & gold
+    & perle & stonys they of the dukys coort neyther gentylmen nor
+    gentylwomen they want non; for with owt that they have it by
+    wyshys, by my trowthe, I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords & ladys & gentylwomen
+    knyts, sqwyers & gentylmen I hert never of non lyek to it
+    save King Artourys cort. And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor
+    remembrance to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but that
+    lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you when I come home
+    whyche I trust to God shal not be long to; for we depart owt of
+    Brygge homward on Twysday next comyng & all folk that cam with my
+    lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as shall abyd her
+    styll with hyr whyche I wot well shall be but fewe.
+
+    "We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that the Frenshe king
+    is purposyd to mak wer upon hym hastyly & that he is with in IIIj
+    or v dayis jorney of Brugys & the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next
+    comyng forward to met with hym. God geve hym good sped & all hys;
+    for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest felawshep that ever I cam
+    among & best can behave themselves & most like gentlemen.
+
+    "Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the Duke of Somerset &
+    all hys band departyd well beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that
+    my Lady the Duchess cam thedyr & they sey her that he is to Queen
+    Margaret that was & shal no more come her agen nor be holpyn by
+    the Duke. No more; but I beseche you of your blessyng as lowly as
+    I can, wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday onys.
+    And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good mastras to my lytyll
+    man & to se that he go to scole.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt Thomas.
+
+    "Your sone & humbyll servaunt,
+
+    "J. PASTON THE YOUNGER."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Chastellain, v., 570.]
+
+[Footnote 2: V., 576.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This deputation was composed of representatives from "all
+the city in its entirety in three chief members--the bourgeois and
+nobles, the fifty-two _metiers_, and the weavers who possess twelve
+different places in the city entirely for themselves and in their
+control." The formal apology was made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Ibid_ 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467,
+Duke Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges which
+he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a deputation from the
+three members [_Trois membres_] of the city should come to Brussels to
+beg pardon on their knees, bareheaded, ungirded, for all the disorder
+of St. Lievin. This act of submission took place probably not until
+January, 1469, though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Hist, de l'Ordre_, etc., p. 511.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Chastellain, V., 342.]
+
+[Footnote 7: III., 101. Evidently this was composed for a separate
+work and then incorporated into the memoirs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: There is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the
+Bibliotheque de Burgogne. _See_ also Wavrin, _Anchiennes Croniques
+d'Engleterre_, ii., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 9: III., 108.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _The Paston Letters_, ii., 317.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+1468
+
+
+    "My brother, I beseech you in the name of our affection and of
+    our alliance, come to my aid, come as speedily as you can, come
+    without delay. Written by the own hand of your brother.
+
+    "FRANCIS."
+
+Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent appeal from the
+Duke of Brittany that followed Charles into Holland, whither he had
+hastened after the completion of the nuptial festivities.
+
+The titular Duke of Normandy found that his royal brother was in no
+wise inclined to fulfil the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally,
+Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into terror lest the king
+should invade his duchy and punish him for his share in the
+proceedings that had led up to that compact.
+
+It is in this year that Louis XI. begins to show his real astuteness.
+Very clever are his methods of freeing himself from the distasteful
+obligations assumed towards his brother. They had been easy to make
+when a hostile army was encamped at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy
+weighed lightly when balanced by the desire to separate the allies.
+That separation accomplished, the point of view changed. Relinquish
+Normandy, restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege lord
+after its long retention by the English kings? Louis's intention
+gradually became plain and he proved that he was no longer in the
+isolated position in which the War for Public Weal had found him. He
+had won to himself many adherents, while the general tone towards
+Charles of Burgundy had changed.[1]
+
+In April, 1468, the States-General of France assembled at Tours in
+response to royal writs issued in the preceding February.[2] The
+chancellor, Jouvencal, opened the session with a tedious, long-winded
+harangue calculated to weary rather than to illuminate the assembly.
+Then the king took the floor and delivered a telling speech. With
+trenchant and well chosen phrases he set forth the reasons why
+Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of the French realm. The
+advantages of centralisation, the weakness of decentralisation, were
+skilfully drawn. The matter was one affecting the kingdom as a whole,
+in perpetuity; it was not for the temporal interests of the present
+incumbent of regal authority, who had only part therein for the brief
+space of his mortal journey. Louis's words are pathetic indeed, as
+he calls himself a sojourner in France, _en voyage_ through life,
+as though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of ephemeral
+mankind was novel to his audience. He reiterated the statement that
+the interests involved were theirs, not his.
+
+It was a goodly body which listened to Louis. The greatest feudal
+lords, indeed, were not present, but many of the lesser nobility were,
+while sixty-four towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies. These
+hearers gave willing attention to the thesis that it was a burning
+shame for the French people to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the
+insolent peers from rebelling against their sovereign--those noble
+scions of the royal stock whose bounden duty it was to protect the
+state and the head of the royal house.
+
+What was the reason for their selfish insubordination? The root of the
+evil lay in the past, when extensive territories had been carelessly
+alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted to acquire too much
+independence of the crown, so that the monarchy was threatened with
+disruption. There was more to the same purpose and then the deputies
+deliberated on the answer to make to this speech from the throne. It
+was an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed the value of
+suggestion. Charles the Wise had thought that an estate yielding an
+income of twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a prince of
+the blood. Louis XI. was more generous. He was ready to allow his
+brother Charles a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to the
+government of Normandy--why! no king, either from fraternal affection
+or from fear of war, was justified in committing that province to
+other hands than his own.
+
+The States-General dissolved in perfect accord with the monarch, and a
+definite order was left in the king's hands, declaring that it was
+the judgment of the towns represented that concentration of power was
+necessary for the common welfare of France. Public opinion declared
+that national weakness would be inevitable if the feudatories were
+unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies. Above all, Normandy must be
+retained by the king. On no consideration should Louis leave it to his
+brother.[2]
+
+Before the dissolution of the assembly there was some discussion as to
+the probable attitude of the great nobles in regard to this platform
+of centralisation. Very timid were the comments on Charles of
+Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be an excellent mediator between the
+lesser dukes and the king? Would it not be better to suspend action
+until his opinion was known, etc? But at large there was less reserve.
+The statements were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever come to
+France from Burgundy. The present duke's father and grandfather had
+wrought all the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles, his
+illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest content with his
+paternal heritage. Ghent and Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too?
+Let the king recover the towns on the Somme. Rightfully they were
+French. Louis made no scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty
+of Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by undue influence.
+And this royal sentiment was repeated here and there with growing
+conviction of its justice.
+
+While Charles was occupied with the preparation for his wedding, Louis
+was engaged in levying troops and mobilising his forces, and these
+preparations continued throughout the summer of 1468. Naturally, news
+of this zeal directed against the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany
+followed the traveller in Holland.
+
+Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once to the king, reminding
+him that these seigneurs were his allies, and demanding that nothing
+should be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his remonstrance
+might be futile, and urged on by appeals from the dukes, Charles
+hastened to cut short his stay in Holland so that he might move nearer
+to the scene of Louis's activities. His purpose in going to the north
+had been twofold--to receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand,
+and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of money for which he
+saw immediate need if he were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from
+him.
+
+In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in Flanders to
+Middelburg, and thence made his progress through the cities of
+Zealand, receiving homage as he went. Next he passed to The Hague,
+where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland met him and gave
+him their oaths of fealty on July 21st. Fifty-six towns[4] were
+represented and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks and the
+islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It is noteworthy," comments a Dutch
+historian, "that the people's oath was given first. The older custom
+was that the count should give the first pledge while the people
+followed suit."
+
+As soon as he was thus legally invested with sovereign power, Charles
+demanded a large _aide_ from Holland and Zealand--480,000 crowns of
+fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin money for his new
+consort; 16,000 crowns as donations for various servants, and 4800
+crowns towards his travelling expenses. The total sum was 532,800
+crowns. The share of Holland and West Friesland was 372,800 crowns,
+and of Zealand 16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half
+years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest quota, 3549 crowns, and
+Schiedam the smallest, 350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South
+Holland villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and the remainder was
+divided among the other cities and villages.
+
+There was considerable opposition to the assessments. In many cases
+the new imposts upon provisions pressed very heavily on the poor
+villagers. Having obtained promise of the grant, however, Charles left
+all further details in its regard to the local officials and returned
+to Brussels at the beginning of August to make his own preparation.
+For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the treaty of
+Conflans were plain, though there still fluttered a thin veil of
+friendship between the cousins. Gathering what forces he could
+mobilise, ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved westward and
+took up his quarters at Peronne on the river Somme.
+
+Louis had been bold in his utterance to the States-General as to his
+perfect right to ignore the treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his
+brother, and to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the summer
+of 1468 he made advances towards accomplishing the last-named
+desideratum. Brittany was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was
+diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis peaceably consented
+to renounce his close alliances with Burgundy and England, nominally
+at least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France to submit his
+claims to Normandy to the arbitration of Nicholas of Calabria and the
+Constable St. Pol.[5]
+
+Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with on some different
+basis. And in regard to him Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified
+his friends and caused the world to wonder as to his sanity. All
+previous attempts at mediation having failed--St. Pol was among the
+many who tried--the king determined to be his own messenger to parley
+with his Burgundian cousin. It is curious how small was his measure
+of personal pride. He had been negligent of his personal safety at
+Conflans, but even then Charles had better reason to respect and
+protect him than in 1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years
+in every direction to harass and undermine the young duke's power,
+and when, too, the latter was aware of half of the machinations and
+suspicious of more.
+
+Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sudden hare-brained
+enterprise. There is much evidence that he nursed the project for many
+weeks without giving any intimation of his intentions. Nor was the
+situation as strange as it appears, looking backward.
+
+Charles had doubtless made all preparations to combat Louis if need
+were, and had chosen Peronne for his headquarters with the express
+purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the same time, he had
+published abroad that his military preparations were solely for
+the purpose of keeping his obligations to his allies. Now these
+obligations were momentarily removed by the action of those same
+allies. Francis of Brittany had entered into amicable relations with
+his sovereign, young Charles of France had accepted arbitration to
+settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers, while the
+correspondence between Louis and Liege, was still unknown to the Duke
+of Burgundy. For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no definite
+quarrel with the French king. But he was not in the least anxious for
+an interview with him. Charles was as far as ever from understanding
+his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of Louis's efforts to
+make friends in the Netherlands, Charles suspected enough to turn his
+youthful distrust of the man's character into mature conviction that
+friendship between them was impossible. But he could not refuse the
+royal overtures. His letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited
+visitor bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows:[6]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it be your
+    desire to come to this city of Peronne in order that we may talk
+    together, I swear and I promise you by my faith and on my honour
+    that you may come, remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon,
+    according to your pleasure and as often as it shall please you,
+    freely and openly without any hindrance offered either to you or
+    to any of your people by me or by any other for any cause that now
+    exists or _that may hereafter arise_."
+
+Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential messenger between duke and
+king. He it was whom Charles had dismissed from his own service in
+1456 at his father's instance. From that time on the man had been in
+Louis's household, deep in his secrets it was said, and certainly
+admitted to his privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter was
+written by Charles in the presence of Biche, through whose hand it
+passed directly to the king.
+
+By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to move as soon as the
+safe-conduct arrived. No time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday,
+October 9th, the king started out, accompanied by the Bishop of
+Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue,
+St. Pol, a few more nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish
+guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of Crevecoeur, with two
+hundred lances, met him on the way to act as his escort to the
+presence of the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of a stream a
+short distance out of Peronne.
+
+St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the duke as herald of
+Louis's approach. Then Charles rode forward to greet the traveller. As
+he came within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his saddle and was
+about to dismount when Louis, his head bared, prevented his action.
+Fervent were the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the duke's
+cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly about the latter's neck.
+Then he turned graciously to the by-standing nobles and greeted them
+by name. But his cousinly affection was not yet satisfied. Again he
+embraced Charles and held him half as long as before in his arms. How
+pleasant he was and how full of confidence towards this trusted cousin
+of his!
+
+The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two princes in the
+middle, and made a stately entry into Peronne at a little after
+mid-day.[7] The chief building then and the natural place to lodge
+a royal visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair, ill
+furnished, and affording less comfort than a neighbouring house
+belonging to a city official. Here rooms had been prepared for the
+king and a few of his suite, the others being quartered through the
+town. At the door Charles took his leave and Louis entered alone with
+Cardinal Balue and the attendants he had chosen to keep near him.
+These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and were treated
+by their master with a familiarity very astonishing to the stately
+Burgundians.
+
+Louis entered the room assigned for his use, walked to the window,
+and looked out into the street. The sight that met his view was most
+disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the point of entering the
+castle. They were gentlemen just arrived from Burgundy with their
+lances, in response to a summons issued long before the present visit
+was anticipated. As he looked down on the troops, Louis recognised
+several men who had no cause to love him or to cherish his memory.
+There was, for instance, the queen's brother Philip de Bresse[8] who
+had led a party against Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a
+time of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of his
+brother-in-law's profession and had visited him to obtain his
+mediation. The king had violated both the specified safe-conduct and
+ambassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De Bresse into the citadel
+of Loches, where he suffered a long confinement before he succeeded in
+making his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as well as in race.
+But with him on that October day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who
+had fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or another and had
+saved their liberty by flight, renouncing their allegiance to him
+for ever. Four there were in all who wore the cross of St. Andrew.
+Approaching Peronne as they had from the south, these new-comers had
+ridden in at the southern gates without intimation of this royal
+visitation extraordinary until they were almost face to face with
+guest and host. Their arrival was "a half of a quarter of an hour
+later than that of the king."
+
+When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned what was going on, they
+hastened to the duke's chambers "to give him reverence." Monseigneur
+de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke that the three above
+named should be assured of their security notwithstanding the king's
+presence at Peronne,--of security such as he had pledged them in
+Burgundy and promised for the hour when they should arrive at his
+court. On their part they were ready to serve him towards all and
+against all. Which petition the duke granted orally. "The force
+conducted by the Marshal of Burgundy was encamped without the gates,
+and the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did the others I
+have mentioned."[9]
+
+It was, however, a situation in which apprehension was not confined
+to the men of lower station. To Louis, looking down from his window,
+there seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these persons who had
+heavy grievances against him, and the unfortified private house seemed
+slight protection against their possible vengeance. Here, Charles
+might disavow injury to him as something happening quite without his
+knowledge. On ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under shelter
+patently ducal. There, there would be no doubt of responsibility did
+misfortune happen.
+
+Straightway the king sent a messenger to Charles asking for quarters
+within the castle. The request was granted and the uneasy guest passed
+through the massive portals between a double line of Burgundian
+men-at-arms. It was no cheerful, pleasant, palatial dwelling-place
+this little old castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that vain
+had been all assaults against it.[10] Designed for a fortress rather
+than a residence, it had been repeatedly used as a prison, and the air
+of the whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls, dungeons
+which had seen many unwilling lodgers. Five centuries earlier than
+this date, Charles the Simple had languished to death in one of the
+towers.
+
+This change of arrangement, or rather the disquieting reason for the
+change, undoubtedly clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet
+outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts that the two princes
+directed their people to behave amicably to each other and that the
+commands were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days the desired
+conferences took place between Charles and Louis. The king's wishes
+were perfectly plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other alliances
+and to pledge himself to support his feudal chief, first and foremost,
+from all attacks of his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had submitted
+to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy would only accept terms equally
+satisfactory in their way, the pernicious alliance between the two
+would vanish, to the weal of French unity.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP DE COMMINES.]
+
+Apparently the first discussion was heard by none except the Cardinal
+Balue and Guillaume de Biche. Charles was willing to pledge allegiance
+and to promise aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations that
+weakened the value of his words. Nothing could induce him to renounce
+alliance with other princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There
+was a second interview on the following day. Charles held tenaciously
+to his position. Then there came a sudden alteration in the situation,
+a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of view.
+
+The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the behests of her
+imperious neighbour, but the citizens had never ceased to hope that
+his unwelcome "protection" might be dispensed with; that, by the aid
+of French troops, they might eventually wrest themselves free from
+the Burgundian incubus. In spite of all promises to Charles, secret
+negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party and Louis XI. had never
+ceased. The latter never refused to admit the importunate embassies to
+his presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the city even in
+its ruined condition. He sent envoys as well as received them, and
+Commines states definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne,
+the fact of a confidential commission recently despatched to Liege had
+wholly slipped the king's mind.
+
+In that town the duke's lieutenant, Humbercourt, had been left to
+supervise the humiliating changes ordered. And the work of demolition
+was the only industry. Other ordinary business was at a standstill.
+For a period there was a sullen silence in the streets and the church
+bells were at rest. In April, a special legate from the pope arrived
+to see whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a better
+footing.
+
+It was about the same time that the States-General were meeting
+at Tours that, under the direction of this legate, Onofrio de
+Santa-Croce, the cathedral was purified with holy water, and Louis of
+Bourbon celebrated his very first mass, though he had been seated on
+the episcopal throne for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate
+between the city and the Duke of Burgundy. To Bruges he went to
+see Charles, and obtained permission to draft a project for the
+re-establishment of the civic government, to be submitted to the duke
+for approval.
+
+If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop by forcing him into
+performing his priestly rites he soon learned his mistake. That
+ecclesiastic speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed
+festivities, and then forsook the city and sailed away to Maestricht
+in a gaily painted barge, with gay companions to pass the summer in
+frivolous amusements suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the
+state of affairs when the report of Louis's extensive military
+preparations encouraged the Liegeois to hope that he was to take the
+field openly against the duke.
+
+About the beginning of September, troops of forlorn and desperate
+exiles began to return to the city. They came, to be sure, with shouts
+of _Vive le Roi!_ but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing to
+make any accommodation for the sake of being permitted to remain.
+"Better any fate at home than to live like wild beasts with the
+recollection that we had once been men."
+
+To make a long story short, Onofrio again endeavoured to rouse the
+bishop to a sense of his duty. Again he tried to make terms for the
+exiles and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was useless. Louis
+of Bourbon refused to approach nearer to Liege than Tongres, and
+declined to meet the advances of his despairing subjects. It was just
+at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived from Louis, despatched,
+as already stated, _before_ Charles had consented to prolong the
+truce.
+
+Excited by their presence the Liegeois once more roused themselves to
+action. A force of two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced by
+night upon Tongres--also without walls--surrounded the house where lay
+their bishop, and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there was
+and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the mob respected the
+person of their bishop and of Humbercourt the chief Burgundian
+official. This event happened on October 9th, the very day that Louis
+rode recklessly into Peronne.
+
+On Wednesday, October 11th, the news of the fray reached Peronne,
+but news greatly exaggerated by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and
+Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly murdered in the very
+presence of Louis's own envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous
+crime! To follow the story of an eyewitness:[11]
+
+    "Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted the contrary,
+    for such advertisments are never reported after one sort. At
+    length others came who had seen certain canons slain and supposed
+    the bishop[12] to be of the number, as well as the said seigneur
+    de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they said that they had
+    seen the king's ambassadors in the attacking company and mentioned
+    them by name. All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith
+    believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that the king
+    had come thither to abuse him, and gave commands to shut the gates
+    of the castle and of the town, alleging a poor enough excuse,
+    namely, that he did this on account of the disappearance of a
+    little casket containing some good rings and money.
+
+    "The king finding himself confined in the castle, a small one at
+    that, and having seen a force of archers standing before the gate,
+    was terrified for his person--the more so that he was lodged in
+    the neighbourhood of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois
+    had caused the death of one of his predecessors as king of
+    France.[13] At that time, I was still with the duke and served him
+    as chamberlain, and had free access to his chamber when I
+    would, for such was the usage in this household.
+
+    "The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed, ordered all to
+    leave his presence and said to a few of us that stayed with him
+    that the king had come on purpose to betray him, and that he
+    himself had tried to avoid his coming with all his strength, and
+    that the meeting had been against his taste. Then he proceeded to
+    recount the news from Liege, how the king had pulled all the wires
+    through his ambassadors, and how his people had been slain. He was
+    fearfully excited against the king. I veritably believe that if
+    at that hour he had found those to whom he could appeal ready to
+    sympathise with him and to advise him to work the king some
+    mischief, he would have done so, at the least he would have
+    imprisoned him in the great tower.
+
+    "None were present when the words fell from the duke but myself
+    and two grooms of the chamber, one of whom was named Charles de
+    Visen, a native of Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with
+    his master. We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the duke
+    as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same phrases on others,
+    and a report of them ran through the city and penetrated to the
+    very apartment of the king, who was greatly terrified, as was
+    everyone, because of the danger that they saw imminent, and
+    because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel when it
+    has commenced between such great princes. Assuredly they were
+    blameworthy in failing to notify their absent servants of this
+    projected meeting. Great inconveniences were bound to arise from
+    this negligence."
+
+Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness though he was, it must be
+remembered that when he wrote the account of this famous interview it
+was long after the event, and when his point of view was necessarily
+coloured by his service with Louis. Delightful, however, are the
+historian's own reflections that he intersperses with his plain
+narrative. To his mind the only period when it is safe for princes to
+meet is
+
+    "in their youth when their minds are bent on pleasure. Then they
+    may amuse themselves together. But after they are come to man's
+    estate and are desirous each of over-reaching the other, such
+    interviews do but increase their mutual hatred, even if they incur
+    no personal peril (which is well-nigh impossible). Far wiser is
+    it for them to adjust their differences through sage and good
+    servants as I have said at length elsewhere in these memoirs."
+
+Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous instances of disastrous
+royal interviews before returning to his subject and to Peronne:
+
+    "I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his new chapter]
+    to tell the princes my opinion of such meetings.[14] Thus the
+    gates were closed and guarded and two or three days passed by.
+    However, the Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had
+    Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and those only
+    through the wicket. Nor did the duke see any of his people who had
+    influence over him.
+
+    "The first day there was consternation throughout the city. By the
+    second day the duke was a little calmed down. He held a council
+    meeting all day and the greater part of the night. The king
+    appealed to every one who could possibly aid him. He was lavish in
+    his promises and ordered fifteen thousand crowns to be given where
+    it might count, but the officer in charge of the disbursement of
+    this sum acquitted himself ill and retained a part, as the king
+    learned later.
+
+    "The king was especially afraid of his former servants who had
+    come with the army from Burgundy, as I mentioned above, men who
+    were now in the service of the Duke of Normandy.
+
+    "Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned council-meeting.
+    Some held that the safe-conduct accorded to the king protected
+    him, seeing that he fairly observed the peace as it had been
+    stated in writing. Others rudely urged his capture without further
+    ceremony, while others again advised sending for his brother, the
+    Duke of Normandy, and concluding with him a peace to the advantage
+    of all the princes of France. They who gave this advice thought
+    that in case it was adopted, the king should be restrained of his
+    liberty. Further, it was against all precedent to free so great a
+    seigneur when he had committed so grave an offence.
+
+    "This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw a man booted
+    and spurred ready to depart with a packet of letters addressed to
+    Monseigneur of Normandy, being in Brittany, and stayed only for
+    the Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to naught. The
+    king made overtures to leave as hostages the Duke of Bourbon, the
+    cardinal, his brother, and the constable with a dozen others while
+    he should be permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was
+    concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should repair their
+    mischief or he would declare himself their foe. The appointed
+    hostages were profuse in their offers to immolate themselves, at
+    least they were in public. I do not know whether they would have
+    said the same things in private. I rather suspect not. And in
+    truth, I believe that those who were left would never have
+    returned.
+
+    "On the third night after the arrival of the news, the duke never
+    undressed, but lay down two or three times on his bed, and
+    then rose and walked up and down. Such was his way when he was
+    troubled. I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him from
+    time to time. In the morning his fury was greater than ever, his
+    tone very menacing, and he seemed ready to go to any extreme.
+
+    "However, he finally brought himself to say that if the king would
+    swear the peace and would accompany him to Liege to help avenge
+    Monsgn. of Liege, his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then
+    he suddenly betook himself to the king's chamber and expressed
+    himself to that effect. The king had a friend[15] who warned him,
+    assuring him that he should suffer no ill if he would concede
+    these two points. Did he do otherwise he ran grave risk, graver
+    than he would ever incur again."
+
+    When the duke entered the royal presence his voice trembled, so
+    agitated was he and on the verge of breaking into a passion. He
+    assumed a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and word as he
+    demanded whether the king would keep the treaty of peace as it had
+    been drafted, and whether he was ready to swear to it. "Yes" was
+    the king's response. In truth, nothing had been added to the
+    agreement made before Paris, or at least little as far as the Duke
+    of Burgundy was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Normandy, it
+    was stipulated that if he would renounce that province he should
+    have Champagne and Brie besides other neighbouring territories for
+    his share.
+
+    Then the duke asked if the king would accompany him to avenge the
+    outrage committed upon his cousin the bishop.
+
+    "To which demand the king gave assent as soon as the peace was
+    sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to Liege and with a small or
+    large escort, just as the duke preferred. This answer pleased
+    the duke immensely. In was brought the treaty, out of the king's
+    coffer was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one carried
+    by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of Victory, and thereupon
+    the two swore the peace.
+
+    "This was now October 14th. In a minute the bells pealed out their
+    joy throughout Peronne and all men were glad. It hath pleased the
+    king since to attribute the credit of this pacification to me."
+
+There was undoubtedly an immense sense of relief in Peronne when this
+degree of accommodation was reached. The duke was unwilling, however,
+to have too much rejoicing in his domains until he had ascertained for
+himself the state of Liege. Among the letters despatched from Peronne
+this October 14th, was the following to the magistrates of Ypres:[16]
+
+    "Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we have to-day
+    made peace and convention with Monseigneur the king, and that for
+    this reason you might be inclined to let off fire-works and make
+    other manifestations of joy, we hasten to advise you that ... our
+    pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or assemblies in our
+    town of Ypres on account of the said peace until we have subdued
+    the people of Liege, and avenged the said outrage [described
+    above]. This with God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point
+    of departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved, may our Lord
+    protect you.
+
+    "Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14, 1468."
+
+A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions to the magistrates of
+Ypres, possibly managing to slip them under the same cover.[17]
+
+    "To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace was concluded between the king
+    and Monseigneur, and also between the king and the Duke of Berry.
+    Here, bells are ringing and the _Te Deum_ is sung. It is generally
+    believed that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God deserves
+    thanks for the result, for I assure you that last night the
+    outlook was not clear."[18]
+
+The king wrote as follows to his confidential lieutenant:
+
+    "PERONNE, October 14th.
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, you are already informed how there
+    has been discussion in my council and that of my brother-in-law of
+    Burgundy, as to the best manner of adjusting certain differences
+    between him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive at a
+    conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here we have busied
+    ourselves with the requisitions passing between us, so that to-day
+    we have, thanks to our Lord, in the presence of all the nobles
+    of the blood, prelates and other great and notable personages in
+    great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn peace
+    solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid, defend and
+    succour each other for ever. Also on the same cross we have
+    ratified the treaty of Arras with its corrections and other points
+    which seemed productive of peace and amity.
+
+    "Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy ordered thanksgivings
+    in the churches of his lands, and in this town he has already had
+    great solemnity. And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that
+    the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the bishop of Liege,
+    whom he is determined to deliver as quickly as possible, he has
+    besought me as a favour to him, and also because the bishop is my
+    kinsman whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege, not far
+    from here. This I have agreed to, and have chosen as my escort
+    a portion of the troops under monseigneur the constable, in the
+    hopes of a speedy return by the aid of God.
+
+    "And because it is for my weal and that of my subjects I write to
+    you at once, because _I am sure_ you will be pleased, and that
+    you will order like solemnities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand
+    master, as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible
+    disband my _arriere ban_ together with the free lances, and
+    do every possible thing for the mass of poor folks; appoint
+    well-to-do men as leaders in every bailiwick and district. Above
+    all, see to it that they do not indulge in any new and startling
+    conduct. That done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer
+    me, I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any further
+    action that may arise. Written at Peronne October 14th.
+
+    "Loys MEURIN.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[19]
+
+Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased for the purpose of
+passing Charles's censorship. He took the liberty of disregarding his
+master's orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held himself
+in readiness to go to fetch the errant monarch if he did not return
+speedily from the enemy's country. His letter to the king and the
+unwritten additions delivered by his confidential messengers terrified
+his liege lest too much zeal on his behalf in France might work him
+ill in Liege. A week later Louis writes again:
+
+    NAMUR, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR THE GRAND MASTER:
+
+    "I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage. _Be assured that
+    I make this journey to Liege under no constraint, and that I never
+    took any journey with such good heart as I do this._ Since God and
+    Our Lady have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur of
+    Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over there take arms
+    against me. Monseigneur the grand master, my friend, you have
+    proved that you love me, and you have done me the greatest service
+    that you can, and there is another service that you can do. The
+    people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that I mean to deceive
+    them, and people there [in France] think that I am a prisoner.
+    Distrust between the two would be my ruin.
+
+    "Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men, you know what we
+    planned, you and I, touching the action of Armagnac. It seems
+    to me that you ought to send your people straight ahead in that
+    direction and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as
+    I am out of this, and you can make what choice you will. M. the
+    grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to Laon and await me
+    there. Send me a messenger the minute you arrive and I will let
+    you have frequent news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois
+    are subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of Burgundy
+    is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he has finished his work
+    at Liege, and he desires my return more than I do. Francois Dunois
+    will tell you what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur,
+    etc.
+
+    "Writ at Namur, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "LOUIS "TOUSSAINT.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[20]
+
+Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and others also declare that
+Louis goes most gladly with his dear brother of Burgundy and that the
+affair will not require much time. To Cardinal Balue he writes only a
+few words, telling him that the messenger will be more communicative.
+
+Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn aside to visit the
+young Duchess of Burgundy, either at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the
+conjecture of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his surmise
+further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn was performed
+Chastellain's mystery of "The Peace of Peronne."[21] Perhaps these
+verses, if put in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have pleased
+the princely spectators of the dramatic poem. Mutual admiration was
+the key-note of these flowery speeches while the other _dramatis
+personae_ expressed unstinted admiration for the wonderful deed
+accomplished by these two pure souls who have sworn peace when they
+might have brought dire war on their innocent subjects.
+
+    "Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that proud knight,
+    nor the great Charlemagne, nor the proud Duke of Mayence, nor
+    Mongleive, the heir, from whom issued noble fruit, nor King
+    Arthur, nor Oliver, nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens
+    of victories approach or touch with hand or foot the work I treat
+    of."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    [The king speaks.]
+
+    "Charles, be assured that Louis will be the re-establisher and
+    provider of all that touches your honour and peace between you
+    and him. That he will ever be appreciator of you and avenger, a
+    nourisher of joy and love in repairing all that my predecessor
+    did.
+
+    [The duke speaks.]
+
+    "And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his soul, wishes
+    nothing better than to serve you and this realm and to extol
+    your house. For I know that is the reason why I have glory and
+    reputation. Then if it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep
+    from blame."
+
+One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a note of doubt:
+"Charles, so many debates may occur, so many incidents and accidents
+in our various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded."
+
+Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare possibility of a new breach
+between him and his liege. The whole is a paean at a love feast. If the
+two together heard their counterfeits express such perfect fidelity,
+how Louis XI. must have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced
+courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was quite capable of taking it
+all seriously, wholly unconscious that he had not cut the lion's claws
+for once and all.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}.,356.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The letters of convocation bear the date February 26,
+1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th, they had
+returned home, and on May 2d they made a report. The items of
+expenditure are very exact. So hard had they ridden that a fine horse
+costing eleven crowns was used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van
+der Broeck, archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the
+register of the Council. _See_ Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _See_ Lavisse iv^[ii]., 356.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Dordrecht was not among them. Her deputies held that
+it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later Charles
+received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Hist._,
+iv., 101.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Treaty of Ancenis, September 10, 1468. _See_ Lavisse,
+iv^[ii].] One of the results of the War of Public Weal was that St.
+Pol was appointed constable of France.]
+
+[Footnote 6: The original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.;
+Lenglet, iii., 19.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the
+basis of this narrative. (Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 196.) There
+is, however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous and
+commentating. _See also_ Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc. Chastellain's
+MS. is lost.]
+
+[Footnote 8: _See_ Lavisse, iv^[ii]., 397.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Ludwig v. Diesbach, (_See_ Kirk, i., 559.) The author
+was a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss
+affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 10: It was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Commines, ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the
+mob, but it was many years later.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Le roi ... se voyait loge, rasibus d'une grosse tour ou
+un Comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien predecesseur Roy de France_.
+(Commines, ii., ch. vii.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Memoires_, ii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Undoubtedly Commines wishes it to be inferred that this
+was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines, whose memoirs
+remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive history of the times. There
+are the errors inevitable to any contemporary statement. Meyer, to be
+sure, says, apropos of an incident incorrectly reported, _Falsus in
+hoc ut in pluribus historicus_. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries
+later is also severe. _See_, too, "L'autorite historique de Ph. de
+Commynes," Mandrot, _Rev. Hist_., 73.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 199.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Ibid._, 200.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Waer ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer
+ghestaen heeft._]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Lettres de Louis XI_, iii., 289. The king apparently
+never resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dauphin. His
+letters to him are very intimate.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Lettres_, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.)]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn ed., _Oeuvres de Chastellain_, vii., xviii. _See_
+poem, _ibid._, 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence
+bears this line: "Here follows a mystery made because of the said
+peace of good intention in the thought that it would be observed by
+the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way out of the route between
+Peronne and Namur, where the party was on October 14th. It would
+hardly seem possible for journey and visit in so brief a time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+1468
+
+
+It was in the midst of heavy rains that the journey was made to Namur
+and then on to the environs of Liege. Grim was the weather, befitting,
+in all probability, Charles's own mood. The king's escort was confined
+to very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body of three hundred
+troopers was permitted to follow him at a distance, while the faithful
+Dammartin across the border kept himself closely informed of every
+incident connected with the march that his scouts could gather, and
+in readiness to fall upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm,
+while he restrained his ardour for the moment in obedience to Louis's
+anxious command.
+
+By the fourth week of October the Franco-Burgundian party were settled
+close to Liege in straggling camps, separated from each other by hills
+and uneven ground. Long was the discussion in council meeting as to
+the best mode of procedure. Liege was absolutely helpless in the face
+of this coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless. Moats she had
+never possessed, for digging was well-nigh impossible on her rocky
+site covered by mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse. On
+account of this evident weakness, the king advised dismissing half the
+army as needless, advice that was not only rejected immediately but
+which excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith. Over a week
+passed and feeble Liege continued obstinate, while each division of
+the army manoeuvred to be first in the assault for the sake of the
+plunder. But advance was very difficult, for the soldiers were
+impeded in their movements by the slime. Wild were some of the night
+skirmishes over the uneven, slippery ground and amidst the little
+sheltering hills.
+
+On one occasion, "a great many were hurt and among the rest the Prince
+of Orange (whom I had forgotten to name before), who behaved that day
+like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved foot off the place he
+first possessed.
+
+The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he failed sometimes
+in order giving, and to say the truth, he behaved himself not so
+advisedly as many wished because of the king's presence."[1]
+
+There is no doubt that Charles entertained increasingly sinister
+suspicions of his guest. He thought the king might either try to enter
+the city ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient allies by a
+specious explanation, or else he might succeed in effecting his escape
+without fulfilling his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday,
+October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own quarters were in
+a little suburb of mean, low houses, with rough ground and vineyards
+separating his camp from the city. Between his house and that of the
+king, both humble dwellings, was an old granary, occupied by a picked
+Burgundian force of three hundred men under special injunctions to
+keep close watch over the royal guest and see that he played no sudden
+trick. To further this purpose of espionage, they had made a breach in
+the walls with heavy blows of their picks.
+
+The men were wearied with all their marching and skirmishing, and in
+order to have them in fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered
+all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The exhausted troops
+gladly obeyed this injunction. Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so,
+too, were Philip de Commines and the few attendants that lay within
+the narrow ducal chamber. Only a dozen pickets mounted guard in the
+room over Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired eyes open
+by playing at dice.
+
+On that Saturday night when Charles was thus prudently gathering
+strength for the final tussle, the people of Liege also indulged in
+repose, counting on Sunday being a day of rest, that is, the major
+part of the burgher folk did within city limits. But another plan was
+on foot among some of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An attack
+on the Burgundian camp was planned by a band from Franchimont, a wild
+and wooded district, south of the episcopal see. The natives there had
+all the characteristics of mountaineers, although the heights of their
+rugged country reached only modest altitudes.[2]
+
+These invaders were fortunate in obtaining as guides the owners of
+the very houses requisitioned for the lodgings of the two princes.
+Straight to their goal they progressed through paths quite unknown to
+the foe, and therefore unwatched. The highlanders made a mistake
+in not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where in the first
+confusion they might have accomplished their design upon the lives of
+Louis and of Charles or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a
+pause at a French nobleman's tent created a disturbance which roused
+the archers in the granary. The latter sallied out, to meet with a
+fierce counter-attack. In order to confuse them the mountaineers
+echoed the Burgundian cries, _Vive Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez,
+tuez_, and they were not always immediately identified by their harsh
+Liege accent.
+
+The highlanders were far outnumbered by the Burgundians, and it was
+only by dint of their desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy
+darkness and of the locality with its unknown roughness that the
+former inflicted the damage that they did.
+
+Commines and his fellows helped the duke into his cuirass, and stood
+by his person, while the king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved
+themselves good fellows, who never budged from their master's feet and
+shot arrow upon arrow out into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians
+than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's own host, the guide of
+the marauders to his own cottage door. There were many more victims
+and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter characterised by the
+passions of war and the conditions of a mere burglarious attack on
+private houses.
+
+Quaking with fear was the king. He thought that if the duke should now
+fail to make a complete conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang in
+the balance. At a hasty council meeting held that night, Charles
+was very doubtful as to the expediency of carrying out his proposed
+assault upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were the allies,
+a fact that caused Philip de Commines to comment,[3] "scarcely fifteen
+days had elapsed since these two had sworn a definitive peace and
+solemnly promised to support each other loyally. But confidence could
+not enter in any way."
+
+Charles gave Louis permission to retire to Namur and wait until the
+duke had reduced the recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought
+it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until they parted
+company for ever, and the morrow found him in the duke's company as he
+marched on to Liege.
+
+    "My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would have been wise to
+    depart that night. He could have done it for he had a hundred
+    archers of his guard, various gentlemen of his household, and,
+    near at hand, three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was stayed
+    by considerations of honour. He did not wish to be accused of
+    cowardice."
+
+Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely pair entered Liege,
+heard the king say: "March on, my brother, for you are the luckiest
+prince alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted lustily,
+"_Vive Bourgogne_," to the infinite dismay of his former friends, the
+burghers of Liege.
+
+The remainder of the history of that dire Sunday morning differs from
+that of other assaults only in harrowing details, and the extremity of
+the pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the conquerors. Charles
+had previously spared churches, and protected the helpless. Above
+all he had severely punished all ill treatment of respectable women.
+Little trace of this former restraint was to be seen on this occasion.
+The inhabitants were destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who fled
+from their homes leaving their untasted breakfasts to be eaten by the
+intruding soldiers, those who were scattered through the numerous
+churches, those who attempted to defend the breaches in the walls--all
+alike were treated without mercy.
+
+The Cathedral of St. Lambert, Charles did endeavour to protect. "The
+duke himself went thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own
+hand, whereupon all the company departed and that particular church
+was not pillaged, but at the end the men who had taken refuge there
+were captured as well as the wealth of the church."
+
+[Illustration: OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+
+(FROM MS. REPRODUCED IN MEM. COURONNES, ETC., PAR L'ACAD,
+
+ROYALE DE BELGIQUE VOL. XLIX.)]
+
+At about midday Charles joined Louis at the episcopal palace, where
+the latter had found apartments better suited to his rank than the
+rude huts that had sheltered him for the past few days. The king was
+in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner in spite of the unsavoury
+scenes that were still in progress about him. He manifested great joy
+in the successful assault, and was lavish in his praises of the duke's
+courage, taking care that his admiring phrases should be promptly
+reported to his cousin.[4] His one great preoccupation, however, was
+to return to his own realm.
+
+After dinner the duke and he made good cheer together. "If the king
+had praised his works behind his back, still more loud was he in
+his open admiration. And the duke was pleased." No telling sign of
+friendship for Charles had Louis spared that day, so terrified was he
+lest some testimony from his ancient proteges might prove his ruin.
+"Let the word be Burgundy," he had cried to his followers when the
+attack began. "_Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne_."
+
+There is another contemporaneous historian who somewhat apologetically
+relates the following incident of this interview.[5] In this friendly
+Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he ought to treat Liege when
+his soldiers had finished their work. No trace of kindliness towards
+his old friends was there in the king's answer.
+
+"Once my father had a high tree near his house, inhabited by crows
+who had built their nests thereon and disturbed his repose by their
+chatter. He had the nests removed but the crows returned and built
+anew. Several times was this repeated. Then he had the tree cut down
+at the roots. After that my father slept quietly."
+
+Four or five days passed before Louis dared press the question of his
+return home. The following note written in Italian, dated on the day
+of the assault, is significant of his state of mind:
+
+
+    LOUIS XI. TO THE COUNT DE FOIX
+
+    "Monseigneur the Prince:
+
+    "To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered in great multitude
+    and with force into this city of Liege, and because I have great
+    desire to return, I advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will
+    depart hence, and I will not cease riding without making any stops
+    until I reach there.[6] I pray you to let me know what is to be
+    done.
+
+    "Writ at Liege, October 30th.
+
+    "LOYS
+
+    "DE LA LOERE."
+
+
+Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his host that if he could
+be of any further aid he hoped his cousin would command him. If there
+were, indeed, nothing, he thought his best plan would be to go to
+Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded and published to insure
+its validity. Charles grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed
+his parting guest after the treaty had been again read aloud to the
+king so that he might dissent from any one of its articles or ever
+after hold his peace.
+
+Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm everything sworn to at Peronne.
+Just as he was departing he put one more query: "'If perchance my
+brother now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the share I accord
+him out of love to you, what do you want me to do?' The duke answered
+abruptly and without thought: 'If he does not wish to take it, but
+if you content him otherwise, I will trust to you two.' From this
+question and answer arose great things as you shall hear later. So
+the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de Cordes and d'Emeries,
+Grand Bailiff of Hainaut escorted him out of ducal territory."[7]
+
+    "O wonderful and memorable crime of this king of the French
+    [declares a contemporaneous Liege sympathiser.][8] Scarcely
+    anything so bad can be found in ancient annals or in modern
+    history. What could be more stupid or more perfidious, or a better
+    instance of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to
+    arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake of his own
+    safety? Not once but many times had he pledged them his faith,
+    offering them defence and assistance against the same Burgundians.
+    And now when they are overwhelmed and confounded by this
+    Burgundian duke, this king actually co-operates with their foe, to
+    their damage, wears that foe's insignia and dares to hide himself
+    behind those emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he
+    himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges of good
+    faith! I am ashamed to commit this to writing, and to hand it down
+    to posterity, knowing that it will seem incredible to many. But
+    it is so notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so many
+    adequate witnesses who have seen and heard these things that no
+    room is left for doubt of their veracity except to one desiring to
+    ignore the truth."[9]
+
+November 2d is the date of Louis's departure. It needs no stretch
+of the imagination to believe the words of his little Swiss page,
+Diesbach, when he says that on reaching French soil Louis dismounted
+and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of joy that he was his own man
+again.[10] Devoutly, too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his
+need. Still this joy was concealed under euphemistic phrases in his
+correspondence. On November 5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan
+from Beaumont:
+
+    "We went in person with the duke against the Liegeois, on account
+    of their rebellion and offence, and the city being reduced by
+    force to the power of the duke, we have left him in some part of
+    Liege as we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France."
+
+In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the brother of the faithful
+secretary Aloysius Toustain, who had written several of Louis's
+letters from Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis
+writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure his protege a
+pleasant reception in the university.
+
+The ratification of the treaty took place duly at Paris on Saturday,
+November 19th, and the king also sternly forbade the circulation of
+any "paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory pamphlets"
+about Charles.[11] The same informant tells us that loquacious birds
+were put under a ban.
+
+    "And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by virtue of his
+    commission addressed to a young man of Paris named Henry Perdriel,
+    all the magpies, jays, and _chouettes_, caged or otherwise, were
+    taken in charge, and a record was made of all the places where the
+    said birds were taken and also all that they knew how to say, like
+    _larron, paillart_, etc., _va hors, va! Perrette donnes moi a
+    boire_, and various other phrases that they had been taught."
+
+Abbe le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was meant for Peronne instead of
+a mistress of Louis of that name. But this conjecture seems the only
+basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that _Peronne_ was a word
+Louis could not bear to have uttered.
+
+"In the way of justice there is nothing going on here, [wrote one
+Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the president of Burgundy], except
+every day they hang and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been
+taken prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves. The city is
+well plundered, nothing remains but rubbish. For example I have not
+been able to find a sheet of paper fit for writing to you, but with
+all my pains could get nothing but some leaves from an old book."[12]
+
+Charles decided that nothing should be left standing except churches
+and ecclesiastical buildings. On November 9th, before the final fires
+were lit, he departed from the wretched town and went down the left
+bank of the Meuse to an abbey on the river, where he paused for the
+night. Four leagues distant from the city was this place, and from it
+were plainly visible the flames of the burning buildings on that grim
+St. Hubert's Day--a day when Liege had been wont to give vent to
+merriment.
+
+"From all the dangers that had encompassed him, Charles escaped with
+his life, simply because his hour had not yet struck, and because
+he was God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning city," is the
+verdict of one chronicler who does not spare his fellow-Liegeois for
+their follies while he profoundly pities their fate.[13]
+
+Out of the many contemporaneous accounts a portion of a private letter
+from the duke's cup-bearer to his sister is added:[14]
+
+    "Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recommend myself to
+    you and to all my good friends, men and women in our parts, not
+    forgetting my _beaux-peres,_ Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray
+    know that, thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound.
+    As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick in the hands
+    of the marshals at Namur, and the others are thin enough and have
+    no grain to eat except hay. The weather, has, indeed, been enough
+    to strike a chill to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left
+    Burgundy there have not been three fine days in succession and we
+    are in a worse state than wolves.
+
+    "You already know how we passed through Lorraine and Ratellois
+    without troubling about Salesart or other French captains, nor the
+    other Lorrainers either, although they were under orders to
+    attack us, and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As we
+    approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke sent Messire
+    Pierre de Harquantbault[15] to us to show us what road to take.
+    He told us that the duke had made a treaty with the king, who had
+    visited him, news that filled us with astonishment....
+
+    After skirmishing for several days we reached the faubourgs of
+    Liege and remained there three of four days under arms, with no
+    sleep and little food, and our horses standing in the rain with no
+    shelter but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king and
+    the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up their quarters in
+    certain houses near the faubourg. [... Constant firing was
+    interchanged for several days. Sallies were essayed and men were
+    slain.]
+
+    "Finally a direct attack was made on the king and Monseigneur
+    and there were more of their people than ours and that night
+    Monseigneur was in great danger. The following Sunday at 9 A.M. we
+    began the assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing
+    to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said city, some
+    climbing and others scaling them with ladders. The standards
+    of monseigneur the marshal and monsgn. de Renty who had been
+    stationed together in the faubourgs, were the first within the
+    said city which contained at that moment sixteen to eighteen
+    thousand combatants, who were surprised when they saw their walls
+    scaled.
+
+    "In a moment we entered crying 'Burgundy' and 'city gained.' Ever
+    so many of their people were slain and drowned in their flight. We
+    flew to reach the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where
+    a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the water. Our
+    ensign stood in the midst of the fray on the market-place, in the
+    hopes that they would rally for a combat but they rallied only
+    to flee. While we held our position on the square several were
+    created knights.... All the churches--more than four hundred--were
+    pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured that they will be burnt
+    together with the rest of the city. Piteous it is to see what ill
+    is wrought.... [The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur two
+    or three days. Then he departed, it is said for Brussels to await
+    my said lord. It is a great thing to have seen the puissance of my
+    master, _which is great enough to defeat an emperor_. I believe
+    the Burgundians will shortly return to Burgundy.
+
+    "I paid my respects to my said lord, who received me very well. At
+    present I am listed[16] among those whose term is almost expired
+    and I am ready to follow him wherever he wishes until my service
+    is out, which will be soon. I would have written before had I had
+    any one to send it by. Pray write me about yourself by the first
+    comer. Praying our Lord, beloved sister, to keep you. Written in
+    Liege, November 8, 1468.
+
+    "JEHAN DE MAZILLES."
+
+
+This sober letter and other accounts by reliable witnesses agree as to
+the terrible havoc wrought in the city by the assault on October 30th
+and by determined and systematic measures of destruction, both during
+Charles's ten days' sojourn for the express purpose of completing the
+punishment and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly fell
+short of the intention. The destruction was not complete as was that
+of Dinant. Vitality remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus
+intentionally preserved by the duke.
+
+Having watched the tongues of flame lap the unfortunate city, Charles
+turned with his army towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country
+which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent antagonists to
+Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de Mazilles is in close attendance and
+gives further details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles carried
+out his purpose of leaving no seed of resistance to germinate. Four
+nights and three days they sojourned in a certain little village while
+there was a hard frost and where, without unarming, they "slept under
+the trees and drank water." Meantime a small party was despatched
+by the duke to attack the stronghold of Franchimont. The despairing
+Liegeois who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it was taken by
+assault. A few more days and the duke was assured that Liege and her
+people were shorn of their strength. When the remnant of survivors
+began to creep back to the city and tried to recover what was left
+of their property, many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits
+succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years.
+
+In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too, demanded
+reimbursement for his trouble in bending these free citizens to
+his illegal will. The reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal
+perquisites, all difficult to collect, and many were the ponderous
+documents that passed on the subject. How justly pained sounds
+Charles's remonstrance on the default of payment of taxes to his
+friend, the city's lord!
+
+"Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these things, taking into
+account the terror of our departure to Brussels last January, we
+decide, my brother and I, that the payment of both _gabelle_ and poll
+tax must be forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of such
+taxes under any colour or pretence. At the request of our brother and
+cousin we order the inhabitants of the said territories to pay both
+_gabelle_ and poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed
+and for the time to come, under penalty of the confiscation of their
+goods and their persons."
+
+It was the old story of bricks without straw--taxes and rents for
+property ruthlessly destroyed were so easy. To this extent of tyranny
+had Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the treatment of Liege was
+a step towards Charles's final disaster. So much hatred was excited
+against him that his adherents fell off one by one when his luck began
+to fail him.
+
+No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this time, however. That month
+of November saw him master absolute wherever he was and he used his
+power autocratically. At Huy, he had a number of prisoners executed.
+At Louvain, at Brussels, he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness
+as an overlord.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place
+where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse exactly a
+hundred years later.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The story of the "men of Franchimont" is questioned.
+Commines is the only authority for it.]
+
+[Footnote 3: II., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, ii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Oudenbosch, _Veterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima
+Collectio_, ed. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de
+Veteri Busco, p. 1343. The writer acknowledges that the story is
+hearsay.]
+
+[Footnote 6: "_Non cessero di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna.
+Lettres,iii_., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines, ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "_O proeclarum et memorabile facinus hujus regis
+Francorum_."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Basin, _Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI_., Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in _Excerpta ex
+Amelgardi. De gestis Ludovici XI_., cap. xxiii. Martene's _Amplissima
+Collectio,_ iv., 740 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Quoted in Kirk, i., 606, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Jean de Roye, _Chronique Scandaleuse_, ed. Mandrot, i.,
+220.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Comines-Lenglet, iii., 83.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Johannes de Los, _Chronicon_, p. 60. _Quia hora nendum
+venerat._ De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liege."]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commynes-Dupont, _Preuves_, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan
+de Mazilles to his sister.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Hagenbach, later Governor of Alsace.]
+
+[Footnote 16: _Conte aux escros_. This word strictly applies to the
+prisoners on a jailer's list--evidently used in jest.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+1469-1473
+
+
+This successful expedition against Liege carried Charles of Burgundy
+to the very crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was moreover
+gratified by the regard shown to him at home and abroad. A man who
+could force a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful role enacted by
+Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a man to be respected if not loved.
+And messages of admiration and respect couched in various terms
+were despatched from many quarters to the duke as soon as he was at
+Brussels to receive them.
+
+Ghent had long since made apologies for the sorry reception accorded
+to their incoming Count of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed
+the formal _amende_ until a convenient moment of leisure. January 15,
+1469, was finally appointed for this ceremony and the occasion was
+utilised to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humiliation, to as
+many people as possible who might spread the report far and wide.
+
+It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the palace the snow was thick
+on the ground where a group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for
+an hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal presence. There,
+too, where every one could see those emblems of the artisans'
+corporate strength, fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the
+deans of the Ghentish _metiers_.[1]
+
+Within, the great hall of the palace showed a splendid setting for a
+brilliant assembly. The most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the
+walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander, of Hannibal, and of
+other notable ancients formed the background for the duke and his
+nobles, knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As spectators,
+too, there were all the envoys and ambassadors then present in
+Brussels from "France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples, Aragon,
+Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Russia, Livornia, Prussia,
+Austria, Milan, Lombardy, and other places."
+
+Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind of throne, and to his
+feet Olivier de la Marche conducted the civic procession of penitents.
+Before this pompous gathering, after a statement of the city's sin and
+sorrow, the precious charter called the Grand Privilege of Ghent
+was solemnly read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with a
+pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the penalties imposed upon,
+and accepted by, the citizens (closing of the gates, etc)., and then
+the paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pronounced the fault
+forgiven with the benediction, "By virtue of this submission and by
+keeping your promises and being good children, you shall enjoy our
+grace and we will be a good prince." "May our Saviour Jesus Christ
+confirm and preserve this peace to the end of this century," is the
+pious ejaculation with which the _Relation_ closes.
+
+Among the witnesses of the above scene, when the independent citizens
+of Ghent meekly posed as the duke's children, were envoys from George
+Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed by the pope, he was
+seeking some favourable ally who might help him to recover his realm.
+He had conceived a plan for a coalition between Bohemia, Poland,
+Austria, and Hungary to present a solid rampart against the Turks,
+and strong enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He was ready for
+intrigue with any power and had approached Louis XI. and Matthias
+Corvinus, King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of Burgundy.[2]
+
+Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit links with this same
+Matthias by suggesting that he might be the next emperor, assuring
+him that he could count on the support of the electors of Mayence, of
+Treves, and of Saxony. He himself was world-weary and was anxious to
+exchange his imperial cares for the repose of the Church could he
+only find a safe guardian for his son, Maximilian, and a desirable
+successor for himself. Would not Matthias consider the two offices?
+
+Potent arguments like these induced Matthias not only to turn his back
+on Podiebrad, but to accept that deposed monarch's crown which the
+Bohemian nobles offered him May 3, 1469. Then he proceeded to ally
+himself with Frederic, elector palatine, and with the elector of
+Bavaria. This was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia made renewed
+offers of friendly alliance to Charles of Burgundy. In his name the
+Sire de Stein brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles which
+contained the provision that Podiebrad should support the election
+of Charles as King of the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two
+hundred thousand florins (Rhenish).[2]
+
+This modest sum was to secure not only Podiebrad's own vote but his
+"influence" with the Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony
+and the Margrave of Brandenburg.[4] While Podiebrad thus dangled
+the ultimate hopes of the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he
+over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of fact the royal exile had
+no "influence" at all with the first named elector, and the last, too,
+showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his unstable policy. Both
+were content to advise Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty
+overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of importance.
+
+Another negotiation which sought him unasked had, however, a material
+influence on the course of events, and must be touched on in some
+detail. Sigismund of Austria--first duke then archduke,--Count of
+Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic, was a member of the House of
+Habsburg. In 1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and became
+brother-in-law of Louis during the term of the dauphin's first
+marriage. An indolent, extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated
+by his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol included certain
+territories lying far from his capital, Innsbruck. Certain portions
+of Upper Alsace, lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau in
+Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seigniories in the Black Forest
+were under his sway.
+
+These particular domains were so remote from Innsbruck that the
+authority of the hereditary overlord had long been eluded. The nobles
+pillaged the land near their castles very much at their own sweet
+will. The harassed burghers appealed to the Alsatian Decapole,[5] and
+again to the free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes obtained
+more than they wanted.
+
+Mulhouse was seriously affected by these lawless depredations. To her,
+Berne promised aid in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466,
+and at Berne's insistance the cowardly nobles restrained their
+license. But when the city attempted to extend its authority Sigismund
+interfered. Having no army, however, he could not recover Waldshut,
+which the Swiss claimed a right to annex, except by offering ten
+thousand florins for the town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men,
+he had, however, no means to pay this ransom and begged aid in every
+direction. Moreover, he feared further aggressions from the cantons,
+which were growing more daring. What man in Europe was better able to
+teach them a lesson than Charles, the destroyer of Liege, the stern
+curber of undue liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person to
+tame insolent Swiss cowherds?
+
+In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made known to Charles his
+desire for a bargain, intimating that in case of the duke's refusal,
+he would carry his wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was
+busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigismund's proposition.
+The latter tried to see Louis XI. personally in accordance with his
+imperial cousin's advice that an interview might be more effective
+than a letter.
+
+It did not prove a propitious time, however; Louis was deeply engaged
+with Burgundy and he was not disposed to take any steps that might
+estrange the Swiss--and any espousal of Sigismund's interests might
+alienate them. He did not even permit an opening to be made, but
+stopped Sigismund's approach to him by a message that he would not for
+a moment entertain a suggestion inimical to those dear friends of his
+in the cantons--a sentiment that quickly found its way to Switzerland.
+
+Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear, Sigismund decided that
+he would make another essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time
+face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he journeyed and found
+Charles in the midst of the ostentatious magnificence already
+described. Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a splendour
+hardly attained by the emperor in the most pompous functions of his
+court. Sigismund was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy
+prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's sole heiress led
+the Austrian to conceive the not unnatural idea that this attractive
+Burgundian wealth might be turned into the impoverished imperial
+coffers by a marriage between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian, the
+emperor's son.
+
+[Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE
+REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "LES DUCS DE BOURGOGNE"]
+
+The visitor not only thought of this possibility, but he immediately
+broached it to Charles. The bait was swallowed. As to the main
+proposition which Sigismund had come expressly to make, that, too,
+was not rejected. The duke perceived that the transfer of the Rhenish
+lands to his jurisdiction might militate to his advantage. A passage
+would be opened towards the south for his troops without the need of
+demanding permission from any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble
+with the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the advantages of
+Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which he finally decided to accept.
+Probably he found his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not
+only did he broach the tempting alliance between Mary and Maximilian,
+but he, too, seems to have hinted that the title of "King of the
+Romans" might be added to the long list of appellations already signed
+by Charles.[6] As Sigismund was richer in kin, if not in coin, than
+the feeble Podiebrad, Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion
+which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in the course of the
+long conversations held at Bruges.
+
+Certain precautions were taken to protect Charles from being dragged
+into Swiss complications against his will, and then in May, 1469,
+the treaty of St. Omer was signed,[7] wherein the Duke of Burgundy
+accorded his protection to Sigismund of Austria and received from him
+all his seigniorial rights within certain specified territories.
+
+The most important part of this cession comprised Upper Alsace and
+the county of Ferrette, but there were also many other fragments of
+territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides lordship over
+various Rhenish cities, such as Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg,
+Waldshut and Brisac. This last named town commanded the route
+eastward, as Waldshut that to the southeast, and Thann the highway
+through the Vosges region.
+
+Fifty thousand florins was the price for the property and the claims
+transferred from Sigismund to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at
+once, in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The remainder was
+due on September 24th. On his part, Sigismund specifically recognised
+the duke's right to redeem all domains nominally his but mortgaged for
+the time being, certain estates or seignorial rights having been thus
+alienated for 150 years.
+
+This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was a mortgage, but a
+mortgage with possession to the mortgagee and further restricted by
+the provision that there could be no redemption unless the mortgager
+could repay at Besancon the whole loan plus all the outlay made by the
+mortgagee up to that date. Instalment payments were expressly ruled
+out. The entire sum intact was made obligatory. Therefore the danger
+of speedy redemption did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man he had
+to deal with. Sigismund's lack of foresight and his prodigality were
+notorious. There was faint chance that he could ever command the
+amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was fairly justified in
+counting the mortgaged territory as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity.
+
+Sigismund pocketed his florins eagerly. Nothing could have been more
+welcome to him. But this relief from the pressure of his pecuniary
+embarrassment did not inspire him with love for the man who held his
+lost lands. His sentiments towards Charles were very similar to those
+of an heir towards a usurer who has helped him in a temporary strait
+by mulcting him of his natural rights.
+
+As for the emperor, when this transfer of territory was an
+accomplished fact, he began to take fright at the consequences. He did
+not like this intrusion of a powerful French peer into the imperial
+circle.[8] At the same time he was ready to make him share
+responsibility in any further difficulties that might arise between
+Sigismund and the Swiss.
+
+The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen difficulties for
+Charles on his own account, both foreign and domestic. His own
+relations with the Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had
+never before been so near a neighbour, while, within the Rhine lands,
+it was an open question whether the bartered inhabitants were to
+enjoy or regret their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of their
+sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference to Charles as was
+danger from the Confederation. Neither conciliation nor diplomacy
+was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the intricacies of the
+situation. He counted the landgraviate as definitely his by the treaty
+of St. Omer as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.
+
+The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley towns--a policy
+that might have won their allegiance--never occurred to him. They were
+his property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course of time, made
+lieutenant-governor in his behalf.
+
+Apart from all personal considerations of enmity and amity of natives
+and neighbours, the territory of Upper Alsace and the county of
+Ferrette, delivered from needy Austria to rich Burgundy, like a coat
+pawned by a poor student, was held under very complex and singular
+conditions.[9] The status of the bargain between Sigismund and Charles
+was in point of fact something between pawn and sale, according to the
+point of view. Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while Charles
+did not admit that possibility as remotely contingent. Nor was that
+the only peculiarity. The itemised list of the ceded territories as
+given in the treaty was far from telling the facts of the possessions
+passing to Sigismund's proxy.
+
+In the first place the Austrian seigniories were not compact. They
+were scattered here and there in the midst of lands ruled by others,
+as the Bishop of Strasburg, the Abbe of St. Blaise in the Black
+Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel and of Mulhouse, and
+others.
+
+The existent variety in the extent and nature of Austrian title was
+extraordinary. Nearly every possible combination of dismembered
+prerogative and actual tenure had resulted from the long series of
+ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or a quit-rent was the
+sole cession, and again a toll or a prerogative was almost the only
+residue remaining to the ostensible overlord, while all his former
+property or transferable birthright privileges were lodged in
+various hands on divers tenures. There were cases in which the
+mortgagee--noble, burgher, or municipal corporation--had taken the
+exact place of the Austrian duke and in so doing had become the vassal
+of his debtor, stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty.
+For in these bargains wherein elements of the Roman contract and
+feudal customs were curiously blended, two classes of rights had been
+invariably reserved by the ducal mortgagers:
+
+  (1) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured free circulation on
+the highways, the old Roman roads, all jurisdiction of passports and
+travellers' protection.
+
+  (2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power to confer fiefs, of
+requisition of military service, of requesting _aids_ and admission to
+strongholds, cities, or castles, _le droit de forteresse jurable et
+rendable_.
+
+In these regards the compact between Charles and Sigismund differed
+from all previous covenants not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke
+of Burgundy entered into the _sovereign_ as well as into the mangled,
+maimed, and curtailed proprietary rights of the hereditary over-lord.
+
+In his assumption of this involved and doubtful property, Charles laid
+heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. The actual price of fifty
+thousand gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction of the
+pecuniary obligations incurred, while the weight of care was difficult
+to gauge. He succeeded to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose
+misrule had long been a curse to the land. The incursions of
+the Swiss, the repeated descents of the Rhine nobles from their
+crag-lodged strongholds to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants
+and plunged peaceful labourers into misery.
+
+Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the neighbouring cities
+repeatedly became the accomplices of these brigands, affording them
+asylums for refitting and free passage when they were laden with
+evident booty.
+
+In all departments of finance and administration disorder prevailed.
+The chief officials, castellans and councillors, enjoyed high salaries
+for neglected duties. The castles were in wretched repair and there
+were insufficient troops to guard the roads. There was no dependence
+upon the receipts nominally to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged
+lands, the lords simply levied what they could, without the slightest
+responsibility for the order of the domain; they did not hesitate to
+charge their suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no one
+would verify their declaration.
+
+In the territories of the immediate domain, the Austrian dukes and
+their officials had no notion of the rigid system maintained in
+Burgundy. Only here and there can little memoranda be found and these
+are confused and obscure. There is a dearth of accurate records like
+those voluminous registers of outlays kept by Burgundian receivers,
+registers so rich in detail that they are more valuable for the
+historian than any chronicle.
+
+Exact appraisal of the resources of these _pays de par de la_ was very
+difficult. Between 1469 and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain
+reliable information by means of as many successive commissions
+despatched to the Rhine valley by the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+Envoys drew up minutes of their observations in addition to their
+official reports and all were preserved in the archives. As these were
+written from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the accounts of
+the receivers now lost, etc., there is real value in the documents.
+
+The first commission in behalf of Burgundy was composed of two Germans
+and three Walloons. One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach, who
+won no enviable reputation in the later exercise of his office as
+lieutenant-governor of the annexed region, to which he was shortly
+afterwards appointed. This first commission entered into formal
+possession in Charles's name and instituted some desired reforms
+immediately, such as policing the highways, etc.
+
+The second commission made its visit in 1471. It consisted of Jean
+Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of
+Amont.
+
+The third commission (1473) was under the auspices of Monseigneur
+Coutault, master of accounts at Dijon. He carried with him the report
+of his predecessors and made his additions thereto.
+
+Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June 13, 1471) were vague
+and general. They were "to see the conduct of his affairs" _(voir la
+conduite de ses affaires_). The important point was to find out how
+much revenue could be obtained. As the duke's plan of expansion grew
+larger he had need of all his resources.
+
+The reports were eminently discouraging. Outlay was needed
+everywhere--income was small. As the chances of peculation diminished,
+the castellans deserted their posts and left the castles to decay.
+The Burgundian commission of 1471 found the difficulties of their
+exploration increased by two items. Charles had not advanced an
+allowance for their expenses and they were anxious to be back at
+Vesoul by Michaelmas, the date of the change in municipal offices and
+of appropriations for the year. It was in hopes of receiving advance
+moneys that they delayed in starting, but the approaching election and
+coming winter finally decided them to set out, pay their own expenses,
+and complete the business as rapidly as they could in a fortnight.
+
+The summary of this report of 1471 was that there was little present
+prospect that Charles would be able to reimburse himself for his
+necessary expenses. An undue portion of authority and of revenue was
+legally lodged in alien hands. Charles was possessed of germs of
+rights rather than of actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria
+held all the best mortgages with their attendant emoluments. The
+immediate profits accruing to the Duke of Burgundy fell far short
+of the minimum necessary to disburse to keep his government, his
+strongholds, his highways in repair. Very disturbed were the good
+treasurer of Vesoul and the procureur-general of Amont at this state
+of affairs, and distressed at the prospect of the ampler receipts from
+Burgundy being required to relieve the pressing necessities of the
+poor territories _de par de la_.
+
+To avoid this contingency, the commissioners recommended the duke
+to redeem all the existing mortgages great and small. It would cost
+140,000 florins, but the revenue would at once increase with the new
+security which would immediately follow under firm Burgundian rule.
+Sole master, Charles could then enforce obedience from nobles and
+cities and better conditions would be inaugurated.
+
+Evidently this rational advice was not taken, for it is repeated by
+Coutault in 1473. Redemption of the mortgages, "if your affairs can
+afford it," is the counsel given by the chamber of accounts at Dijon,
+though this sage board adds that they were well aware that in the
+previous month Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hundred
+florins to redeem one wretched little _gagerie._ The native coffers of
+the region did not suffice to settle the salaries of the officers in
+charge.
+
+Such then was the new acquisition of Charles after four years of his
+administration. Peter von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this
+unremunerative territory, is a character painted in the darkest
+colours by all historians. It is more than probable that his unpopular
+efforts to make bricks without straw were largely responsible for his
+unenviable reputation. Ground between the upper and lower millstones
+of Charles's clamours for revenues and popular clamours that the
+people had nothing wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a
+taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying type, who made himself
+thoroughly hated by the people he was set to rule.
+
+It must be remembered that there was no cleft in nationality or in
+language between governor and governed. He was not a foreigner set
+over them. He was one of them raised to a high position. There was
+then no French element in Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and
+simple.
+
+[Illustration: UPPER ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORY BY PERMISSION OF
+HACHETTE, 1902]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 204-209. "Relation de
+l'assemblee solennelle tenue a Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469."]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Toutey, _Charles le Temeraire et la ligue de
+Constance_, p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See the text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., 116. Charles
+is characterised as _ducem strenuum in armis ac justitiae praecipium
+zelatorem_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Thus was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from
+Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confederation by
+the Emperor Charles IV.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See "Fontes Rerum Austriacarum" Chmel, J., _Urkunden zur
+Geschichte von Osterreich_, etc., II^2, 223 _et passim_. One document,
+p. 229, has _Marz_ as a misprint for _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Charles was, to be sure, already within that circle for
+some of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there
+were very shadowy.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable
+article by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes dans la
+vallee du Rhin sous Charles le Temeraire," _Annales de l'Est,_ vol.
+18. This article, is the result of a careful examination of the
+reports made by Poinsot and Pellet, Charles's commissioners.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+1470-1471
+
+
+In order to follow out the extension of Burgundian jurisdiction in
+one direction, the course of events in the duke's life has been
+anticipated a little. The thread of the story now returns to 1469,
+when Charles and Sigismund separated at St. Omer both well pleased
+with their bargain. Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges
+and then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his sojourn had been
+interrupted in 1468 by his alarm about French duplicity. In the glow
+caused by his past achievements, his present reputation, and future
+prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a mood to prove to his subjects
+his excellence as a paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey
+easy access was permitted to his presence and he was lavish in the
+time given to receiving petitions from the humblest plaintiff. The
+following gruesome incident is an illustration of the summary methods
+attributed to him.[1]
+
+Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the governor, a man
+of noble birth, a knight, fell in love with a married woman who
+indignantly repudiated his advances. In revenge the governor had the
+husband arrested on a charge of high treason. The wife, left without a
+protector, continued obdurate to the knight until the alternative of
+her husband's release or his death was offered her as the reward for
+accepting the governor's base suit or as the penalty of her refusal.
+She chose to redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she went to
+the prison and was led to her husband truly, but he lay dead and in
+his coffin!
+
+When the Duke of Burgundy was once within the Zealand capital, this
+injured woman hastened to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner
+for justice. He heard her complaint and straightway summoned the
+ex-governor to his presence. The accused confessed that he had been
+carried away by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles of
+his long and faithful devotion to the late duke and to himself, and
+offered any possible reparation for his crime. The duke ordered him to
+marry his victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion, but was
+forced by her family to accept it. After the nuptial benediction, the
+knight again appeared before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff
+was satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly, "but not I." He
+remanded the bridegroom to prison, had him shriven and executed all
+within an hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown her second
+husband in his coffin as she had seen her first, and on the same spot.
+"It was a penalty that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the
+plaintiff died from the double shock."
+
+The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to Holland. Everywhere he
+evinced himself equally uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable and
+considerate towards the lower classes and humble folk. Various other
+stories related about him at this epoch are difficult to accept as
+authentic, for the main detail has appeared at other times under
+different guises. Wandering tales seem to alight, like birds of
+passage, on successive people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
+hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.
+
+The Hague was the duke's headquarters during two months, and there
+also he held open court and gave audience to many embassies in the
+midst of his administrative work pertaining to Holland and its nearest
+neighbours. He took measures to recover what he claimed had been
+usurped by Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make good the
+title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the wisp to successive Counts
+of Holland and never acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld
+together the various provinces the months passed, until a new turn of
+foreign events began to absorb the duke's whole attention.
+
+The details of English politics with all the reasons for revolution
+and counter-revolution involved in the complicated civil disorders,
+the Wars of the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can only
+be suggested in his biography. It must be remembered that the modern
+impression of English stability and French fickleness in political
+institutions, an impression casting reflections direct and indirect
+upon literature as well as history, is based on the changes in France
+from 1789 down to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Quite
+the reverse is the earlier tradition based on the kaleidoscopic
+shifts familiar to several generations of observers in the fifteenth
+century[2]; stable and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings
+of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across the Channel.
+
+Since 1461, Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster had been a passive
+prisoner, while Margaret of Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts
+to win adherents at home and abroad for her captive husband and her
+exiled son.[3] In 1463, she had received some aid, some encouragement
+from Philip of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward IV. as king
+and although, too, his personal sympathies were Yorkish rather than
+Lancastrian.
+
+It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into Lille, but later the
+duke himself entertained her munificently. The poverty-stricken exile
+probably found the accompanying ducal gifts more to the immediate
+purpose than the ducal feasts. Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed
+upon herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while various
+Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard times by useful sums of money.
+
+Pleasant though the recognition was, however, the pecuniary assistance
+was quite insufficient to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine
+years Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts were made to
+dislodge him. As he never forgot his mother's lineage, the sympathies
+of Charles of Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Margaret may
+have counted confidently on that sympathy proving valuable for her son
+as soon as Charles himself had a free hand. But when he came into his
+heritage, his marriage with Margaret of York put a definite end to
+those hopes. The new duke thereby declared his acceptance of the king
+whom the Earl of Warwick had seated upon the English throne. Then
+came clashing of wills between that king and his too powerful
+subject-adviser.[4] To punish his unruly royal protege, Warwick turned
+his attention to the Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive to
+Edward IV. A marriage was planned between this possible future monarch
+and the earl's eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated at Calais
+without the king's knowledge (July, 1469).
+
+In the same summer occurred a rising in Yorkshire, possibly instigated
+by Warwick.[5] The malcontents, sixty thousand strong, declared that
+the king was giving ear to base counsellors and must be coerced into
+better ways. An attempt to suppress this revolt by the royal troops
+resulted in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father of
+Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was taken prisoner and beheaded.
+
+Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to Warwick. Over the Channel
+hastened the earl and his new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king
+at Olney, and--Edward found himself if not exactly a prisoner, at
+least under restraint. Two sovereigns--both without power even over
+their own actions,--such was the situation in England at the end of
+1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self-complacently regarding Louis
+XI. as a foe convinced of his own inferiority.
+
+A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal brother-in-law was
+probably the reason why Edward IV. was set at liberty, and why a
+reconciliation was patched up between him and his councillor, with
+full pardon for Warwick's adherents. But it was short-lived. A fresh
+outbreak in March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and Clarence
+sided with the rebels, the king was victorious, and his unfaithful
+friend and brother were again forced to flee under a shower of menaces
+hurled after them.
+
+    "But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erle of Warrewyk our Rebell and
+    Traytour come into oure seid Land we woll ... that ye doo Hym
+    and Theym to be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto Us
+    either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C._l_ of Land in
+    Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or Mil. _Lib_ in Redy money
+    at his election."[6]
+
+Such was the proclamation issued on March 22d by the king himself at
+York.
+
+Between Edward and Charles a new link had just been forged in the
+chain of friendship. The Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by
+the duke:
+
+    "We have to-day received from our much honoured seigneur and
+    brother, the king of England, his Order of the Garter together
+    with the mantle and other ornaments and things appertaining to the
+    said Order and have ... taken the oath according to the statutes
+    of the Order.
+
+    "Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal, February 4, 1469
+    [O.S.]."[7]
+
+Now it was in consideration of needs that might arise in the near
+future, following on the trail of these wide-reaching English
+convulsions, that Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for
+a strong military defence calculated to suit any emergency. Louis XI.
+had a permanent force at his command. He had made the beginning of the
+French standing army, the nucleus of one of those bodies that have
+ever since urged each other on to expensive growth from opposite sides
+of European frontiers. What one monarch possessed that must his near
+neighbour have.
+
+Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercenaries, were all alike
+unstable bulwarks for a nation. Nation as yet Charles had not, but
+he wanted to be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he issued
+an ordinance for the levy of a thousand lances, amounting to five
+thousand combatants, to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at
+call under officers of his own appointment. The ducal treasury could
+not stand the whole expense. To meet the deficit, Charles asked from
+his Netherland Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns for three
+years. Power to impose taxes he had none. A request to each individual
+province was all the requisition that he could make.
+
+In this case, most of the provinces approached had acceded to the
+demand, when the Estates of Flanders convened at Lille. Here the
+Chancellor of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of the demand,
+and then the session was changed to Bruges, where they debated on the
+merits of the request, urged on further by explanatory letters from
+Charles. Finally, a deputation was appointed by the Estates to go over
+to Ghent and present a _Remonstrance_ to their impatient sovereign
+beggar.
+
+Three points were set forth. The deputies objected to this grant being
+asked only from the lands _de par de ca_--the Netherlands and not from
+the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite assessment imposed on
+each province. Thirdly, they desired a declaration that the fiefs and
+arriere-fiefs already bound to furnish troops should be exempt from
+share in this tax. The remonstrance was courtly in tone. Written
+in French, the concluding phrases were in Latin and suggested that
+nothing was more becoming a prince than clemency, especially towards
+his subjects.[8]
+
+Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's response.[9] How could Burgundy
+furnish money? It is a poor land. It takes after France.[10] But its
+men make a third of the army. They are the Burgundian contribution. As
+to an assessment, what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid?
+Only out of malice is this idle point suggested.
+
+    "You act as you have always done--you Flemings. Neither to my
+    father nor to me have you ever been liberal. What you have
+    granted--sometimes more than our request--has always been given so
+    tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish skulls
+    are hard and thick and you cling to your stubborn and perverse
+    opinions.... I am half of France and half of Portugal and I know
+    how to meet such heads as yours, ay and _will_ do it. You have
+    always either hated or despised your prince--if powerful you
+    hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your hatred to your
+    contempt. Not for your privileges or anything else will I permit
+    myself to be trampled on--and I have the power to prevent such
+    trampling."
+
+    Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his demand, whose purpose
+    mainly was for defence of Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate
+    his visitors soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring
+    that as to the fiefs and arriere-fiefs he would see to it that no
+    double burdens were borne.
+
+    "And when you shall have determined to accord my request,--which
+    you will assuredly do (and I do not mean to burden you further
+    unless I am forced to it),--send some of your deputies after me to
+    Lille or St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my council, I
+    will determine the apportionment and we will speak also of other
+    matters touching my province of Flanders."
+
+It was this vehement oratory--and this vehemence was repeated on many
+occasions--that did more to alienate Charles from his hereditary
+subjects than his actual demands. There is little doubt that his
+period of residence in their midst brought with it hatred rather
+than liking. No political error of his serves to explain the Flemish
+attitude towards the duke as does his method of address, the
+gratuitous contempt displayed towards burghers whose purses were
+needed for his game. The _aide_ was granted, indeed, but it was levied
+with sullen reluctance.
+
+What cause Charles had to make his preparations, what were the
+proceedings of the English exiles may be seen from the following
+letters to his mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is probably
+in answer to her questionings; the second is a specimen of the
+epistles showered upon the border towns.
+
+    "TO MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LADY AND MOTHER,
+
+    MADAME THE DUCHESS, AT AIRE:
+
+    "May it please you to know that in regard to what the Sgr. de
+    Crevecoeur has written you about the king's proclamations that he
+    intends to maintain his treaties and promises to me, etc., and has
+    no desire to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects
+    to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and his,
+    assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary has been and is well
+    known before the said publications and after. The Earl of Warwick
+    is my foe and could not, according to the treaty existing between
+    the king and me, be received in Normandy or elsewhere in the realm
+    ... [complaints about the procedure have been sent to king and
+    parliament and councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more,
+    the Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext of
+    carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which man was charged
+    to spy upon my ships and by means of a caravel named the
+    _Brunette_, sent for this purpose by the admiral, to cut the
+    cables to set them adrift and founder--or to capture certain ships
+    with such captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find, and
+    myself, too, if they were able.
+
+    "Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy on my towns, etc.,
+    and those of the caravel called the _Brunette_ were charged, if
+    they failed in taking my ships, or in cutting their cables, to
+    set fire to them--all in direct conflict with the terms of the
+    treaties, and procedures that the king would never have tolerated
+    had he had the slightest intention of maintaining his word ...
+    [Charles does not consider Groothuse to blame at all, etc.][11]
+
+
+_Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates of Ypres, June 10,
+1470_
+
+    "DEAR FRIENDS:
+
+    "It has come to your knowledge how after the Duke of Clarence and
+    the Earl of Warwick were expelled from England on account of their
+    sedition and their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both
+    by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and on _Vendredi
+    absolut_[12] went so far as to capture by fraud ships and property
+    belonging to our subjects, and have further done damage whenever
+    opportunity presented itself.
+
+    "In order to repel them we have ordered them to be attacked on
+    the sea. Moreover, at the same time we were advised that the same
+    Clarence and Warwick and their people, after they were routed at
+    sea by the troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King of
+    England, retreated to the marches of Normandy and were honourably
+    received at Honfleur by the Admiral of France with all which they
+    had saved from the raid on our subjects after the defeat.
+
+    "All this was direct infringement of the treaties lately made
+    between Monseigneur the king and myself. Therefore, we wrote at
+    once to Monsgr. the king begging him not to favour or aid the said
+    Clarence and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere in his
+    realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute the property of
+    our subjects, and to show his will by publishing such prohibitions
+    throughout Normandy and elsewhere where need is.
+
+    "Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris, and to the
+    council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The answer was that the king
+    meant to keep the treaty between him and us and had ordered his
+    subjects in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to our
+    subjects ... but we have since learned that, notwithstanding,
+    this same property has been distributed and ransoms have been
+    negotiated in the sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and
+    his officers.
+
+    "Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means of the aid
+    furnished by the king to the said Clarence and Warwick, the latter
+    are enabled to continue the war on our subjects and not on the
+    English, it being understood that they who were banished from
+    England are not strong enough to return by the force of arms but
+    must do so by friendship and favour.... On account of the above
+    and other depredations, we shall attack the said Warwick and
+    Clarence on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is needful
+    for the protection of our lands and subjects.
+
+    "Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."[13]
+
+    "Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist him to recover
+    England either with the help of Queen Margaret or by whatever
+    other means he may propose.... Only let him communicate his
+    desires in this respect as speedily as possible and the king will
+    lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of accomplishing it,"
+
+wrote the complaisant King of France in his directions to the
+confidential messenger sent to discuss matters with the English
+earl.[14]
+
+
+But that was not his language towards his cousin of Burgundy, whom he
+assured that there should be no infringement of their treaty, and that
+it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish property
+captured at sea in defiance of that treaty should be sold in French
+market-places. There is a hot correspondence,[15] that is, it is hot
+on the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are smoothly surprised
+at there being any cause for dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall
+be investigated, his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from the duke
+to two of Louis's council is emphatic in its expressions of doubt as
+to the good faith of these royal statements:
+
+    "ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:
+
+    "The vessels which you assure me are destined by the king for
+    an attack on England have attempted nothing except against my
+    subjects; but, by St. George, if some redress be not seen to, I
+    will take the matter into my own hands without waiting for your
+    motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."[16]
+
+
+Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent French merchants,
+coming peaceably to the fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of
+their private property, while the duke felt fully justified in
+stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to guard the Channel.
+Philip de Commines was one of the company who went at the duke's
+behest to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be faithful to King
+Edward, and to give no shelter to the rebellious earl and his protege
+Clarence.[17]
+
+Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an inconvenient moment. He
+temporised. To Warwick, he denied a personal interview, but at the
+same time he sent him a confidential emissary, Sr. du Plessis, to whom
+he wrote as follows:
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have for Warwick's
+    return to England, as well because I wish to see him get the
+    better of his enemies--or that at least through him the realm of
+    England may be embroiled--as to avoid the questions which have
+    arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you know that these Bretons
+    and Burgundians have no other aim than to find a pretext for
+    rupturing peace and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see
+    commenced under this colour.... Wherefore I pray you take pains,
+    you and others there, to induce Mons. de Warwick to depart by all
+    arguments possible. Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so
+    that he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything else
+    but his personal advantage."[18]
+
+
+To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment. The envoys
+sent by Louis to placate the duke's resentment at the incidents in
+connection with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that Louis meant
+well by him and his subjects, found Charles holding high state at St.
+Omer. When they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered
+sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above floor level, "higher than
+was the wont of king or emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head
+as the representatives of his feudal overlord bowed to him and he
+acknowledged their obeisance by a slight nod and a gesture permitting
+them to rise.
+
+Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered their address with
+a prosy speech. Burgundian officials revelled in grandiloquent
+phrases--which this time bored Charles, He cut short the harangue
+impatiently, took the floor himself, and made a statement of the
+injuries he had suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend, but he
+was aiding the foe of the duke's brother. The envoys repeated their
+sovereign's offers of redress. Charles declared that redress was
+impossible. Pained, very pained were the French envoys to think that
+a petty dispute could not be settled amicably. "The king desires to
+avoid friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress for every
+wrong. It will not be his fault if trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the
+king and you have a judge who is above you both."
+
+The insinuation that it was he who was ready to break the peace
+infuriated Charles. He started to his feet, his eyes flashing with
+fire. "Among us Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends
+become friends to our foes we send them to the hundred thousand devils
+of hell."[19] "A piece of bad taste to send by implication a king of
+France to a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave Chastellain,
+aghast at this impolite, emphatic, though indirect reference to Louis
+XI.
+
+Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers present at this occasion.
+After all, they, too, were French by nature. To wreck the new-made
+peace for the sake of the English alliance, which had never been
+really popular among them, that seemed an act of rash unwisdom.
+
+    "A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because their chief
+    thus implied contempt for the name of France to which the duke
+    belonged. Not going quite so far as to call himself English,
+    though that was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother,
+    ancient friend of England and enemy of France."
+
+
+There were, indeed, times when the duke was more emphatic in asserting
+his English blood. Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands
+which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates and citizens of
+Calais, whom he addresses, "O you my friends."[20] While reiterating
+that he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By St. George who
+knows me to be a better Englishman and more anxious for the weal of
+England than you other English ... [you] shall recognise that I am
+sprung from the blood of Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied
+with the circumstances.
+
+While he was so conscious of his own greatness, present and future,
+and of his own laudable intentions to do well by his subjects, it is
+quite possible, too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously
+by his failure to win popularity. For he was quite as unpopular with
+his courtiers as with his subjects. The former did not like the rigid
+court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting through audiences silent
+and stiff "as at a sermon," and exposed to personal reprimands from
+their chief if there were the slightest lapses from his standard of
+conduct. They did not know on what meat the duke was feeding his
+imagination, an imagination that already saw him as Caesar. Had he
+actually attained the loftier rank that he dreamed of, his premature
+arrogance might have been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible
+to the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his popularity during
+the years 1470-73.
+
+Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer, Louis had been relieved
+of anxiety in regard to the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers
+of an heir like his brother who might easily be used as a tool by some
+clever faction opposed to the ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was
+born to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant still
+were his words to his Burgundian cousin, but the moment was drawing
+near when his efforts to circumvent him were no longer secret.
+
+The embassy returned home. Possibly their report of the duke's
+passionate words goaded the king into discarding his mask of
+friendship. At any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in showing
+which side of the fresh English quarrel he meant to espouse. Margaret
+of Anjou hated the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had unseated
+her husband but because he had doubted her fidelity to that husband.
+Nevertheless, under Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her
+past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on fraternising with him on
+a basis of common hate for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed
+by the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the prince whose very
+legitimacy Warwick had questioned, with the earl's younger daughter.
+It was a singular union to be accepted by the parents, separated as
+they had been by the wall of insults interchanged during more than a
+decade of bitter enmity.
+
+Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession. She saw her
+seventeen-year-old son betrothed to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville,
+and later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick on a piece of
+the true cross in St. Mary's Church at Angers (August 4, 1470).
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July 25th], I have sent
+    you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick
+    in surety, and I order him to make such arrangements that the
+    people of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity until he
+    is there. To-day we have made the marriage of the Queen of England
+    and of him, and hope to-morrow to have all in readiness to
+    depart."[21]
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY (FROM BARANTE)]
+
+Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme towns, insinuating
+opposition to the duke, and reminding the citizens that they were
+French at heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the Burgundian
+court, saying many things in secret besides those they said in public.
+Plenty there were that wished for war, remarks the observant Commines.
+Nobles like St. Pol and others could not maintain the same state in
+peace as in war, and state they loved. In time of war four hundred
+lances attended the constable, and he had a large allowance to
+maintain them from which he reaped many a profitable commission
+besides the fees of his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover,"
+adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to say among themselves
+that if there were no battles without, there would be quarrels within
+the realm."
+
+The matter of the grants to Charles of France had been settled to his
+royal brother's liking, not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne
+and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were withdrawn and
+Guienne substituted. When Normandy had been exchanged for Champagne
+and Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of Burgundy approved
+the change as he thought it assured him an obedient friend as
+neighbour.[22] The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne and
+Brie, was quite a different thing.
+
+Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away from Burgundy. Naturally,
+Charles was not content. Then, too, it looked as though he had lost a
+useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new Duke of Guienne was
+formally reconciled to his brother and took oath that his fraternal
+devotion to his monarch should never again waver.
+
+Long before Charles was completely convinced that Louis was not going
+to maintain the humble attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he
+became very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against him. "He
+hastened to Hesdin where he entered into jealousy of his servants"
+says Commines. That he was assured that there were reasons for his
+apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated as an open letter,[23]
+to various cities, wherein he makes a detailed statement of the plots
+against his life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of Duke Philip.
+
+Sorry return was this from one recognised as Bastard of Burgundy and
+brought up in the ducal household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa,
+Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave of the duke's
+service and made his way to the king in his castle of Amboise, where
+he had been pleasantly received and promised rich reward when he had
+"executed his damnable designs against our person."
+
+Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in Charles's court at St.
+Omer were arrested as suspicious, and that circumstance frightened
+Baldwin and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his retinue, his
+horses, and his baggage behind. He dreaded lest he might be attainted
+and convicted of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the king.
+
+    "Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and clemency of God,
+    we inform you of the events so that you may render thanks
+    by public processions, solemn masses, sermons, and prayers,
+    beseeching Him devoutly and from the heart that He will always
+    guard and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and subjects
+    from such plots.
+
+    "May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in our castle of
+    Hesdin, December 13, 1470.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+    "LE GROS."
+
+
+It was not long before Charles had less reason to fear French
+"subtleties." At an assembly of notables[24] convened at Tours at the
+end of 1470, Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily for
+just two years, and made an open brief of his grievances against the
+duke.
+
+His case was cited with a luxury of detail more or less authentic. The
+interview at Peronne was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the Duke
+of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468, both obtained by undue
+pressure, had not been respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was
+obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.
+
+Even Commines shows that it is not surprising that there was
+unanimity[25] in the declaration that according to God and his
+conscience in all honour and justice the king was released from those
+treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion into Picardy as soon
+as possible.
+
+Charles's public accusations of plots against him did not go
+unanswered. Jehan de Chassa promptly issued a rejoinder:
+
+    "As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has sent to divers
+    places letters signed by himself and his secretary, Jehan le
+    Gros, written at Hesdin, December 13th, falsely charging me with
+    plotting against his life with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy,
+    and Jehan d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching my
+    honour, feel bound to reply.... By God and by my soul I declare
+    that these charges against me made by Charles of Burgundy are
+    false and disloyal lies"[26]
+
+Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation at the slur on his
+character, but he remained in the French court as did many others who
+had formerly served Charles.
+
+Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his daughter in the hands
+of Margaret of Anjou, openly aided by Louis, sailed back to England in
+September But there had been one further change of base of which the
+earl was still unconscious. His elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in
+the Warwick-Lancaster alliance. It brought young Prince Edward to the
+fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence--long ready to replace Edward of
+York--of any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined to accept
+offers of a reconciliation tendered him by King Edward.
+
+Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence sailed with Warwick and
+joined with him in the proclamations scattered over England, declaring
+that the exiles were returning to "set right and justice to their
+places, and to reduce and redeem for ever the realm from its
+thraldom." Never a mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI. Perhaps
+it was as convenient to see which way the wind blew and to put in a
+name accordingly.
+
+On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was raised as a cry. In
+Nottinghamshire, where Edward lay, not a word was heard for York.
+There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had turned against him
+and off he rode to Lyme with a small following, took ship, and made
+for Holland. It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns gave
+chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter at Alkmaar where De la
+Groothuse, Governor of Holland, welcomed him in the name of the
+duke.[27] Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with which to pay
+his fare across the Channel but a gown lined with marten's fur, and as
+for his train, never so poor a company was seen.
+
+Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all England and official
+business was transacted in the name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless
+on his throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow and pretence
+and what was done in his name was done without his will or knowledge.
+
+Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his unbidden guest. He
+would rather have heard that his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade
+Groothuse show him every courtesy and supply him with necessaries and
+five hundred crowns a month for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps
+informed by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind blowing over in
+England was but a fickle breeze, he consented to forget his hereditary
+sympathies.
+
+    "The same day that the duke received news of the king's arrival in
+    Holland, I was come from Calais to Boulogne (where the duke then
+    lay) ignorant of the event and of the king's flight.[28] The duke
+    was first advised that he was dead, which did not trouble him much
+    for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of York.
+    Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter and of Somerset and
+    divers others of King Henry's faction, by which means he thought
+    himself assured of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared
+    the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content him that was
+    to come to him, I mean King Edward, whose sister he had married
+    and who was also brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden
+    Fleece and the duke the Garter.
+
+    "Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais accompanied by
+    a gentleman or two of this new faction of Henry, and gave me
+    instructions how to deal with this new world, urging me to
+    go because it was important for him to be well served in the
+    matter.[29] I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes,
+    and then dared not proceed because I found people fleeing for fear
+    of the English who were devastating the country.... Never before
+    had I needed a safe-conduct for the English are very honourable.
+    All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen these
+    mutations in the world."
+
+Commines was uncertain as to what he had better do and wanted
+instructions. "The duke sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go
+forward with the promise that if I were taken prisoner he would redeem
+me." New surprises met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known
+faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate of my lodgings and
+the very door of my chamber were a hundred white crosses and rhymes
+signifying that the King of France and Earl of Warwick were one--all
+of which seemed strange to me." Well received was Commines and
+entertained at dinner. It was told at table how within a quarter of an
+hour after the arrival of news from England every man wore this livery
+(the ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden was the change.
+"This is the first time that I ever knew how little stable are these
+mundane affairs."
+
+    "In all communications that passed between them and me, I repeated
+    that King Edward was dead, of which fact I said I was well
+    assured, notwithstanding that I knew the contrary, adding further
+    that though it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke of
+    Burgundy and the king and realm of England such that this accident
+    could not infringe it--whomever they would acknowledge as king him
+    would we recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the league should
+    remain firm and inviolate between us and the king and realm of
+    England save that for Edward we named Henry."
+
+Commines explains further that the wool trade was what made amity with
+England necessary to Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal
+cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly for peace."
+
+Charles made vague promises to his uninvited guest, declaring
+ostentatiously that his blood was Lancastrian. Nevertheless he
+finally consented to an interview with him of York, in spite of the
+remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset and Exeter. "The duke
+could not tell whom to please and either party he feared to displease.
+But in the end, because sharp war was upon him face to face, he
+inclined to the English dukes, accepting their promises against the
+Earl of Warwick, their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who was on the
+spot and very ill at ease," was quieted by secret assurances that the
+duke was obliged to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep the
+king but that he was bound to return to England and fearing for divers
+considerations altogether to discontent him, Charles pretended that he
+could not aid the king and forbade his subjects to enter his service."
+Privately, however, he gave him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's
+cross, and had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand, a
+harbour where all nations were received. Besides this he secretly
+hired fourteen well appointed "ships of the Easterlings, which
+promised to serve him till he landed in England and for fifteen days
+after, "great aid considering the times."
+
+King Edward departed out of Flanders in the year 1471, when the
+Duke of Burgundy went to wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the
+king.[30] "The said duke thought now howsoever the world went in
+England he could not speed amiss because he had friends on both
+sides."[31]
+
+Edward's adventures in England proved that he had not lost his hold
+there. Warwick's extraordinary brief success was but a flash in the
+pan. London opened her gates and then the pitched battle at Barnet
+gave a final verdict between the rival Houses which England accepted.
+This battle was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and the like
+speech of the two bodies caused hopeless confusion. Many friends slew
+each other unwittingly, and among the slain was the indefatigable,
+energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with his royal puppets. Only
+forty-four was he and worthy of a better and more statesmanlike
+career.
+
+On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son landed at Weymouth.
+Hearing of Warwick's death, they tried to reach Wales but were
+intercepted and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here the young prince,
+too, met his death. To Edward's direct command is attributed the
+murder of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which happened at
+about the same time. The desolated Margaret of Anjou lingered five
+years under restraint in England before she was ransomed by King
+Louis.
+
+    "Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten at London the
+    Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.
+
+    "God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke Hym that made all
+    and can undoo agayn whare Hym lyst."[32]
+
+Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on his foresight. His
+brother of the two Orders was himself again.
+
+    "The very day on which this fight happened [says Commines] the
+    Duke of Burgundy, being before Amiens, received letters from
+    the duchess his wife, that the King of England was not at all
+    satisfied with him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if
+    for very little cause he would have deserted him. To speak plainly
+    there never was great friendship between them afterwards. Yet the
+    Duke of Burgundy seemed to be extremely pleased at this news and
+    published it everywhere."
+
+A transaction of his own of this time, the duke did not publish. It
+was a procedure perhaps justified by these wonderful "mutations in the
+world" which impressed Commines as strange and terrible. The Duke of
+Burgundy caused a legal document to be drawn up attesting his own
+heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the same in the Abbey of
+St. Bertin with all due formality. If there came more "mutations"
+in the world whose very existence was a new experience to Philip de
+Commines, Charles was ready to interpose his own plank in the new
+structure.
+
+In the archives of the House of Croy in the chateau of Beaumont, rests
+this document, which was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471,
+in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to the statement
+that no one was truer heir to the Lancaster House than Charles of
+Burgundy.[33] Two canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the
+witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.
+
+It was expressly stipulated that if there were any delay in the duke's
+entering upon his English inheritance--which devolved to him
+through his mother,--a delay caused by motives of public utility of
+Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, this should not prejudice
+his rights or those of his successors. A mere deferring of assuring
+the titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. His delay ended
+in his death and Edward IV. never had to combat this claim of the
+brother-in-law who had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his
+throne.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Meyer is the earliest historian to tell this story and it
+is vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice
+lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York and
+Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between Englishmen on
+English soil. Three out of four kings died by violence. Eighty persons
+connected with the blood royal were executed or assassinated.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Ramsay, _Lancaster and York_, ii., 232 _et seq._; Oman,
+_Hundred Years' War_ and _Warwick, the King-maker_, are followed here
+in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 4: That the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge
+or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again denied by
+various authorities.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See Oman's _Warwick_, p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Rymer, _Faedera_, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on
+for about a year.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, 651.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "Quia nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut
+clemencia et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 216. The editor thinks that
+the speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was
+delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Il sent la France_.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Middleburg, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign manual"
+on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, _Histoire generale et
+particuliere de Bourgogne_, etc., iv., cclxxi).]
+
+[Footnote 12: Good Friday, April 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 226.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Comines-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at
+Amboise, May, 12, 1470.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Plancher, iv., cclxi., etc.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Duke Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May
+29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Memoires_, iii., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Duclos "Preuves," v., 296.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Chastellain, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure,
+those of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance is
+that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis accepts it.
+(Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 363.)]
+
+[Footnote 20: _See_ Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Aujourd'hui avons fait le mariage de la reine
+d'Angleterre et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating the
+alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the King's
+accounts for December, 1470: "a maistre Jehan le prestre, la somme de
+xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or a lui donnee par le roy, pour le
+restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance d'icellui seigneur,
+il avait baillee du sien au vicaire de Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur
+en a fait don en faveur de ce qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de
+Galles a la fille du Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the
+actual marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation.
+(Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also _Lettres de Louis XI_.,
+iv., 131.)]
+
+[Footnote 22: A group of smaller seigniories was also involved,
+Quercy, Perigord, La Rochelle, etc. _See_ letter-patent,
+(Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 97.)]
+
+[Footnote 23: Duclos, "Preuves" v., 302.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, iv^{ii},
+364.]
+
+[Footnote 25: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}, 364. He states that the king
+named all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Duclos, "Preuves," v., 307.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Commines, iii., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _See_ instructions given to him for this mission,
+Wavrin-Dupont, iii., 271.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Commines, iii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 31: As soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles
+published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]
+
+[Footnote 32: _Letters_, iii., 4.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _See_ Gachard, _Etudes et Notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas,_ ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant toutes
+les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que plus grant
+foy soit adjoustee a tout ce que cy desus est escript, avant signe ce
+present instrument de nostre propre main et le fait sceller de nostre
+seau en signe de verite, l'an et jour desusdit. [This in French, the
+body in Latin.]
+
+"CHARLES."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+1471
+
+
+All work had ceased at Paris for three days by the king's command,
+while praise was chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints male
+and female, for the victory won by Henry of Lancaster, in 1470, over
+the base usurper Edward de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made a
+special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at Poitiers to breathe in
+pious solitude his own prayers of thanksgiving for the happy event.
+The battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this abundant stream of
+gratitude, and there were other thanksgivings.[1]
+
+In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent letters from
+Canterbury to his good friends at Bruges,[2] acknowledging their
+valuable assistance to his brother Charles,[3] recognising his part in
+restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his throne. To his sister,
+the Duchess of Burgundy, the returned exile gave substantial proof
+of his gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture and
+trade.[4]
+
+Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss weather vane the King
+of England had swung out into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair
+weather over his head, while Louis was forced back into solitary
+impotence. He seemed singularly isolated. His English friends were
+gone, his nobles were again forming a hostile camp around Charles of
+France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten his late protestations
+of fraternal devotion, and there were many indications that the
+Anglo-Burgundian alliance might prove as serious a peril to France as
+it had in times gone by but not wholly forgotten.
+
+The two most important of the disputed towns on the Somme were,
+however, in Louis's possession, and Charles of Burgundy, ready to
+reduce Amiens by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his
+proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed in July. This
+afforded a valuable respite to the king, and he busied himself in
+energetic efforts to detach his brother from the group of malcontents.
+Various disquieting rumours about the prince's marriage projects
+caused his royal brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch a
+special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy Louis wrote as follows[5]:
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:
+
+    "Guiot du Chesney[6] has brought me despatches from Monsg. de
+    Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has, further, mentioned three
+    points to me: First, in behalf of Mme. de Savoy,[7] ... second, in
+    regard to M. d'Urse ... third, touching the mission of Mons. de
+    Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the daughter of Monsg. de
+    Foix.... The Urse matter I will leave to you, and will agree to
+    what you determine upon. On the spot you will be a better judge of
+    what I ought to say and what would be advantageous to me, than I
+    can here.
+
+    "In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage, you know what a
+    misfortune it would be to me. Use all your five senses to prevent
+    it. I am told that my brother does not really like the idea, and
+    it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has brought him to
+    consent in order to further the marriage of the duchess,[8] so
+    that in taking the sister, the duke will be relieved of this sum,
+    a condition that would please him greatly because he has nothing
+    to pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all the
+    accompanying claims and then be through with it. In effect, I beg
+    you make him agree to another [bride] before you leave, and do not
+    be in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair[9] can be
+    arranged you will place me in Paradise.
+
+    "_Item._ I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would not approve this
+    Aragon girl, because he himself has some hopes of the kingdom of
+    Aragon through his wife. If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of
+    this, I believe it would help along our case.
+
+    "_Item._ It seems to me that you have a splendid opportunity to be
+    very frank with my brother. For he has informed me through this
+    man that the duke [of Brittany] has paid no attention to the
+    representations made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray,
+    and since my brother himself confides this to me, you have an
+    opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and that I never
+    cherish him so highly as when he tells me the truth, and that I
+    now recognise that he does not desire to deceive me, since he
+    does not spare the duke [of Brittany] and that, since he sees him
+    opposed to me, he should return the seal that you know of and
+    refuse to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the
+    Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.
+
+    "If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as long as I live
+    I will harbour no misgiving of him and he shall be as puissant in
+    all the realm of France as I myself, as long as I live. In short,
+    Mons. du Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you will
+    place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until Monseigneur de
+    Lescun has arrived, and a good piece afterwards, even if you have
+    to play the invalid, and before you depart put our affair in
+    surety if you can, I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du
+    Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre Dame de Behuart
+    aid your negotiations. The women[10] of Mme. de Burgundy have
+    all been ill with the _mal chault,_ and it is reported that the
+    daughter is seriously afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is
+    already dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite certain of
+    the malady.
+
+    "Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.
+
+    "LOYS.
+
+    "TILHART."
+
+That the king's professed confidence in his brother did not remove all
+suspicions of that young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown
+by the following letter, written two days later than the above, to
+Lorenzo de' Medici:
+
+    "Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that our brother of
+    Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation from the oath he
+    swore to us, of which we send you a duplicate. Since you are a
+    great favourite with our Holy Father pray use your influence with
+    his Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation,
+    and that his messenger may not be able to do any negotiating. In
+    this you will do us a singular and agreeable pleasure which we
+    will recognise in the future as we have in the past on fitting
+    occasion....
+
+    "Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.
+
+    "LOYS."
+
+Louis does not seem to have taken his own doubts as to the very
+existence of Mary of Burgundy very seriously. While he was infinitely
+anxious to prevent her alliance with his brother, he made overtures to
+betroth her to his baby son, while he reminded her father in touching
+phrases that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and hence exactly
+the person to be her father-in-law.
+
+The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts to make terms between
+the king and the duke before the termination of the truce. The king
+was very hopeful of attaining this good result, and sweetly trustful
+of the duke's pacific and friendly intentions. He sternly refused to
+listen to suggestions that Charles meant to play him false and was
+very definite in his expressions of confidence. The following epistle
+to his envoys at the duke's court was an excellent document to fall by
+chance into Burgundian hands[11]:
+
+    "To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:
+
+    "My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received your letters
+    this evening at the hostelry of Montbazon where I came because I
+    have not yet dared to go to Amboise.[12] When I imparted to you
+    the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose of
+    delaying you in completing your business but only to advise you of
+    the dangers that were in the air. And to free you from all doubts
+    I assure you, that if Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to
+    confirm, by writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at
+    Orleans[13], I wish you to accept it and to clinch the matter and
+    I am quite determined to trust to it. As to your suspicion that
+    he may wish to make the chief promises in private letters without
+    putting it in a formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a
+    pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing I never withdraw
+    my decision.
+
+    "My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to it that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate assurance of the
+    letters that he is to issue. When I once have the letter such as
+    we agreed upon and he is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep
+    faith. If my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do
+    not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure you that my
+    greatest worldly desire is that the matter be finished, since he
+    has given verbal assurance that he wishes me well. You write that
+    the pronotary told you that I was negotiating in every direction.
+    By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by the words that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy said to you you can easily solve the
+    question, for he has only offered you what he mentioned before
+    when the matters were discussed. It looks to me as though they
+    were not free from traitors since they have Abbe de Begars and
+    Master Ythier Marchant.[14]
+
+    "A herald of the King of England came here on his way to Monsg. of
+    Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct to send a messenger to me
+    for this truce. Since your departure the council thought I ought
+    not to give any pass for more than forty days except to merchants.
+    If it please God and Our Lady that you may conclude your mission,
+    I assure you that as long as I live I will have no embassy either
+    large or small without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy
+    and I will only answer as if through him. I assure you that until
+    I hear from you whether Monsg. of Burgundy decides to conclude
+    this treaty or not as we agreed together, I will make no agreement
+    with any creature in the world and of that you may assure him.
+
+    "Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).
+
+    "Loys."
+
+At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly intercourse with the
+towns he proposed to cede.
+
+    "To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king: "Dear and
+    beloved, we have heard reports at length from Amiens and we are
+    well content with you.... Give credence to all my messengers say.
+    We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies have done
+    in our cause."
+
+At the Burgundian court the duke's friends thought that he would play
+the part of wisdom did he keep an army within call, and refrain from
+implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was, moreover, an
+impression abroad that the latter was not in a position to be very
+formidable.
+
+    "Once [says Commines][15] I was present when the Seigneur d'Urse
+    [envoy from the Duke of Guienne] was talking in this wise and
+    urging the duke to mobilise his forces with all diligence. The
+    duke called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur d'Urse
+    urging me to make my army as big as possible, and tells me that we
+    would do well for the realm. Do you think that I should wage a war
+    of benefit if I should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered
+    that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I love the welfare
+    of France more than Mons. d' Urse imagines, for instead of the one
+    king that there is I would fain see six.'"
+
+The animus of this expression is clear. It implies a wish to see the
+duke's friends, the French nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head,
+until the titular monarch had no more power than half a dozen of his
+peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal terms that Charles's next
+moves were to disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard their
+alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis whose terms were wholly
+to his own advantage and implied complete desertion of the allied
+interest.
+
+    "This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and I was present[16]
+    and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon and the Chancellor of
+    France[17] in behalf of the king. When they departed they advised
+    the duke not to disband his army but to increase it, so that the
+    king their master might be the more inclined to cede promptly the
+    two places mentioned above. They took with them Simon de Quingey
+    to witness the king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors'
+    work. The king delayed this confirmation for several days.
+    Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother, the Duke of Guienne
+    ... shortly afterwards the said Simon returned, dismissed by the
+    king with very meagre phrases and without any oath being taken.
+    The duke felt mocked and insulted by this treatment and was very
+    indignant about it."[18]
+
+This story involves so serious a charge against Charles of Burgundy
+that the fact of his setting his signature to the treaty has been
+indignantly denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's
+truthfulness rather than accept the duke's betrayal of his friends. It
+is true that only a few months later than this negotiation, Commines
+himself forsook the duke's service for the king's, a change of base
+that might well throw suspicion on his estimate of his deserted
+master.
+
+Yet it must be remembered that he does not gloss over Louis's actions,
+even though he had an admiration for the success of his political
+methods, methods which Commines believed to be essential in dealing
+with national affairs. In many respects he gives more credit to the
+duke than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer chief. That
+there is no documentary evidence of such a treaty is mere negative
+evidence and of little importance.
+
+The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy was at a parting
+of the ways, in character as in action. His natural bent was to tell
+the truth and to adhere strictly to his given word. He felt that he
+owed it to his own dignity. He felt, too, that he was a person to
+command obedience to a promise whether pledged to him by king or
+commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe shocks had been dealt
+him. He had lost all faith in Louis, a faith that had really been
+founded on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction that the weak
+king must respect the redoubtable cousin of Burgundy.
+
+The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to make him adopt the
+tools used by his rival, or at least to attempt to do so. At the
+moment of the negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation
+was to regain the towns on the Somme. That accomplished, it is not
+probable that he would have abandoned his friends, the French
+peers, whom he desired to see become petty monarchs each in his own
+territory. There seems no doubt that words were used with singular
+disregard of their meaning. It is surprising that time was wasted in
+concocting elaborate phrases that dropped into nothingness at the
+slightest touch. In citing the above passage from Commines referring
+to the treaty, the close of the negotiations has been anticipated.
+Whether or not any draft of a treaty received the duke's signature,
+the king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when his brother's death
+freed him from the dread of dangerous alliance between Charles of
+France and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th, he was still
+uncertain as to the decree of fate and wrote as follows to the
+Governor of Rousillon[19]:
+
+    "Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the Duke of Burgundy
+    declares war against me, I will set out immediately for that
+    quarter [Brittany], and in a week we will finish the matter. On
+    the other hand, if peace be made we shall have everything without
+    a blow or without any risk of restoration. However, if you can get
+    hold of anything by negotiating and manoeuvring, why do it. As
+    to the artillery, it is close by you, and when it is time, and I
+    shall have heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."
+
+Ten days later he is more hopeful.[20]
+
+    "Since my last letter to you I have had news that Monsieur de
+    Guienne is dying and that there is no remedy for his case. One
+    of the most confidential persons about him has advised me by a
+    special messenger that he does not believe he will be alive a
+    fortnight hence.... The person who gave me this information is
+    the monk who repeated his Hours with M. de G[uienne.] I am much
+    abashed at this and have crossed myself from head to foot.
+
+    "Written at Moutils-les-Tours, May 18th."
+
+This prognostic was correct. In less than a fortnight the Duke of
+Guienne lay dead, and the heavy suspicion rested upon his royal
+brother of having done more than acquiesce in the decree of fate.
+Whether or not there was any truth in this charge the king was
+certainly not heartbroken by the loss. Indeed, the event interested
+him less than the question of making the best use of the remainder of
+his truce with Charles. The following letters to Dammartin and the
+Duke of Milan belong to this time.
+
+    "Thank you for the pains you have taken but pray, as speedily as
+    you can, come here to draw up your ordinance for we only have
+    a fortnight more of the truce. I have sent the artillery and
+    soldiers to Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's
+    forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the seneschal of
+    Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company. Then if there are
+    more at large, form them into a body and send them to me and I
+    will find them a captain and pay all those who are willing to
+    stay.
+
+    "As to him,[21] make him talk on the way and learn whether he
+    would like to enter into an agreement in his brother's name, and
+    work it so that the duke will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at
+    all points for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know how,
+    for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun left here for any
+    other reason than to attempt to make an arrangement of some kind.
+
+    "Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser than I and will
+    know how to act far better than I can instruct you, but, above
+    all, I implore you come in all haste for without you we cannot
+    make an ordinance.
+
+    "Written at Xaintes, May 28th.
+
+    "LOYS."[22]
+
+    "AMBOISE, June 7th.
+
+    "Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Beloved brother and
+    cousin, we have received the letters you have written making
+    mention, as you have heard, that in the truce lately concluded
+    between us and the Duke of Burgundy up to April 1st next coming,
+    which will be the year 1473, the Duke of Burgundy has mentioned
+    you as his ally, which you do not like because you never asked the
+    Duke of Burgundy to do so, and you do not know whether he made
+    this statement on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who is
+    with him.
+
+    "Therefore, and because you do not mean to enter into alliance or
+    understanding with the Duke of Burgundy but wish to remain
+    our confederate and ally and have sworn to that effect before
+    notaries, and sealed your oath with your seal ... that you are no
+    ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that you renounce and repudiate
+    his nomination as such ... also you may be certain that on our
+    part we are determined to maintain all friendship between us and
+    you ... and if we make any treaty in the future we will expressly
+    include you in it and never will do otherwise."[23]
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised how while the truce is
+    still in being, the Duke of Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all
+    whom he found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished you to
+    know so that if you can find means to do him a like injury in his
+    country you will do it there and anywhere that you can without
+    sparing anything. I have good hopes that God will aid in avenging
+    us, considering the murders for which he is responsible within the
+    church and elsewhere, and because by virtue of the terms of their
+    surrender [they thought] they had saved their lives.
+
+    "Done at Angers, June 19th.
+
+    "P.S.--If the said place had been destroyed and rased as I ordered
+    this never would have happened. Therefore, see to it that all such
+    places be rased to the ground, for if this be not done the people
+    will be ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
+    damage to me."[24]
+
+One fact stated by Louis in this letter was true. Charles of Burgundy
+broke the truce when it had but two weeks to run, and thus put
+himself in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him wild with anger.
+Apparently he had not believed in the imminence of the danger,
+although he had been constantly informed of the progress of the
+prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand of Louis, not the
+judgment of God, that ended the life of the prince.
+
+    "On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472, so far as I remember
+    [says Commines] came letters from Simon de Quingey, the duke's
+    ambassador to the king, announcing the death of the Duke of
+    Guienne and that the king had recovered the majority of his
+    places. Messages from various localities followed headlong one on
+    the other, and every one had a different story of the death.
+
+    "The duke being in despair at the death, at the instigation of
+    other people as much concerned as himself, wrote letters full of
+    bitter accusations against the king to several towns--an action
+    that profited little for nothing was done about it.[25]... In this
+    violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle in Vermandois,
+    and commenced a kind of warfare such as he had never used before,
+    burning and destroying wherever he passed."
+
+It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines sails by the capital
+charges against the king. He neither accepts nor denies the king's
+crime, while frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an opportune
+circumstance for Louis. He apologises for mentioning any evil report
+of either king or duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
+truth without palliation.
+
+Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the Somme which refused
+the duke's summons to surrender, sent to it on June 10th. It seems
+possible that there was a misunderstanding between the citizens
+and the garrison which resulted in the slaughter of the Burgundian
+heralds. Whereupon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong upon the
+ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible vengeance on the town.
+
+When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage was over, but he was
+unreproving as he inspected the gruesome result. Into the great church
+itself he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the blood lying
+inches deep on the floor. The desecrated building was full of
+dead--men, women, and children--but the duke's only comment as he
+looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily I have good butchers
+with me," and he crossed himself piously.
+
+    "Those who were taken alive were hanged, except some few suffered
+    to escape by the compassionate common soldiers. Quite a number had
+    their hands chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I
+    was on the spot and needs must give some account of it."[26]
+
+The story of the duke's treatment of the innocent little town of Nesle
+is painted in colours quite as lurid as the king's murder of his
+brother. There is some ground for the denunciations of Charles,
+but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised clemency to the
+citizens on surrender and then basely broke his word, does not deserve
+credence. He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors were
+committed in passion, not in cold blood.[27]
+
+[Illustration: BURGUNDIAN STANDARD PRESERVED AT BEAUVAIS]
+
+It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indignation at his
+cousin's proceedings, coupled with his regrets that he himself had not
+destroyed the town.
+
+With the terrible report of the events at Nesle flying before his
+advance guard, Charles went on towards Normandy. Roye he gained
+easily, and then, passing by Compiegne where "Monseigneur the grand
+master" had intrenched himself, and Amiens with the good burghers whom
+Louis delighted to honour, he marched on until he reached Beauvais, an
+old town on the Therain. Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had
+taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its defences, not even
+having its usual garrison or cannon, as it happened.
+
+Disappointed in his first expectation of picking the town like a
+cherry, Charles sat down before it. The siege that followed won
+a reputation beyond the warrant of its real importance from the
+extraordinary tenacity and energy of the people in their own defence.
+Every missile that the ingenuity of man or woman could imagine was
+used to drive back the besiegers when the town was finally invested.
+
+From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited, then an assault was
+ordered. Charles laughed at the idea of any serious resistance. "He
+asked some of his people whether they thought the citizens would wait
+for the assault. It was answered yes, considering their number even if
+they had nothing before them but a hedge."[28] He took this as a joke
+and said, "To-morrow you will not find a person." He thought that
+there would be a simple repetition of his experience at Dinant and
+Liege, and that the garrison would simply succumb in terror. When the
+Burgundians rushed at the walls their reception showed not only that
+every point had a defender, but also that those same defenders were
+provided with huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches--all
+most unpleasant things when thrown in the faces of men trying to scale
+a wall. Three hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants the
+difficulty of the task. Twelve hundred were slain and maimed, and the
+strength of the place was proven.
+
+Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme, but the weather
+came to the aid of the besieged. Heavy rains forced the troops to
+change camp. More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic assaults,
+losses that Charles could ill afford at the moment. Finally at the end
+of three fruitless weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians
+marched on to try to redeem their reputation in Normandy. Had Beauvais
+fallen, it would have been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany,
+against whom Louis had marched with all his forces and whom he had
+enveloped as in a net. This reverse was the first serious rebuff that
+had happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his fortunes.
+
+Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage to himself, and was not
+stinting in his reward to the plucky little town. Privileges and a
+reduction of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual procession
+was inaugurated in which women were to have precedence as a special
+recognition of their services with boiling water and other irregular
+weapons, while a special gift was bestowed on one particular girl,
+Jeanne Laisne, who had wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier
+just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not only was she endowed
+from the royal purse, but she and her husband and their descendants
+were declared tax free for ever.[29]
+
+_Charles to the Duke of Brittany_
+
+    "My good brother, I recommend myself to you with good heart. I
+    rather hoped to be able to march through Rouen, but the whole
+    strength of the foe was on the frontier, where was the _grand
+    master, of whose loyalty I have not the least doubt_, so that the
+    project could not be effected. I do not know what will happen.
+    Realising this, I have given subject for thought elsewhere and
+    I have pitched my camp between Rouen and Neufchatel, intending,
+    however, to return speedily. If not I will exploit the war in
+    another quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert
+    myself to keep them from your route. My Burgundians and
+    Luxemburgers have done bravely in Champagne. I know, too, that you
+    have done well on your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned
+    the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will not injure you,
+    nor us, nor others, and I will not lay down arms without you, as
+    I am certain you will not without me. I will pursue the work
+    commenced by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord, may He give
+    you good and long life with a fruitful victory.
+
+    "Written at my camp near Boscise, September 4th.
+
+    "Your loyal brother,
+
+    "CHARLES."[30]
+
+The duke's course was marked by waste and devastation from the
+walls of Rouen to those of Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this
+desolation. By September, keen anxiety about his territories led him
+to fear staying so far from his own boundaries, and he decided to
+return. Through Picardy he marched eastward burning and laying waste
+as before.
+
+Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands, when Louis marched into
+Brittany against his weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis
+found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie, who had ridden in hot
+haste to Brittany, scattering from his saddle dire accusations of
+fratricide against Louis--this same Odet became silenced and took
+service with the king.[31] When reconcilations were effected, most
+kind to the returning ally or servant did Louis always show himself.
+
+On November 3d, a truce was struck between Louis and Charles, which,
+later, was renewed for a year. But never again did the two men come
+into actual conflict with each other, though they were on the eve of
+doing so in 1475.
+
+The period of the great coalitions among the nobles was at an end.
+Charles of France was dead and so, too, were others who were strong
+enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brittany showed no more
+energy. When again within his own territories, Charles of Burgundy
+became absorbed in other projects which he wished to perfect before he
+again measured steel with Louis.
+
+  "The Duke of Berry, he is dead,
+  Brittany doth nod his head,
+  Burgundy doth sulky sit,
+  While Louis works with every wit."[32]
+
+Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in France, a verse that
+probably never came to Charles's ears--though Louis might have
+listened to it cheerfully.
+
+Infinitely disastrous were the events of that summer to Charles of
+Burgundy. Not only had he lost in allies, not only had he squandered
+life and money uselessly in his reckless expedition over the north of
+France, but his own retinue was diminished and weakened by the men
+whom Louis had succeeded in luring from his service. The loss that
+Charles suffered was not only for the time but for posterity. Among
+those convinced that there was more scope for men of talent in France
+than in Burgundy was that clever observer of humanity who had been at
+Charles's side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip de Commines
+took French leave of his master and betook himself to Louis, who
+evidently was not surprised at his advent.
+
+The historian's own words in regard to this change of base are
+laconic: "About this time I entered the king's service (and it was
+the year 1472), who had received the majority of the servitors of his
+brother the Duke of Guienne. And he was then at Pont de Ce."[33] This
+passing from one lord to another happened on the night between the 7th
+and 8th of August, when the Burgundian army lay near Eu.
+
+The suddenness of the departure was probably due to the duke's
+discovery of his servant's intentions not yet wholly ripe, and those
+intentions had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in 1471, when
+Commines made a secret journey to the king. On his way back to
+Burgundy, he deposited a large sum of money at Tours. Evidently he
+did not dare put this under his own name, or claim it when it was
+confiscated as the property of a notorious adherent of Louis's
+foe.[34]
+
+When the fugitive reached the French court, however, he was amply
+recompensed for all his losses.[35] For, naturally, at his flight, all
+his Burgundian estates were abandoned.[36] It was at six o'clock on
+the morning of August 8th that the deed was signed whereby the duke
+transferred to the Seigneur de Quievrain all the rights appertaining
+to Philip de Commines, "which rights together with all the property of
+whatever kind have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation because
+he has to-day, the date of this document, departed from our obedience
+and gone as a fugitive to the party opposed to us."[37]
+
+There are various surmises as to the cause of this precipitate
+departure. Not improbable is the suggestion that Charles often
+overstepped the bounds of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so
+runs one story, he found the historian sleeping on his bed where he
+had flung himself while awaiting his master. Charles pulled off one of
+his boots "to give him more ease" and struck him in the face with it.
+In derision the courtiers called Commines _tete bottee_, and their
+mocking sank deep into his soul.
+
+Contemporary writers make little of the chronicler's defection.
+These crossings from the peer's to the king's camp were accepted
+occurrences. But by Charles they were not accepted. There is
+a vindictive look about the hour when he disposes of his late
+confidant's possessions, only explicable by intense indignation not
+itemised in the deed approved by the court of Mons.[38]
+
+More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier de la Marche, though to
+him, also, came intimations that he would find a pleasant welcome at
+the French court. He, too, had opportunities galore to make links with
+Louis. The accounts teem with references to his secret missions
+here and there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all carefully
+itemised. So zealous was this messenger on his master's commissions,
+that his hackneys were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold
+for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XI. was not blind to the quality
+of La Marche's services, and he thought that they, too, might be
+diverted to his use.[39]
+
+    "Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has told me that
+    Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to enter my service and
+    I am afraid that there may be some deception. However, there is
+    nothing that I would like better than to have the said Sieur
+    de Cimay, as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the matter
+    stands, and if you see that it is in good earnest work for it with
+    all diligence. Whatever you pledge I will hold to. Advise me of
+    everything.
+
+    "Written at Clery, October 16th [1472].
+
+    "To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor, Sire du
+    Bouchage."[40]
+
+But La Marche was not tempted, and was rewarded for his fidelity
+by high office in a duchy which, shortly after these events, was
+"annexed" to his master's domain.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Journal de Jean de Roye_, i., 258.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Commynes-Dupont, iii., 202.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Plancher, iv., cccvi., May 28th.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Rymer, _Foedera_, xi., 735. _Pro Ducissa Burgundiae super
+Lana claccanda_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 256.]
+
+[Footnote 6: One of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's
+service.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Louis's sister Yolande.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of
+the Count de Foix.]
+
+[Footnote 9: This was an allusion to a proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile. Vaesen
+cannot explain the use of Aragon. Various documents relating to this
+negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet, iii., 156.)]
+
+[Footnote 10: Vaesen gives _femmes_, Duclos _filles_. The king was
+above all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lettres de Louis XI._., iv., 286.]
+
+[Footnote 12: There was a pestilence raging at Amboise.]
+
+[Footnote 13: At Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of
+November, there was a conference wherein the king apparently promised
+to restore St. Quentin and Amiens to Charles, if he would renounce his
+alliance with the dukes of Brittany and Guienne and would betroth his
+daughter to the dauphin.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Ythier Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received "signed and sealed
+blanks" from the two princes in order to enable him to hasten matters.
+(_Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 289.)]
+
+[Footnote 15: III., ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Cette paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois
+present."]
+
+[Footnote 17: The king's envoys who had spent the winter in the
+Burgundian court. _See_ letter to them in December.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _See_ Kervyn, _Bulletin de l'Academie royale de
+Belgique_, p. 256. _Also_ Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Louis to the Vicomte de la Belliere, _Lettres_, etc.,
+iv., 319.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Louis to Dammartin, _Ibid_., 325. _Mars_ was written
+first and then replaced by _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Odet d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de
+Lescun.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres, XI_., iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472.]
+
+[Footnote 23: _Lettres_, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Lettres_, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. _See also_
+Duclos, v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two texts,
+but the differences do not affect the narrative.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Odet d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted to
+his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis broadcast
+over the land. The truth of the death is not proven. Frequent mentions
+of Guienne's condition occur through the letters of the winter '71-72.
+The story was that the poison, administered subtly by the king's
+orders, caused the illness of both the prince and his mistress, Mme.
+de Thouan. She died after two months of suffering, December 14th,
+while he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely
+shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably wretched and
+painful, a constant torture until death mercifully released him in
+May. Accusations of poisoning are often repeated in history. In this
+case, there was certainly a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In
+his manifestos, (Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's
+tools in compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre,
+and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.
+
+The story told by Brantome _(OEuvres Completes_ de Pierre de
+Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantome, ii., 329. "Grands Capitaines
+Francois." There is nothing too severe for Brantome to say about Louis
+XI.) is very detailed. A fool passed to Louis's service from that of
+the dead prince. While this man was attending his new master in the
+church of Notre Dame de Clery, he heard him make this prayer to the
+Virgin: "Ah! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great friend in whom
+I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a suppliant to God in my
+behalf, be my advocate with Him so that He may pardon me for the death
+of my brother whom I had poisoned by this wicked Abbe of St. John. I
+confess it to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was to
+be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me pardoned and I know well
+what I will give thee."
+
+Brantome tells further that the fool, using the privilege of free
+speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death at dinner
+in public and after that day was never seen again. On the other hand,
+the young duke's will was all to his brother's favour. Louis was
+made executor and legatee, "and if we have ever offended our beloved
+brother," dictated the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we
+with _debonnaire_ affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Commynes
+(1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious fabrication of
+Odet d'Aydie, and other authorities refer the cause to disease. The
+very date of the death varies from May 12th to May 24th.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Commines, iii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 27: There is a curious document in existence (see _Bulletins
+de L'Hist. de France_, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the event. It
+is the deposition of several old people who had been just old enough
+to remember that awful experience of their youth. Fifty years of
+repetition gave time for the growth of the story.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Legend makes it that Jeanne Laisne, called _Fouquet_,
+chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet. Hence
+her name was changed to _La Hachette_, and she is represented with a
+hatchet.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Barante, vii., 333.]
+
+[Footnote 31: _See_ Lavisse, iv^{ii.}, 368.]
+
+[Footnote 32:
+
+  "Berri est mort,
+  Bretagne dort,
+  Bourgogne hongne,
+  Le Roy besogne."
+
+Le Roux de Lincy, _Chants historiques et populaires du temps de Louis
+XI_.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Commines also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke
+of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the Duke of
+Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.)]
+
+[Footnote 34: Kirk (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only
+Louis's way of prodding him up to act.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Dupont (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not
+enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift of the
+principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not registered in
+_Parlement_ until December 13, 1473, and in the court of records May
+2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Commines become at last, and as such he
+married Helen de Chambes, January 27, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 36: It is strange that La Marche does not mention this
+defection.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See document quoted by Gachard, _Etudes et Notices_,
+etc. ii., 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preserved
+in the chateau of Beaumont.]
+
+[Footnote 38: _See also_ Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of
+this event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too corrupt for
+honest men to endure it.]
+
+[Footnote 39: _See_ Stein. _Etude_, etc., _sur Olivier de la _Marche_.
+(Mem. Couronnes) xlix.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Letter of Louis XI. in Bibl. Nat.: _Ibid._, p. 179.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+GUELDERS
+
+1473
+
+
+The affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were among the matters
+urgently demanding the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close
+of his campaign in France. The circumstances of the long-standing
+quarrel between Duke Arnold and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a
+scandal throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming reconciliation of the
+parties had not only been effected but celebrated in the town of Grave
+by a pleasant family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke,
+fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was he in bed, when he
+was aroused rudely, and carried off half clad to a dungeon in the
+castle of Buren, by the order of his son, who superintended the
+abduction in person and then became duke regnant. For over six years
+the old man languished in prison, actually taunted, from time to time,
+it is said, by Duke Adolf himself.
+
+Indignant remonstrances against this conduct were heard from various
+quarters, and were all alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles
+of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring his father to his
+presence, and to submit the dispute to his arbitration. Charles was
+too near and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded, and his
+peremptory invitation was accepted. Pending the decision, the
+two dukes were forced to be guests in his court, under a strict
+surveillance which amounted to an arrest.
+
+The first suggestion made by Charles was for a compromise between
+father and son. "Let Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in
+Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair income, while
+to Adolf be ceded the full power of administration." The latter was
+emphatic in his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather would I
+prefer to see my father thrown into a well and to follow him thither
+than to agree to such terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty-four
+years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold thought it would be a
+simple feat to fight out the dispute. "I saw them both several times
+in the duke's apartment and in the council chamber when they pleaded,
+each his own cause. I saw the old man offer a gage of battle to his
+son."[1] The senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry. A
+trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly fashion of ending his
+differences with his importunate heir.
+
+No settlement was effected before the French expedition, but Charles
+was not disposed to let the matter slip from his control, and when
+he proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under restraint, were
+obliged to follow in his train. At a leisure moment Charles intended
+to force them to accept his arbitration as final. Before that moment
+arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs, Adolf, succeeded in
+eluding surveillance and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made his
+way successfully to Namur disguised as a Franciscan monk. Then, at
+the ferry, he gave a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The
+liberality, inconsistent with his assumed role, aroused suspicion and
+led to the detection of his rank and identity. He was stayed in his
+flight and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a decision on
+his case by his self-constituted judge. This was not pronounced until
+the summer of 1473.
+
+By that time, Charles was resolved on another course of action than
+that of adjusting a family dispute in the capacity of puissant,
+impartial, and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour towards his
+father had been extraordinarily brutal and outrageous. Public comment
+had been excited to a wide degree. It was not an affair to be dealt
+with lightly by Duke Charles. The young Duchess of Guelders was
+Catharine of Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy, and
+Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden Fleece. In consideration of
+these links of family and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that
+the case should be tried with all formality.
+
+[Illustration: ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS (FROM THE ENGRAVING BY
+PINSSIO, AFTER THE DRAWING BY J. ROBERT)]
+
+On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was held at Valenciennes,[2]
+and the knights were asked to pass upon the conduct of their
+delinquent fellow, who was permitted to present his own brief through
+an attorney, but was detained in his own person at Namur. The
+innocence or guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point of
+interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was concerned. The latter had
+made an excellent bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke of
+Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a document wherein he sold
+to Charles all his administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for
+ninety-two thousand florins,[3] in consideration of Arnold's enjoying
+a life interest in half of the revenue of his ancient duchy. That
+clause soon lost its significance. The old man's life ceased in March,
+1473, and, by virtue of the contract, Charles proposed to enter into
+full possession of his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he
+was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal, quite beyond the pale of
+society, but that Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose
+hereditary claims had also been ignored by his grandfather.
+
+Before the knights of the Order as a final court, were rehearsed all
+the circumstances of the old family quarrel and of the late commercial
+transaction. Their verdict was the one desired by their chief. It was
+proven to their entire satisfaction that Arnold's sale of the duchy of
+Guelders and Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the deed
+executed by him was a perfect and valid instrument, whereby Charles of
+Burgundy was duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of, and to exert
+authority in, his new duchy at his pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he
+was condemned by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment as
+punishment for his unfilial and unjustifiable cruelty towards Arnold,
+late Duke of Guelders.
+
+Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars, but the people of
+Guelders were by no means disposed to accept unquestioned this deed
+of transfer, made when the two parties to the conveyance were in
+very unequal conditions of freedom. In order to convince them of the
+justice of his pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as efficient
+as his army of the preceding summer, and fell upon Guelders. A truce,
+a triple compact with France and England, had recently been renewed,
+so that for the moment his hands were free from complications, an
+event commented upon by Sir John Paston, as follows:
+
+    "April 16, 1473, CANTERBURY.
+
+    "As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys about the xxvi
+    day off March last, betwyn the Duke of Burgoyn and the Frense
+    Kings inbassators and Master William Atclyff ffor the king heer,
+    whiche is a pese be londe and be water tyll the ffyrst daye off
+    Apryll nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland, and also the
+    Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever."
+
+The writer had recently been in Charles's court. Writing from Calais
+in February, he says:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that the Duke of
+    Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth well. I was with them on
+    Thorysdaye last past at Gaunt."[4]
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pretender to the vacated
+sovereignty of Guelders. The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to
+urge his cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At the sight
+of Burgundian puissance, however, he was ready to be convinced, and
+accepted 24,000 florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness of
+the accession. Several of the cities manifested opposition to Charles,
+but yielded one after another. In Nimwegen--long hostile to Duke
+Arnold--there was a determined effort to support little Charles of
+Guelders who, with his sister, was in that city. The child made a
+pretty show on his little pony, and there were many declarations of
+devotion to his cause as he was put forward to excite sympathy. For
+three weeks, the town held out in his name. The resistance to the
+Burgundian troops was sturdy. When the gates gave way before their
+attacks the burghers defended the broken walls. Six hundred English
+archers were repulsed from an assault with such sudden energy that
+they left their banners sticking in the very breaches they thought
+they had won, fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But the game
+was unequal, and the combatants, convinced that discretion was the
+better part of valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a
+mediator with their would-be sovereign.
+
+On July 19th, a long civic procession headed by the burgomasters,
+wearing neither hats nor shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a
+prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the opposition to his
+accession were delivered over to the mercy of the victor. The garrison
+were accorded their lives and a tax was imposed on the city to
+indemnify the duke for his needless trouble, and Guelders was added
+_de facto_ to the list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various
+state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the mention of the
+circumstance of his accession to the sovereignty was simple and
+straightforward, as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la
+Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the date of August 18th and
+was one of the earliest issued by Charles in this new capacity.
+
+    "As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his life Duke of
+    Guelderland, these counties and duchy have lapsed to me, and by
+    the same token the offices of the land have escheated to our
+    disposition, and among others the office of master of the moneys
+    of those countships ... using the rights, etc., escheated to me,
+    and in consideration of the good and agreeable services already
+    rendered and continually rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de
+    la Marche, having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity,
+    and good diligence--for these causes and others we entrust the
+    office of master and overseer of moneys of the land of Guelders
+    to him, with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereto
+    pertaining. In testimony of this we have set our seal to these
+    papers. Done in our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 1473. Thus signed
+    by M. le duc."
+
+On the back of this document was written:
+
+    "To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la Marche ... took
+    the oath of office of master and overseer of the land and duchy of
+    Guelders."[5]
+
+The charge of the ducal children, Charles and Philippa, was entrusted
+to the duke who, in his turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise
+their education. In a comparatively brief time agitation in behalf
+of the disinherited heir ceased, and imperial ratification alone was
+required to stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the Burgundian
+domains. Under the circumstances the minor heirs were the emperor's
+wards, and it was his express duty to look to their interests, but
+Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert himself as their
+champion. On the contrary, the embassy that arrived from his court on
+August 14th was charged with felicitations to his dear friend, Charles
+of Burgundy, for his acquisition, and with assurances that the
+requisite investiture into his dignities should be given by his
+imperial hand at the duke's pleasure.[6]
+
+Communication between Frederic and Charles had been intermittently
+frequent during the past three years, and one subject of their letters
+was probably a reason why Charles had been willing to abandon a losing
+game in France to give another bias to his thoughts. He was lured
+on by the bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite form
+indeed, but full of promise that he might be enabled, eventually, to
+confer with Louis XI. from a better vantage ground than his position
+as first peer of France. The story of these hopes now becomes the
+story of Charles of Burgundy.
+
+When Sigismund of Austria completed his mortgage, in 1469, at St.
+Omer, and returned home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to
+divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth into the empty imperial
+coffers. An alliance between Mary of Burgundy and the young Archduke
+Maximilian seemed to him the most advantageous matrimonial bargain
+possible for the emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with
+all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish in his offers to be
+mediator between him and his new friend Charles.
+
+Frederic was impressed by Sigismund's enthusiastic exposition of the
+advantages of the match, and little time elapsed before his ambassador
+brought formal proposals to Charles for the alliance. The duke
+received the advances complacently and returned propositions
+significant of his personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his
+instructions to certain envoys sent to the intermediary, Sigismund,
+are plain. In unequivocal terms, his daughter's hand is made
+contingent on his own election as King of the Romans, that shadowy
+royalty which veiled the approach to the imperial throne.
+
+    "_Item_--And in regard to the said marriage, the ambassadors shall
+    inform Monseigneur of Austria that, since his departure from
+    Hesdin, certain people have talked to Monseigneur about this
+    marriage and mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be
+    willing to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the government of
+    the Kingdom of the Romans, with the stipulation that Monseigneur,
+    _arrived at the empire by the good pleasure of the emperor_ or
+    by his death, would, in his turn, procure the said crown of the
+    Romans for his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire
+    will be continued in the person of the emperor's son and his
+    descendants.
+
+    "_Item_--They shall tell him about a meeting between the imperial
+    and ducal ambassadors, at which meeting there was some talk of
+    making a kingdom out of certain lands of Monseigneur and
+    joining these to an _imperial_ vicariate of all the lands and
+    principalities lying along the Rhine."
+
+In the following paragraphs of this instruction,[7] Charles directs
+his envoys to make it clear to Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund)
+that the duke's interest in the plan does not spring from avarice or
+ambition. He is purely actuated by a yearning to employ his time and
+his strength for God's service and for the defence of the Faith, while
+still in his prime.
+
+Should the emperor refuse to approve the duke's nomination as King of
+the Romans, the ambassadors are instructed to say that they are not
+empowered to proceed with the marriage negotiations without first
+referring to their chief. They must ask leave to return with their
+report. If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound the emperor
+again about his sentiments, the envoys might await the result of his
+investigations. He was to be assured that while Charles was resolved
+to hold back until he was fully satisfied on this point, if it were
+once ceded, he would interpose no further delay in the celebration of
+the nuptials. He must know, however, just what power and revenue the
+emperor would attach to the proposed title. He was not willing to
+accept it without emoluments. His present financial burdens were
+already heavy, etc. The concluding items of the instructions had
+reference to the marriage settlements.
+
+A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream at this stage of
+Burgundo-Austrian negotiations. The title that Charles desired
+primarily was King of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign
+power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing imperial dignity.
+Significant is the intimation that after this preliminary title was
+conferred, its wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside
+voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient as death in making
+room for his appointed successor.
+
+Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally that a life of
+meditation would suit his tastes better than the imperial throne, but
+he seems in no wise to have been tempted by the offer made by Charles
+to relieve him of his onerous duties, and then to pass on the office
+to his son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the opportunity to enjoy
+an irresponsible ease. His answer to the duke was that he did not
+exercise sufficient influence over his electors to ensure their
+accepting his nominee as successor to the _imperium_.
+
+There was, however, one honour that lay wholly within his gift. If
+Charles desired higher rank, the emperor would be quite willing to
+erect his territories into a realm and to create him monarch of
+his own agglomerated possessions, welded into a new unity. This
+proposition wounded Charles keenly. He assured Sigismund[8] (January
+15, 1471) that his nomination as King of the Romans would never have
+occurred to him spontaneously. He had been assured that it was a
+darling project of the emperor, and he had simply been willing
+to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own, he refused the
+proposition with actual disdain.
+
+Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of Burgundy appeared on
+the scene successively. To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine,
+grandson of old King Rene of Anjou, she was formally betrothed.[9]
+
+"My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very redoubtable seigneur
+and father, I promise you that, you being alive, I will take none
+other than you and I promise to take you when God permits it." So
+wrote Mary with her own hand on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December
+3d, she declared all such pledges revoked as though they never had
+been made, and Nicholas, too, formally renounced his pretensions to
+her hand.
+
+There were several moments when Charles of France had appeared to be
+very near acceptance as Mary's husband, and several other princes
+seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father found his daughter very
+valuable as a means of attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as
+Commines says, he was not anxious to introduce any son-in-law into his
+family. His fortieth year was only completed in 1473, and he was by no
+means ready to range himself as an ancestor.
+
+At successive times the negotiations between Charles and Frederic were
+ruptured only to be renewed on some slightly different basis. Threaded
+together they made a story fraught with interest for Louis XI., and
+one that, very probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up to August,
+1472, it is a safe inference that Philip de Commines was fully
+cognisant of the propositions and counter-propositions, the
+understandings and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as well
+as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian envoys that appeared
+at one Burgundian camp after another. Probably there was nothing more]
+valuable in the store of learning carried by the astute historian from
+his first patron to his second than all this fund of confidential
+miscellany.
+
+It seems a fair surmise that Louis XI. enjoyed immensely the
+delightful private view into his rival's dreams, the disappointments
+and rehabilitation of his shattered visions. The relation would have
+made him not only fully aware of the reasons why Charles was diverted
+from his hot pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly informed as to
+the great obstacles lying in the path which the duke hoped to travel.
+Naturally, the king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin was
+inevitable. If his rival were disposed to wreck himself rashly on
+German shoals, the king was equally disposed to be an acquiescent
+onlooker and to spare his own powder.
+
+On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of the extent of his loss
+of prestige within the French realm in 1472. There had been other
+periods when the king had appeared triumphant over his aspiring nobles
+only to be again checked by their alliance. In the radical change
+undergone by the feudatories after Guienne's death and Brittany's
+reconciliation, there was, however, no opening left for the Duke
+of Burgundy's re-entry as a French political leader. It was this
+definitive cessation of his importance that Charles failed to
+recognise. Confident that his star was rising in the east he did
+not note the significance of its setting in the west. Thereupon the
+situation was,--Charles, believing that his plans were his own
+secret, _versus_ Louis, fully advised of those plans and alert to all
+incidents of the past, present, and future in a fashion impossible to
+the duke in his absorbed contemplation of his own prospects, blocking
+the scope of his view.
+
+With the emperor's congratulations at the duke's accession to
+Guelders, and his offers to invest him with the title, were coupled
+intimations that it was an opportune moment to resume consideration of
+an alliance between the Archduke Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The
+duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf de Soulz and Peter
+von Hagenbach proceeded to the Burgundian and Austrian courts
+respectively, as confidential envoys to discuss the marriage.[10]
+
+Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than he had been to the
+last imperial messenger, the Abbe de Casanova, who had restricted his
+proposals to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's. The duke had no
+intention of permitting any conference to proceed on that line. He was
+explicit as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised by a gift of
+ten thousand florins, explained by the phrase, "because Monseigneur
+recognised the love and affection borne him by the said count." That
+was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices, and estates were
+conferred, to take effect on the day when Monseigneur was named King
+of the Romans.
+
+The instructions to Hagenbach were definite, covering the ground
+of those previously mentioned, issued in 1470. He was, however,
+especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the duke did not require
+his abdication. He would be content to step into the shoes naturally
+vacated by his death.
+
+The final suggestion resulting from these parleyings was that an
+interview between the two principals would be far more satisfactory
+than any further interchange of messages. It was not only a propitious
+time for a conference, but it was necessary. The ceremony of
+investiture of the duke into his latest acquired fief made it
+evidently imperative that he should visit the emperor. And to
+preparations for that event, Charles turned his attention, now
+absolutely confident that the outcome must be to his satisfaction. He
+had as little comprehension of the character of the man with whom he
+was to deal as he had of Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some
+difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near his own frontier.
+Metz was selected and abandoned on account of an epidemic. Finally
+Treves was appointed for the important occasion, and Frederic sent
+official invitations to the princes of the empire to follow him
+thither in October.
+
+Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY C. LAPLANTE)]
+
+Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous, another event had occurred
+that had an important bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of
+Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir. He had been
+relinquished as a son-in-law, but the geographical position of his
+duchy made the question of its sovereignty all important to Charles of
+Burgundy. If it could be under his own control, how convenient for
+the passage of his troops from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for
+duchies like many another can grow by what it feeds upon.
+
+Prepared to set out for his journey to Treves, Charles hastened his
+movements and proceeded to Metz with an escort so large that it had a
+formidable aspect to the city fathers. Whether they feared that their
+free city was too tempting a base for attack on Lorraine or not, the
+magistrates yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian thousands
+without their walls. The emperor, too, was on his way to Treves. Many
+of his suite were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might be found for
+Charles and his immediate retainers, indeed, but the troops must make
+themselves as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So said the
+burgomaster, and Charles was forced to yield and he made a splendid
+entry into the town under the prescribed conditions.
+
+His own paraphernalia had been forwarded from Antwerp, so that
+there should be an abundance of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his
+temporary quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had been scoured to
+secure game for the banquets.
+
+It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a humour to be pleased.
+He was annoyed about his troops; very probably he had intended leaving
+a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine if occasion
+offered. He cut short his stay in the town and marched on with his
+imposing escort to Treves, whence he hoped to march out again a
+greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy had ever been.[11]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, iv., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Hist. de l'Ordre,_ etc., p. 64. One of the places to be
+filled at this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower
+of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace of the
+ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated in the minutes of
+the session that Adolf of Guelders was asked to nominate candidates
+from his prison, but he would not do it. Striking is Charles's remark
+on the nomination of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that
+the Order was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very
+excellent, he judged it more _a propos_ to distribute the five empty
+collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was elected, as
+was also Engelbert of Nassau.
+
+Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules of the Order.
+There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard for taking a gift of 20,000
+crowns from Louis XI. Payable as it was in terms, it savoured of a
+pension. Had Henry van Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's
+landing in England? etc.
+
+Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the disposition of
+the scarlet mantles now discarded by the chevaliers. It was decided
+after deliberation that they should be sold and the proceeds applied
+to the purchase of tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the
+treasurer was deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this
+connection that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or
+rather abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order and
+the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best to defer this
+point until his return from his proposed journey to Guelders. Lengthy,
+too, were the discussions upon the exact usage in respect to wearing
+the collar and insignia of the Order.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The first sum named was three hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _The Paston Letters, iii., 79._.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Memoires Couronnes_, xlix., 180.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the Duke
+of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to Nimwegen where the
+ambassador of the emperor visited him.]
+
+[Footnote 7: This instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the
+Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been referred to
+1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to conclude that it belongs
+rather to 1470. The question of the marriage comes in at the end of
+the paper, the first part being devoted to Swiss affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Lenglet, iii., 192.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Toutey, p. 44; Chmel, _Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3._]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey, p. 46.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+THE MEETING AT TREVES
+
+1473
+
+
+On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor Frederic made his entry into the
+old Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days later, the Duke of
+Burgundy arrived and was welcomed most pompously outside of Treves, by
+his suzerain.
+
+After the first greetings, ensued an argument about the etiquette
+proper for the occasion, an argument similar to those which had
+absorbed the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when the dauphin
+made his famous visit to Duke Philip. For thirty minutes, the emperor
+argued with his guest before feudal scruples were overcome and the
+vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side into the city.
+
+The entry was a grand sight, and crowds thronged the streets, more
+curious about the duke than about the emperor. Charles was then in the
+very prime of life. His personality commanded attention, but there
+were some among the onlookers who found it more striking than
+attractive. One bystander thought that the very splendour of his
+dress, wherein cloth of gold and pearls played a part, only brought
+into high relief the severity of his features. His great black eyes,
+his proud and determined air failed to cast into oblivion a certain
+effect of insignificance given by his square figure, broad shoulders,
+excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed from continuous
+riding.[l]
+
+There is, however, another word portrait of the duke as he looked in
+the year 1473, whose trend is more sympathetic.[2] "His stature was
+small and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark chestnut, eyes black
+and brilliant, his presence majestic but stern. He was high-spirited,
+magnanimous, courageous, intrepid, and impetuous. Capable of action,
+he lacked nothing but prudence to attain success."
+
+From the two descriptions emerges a fairly clear picture of an
+energetic man, somewhat undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert
+his dignity in a fashion that did not quite comport with his physical
+characteristics. The conviction that he was a very important personage
+with greater importance awaiting him, and his total lack of a sense of
+humour, combined with his inability to feel the pulse of a situation,
+undoubtedly affected his bearing and made it seem more pompous.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD IDEALISED BY RUBENS. IN THE IMPERIAL
+GALLERY AT VIENNA BY PERMISSION OF J.J. LOWY, VIENNA]
+
+The emperor was not an heroic figure in appearance any more than he
+was in the records of his reign, distinguished for being the feeblest
+as well as the longest in the annals of the empire. He was indolent,
+timid, irresolute, and incapable. His features and manners were
+vulgar, his intellect sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies,
+he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding his imperial sceptre.
+At Treves he was accompanied by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a
+fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready to be fascinated by
+his proposed father-in-law, who was a striking contrast to his own
+languid and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous love of action.
+
+As the two princes rode together into the city, Charles's
+accoutrements attracted all eyes. The polished steel of his armour
+shone like silver. Over it hung a short mantle actually embroidered
+with diamonds and other precious stones to the value of two hundred
+thousand gold crowns. His velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out
+of compliment to the emperor, was ornamented with a diamond whose
+price no man could tell. Before him walked a page carrying his helmet
+studded with gems, while his magnificent black steed was heavily
+weighted down with its rich caparisons.
+
+Frederic III., very simple in his ordinary dress, had exerted himself
+to appear well to his great vassal. His robe of cloth of gold
+was fine, though it may have looked something like a luxurious
+dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish fashion and bordered
+with pearls. The emperor was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the
+tradition, by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but innocent
+doors that chanced to impede his way.
+
+The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and silver, walked by the side
+of an Ottoman prince, prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity
+by the pope himself. And then there was a host of nobles, great and
+small. Among them were Engelbert of Nassau[3] and the representative
+of the House of Orange-Chalons, whose titles were destined to be
+united in one person within the next half-century.
+
+The magnificence remained unrivalled in the history of royal
+conferences. The very troopers wore habits of cloth of gold over their
+steel, while their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed with silver
+bells. Surpassing all others, were the heralds-at-arms of the various
+individual states which acknowledged Charles as their sovereign,
+seigneur, count, or duke as the case might be. They preceded their
+liege lord, clad in their distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with
+colour. Before them were the trumpeters in white and blue, their very
+instruments silvered, while first of all rode one hundred golden
+haired boys, "an angel throng."
+
+It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite etiquette of escort,
+that the emperor and duke agreed to separate on the fairly neutral
+ground of the market-place. Each proceeded with his own suite to his
+lodgings, Frederic to the archbishop's palace, and Charles to
+the abbey of St. Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years
+previously, the honorary title of "Protector." His army was quartered
+within and without the city. Two days for repose and then the first
+official interview took place, which is described as follows, by an
+unknown correspondent, evidently in the ducal suite:[4]
+
+    "Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur waited upon the emperor
+    and escorted him to his own lodging which is in the abbey of St.
+    Maximin. My said lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat.
+    The emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy, and his
+    son was in a robe of green damask. As to their people, both suites
+    were very brave, jewelry and cloth of gold being as common as
+    satin or taffeta. Monseigneur received the emperor in a little
+    chamber decorated with hangings from Holland that many recognised.
+
+    "The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his mouthpiece to describe
+    the stress of Christianity and to urge Charles to lend his
+    assistance. Having listened to this address, Monseigneur requested
+    the emperor to please come into a larger place where more people
+    could hear his answer. Accordingly they entered a hall decorated
+    with the tapestry of Alexander, while the very ceiling was covered
+    with cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a double row of
+    seats. Benches and steps were spread over with tapestry wrought
+    with my lord's arms. Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais
+    with difficulty.... Mons., the chancellor, clad in velvet over
+    velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a discourse in beautiful Latin
+    as a response to what had been said by the seigneur of Mayence.
+    Then, showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected by
+    the king, he began with an account of the king's reception by
+    Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evidently the late duke], in his
+    own residence, and he continued down to the present day, dilating
+    upon the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis]
+    received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extortions he had
+    made since and desires to make. Never a word was forgotten, but
+    all was well stated, especially the case of M. de Guienne.[5]
+    Finally, Monseigneur declared that if his lands were in security,
+    there was nothing he would like better than to give aid to
+    Christianity.
+
+    "After this statement, which was marvellously honest, the emperor
+    arose from the throne, wine and spices were brought, and then
+    Monseigneur escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand
+    display of torches. This is the outline of what happened on
+    October 4th, in the said year lxxiii. And as to the future, next
+    Thursday the emperor will dine where Monseigneur lodges, _et la
+    fera les grants du roy_,[6] and there will be novelties. In regard
+    to the fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very
+    fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human, and benign.
+    I do not know with whom to compare his figure better than
+    Monseigneur de Croy, as he was eight or ten years ago, except that
+    his flesh is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor has
+    seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the major part
+    of the nobles present come from this locality. In regard to
+    Monseigneur's departure, there is no news, and they make great
+    cheer--this is all for this time."
+
+    The German scholars in the imperial party listened most
+    attentively to the style of the Netherlander's speech as well as
+    to his subject-matter. "More abundant in vocabulary than elegant
+    in Latinity," was their comment, a fault they considered marking
+    all French Latin. The audience found time to note the style for
+    the subject of the address did not interest them greatly. The
+    least observant onlooker knew that the main purpose of this
+    interview was not the plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic
+    appointed a committee to discuss that, whose members, Burgundian
+    and German in equal numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern
+    question while emperor and duke were absorbed in other matters.[7]
+    In their very first session, this committee decided that the
+    chief obstacle to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgundian
+    quarrel. This point was also raised by Charles in his first
+    conference with Frederic. No campaign was feasible until the
+    European powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI. was aiding
+    and abetting the heathen by being a disturbing element which
+    rendered this desired unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a
+    fresh commission to discuss European peace. And this insolvable
+    problem was a convenient blind for other discussions.
+
+    On October 5th, a Burgundian fete gave new occasion for a display
+    of wealth; "vulgar ostentation," sneered the less opulent German
+    nobles who tried to show that their pride was not wounded by the
+    sharp contrasts between imperial habits and those of a mere duke.
+    On their side, the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to
+    waste good things on boors so little accustomed to elegantly
+    equipped apartments that they used silken bedspreads to polish up
+    their boots!
+
+    A running commentary of international criticism, fine feasts,
+    ostensible negotiations about projects that probably no one
+    expected would come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent
+    and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on one side, feebly
+    accepted by the other while the two principals were together, and
+    petulantly disliked by the emperor as soon as he was alone again
+    --such was the course of the conference.
+
+    Frederic III. had one simple desire--to marry his son to the
+    Burgundian heiress. Charles desired many things, some of which are
+    clear and others obscure. The very fact that the emperor did not
+    at once refuse his demands, gave him confidence that all were
+    obtainable. Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal chief
+    by a display of his resources, and by showing the high esteem in
+    which he was held by all nations. There at Treves, embassies came
+    to him from England, from various Italian and German states, and
+    from Hungary.
+
+    On October 15th, a treaty was signed that made the new Duke of
+    Lorraine virtually a vassal to Charles, an important step towards
+    Burgundian expansion. There was time and to spare for these many
+    comings and goings during the eight weeks of the sojourn at
+    Treves, and the duke was not idle. That his own business hung
+    fire, he thought was due to the machinations of Louis XI. He had
+    no desire to prolong his visit, for he was well aware of the
+    risk involved in keeping his troops in Treves.[8] At first the
+    magnificence of his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but
+    little by little, in spite of the duke's strict discipline, the
+    presence of idle soldiers became very onerous. Charles did not
+    hesitate to hang on the nearest tree a man caught in an illicit
+    act, but much lawlessness passed without his knowledge. Provisions
+    became very dear; there was some danger of an epidemic due to the
+    unsanitary conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so many
+    strangers. The precautions instituted by the Roman founders in
+    regard to their water supply had long since fallen into disuse.
+
+    Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite answer from the
+    emperor as to the proposed kingdom, the matrimonial alliance, and
+    his own status. Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then
+    substituted vague promises for present assent to the demands. But
+    when Charles, indignant, broke off negotiations on October 31st,
+    and began to prepare for immediate departure, Frederic became
+    anxious, renewed his overtures, and a new conference took place,
+    in which he consented to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the
+    proviso the sanction of his election should be obtained.
+
+    Charles promised to go against the Turk in person, and to place
+    a thousand men at Frederic's disposal, so soon as all points at
+    issue between him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that
+    his estates were erected into a kingdom, which should also
+    comprise the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the
+    duchies of Lorraine, Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be
+    a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, and
+    transmissible by heredity in the male and female line--a necessary
+    recognition of a woman's right, approved by both parties, for Mary
+    of Burgundy was to marry Maximilian.
+
+    Electoral confirmation alone was wanting, and in regard to that
+    there was much voluminous correspondence and much shuffling of
+    responsibility. The electors of Mayence and of Treves were the
+    only ones present to speak for themselves, and they declared
+    that the matter ought to be referred to a full conclave of the
+    electoral college.[9] Let the candidate for royalty await the
+    decision of the next diet, appointed for November at Augsburg.
+
+    Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed this solution to
+    Charles, who replied haughtily that if his request were not
+    complied with he would join Louis XI. in a league hostile to the
+    empire. This was on November 6th. The Archbishop of Treves then
+    suggested that if the question could not wait for a diet, at
+    least the electors should be summoned, especially the elector of
+    Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential with the emperor, and
+    who was a leader in the anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German
+    party. This seemed fair, but the emperor suddenly put on a show of
+    authority and declared, with an injured air, that he was perfectly
+    free to act on his own initiative without confirmation. In the
+    interests of Christianity and of the empire he would appoint
+    Charles of Burgundy chief of the crusade, and he would crown him
+    king.
+
+    The organised opposition to his plan came to the duke's ears and
+    made him very angry. Yet, at the same time, he had no desire
+    to dispense with electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the
+    imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure his kingdom into
+    permanent existence. It was finally decided that Frederic III.
+    should display his power to the extent of investing Charles
+    at once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more important
+    investiture should be postponed.
+
+    Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the market-place.
+    Frederic was exalted upon a high platform ascended by a flight
+    of steps. Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded and
+    unattended, rode slowly around the platform three times, "which
+    they say was the custom in such solemnities of investiture," adds
+    an eyewitness,[10] as though he considered the ceremony somewhat
+    archaic. Then the candidate dismounted, received the mantle of the
+    empire from an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the
+    emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying the insignia of
+    the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered on the Burgundian arms, was
+    carried before him. Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid
+    two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the oath of fealty and
+    service in low but distinct tones. Other rites followed, and then
+    Charles was proclaimed Duke of Guelders.
+
+    [Illustration: MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA, MEDAL]
+
+    Thus one object of the conference was attained, and all the
+    world thought it was only a question of time when the greater
+    investiture would be celebrated. Charles's star was in the
+    ascendant. There seemed no limit to the power he had acquired
+    over his suzerain, who apparently graciously nodded assent to his
+    requests, while the duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with
+    the King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory in all doubtful
+    issues. At the same time, his confidence in Frederic was by no
+    means perfect.
+
+    "The emperor is acting with perfect imperial authority and thinks
+    that no one has a right to dispute it, nevertheless the duke
+    yearns for the sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining
+    it."[11] The tone taken by Charles was that of humble ignorance.
+    "Little instructed as I am in imperial German law, I am anxious to
+    have your opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to erect a
+    kingdom." On November 8th, in the evening, the electors present in
+    Treves declared that they were not exactly sure about the imperial
+    authority, but they were sure that it was not their duty to
+    discuss the legal attributes of imperial puissance.
+
+    Under these circumstances what remained to hinder the attainment
+    of Charles's desire? The emperor consented, and the only people
+    who could have stayed his consent expressly stated that his was
+    the final word, not theirs. It was easy for onlookers to conclude
+    not only that the coronation was certain but that it was done.
+
+    "Know that our lord the emperor has made the Duke of Burgundy a
+    king of the lands hereafter mentioned and has assured the royal
+    title to him and his heirs, male and female; all the territories
+    that he holds from the empire together with Guelderland lately
+    conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to the empire
+    in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy that formerly was held from
+    the crown of France; also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen,
+    and others belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories,
+    also imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he
+    receives from a Roman emperor."
+
+So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November 13th, trusting to the
+word of an envoy who had left matters in so advanced a state when he
+departed from Treves that he felt safe in concluding that achievement
+had been reached.[12]
+
+Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too, were filled with
+rumours from Treves. Most extraordinary is one of November 29th,
+intended to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, containing _exact
+details of the coronation of Charles as it had taken place five days
+previously_. The boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.[13]
+Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had instantly shown
+exceptional honour to the Burgundian resident. How exact it all
+sounded! Yet there was no truth in it.
+
+The vacillating emperor was affected by the attitude of his suite, and
+by their varying representations. There is no actual proof of French
+interference, but French agents had been seen in the city, and might
+have had private audiences with the emperor. Gradually, relations
+changed between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud, not
+dissipated by a three days' fete given by the duke (November
+19th-22d), evidently in farewell. Was Charles too exigeant with his
+demands, too chary of his daughter? Probably.
+
+On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty a simple convention
+was signed, postponing the coronation until February. Emperor and
+regal candidate were to meet again at Besancon, Cologne, or Basel. In
+the interval, Charles was to come to a satisfactory understanding with
+the electors and obtain their official endorsement for the imperial
+grant.
+
+November 25th was appointed, _not_ for the regal investiture, but for
+Frederic's departure. On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to
+his councillors and princes. The electors present were urged by the
+Burgundians to give their own conditional approval at least, and to
+consent to a reduction of the military obligations to be incurred
+by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where nobody wished to pledge
+anything definitely. There was an evident disposition to await some
+further issue before final action.
+
+The leave-taking between the bargain makers was expected to be as
+pompous as had been the entry into Treves. It was far into the night
+of November 24th when the audience broke up. Little rest was there for
+the imperial suite, for when the tardy November sun arose above the
+eastern horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the Moselle. Not
+only had no imperial adieux been uttered, but no imperial debts had
+been settled. This was the news that was awaiting Charles when he
+awoke. Baffled he was, but not in his hope of being a king that day.
+No, only in his expectation of a stately pageant.[14] In all haste he
+sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly along the bank than the
+boat could sail, so as to overtake the traveller and urge him to wait
+for a few more words on divers topics. In one account it is reported
+that Frederic, though annoyed at the interruption, still assented to
+Hagenbach's request. No sooner was the latter away, however, than he
+changed his mind and continued his course.
+
+Rumour was busy, in regard to this strange exit of the emperor from
+the scene. The general belief among contemporaries was that it was on
+the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic turned his back on
+the scene. Take first the words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that
+he was in the very midst of the events can hardly be doubted:[15]
+
+    "But alas how easily and instantly human desires change, and how
+    fragile are the alliances and friendships of men, especially of
+    princes, which are not joined and confirmed by the glue of Christ
+    ... as the sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes
+    nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.' Suddenly,
+    forsooth, when they were thought to be harmonious in charity,
+    benevolence, and friendship, when they offered each other such
+    splendid entertainment, when they feasted together in regal luxury
+    in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has been said,
+    needed for the magnificence of such a great honour were made
+    ready and prepared, so that on the third day should occur the
+    celebration of that regal dignity _[fastigii],_ and the
+    _[provectio]_ promotion of a new king and the erection of a new
+    kingdom or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one,
+    now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with great
+    attention;--something occurred. I do not know what; hesitation or
+    suspicion, fancied or justified, unexpectedly affected the emperor
+    ... and embarking on his ship in the very early morning he sailed
+    down the river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated the
+    hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who believed that
+    he was to be elevated to a king. In a moment this hope was
+    extinguished like a candle.
+
+    "We were present there in the city of Treves, attached to the
+    suite of neither prince, not serving or pretending to serve either
+    of them. But we ascertained nothing either then or later, although
+    we made many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure
+    and we are still ignorant of the truth. When the day broke after
+    the emperor's departure, and the duke was informed of the fact, he
+    was also assured that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was
+    opposite the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs. So he
+    sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to stay for a very
+    brief interview with the duke, assuring him that the very least
+    delay possible should occur if he did the favour. But no attention
+    was paid to the signals from the shore and the course was
+    continued."
+
+The bishop wrote these words some time after the event. There are
+other accounts preserved, actual letters written within a few days or
+weeks of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar ignorance of what
+had actually passed. The following gives several suggestions of
+difficulties not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar Cesner,
+secretary, writes to Master Johannes Gelthauss and others in
+Frankfort, from Cologne, on December 6th.[16] He was attached to
+the imperial service, and possibly was one of the few attendants on
+Frederic in the hasty journey from Treves. After touching on Cologne
+affairs he proceeds:
+
+    "I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of Burgundy came
+    with all pomp for his coronation as king of the kingdom of
+    Burgundy and Friesland with twenty-six standards besides a
+    magnificent sceptre and crown. He also wished to take his duchy
+    and territories in Savoy[17] and Guelders and others in fief from
+    him [the emperor] and not from the empire.[18] This and other
+    extraordinary demands his imperial grace did not wish to grant,
+    and on that account he has broken off the interview and gone away.
+    Everything was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the
+    taking.[19] It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix. It may be
+    hoped not [_non speratur_]. You can understand me as well as your
+    faithful servant.
+
+    "Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh at me. I can
+    please my gracious lord and be worthy of praise if you will only
+    trust me.
+
+    "Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.
+
+    "To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss, Distinguished
+    advocate, master, preceptor of the city of Frankfort."
+
+The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:
+
+    "Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the second, Holland,
+    Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg, Namur, Hainaut, and the
+    dioceses of Liege, Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy,
+    Luxemburg, Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."
+
+The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed in secret
+conference.[20]
+
+Again the rumour that the final straw that broke the emperor's
+resolution was the duke's desire to take Savoy and Guelders from
+his hand alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this wish might
+indicate an attempt to separate a portion of territory from the empire
+in a way to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that his kingdom
+was an imperial fief, while, in reality, it was an independent realm,
+as he or his successors could declare at a convenient moment. But this
+seems at variance with his attested desire for electoral support.
+
+It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled. Yet, considering
+the emperor's personal characteristics, his last action does not
+seem inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity of his will,
+Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic, obstinate, yet conscious of his
+own weakness, personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate and
+much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant. The collision made him
+writhe uneasily and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as quietly
+as he could.
+
+The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent, and the
+magnificence again was significant of Burgundian wealth. Whether the
+duke would surely keep his pledge of sharing that wealth with the
+archduke if the emperor went so far that he could not draw back, was a
+consideration that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic. Had Mary of
+Burgundy accompanied her father, had the wedding of the daughter and
+investiture of the new king been planned for the same day, had the
+promises been exchanged simultaneously, the leave-taking might have
+passed, indeed, as a third ceremonial in all stateliness.
+
+If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain, it is not surprising.
+It was notorious how the duke had played fast and loose with his
+daughter's hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor as the
+greater advantages of another alliance were presented to him, or as
+the mere disadvantage of any marriage at all became unpleasantly near.
+Vigorous man of forty that he was, Charles had no personal desire to
+see a son-in-law, _in propria persona_, waiting for his shoes--a fact
+perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the rest of the world.
+
+The task of making the imperial adieux was entrusted to the imperial
+chamberlain, Ulrich von Montfort, who duly presented his master's
+formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of November 25th.
+"Important and urgent affairs had necessitated his presence elsewhere.
+The arrangement discussed between them was not broken but simply
+postponed until a more convenient occasion rendered its execution
+possible," etc.
+
+The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles was in a towering rage on
+receiving this communication. He clinched his fists, ground his teeth,
+and kicked the furniture about the room in which he had locked himself
+up.[21] But by the time these words were penned, these authors
+were better informed than Charles about the ultimate result of the
+emperor's intentions. The duke may have been angry, but he certainly
+controlled himself sufficiently to give several audiences in the
+course of the day--to envoys from Lorraine among others--and was ready
+to take his own departure by evening, not doubting that the crown and
+sceptre, carefully packed with the mountain of his valuable treasure,
+would assuredly fulfil their destiny in the near future. Treves was
+left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last man to realise
+that in its silence were entombed for ever his chances of wearing the
+prematurely prepared insignia.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: This comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is
+quoted by De Bussiere in his _Histoire de la Ligue contre Charles le
+Temeraire_, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that this contemporary
+had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Guillaume Faret or Farrel. His _Hist. de Rene II._ is
+lost. This citation from it is found in _La Guerre de Rene II. contre
+Charles le Hardi_, by P. Aubert Roland.]
+
+[Footnote 3: He had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the
+May meeting. From this time on some member of the Nassau family was
+prominent in Burgundian affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Gachard, _Doc. inedits_, i., 232. Letter from Treves,
+October 4, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 5: About this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to
+unravel the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the chancellor
+of Brittany, _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 190.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gachard could not explain this phrase. It might easily
+refer to the desired investiture.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, _Mon. Habs_., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey bases this statement on three letters (October
+30, 31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector of
+Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Basin, _Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI._, ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had been
+new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many times between the
+chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]
+
+[Footnote 11: Albert of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller,
+_Reichstag Theatrum_, p. 598.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 57.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Toutey, p. 60, note.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In this account, differing from the current
+tradition, Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (_Deutsche
+Reichsgeschichte,_ ii., 435).]
+
+[Footnote 15: Basin, ii., 325.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Preserved in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr.
+5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published by
+Karl Schellhass in _Deutsche Zeitschrift fuer Geschichtewissenschaft,_
+(1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture of German and
+Latin.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Charles asked on October 23d, through his chancellor,
+for investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Under this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had
+lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]
+
+[Footnote 19: This means the throne from which Charles was to step
+down to receive the fief.]
+
+[Footnote 20: "Loquitur etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiae et Burgundiae
+sibi constituendes quae audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam negare
+imperator quam dissimulare.
+
+"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones suas velle
+in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiae et Frisiae: in hoc Hollandia,
+Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum, Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses
+Leodiensis, Cameracensis et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum,
+Arthesia, Flandria, ecclesaeque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis
+Verdunensis essent." (P. 1131.)
+
+Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that his
+statement is tradition but founded on what he might have heard from
+eye-witnesses.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chmel, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+1473-1474
+
+
+Late as it was in November, the weather was still very mild, and as
+the emperor and duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the
+former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter as he passed up
+the valley of the Moselle to that of the Ell, was hindered by autumn
+storms. The summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented heat and
+a prolonged drouth.[1] Forest fires raged unchecked on account of the
+dearth of water and, for the same reason, the mills stood still.
+The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, but the vintage was not
+profitable because the wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains
+in September prepared the ground for an untimely fertility. Trees
+blossomed and, though some fruits withered prematurely, cherries
+actually ripened. Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance
+as Charles rode to Lorraine.
+
+His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, where he stayed about
+a fortnight and received ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice,
+England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate, and Cologne.[2]
+The result of his conference with the last named was a declaration
+on the duke's part which seriously affected his later career. The
+condition of Cologne must be touched on as an essential part of this
+narrative.
+
+The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to pursue a line of policy in
+regard to the ecclesiastical elections in the diocese of Cologne that
+had succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463, he had tried to force
+the chapter to elect his candidate. They had refused to follow
+his leading, but their own choice, Robert, brother of the
+elector-palatine, did not prove a congenial chief, and the new prelate
+turned to Philip for aid when he found his chapter disposed to
+restrict both his revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in 1467,
+as the audacity of his opponents increased, the archbishop appealed to
+his brother, the elector, and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter
+was busy in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to Cologne,
+exhorting both chapter and city to be obedient to their chosen
+spiritual and lay lord. This intervention was resented. The breach
+widened between Robert and his people, culminating in actual
+hostilities. The chapter took possession of the town of Neuss,
+accepted Hermann of Hesse as their protector, and sent an embassy to
+Rome to state their grievances. The elector aided his brother and the
+belligerent parties grew in strength.
+
+The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided which cause to
+espouse, and finally chose the chapter's side, signing a five years'
+alliance with that body, which had officially renounced allegiance to
+Robert, pending the judgment of pope and emperor on the dissension.
+Such was the state of affairs when Charles entered into possession of
+Guelders and manifested a disposition to interest himself in Cologne.
+He informed the chapter that he was greatly displeased with their
+contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral," but the burghers showed
+so little inclination to heed his neighbourly advice that he tried
+harsher measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be molested in his
+domains.
+
+In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the hopes of imperial
+intervention.[3] While Charles was still in Guelders, Robert paid
+him a visit, held long conferences with him, and probably received
+promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance when he
+returned from the interview. During the sojourn of duke and emperor at
+Treves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone, arrived from Rome
+with plenary powers to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were
+endorsed by Charles in a letter from Treves.
+
+For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to refrain from interference,
+then something influenced him in another direction. When he arrived
+at Cologne in November, he received a warm welcome and costly gifts,
+which he repaid by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good
+city,"--cheap and easy benefits,--but he did not prove an efficient
+arbitrator, simply postponing any decision from day to day, though he
+was begged to settle all difficulties before Charles should attempt to
+relieve him of the trouble.
+
+True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he no longer felt the need
+of conciliating the emperor, and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473,
+he issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert was entirely in
+the right, his opponents in the wrong.[4] As these latter defied papal
+legate and arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of dispute,
+he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute himself defender of the
+insulted archbishop. At the same time, he despatched Etienne de Lavin
+to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels. The declaration
+emboldened Robert to defy the emperor's summons to meet him and the
+papal legate. They both declared that they would take measures to
+bring him to obedience, but Frederic did not wish to tarry longer at
+Cologne. In January he took his departure, having directed Hermann of
+Hesse to protect that see against all aggression.
+
+Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto, there was no
+formal treaty between Charles and Robert, but there are two drafts for
+such a treaty in existence,[5] wherein the former pledged himself to
+force chapter, nobles, and city to submission, in consideration of the
+sum of 200,000 florins, while the archbishop gave permission to his
+ally to garrison all strongholds, including Cologne. Pending his
+autumn sojourn in the upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans
+regarding Cologne definitely in mind.
+
+
+
+_Lorraine_
+
+This duchy was even more interesting to Charles than Cologne, and
+there were many matters in its regard which demanded his urgent
+attention in 1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and conveniently
+adjacent to Burgundian lands. A natural means of annexation had been
+considered by Charles in the proposed marriage between Nicholas, Duke
+of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. When that project was abandoned to
+suit Charles's pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
+son-in-law until the latter's death in the spring of 1473. So
+unexpected was this event, that there was the usual suspicion of
+poisoning, and this crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
+XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly that monarch reaped
+no immediate advantage from the death, for the family to whom the
+succession passed was more friendly to Burgundy than to France.
+
+The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt Yolande of Anjou,
+daughter of old King Rene of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate
+Margaret, late Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of Vaudemont.
+The council of Lorraine lost no time in acknowledging Yolande as their
+duchess. She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her son Rene, aged
+twenty-two, where they were received hospitably, and then Yolande
+formally abdicated in favour of the young man, who was duly accepted
+as Duke of Lorraine.
+
+Now there was a large party of Burgundian sympathisers in Nancy, and
+it was probably owing to their pressure that very strong links were at
+once forged between Charles and the new sovereign of the duchy. The
+apprehension lest the former should protect the land as he had the
+heritage of his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was expressed by
+the timorous, but their counsels were overweighted, and, on October
+15th, Rene accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable to
+Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"--an office that the
+emperor had already been asked to change into suzerainty,--Rene
+cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Charles, giving
+the latter full permission to march his forces across Lorraine.
+Further, he pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
+places on the route "men bound by oath to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes,
+more, these were discharged from fidelity to Rene in case he abandoned
+Burgundian interests.
+
+Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles by adding her signature
+to that of her son. Charles feared, however, that the provisions
+might not be adhered to by the Lorrainers--so humiliating were the
+terms--and exacted in addition the signatures of the chief nobles. On
+November 18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested their
+approval of an act that practically delivered their land to a
+stranger,--evidence that they doubted the ability of their hereditary
+chief, and preferred Burgundy to France.
+
+There is a story that Charles tried other methods than diplomacy,
+before he got the better of the young duke in this bargain, that he
+actually had him stolen away from the castle of Joinville where he was
+staying with his mother.[6] Louis promptly came forward and arrested a
+nephew of the emperor, a student in the University of Paris, and kept
+him as a hostage until the release of Rene. Rumour, too, asserts that
+there was a treaty of Joinville, wherein Rene asserted his friendship
+with Louis, which was intermitted by his relations with Charles, to be
+resumed later. That also seems to be improbable. The formal alliance
+with Louis did not come then, though the king took immediate care
+to build up a party in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself
+informed of the progress of the new regime.
+
+From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to Nancy, where he was welcomed
+by his protege, outside the city walls, and the two rode in together
+as the duke and the emperor had entered Treves. Charles had been so
+long keeping up a show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that,
+undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first personage.[7] He
+refused, however, to accept the young man's hospitality, and spent the
+two days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie, where
+he felt more at ease in his conferences with Lorrainers willing to
+proceed further to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.
+
+The ally certainly became more exigeant. In various towns on the
+Moselle, Epinal, Charmes, Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were
+replaced by Burgundians. This immediate and arrogant use of the rights
+he had wrested from the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had been
+warm for Burgundy. Rene himself admired Charles as Maximilian had
+done. The strong man exercised a fascination over both youths, but
+the duke did not turn this admiration into real friendship,
+underestimating the character of his protege. His measures, too, were
+taken without the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison
+after garrison was installed and commanded to obey his officers alone,
+while the soldiers were allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent
+to raids on a friendly country. As always, the agglomeration of
+mercenary companies was difficult to control. The duke did not succeed
+in having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in due restraint.
+Complaints began to pour into his headquarters. Public sentiment
+shifted day by day. The Burgundian became the personification of a
+public foe. Before Charles proceeded on his way to Alsace, Rene had
+begun to lose his admiration and it was not long before he impatiently
+awaited an opportunity to break with his too doughty protector.
+
+
+
+_Alsace_
+
+During the four years that Charles had delayed in coming to look at
+the result of the bargain of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant,
+Peter von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason to regret
+the easy-going absentee Austrian seigneurs. Much had been done,
+undoubtedly, in restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons. The
+roads were well policed, and safety was assured to travellers. "I
+spy," was the motto blazoned on the livery of the forces led by
+Hagenbach up and down the land, until he had unearthed lurking
+vagabonds. It was acknowledged that gold and silver could be carried
+openly from place to place, and that night journeys were as safe as
+day. Still, this advantageous change had not won popularity for the
+man who wrought it. Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to
+make their own little bargains with highwaymen or petty nobles,[8] a
+law unto themselves, than to meet the rigorous requisitions of the
+Burgundian tax collector.
+
+It was the country that had profited most by the new administration.
+The small towns had long enjoyed great independence, and had shown
+ability in managing their own affairs. They wanted no interference.
+Not liked by those whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was
+absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron hand, without
+acknowledging that its pressure had more good than evil in it.
+
+Then there were the neighbours to be considered. The Swiss had hated
+Sigismund and all Austrians, and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy
+as a power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took no pains to win their
+friendship. His insolent fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or
+"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked if not condoned by
+him, aroused bitter dislike to him in the confederated cantons,[9] and
+in their allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there was a growing
+sentiment in Helvetia that they would be happier if Austria had her
+own again, while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone had
+greatly increased.
+
+Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the opposition to his
+measures took a definite form long before the duke's arrival there.
+The various commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the quality of
+his bargain had all agreed in an urgent recommendation to the duke to
+redeem, at the earliest possible moment, all the troublesome mortgages
+honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach, too, was fully convinced of the
+necessity for this measure, but he was not provided with sufficient
+money to accomplish it.
+
+In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to lay a new tax on
+wine. This impost, called the "Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for
+two reasons. The burden was oppressive to the vintners and it was an
+illegal measure, as no sanction had been given by the local estates.
+Three towns, Thann, Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were
+determined to refuse payment.
+
+Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg, a stronghold dominating
+Thann, bombarded the town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were
+condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous rebellion against the
+just orders of their lawful governor. Some of these, indeed, were
+pardoned, though their estates were confiscated, but five or six
+were publicly executed, and their bodies hung exposed to view on the
+market-place, as a hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting
+Burgundian orders.
+
+One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim submissive, but Brisac
+proved more obstinate. The magistrates there did not resort to force.
+They declared there was no need, for they were fully protected by the
+article in the treaty of St. Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition
+of any tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined refusal made
+the lieutenant consent to refer the question to the Duke of Burgundy,
+and messengers were despatched to Treves to represent the respective
+grievances of governor and governed. The collection of the tax was
+postponed until Charles could examine the situation.
+
+A determined effort to bring the independent town of Mulhouse under
+Burgundian sway was another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white
+heat that forged organised resistance to any extension of Burgundian
+authority. For three years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince the
+burghers of that imperial city that they would be wise to accept the
+duke's protection and have their debts paid. The latter were, indeed,
+oppressive, but there was fear lest "protection" might be more so, and
+conference after conference failed to produce the acquiescence desired
+by Hagenbach.
+
+In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared that if the
+burghers persisted in their refusal he would resort to force. Their
+reply was that Mulhouse could not take such an important step without
+consulting her friends, the Swiss. "Are the cantons going to help you
+pay your debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach. "Mulhouse is
+a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant that must be extirpated. Its
+submission would make a charming pleasure ground out of the Sundgau,
+Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew no city which he would prefer to
+Mulhouse for a sojourn," were his further statements.[10]
+
+Two days were given to the town council for an answer. Hagenbach
+remarked that it was useless to think that time could be gained until
+the mortgaged territories should return to Austria. "Far from planning
+redemption, Duke Sigismund is now preparing to cede to _Charles le
+temeraire_ as much again of his domain and vassals." Still Mulhouse
+was not convinced that the only course open to her was to let Charles
+pay her debts and receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming in the
+two days, but ready scribes had prepared many copies of Hagenbach's
+letter, which were sent to all who might be interested in checking
+these proposals of Burgundy.
+
+On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne and there the
+matter was weighed. Hagenbach's letter was shown to those who had
+not seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from her dilemma were
+carefully considered. Years ago a union had existed between the forest
+cantons and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions to renew
+this alliance so as to present a strong front to their Burgundian
+neighbour. The cantons had enough to do with their own affairs, but
+the result of the discussion was that, on March 14th, a ten-year
+Alsatian confederation was formed in imitation of the Swiss.
+
+The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse, Schlestadt, and two
+dioceses, and it is referred to as the _Basse-Union_ or the Lower
+Union, the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights of the
+contracting parties, to meet for discussion on various questions, and,
+specifically, to help Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, March
+19th, there was a fresh proposition to make an alliance between
+this _Basse-Union_ and the Swiss confederation. This required a
+_referendum_. Each Swiss delegate received a copy of the articles to
+take back to his constituents for their consideration. No bond between
+the confederation and the union was, however, in existence at the time
+when Charles was approaching Alsace. Various conciliatory measures
+on his part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition to him, but,
+nevertheless, there were frequent conferences about affairs. Diets
+were almost continuous and there were strenuous efforts to raise money
+to free Mulhouse from her hampering financial embarrassments.
+
+Hagenbach had not followed up his threats of immediate war measures,
+but it was known that he had obtained imperial authorisation to
+assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step which her allies hoped to
+forestall by settling her debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six
+hundred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, Basel four hundred,
+while Colmar, Schlestadt, Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to
+raise another four hundred. A diet was called at Basel for December
+11th, and Zuerich and Lucerne were expected to enter into the union.
+The tidings of the duke's approach were undoubtedly a stimulus to
+these renewed efforts to make the league strong enough to withstand
+him. The sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May God protect us
+from his mighty hand," voiced probably a wide-spread dread.
+
+When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was large enough to
+inspire fear, but there was no opposition to his advance, though
+consultations, now at one city, now at another, were frequent. The
+duke paid little heed to their deliberations, under-estimating their
+importance, while he was gracious to any words of welcome offered to
+him. Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at Chatenois, and so
+did Colmar. The latter town expressed her willingness to receive him
+and an escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her refusal to
+admit a larger force within her walls. By this precaution, Charles was
+baffled in his plot to gain possession of the town, and so passed on
+his way.
+
+On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal entry into Brisac, where
+a temporary court was established, and where audience was given to
+various embassies with the customary Burgundian pomp. Meanwhile the
+troops, forced to camp without the walls, were a burden to the land,
+and seem to have been more odious than usual to their unwilling hosts.
+
+The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their knees and had their
+hopes raised high by their suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they
+failed to obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty of St. Omer
+should be observed in all respects. Among the envoys were many who
+undertook to remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition
+of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and the over-severity of
+Hagenbach's administration. The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged,
+notably by Berne. The representations of these last envoys were
+received most courteously. The duke rather thought that the city could
+be detached from the league, and therefore gave himself some trouble
+to establish friendly relations.
+
+To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory. He wrote a pleasant
+letter to the town and despatched a councillor thither, who would, he
+assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction. But an abortive
+_coup d'etat_ on the part of the Burgundians, which would have given
+them possession of Basel, destroyed the effect of these reassuring
+phrases. The burghers were warned in time, looked to their defences,
+and banished from their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian
+sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully scrutinised before he was
+admitted within the walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The
+propriety of these precautions was soon proven.
+
+Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the official capital of the
+landgraviate. Thither marched his troops from every quarter. Those
+from Saeckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found their shortest route over
+the bridge at Basel, and there they appeared and begged to be allowed
+to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the least foothold on the
+city's territory was sternly refused then and a week later, when the
+request was renewed. The method of introducing friendly troops into a
+town and then seizing it by a sudden _coup de main_ was what Charles
+had been suspected of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and
+there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of this rather stupid
+stratagem was planned, only to fail again, and this time to be
+peculiarly disastrous in its reflex action.
+
+The review took place and the strength of the Burgundian mercenaries
+was duly displayed to the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances
+were given to Brisac and the other towns that their suzerain
+would restrict his measures of taxation and administration to the
+stipulations of the contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when
+Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all that he had _not_
+restricted the powers of his lieutenant in any respect, but rather had
+endorsed his general method of procedure.
+
+One night was spent at Thann[11] and then the duke took his leave of
+the annexed region whose people had hoped so much from his visit to
+them. In mid-January he arrived at Besancon, his winter journeying
+being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly mild weather.
+
+Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the levying of the impost now
+approved by the duke, who had at the same time expressly ordered that
+the people were to be treated mildly, and that summary punishment
+was to check all excesses on the part of the eight hundred Picards
+employed by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector. The governor, however,
+saw no further need for gentle treatment or for respect to privileges.
+In Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set aside, and
+officers appointed by the governor. The corporation was curtailed
+of power, and the burghers were forced to prepare to march against
+Mulhouse.
+
+Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction, Hagenbach
+proceeded to give himself some relaxation. His own marriage took place
+on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion with great fetes. It
+is of this period in Hagenbach's life that the stories of gross excess
+are told.[12] It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint
+towards the city, his personal passions, too, were permitted to run
+riot, and he spared no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.
+
+As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad Penny" on the little
+independent landowners, he tried to extend it to the territory of the
+Bishop of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which was reported to the
+duke, who promptly ordered his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he
+had taken and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not ready to
+meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer an issue, but he was wholly
+ignorant of the real strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then
+proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and waited for further
+action.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: De Roye, p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 2: He also issued administrative orders. It was at this time
+that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of accounts
+at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland provinces.
+This measure was bitterly resented by the local authorities.
+(Fredericq. _Le role politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_, p.
+183.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey,
+p. 64.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: Toutey, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]
+
+[Footnote 5:_See_ Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet,
+_Urkunden_, iv., 468, 470.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
+Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (_See_ Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, ii.,
+271.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: Toutey's suggestion.]
+
+[Footnote 8: All sons inherited their father's title, so that there
+were many landless lords.]
+
+[Footnote 9: At this period there were eight in the confederation,
+which was a loose structure in which each member preserved her
+individuality.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _See_ Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the _Cartulaire de
+Mulhouse_, iv., _et passim_. This last furnishes the details for these
+passages.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There
+are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. The
+duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) does not agree
+with that of Knebel and others. But the facts of the narrative are
+little affected by the variations. The following is the itinerary
+accepted by Toutey:
+
+Dep. from Ensisheim                    Jan.  8
+Stay at Thann                           "    9-10
+Dep. from Belfort                       "   11
+Besancon                                "   17
+Auxonne, slept                          "   18
+Dijon, a                                "   23
+Dijon, d                               Feb.  19, 1474
+Auxonne, slept                          "   20
+Dole                                    "  21-March 8
+(Invested with the Franche Comte of Burgundy.)
+Besancon                              March 12 or 15
+Vesoul and Luxeuil                    March   23-28
+Lorraine                                "     28
+Luxemburg                              Apr.  4-June 9
+Easter fetes                            "   10
+Fete of the Order of the Garter         "   23
+Brussels                               June 27]
+
+[Footnote 12: Kirk considers that they are well founded and too
+indecent to repeat.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+1474-1475
+
+
+"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious in his apparel,
+travelling in the greatness of his strength?" These words in Latin,
+on scrolls fluttering from the hands of living angels, met the eyes
+of Charles of Burgundy at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the
+confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle flattery of the
+implied comparison between him and the subject of the words of the
+prophet.[1]
+
+The traveller had slept at Perigny, about a league from the capital
+of Burgundy, so as to make the last stage of his journey thither in
+leisurely state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday, January 22d, the
+appointed day, made postponement of the ducal parade necessary, out
+of consideration for the precious hangings and costly ecclesiastical
+robes that were to grace the ceremonies of reception and investiture.
+Fortunately, Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds rode
+through the city streets at an early hour, proclaiming the duke's
+gracious intention to make his entry on that day. Immediately,
+tapestries were spread and every one was alert with the last
+preparations.
+
+[Illustration: A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century]
+
+Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like that cited, which
+were planted along the ducal way and on a succession of stagings
+erected for various exhibits. On the great city square, the platform
+was capacious and many actors played out divers roles. Here stood the
+scroll-bearing angels on either side of a living representation of
+Christ. In the background clustered three separate groups of people
+representing, respectively, the three Estates. Above their heads more
+inscriptions were to be read.[2] "All the nations desire to see the
+face of Solomon," "Behold him desired by all races," "Master, look on
+us, thy people," were among the legends.
+
+The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical,
+from other parts of the duke's domains participated, proceeded past
+all these soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy resembled
+Solomon in more ways than one, to the church of St. Benigne. Here
+pledges of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians and
+their ruler. The Abbe of Citeaux placed the ducal ring solemnly
+upon Charles's finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all the
+prerogatives of his predecessors.
+
+From the church, the train wound its way to the Ste. Chapelle, past
+more stages decorated with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as
+"A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any,"
+"The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold
+as a lion," etc.
+
+Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of investiture were
+performed, and followed by a banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal
+robes, and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with gold, pearls,
+and precious stones. After a repast, prelates, nobles, and civic
+deputies were convened in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where
+first they listened to a speech from the chancellor. When he had
+finished, the duke himself delivered an harangue wherein he expatiated
+on the splendours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. Wrongfully
+usurped by the French kings, it had been belittled into a duchy, a
+measure much to be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the speaker
+broke off abruptly with an ambiguous intimation "that he had in
+reserve certain things that none might know but himself."[3]
+
+What was the significance of these veiled allusions? It could not have
+been the simple scheme to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly
+known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an ostrich-like quality of
+mind which made him oblivious to the world's vision but even he could
+hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours regarding the
+interview of Treves, rumours flying north, east, south, and west.
+Might not this suggestion of secrets yet untold have had reference to
+the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and himself to divide France
+between them?
+
+When his own induction into his heritage was accomplished, Charles was
+ready to pay the last earthly tribute to his parents. A cortege had
+been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the bodies of Philip and
+Isabella to their final resting-place in the tomb at Dijon, to which
+they were at last consigned.[4]
+
+A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city of his birth, and then
+went to Dole where he was invested with the sovereignty of the
+Franche-Comte and confirmed the privileges. Thus after seven years of
+possession _de facto_, he first actually completed the formalities
+needful for the legal acquisition of his paternal heritage. The
+expansion of that heritage had been steady for over half a century.
+Every inch of territory that had come under the shadow of the family's
+administration had remained there, quickly losing its ephemeral
+character, so that temporary holdings were regarded in the same light
+as the estates actually inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke,
+count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction in the natures of his
+tenures. But just as the last link was legally riveted in his own
+chain of lands, he was to learn that there were other points of view.
+
+The statement is made and repeated, that the report of the duke's
+after-dinner speech at Dijon was a fresh factor in alarming the people
+in Alsace and Switzerland about his intentions, and making them hasten
+to shake off every tie that connected them with Charles and his
+ambitious projects of territorial expansion.[5] As a matter of fact,
+there had been for months constant agitation in the councils of the
+Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union as to the next action.
+
+Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent, antipathy to Austria
+was so deeply rooted that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the
+Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably the arguments that
+came from France were what carried conviction. It was a time when
+Louis spared no expense to attain the end he desired, while he posed
+as a benevolent neutral.[6] His servants worked underground. Their
+open work was very cautious. It was French envoys, however, who
+announced to the Swiss Diet, convened at Lucerne, that Sigismund was
+quite ready to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance and
+the redemption of his mortgaged lands.
+
+That was on January 21, 1474, the very day when the mortgagee was
+preparing to ride into Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his
+wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month and Sigismund's envoys
+were seated on the official benches at the Basel diet, ranking with
+the delegates from the cantons and the emissaries from France. On
+March 27th, the diet met at Constance, and for three days a debate
+went on which resulted in the drafting of the _Ewige Richtung_,
+the _Reglement definitif_, a document which contained a definite
+resolution that the mortgaged lands were to be completely withdrawn
+from Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This resolution was
+subscribed to by Sigismund and the Swiss cantons. Further, it was
+decided to ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St. Omer and
+to offer payment to Charles at Basel instead of Besancon.
+
+Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in his own mind that
+the legends of his birthplace were correct in their rating of his
+character and his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered
+Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was shortly after that
+festival, on April 17th, that a letter from Sigismund was delivered to
+him announcing in rather casual and off-hand terms that he was now in
+a position to repay the loan of 1469, made on the security of those
+Rhinelands. Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel 80,000
+florins, 40,000 the sum received by him, 10,000 paid in his behalf to
+the Swiss, and 30,000 which he understood that Charles had expended
+during his temporary incumbency,[7] and he, Sigismund, would resume
+the sovereignty in Alsace.
+
+It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish was. The expressions
+employed in the paper were, however, so ambiguous, the language so
+involved, that Charles expended severe criticism on his cousin's style
+before he proceeded to answer his subject-matter. To that he replied
+that the bargain between him and Sigismund was none of his seeking.
+The latter had implored his protection from the Swiss, had begged
+relief in his financial straits. Touched by his petitions, Charles
+had acceded to his prayers and the lands had enjoyed security under
+Burgundian protection as they never had under Austrian. Charles had
+duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he had done nothing to
+forfeit his title. The conditions of redemption offered by Sigismund
+were not those expressly stipulated. If a commission were sent to
+Besancon, the duke would see to it that the merits of the case were
+properly examined.
+
+"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose you have
+declared, in violation of the terms of the contract and of your
+princely word, we shall make resistance, trusting with God's help that
+our ability in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have used
+to repulse the attacks of the Swiss--those attacks from which you
+sought and received our protection."
+
+Before this letter reached its destination, the duke's deputy in the
+mortgaged lands had already found his resources wholly inadequate to
+maintain his master's authority. After Charles departed from Alsace,
+Hagenbach's increased insolence and abandonment of all the restraint
+that he had shown while awaiting the duke's visit soon became
+unbearable. The deliberations in Switzerland concerning their return
+to Austrian domination also naturally affected the Alsatians and made
+them bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.
+
+Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing admission to his
+garrisons. Brisac was in his hands already, and her fortifications
+held by mercenaries, but an order to the citizens to work, one and
+all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance with very
+serious results. It was at Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a
+hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the Rhinelands, proved
+the final provocation to rebellion.
+
+There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle, moreover, that this
+misuse of Easter Day was not Hagenbach's real crime. He simply
+wished to get all combatants out of the city before butchering the
+inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in time. That charge does
+not, however, seem substantiated by other evidence. But there is no
+doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a state of fury, fell
+upon the mercenaries, and killed many of them in spite of their own
+unarmed condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings, appeared
+at the window and offered various concessions, being actually humbled
+and intimidated by the unexpected turning of the submissive folk
+against him.
+
+But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the reach of conciliatory
+words. Some of the more intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a
+show of propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing their own
+ancient council, arbitrarily abolished by Hagenbach, while taking a
+new oath to the Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of 1469.
+They also despatched envoys to the duke with explanations of their
+proceedings, stating further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone to
+which protest was made; that they were not in revolt against Charles.
+The latter answered, "Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional
+government, by the time they received this order, felt strong enough
+to disregard it and to continue to act on their own initiative.
+
+Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but into irons. All fear of
+and respect for his authority was thrown to the winds, his offer of
+fourteen thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.
+
+Deputations came from the confederation to congratulate the officials
+_de facto_ and to promise aid. The next step gave the lie direct to
+the message sent to Charles upholding his authority while protesting
+against his lieutenant. Sigismund was urged to return to his own
+without further delay for legal formalities with his creditor. He
+assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the Austrian duke arrived in
+Brisac and picked up the reins of authority which he had joyfully
+dropped four years previously.
+
+The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion, singing a ready parody
+of an Easter hymn:[8]
+
+  "Christ is arisen, the _landvogt_ is in prison,
+  Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.
+  Kyrie Eleison!
+  Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,
+  But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.
+  Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the late governor was
+brought to trial. Instruments of torture sent from Basel were employed
+to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But there was nothing to
+confess. As a matter of fact the charges against him were for
+well-known deeds the character of which depended on the point of view.
+What the Alsatians declared were infringements of their rights, the
+duke's deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the terms of the
+treaty. In regard to his private career the prisoner persisted in
+his statement that he was no worse than other men and that all his
+so-called victims had been willing and well rewarded for their
+submission to him.
+
+On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared over and the trial began
+before a tribunal whose composition is not perfectly well known,
+but which certainly included delegates from the chief cities of the
+landgraviate, and from Strasburg, Basel, and Berne.[9]
+
+The trial was practically lynch law in spite of the cloak of legality
+thrown over it. Charles alone was Hagenbach's principal and he alone
+was responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic incompetence
+of the court was hotly urged by Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's
+self-appointed advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public opinion
+insisted upon extreme measures, and the sentence of capital punishment
+was promptly followed by execution.
+
+Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by the sword and be
+permitted to bequeath a portion of his property to the church of
+St. Etienne at Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth was
+confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn to Fribourg during the
+progress of the trial. Even Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged
+that the late governor made a dignified and Christian exit from the
+life he had not graced.
+
+Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger who brought him the
+news of this trial and execution, in the very presence of Sigismund
+who had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate, where he
+had appointed Oswald von Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus
+presuming to use sovereign power. This was not sufficient, however,
+to make the duke change his own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was
+entrusted with the commission of punishing the Alsatians for his
+brother's ignominious deposition, and he did his task grimly.
+According to the Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north,
+and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the south, did not have
+more than six or eight thousand men apiece, but they left Hun-like
+reputations behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in houses and
+churches, all in the name of the duke, contributed to the zeal with
+which the Austrian's return was ratified by popular acclamation, and
+with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the confederates were
+received.
+
+Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone and obscure in
+phraseology. A statement presented somewhat later to the emperor by
+the _Basse Union_ is more precise in the justification offered for the
+events and in the grievances rehearsed.[10] That is, Sigismund treats
+the transaction as a purely financial one, naturally completed between
+him and his creditor by the offer to liquidate his debt. The plea made
+by the Alsatians and their friends is, that Charles had failed to keep
+his solemn engagements and that his appointed lieutenant had been
+peculiarly odious and had broken the laws of God and man, and that the
+mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians, Lombardians, and their
+fellows, had pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the Sundgau,
+and the diocese of Basel. The charges are itemised.[11]
+
+    "All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy, has neither been
+    checked nor punished by him. In consequence, our gracious Seigneur
+    of Austria has been obliged to restore the land and people to his
+    sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he has done
+    with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation and total
+    destruction of land and people."
+
+Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle matters in person, but
+pursued his intention of reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control,
+undoubtedly thinking that the base which would then be open to the
+archbishop's protector on the lower Rhine would facilitate his
+operations in the upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic had
+emphatically declared that he alone was the Defender of the Diocese,
+and that the unholy alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace
+to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted him to abandon the
+enterprise and to accept mediation; those to the electors, princes,
+and cities of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against Burgundy
+until he himself arrived on the scene. There was a hot correspondence
+between all parties concerned, from which nothing resulted. Charles
+had various reasons for delay. There was trouble in other quarters of
+his domain. Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions
+for money, and the Franche-Comte was on the point of making active
+resistance to the imposition of the _gabelle_.
+
+In view of all these complications, Charles decided to prolong his
+truce with Louis XI., to May 1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased
+to continue to pursue his own plans under cover of neutrality. The
+determination of the anti-Burgundian coalition in Germany to keep
+Charles within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant sight to
+the French king, and he felt that he could afford to wait.
+
+In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg, forbidding all owing
+allegiance to the Duke of Burgundy to have any commercial relations
+with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with the cities of the
+_Basse Union_, and declaring the duke's intention to take the field
+at once, to reinstate the archbishop in his rightful see. This was a
+declaration of war and was speedily followed by the duke's advance
+to Maestricht, where he spent a few days in July, collecting a force
+which finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.
+
+On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which had again emphatically
+refused entry to him and his troops. Three days the duke gave himself
+for the reduction of the town, but there he remained encamped for
+nearly a whole year! Neuss was resolved to resist to the last
+extremity, while Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their
+assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers to the best of
+their ability. It was a period when Charles seemed to have only one
+sure ally, and that was Edward of England, whose own plans were
+forming for a mighty enterprise--no less than a new invasion of
+France.
+
+On July 25th, the very day that Charles was on his march up to Neuss,
+his envoys signed at London a treaty wherein the duke promised Edward
+six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer his realm of France."
+Nothing loth to dispose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn,
+pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, without any lien
+of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers,
+Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates
+of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories of Charles were to be
+exempt from homage. Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in
+France and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial interests
+forgotten; "to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded
+permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and
+to carry thither foreign merchandise."
+
+The year when Charles was waiting before the gates of Neuss was full
+of many abortive diplomatic efforts on the part of both the duke and
+Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to save something even
+from broken bargains. The Swiss not only counted on his friendship,
+but were constantly encouraged by his money, which emboldened them to
+send a letter of open defiance to Charles: "We declare to your most
+serene highness and to all of your people, in behalf of ourselves
+and our friends, an honourable and an open war." To the herald who
+delivered this document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"[12] He
+felt that he had been betrayed.
+
+This was on October 26th. The defiance was followed by a descent of
+the mountaineers upon Alsace, which Charles had not yet released
+from his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared to defend Burgundian
+interests at Hericourt, a good strategic position on the tiny Luzine.
+Here, the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the Count of Blamont
+arrived with two bodies of Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than
+twelve thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging force.
+His plan failed--the tables were turned. It was the Burgundians who
+were fiercely attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach was forced to
+surrender, obtaining honourable terms, however, and Sigismund put a
+garrison into Hericourt on November 16th.
+
+This was a tremendous surprise to Charles. That cowherds could repulse
+his well-trained troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.
+But he put aside all idea of punishing them for the moment, and
+continued to "reduce Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,"
+and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town in its determined
+resistance.
+
+The opprobrious names applied to the would-be and baffled conqueror at
+this time are curiously similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon
+a few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ himself, with
+demoniac attributes added, when Alexander was felt to be too mild a
+comparison. There was still a terrible fear of the duke's ambition,
+even though, in the face of all Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his
+men, and Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, while the world
+wondered at the duke's obstinacy displayed in the wrong place. The
+belief expressed several times by Commines that God troubled Charles's
+understanding out of very pity for France, was a current rumour.
+
+At the end of April an English embassy arrived at the camp, which was
+kept in a marvellous state of luxury, even though disease was not
+successfully curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the embassy
+was that Charles should raise this useless siege, fruitless as it
+promised to be, owing to the difficulty of cutting off the town's
+supplies. Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading army.
+He implored his dear brother to send him transports and to prepare to
+receive him when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a glimpse
+into the situation[13]:
+
+    "For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that the assege
+    lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn affoor Nuse, and the
+    Emperor hath besyged also not fferr from there a castill and
+    another town in lykewyse wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the
+    Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water off Somme
+    with 4000 spers; and sum men have that he woll, at the daye off
+    brekyng off trewse, or else beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys
+    heer. When I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.
+
+    "The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere and the Master off
+    the Rolls be comyng homwards ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke
+    I sholde be sek but iff I see it....
+
+    "For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde in to Flaundyrs
+    to purveye me off horse and herneys and percase I shall see the
+    essege at Nwse er I come ageyn."
+
+There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick at the sight than
+for John Paston, and he did grow weary of the further waiting and
+anxious, for his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On May 22d,
+there was a skirmish between his troops and the imperial forces,
+wherein Charles claimed the victory. In reality, there was none on
+either side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe his _amour
+propre_, and to convince him that an accommodation with Frederic would
+not detract from his dignity.
+
+A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched to help convey
+the English army, thirsting for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand
+men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to meet Edward IV., and
+swell his escort as he marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other
+matters also demanded Charles's personal attention. Months had elapsed
+and Hericourt was unpunished--Berne had not been reproved.
+
+Rene of Lorraine was formally admitted to the League of Constance on
+April 18, 1475, and was now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he
+had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a touch of old King Rene's
+theatrical taste in his grandson's method of despatching the herald
+who rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet on May 10th. The
+man was, however, so overcome at the first view of _le Temeraire_ that
+he hastily delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained
+gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of war, without uttering a word.
+Then he fell on his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.[14] Charles
+was so little displeased at the signs of the impression his presence
+made that, instead of being angry with the man, he gave him twelve
+florins for his good news. The terms of the declaration of war carried
+by the herald were as follows:
+
+    "To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the very high, etc.,
+    Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce defiance with fire and
+    blood against thee, thy countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and
+    other charge further have I not."[15]
+
+The reply was straightforward:
+
+    "Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge, whereby thou
+    hast given me subject for joy, and, to show you how matters are,
+    thou shalt wear my robe with this gift, and shalt tell thy master
+    that I will find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear
+    is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst not be afraid
+    to return, I desire my marshal and the king-at-arms of the Toison
+    d'Or to convoy thee in perfect safety, for I should be sorry if
+    thou didst not make thy report to thy master as befits a good and
+    loyal officer."
+
+Thus was Charles pressed from the south and lured to the north.
+Excellent reason for obeying the order of the pope's legate that duke
+and emperor must lay down arms under pain of excommunication did
+either belligerent refuse! The armistice accepted on May 28th was
+followed by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It was a truce
+strictly to the advantage of Frederic and Charles. The Rhine cities,
+Louis XI., Rene of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed in
+the expectations they had based on Frederic.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Plancher, _Histoire generale et particuliere de
+Bourgogne, avec des notes et des preuves justificatives_, iv.,
+cccxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Preparations for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set
+on foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One Frere
+Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures for
+appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every phrase indicating
+leonine strength was noted down. The good brother died before the
+anticipated event came to pass but the result of his patient labour
+was preserved.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Dit qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de
+scavoir a nuls que a lui_ (Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii.).]
+
+[Footnote 4: Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii. The document
+describing this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is
+evidently an error and not accepted.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Toutey, p. 117.]
+
+[Footnote 6: There are many records in the_Bibl. nat._. of the sums
+paid out to the Swiss at this time.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, i., 92 et seq.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Kirk, ii., 488.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey, p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Text given by Toutey, _Pieces justificatives_, p. 442.]
+
+[Footnote 11: The details are very brutal and untranslatable.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Paston Letters_, iii., 122.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 244.]
+
+[Footnote 15: _Bulletin de l'acad. royale de Belgique_, 1887.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what to write to you of
+    the English, for thus far they have done nothing but dance at St.
+    Omer and we are not sure whether the King of England has landed.
+    If he has, it must be with so small a force that it makes no
+    noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville know anything,
+    nor do they believe that there will be any English here in XL
+    days. Tell the news to Monsg. de Comminge, and recommend my
+    interests to him as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de
+    Thierry and Mons. the vice-admiral."[1]
+
+Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later and he has heard of the
+truce. He seizes the occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne
+his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frederic has deserted us all!"[2]
+Well, it was not the first time! Thirty years previous, when Louis was
+dauphin, the emperor had tried to turn the Swiss against him. Had not
+God, knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave mountaineers, Louis
+would have been a victim of execrable treachery. The outcome had been
+wonderful, for an eternal friendship had sprung up between him and the
+Swiss which must be preserved.
+
+Meantime, Charles has made his own definite plan of the campaign which
+was to introduce Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The following
+letter from him to Edward IV. bears no date, but it was evidently
+written at about the time of the truce[3]:
+
+    "Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself to you. I have
+    listened carefully to your declaration through the pronotary, and
+    understand that you do not wish to land without my advice, for
+    which I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors
+    think you had better land in Guienne, others in Normandy, others
+    again at Calais. If you choose Guienne you will be far from my
+    assistance but my brother of Brittany could help you. Still it
+    would be a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to
+    Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your people nor I
+    for mine. Nor could the two forces make juncture without attack,
+    and my brother of Brittany would be very far from both. To my
+    mind, your best landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the
+    Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will soon gain
+    possession of cities and places, and you will be at the right hand
+    of my brother of Brittany and of me. Tell me how many ships you
+    want and where you wish me to send them and I will do it."
+
+On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival of the English, Louis
+hastened to Normandy to inspect the situation for himself. There he
+learned that his own naval forces stationed in the Channel to ward off
+the invaders had landed on the very day before his arrival, abandoning
+the task.
+
+    "When I heard that we took no action, I decided that my best plan
+    would be to turn my people loose in Picardy and let them lay
+    waste the country whence they [the English] expected to get their
+    supplies."[4]
+
+At the same time, the rumour that was permitted to be current in
+France was, that Charles of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at
+Neuss, and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend from him.
+He, meanwhile, was continuing his own preparations by strenuous
+endeavours to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies. After
+the signing of the convention with the emperor, the duke proceeded to
+Bruges to meet the Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand for
+subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish funds, on the plea that
+his expansion policy was ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst
+from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving him in the lurch and
+thus causing his failure at Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor
+soldiers had they sent him as loyal subjects should.
+
+[Illustration: KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+
+CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN
+EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK. POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I.]
+
+    "For whom does your prince labour? Is it for himself or for you,
+    for your defence? You slumber, he watches. You nestle in warmth,
+    he is cold. You are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the
+    wind and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease.... Henceforth you
+    shall be nothing more than subjects under a sovereign. I am and I
+    will be master, bearding those who oppose me."[5]
+
+Then turning to the prelates he continued: "Do you obey diligently and
+without poor excuses or your temporal goods shall be confiscated."
+To the nobles: "Obey or you shall lose your heads and your fiefs."
+Finally, he addressed the deputies of the third estate in a tone full
+of bitterness: "And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not obey
+my orders literally as my chancellor will explain them to you, you
+shall forfeit privileges, property, and life."
+
+All the fervency of this adjuration failed to convince the deputies of
+their duty, as conceived by the orator. They declared that they had
+levied troops and would levy more, for defence, but that the four
+members of Flanders were agreed that they would contribute nothing to
+offensive measures. Charles must accept their decision as his sainted
+father had done. The details of all the aid they had given him, 2500
+men for Neuss and many other contributions, were recapitulated.
+Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding phrases of their
+answer were as follows:
+
+    "As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen days every
+    man capable of bearing arms report at Ath, these were orders
+    impossible of execution, and unprofitable for you yourself. Your
+    subjects are merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
+    Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which your noble
+    ancestors have for four hundred years maintained the land,
+    commerce, most redoubtable seigneur, is irreconcilable with war."
+
+This answer gave the true key to the situation. The Estates of
+Flanders were determined to be bled no further for schemes in which
+they did not sympathise. When this memorial was presented to Charles
+he broke out into fresh invective about the base ingratitude of the
+Flemish: "Take back your paper," were his last words. "Make your own
+answer. _Talk_ as you wish, but _do_ your duty." This was on July
+12th. Charles had no further time to waste in argument. He was still
+convinced that the burghers would, in the end, yield to his demands.
+
+With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and reached Calais on July
+14th, where he had been preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her
+brother, who had actually landed on July 4th, with the best equipped
+army--about twenty-four thousand men--that had ever left the shores of
+England, and the latest inventions in besieging engines.
+
+The expedition proved a wretched failure--a miserable disappointment
+to the English at home, who had been lavish in their contributions.
+Charles seems to have been put out by the place of landing. His own
+plan is clear from the letter quoted. He wished the two armies of
+Edward and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory as they
+marched toward each other. The one thing that he objected to was a
+consolidation of the two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or
+an unwelcome situation to account was one of the duke's most
+deeply ingrained characteristics. He showed no inventiveness or
+resourcefulness. He held his own army at a distance from the English,
+much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to march unaided over
+regions rendered inhospitable by Louis's stern orders, and outside
+of cities ready to hold him at bay. "If you do not put yourself in a
+state of security, it will be necessary to destroy the city, to our
+regret," was the king's message to Rheims, and the most skilful of
+French engineers was fully prepared to make good the words.
+
+Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped on the field of
+Agincourt, where perhaps he dreamed of his ancestor's success, but
+no fresh blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He did not
+proceed to Paris, there was no coronation at Rheims, no comfortable
+reception within any gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis
+himself of giving the English a foothold, though he advised Edward to
+accept an invitation from St. Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however,
+proved another disappointment. Just as Edward was ready to enter,
+the gates opened to let out a troop which effectually repulsed the
+advancing foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his mind.
+
+"It is a miserable existence this of ours when we take toil and
+trouble enough to shorten our life, writing and saying things exactly
+opposite to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer of this
+elaborate network of pompous falsehoods[6] wherein every action was
+entangled. Louis XI trusted no one but himself, while he played
+with the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His fear of the
+invaders was soon allayed. "These English are of different metal from
+those whom you used to know. They keep close, they attempt nothing,"
+he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.
+
+It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was not a foe to be feared.
+Baffled and discouraged, he readily opened his ears to his French
+brother, and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every Englishman who
+helped incline his sovereign to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and
+coin did their work. Edward was easily led into the path of least
+resistance, and an interview between the rival kings was appointed
+for August 29th. Great preparations were made for their meeting on a
+bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating was erected. Like Pyramus
+and Thisbe, the two princes kissed each other through the barriers,
+and exchanged assurances of friendship. Edward was, indeed, so easy to
+convince that Louis was in absolute terror lest his English brother
+would accept his invitation to show him Paris before his return. No
+wonder Edward was deceived, for Louis was definite in his hospitable
+offers, suggesting that he would provide a confessor willing to give
+absolution for pleasant sins.
+
+The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy. On August 18th, he was
+staying at Peronne, whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It was
+ended without any intimation of Edward's change of heart towards the
+French king whom he had come to depose, though his plan was then ripe.
+On the 20th, Charles received a written communication with the news
+which Edward had disliked broaching orally, and was officially
+informed that the king had yielded to the wishes of his army, and was
+considering a treaty with Louis XI., wherein Edward's dear brother of
+Burgundy should receive honourable mention did he desire it.
+
+On hearing these most unwelcome tidings, Charles set off for the
+English camp in hot haste, attended by a small escort, and nursing
+his wrath as he rode.[7] King Edward was rather alarmed at the duke's
+aspect when the latter appeared, and asked whether he would not like a
+private interview. Charles disregarded his question. "Is it true? Have
+you made peace?" he demanded. Edward's attempt at smooth explanations
+was blocked by a flood of invectives poured out by Charles, who
+remembered himself sufficiently to speak in English so that the
+bystanders might have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches.
+He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual, pleasure-loving
+monarch, whose easeful ways were rapidly increasing his weight of
+flesh, with the heroism of other English Edwards with whom he was
+proud to claim kin. As to the offers to remember his interests in
+the perfidious peace that perfidious Albion was about to swear
+with equally perfidious France, his rejection was scornful indeed.
+"Negotiate for _me_! Arbitrate for _me_! Is it I who wanted the French
+crown? Leave _me_ to make my own truce. I will wait until you have
+been three months over sea." Among those who witnessed the scene were
+several Englishmen who sympathised with Charles--if we may believe
+Commines. "The Duke of Burgundy has said the truth," declared the Duke
+of Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Having given vent to his
+sentiments, Charles hurried away from his disappointing ally and
+reached Namur on the 22d, where he spent the night.
+
+Edward troubled himself little about his brother-in-law's summary of
+his character. He was tired of camp hardships, and both he and his men
+found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her gates to them at the
+order of Louis XI. Food and wine were lavished upon all alike. It
+was a delightful experience for the English soldiers to see tables
+groaning with good things spread in the very streets, and to be bidden
+to order what they would at the taverns with no consideration for the
+reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free of charge, until their
+host intimated to King Edward that his men were very intoxicated and
+that there were limits in all things. But Louis did not spare his
+money or his pains until he was sure that a bloodless victory had been
+won. He fully realised the importance of extravagant expenditure in
+order to reach the goal he had set himself.
+
+    "We must have the whole sum at Amiens before Friday evening,
+    besides what will be wanted for private gratifications to my Lord
+    Howard, and others who have had part in the arrangement.... Do not
+    fail in this that there may be no pretext for a rupture of what
+    has been already settled."
+
+Though they had now no rood of land, the English returned richer than
+they came, and they eased their _amour propre_ by calling the sums
+that had changed hands, "tribute money."[8]
+
+    "Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd Moodre, I recommende
+    me to youw. Pleas it yow to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage
+    of the kynges is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost
+    is comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to seye the
+    iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many of hys host be
+    passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and in especiall my Lorde off
+    Norfolk, and my bretheryn ....I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr
+    heer; for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come hyddre and
+    all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never a better stomake in my
+    lyffe and now in viij dayes I am crasyd ageyn."[9]
+
+Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and doubtless many others found
+the air more wholesome at home.
+
+Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider the affairs of Lorraine.
+He advised Rene of his intentions, in a manifesto which reached him
+on September 5th. The preamble contained a long list of the manifold
+benefits conferred upon Lorraine by the House of Burgundy. Then Rene
+was admonished to observe in every particular the terms of his own
+treaty with Charles, which he, Rene, had signed voluntarily, or the
+former would "make him know the difference between his friendship and
+his enmity."
+
+This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of Lorraine. For on September
+13th, his friend Louis XI. had signed a fresh treaty with Charles
+of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was marching mercenaries in
+Burgundian pay towards the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the
+French king abandoned the young protege whom he had spared no pains
+to alienate from Burgundian protection. It was a moment when his one
+interest apparently was to settle accounts with the Count of St.
+Pol, who had been equally treacherous in his dealings with England,
+Burgundy, and France.[10]
+
+Having rested during the summer, the Burgundian troops were in fine
+trim when Charles marched to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat
+down before the capital in the last week of October. From his camp he
+wrote to the Duke of Milan:
+
+    "Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you. I have just
+    accepted a truce with the king for nine years to come, in the form
+    and manner contained at length in the copy of the articles which
+    I have given to your ambassador, resident with me . . . . And be
+    sure, _fratello mio_, that nothing would have induced me to accept
+    the truce, had you not been comprised therein. And, similarly, you
+    must be satisfied in all the pacts between the king and myself,
+    just as you were comprised in the convention lately made at Neuss.
+
+    "For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador about the troops
+    that can be furnished me, for which I am well content, praying you
+    to continue to serve me in accordance with the promises of your
+    ambassador. As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Duc de
+    Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now for delay as he
+    can travel in Lorraine as safely as in Lombardy, as I have said
+    to your ambassador. Pray the Lord to give you the desires of your
+    heart.
+
+
+    "Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day of October, 1475.
+
+    "CHARLES."[11]
+
+
+Some trifling assistance was offered to Rene by Strasburg and other
+foes to Burgundy, but it was wholly insufficient to rescue him from
+his difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the capitulation
+of Nancy on November 19th. The magistrates desired to hold out, but
+were forced by the populace to submit, and on November 30, 1475,
+Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly through the gate of Craffe
+into the capital of Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign
+duke.[12]
+
+This time Charles acted the role of a merciful and diplomatic
+conqueror. There was no cruelty permitted, and every evidence of
+conciliation was shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted the
+new order of things without further protest. At the end of December,
+Charles convened the Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace,
+addressed them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to be a good
+prince, demanded their attachment, confided his plans of expansion,
+and announced his intention of making Nancy the capital of his states.
+Again the duke's star rose. This acquisition seemed a sign of the
+reality of his dreams. Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching
+success bore fruit, inasmuch as the emperor changed the late
+convention into a firmer treaty signed on November 17th. Indeed had
+Charles died at that moment, there would have been little doubt that
+his dreamed-of kingdom had been simply prevented by a mere accident.
+
+The detailed story of all that had happened in the Swiss Confederation
+and the Lower Union, since their formal declaration of war against
+Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begining of 1476, the
+situation was, briefly, that Sigismund held the debated mortgaged
+lands, while the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant member
+of the league, had continued to carry on offensive operations against
+the duke and his allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The conquest
+of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the face of the fresh
+agreements between the duke and the emperor and the king.
+
+There was a short period of hesitation, marked by a truce till January
+1, 1476, between Charles and the confederates, a period when the timid
+among the allies urged their counsel of reconciliation at all hazards.
+Charles, too, seems to have desired an accord rather than hostilities,
+even though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for Hericourt. It
+was probably appeals from Yolande of Savoy that decided him to open a
+campaign in midwinter.
+
+    "The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote the Milanese
+    ambassador] in the reorganisation of his army according to new
+    ordinances, and in the regulation of his receipts and outlays that
+    he has scarcely given himself time to eat once in twenty-four
+    hours. He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the Count of
+    Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect no treaty, and do
+    not cease increasing their forces. In consequence, Duke Charles
+    intends leaving Nancy in six days to go towards the Jura. He
+    expects to take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which,
+    joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy, will swell his
+    army to the number of 25,000 combatants. His operations are so
+    planned that he will have more to gain than to lose."[13]
+
+
+When Charles left Nancy on January 11th, he issued one of his
+grandiloquent manifestoes declaring that he was acting in behalf of
+all princes and seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of the
+Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who had provoked his just
+wrath by ravaging his province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious
+act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain go off to make a
+pilgrimage just as he was on the eve of a campaign, but so he did,
+granting Campobasso leave of absence to visit the shrine of St. James
+at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised by the Italian to further
+the understanding with Louis XI., at which he arrived later.
+
+On across the Jura marched the Burgundian army, while the Swiss diet
+came to a slow and confused decision to prepare to meet him. He did
+not take the route generally expected, directly towards Berne, his
+chief antagonist, but turned aside and attacked the little fortress of
+Granson. The castle was not over strong. Efforts to provision it by
+water failed, and, finally, on February 28th, after a brief siege, the
+captain of the garrison, Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German
+forces, who represented to them that Charles was as generous as he was
+magnificent.
+
+If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the surrender was
+unconditional. Charles was soon on the spot. The four hundred and
+twelve soldiers, who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian army at
+bay for ten whole days, were made to march past his tent with bowed
+heads. Then he ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two to
+help in the executions. Four hours were occupied in fulfilling these
+pitiless orders. Panigarola arrived at the camp on the 29th,--it was
+leap year, 1476,--and found this accomplished and saw the bodies
+hanging on the trees, but he asserts that no word was broken.[14]
+Charles was now absolutely confident of complete success. "_Bellorum
+eventus dubii sunt_," remarked the prudent Milanese, however, and he
+was proved right.
+
+When the allied forces of the mountaineers finally arrived in the
+duke's neighbourhood a hot pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians,
+led by the duke in person, were thrown into utter confusion. The
+mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth yells and battle-cries of Uri
+and Unterwalden, simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles was
+pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only a defeat, but a complete
+rout. When the Swiss came in sight of the late garrison hanged to
+the trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn they massacred,
+hanged, and drowned every one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay
+hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives when they could, but
+their valuable artillery and their baggage, the mass of riches that
+Charles carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and gathered
+up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss, who cared little for the
+tapestries and jewels though they prized the gold. Such was the battle
+of Granson, on the 2nd of March.
+
+The fatal mistake committed by Charles was that he despised his enemy
+and underestimated his quality as well as his strength. Just before
+engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell upon their knees in
+prayer that the issue might be successful. This action deceived
+Charles into thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion was
+shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh broke out from the Burgundian
+ranks.[15]
+
+Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of Granson with the
+following rather barren words[16]:
+
+    "In short the Duke of Burgundy lost the day and was pushed back as
+    far as Jougne, where he stopped, and it is meet that I tell how
+    the duke's bodyguard saved themselves ... and reached Salins where
+    I saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle on account
+    of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the duke went to Noseret, and
+    you can understand that he was very sad and melancholy at having
+    lost the battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his army
+    shattered."
+
+On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to Margaret Paston from
+Calais:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde. ... Item, the
+    Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall
+    nott nowe be lykelyhod have it; wherffer the Frenshe kynge
+    cheryssheth hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn
+    the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off the Swechys
+    [Swiss] to conquer them butt the berded hym att an onsett place
+    and hathe dystrussyd hym and hathe slayne the most part of his
+    vanwarde and wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr
+    all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym; exceppte men and
+    horse ffledde nott but they roode that nyght xx myle; and so the
+    ryche saletts, heulmetts garters, nowchys[17] gelt and all is
+    goone with tente pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is
+    abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde karlys butte he
+    wolde nott beleve it and yitt men seye that he woll to them ageyn.
+    Gode spede them bothe."
+
+Many of the rumours that were current represented Charles as
+completely prostrated by his disaster. This was only half true.
+His efforts to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically, he
+certainly showed the effects of this campaign. He was attacked by a
+low fever, his stomach rejected food, insomnia afflicted his nights,
+and dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This condition was
+attributed to his fatigues and exposure in a hard climate, and to his
+habit of drinking warm barley-water in the morning. He was urged to
+use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard couch, while Yolande's own
+physician and one Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The latter
+claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles was not, however, fully
+recovered when he resumed his activities and held a review on May 9th.
+With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely to yield results,
+the whole number of troops was but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker
+felt that the duke was now trying to accomplish something quite beyond
+his resources.
+
+    "Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary[18]], we cannot
+    sufficiently wonder that you should have been so gravely deceived
+    and that, after having once found that you were lured into loss
+    and disgrace, again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth from
+    which you will either never escape, or escape only with damage and
+    shame.... Without risk to himself [your foe] has precipitated you
+    into an abyss and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of
+    your possessions and your life.... We exhort you to pause before
+    incurring heavier losses and greater dangers. If fortune smiles
+    upon you in your attack on that people, you will have the whole
+    empire against you. In the opposite event--which God avert--it
+    will be turned into a common tale how a mighty prince was overcome
+    by rustics whom there would have been no honour in conquering,
+    while to be conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace."
+
+This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its destination until after
+the prophecy had been fulfilled. Its warning would probably have been
+futile had Charles read it before he marched on towards Berne, on June
+8th. On the road that he chose lay the town of Morat, which had made
+ready for his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then on to Berne
+was his plan. His force succeeded in holding the ground and cutting
+off communication with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a messenger
+made his way through from the beleaguered city to Berne, and all the
+allies were then urged to do their best. The result was encouraging.
+"There are three times as many as at Granson, but let no one be
+dismayed, with God's help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of
+Berne.
+
+The encounter came on June 23d. The force was really a formidable one.
+Rene of Lorraine was among the commanders on the side of the Swiss.
+It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was savage; at two o'clock the
+assault was made and within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost all
+the infantry perished. The slain is estimated variously from ten
+to twenty-two thousand. Charles did not keep his vow to perish if
+defeated. To his assured allies he clung closely, and none had more
+reason to be faithful to him than Yolande of Savoy. After Granson he
+hastened to give the duchess his own view of the disaster:
+
+    "It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of your calmness and
+    constancy of soul; for the thought of your affliction weighed more
+    heavily upon me than what has befallen me ... every day diminishes
+    the inconvenience and proves that the loss in men is less than we
+    thought. _Such as it is it came from a mere skirmish_. The bulk
+    of the armies did not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they
+    fought the victory would have been mine. There has been none on
+    either side. God, I trust, reserves it for you and for me ... the
+    hope you have placed in me shall not be vain."
+
+Thus he wrote on March 7th to encourage his anxious protegee.
+
+[Illustration: A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT]
+
+After the second defeat it was to her that the duke turned again. In
+the very early morning after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at
+Morges on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard through the night.
+There he heard mass, breakfasted, rested awhile, and then rode on,
+reaching the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening, where
+Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming in full knowledge of the
+second disaster he had suffered.
+
+At the foot of the staircase, attended by her ladies, Yolande was
+waiting to greet her disappointed friend. Charles dismounted and
+kissed each member of the family in order of precedence, the little
+duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter, and the ladies
+in waiting. Yolande had had time to move out of her own suite of
+apartments and have them prepared for her guest's use, and there the
+two talked together confidentially, while their attendants waited
+patiently just out of earshot.
+
+Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to her son's room,
+returning to his own, showing signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola
+was absent, but another Milanese was among her suite, and he pressed
+forward as the duke re-entered the apartment, offering to carry any
+message to the Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, "It is well. That
+is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de la Marche and the Sire de
+Givry, commander of the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service,
+were summoned and had a long conference with Charles.
+
+Yolande was, apparently, more communicative to the Milanese Appiano
+than to Charles, but he saw that she was not frank with him. "She must
+throw herself on the protection of France or of Milan," he wrote to
+his master.[20] She was, however, clear in her own mind that she would
+not accept Sforza's protection any more than that of Charles. She
+absolutely refused to identify her fortunes with the latter. She was
+determined to go to Geneva, but no farther. The duke remained at Gex
+until the 27th, and renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross
+the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering to her own plan. The
+two parties set out from the castle together, their roads lying in
+opposite directions, but Charles escorted his hostess about half-way
+to Geneva, riding beside her carriage, and continuing his persuasions
+in a low voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a farewell kiss,
+and rode off. He was much displeased at her determination, and he
+speedily resolved upon other methods of making sure of her fidelity to
+him. La Marche thus relates the story:[21]
+
+    "After the duke had been discomfited the second time by the Swiss
+    before Morat, believing that he could do the thing secretly, he
+    made a plan to kidnap Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them
+    to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva, on my head to
+    capture Mme. of Savoy and her children and bring them to him. In
+    order to obey my prince and master I did his behest quite against
+    my heart, and I took madame and her children near the gate of
+    Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away from me (for it was
+    two o'clock in the night) by the means of some of our own company
+    who were subjects of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did
+    no more than their duty. What I did was simply to save my life,
+    for the duke, my master, was the kind that insisted on having his
+    will done under penalty of losing one's head. So I took my way,
+    and carried Mme. of Savoy behind me, and her two daughters
+    followed and two or three of her maids, and we took the road over
+    the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured of the second
+    son, and had him carried by a gentleman. I thought I was assured
+    of the Duke of Savoy, but he was stolen from me as I said. As
+    soon as we were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and
+    especially the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought and took
+    the duke back to Geneva, in which they had great joy. And I with
+    Mme. of Savoy and the little boy (who was not the duke), crossed
+    the mountain in the black night and came to a place called Mijoux,
+    and thence to St. Claude.
+
+    "You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer to the company,
+    and chiefly to me. I was in danger of my life because I had not
+    brought the Duke of Savoy. Then the duke went on to Salins without
+    speaking to me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted Mme.
+    of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take her to the castle of
+    Rochefort. Thence she was taken to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that
+    I had nothing more to do with her or her affairs."
+
+This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the tone in which La Marche
+relates it indicates that he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner,
+and might have been more willing to lend an ear to Louis's suggestions
+than he had been five years previously.
+
+It is not evident that he played his master false or that he was
+cognisant of the recapture of the little duke, but he says himself
+that he thought the attendants were absolutely justified in it.
+
+It is after this incident that the astute Panigarola returns and joins
+the duke's suite at Salins. He finds Charles a changed man, indulging
+in strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a couple of
+thousand more of his troops had been killed, "French at heart" as they
+were. He refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtaining the
+means of so doing, and sent her to the castle of the Sire of Rochefort
+for safe-keeping. Abstemious as he had been all his life, never taking
+wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which he now suddenly
+indulged went to his head.
+
+Rumours went abroad that his mental balance was shaken. That does
+not seem to have been true to the extent of insanity. He was only
+infinitely chagrined but he certainly put on a brave front and
+retained his self-confidence and declared
+
+    "They are wrong if they believe me defeated. Providence has
+    provided me with so many people and estates with such abundant
+    resources, that many such defeats would be needed to ruin them. At
+    the moment when the world imagines that I am annihilated, I will
+    reopen the campaign with an army of 150,000 men."[22]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Nos omnes relinquens, Ibid_., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Commynes-Dupont, i., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Lettres_, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Commines, iv., ch. vi.]
+[Footnote 7: Commines, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The terms of the treaty provided for a seven years'
+truce, with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil
+or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance went so far
+that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing the title of King of
+England and France.]
+
+[Footnote 9: _The Paston Letters_. Sir John Paston to his mother,
+Sept. 11, 1475.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The story must be omitted here. The constable was
+finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Depeches Milanaises_, i., 253. The copy only is at
+Milan and there is no seal.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 380.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Dep. Milan_., i., 266.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Dep. Milan_., i., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Jomini lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had
+committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army resting on
+the lake, the other ill-secured at the foot of a wooded mountain.
+Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to have one of its wings
+resting on an unbridged stream, on a lake, or on the sea." Charles
+explained to Europe that he had been surprised, and his defeat was a
+mere bagatelle.]
+
+[Footnote 16: III., 216.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Embossed ornaments.]
+
+[Footnote l8: _Dep. Milan._, ii., 126.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Dep. Milan._, ii., 335.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Dep. Milan_., ii., 295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: III., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Dep. Milan_, ii., 339.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+1477
+
+
+It was manifestly impossible for Charles to attempt to retrieve his
+fortunes without having large sums of ready money at his command.
+He therefore proceeded to appeal to the guardians of each and every
+treasury in his various states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however,
+the only quarters whence succour was in the least probable. The
+Estates of the latter duchy met, deliberated, and resolved to make no
+pretence nor to "yield anything contrary to the duty which every one
+owes to his country."[1] A certain Sieur de Jarville, accompanied
+by other true Burgundians, undertook to report the proceedings to
+Charles,--a duty usually falling to the share of the presiding officer
+of the ecclesiastical chamber. The message which he carried was
+laconic but sturdy:
+
+"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave subjects and servitors,
+but as to what is asked in his behalf, it never has been done, it
+cannot be done, it never will be done."
+
+"Small people would never dare use such language," is the comment
+of the Burgundian chronicler, proud of the temerity of his fellow
+countrymen.
+
+In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were equally emphatic in
+their refusal to meet the duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved
+to call together a general assembly of deputies in the hope of finding
+them, collectively, more amenable. Writs of summons were issued very
+widely and a "States-general" was formally convened at Ghent on
+Friday, April 26, 1476.[2] At the last assembly of this nature, in
+1473, the duke had expressly promised, in consideration of an annual
+grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded to him, to refrain
+from further demands, and there was a spirit of sullen resentment in
+the air when this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened by
+Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points for consideration.
+Monseigneur wished his daughter Mary, "that most precious jewel," to
+join him in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to ensure her
+safe journey and that the duke requested the States to provide.
+Secondly he desired the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to
+meet his immediate requirements. Further, he requested each town to
+equip a specified number of horses at its own expense; he demanded the
+service of his tenants, fief and arriere-fief; and, in addition, he
+required that all other men, no matter what their condition, able to
+bear arms, should enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the
+troops should be set to guard the frontier, and the rest should be
+sent to the duke in Burgundy.
+
+It was a demand pure and simple for a universal call to arms, a
+national levy. The duke's paternal desire to see his daughter was the
+flimsiest of excuses that deceived no one for a moment.
+
+After the chancellor's exposition there was probably adjournment for
+discussion. The pensionary of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as
+spokesman to present the following report, as the result of their
+deliberations, to the duchess-regent.
+
+As for Mlle. of Burgundy, the deputies would ascertain the wishes
+of their principals, but the second request did not call for a
+referendum. The representatives were fully capable of settling the
+matter at once. Considering the heavy burdens laid on the people, and
+taking into account the promises made to them in 1473, that no
+further demands should be made on the public purse, the three Estates
+concurred in humbly petitioning Monseigneur to excuse them from
+granting his request.
+
+It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th) when this decision was
+communicated to the duchess in her own hotel. After a private colloquy
+between her and Hugonet, the chancellor told the messenger that it was
+quite right for the deputies to consult their principals before the
+heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship of her faithful
+subjects. That was a grave matter, but surely there was no reason why
+her "escort" could not be determined upon at once. In regard to the
+levies, Madame was not empowered to take any excuse. It was beyond her
+province. Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters had
+arrived from the duke urging the speedy execution of his previous
+instructions. The chancellor then appointed a committee to meet a
+committee from the States at 8 A.M. on the morrow at the convent of
+the Augustines.
+
+This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speedily notified that the
+States did not feel empowered to appoint a committee. The most they
+could do was to resolve themselves into a committee of the whole. The
+objection to this was that a small conference was far better suited
+to free discussion. It was easy for unqualified persons to enter the
+session of a large body. The States, however, were tenacious in their
+opinion that their writs did not qualify them to appoint committees.
+Every point must be threshed out in the presence of every deputy.
+_Potestas delegata non deleganda est_.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY MATHEY)]
+
+There was further negotiation, and it was not until Monday afternoon
+that Hugonet's commissioner brought a conciliatory message that if the
+gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in spite of the difficulty of
+discussion in an open meeting, talk over both points with them in
+full assembly. Again the States objected. They had no instructions
+whatsoever in regard to Mademoiselle, and could not discuss her
+movements either in public or in private session. As to levies, they
+repeated in detail all previous arguments, and expressed a fervent
+hope that Monseigneur would withdraw the request. It would, in the
+end, be more to Monseigneur's advantage, etc. Back and forth travelled
+the commissioner between States and duchess. The latter simply
+reiterated her dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit her
+father in May, with an adequate escort, in whose ranks must appear
+three prelates, three or four barons, fifty knights, and notable men
+from the "good towns," well armed.
+
+The States were then resolved into a committee of the whole, for a
+private deliberation, an action that probably enabled them to exclude
+the embarrassing spectators. In preparation for this, the diligent
+commissioner called apart one deputy from each contingent, and
+expatiated on the duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to
+eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's escort and the fiefs
+and arriere-fiefs, Monseigneur could manage to make suffice for the
+present, and these must be provided. These confidences were at once
+reported to the assembly, which then adjourned to think over the
+matter during the night.[3]
+
+When they met again on April 30th, the chancellor was ready with a new
+message from Madame: "Go home now, consult your principals, and return
+on May 15th." On the motion of some deputy, this date was changed to
+May 24th. Precautions were taken to prevent any binding action in the
+interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the reports to the separate
+groups of constituents was also agreed upon by the majority of the
+deputies. In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that province
+there was a reluctance to deny the obligations of the fiefs.
+
+When the deputies reassembled a month later, Hugonet tried to weaken
+the effect of their answer by a suggestion that it had better not
+be considered the final decision, but a mere informal expression of
+opinion. "There were so many strangers present," etc. The States
+determinedly refused to be trifled with. "Madame must not be
+displeased if they gave the result of their deliberations in the
+presence of the whole assembly, not by way of opinion, but as a formal
+and conclusive report." Their charge was restricted to this manner
+of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting them, asked, since their
+charge was thus restricted, whether they had also been limited in the
+number of times they might drink on their way.[4] The answer was:
+"Chancellor, come now, say what you wish. The answer shall be given as
+it was meant to be given."
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLE OF NANCY. REPRODUCED FROM KIRK'S
+"CHARLES THE BOLD," BY PERMISSION OF J.B. LIPPINCOTT CO.]
+
+The communication was so long that its delivery took from 3 to 8
+P.M. It was nothing more than a detailed apology for refusing the
+sovereign's demands. Several days more were consumed in unsuccessful
+efforts to cajole or browbeat the deputies into a more genial mood.
+The only concessions offered were insignificant, and to their
+resolution the deputies held firmly. "According to current rumour
+[concludes Gort Roelants's story] the ducal council would gladly have
+accepted a notable sum in lieu of the service of towns and of the
+fiefholders, but the States made no such offer."
+
+There was evidently a hope that better results might be obtained from
+a new assembly,[5] but none was held and the most earnest endeavours
+of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse enthusiasm for his
+plans. Moreover, when there seemed a prospect that the Netherlands
+might be attacked from France, the sympathy of even the duchess and
+council for offensive operations was chilled. Not only did Margaret
+fail to send her husband the extra supplies demanded, but she decided
+to appropriate the three months' subsidy, the chief item of regular
+ducal revenue, for protection of the Flemish frontier--an action that
+made Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes, indeed, they were
+necessary, but the people must provide them. The subsidy was lawfully
+his and he needed every penny of it. His army had not been destroyed.
+He was simply obliged to strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him.
+Flanders must do her part. They were deaf to this appeal, although a
+generous message was sent saying that if he were hard pressed they
+would go in person to rescue him from danger.
+
+The story of the assembly of the Estates of the two Burgundies is
+equally interesting as a picture of the clash between sovereign will
+and popular unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money-boxes.[6]
+The deputies convened at Salins on July 8th, in the presence of the
+duke himself. The session was opened by Jean de Grey, the president
+of the _parlement_ of the duchy, with a brief statement of the
+sovereign's needs. Then Charles took the floor, and delivered a
+tremendous harangue with a marvellous command of language. Panigarola
+declared that his allusions to parallel crises in ancient times were
+so apt and so fluent that it seemed as though the book of history lay
+opened before him and that he read from its pages.[7] The impression
+he made was plain to see.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF NANCY CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF
+ST. GERMAIN DES PRES (COMINES-LENGLET, III.)]
+
+His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disasters were open and
+aboveboard this time. There was no such pretence put forward as the
+escort of Mary. The argument was that any ruler, backed by his people
+unanimous in their willingness to give their last jewel for public
+purposes, must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc.
+
+His learned and able discourse was well received, according to other
+reporters besides the Milanese, but there was no hearty yielding to
+sentiment in the reply. Four days were consumed in deliberation before
+that was ready on July 12th. They had certainly considered that the
+grant of 100,000 florins annually for six years, accorded two years
+previously, was their share. But in view of the duke's appeal, they
+would endeavour to aid him. Let him stipulate which cities he wished
+fortified and they would assume charge of the work. Two favours they
+begged--that Charles should not rashly expose his person "for he was
+the sole prince of his glorious House," and that he should be ready
+to receive overtures of peace. "We will give life and property for
+defence, but we implore you to take no offensive step." Charles did
+not, perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and of his
+judgment that these words implied.
+
+Financial stress was not the duke's only difficulty in 1476. The
+defection of his allies continued, Yolande--that former good friend of
+his--was now a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to restore
+her to freedom and to her son's estates. Not that her restraint was
+in itself hard to bear. At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from
+Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished, except to depart.
+Couriers, too, were at her service apparently, who carried uninspected
+letters to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XI. Commines
+says that she hesitated to take refuge with the last lest he should
+promptly return her to Burgundian "protection." Yet her brother's
+hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong assurance against such
+action. Louis XI. was never so genial as when hearing some ill of
+Charles. "From what I have learned, I believe his Turk, his devil
+in this world, the person he loathes most intensely, is the Duke of
+Burgundy, with whom he can never live in amity." These words were sent
+by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan,[8] who was also turning slowly,
+with some periods of hesitation, to an alliance with Louis, now
+engaged in "following the hare with a cart."[9]
+
+On his side the king declared that he had no intention of troubling
+further about his obligations to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has himself
+broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a war when I please. But I
+have thought it best to temporise."
+
+[Illustration: COLUMN COMMEMORATING CHARLES AT NANCY AFTER THE DRAWING
+BY PERNOT]
+
+In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper and deeper into
+negotiations with any and every one whom he could turn against
+Charles. In October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne, --the
+territory that Edward IV. had failed to consign to the duke's
+sovereignty,--made a descent on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy.
+There was no attempt to stay her departure, and she was scrupulous, so
+it is said, in leaving money behind to pay for the Burgundian property
+carried off in her train--though it were nothing but an old crossbow.
+"Welcome, Madame the Burgundian," was the fraternal salutation which
+she received on her arrival at her brother's court. She replied that
+she was a good French woman and quite ready to obey his majesty's
+commands.[10]
+
+During the summer, Charles remained at La Riviere exerting every
+effort to levy an army. It was no easy task, and the review held on
+July 27th showed a meagre return for his exertions. But he did not
+slacken his efforts. Lists were immediately drawn up showing the
+vacancies in each company, and his money stress did not prevent
+his offering increased pay as an extra inducement to recruits. "An
+excellent means of encouragement," comments Panigarola.
+
+The necessity for his preparations was evident. An opportune legacy
+inherited by Rene of Lorraine enabled that dispossessed prince to work
+to better advantage than he had been able to do since Charles had
+convened the Estates of Lorraine at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day
+of the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a Swiss diet at
+Fribourg adopted resolutions regarding, a closer alliance with
+Rene.[11] Louis XI. ostensibly maintained his truce with Charles but
+he had intimated that a French army would wait in Dauphine ready "to
+help adjust the affairs of Savoy," and, at about the same time when
+Yolande was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss embassy,
+so that Rene did not feel himself without support as he advanced to
+recover his city.
+
+The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were weak and indifferent--a
+brief siege, and the capital of Lorraine capitulated to Duke Rene.
+Charles was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His forces, too,
+were a mere shadow. Three to four thousand men rallied round him in
+the Franche-Comte, a few hundred joined him in Burgundy, and as he
+skirted the frontier of Champagne he received slight reinforcements
+from Luxemburg. Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops, and
+the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs as had, individually,
+respected the duke's appeal. In all, the forces at Charles's
+disposition amounted to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at
+Neuss or at Granson.
+
+At a diet of October 17th, the compact between Rene and the Swiss was
+confirmed, and the former was assured of efficient aid to help him
+repulse Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was need. The city
+of Toul refused admission to both dukes, but furnished provision for
+Charles's troops, so that for the moment he was the better off of the
+two. Rene then proceeded to provision Nancy and to prepare it for a
+siege, while he himself proceeded to Pont-a-Mousson, and for several
+days the two adversaries were only separated by the Moselle. Charles's
+army was augmented daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and
+England, and by fragments of the garrisons of the towns in Lorraine
+that had yielded to Rene and the latter fell back, little by little.
+Charles in his turn held Pont-a-Mousson, and proceeded along the road
+to Nancy, not deterred by the Lorrainers.
+
+It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Burgundy laid siege for the
+second time to Nancy. In thus entering into active hostilities, he was
+ignoring the advice of his councillors who were unanimous in begging
+him to devote the winter months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or
+Flanders. His position was really very dangerous. He had no base on
+which to rest as he had recovered no towns except Pont-a-Mousson. But
+he ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault after assault upon
+Nancy--all most valiantly repulsed. Within the walls, there was an
+amazing display of courage, energy, and good humour. As a matter of
+fact, the duke's reputation had waned, while the fear of his cruelty
+emboldened the burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate would
+be better than falling into his hands, was the general opinion.
+
+Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the garrisons seized every
+occasion to harry the Burgundians. Familiar with the lay of the land,
+with every cross-road and by-path, they were able to lie in wait for
+the foragers and to do much damage. Four hundred cavaliers, coming
+up from Burgundy, were attacked by one Malhortie de Roziere, and
+literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed sides with ease.
+Only a few escaped to report the fate of the others to Charles. Not
+long after, Malhortie, encouraged by this success, crept up to the
+Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and captured a goodly number
+of horses.
+
+The troops on which Charles counted most confidently were
+Campobasso's. Several attempts were made to warn him that treachery
+was possible in that quarter if the commander were too much
+exasperated by delays in payment, too much tried by the ill-temper of
+his employer. But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what was
+passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting the moment for his final
+defection, the Italian found it possible to enter into communication
+with Rene and to retard the operations of the siege so as to give time
+for the advance of the army of relief.
+
+The weather of this year was a marked contrast to the mild season of
+1473. The winter set in early and the cold became very severe, almost
+at once. Their sufferings made the burghers very impatient for the
+relief of whose coming they could get no certain assurance. The
+Burgundian lines were held so rigidly that the interchange of messages
+between the city and her friends was rendered very difficult.[12] One
+Suffren de Baschi tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged
+that Rene was levying troops in Switzerland and would soon be with
+them. Baschi fell into the duke's hands and was immediately hanged.
+One story says that Campobasso was among the interceders for his life
+and received a box on the ear for his pains, an insult that proved the
+last straw in his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however, declares
+that the Italian urged the death of the captive, fearful of the
+premature betrayal of his own intended treachery.
+
+This execution was one of those arbitrary acts condemned by public
+opinion as contrary to the code of warfare. Intense indignation among
+the Lorrainers and the Swiss forced Rene to retaliatory measures, and
+he ordered the execution of all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred
+and twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing an inscription
+to the effect that their death was the work of _le temeraire_. The
+rancour of the proceedings became terrible. No quarter was given in
+any engagements. Slaughter was the only thought on either side.
+
+Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a draper of Mirecourt,
+proved more successful than Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information,
+that Rene's army would leave Basel on December 26th, put heart into
+the beseiged and the bells rang out joyfully.
+
+Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at mediation between the
+combatants. The King of Portugal,[13] nephew of Isabella, appeared at
+his cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to the carnage, and
+in the name of humanity to stop a war that was horrible to all the
+world. In spite of his own stress, Charles managed to give his kinsman
+a splendid reception, but he waved aside his petition, and simply
+invited him to join him in his campaign.
+
+A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to march from Basel to Nancy,
+across the plains of Alsace. Meantime Rene had rallied about four
+thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to this was added an
+Alsatian force which had joined him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port.
+They were a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by routing
+a few Burgundians out of the houses where they had hidden, and
+massacring them publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles, was
+easily put to flight.
+
+On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh troops had reached St.
+Nicolas. He showed assurance, arrogance, and negligence. His belief in
+his star was fully restored. He actually did not take the trouble to
+try once more to ascertain the exact strength of the enemy. He had
+commissioned the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him at Basel, and
+refused to credit the statement that the Swiss were throwing in their
+fortunes with Rene. He thought that "the Child," as he contemptuously
+termed his adversary, had simply gone right and left to hire
+mercenaries, and he rather ridiculed the idea of taking such
+_canaille_ seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of a
+gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish them once for all.[14]
+
+It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were a different and far
+less efficient body than the volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
+French gold, scattered freely, had done its work in exciting the
+cupidity of every man who could bear arms. There were some staunch
+leaders, like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein, but their kind
+was in the minority. Berne aided with money rather than with men, but
+she was not a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages to
+ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was evident in every quarter. As
+the troops made their way over the Jura their behaviour showed that
+the late splendid booty had affected them. Plunder was their aim. When
+Rene reviewed these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending
+officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor of Alsace.[15]
+Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed over to the Duke of Lorraine, who
+appointed him marshal.
+
+On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held a council meeting. The
+opinion of the wisest, already given on previous occasions, was urged
+again:
+
+    "Do not risk battle. Rene is poor. If there are no immediate
+    engagements, his mercenaries will abandon him for lack of pay.
+    Raise the siege and depart for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army
+    can rest and be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will
+    be easy to fall upon Rene deprived of his troops."
+
+Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments. He was determined on
+facing the issue at once. Leaving a small force to sustain the siege,
+he ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of the 4th and a
+movement made towards St.-Nicolas. He selected a ground favourable
+for the manipulation of a large body, and placed his artillery on a
+plateau situated between Jarville and Neuville. It was not a good
+position, being hedged in on the right and in front by woods which
+could conceal the movements of a foe without impeding them. Only one
+way of retreat was open--towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's
+last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to cross several small
+streams and deceptive marshes, half frozen as they were, besides the
+river Meurthe, a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the
+flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread surprise, while
+in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe was more than possible.
+Curiously, the precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of
+Morat were repeated here--proof that Charles had not the qualities of
+a general who could learn by experience.[16]
+
+The exact force at his disposal on this occasion has been variously
+estimated. Considering the ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during
+the siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual combatants
+did not number more than ten thousand, all told. And only half of
+these were of any value--two thousand men under Galeotto, and
+three thousand Burgundians commanded by Charles and his immediate
+lieutenants. The remainder were unreliable mercenaries and the still
+more unreliable troops of Campobasso already pledged to the foe. La
+Marche estimates Rene's force at twelve thousand and adds: "The Duke
+of Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience, he had not two
+thousand fighting men."[17]
+
+The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by a Lorrainer, Vautrin
+Wuisse. The first manoeuvre was to divert the foe and turn him towards
+the woods, and then to attack his centre, which would at the same
+time be pressed at the front by the Lorraine forces, headed by Rene
+himself. The plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that they dared
+take the offensive, Charles was alert to the harsh cries of the "bull"
+of Uri and the "cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across the
+woods. A sudden presentiment saddened him. Putting on his helmet, he
+accidentally knocked off the lion bearing the legend _Hoc est signum
+Dei_. He replaced it and plunged into the melee.
+
+The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops and the duke's were the
+only ones to make sturdy resistance. The right wing of the army gave
+way under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry, "_Sauve qui
+pent_!" raised possibly by Campobasso's traitors, produced a terrible
+rout. Three quarters of the troops were in flight, while the duke
+still fought on with superhuman ferocity.
+
+Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected his own mercenaries
+as best he could, while Campobasso completed the treason that he had
+plotted with Rene, which had been partially accomplished four days
+previously, and calmly took up his position on the bridge of Bouxieres
+on the Meurthe, to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then the
+besieged made a sudden sortie which increased the disorder. The battle
+proper was of short duration, with little bloodshed, but the pursuit
+was sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian army had left no
+loophole open for retreat.
+
+The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as Bouxieres and
+inflicted carnage right and left on the route. It was easy work. The
+morasses were traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their arms,
+found it impossible to free themselves, when they once were entangled.
+They fell like flies before the fury of the mountaineers. The
+Lorrainers and Alsatians were more humane or more mercenary, for they
+took prisoners instead of killing indiscriminately. Charles fought
+desperately to the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged into
+the thick of the fight and risked his life in a reckless manner,
+but there is absolute uncertainty as to how he met his death. It is
+generally accepted that the last person to see him alive was one
+Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan captain. This
+lad, with an extra helmet swung over his shoulder, found himself
+close to the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops, noticed his horse
+stumble, was sure that the rider fell. The next moment, Colonna's
+attention was diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and knew no
+more of the day's events. The figure of Charles of Burgundy disappears
+from the view of man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the
+closing scenes of his life.
+
+At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine rode into the rescued
+city and re-entered his palace. At the gates was heaped up a ghastly
+memorial of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion to
+his cause. This was a pile of the bones of the foul animals they had
+consumed when other food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to
+their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe now became Rene's
+chief anxiety, and he despatched messengers to Metz and elsewhere
+to find out where Charles had taken refuge. The reports were all
+negative. The first positive assurance that the duke was dead came
+from young Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself introduced into
+Rene's presence on Monday evening. The page told his tale and declared
+that he could point out the precise place where he had seen the Duke
+of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, January 7th, a
+party went forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and were
+guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool which he asserted confidently
+was the very spot where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evidence
+went to give corroboration to his word, for the dozen or more bodies
+that lay strewn along the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool
+were close friends and followers of the duke, men who would, in all
+probability, have stayed faithfully by their master's person, a
+volunteer bodyguard as long as they drew breath. These bodies were all
+stripped naked. Harpies had already gathered what plunder they could
+find, and no apparel or accoutrements were left to show the difference
+in rank between noble and page. But the faces were recognisable and
+they were identified as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court.
+Separated from this group by a little space at the very edge of the
+pool, was another naked body in still more doleful plight. The face
+was disfigured beyond all semblance of what it might have been in
+life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one was imbedded in the frozen
+slime. Yet there was evidence on the poor forsaken remains that
+convinced the searchers that this was indeed the mortal part of the
+great duke. Two wounds from a pick and a blow above the ear--inflicted
+by "one named Humbert"--showed how death had been caused. The missing
+teeth corresponded to those lost by Charles, there was a scar just
+where he had received his wound at Montl'hery, the finger nails were
+long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula on the groin, and an
+ingrowing nail were additional marks of identification,--six definite
+proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this wretched sight, on that
+January morning, were men intimately acquainted with the duke's
+person.
+
+    "There were his physician, a Portuguese named Mathieu, and his
+    valets, besides Olivier de la Marche[18] and Denys his chaplain
+    who were taken thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It
+    has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and to know it
+    better it [the body] has been bathed in warm water and good wine
+    and cleansed. In that state it was recognisable by all who
+    had previously seen and known him. The page who had given the
+    information was taken to the king. Had it not been for him it
+    would never have been known what had become of him considering the
+    state and the place where he was found."[19]
+
+Before the body could be freed from the ice in which it was imbedded,
+implements had to be brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles hastened
+to the spot, when they heard the tidings, to show honour to the man
+who had been their accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted
+as escort as the burden was carried into the town and placed in a
+suitable chamber in the home of one George Marquiez. There seems to
+have been no insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference in
+the proceedings. The very spot where the bier rested for a moment was
+marked with a little black cross.
+
+As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became evident--a deep cut
+from a halberd in the head, spear thrusts through the thighs and
+abdomen--proofs of the closeness of the last struggle. When all the
+dignity possible had been given to the miserable human fragment and
+the chamber hung with conventional mourning, Rene came thither clad
+in black garments. Kneeling by the bier, he said: "Would to God, fair
+cousin, that your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you to the
+condition in which I see you."
+
+For five days the body lay in state before the high altar of the
+church of St. George, and the obsequies that followed were attended by
+Rene and his nobles, and the coffin was honourably placed among the
+ducal dead.
+
+Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried with the bones to
+which his name was given. When the Swiss turned their way homeward,
+their farewell words to Rene were: "If the Duke of Burgundy has
+escaped and should reopen war, tell us." "If he has assured his
+safety," Rene answered, "we will fight again when summer comes." There
+was no delay, however, in the division of the spoils. The Burgundian
+treasure was distributed among Rene's allies, and the ignorant
+soldiers received articles worth many times their pay, which they, in
+many cases, disposed of for an infinitesimal part of their value.
+
+As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and Mary of Burgundy wrote
+to Louis XI. from Ghent:
+
+"We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in the hands of his
+enemies." Other rumours continued to be current, not only for weeks
+but for years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that the vanished
+duke had retired to Brucsal in Swabia, where he led an austere life,
+_genus vitae horridum atque asperum_. Bets were made, too, on the
+chances of his return.[20]
+
+Louis XI. was a very pleasant person when news was brought him that he
+liked to hear. Commines and Bouchage together had told him about the
+defeat of Morat and had each received two hundred silver marks. It was
+a Seigneur de Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters from
+Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It was "really difficult for the
+king to keep his countenance so surprised was he with joy."[21] His
+letter to Craon was written on January 9th and ran as follows.[22]
+
+    "M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter and heard
+    the good news that you impart to me, for which I thank you as much
+    as I can. Now is the time to use all your five natural senses to
+    deliver the duchy and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the
+    duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne take your
+    troops and put yourselves within the land, and, if you love me,
+    keep as good order among your men as if you were in Paris, and
+    prove that I mean to treat them [the Burgundians] better than any
+    one in my realm."
+
+The "five natural senses" of the king's lieutenant were employed most
+loyally to his master's service. The duchy of Burgundy returned to the
+French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were convened by Louis XI,
+and there was no longer any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful
+peer in France.
+
+With the exception of Guelders the lands acquired by Charles fell
+away, but the remainder as inherited by him passed under the rule of
+his daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the House of Austria,
+through which it passed finally to the King of Spain.
+
+On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Burgundy had only just
+passed middle life. He was forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six
+days old, an age when a man has the right to look forward to new
+achievements. Every circumstance of the dreary and premature death was
+in glaring contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in insolent
+contradiction to his own estimation of the obligations assumed by Fate
+in his behalf. In certain details of the catastrophe there are, of
+course, accidents. No one could have predicted that the duke whose
+chief title was a synonym for magnificence, that this cherished heir
+to his House, who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his
+epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours long, unattended and
+uncared-for, naked and frozen on a bed of congealed mud, with a winter
+sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it overwhelmed him was too
+appalling for any foresight. But the great dream of the man's life
+that vanished with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere
+chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended by the battle of
+Nancy, other means of destruction, inevitable and sure, would have
+appeared. The projected erection of a solidified kingdom stretching
+from the North Sea to Switzerland and possibly to the Mediterranean,
+one that could hold the balance of power between France and Germany,
+contained elements of disintegration, latent at its foundation. It is
+clear, from a consideration of the Duke of Burgundy and his position
+in the Europe of his time, that the materials which he expected to
+mould into a realm were a collection of sentient units. Each separate
+one was instinct with individual life, individual desires, conscious
+of its own minute past, capable of directing its own contracted
+future. That the hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
+had lodged upon a head already dignified by a plurality of similar
+titles, was a mere chance and viewed by the burghers in a wholly
+different light from that in which this same overlord regarded it. The
+fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant, the merchants in
+Flanders, the vintners in Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings
+of an imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds, unmolested
+highways of commerce, vineyards free from the tramp of armies. And
+with their desires fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
+the political centralisation planned by their common ruler, often
+betrayed both ignorance and inconsistency. At various epochs some
+degree of imperialism for the Netherland group had been quite to
+popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and Hainaut, it had been conceded
+that Jacqueline of Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
+conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the exchange of sovereigns
+had been effected in spite of the manifest injustice involved in the
+transaction. But while there was willingness to accept any advantages
+that might accrue to a people from the reputation of a local overlord,
+it was never forgotten for an instant that his relation to his
+subjects was as their own count and strictly limited by conditions
+that had long existed within each petty territory. While Charles
+seemed to be on the straight road towards his goal, the people within
+each body politic of his inherited states were profoundly preoccupied
+with their own local concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
+feared demands upon their internal revenues for external purposes.
+
+It does not seem probable, however, that the abstract question of the
+projected kingdom was ever taken very seriously among those to be
+directly affected by the proposed change. The bars interposed by his
+own subjects in the duke's progress towards royalty were obstructions
+to his successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed, strenuous
+opposition to details was allied to a vague and passive acceptance of
+the whole. Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly as
+a revival, not as a novelty. The previous existence of a kingdom of
+Burgundy was undoubtedly a potent factor in the degree of progress
+made by Charles towards conjuring into new life a reincarnation of
+that ancient realm. Yet it was a factor clothed with a shadow rather
+than with the substance of truth. Geographically there was very little
+in common between the dominion projected more or less definitely in
+1473 and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they had successively
+existed. That of Charles corresponded very nearly to the ancient
+kingdom of Lorraine. Franche-Comte was the only ground common to the
+territories actually held by the duke and to the latest kingdom of
+Burgundy. His possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly beyond the
+limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine. But the old name survived in
+his ducal title, and it was that name that lent a semblance of reality
+to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle kingdom as outlined in the
+duke's mind more or less definitely or as bounded by his ambition.
+
+In retrospect it is clear that more was requisite for the realisation
+of the vision of the wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of
+a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group of lands. A modern
+writer has pointed out how infinitely subtle is the vital principle
+of a nation, one not even to be created by common interests. A
+_Zollverein_ is no _patria_. An element of sentiment is needful, and
+an element of growth.[23] The nation like the individual is the result
+of what has gone before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can
+command respect at home and abroad--that is the capital on which
+is based a national idea. To have wrought in common, to wish to
+accomplish more in the future, are essential conditions to be a
+people. "The existence of a nation is a plebiscite of every day, just
+as the existence of the individual is a perpetual affirmation of
+life."
+
+Now it is evident, in summing up the salient features of this failure,
+that a vital principle was not germinating in the inchoate mass.
+Charles himself never attained the rank of a national hero. More than
+that, with all his individual states, he never had any nation, great
+or small, at his back. Personally he was a man without a country. His
+father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite as French as his
+grandfather, Philip the Hardy, the first Duke of Burgundy out of the
+House of Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended his sway
+to many non-French-speaking peoples and was able to use the Flemish
+speech if it suited his whim. But that was as a condescension and as
+something extraneous. The chief of French peers remained his proudest
+title; his ability to influence French affairs, the task he liked
+best.
+
+His son was quite different in his attitude towards France. He
+minimised his degree of French blood royal. More than once he boasted
+of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock. He had certain
+characteristics of an immigrant, who has abandoned family traditions
+and is proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is to outshine
+what he has inherited. Charles was not exactly a stupid man, but he
+certainly was dazzled by his early surroundings into an overestimate
+of himself, into a conceit that was a tremendous stumbling-block in
+his path. He had not the kind of intelligence that would have enabled
+him to take at their worth the rhetorical phrases of adulation heaped
+upon him on festal occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very
+self-confidence, gave him a high conception of his duties. At his
+accession, he showed a sense of his responsibilities, a definite
+theory of conduct which he fully intended to act upon. His very belief
+in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of purpose. He was
+convinced that he could maintain law, order, justice in his domain,
+and he fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he left out of
+consideration the rights of the people, rights older than his dynasty.
+In his military career, too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest
+bent towards preserving the best conditions possible amid the
+brutalities of warfare. He curbed the soldiers' passions, he protected
+women, and was as relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as
+towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted himself to secure
+impartial equity for all alike. When he gave a promise, he fully
+intended to make his words good. It was only in the face of repeated
+deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous Louis XI. that
+Charles changed for the worse. Exasperated by the knowledge that the
+king's solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no intention of
+fulfilment, he attempted to adopt a similar policy and was singularly
+infelicitous in his imitation. His political methods degenerated into
+mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces, illumined by no clever
+intuition of where to draw the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was
+worth no more than the king's, and words were assuredly at a discount
+just then. A perusal of the international correspondence of the period
+leaves the reader marvelling why time was wasted in covering paper,
+with flimsy, insincere phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no
+true indication of the road to be travelled. There are, however,
+differences in the art of dissimulation and Charles never attained a
+mastery of the science.
+
+The adjective which has attached itself to his name in English in an
+inaccurate rendering of _le temeraire_ which belongs to him in French.
+There were other terms too applied to Charles at different periods of
+his career. He was Charles the Hardy in his early youth, Charles the
+Terrible in those last months when he tried to fortify himself with
+wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all times he might have been
+called Charles the self-absorbed, Charles the solitary. There have
+been many men more passionate, more uncontrolled, than Charles of
+Burgundy, whose personal magnetism yet enabled them to win friends and
+to keep them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure to command
+personal devotion, unquestioning loyalty, was one of his chief
+personal misfortunes. Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found
+many lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son received
+criticism for his faults even from the faithful among his servitors.
+How a reflection of his bearing glows out from the mirror turned
+casually upon him by Commines' skilful hand! Take the glimpse of Louis
+XI. as he lures on St. Pol's messenger to imitate Charles. The Sire
+de Creville inspired by the royal interest in his narration about an
+incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his cheeks, stamps his
+feet in a dictatorial manner, and swears by St. George as he quotes
+the duke's words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines, and a
+Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his liege lord so mocked. It is
+a time when St. Pol is trying to ride three horses at once and
+the French king takes this method to have Charles informed of his
+duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I grow a little deaf," and the
+flattered envoy repeats his dramatic performance in a way to engrave
+it on the memory of the duke's retainer.
+
+[Illustration: THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY]
+
+In thus touching on the traits of his former master, Commines does not
+show malice or even a dislike for the duke. He is much more severe
+about Louis--only he found the latter easier to serve.
+
+In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to have found any
+companionship that affected his life. He is lauded as a faithful
+husband to Isabella of Bourbon but her death seemed to make little
+difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York had the actual
+significance enjoyed by Isabella of Portugal as consort to Philip the
+Good with his notoriously roving fancy.
+
+Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of Burgundy tried to
+stand alone. Perhaps his chief happiness in life was that he never
+knew how insufficient for his desired task he was and how the new art
+of printing, the birth of Erasmus of Rotterdam, were the really great
+events of his brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good fortune
+that he never knew that no splendid achievement gave significance to
+his device: "I have undertaken it"--_Je lay emprins_.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Mem. de la soc. bourg. de geog. et d' hist_. Article by
+A. Cornereau, vi., 229.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Les etats de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, _Etudes et notices
+hist,. des Pays-Bas_, i., I.)
+
+This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pensionary of
+Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of 1476. This so-called
+"States-general" was by no means a legislative assembly. When Philip
+the Good convened deputies from the various states at Bruges in 1463,
+it was to save himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals
+to ask for _aides_. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several
+times before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of
+self-convention and when a constitutional role was assured to the
+body; though not used for many years (_See_ Pirenne, ii., 379.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Pour y penser la nuit jusques aw lendemain_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _S'ils n'avaient point charge limitee quantefois ils
+devaient boire en chemin_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Compte-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. 1,
+1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are proofs that
+another assembly was confidently expected.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gingins la Sarra, ii., 354.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid_., 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro
+avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in
+Kirk, iii., 487.]
+
+[Footnote 9: An Italian phrase signifying to run down his game
+slowly.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Commines, v., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress
+of central Europe, the first of international congresses.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Huguenin Jeune, _Hist. de la guerre de Lorraine_, p.
+217.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking
+Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was refused on
+the score that Charles the Bold was menacing the safety of the French
+frontier. Alphonse's prayer for peace might have been instigated by
+thoughts of his own needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p.
+386.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Scott's _Anne of Geierstein_. This is the man whom
+the author makes the appointed instrument of the _Vehmgericht_ to slay
+Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Toutey, p. 388.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Memoires_, iii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 18: It is strange that La Marche does not make more of
+this scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The duke
+remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like the poorest
+man in the world and I was taken and others." iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _La deconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par
+Monseigneur de Lorraine_. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493.
+
+This brief account was drawn up evidently before the duke's burial was
+known by the writer. It may have been written solely to please Louis
+XI. Still there is a simplicity about it that holds the attention,
+in spite of the fact that the story is not accepted by critical
+historians.]
+
+[Footnote 20: La Marche, iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Comines v., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres_ vi., p. 111.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Renan, _Qu'est ce qu'une nation_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the later years
+of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of Charles the Bold. Fairly
+adequate bibliographies can be found in Pirenne and Molinier (see
+list). The following list contains the full titles of the chief works
+to which direct reference is made in the text but falls far short of a
+complete description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which
+has coloured the treatment of the subject.
+
+When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by other writers the
+reference is to the later books only.
+
+_Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France_. Vol. i. (Paris, 1834.)
+Contains _Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du siege de Beauvais,
+en_ 1472, etc.
+
+BARANTE, M. DE. _Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de
+Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de Reiffenberg._ 6th ed. 10
+vols. (Brussels, 1835.)
+
+BASIN, THOMAS, 1412-1491. _Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de
+Louis XI._ (Latin text). Ed. J.E.J. Quicherat. 2 vols. (Paris, 1855.)
+
+BEAUCOURT, G. DU FRESNE, MARQUIS DE. _Histoire de Charles VII_ . 6
+vols. (Paris, 1890.)
+
+BLOK, P.J. _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourgondisch-Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij._ (The Hague, 1884.)
+
+BRANTOME, PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, SEIGNEUR DE. _OEuvres completes de_.
+Ed. Ludovic Lalanne. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+BUDT, ADRIAN DE. _Chronicon Flandriae. De Smet Corpus chron. Flandr.
+I_. (Brussels, 1837-65.)
+
+BUSSIERE, BARON MARIE-THEODORE DE. _Histoire de la ligue formee contre
+Charles le temeraire_. (Paris, 1846.)
+
+_Cent nouvelles nouvelles, Les_. Edition revue sur les textes
+originaux, etc., par A.J.V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris, 1841.)
+
+CHABEUF, H. _Deux portraits bourguignons du XV^{e} siecle_. (Dijon,
+1893.) (Memoires de la societe bourguignonne de geographie et
+d'histoire. Vol. ix.)
+
+CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES, 1404-1475. _OEuvres._ (Ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove.)
+8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV._ 2 vols. (Hamburg,
+1843.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Urkunden zur Geschichte von Oesterreich, Steiermark,_
+etc. [Monumenta Habsburgica.] 2 vols. (Vienna, 1849.)
+
+CLEMART, PIERRE. _Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_. (Paris, 1873.)
+
+_Collection de documents inedits sur l'histoire de France_.
+"Melanges." (Ed. M. Champollion-Figeac.) (Paris, 1843.)
+
+COMMINES, PHILIP DE. _The Historie of_, Englished by Thomas Dannett.
+Anno 1596. With an introduction by Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.)
+
+_Memoires de Philippe de Comines,_ 1447-1511. Nouvelle edition par
+Messieurs Godefroy, augmentee par M. l'Abbe Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4
+vols. Ref. (Comines-Lenglet.) (Paris, 1747.)
+
+This edition contains many letters, documents, etc., collected by
+M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy has been impugned in many
+instances. Those cited have been taken with a view to the later
+criticism upon them.
+
+_Memoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle edition publiee avec
+une introduction et des notes par Bernard de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref.
+(Commynes-Mandrot.) (Paris, 1901.)
+
+_Memoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle edition, revue sur les
+manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale, etc., par Mlle. Dupont. 3 vols.
+Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.) (Paris, 1840.)
+
+CORNEREAU, A. _Le palais des etats de Bourgogne a Dijon_. (Dijon,
+1890.) (Memoires de la soc. bourguignonne de geog. et d'hist., v.)
+
+COURTEPEE, M. _Description, generale et particuliere du duche de
+Bourgogne_. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.)
+
+DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE. _Oeuvres completes_. (Paris, 1878- 1904.) (Soc.
+des anciens textes francais.) 11 vols.
+
+DES MAREZ, G. _L'organisation du travail a Bruxelles au XV^{e}
+siecle_. (Bruxelles, 1903-04.) (Memoires couronnes de l'acad. royale
+de Belgique. Vol. lxv.-lxvi.)
+
+DEWEZ, M. _Histoire particuliere des provinces belgiques sous le
+gouvernement des ducs et des comtes, pour servir de complement a
+l'histoire generale_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1834.)
+
+DU CLERCQ, JACQUES, 1420-1501. _Memoires_. (Ed. Baron F. de
+Reiffenberg.) 4 vols. (Brussels, 1823.)
+
+DUCLOS, CHARLES P. _(Oeuvres completes de_. Nouvelle edition. 9 vols.
+(Paris, 1820.)
+
+ESCOUCHY, MATHIEU D'(DE COUCY). _Chronique_. (1420?-1482 +.) (Ed. G.
+du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris, 1863.) (Soc. de l'hist. de
+France.)
+
+FREDERICQ, PAUL. _Le role politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_.
+(Brussels, 1875.)
+
+FREEMAN, EDWARD A. _The Historical Geography of Europe._ 2 vols. 3d
+edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 1903.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pieces inedites,_
+etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Collection des voyages des souverains des
+Pays-Bas._ 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Documents inedits concernant l'histoire de la
+Belgique_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Etudes et notices historiques concernant l'histoire
+des Pays-Bas._ 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.)
+
+_Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium_. (Martene Coll. Vol. iv.) (Paris,
+1729.).
+
+GINGINS LA SARRA, LE BARON DE FREDERIC DE, Ed. _Depeches des
+ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de Charles le Hardi_,
+1474-1477. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.)
+
+GOLLUT, M. LOYS. _Les memoires historiques de la republique sequanoise
+et des princes de la Franche-Comte de Bourgogne._ (Arbois, 1846.)
+
+JEUNE, HUGUENIN. _Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine et du siege de
+Nancy, par Charles le Temeraire, duc de Bourgogne,_ 1473-1477. (Metz,
+1837.)
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, LE BARON. [Ed. of works of Chastellain, Budt,
+etc.]; see article in _Bulletin de l'academie royale de Belgique_,
+1887, etc.
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE. _Histoire de Flandre_. 5 vols. (Brussels,
+1853-54.)
+
+KIRK, JOHN FOSTER. _History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy_. 3
+vols. (Philadelphia, 1864-1868.)
+
+LABORDE (L.E.S.J.), COMTE DE. _Les ducs de Bourgogne: Etudes sur les
+lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le XV^{e} siecle_, etc.
+"Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.)
+
+LACOMBLET, TH. J. _Urkundenbuch fuer die Geschichte des Niederrheins._
+4 vols. (Duesseldorf, 1848.)
+
+LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE, 1422-1502. _Memoires._ (1435-1488.) Paris,
+1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 vols.
+
+LAVISSE, ERNEST. _Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'a la
+revolution_. Publiee avec la collaboration de MM. Bayet, Block, Carre,
+Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Luchaire, Mariejol, Petit-Dutaillis,
+etc. (Paris, 1893-.)
+
+The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI. is written
+by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University of Lille.
+(Reference used, Lavisse, IV^{11}.) (Paris, 1902.)
+
+LE FEVRE, JEAN, SEIGNEUR DE ST. REMY. (_Toison d'or._) (1395-1463.)
+_Chronique._ 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+LE ROUX DE LINCY, A.J.V. _Chants historiques sur les regnes de Charles
+VII. et de Louis XI_.
+
+_Lettres de Louis XI_. (Paris, 1883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen, et
+Etienne Charavay,
+
+LOOMIS, LOUISE ROPES. _Medieval Hellenism_. (Columbia University,
+1906.)
+
+MARTENE, EDMUND. _Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum, Historicorum,
+Dogmaticorum, Moralium, Amplissium Collectio_. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.)
+
+_Memoires et documents publies par la societe d'histoire de la suisse
+romande_. Vol. viii. "Melanges." (Lausanne, 1849.)
+
+MEYER, J. _Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandricarum_. (Antwerp,
+1561.)
+
+MOLINET, JEAN. _Chronique_ (1474-1506.) (Paris, 1824-29.)
+
+This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting especially
+for the siege of Neuss.
+
+MONSTRELET, ENGUERRAND DE (d. 1453). _La Chronique_. (Paris, 1861.)
+
+MOLINIER, AUGUSTE. _Les sources de l'histoire de France des origines
+aux guerres d'Italie_. Vols. iv., v., 1461-1494. (Paris, 1904.)
+
+_Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fuer aeltere deutsche Geschichtskunde_.
+Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.)
+
+OMAN, CHARLES W.C. _Warwick the Kingmaker_. 1890. ONUFRIUS DE SANCTA
+CROCE, Bishop of Tricaria. _Memoire sur les affaires de Liege_ (1468).
+(Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brussels, 1885.)
+
+OUDENBOSCH. _Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, historicorum_, etc.
+_Rerum Leodiensius. Opus Adriani de vetere Buseo_, 1343. See Martene.
+
+PICQUE, CAMILLE. _Memoire sur Philippe de Commines_. (Brussels, 1864.)
+Mem. couronnes par 1'acad. royale de Belgique, vol. xvi.
+
+PIOT, G.J.C., Ed. _Chronycke van Nederlandt_--1565. _Vlaamsche
+Kronijk_--1598. _Collection des chroniques belges_. (Brussels, 1836-.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Histoire de Belgique_. 2 vols. (Brussels, 1903.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique: catalogue
+methodique et chronologique des sources et des ouvrages principaux
+relatifs a l'histoire de tous les Pays-Bas jusqu' en 1598_. (Brussels,
+1902.)
+
+PLANCHER, URBAIN. _Histoire generale et particuliere de Bourgogne avec
+des notes et les preuves justificatives_, etc. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1739.)
+
+POICTIERS, ALIENOR DE. _Les honneurs de la cour_. (In Sainte-Palaye,
+_Memoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie_, vol. 2, pp. 171-267.) (Paris,
+1781.)
+
+POLAIN, M.L. _Recits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liege._ 4th ed.
+(Brussels, 1866.)
+
+PUTNAM, RUTH. _A Medieval Princess_. (New York, 1904.)
+
+RAM, P.F.X. DE. _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de Liege
+sous les princes-eveques Louis de Bourbon et Jean de Horne_, I vol.
+(Brussels, 1844.)
+
+RAMSAY, SIR JAMES H. _Lancaster and York, a Century of English
+History_ (A.D., 1399-1485). 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892.)
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Essai sur les enfants naturels de
+Philippe de Bourgogne_.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or_.
+(Brussels, 1830.)
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Memoire sur le sejour de Louis XI. aux
+Pays-Bas_. Nouveaux mem. de l'acad. royale. 1829.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _De l'etat de la population_, etc., _dans
+les Pays-Bas pendant le XV^{e} et le XVI^{e} siecle_. Mem. de l'acad.
+royale in 4 deg.. (Brussels, 1822.) [Also editor of various works.]
+
+RODT, EMANUEL VON. _Die Feldzuege Karls des Kuehnen_. 2 vols.
+(Schaffhausen, 1843.)
+
+ROLAND, P. AUBERT. _La guerre de Rene II. contre Charles le Hardi_.
+(Luxembourg, 1742.)
+
+ROYE, JEAN DE. _Chronique scandaleuse_. [A journal of the years
+1460-1483.] (Ed. Bernard de Mandrot.) 2 vols. (Paris, 1894-96.)
+
+RUHL, GUSTAVE. _L'expedition des Franchimontoir en 1468_. Soc. d'art
+et d'histoire de Liege, ix. (Liege, 1895.)
+
+RYMER, THOMAS. _Foedera, conventiones, litterae et cujuscumque generis
+acta publica inter reges Angliae et alios quosvis reges_, etc. 20 vols.
+Vol. xi. (London, 1704--1716.)
+
+SCHELLHASE, K. "Zur Trierer Zusammenkunft im Jahre 1473." In _Deutsche
+Zeitschrift fuer Geschichtswissenschaft_. Band VI. (Freiburg, 1891.)
+
+SELDEN, JOHN. _Titles of Honor_. 3d ed. (London, 1672.)
+
+SNOY, RENIER (Snoyus Reinerus). _De rebus Batavicis_. (Frankfurt,
+1620.) In fol.
+
+STEIN, H. "_Olivier de la Marche historien, poete et diplomate
+Bourgogne_." In men couronne etc., par l'acad. royale vol. xlix.
+(Brussels, 1888.)
+
+STOUFF, Louis. _Les comtes de Bourgogne et leurs villes domaniales_.
+(Paris, 1899.)
+
+STOUFF, LOUIS. "Les possessions bourguignonnes dans la vallee du Rhin
+sous Charles le temeraire." _Annales de l'est_. Vols. xvii.-xviii.
+(Paris, 1903.)
+
+TOUTEY, E. _Charles le temeraire et la ligue de Constance._ (Paris,
+1902.)
+
+VANDER MAELEN, PH. _Dictionnaire geographique de la province de
+Liege_. (Brussels, 1831.)
+
+WAGENAAR, JAN. _Vaderlandsche Historie_. 21 vols. (Amsterdam,
+1749-1759.)
+
+WAVRIN, JEHAN DE (living 1465-1471). _Anchiennes croniques de
+Engleterre_. (Ed. Mlle. Dupont.) 3 vols. (Paris, 1858-63.)
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbeville
+Agincourt
+Aire
+Aix
+Alkmaar
+Alsace
+Alsace
+Amboise
+Amiens
+Amont
+Andernach
+Angers
+Anjou
+Anjou, Margaret of, Queen of England
+Anjou, Rene, King of
+Anjou, Yolande of, _see_ Vaudemont
+Antwerp
+Appiano, Antoine d' (Antonius de Aplano), Milanese ambassador
+Aragon
+Argau
+Armagnac
+Arras, Bishop of
+Arras, treaty
+Arson, Jehan d
+Arthur, King
+Artois
+Artois, Bonne of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Atclyff, William
+Ath
+Augsburg, Diet of
+Austria
+Austria, House of
+Austria, Maximilian, Archduke of, _see_ Maximilian
+Austria, Sigismund of (Count of Tyrol;
+  mortgages lands to Charles of Burgundy;
+  resumes sovereignty of mortgaged lands;
+Auvergne, Marshal d'
+Auxonne
+Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d
+Avesnes
+Avranches, Bishop of
+Aydie, Odet d'
+
+
+
+B
+
+"Bad Penny," the, tax
+Balue, Cardinal
+Bar, duchy of
+Barante, cited
+Bari, Duc de (Sforza)
+Barnet, battle of
+Barre, Corneille de la
+Barrois
+Baschi, Suffren de
+Basel
+Basel, Bishop of
+Basin, Thomas, cited
+_Basse-Union_
+Baume-les-Dames
+Bavaria, elector of
+Bavaria, Stephen of
+Beaujeu, Lord of
+Beaumont, chateau of
+Beauvais, siege of
+Bedford, John, Duke of, death of
+Begars, Abbe de
+Belfort
+Belliere, Vicomte de la
+Berne
+Berry, Bailiff of
+Berry, Charles of France, Duke of (Normandy and Guienne),
+  heads League of Public Weal;
+  character of;
+  Normandy given to;
+  won over by Louis;
+  Guienne given to;
+  proposed marriage of;
+  suspicious death of
+Besancon
+Biche, Guillaume de
+Biscay, Bay of
+Black Forest
+Bladet
+Blamont, Count of
+Blaumont, Seigneur de, Marshal of Burgundy
+Boccaccio
+Bohemia
+Bonn
+Borselen, Adrian van, Seigneur of Breda
+Borselen, Frank van (Count of Ostrevant;
+  death of
+Borselen, Henry van
+Boscise
+Bouchage, Monseigneur du
+Boudault, Jehan
+Boulogne
+Bourbon, Catharine of, _see_ Guelders
+Bourbon, Duchess of
+Bourbon, duchy of
+Bourbon, Duke of
+Bourbon, Isabella of (Countess of Charolais), _see_ Charolais
+Bourbon, Louis of, Bishop of Liege
+Bourges
+Bouvignes
+Bouxieres
+Brabant, Anthony, Duke of
+Brabant, duchy of
+Brabant, Duke of
+Brandenburg, Albert, elector of
+Brandenburg, Margrave of
+Brantome, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de, cited
+Breda
+Brederode, Gijsbrecht of
+Breisgau
+Bresse, Philip de
+Brie
+Brisac (Breisach)
+Brittany, Duchess of
+Brittany, duchy of
+Brittany, Francis, Duke of,
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  ally of Charles of Burgundy;
+  is reconciled to Louis XI.
+Broeck, M. van der
+Bruchsal
+Bruges
+_Brunette_
+Brussels
+Bureau, Jehan
+Buren, castle of
+Burgundy, duchy of;
+  Estates of
+Burgundy, Franche-Comte of
+Burgundy, Anthony, Grand Bastard of
+Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Charles the Bold, (Count of Charolais), Duke of;
+  birth of;
+  elected knight of the Golden Fleece;
+  description of;
+  ancestry of;
+  imperial ambitions of;
+  education of;
+  weds Catherine of France;
+  takes official part in public affairs;
+  character of;
+  first campaign of;
+  entrusted with regency of Holland;
+  English sympathies of;
+  weds Isabella of Bourbon;
+  judicial methods of;
+  rejoices over birth of daughter;
+  strained relations with his father;
+  enmity between Louis and ;
+  at coronation of Louis XI;
+  fears plots against his life;
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  allies of;
+  letters of, to cities;
+  to Louis;
+  to Duchess Isabella;
+  to French council;
+  to Duke of Brittany;
+  to Sigismund;
+  to Edward IV.;
+  to Duke of Milan;
+  at battle of Montl'hery;
+  armies of;
+  dictates terms of treaty of Conflans;
+  marches against Liege;
+  destroys Dinant;
+  underestimates character and strength of enemies;
+  accedes to the dukedom;
+  invested with titles;
+  unpopularity of;
+  punishes Ghent;
+  reforms of;
+  weds Margaret of York;
+  ducal state of;
+  demands _aides_;
+  receives Louis at Peronne;
+  crushes revolt of Liege;
+  makes treaty of Peronne;
+  proposed sons-in-law for;
+  signs treaty of St. Omer;
+  takes lands from Sigismund;
+  relations of, with Swiss;
+  invested with Order of the Garter;
+  _Remonstrance_ presented to;
+  embassies to;
+  truces of, with Louis XI;
+  besieges Beauvais;
+  reverses of;
+  acquires duchy of Guelders;
+  negotiations between Emperor Frederic and;
+  interview of, with emperor at Treves;
+  becomes "protector" of Lorraine;
+  interferes in Cologne affairs;
+  visits Alsace;
+  troubles with Alsace;
+  besieges Neuss;
+  war declared against;
+  makes truce with Frederic;
+  defeated at Hericourt;
+  besieges Nancy;
+  allies desert;
+  defeated at Granson;
+  at Morat;
+  convenes states-general;
+  last battle of;
+  death and burial of
+Burgundy, Cornelius, Bastard of
+Burgundy, David of, Bishop of Utrecht
+Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of;
+  ancestry of;
+  English sympathies of;
+  retires to convent;
+  burial of
+Burgundy, John the Fearless, Duke of;
+  death of
+Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Margaret of York, Duchess of
+Burgundy, Mary of (Duchess of Austria;
+  godfather of;
+  proposed marriages for
+Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, marriages of;
+  institutes Order of Golden Fleece;
+  children of;
+  alliance of;
+  signs treaty of Arras;
+  territories acquired by;
+  suppresses revolt in Bruges;
+  wealth and magnificence of;
+  crushes rebellion of Ghent;
+  gives Feast of the Pheasant;
+  plans crusade;
+  chooses second wife for Charles;
+  character of;
+  interferes in affairs of Utrecht, of Liege, and of Cologne;
+  hospitality of, to dauphin;
+  influenced by the Croys;
+  attends coronation of Louis XI;
+  illnesses of;
+  witnesses punishment of Dinant;
+  death and burial of;
+  epitaph of;
+  description of;
+  popularity of
+Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, Duke of
+Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard of
+
+
+
+C
+
+Cagnola
+Calabria, Duke of, _see_ Lorraine
+Calais
+Calixtus III.
+Cambray
+Campobasso, Antonello de, mercenary captain;
+  treachery of
+Canterbury
+Casanova
+Castile
+Castile, Henry IV., King of
+Castile, Jeanne of
+Cat, Gilles le
+Catto, Angelo
+Caux;
+  Bailiff of
+_Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les_
+_Cento Novelle_, by Boccaccio
+Cesner, Balthasar
+Chambery
+Chambes, Helen de
+Chamont, Sire de
+Champagne
+Channel
+Charenton
+Charlemagne
+Charles IV.
+Charles (V.) the Wise, King of France
+Charles VII., King of France,
+  reconciliation of, with Philip of Burgundy;
+  character of;
+  letters of;
+  refuses to join crusade;
+  breach between dauphin and;
+  illness and death of;
+  institutes standing army
+Charles VIII., King of France
+Charles the Simple, King of France
+Charmes
+Charny, Count de
+Charny, Countess de
+Charolais, Catherine of France, Countess of;
+  death and burial of
+Charolais, Count of, _see_ Charles of Burgundy
+Charolais, Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of;
+  death of
+Chassa, Jehan de
+Chastellain, cited;
+  death of
+Chateau-Chinon
+Chatenois
+Chauny,
+Chesny, Guiot du
+Chevelast, Louis de
+Chimay, Count of
+Citeaux, Abbe of
+Clarence, Duke of
+Clery
+Cleves, Adolph, Duke of
+Cleves, duchy of
+Cleves, Marie of, Duchess of Orleans
+Cods, the (party name)
+Colmar
+Cologne
+Cologne, Robert, Archbishop of
+Colonna, Baptista
+Commines (Commynes, Comines), Philip de,
+  enters service of Duke of Burgundy;
+  defection of;
+  cited
+Compiegne
+Compostella
+Conflans, treaty of
+Constance;
+  League of
+Constantinople
+Cordes, Monsieur de
+Corguilleray
+Cornwallis, Lord
+Corvinus, Matthias, King of Hungary
+Cosmo
+Court, Jehan de la
+Coutault, Monsieur
+Craon, Seigneur de
+Cret, Dion du
+Crevecoeur, Philip of
+Crevecoeur, Seigneur of
+Creville, Sire de
+Croy, A. de
+Croy, J. de
+Croy, Philip de
+Croy family, the
+_Cueillotte_, the (tax)
+Cyprus
+
+
+
+D
+
+Damian
+Dammartin, Count of
+  letters of Louis to
+Damme
+Dauphine
+Dauxonne, Jacquemin
+De Bussiere, cited
+Decapole, Alsatian, the
+De la Loere, secretary
+Dendermonde
+Denmark
+Denys, Chaplain
+Deschamps, Eustache, _Lay de Vaillance_ by
+Deventer
+Dieppe
+Diesbach, Ludwig von
+Dijon
+Dinant;
+  destruction of
+Dole
+Dombourc
+Dompaire
+Dordrecht
+Du Clercq, cited
+Duclos, cited
+Dunois, Count
+Dunois, Francois
+Du Plessis, Seigneur
+
+
+
+E
+
+Easterlings
+l'Ecluse
+Edward IV., King of England;
+  aided by Charles of Burgundy;
+  plans conquest of France;
+  character of;
+  makes peace with Louis XI.
+Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales;
+  death of
+Emeries, Antoine Raulin, Sire d' (Aymeries)
+Engelburg
+England alliance of,
+  with Burgundy;
+  with France;
+  French possessions of;
+  commercial relations of;
+  wars of the Roses in
+Ensisheim
+Epinal
+Erasmus
+Escalles, Seigneur d'
+Escouchy, Mathieu d,'
+  cited
+Estampes, Count d'
+Etampes
+Eu
+Eu, Count d'
+_Ewige Richtung_
+Exeter, Duke of
+Eyb, Ludwig von
+
+
+
+F
+
+Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume
+Favre, Jourdain
+Ferrara
+Ferrette, county of
+Flanders;
+  Estates of;
+  commerce of
+Flanders, Count of
+Florence
+Foix, Count de
+Foix, Eleanor de
+Foix, Gaston de
+Forli, Bishop of
+Fossombrone, Bishop of
+Fou, Ivon du
+France, alliance of, with Burgundy;
+  waning power of England in;
+  changed conditions in;
+  assembly of states-general of;
+  invasion of
+France, Admiral of, the
+France, Catherine, Daughter of, _see_ Charolais
+France, Charles of, Duke of Berry, _see_ Berry
+France, Jeanne of
+France, Michelle of, _see_ Burgundy
+Franche-Comte
+Franchimont
+Frankfort
+Frederic, elector palatine
+Frederic III., Emperor;
+  character of;
+  negotiations of, with Charles of Burgundy;
+  meets Charles at Treves;
+  description of;
+  signs treaty with Charles
+Fribourg
+Friesland;
+  title of Lord of
+Friesland, West
+
+
+
+G
+
+_Gabelle_
+Gachard, cited
+Galeotto
+Garter, Order of the
+Gauthier, Dan
+Gautier, cited
+Gaveren;
+  battle of;
+  treaty of
+Gelthauss, Johannes
+Genappe
+Geneva
+Geneva
+Genoa
+Gex
+Ghent;
+  rebellion of;
+  submission of;
+  insurrection in;
+  humiliation of
+Gilles, Frere
+Givry, Sire de
+Gloucester, Duke of
+Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of
+Golden Fleece, Order of the, instituted;
+  assemblies of;
+  knights of
+Gorcum
+Goerlitz, Elizabeth of
+Granson, battle of
+Grave
+Grenoble
+Grey, Jean de
+Groothuse, Louis de la
+Groothuse, Mathys de la
+Guelders, Adolf, Duke of;
+  imprisonment of
+Guelders, Arnold, Duke of;
+  death of
+Guelders, Catharine of Bourbon, Duchess of
+Guelders, Charles of
+Guelders, duchy of
+Guelders, Philippa of
+Guerin, Jean de
+Guienne, Charles of France,  Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Guienne, duchy of
+Guise
+Guisnes
+
+
+
+H
+
+Haarlem
+Hagenbach, Peter von;
+  Governor of  Alsace;
+  trial and execution of
+Hagenbach, Stephen von
+Hague, The
+Hainaut
+Ham
+Hanseatic League
+Heers, Raes de la Riviere, Lord of
+Heinsberg, John of, Bishop of Liege
+Hemricourt, Jacques de
+Henry IV., of Castile
+Henry V., King of England
+Henry VI., King of England;
+  character of;
+  death of
+Henry VII., King of England
+Hericourt
+Hermite, Tristan l'
+Hesdin
+Hesse, Hermann of
+Holland;
+  title of Count of
+Holland, Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of
+Holland, South
+Holland, William VI., Count of
+Honfleur
+Hooks, the (party name)
+Houthem
+Howard, Lord
+Hugonet, Chancellor
+Humbercourt, Seigneur de
+Hungary;
+  King of
+Huy
+
+
+
+I
+
+Innsbruck
+Irma, Jean
+Isabella of Portugal, Duchess  of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+
+
+
+J
+
+Jarville
+Jarville, Sieur de
+Jerusalem
+Joan of Arc
+Joinville, castle  of;
+  treaty of
+Jomini
+Jougne
+Jouvencal
+Juliers, Duke of
+Jura, the
+
+
+
+K
+
+Kaisersberg
+Kennemerland
+Kervyn de Lettenhove, Baron, cited
+Knebel, Johannes R.
+
+
+
+L
+
+La Hogue
+Laisne, Jeanne (Fouquet), _La Hachette_
+Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess of;
+  death of
+La Marche, Olivier de, cited;
+  knighted;
+  loyalty and zeal  of
+Lambert, Bishop of Tongres
+Lancaster, House of
+Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de
+Lanternier, Jehan
+Laon
+La Riviere
+La Rochelle
+Lauffen
+Lauffenberg
+Laurentian Library, the
+Lausanne
+Lavin, Etienne de
+League of Constance
+League of Public Weal
+Le Grand, Abbe
+Le Gros, Jehan
+Le Quesnoy
+Lescun, Seigneur de
+Liege, description of;
+  government of;
+  bishop-princes of;
+  rebellion of;
+  aided by Louis XI.;
+  punishment of
+Liege, bishopric of
+Lille
+Limbourg
+Livornia
+Loches
+Loisey, Anthony de
+Lombardy
+London
+Longjumeau
+Longueval, Hugues de
+Loreille, Thomas de
+Lorraine, duchy of
+Lorraine, Estates of
+Lorraine, Duke of
+Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou,  Duke of (Calabria);
+  death  of
+Lorraine, Rene, Duke of,  accepts Burgundian protection;
+  joins league  against Charles
+Louis XI., King of France;
+  rebels against Charles  VII.;
+  marries Charlotte of Savoy;
+  letters of, to Charles VII.;
+    to Dammartin;
+    to envoys;
+    to Count de Foix;
+    to Lorenzo de' Medici;
+    to Duke of Milan;
+    to Amiens;
+    to chancellor;
+  flees to Duke of Burgundy;
+  generosity of Duke Philip to;
+  is godfather of Mary of Burgundy;
+  tastes of;
+  duplicity of;
+  accession of;
+  ingratitude of;
+  character of;
+  enmity between Charles and;
+  nobles in league against;
+  policy of;
+  signs treaty of Conflans;
+  incites opposition to Charles of Burgundy;
+  breaks treaties;
+  makes visit to Peronne;
+  signs treaty at Peronne;
+  ally of the Swiss;
+  makes nucleus of standing army;
+  aids Earl of Warwick and Margaret of Anjou;
+  birth of son of;
+  makes truce with Charles;
+  suspected of death of brother;
+  rewards Beauvais;
+  wins over Edward IV.;
+  rejoices in death of Charles
+Louvain;
+  University of
+Lower Union, the, _see_ Basse-Union
+Lucerne
+Lude, Seigneur de
+Luxemburg, duchy of
+Luxemburg, John of
+Luxeuil
+Luzine River, the
+Lyme
+Lyons
+
+
+
+M
+
+Maestricht
+Maine
+Malhortie
+Mandrot, Bernard Edouard,
+  editor of Commynes' _Memoires, Jean de Roye_, etc.,
+  cited
+Manton, Seigneur de
+Marchant, Ythier
+Marck, Adolph de la
+Marne River, the
+Marquiez, George
+Mas, Gilles du
+Mathieu
+Maximilian, Archduke of Austria;
+  proposed marriage of
+Mayence
+Mayence, Archbishop of
+Mayence, Duke of
+Mazilles, Jehan de
+Mechlin
+Medici, Lorenzo de'
+Metz
+Metz
+Meurin, secretary to Louis XI.
+Meurthe River, the
+Meuse River, the
+Meyer, J., cited
+Michel, the Rhetorician, cited
+Middelburg
+Milan
+Milan
+Mirecourt
+Mongleive
+Mons
+Montbazon
+Montereau, bridge of
+Montfort, Ulrich von
+Montgomery, Sir Thomas  (Mongomere)
+Montl'hery, battle of
+Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres
+Morat, battle of
+Morges
+Morvilliers, Chancellor
+Moselle River, the
+Moutils-les-Tours
+Mulhouse
+
+
+
+N
+
+Namur
+Namur
+Nancy;
+  sieges of;
+  battle of
+Naples
+Naples, King of
+Napoleon
+Narbonne, Archbishop of
+Nassau, Engelbert of
+Nassau, John of
+_Nations_, the
+Nesle
+Netherlands, the;
+  states-general  of
+Neufchatel
+Neufchatel, Isabelle of
+Neuss
+Neuville
+Nevers
+Nevers, Charles, Count of
+Neville, Anne
+Nice
+Nimwegen
+Norfolk, Duchess of
+Normandy, Charles of France, Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Normandy, duchy of
+Norway
+Noseret
+Noyon
+Nuremberg
+
+
+
+O
+
+Obernai
+Oise River, the
+Onofrio de Santa Croce
+Orange, Prince of
+Oriole, Pierre d'
+Orleans
+Orleans, duchy of
+Orleans, Duke of
+Osterlings, the
+Ostrevant, Count of, _see_ Borselen
+Oudenarde
+Ourre, Gerard
+Oxford
+
+
+
+P
+
+Palatinate, the
+Palatine, Count;
+  the elector;
+  Frederic, elector
+Panigarola, Johannes Petrus,
+  Milanese ambassador, cited
+Paris
+Paris, University of
+Paston, Sir John, letters of
+Paston, John, the younger
+  (brother of above), letter of
+Paston, Margaret
+Pavia
+Pellet, Jean
+Pepin
+Perdriel, Henry
+Perigny
+Perigord
+Peronne, interview of Louis XI. and Charles at;
+  treaty of
+"Peronne, the Peace of"
+Perrenet
+Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author of Vol. IV^{II}, Lavisse,
+    _Hist. de France, see_ Lavisse.
+Petitpas
+Petrasanta, Franciscus, Milanese ambassador
+Pheasant, Feast of the
+Picardy
+Picquigny
+Plessis-les-Tours
+Pleume
+Podiebrad, George, ex-king of Bohemia
+Poictiers, Alienor de
+Poinsot, Jean
+Poitiers
+Poland
+Pont-a-Mousson
+Pont de Ce
+Porcupine, Order of the
+Portinari, Thomas
+Portugal
+Portugal, Alphonse V., King of
+Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Pot, Philip de
+Poucque, castle of
+Prussia
+Public Weal, War of, _see_ League
+
+
+
+Q
+
+Quaux River, the
+Quercy
+Quievrain, Seigneur de
+Quingey, Simon de
+
+
+
+R
+
+Rampart, Jean
+Ratellois
+Ratisbon
+Ravestein, Madame de
+Ravestein, Monseigneur de
+Renty, Monseigneur de
+Rethel
+Rheims
+Rheims, Archbishop of
+Rheinfelden
+Rhine, the;
+  Valley
+Rhinelands, the
+Rhodes
+Rivers, Earl
+Roche, Henri de la
+Rochefort
+Rochefort, Sire of
+Rochefoucauld
+Roelants, Gort
+Romans, King of the
+Rome
+Romont, Count of
+Romorantin
+Roses, Wars of the
+Rossillon
+Rottelin, Marquise Hugues de
+Rotterdam
+Rouen
+Rousillon
+Rouvre
+Roye
+Roziere, Malhortie de
+Rubempre, the bastard of
+Rubempre, Jehan de
+Ruple, G.
+Russia
+
+
+
+S
+
+Saeckingen
+St. Bavon, Abbot of
+Ste. Beuve, cited
+St. Blaise, Abbe of
+St. Claude
+St. Cloud
+St. Denis
+St. Lievin, feast of
+St. Michel-sur-Loire
+St. Nicolas-du-Port
+St. Omer;
+  treaty of
+St. Pol, Count of
+  made constable of France;
+  treachery of;
+  execution of
+St. Quentin
+St. Remy, Jean le Fevre, Seigneur de
+St. Thierry
+St. Trond
+Sale, Anthony de la
+Salesart
+Salins
+Salisbury, Bishop of
+Savoy, Charlotte of, marries the dauphin
+Savoy, duchy of
+Savoy, dukes of
+Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of;
+  ally of Charles the Bold;
+  kidnapped;
+  rescued
+Saxony, Duke of
+Saxony, elector of
+Schellhass, Karl
+Schiedam
+Schlestadt
+Scotland, Eleanor of, wife of Sigismund of Austria
+Scotland, Margaret of, wife of Louis, the dauphin
+Seine River, the
+Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke of Milan
+Sicily
+Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, _see_ Austria
+Sigismund, Emperor
+Sluis
+Snoy, Renier, cited
+Soleure
+Somerset, Duke of
+Somme, towns on the river,
+  ceded to Duke of Burgundy;
+  redemption of towns on the
+Sorel, Agnes
+Soulz, Rudolf de
+Spain
+Spain, King of
+Stein, Hertnid von
+Stein, Rudolph de
+Stephen, Martin
+Strasburg
+Strasburg, Bishop of
+Stuttgart
+Sundgau, the
+Swabia
+Swiss, the, valour of;
+  victories of;
+  allies of Louis XI.
+Swiss Cantons, the;
+  declare war against Charles the Bold
+Swynaerde
+Sylvius, AEneas
+
+
+
+T
+
+Talmont, Prince of
+Tewkesbury, battle of
+Texel, island of
+Thann
+Therain, the
+Therouanne, Bishop of
+Thierry
+Thierry, Monsieur de
+Thierstein, Oswald von
+Thionville
+Thouan, Mme. de
+Thouars, Guillaume de
+Thurgau
+Tilhart, secretary to Louis XI.
+Tongres;
+  bishops of
+Tonnerre, Count of
+Toul
+Touraine
+Tournay
+Tournay, Bishop of
+Tournehem
+Tours
+Toustain, Aloysius (Toussaint)
+Toustain, Guillaume
+Toutey, E., cited
+Trausch, cited
+Tree of Gold, jousts of the
+Tremoille, Jehan de la
+Treves
+Treves, Archbishop of
+Tuin
+Turin
+Turks, the, capture Constantinople;
+  proposed  crusade against
+
+
+
+U
+
+Unterwalden
+Uri
+Urse, Seigneur d'
+Utenhove, Richard
+Utrecht
+
+
+
+V
+
+Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis (editor of _Lettres de Louis XI_.)
+Valenciennes
+Valois, House of
+Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou,  Duchess of
+Vendome, Count of
+Venice
+Verard, Antoine
+Verdun
+Vere
+Vermandois
+Vermandois, Count de
+Vesoul
+Villeclerc, Demoiselle de
+Virnenbourg, Count of
+Visen, Charles de
+Vosges, the
+
+
+
+W
+
+Wailly
+Waldemar of Zuerich
+Waldshut
+Walloon language, the
+Warwick, Earl of;
+  death of
+Wavrin, Philip de
+Wellington, Duke of
+Wenlock, governor of Calais
+Weymouth
+Wieringen, island of
+Woodville, Elizabeth
+Wuisse, Vautrin
+Wyler, Hans
+
+
+
+X
+
+Xaintes
+
+
+
+Y
+
+York, House of
+York, Margaret of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Ypres
+
+
+Z
+
+Zealand
+Zuerich
+Zutphen
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #14496 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14496)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Charles the Bold
+       Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477
+
+Author: Ruth Putnam
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14496]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES THE BOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Lesley Halamek and the PG Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD OF BURGUNDY (1433-1477) (FROM MS.
+STATUTE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, VIENNA) PAINTED
+BETWEEN 1518-1531]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+1433-1477
+
+
+BY
+
+
+RUTH PUTNAM
+
+AUTHOR OF "WILLIAM THE SILENT," "A MEDIÆVAL PRINCESS," ETC.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+
+The Knickerbocker Press
+
+1908
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+COPYRIGHT 1908,
+
+BY
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy into the series of Heroes
+of the Nations, is justified by his relation to events rather than by
+his national or his heroic qualities. _"Il n'avait pas assez de sens
+ni de malice pour conduire ses entreprises,"_ is one phrase of Philip
+de Commines in regard to the master he had once served. Render _sens_
+by _genius_ and _malice_ by _diplomacy_ and the words are not far
+wrong. Yet in spite of the failure to obtain either a kingly or an
+imperial crown, the story of those same unaccomplished enterprises
+contains the germs of much that has happened later in the borderlands
+of France and Germany where the projected "middle kingdom" might have
+been erected. A sketch of the duke's character with its traits of
+ambition and shortcomings may therefore be placed, not unfitly, among
+the pen portraits of individuals who have attempted to change the map
+of Europe.
+
+The materials for an exhaustive study of the times, and of the
+participants in the scenes thereof, are almost overwhelming
+in quantity. Into this narrative, I have woven the words of
+contemporaries when these related what they saw and thought, or at
+least what they said they saw or thought, about events passing within
+their sight or their ken. The veracity attained is only that of a
+mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth. And the rim in which
+these bits are set is too slender to contain all the illumination
+necessary. The narrative is, of necessity, partial and fragmentary,
+for a complete story would require a series of biographies presented
+in parallel columns. My own preliminary chapter to this book--a
+mere explanation of the presence of the dukes of Burgundy in the
+Netherlands--grew into an account of a sovereign whom they deposed and
+was published under the title of _A Mediæval Princess._
+
+John Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record of Charles the Bold,
+Duke of Burgundy. Forty years have elapsed since that publication
+appeared and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the subject
+has been given out to the public, while separate phases of it have
+been minutely discussed by competent critics, so that at every point
+there is new temptation for the biographer to expand the theme where
+the scope of his work demands brevity.
+
+In using the later fruit of historical investigation, it is delightful
+for an American to find that scholars of all nations do justice to
+Mr. Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they may differ from his
+conclusions. It has been my privilege to be permitted free access to
+this scholar's collection of books, and I would here express my deep
+gratitude to the Kirk family for their generosity and courtesy towards
+me.
+
+After some preliminary reading at Brussels and Paris and in England,
+the work for this volume has been completed in America, where the
+opportunity of securing the latest results of research and criticism
+is constantly increasing, although these results are still lodged
+under many roofs. I have had many reasons to thank the librarians of
+New York, Boston, and Washington, and also those of Harvard, Columbia,
+and Cornell universities for courtesies and for serviceable aid; and
+just as many reasons to regret the meagreness of what can be put
+between two covers as the gleanings from so rich a harvest.
+
+One word further in explanation of the use of _Bold_. The adjective
+has been retained simply because it has been so long identified with
+Charles in English usage. I should have preferred the word _Rash_ as
+a better equivalent for the contemporary term, applied to the duke in
+his lifetime,--_le téméraire_.
+
+R.P.
+
+WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHAPTER I
+CHILDHOOD
+
+CHAPTER II
+YOUTH
+
+CHAPTER III
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+CHAPTER IV
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+CHAPTER V
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+CHAPTER VI
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+CHAPTER VII
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+CHAPTER IX
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+CHAPTER X
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+CHAPTER XI
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+CHAPTER XII
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+CHAPTER XV
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+GUELDERS
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+CHAPTER XX
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 AND 1476
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+INDEX
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY          _Frontispiece_
+From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date
+of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This
+portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed
+to Roger van der Weyden. That, however,
+shows a much stronger face.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brussels.
+
+A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON
+OF LETTERS
+From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a
+beautiful MS. copy in Brussels Library of Jacques
+de Guise's _Annales_. The author is depicted
+presenting his book to the duke, who is attended
+by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is
+attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden, to
+Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans
+Memling.
+
+A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK
+
+COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER
+From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, _Les
+ducs de Bourgogne_,
+
+THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRÜCK
+
+LOUIS XI
+From an engraving by A. Boilly after a drawing by
+G. Boilly.
+
+PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+From a drawing in a MS. at Arras.
+
+BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY (JULY 16, 1465)
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE
+WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY
+After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery.
+
+CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A
+CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at
+Brussels.
+
+PHILIP DE COMMINES
+
+OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in
+_Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale de Belgique,_
+xlix.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Barante, _Les ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES
+From Toutey, _Charles le téméraire_.
+
+MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS
+
+ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS
+From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+After design by C. Laplante.
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By
+permission of J. J. Löwy, Vienna.)
+
+MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA
+Medal.
+
+A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_,
+
+KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+(These characters in Maximilian's poem of _Theuerdank_
+represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.)
+From a reproduction of a wood engraving by
+Schäufelein in edition of 1517.
+
+A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY
+After a design by Matthey reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+the J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+From contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY
+From Barante, _Let ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+Church of Notre Dame, Bruges
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+1433-1440
+
+
+On St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good people of Dijon were
+abroad, eager to catch what glimpses they might of certain stately
+functions to be formally celebrated by the Duke of Burgundy. The mere
+presence of the sovereign in the capital of his duchy was in itself
+a gala event from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions
+agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions successively. His
+residence was now here and now there, without long tarrying anywhere.
+His coming was usually very welcome. In times of peaceful submission
+to his behest, the city of his sojourn reaped many advantages besides
+the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond their wont. In the
+outlay for the necessities and the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal
+court, the expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary commercial
+activity enjoyed by the merchants, the fact that the burghers' own
+contributions to this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary
+oblivion.[1]
+
+This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon was more significant
+than usual. It had lasted several weeks, and among its notable
+occasions was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden Fleece for the
+third anniversary of their Order. On this November 30th, Burgundy was
+to witness for the first time the pompous ceremonials inaugurated at
+Bruges in January, 1430. Three years had sufficed to render the new
+institution almost as well known as its senior English rival, the
+Order of the Garter, which it was destined to outshine for a brief
+period at least. Its foundation had formed part of the elaborate
+festivities accompanying the celebration of the marriage of Philip,
+Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal. As a signal honour to his
+bride, Philip published his intention of creating a new order of
+knighthood which would evince "his great and perfect love for the
+noble state of chivalry."
+
+Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the duke's real motives. It
+was whispered that a certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished
+by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair by a few merry
+courtiers, whereupon Philip declared that her tresses should be
+immortally honoured in the golden emblem of a new society.[2] But that
+may be set down as gossip. Philip's own assertion, when he instituted
+the Order of the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create a
+bulwark
+
+    "for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our Christian
+    faith, and to honour and enhance the noble order of chivalry, and
+    also for three reasons hereafter declared; first, to honour the
+    ancient knights ...; second, to the end that these present.... may
+    exercise the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve; third, that
+    all gentlemen marking the honour paid to the knights will exert
+    themselves to attain the dignity." [2]
+
+The special homage to the new duchess was expressed in the device
+
+  _Aultre n'aray
+   Dame Isabeau tant que vivray[4]_
+
+This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella was, indeed, utterly
+disregarded by the bridegroom, but in outward and formal honour to her
+he never failed.
+
+The new institution was, from the beginning, pre-eminently significant
+of the duke's magnificent state existence, wherein his Portuguese
+consort proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet. Again and again
+during a period of thirty years, rich in diplomatic parleying, did
+Isabella act as confidential ambassador for her husband, and many were
+the negotiations conducted by her to his satisfaction.[5]
+
+But it must be noted that whatever lay at the exact root of Philip's
+motives when he conceived the plan of his Order, the actual result of
+his foundation was not affected. He failed, indeed, to bring back into
+the world the ancient system of knighthood in its ideal purity and
+strength. Rather did he make a notable contribution to its decadence
+and speed its parting. What was brought into existence was a house
+of peers for the head of the Burgundian family, a body of faithful
+satellites who did not hamper their chief overmuch with the criticism
+permitted by the rules of their society, while their own glory added
+shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian court.
+
+Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the original number appointed
+to form the chosen circle of knights. This was speedily increased to
+thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the session of 1433, was
+the election of new members to fill vacancies and to round out the
+allotted tale.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN
+FLEECE]
+
+In their manner of accomplishing the appointed task, the new
+chevaliers had, from the outset, evinced a readiness to cast their
+votes to the satisfaction of their chief, even if his pleasure
+directly conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to obey. No
+candidate was to be eligible whose birth was not legitimate,[6] a
+regulation quite ignored when the duke proposed the names of his sons
+Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient knights did not refuse to open
+their ranks to these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a bar
+sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too, others of Philip's many
+illegitimate descendants were not rejected when their father proposed
+their names.
+
+Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new member should have
+proven himself a knight of renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one
+of the candidates proposed for election, though nominally a knight,
+had assuredly had no time to show his mettle. The dignity was his only
+because his spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle before
+his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength to grasp a rattle, and
+before he was even old enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his
+teeth upon.[7]
+
+Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was Charles of Burgundy,
+Count of Charolais, son of the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the
+previous St. Martin's Eve, November 10th.[8]
+
+    "The new chevaliers, with the exception of the Count of
+    Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accustomed oath at the hands
+    of the sovereign in a room of his palace."
+
+
+So runs the record. Jean le Févre, Seigneur de St. Remy, present on
+the occasion in his capacity of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle
+more communicative.[9] According to him, all the gentlemen were very
+joyous at their election as they received their collars and made their
+vows as stated. He excepted no member in the phrase about the joy
+displayed, though, as a matter of inference, the pleasure experienced
+by the Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat problematical.
+
+The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age of just twenty days
+when thus officially listed among the chevaliers present at the
+festival. Born on November 10th of this same year, 1433,[10] he had
+been knighted on the very day of his baptism, when Charles, Count of
+Nevers, and the Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former gave
+his name to the infant while the latter's name was destined to be
+identified with many unpleasant incidents in the career of the future
+man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason for the further item
+in the archives of the Golden Fleece:
+
+    "As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into the same room.
+    There the sovereign, his father, and the duchess, his mother, took
+    the oath on his behalf. Afterwards the duke put the collars upon
+    all." [11]
+
+
+Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction that Charles of
+Burgundy was of different metal than the rest of the world. The great
+duke of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history of chivalry
+when he conferred its dignities upon a speechless, unconscious infant.
+The theory that knighthood was a personal acquisition had been
+maintained up to this period, the Children of France[12] alone being
+excepted from the rule, though in his _Lay de Vaillance_ Eustache
+Deschamps complains that the degree of knighthood is actually
+conferred on those who are only ten or twelve years old, and who do
+not know what to do with the honour.[13] That plaint was written not
+later than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the poet's
+prediction that ruin of the institution was imminent when affected by
+such disorders seemed justified if, in 1433, even the years of the
+eligible age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not received the
+accolade until he was twenty-five.
+
+How his predecessor in Holland, Count William VI., had acquitted
+himself valiantly the moment that he was dubbed knight is told by
+Froissart, and the tales of other accolades of the period are too well
+known to need reference.
+
+It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished by his own mother.
+Having lost her first two infants, Isabella was solicitous for the
+welfare of this third child, who also proved her last. He was,
+moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle of France and Bonne of
+Artois, his first wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
+expended on the boy were repaid. Charles became a sturdy child who
+developed into youthful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
+his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather than the English
+Lancastrians, from whom she was equally descended.
+
+His dark hair and his features were very different from the fair type
+of his paternal ancestors, the vigorous branch of the Valois family.
+Possibly other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese origin were
+intensified by close association with his mother, who supervised the
+education directed by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at The
+Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and official adviser to the
+duke's stadtholder in the administration. [14]
+
+Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe his contemporaries,
+surprisingly so, considering his early taste for all martial pursuits
+and his intense interest in military operations.
+
+At two years of age he received his first lesson in horsemanship, on
+a wooden steed constructed for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a
+saddler of Brussels.
+
+His biographers repeat from each other statements of his proficiency
+in Latin. This must be balanced by noting that the only texts which
+he could have read were probably not classic. In the inventory of the
+various Burgundian libraries of the period, there are not six Greek
+and Latin classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not a
+single Roman historian in the original.[15] There was a translation
+of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi and late abridgments of Sallust,
+Suetonius, Lucan, and Cæsar,[16] with a French version of Valerius
+Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless these versions and a volume
+called _Les faits des Romains_ were used as text-books to teach the
+young count about the world's conquerors. The last mentioned book
+shows what travesties of Roman history were gravely read in the
+fifteenth century.
+
+There are stories[17] that the bit of history most enjoyed by the
+pupil was the narrative of Alexander. Books about that hero were easy
+to come by long before the invention of printing, though Alexander
+would have had difficulty in recognising his identity under the
+strange mediæval motley in which his namesake wandered over the land.
+No single man, with the possible exception of Charlemagne, was so
+much written about or played so brilliantly the part of a hero to
+the Middle Ages and after.[18] The simplicity and universality of his
+success were of a type to appeal to the boy Charles, himself built on
+simple lines. The fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip
+stimulated his imagination and instilled in his breast hopes of
+conquering, not the whole world perhaps, but a good slice of territory
+which should enable him to hold his own between the emperor and the
+French king. Tales of definite schemes of early ambition are often
+fabricated in the later life of a conqueror, but in this case they may
+be believed, as all threads of testimony lead to the same conclusion.
+
+The air breathed by the boy when he first became conscious of his
+own individuality was certainly heavy with the aroma of satisfied
+ambition. The period of his childhood was a time when his father stood
+at the very zenith of his power. In 1435, was signed the Treaty of
+Arras, the death-blow to the long coalition existing between Burgundy
+and England to the continual detriment of France. Philip was
+reconciled with great solemnity to the king, responsible in his
+dauphin days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy. After
+ostentatiously parading his filial resentment sixteen long years,
+Philip forgave Charles VII. his share in the death of John the
+Fearless, on the bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support to
+keep the French monarch on the throne whither the efforts of Joan of
+Arc had carried him from Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile.
+
+England's pretensions were repudiated. To be sure, the recent
+coronation of Henry VI. at Paris was not immediately forgotten, but
+while the Duke of Bedford had actually administered the government as
+regent, in behalf of his infant nephew, it was a mere shadow of his
+office that passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435, was
+almost coincident with the compact at Arras when the English Henry's
+realms across the Channel shrank to Normandy and the outlying
+fortresses of Picardy and Maine. Later events on English soil were to
+prove how little fitted was the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any
+kind.
+
+Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy rose triumphant
+with a seal set upon his personal importance.[19] His recognition of
+Charles VII. as lawful sovereign of France, and his reconciliation did
+not pass without signal gain to himself.
+
+The king declared his own hands unstained by the blood of John of
+Burgundy, agreed to punish all those designated by Philip as actually
+responsible for that treacherous murder, and pledged himself to erect
+a cross on the bridge at Montereau, the scene of the crime. Further,
+he relinquished various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained by the
+crown from the moment when the junior branch of the Valois had been
+invested with the duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne,
+Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to the French sovereign on
+both banks of the Somme. To this last cession, however, was appended
+the condition that the towns included in this clause could be redeemed
+at the king's pleasure, for the sum of four hundred thousand gold
+crowns. Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of homage to
+himself, promised to demand no _aides_ from the duke's subjects
+in case of war, and to assist his cousin if he were attacked from
+England. Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted with the
+emperor to Philip's disadvantage.[20]
+
+One clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness towards the
+powerful vassal. It provided that in case of Charles's failure to
+observe all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects would be
+justified in taking arms against him at the duke's orders. A similar
+clause occurs in certain treaties between an earlier French king and
+his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of the suzerain, not
+to that of the lesser lords.
+
+The duke was left in a position infinitely superior to that of the
+king, whose realm was terribly exhausted by the long contest with
+England, a contest wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's
+foot. French prosperity had been nibbled off like green foliage before
+a swarm of locusts, and the whole north-eastern portion of France
+was in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the other hand, the
+territories covered by Burgundy as an overlord had greatly increased
+during the sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
+aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships formed his domain,
+loosely hung together by reason of their several titles being vested
+in one person--titles which the bearer had inherited or assumed under
+various pretexts.
+
+Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy and county of Burgundy,
+came to him from his father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he
+bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself heir to his cousins in
+Brabant and Limbourg when Duke Anthony's second son followed his
+equally childless brother into a premature grave, and the claims were
+made good in spite of all opposition. Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut
+became his through the unwilling abdication of his other cousin,
+Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of her husband, Frank van
+Borselen, the last representative of the Bavarian House then
+formally resigned her titles, which she had already divested of all
+significance five years previously, when Philip of Burgundy had become
+her _ruward_, to relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of
+responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.[21]
+
+Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended in having
+the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added to his other
+designations. Also there were various places where his predecessor's
+name had to be effaced to make room for his. (Laborde, i., 345).]
+
+Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Brabant. Luxemburg was a later
+acquisition obtained through Elizabeth of Görlitz.
+
+There were very shady bits in the chapters about Philip's entry into
+many of his possessions, but it is interesting to note how cleverly
+the best colour is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche and
+other writers who enjoyed Burgundian patronage. Very gentle are the
+adjectives employed, and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the
+naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary criticism
+did occasionally make itself heard, especially from the emperor, who
+declared that the Netherland provinces must come to him as a lapsed
+imperial fief. For a time Philip denied that any links existed between
+his domain and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it convenient
+to discuss the question with Frederic III. at Besançon; still he never
+came to the point of paying homage.
+
+All these territories made a goodly realm for a mere duke. But
+they were individual entities centred around one head with little
+interconnection.
+
+Philip thought that the one thing needed to bring his possessions into
+a national life, as coherent as that of France, was a unity of legal
+existence among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain this
+unity was the one thought dominating the career of his successor,
+whose pompous introduction to life naturally inspired him with a high
+idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of greater dignities for
+himself and his successor than a bundle of titles,--a splendid, vain,
+fatal dream as it proved.
+
+As a final cement to the new friendship between Burgundy and France,
+it was also agreed at Arras that the heir of the former should wed a
+daughter of Charles VII. When the Count of Charolais was five years
+old, the Seigneur of Crèvecoeur,[22] "a wise and prudent gentleman"
+was despatched to the French court on divers missions, among which
+was the business of negotiating the projected alliance. A very joyous
+reception was accorded the envoy by the king and the queen, and his
+proposal was accepted in behalf of the second daughter, Catherine,
+easily substituted for an older sister, deceased between the first and
+second stages of negotiation.
+
+A year later, a formal betrothal took place at St Omer, whither
+the young bride was conducted, most honourably accompanied by the
+archbishops of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Vendôme,
+Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the Duke of Bourbon, named the
+Lord of Beaujeu, and various other distinguished nobles, besides a
+train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance on the
+princess, and an escort of three hundred horse.
+
+At the various cities where the party made halt they were graciously
+received, and all honour was paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of
+France. At Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and as she
+travelled on towards her destination, all the towns of Philip's
+obedience contributed their quota of welcome.
+
+At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming. When her approach was
+announced he rode out in person to greet her, attended by a brilliant
+escort.
+
+[Illustration: A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON]
+
+Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready to burst into tune;
+the betrothal was confirmed amid joyousness and the ceremony was
+followed by tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.
+
+What a series of pompous betrothals between infant parties the
+fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can show! Poor little puppets, in
+whose persons national interests were supposed to be centred, were
+made to lisp out their roles in international dramas whose final acts
+rarely were consistent with the promise of the prologue.
+
+Catherine did not live to become Duchess of Burgundy nor to temper the
+duel between her husband and her brother Louis. The remainder of
+her short existence was passed under the care of Duchess Isabella,
+sometimes in one city of the Netherlands, sometimes in another.
+
+La Marche[23] records one return of Philip to Brussels when his
+arrival was greeted by Charles of Burgundy, honourably accompanied
+by children of high birth about his age or less, some only eleven or
+twelve years old. There were with him Jehan de la Trémoille, Philip
+de Croy, Philip de Crèvecoeur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others. All
+were mounted on little horses harnessed like that of their governor, a
+very honest and wise gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et Ber
+d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man, well known, of good lineage,
+ready of speech and able to discuss matters of honour and of state.
+
+He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all exercise and sport.
+
+    "Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman better adapted
+    to supervise the education of a young prince than he.... Among his
+    pupils were also Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy,[24] son of Philip,
+    and the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were older than the
+    first mentioned."
+
+La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt in this youthful band
+of horse, and then tells how, within Brussels,
+
+    "he was received by the magistrates and conducted to his palace,
+    where the Duchess of Burgundy awaited him holding by the hand
+    Madame Catherine of France, Countess of Charolais. She was about
+    twelve and seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and
+    well conditioned for her age."
+
+At various state functions the Count and Countess of Charolais
+appeared together in public, and witnessed certain of the gorgeous
+and costly entertainments which were almost the daily food of the gay
+Burgundian court. One of these occasions was calculated to make a deep
+impression on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle of a
+proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep humiliation.
+
+In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges, when the animosity of
+the burghers had caused the duchess to flee from their midst, holding
+her little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal safety. Philip
+suppressed the revolt, but, in his anger at its insolence, declared
+that never again would he set foot within the gates unless in company
+with his superior.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERS
+
+THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND WITH ONE OF PHILIP'S
+SONS FROM MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "HIST. DES DUCS DE
+BOURGOGNE"]
+
+Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella played a prominent part
+as her husband's representative, were those concerning the liberation
+of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in England, a prisoner, after
+the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The last advice given by Henry V.
+to his brothers was that they should make this captivity perpetual.
+Therefore, whenever overtures were made for his redemption, a strong
+party, headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them vehemently.
+
+In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide of sentiment. Possibly
+the low state of the English exchequer made the duke's ransom more
+attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000 golden crowns were
+accepted as his equivalent, and the exile of twenty-five years
+returned to France, having pledged himself never to bear arms against
+England.
+
+Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome him, and to escort him
+to St. Omer, where high revels were held in his honour and in that of
+his alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece.
+
+The week intervening between the betrothal and the nuptials was
+passed in a succession of banquets and tourneys, gorgeous in their
+elaboration. Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just then,
+the new Burgundian Order was convened and the Duke of Orleans was
+elected a Knight of the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented
+his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the Porcupine. Lord
+Cornwallis and other English gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans
+across the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor were they among
+the least favoured guests, adds Barante.
+
+Amity was triumphant, and there was a general feeling abroad that the
+returned exile was henceforth to be the ruling power in France. People
+began to look to him to act as the go-between in their behalf, to be
+their mediator with Charles VII., still little known at his best. Many
+towns turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend, and among them
+was Bruges. But it was not royal favours that Bruges sought. Her
+burghers felt great inconvenience from the breach with their sovereign
+duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his grace, they seized the
+opportunity of reminding Philip of his assertion, and they besought
+him to enter their gates in company with the Duke of Orleans, a
+prince of the blood, closer to the French sovereign than the Duke of
+Burgundy.
+
+After some demur, Philip consented to grant their petition. Possibly
+he was not loth to be persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges
+to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and to prepare a
+reception for their appeased sovereign, calculated to make him content
+with the late rebels.
+
+Before the grand cortège, composed of the two dukes, their consorts,
+and the dignitaries who had assisted in the feasts of marriage and of
+chivalry, reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were ready with a
+touching spectacle of humility and repentance.[25]
+
+A league from the gates, the magistrates and burghers stood in the
+road awaiting the travellers from St. Omer. All were barefooted and
+bareheaded. Under the December sky they waited the approach of the
+stately procession. When the duke arrived, they all fell upon their
+knees and implored him to forgive the late troubles and to reinstate
+their city in his favour. Philip did not answer immediately--delay was
+always a feature of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Orleans,
+both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined their entreaties to the
+citizens' prayers. Again a pause, and then, as if generously yielding
+to pressure, Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes and their
+hats while he accepted at their hands the keys of all the gates. Then
+the long procession moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were the
+clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and beguins of the various
+convents and foundations, bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and
+many precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were the gilds
+and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent accoutrements freshly
+burnished to do honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
+overlord.
+
+Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, platforms and stages
+were erected, whereon were enacted dramatic performances, given
+continuously, to provide amusement for the collected crowds. Sometimes
+the presentation carried significance beyond mere entertainment. Here
+a maid, garbed as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which wore the
+collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine. This last beast was to
+symbolise the Orleans device, _Near and Far_, as the creature was
+supposed to project his spines to a distance.
+
+One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house with gold and the
+roof with silver leaves to betoken his satisfaction. Indeed, if we
+may believe the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had any city
+incurred so much expense to honour its lord. The duke permitted his
+heart to be touched by these proofs of devotion, and on the very
+evening of his arrival he evinced that his confidence was restored by
+sending the civic keys and a gracious message to the magistrates. At
+the news of this condescension the cries of "_Noël_" re-echoed afresh
+through the illuminated streets.
+
+Charles was not present at this entry, which took place on Saturday,
+December 11th, but Philip was so much entertained with the performance
+that he sent for his son, and on the following Saturday he and the
+Countess of Charolais came from Ghent to join the party. The Duke of
+Orleans and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the young couple,
+who were formally escorted to the palace by magistrates and citizens
+in a body. On the Sunday there were repetitions of some of the plays
+and every attention was offered by the Bruges burghers to their young
+guests. When Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December
+14th, what wonder that the lady wept in sorrow at leaving these gay
+Burgundian doings!
+
+While Charles did not actually witness the humiliation of the
+citizens, the seven-year-old boy would, undoubtedly, have heard and
+known sufficient of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware that
+the citizens who had dared defy his father were glad to buy back his
+smiles at any cost to their pride and purse. He would have known, too,
+that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, and elsewhere joined the
+Bruges burghers in the welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a
+spectacle of the relations between a city and the ducal father not to
+be easily forgotten by the son.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of
+Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. _(Collection des voyages
+des souverains des Pays Bas_, i., 71.) Unfortunately, owing to
+the destruction of papers, only a few years are complete. Between
+1428-1441, there is nothing. But the itinerary for 1441 and for other
+years shows how often the duke changed his residences. Sometimes he
+is accompanied by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de
+Charolais.]
+
+[Footnote 2: It was also said that the woollen manufactures of
+Flanders were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Reiffenberg, _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or,_ p.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _ Hist. de I'Ordre,_ etc., p. i.]
+
+[Footnote 5: All the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to
+the public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from the
+accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity:
+
+"To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber, for delivering
+to a certain person for certain causes and for secret matters of which
+Monseigneur does not wish further declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17
+sous."
+
+(Laborde _Les Ducs de Bourgogne_, etc., "Preuves," i. xiii.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: "Vingt-quatre chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
+et sans reproches nés et procrées en léal mariage" _(see_ description
+of the first list).--_Hist. de l'Ordre,_ p. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Jacquemin Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living at
+Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich cloth of black
+silk draped about the baptismal font. Why mourning was used on this
+joyful occasion does not appear. (Laborde, i., 321.)]
+
+[Footnote 8: Summary of a register containing the acts of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece quoted in _Histoire de l'Ordre,_ pp. 12, 13.]
+
+[Footnote 9: St. Remy, _Chronique_, ii., 284. St. Remy is usually
+called _Toison d'Or._]
+
+[Footnote 10: His full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone
+remains of the palace where he was born.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Hist, de l'Ordre,_ p. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Selden _(Titles of Honor_, p. 457), however, says he
+knows not by what authority this statement is made and that he knows
+nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by Gautier for
+receiving knighthood.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Deschamps, _OEuvres Complètes_, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of
+Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one notable occasion,
+to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared in public accompanied
+by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan of the Hooks, and by Frank van
+Borselen, himself a Cod, the widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess
+of Holland.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Barante, _Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne_, vi., 2, note
+by Reiffenberg.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _Catalogue des manuscrits des Ducs de Bourgogne,_
+"Résumé historique," i., lxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Barante, vi., 2, note.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Loomis, _Medieval Hellenism_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Pirenne, _Histoire de Belgique_, ii., 231.]
+
+[Footnote 20: It was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made.
+Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant, Holland,
+Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were lapsed fiefs, of the
+empire.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Putnam, _A Medieval Princess_.
+
+[Footnote 22: Monstrelet, _La Chronique_, v., 344.]
+
+[Footnote 23: La Marche, _Mémoires_, ii., 50.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Reiffenberg, _Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe
+de Bourgogne._]
+
+[Footnote 25: Meyer, _Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum, _
+p. 296.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+YOUTH
+
+1440-1453
+
+
+The heir of Burgundy was still in very tender years when he began to
+take official part in public affairs, sometimes associated with one
+parent, sometimes with the other.
+
+There was a practical advantage in bringing the boy to the fore by
+which the duke was glad to profit. With his own manifold interests, it
+was impossible for him to be present in his various capitals as often
+as was demanded by the usage of the diverse individual seigniories. It
+was politic, therefore, to magnify the representative capacity of his
+son and of his consort in order to obtain the grants and _aides_ which
+certain of his subjects declared could be given only when requested
+orally by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was Count Charles
+and the duchess who appeared in Holland to ask an _aide_.[1] In the
+following year, Charles accompanied his father when Philip made one
+of his rare visits--there were only three between 1428 and 1466--to
+Holland and Zealand.
+
+[Illustration: A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY]
+
+Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants on this occasion, and he
+describes with great detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have
+their absentee count in their land.[2] Many matters could only be
+set aright by his authority. Among the complaints brought to him at
+Middelburg were accusations against a certain knight of high birth,
+Jehan de Dombourc. Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once and
+brought before him for trial. This was easier said than done. Warned
+of his danger, Dombourc, with four or five comrades, took refuge in
+the clock tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary that
+could not be taken by storm.[2] He was provided with a good store of
+food, this audacious criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There he
+remained three days, because, for the honour of the Church, they could
+not fire upon him.
+
+"And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun come out and call to
+Jehan Dombourc, her brother, advising him to perish defending himself
+rather than to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands of
+the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced to surrender to
+his prince, and he was beheaded in the market-place at Middelburg,
+but, at the plea of his sister, the said nun, his body was delivered
+to her to be buried in consecrated ground."
+
+In this same visit Philip presided over the Zealand estates and the
+young count sat by his side, not as an idle spectator, but because
+usage required the presence of the heir as well as that of the Count
+of Zealand.
+
+When Charles was twelve he was present at an assembly of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece held in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind
+witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his description of the
+lavish magnificence of the affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the
+citizens into complying with the requests of their Count of Flanders.
+
+Charles played a prominent part in all the functions, and assisted in
+the election of his tutor, Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. Another candidate
+of that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Ostrevant, widower of
+Jacqueline, late Countess of Holland.
+
+In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at Brussels.
+"Honourably as befitted a king's daughter" was she buried at Ste.
+Gudule.[4]
+
+    "Tireless in their devotion were the duke and duchess in her last
+    illness, and Charles VII. despatched two skilled doctors to her
+    aid but all efforts were vain.
+
+    "Much bemourned was the princess for she was virtuous. God have
+    pity on her soul"
+
+piously ejaculates La Marche.
+
+A little item[5] in the accounts suggests that a pleasant friendship
+had existed between the two young people:
+
+    "To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Countess of Charolais,
+    for a harp which she had bought from him and given to Ms. the
+    Count of Charolais for him to play and take his amusement, xii
+    francs."[6]
+
+It is easy to surmise that music was not, however, the young count's
+favourite amusement. In Philip's court, tournaments were still held
+and afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad whose bent was
+undoubtedly towards a military career.
+
+One valiant actor in these tourneys where were revived the ancient
+traditions of knighthood, was Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all
+the characteristics of times past, fighting for fame in the present.
+In his youth, this aspirant for reputation swore a vow to meet thirty
+knights in combat before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated by
+a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the court of Burgundy,
+because the Netherlands were on the highroad between England and many
+points in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had the best
+chance of falling in with all the prowess that might be abroad. For
+stay-at-home prowess he cared naught. A delightful personage is
+Messire Jacques and a brave rôle does he play in the series of jousts,
+sporting gaily on the pages of the various Burgundian chroniclers,
+who recorded in their old age what they had seen in their youth. One
+description, however, of these encounters reads much like another and
+they need not be repeated.
+
+During his childhood Charles was a spectator only on the days of mimic
+battle. In his seventeenth year he was permitted to enter the lists
+as a regular combatant, a permission shared by his fellow pupils all
+eager to flesh their maiden spears. The duke arranged that his son
+should have a preliminary tilt a few days before the public affair in
+order to test his ability. All the courtiers--and apparently ladies
+were not excluded from the discussion on the matter--agreed that no
+better knight could be found for this purpose than Jacques de Lalaing,
+who, on his part, was highly honoured by being selected to gauge the
+untried capabilities of the prince.[7]
+
+In the park at Brussels with the duke and duchess as onlookers, the
+preliminary encounter took place. At the very first attack, Charles
+struck Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his lance into many
+pieces. The duke was displeased because he thought that the knight
+had not exerted his full strength and was favouring his son. He
+accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must play in earnest and not
+hold his force in leash. Fresh lances were brought; again did
+the count withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances were
+shattered. This time the boy's mother was the dissatisfied one,
+thinking that the knight was too hard with his junior, but the duke
+only laughed.
+
+    "Thus differed the parents. The one desired him to prove his
+    manhood, the other was preoccupied with his safety. With these
+    two courses the trial ended amid rounds of applause for the
+    prince."[8]
+
+The actual tourney was held on the market-place in Brussels before a
+distinguished assembly. Count Charles was escorted into the arena by
+his cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles. Seigneur d'Auxy,
+his tutor, stood near to watch the maiden efforts of the prince and
+his mates. He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for his bearing
+and his skill. He gave and received excellent thrusts, broke more
+than ten lances, and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening he
+received the prize from two princesses, and "Montjoye" was cried
+by the heralds in his honour. From that time forth, the count was
+considered a puissant and rude jouster and gained great renown.
+
+    "And that is the reason why I commence my memoirs about him and
+    his deeds[9] [continues La Marche, on concluding his description
+    of the tournament], and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour.
+    As one who has been brought up with him from his youth in his
+    father's service and in his own, I will touch upon his education,
+    his morals, his character, and his habits from the moment when I
+    first saw him as appears above in my memoirs.
+
+    "As to his character, I will commence at the worst features. He
+    was hot, active, and impetuous: as a child he was very eager to
+    have his own way. Nevertheless, he had so much understanding and
+    good sense that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no
+    one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he. He did not
+    take the name of God or the saints in vain, and held God in great
+    fear and reverence. He learned well and had a retentive memory. He
+    was fond of reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot
+    and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and boats. Falconry,
+    too, he loved and he hunted whenever he had leave. In archery he
+    early excelled his comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was
+    the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did he devote
+    himself to good and excellent exercise."
+
+That the report of the lavishness and extravagance of the Burgundian
+court was no idle rumour, exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is
+attested to by every bit of contemporary evidence. Enthusiastic and
+loyal chroniclers dwell on the magnificence, and the arid details of
+bills paid show what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while
+the protests from taxpayers prove that this splendour did not grow
+like the lilies of the field.
+
+[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE OF AN ACCOUNT-BOOK XVTH CENTURY]
+
+Philip's treasury had many separate compartments. There were many
+quarters to which he could turn for his needed supplies, but there
+were times when his exchequer ran very threateningly low, and his
+financial stress led him to be very conciliatory towards the burghers
+with full purses.
+
+In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the celebration of the feast of
+the Order of the Golden Fleece within her gates. Two years later,
+Philip appeared in person at a meeting of the _collace_, or municipal
+assembly, and delivered a harangue to the Ghentish magistrates and
+burghers, flattering them, moreover, by using their vernacular. The
+tenor of this speech was as follows[10]:
+
+    "My good and faithful friends, you know how I have been brought
+    up among you from my infancy. That is why I have always loved you
+    more than the inhabitants of all my other cities, and I have
+    proved this by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that
+    I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon me to-day when
+    I have need of your support. Doubtless you are not ignorant of the
+    condition of my father's treasury at the period of his death. The
+    majority of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were
+    in pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate vengeance
+    compelled me to undertake a long and bloody war, during which the
+    defence of my fortresses and of my cities, and the pay of my
+    army have necessitated outlays so large that it is impossible to
+    estimate them. You know, too, that at the very moment when the war
+    on France was at its height, I was obliged, in order to assure the
+    protection of my country of Flanders, to take arms against the
+    English in Hainaut, in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding
+    costing me more than 10,000 _saluts d'or,_ which I raised with
+    difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed against Liege, in
+    behalf of my countship of Namur, which sprang from the bosom of
+    Flanders? It is not necessary to add to all these outlays those
+    which I assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jerusalem,
+    and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+    "It is true, however, that, yielding to the persuasions of the
+    pope and the Council, I have now consented to put an end to the
+    evils multiplied by war by forgetting my father's death, and by
+    reconciling myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this
+    treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in preserving
+    to my subjects during the war the advantages of industry and of
+    peace, they had submitted to heavy burdens in taxes and in
+    voluntary contributions, and that it was my duty to re-establish
+    order and justice in the administration. But everything went on as
+    though the war had not ceased. All my frontiers have been menaced,
+    and I found myself obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so
+    useful to the defence of my other lands, especially of Brabant and
+    Flanders.
+
+    "In this way, my expenses continued to increase; all my resources
+    are now exhausted, and the saddest part of it all is that the good
+    cities and communes of Flanders and especially the country folk
+    are at the very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many of
+    my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obliged to emigrate.
+    Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty that I have little
+    advantage from them. Nor do I reap more from my hereditary lands,
+    for all are equally impoverished.
+
+    "A way must be found to ease the poor people, and at the same time
+    to protect Flanders from insult, Flanders for whose sake I would
+    risk my own person, although to arrive at this end, important
+    measures have become imperative."
+
+After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally states that, in order
+to raise the requisite revenues, no method seemed to him so good and
+so simple as a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a term of
+twelve years. He promised to dispense with all other subsidies and to
+make his son swear to demand nothing further as long as the _gabelle_
+was imposed.
+
+    "Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you consent to it I
+    will renounce it if others prove of a different opinion, for I do
+    not desire that the communes of Flanders be more heavily weighted
+    than any other portion of my territory."
+
+The duke might have spared his trouble and his elaborate
+condescension. The answer to his conciliatory request was a flat
+refusal to consider the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to
+Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not be increased to the least
+degree without serious inconvenience. The Flemings were wroth at his
+imitating the worst custom of his French kinsmen.
+
+Philip departed from Ghent in great dudgeon. After a time he was
+persuaded that the indisposition of the town to meet his reasonable
+wishes was not due to the citizens at large, but to the machinations
+of a few unruly agitators among the magistrates. In 1449, therefore,
+he took a high-handed course of trying to direct the issue of the
+regular municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of magistrates
+on whose obedience he could rely. The appearance of Burgundian troops
+in Ghent, before the election of mid-August, aroused the wrath of the
+community, who thought that their most cherished franchises were in
+jeopardy.
+
+This was the beginning of a bitter struggle between Ghent and Philip.
+The duke found it no light matter to coerce the independent burghers
+into remembering that they were simply part of the Burgundian state.
+"_Tantæ molis erat liberam gentem in servitutem adigere_!" ejaculates
+Meyer in the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen months
+of active hostilities.[11] Matters were long in coming to an outbreak.
+Various points had been contended over, when Philip had endeavoured
+to change the seat of the great council, or to take divers measures
+tending to concentrate certain judicial or legislative functions for
+his own convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the autonomy of
+Ghent. His centripetal policy was disliked, but when his policy went
+further, and he attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike
+grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in open revolt.
+
+For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's estimation as mere
+insignificant unruliness. By 1452, however, the date of the tourney
+above described, it became evident that a vital issue was at stake.
+The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to mediate between overlord and
+town, but without success. Owing to Philip's interference in the
+elections, the results were declared void, and when a new election was
+appointed, the Burgundians accused the city of hastily augmenting its
+number of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation laws. The gilds,
+too, evinced a readiness to be very lenient in their scrutiny of
+candidates for admission to their cherished privileges, preferring,
+for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy of furnished rooms was
+declared sufficient for enfranchisement, and there were cases where
+mere guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the lists as
+full-fledged citizens.
+
+By these means the popular party waxed very strong numerically. The
+sheriffs found themselves quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit
+of democracy in check. The regular government was overthrown, and the
+demagogues succeeded in electing three captains _(hooftmans)_
+invested with arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees of
+the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of very radical measures
+promulgated and joyfully confirmed by the populace, assembled on the
+Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the town meeting that
+ruled, not deputed authority. One ordinance stipulated that at the
+sound of the bell every burgher must hasten to the market-place, to
+lend his voice to the deliberations.
+
+For a time various negotiations went on between Philip and envoys from
+Ghent. The latter took a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable
+terms that if the duke refused an accommodation with them, they would
+appeal to their suzerain, the King of France. No act of rebellion,
+overt or covert, exasperated Philip more than this suggestion. Charles
+VII. was only too ready to ignore those clauses in the treaty of
+Arras, releasing the duke from homage, and virtually acknowledging his
+complete independence in his French territories. The king accepted
+missives from his late vassal's city, without reprimanding the writers
+for their presumption in signing themselves "Seigneurs of Ghent."[12]
+His action, however, was confined to mild attempts at mediation.
+
+It was plain to the duke that his other towns would follow Ghent's
+resistance to his authority if there were hopes of her success.
+Therefore he threw aside all other interests for the time being, and
+exerted himself to levy a body of troops to crush Flemish pretensions.
+His counsellors advised him to sound the temper of other citizens and
+to ascertain whether their sympathies were with Ghent. Answers of
+feeble loyalty came back to him from the majority of the other towns.
+Undoubtedly they highly approved Ghent's efforts. They, too, could
+not afford to pay taxes fraught with danger to their commerce, nor to
+relinquish one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive crises
+throughout a long period of years. The only doubt in their minds was
+as to the ultimate success of the burghers to stem the course of
+Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first hedged, and then
+consented to aid the duke. This course was pursued by the Hollanders
+and the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted.
+
+The Ghenters succeeded in possessing themselves of the castle of
+Poucque by force, and of the village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking
+advantage in the latter case of the castellan's absence at church.
+
+When every part of his dominions had been canvassed for troops, and
+Philip was prepared for his first active campaign against Ghent, he
+was anxious to leave his heir under the protection of the duchess,
+conscious that the imminent contest would be bitter and deadly. A
+pretence was made that the young count's accoutrements were not ready,
+and that, therefore, he would have to remain in Brussels.
+
+    "But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the completion of his
+    accoutrements, and swore by St. George, the greatest oath he ever
+    used, that he would rather go in his shirt than not accompany his
+    father to punish his impudent rebel subjects."[13]
+
+The approaching hostilities were watched by foreign merchants in dread
+of commercial disaster.
+
+    "On May 18th, the _nations_[14] of the merchants of Bruges
+    departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make peace between that
+    city and the Duke of Burgundy, and there were _nations_ of Spain,
+    Aragon, Portugal, and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese,
+    Genoese, and Luccans."[15]
+
+But the men of Ghent were beyond the point where commercial arguments
+could stem their course. The very day that this company arrived in the
+city, the burghers sallied forth six or seven thousand strong, fully
+equipped for offensive warfare.
+
+Both the actual engagements and guerilla skirmishes that raged over
+a minute stretch of territory were characterised by an extraordinary
+ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip was determined to
+relieve, men were beheaded like sheep.
+
+In the first regular engagement in which Charles took part, he showed
+a brave front and learned the duties of a prince by rewarding others
+with the honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the course of the
+war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Burgundy, and the gallant Jacques
+de Lalaing. Philip grieved deeply over the death of the former, his
+favourite among his natural sons, and buried him with all honours in
+the Church of Ste-Gudule in Brussels. The title by which he was known,
+hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his brother Anthony.
+Lalaing, too, was greatly mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his
+thirty-third year.
+
+There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legitimate heir might also
+perish in these conflicts where there was no mercy, that Charles was
+persuaded to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would keep
+him by her side. She made a feast in his honour, but, to the surprise
+of all, the duchess, who had wished to protect her son from the mild
+perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with brave words to return
+to fight in all earnest for his inheritance.[16] He himself was very
+indignant at the efforts to treat him as a child.
+
+The first truce and negotiations for peace, initiated in the summer of
+1452, were broken off because the conditions were unbearable to the
+Ghenters. Another year of warfare followed before the decisive battle
+of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced them sadly to succumb. There was
+no other course open to them. Not only were they defeated but their
+numbers were decimated.[17] With full allowance for exaggeration, it
+is certain that the loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at
+an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every humiliating detail.
+More, the defeated rebels were bidden to be grateful that their kind
+sovereign had imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to abating
+the severity of the articles, he declared that he would not change an
+_a_ for a _b_.[18]
+
+The chief provisions were as follows: The deans of the gilds were
+deprived of participation in the election of sheriffs. The privileges
+of the naturalisation laws were considerably abridged. No sentence of
+banishment could be pronounced without the intervention of the duke's
+bailiff, whose authorisation, too, was required before the publication
+of edicts, ordinances, etc. The sheriffs were forbidden to place their
+names at the head of letters to the officers of the duke. The banners
+were to be delivered to the duke and placed under five locks, whose
+several keys should be deposited with as many different people,
+without whose consensus the banners could not be brought forth to lead
+the burghers to sedition. One gate was to be closed every Thursday in
+memory of the day when the citizens had marched through it to attack
+their liege lord, and another was to be barred up in perpetuity or
+at the pleasure of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his
+enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid by the city.
+
+July 30th was the date appointed for the final act of submission, the
+_amende honorable_ of the unfortunate city. The scene was very similar
+to that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand citizens headed by the
+sheriffs, councillors, and captains of the burgher guard met the
+duke and his suite a league without the walls of Ghent. Bareheaded,
+barefooted, and divested of all their robes of office and of dignity,
+clad only in shirts and small clothes, these magistrates confessed
+that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly rebellion, and
+begged his pardon most humbly.
+
+The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gaveren, prepared to march
+out in the morning with his whole army in handsome array. Philip was
+magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same horse which he had used
+on the day of battle, with the various wounds received on that day
+ostentatiously plastered over to make a dramatic show of what the
+injured sovereign had suffered at the hands of his disloyal subjects.
+
+The civic procession was headed by the Abbot of St. Bavon and the
+Prior of the Carthusians. The burghers who followed the half-clad
+officials were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and
+ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust and cried, "Mercy on
+the town of Ghent." While they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman
+of the council made an elaborate speech in French, assuring the
+duke that if, out of his benign grace. he would take his loving and
+repentant subjects again into his favour, they would never again give
+him cause for reproach.
+
+    "At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and the Count of
+    Charolais, there present, pardoned the petitioners for their evil
+    deeds. The men of Ghent re-entered their town more happy and
+    rejoiced than can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille,
+    having disbanded his army, that every one might return to their
+    several homes." [19]
+
+The joy experienced by the conquered, here described by La Marche, as
+he looked back at the event from the calm retirement of his old age,
+was not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of this war was
+watched eagerly from other parts of Philip's dominion. His army was
+full of men from both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports to
+their own homes. Some passages from one of these reports by an unknown
+war correspondent run as follows:
+
+    "As to news from here, Monday after St. Magdalen's Day,
+    Monseigneur the duke got the better of the Ghenters near Gaveren
+    between ten and eleven o'clock. They attacked him near his
+    quarters.... The duke risked his own person in advance of his
+    company in the very worst of the slaughter, which lasted from the
+    said place up to Ghent, a distance of about two leagues. The slain
+    number three or four thousand, more or less, and those drowned in
+    the river of Quaux about two hundred.... This Tuesday, the date of
+    writing, the army departs from their quarters to advance on Ghent
+    to demand the conditions lately offered them, and the bearer of
+    this letter will tell you what is the result. M. the duke and
+    his army marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of the
+    citizens. They are very bitter and despondent. M. the marshall has
+    been parleying. I hear that matters have been settled. I hear that
+    the Ghenters' loss is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I
+    cannot write more for I have no time owing to the haste of the
+    messenger."
+
+This was written July 23d. There is another despatch of July 31st,
+giving the last news, which was "very joyous." The public apology had
+just been enacted--
+
+    "and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as a confession
+    that my said seigneur was victorious, those of Ghent have
+    delivered up all their banners to the number of eighty. And on
+    this day my said lord has created seven or eight knights and
+    heralds in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable."[20]
+
+The duke's victory was certainly "inestimable" in its value to him,
+yet, in spite of the rigour enforced on this defeated people, they
+were not as crushed as they might have been had they submitted in
+1445. Philip was clever enough to be more lenient than appeared at
+first. Ancient privileges were confirmed in a special compact, and the
+duke swore to maintain all former concessions in their entirety except
+in the points above specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed, and
+it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff refused to sustain the
+sheriffs in their exercise of justice, or tried to arrogate to himself
+more than his due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly, and
+more important than all, the duke made no attempt to revive the demand
+for the _gabelle_--salt was left free and untaxed. As a matter of
+fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfilment of every item
+of the treaty and, two years later, he increased certain privileges.
+He had cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to pit his strength
+again with Flemish communes. He had taught the audacious rebels a
+lesson and that sufficed him.[21]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Blok, _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg.
+Oostenrijksche Heerschappij,_ p. 84.]
+
+[Footnote 2: La Marche, ii., 79, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See also _Chronijcke van Nederlant,_ p. 76, and
+_Vlaamsche Kronijk,_ p. 203. Ed. C. Piot.]
+
+[Footnote 4: D'Escouchy, _Chronique_, i., 110.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The items of the funeral expenses can be found in
+Laborde, i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In that same year, 1440, in which this gift is recorded,
+there is another item showing how Charles took his amusement not only
+on the harp but in planning some of the elaborate surprises regularly
+introduced between courses in the banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter,
+for making the cover of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present
+to Monseigneur on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v
+francs" (Laborde, i., 381).]
+
+[Footnote 7: La Marche, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's
+outfit cost 360 livres.]
+
+[Footnote 9: La Marche, i., ch. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv. Kervyn quotes from
+the _Dagboek des gentsche collatie_, M. Schayes.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Meyer, xvi., 303.]
+
+[Footnote 12: They were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says
+that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of
+sheriffs and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their
+seignories.--(La Marche, ii., 221. _See also_ d'Escouchy, ii., 25.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: La Marche, ii., 230.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Associations of merchants in foreign cities.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, _OEuvres_, ii., 221.]
+
+[Footnote 16: La Marche, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278. See also
+_Chronique d'Adrian de Budt_, p. 242, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Meyer, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313. Lavisse, _Histoire
+de France_, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain (ii., 375)
+puts the number at 22-30,000, including those drowned by the duke's
+order. Du Clercq lets a certain sympathy for the rebellious people
+escape his pen. Chastellain and La Marche treat the antagonism to
+taxes as unreasonable.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Chastellain, ii., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 19: La Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for
+this event.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Revue des sociétés savantes des départements_, 7me.
+série, 6, p. 209.
+
+These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated July 31 and
+August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont to the magistrates
+of Baume. The former was one of the highest officials in the
+Franche-Comté. The reporter might have been one of his secretaries.
+The two notes with their unsigned enclosures were discovered (1881)in
+the archives of the town of Baume-les-Dames.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv., 494.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+1454
+
+
+After the fatigues of this contest with Ghent, followed a period of
+relaxation for the Burgundian nobles at Lille, where a notable
+round of gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph of Cleves
+inaugurated the series with an entertainment where, among other
+things, he delighted his friends by a representation of the tale of
+the miraculous swan,[1] famous in the annals of his house for bringing
+the opportune knight down the Rhine to wed the forlorn heiress.
+
+When his satisfied guests took their leave, Adolph placed a chaplet on
+the head of one of the gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a new
+amusement for the company; and under the invitation lurked a tacit
+challenge to make the coming occasion more brilliant than the first.
+Again and again was this process repeated. Entertainment followed
+entertainment, all a mixture of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose
+preparation the successive hosts vied with each other to attain
+perfection.
+
+The hard times, the stress of ready money, so eloquently painted when
+the merchants were implored to take pity on their poverty-stricken
+lord, were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest tide for skilled
+craftsmen and artisans. Any one blessed with a clever or fantastic
+idea easily found a market for the product of his brain. He could see
+his poetic or quaint conception presented to an applauding public with
+a wealth of paraphernalia that a modern stage manager would not
+scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be inferred from the ducal
+accounts, which are eloquent with information about the creators of
+all this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the wage earned by a
+painter, while the plumbers received eight. These latter were called
+upon to coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often more
+grotesque than graceful.
+
+One fête followed another from the early autumn of 1453 to February,
+1454, when "The Feast of the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was
+called, crowned the series with an elaborate magnificence that has
+never been surpassed.
+
+Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dramatic effect and it is
+more than possible that he instigated the progressive banquets for the
+express purpose of leading up to the occasion with which he intended
+to dazzle Europe.[2]
+
+[Illustration: COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER]
+
+For the duke's thoughts were now turned from civic revolts to a great
+international movement which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost
+coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Philip's will had been
+the capitulation of Constantinople to the Turks. The event long
+dreaded by pope and Christendom had happened at last (May 29, 1453).
+Again and again was the necessity for a united opposition to the
+inroads of the dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve of St.
+Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bringing an official letter
+from the pope, setting forth the dire stress of the Christian Church,
+and imploring the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her saviour,
+and to assume the leadership of a crusade in her behalf against the
+encroaching Turk.[2]
+
+Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer. Whatever the exact
+sequence of his plans in relation to the court revels, the result was
+that his own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for blazoning
+forth to the world with a flourish of trumpets his august intention of
+dislodging the invader from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.
+
+The superintendence of the arrangements for this all-eclipsing fête
+was entrusted, as La Marche relates,
+
+    "to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of the Golden
+    Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman, and to one Squire Jehan
+    Boudault, a notable and discreet man. And the duke honoured me so
+    far that he desired me to be consulted. Several councils were held
+    for the matter to which the chancellor and the first chamberlain
+    were invited. The latter had just returned from the war in
+    Luxemburg already described.
+
+    "These council meetings were very important and very private, and
+    after discussion it was decided what ceremonies and mysteries were
+    to be presented. The duke desired that I should personate the
+    character of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at this
+    assembly."
+
+As in many half amateur affairs the preparations took more time than
+was expected. At the first date set, all was not in readiness and the
+performance was postponed until February 17th. This entailed serious
+loss upon the provision merchants and they received compensation for
+the spoiled birds and other perishable edibles.[4]
+
+The gala-day opened with a tournament at which Adolph of Cleves again
+sported as Knight of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers. After
+the jousting, the guests adjourned to the banqueting hall, where fancy
+had indeed, run riot, to make ready for their admiring eyes and their
+sagacious palates. _Entremets_ is the term applied to the elaborate
+set pieces and side-shows provided to entertain the feasters between
+courses, and these were on an unprecedented scale.
+
+Three tables stood prepared respectively for the duke and his suite,
+for the Count of Charolais, his cousins, and their comrades, and for
+the knights and ladies. The first table was decorated with marvellous
+constructions, among which was a cruciform church whose mimic clock
+tower was capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers. The
+enormous pie in which twenty-eight musicians were discovered when the
+crust was cut may have been the original of that pasty whose opening
+revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar plight. Wild animals
+wandered gravely at a machinist's will through deep forests, but in
+the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at least one live lion,
+for Gilles le Cat[5] received twenty shillings from the duke for the
+chain and locks he made to hold the savage beast fast "on the day of
+the said banquet."
+
+Again there was an anchored ship, manned with a full crew and rigged
+completely. "I hardly think," observes La Marche, "that the greatest
+ship in the world has a greater number of ropes and sails."
+
+Before the guests seated themselves they wandered around the hall
+and inspected the decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration
+exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the toothsome dainties
+provided for their delectation.
+
+During the progress of the banquet, the story of Jason was enacted.
+Time there certainly was for the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight
+dishes to every course, though he qualifies his statement by the
+admission that his memory might be inexact. These dishes were wheeled
+over the tables in little chariots before each person in turn.
+
+"Such were the mundane marvels that graced the fête," is the
+conclusion of La Marche's[6] exhaustive enumeration of the
+masterpieces from artists' workshops and ducal kitchen.
+
+    "I will leave them now to record a pity moving _entremets_ which
+    seemed to be more special than the others. Through the portal
+    whence the previous actors had made their entrance, came a giant
+    larger without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long
+    green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in Granada.
+    His left hand held a great, old-fashioned two-bladed axe, his
+    right hand led an elephant covered with silk. On its back was a
+    castle wherein sat a lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of
+    black cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse.[7]
+
+    "Once within the hall and in sight of the noble company, like one
+    who had work before her, she said to the giant, her conductor:
+
+      "'Giant, prithee let me stay
+        For I spy a noble throng
+        To whom I wish to speak.'
+
+     "At these words her guide conducted his charge before the ducal
+    table and there she made a piteous appeal to all assembled to come
+    to rescue her, Holy Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving
+    miscreants. As soon as she ceased speaking a body of officers
+    entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms, bringing up the rear.
+    This last carried a live pheasant ornamented with a rich collar of
+    gold studded with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maidens,
+    Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the duke, and Isabelle
+    of Neufchâtel, escorted by two gentlemen of the Order. They all
+    proceeded to the host. After greetings, Toison d'Or then said:
+
+    "'High and puissant prince and my redoubtable lord, here are
+    ladies who recommend themselves very humbly to you because it is,
+    and has been, the custom at great feasts and noble assemblies to
+    present to the lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird
+    whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am sent hither with
+    these two demoiselles to present to you this noble pheasant,
+    praying you to remember them.'
+
+    "When these words were said, Monseigneur the duke, who knew for
+    what purpose he had given the banquet, looked at the personified
+    Church, and then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his
+    bosom a document containing his vow to succour Christianity, as
+    will appear later. The Church manifested her joy, and seeing that
+    my said seigneur had given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst
+    forth forth into rhyme:
+
+      "'God be praised and highly served
+        By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France.
+        Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed
+        Until it seemed thou wert reserved
+        To bring me my deliverance.
+        Near and far I seek alliance
+        And pray to God to grant thee grace
+        To work His pleasure in thy place.
+
+      "'0 every prince and noble, man and knight,
+        Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed.
+        Abandon ease, abjure delight,
+        Lift up your hand, each in his right,
+        Offer God the savings from thy greed.
+        I take my leave, imploring each, indeed,
+        To risk his life for Christian gain,
+        To serve his God and 'suage my pain.'
+
+    "At this the giant led off the elephant and departed by the same
+    way in which he had entered.
+
+    "When I had seen this _entremets_, that is, the Church and a
+    castle on the back of such a strange beast, I pondered as to
+    whether I could understand what it meant and could not make it out
+    otherwise except that she had brought this beast, rare among us,
+    in sign that she toiled and laboured in great adversity in the
+    region of Constantinople, whose trials we know, and the castle in
+    which she was signified Faith. Moreover, because this lady was
+    conducted by this mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished
+    to denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had chased her away
+    and sought her destruction.
+
+    "As soon as this play was played out, the noble gentlemen, moved
+    by pity and compassion, hastened to make vows, each in his own
+    fashion."
+
+    The vow of the Count of Charolais was as follows: "I swear to God
+    my creator, and to His glorious mother, to the ladies and to the
+    pheasant, that, if my very redoubtable lord and father embark on
+    this holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I accompany him,
+    I will go and will serve him as well as I can and know how to do."
+
+Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fantastic conditions being
+appended according to individual fancy. One gentleman decided never to
+go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were accomplished. Another
+that he would eat nothing on Fridays that had ever lived until he
+had had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand to hand, and of
+attacking, at peril of his life, the banner of the Grand Turk.
+
+Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tuesday and to wear no
+protection on his right arm. This last the duke refused to permit.
+Hugues de Longueval vowed that when he had once turned his face to the
+East he would abstain from wine until he had plunged his sword in an
+infidel's blood, and that he would devote two years to the crusade
+even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople were not
+recovered. Louis de Chevelast swore that no covering should protect
+his head until he had come to within four leagues of the infidels,
+and that he would fight a Turk on foot with nothing on his arm but a
+glove. There was the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets and
+many of the self-imposed penalties were as bizarre as the side-shows.
+
+There were so many chevaliers eager to bind themselves to the
+enterprise that the prolonged ceremony threatened to become tedious.
+The duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would be equally valid
+as the day.[8]
+
+The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made his going
+dependent on the consent of the King of France, a condition very
+displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]
+
+    "To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the banquet was
+    finished and the cloth removed and every one began to walk
+    around the room. To me it seemed like a dream, for, of all the
+    decorations, soon nothing remained but the crystal fountain.
+    When there was no further spectacle to distract me, then my
+    understanding began to work and various considerations touching
+    this business came into my mind. First, I pondered upon the
+    outrageous excess and great expense incurred in a brief space by
+    these banquets, for this fashion of progressive entertainments,
+    with the hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time. All
+    had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all, especially my
+    said lord, had spent so much that I considered the whole thing
+    outrageous and without any justification for the expense, except
+    as regarded the _entremets_ of the Church and the vows. Even that
+    seemed to me too lightly treated for an important enterprise.
+
+    "Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a gentleman,
+    councillor and chamberlain, who was in my lord's confidence and
+    with whom I had some acquaintance. To him I imparted my thoughts
+    in the course of a friendly chat and his comment was as follows:
+
+    "'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet entertainments
+    would never have occurred except by the secret desire of the duke
+    to lead up to this very banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy
+    purpose and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three years
+    now since the distress of our Church was presented to the Knights
+    of the Golden Fleece at Mons. My lord there dedicated his person
+    and his wealth to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion
+    of Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and money. Thanks
+    be to God, he has attained there a good and honourable peace, as
+    every one knows. Now it has chanced that, during this very period,
+    the Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in their
+    capture of Constantinople. The need of succour is very pressing
+    and all that you have witnessed to-day is proof that the good duke
+    is intent on the weal of Christendom.'"
+
+During the progress of this conversation, a new company was ushered
+into the hall, preceded by musicians. Here came _Grâce Dieu_, clad
+as a nun followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and black velvet
+ornamented with jewels. Not alone did they come. Each gentleman
+escorted a dame wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged
+round skirt _à la Portuguaise. Grâce Dieu_ declared in rhyme that God
+had heard the pious resolution of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had
+forthwith sent her with her twelve attendants to promise him a happy
+termination to his enterprise. Her ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice,
+Reason, Prudence, and their sisters, were then presented to him.
+_Grâce Dieu_ departs alone and no sooner has she disappeared than
+Philip's new attributes begin to dance to add to the good cheer. Among
+the knights was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among the ladies
+was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy, and the others were all of high
+birth. Not until two o'clock did the revels finally cease.
+
+It must be noted that La Marche's reflections upon the extravagance of
+the entertainment occur also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both
+drew their moralising from another author. It is stated by several
+reputable chroniclers that Olivier de la Marche himself represented
+the Church. That he merely wrote her lines is far more probable.
+Female performers certainly appeared freely in these as in other
+masques, and there was no reason for putting a handsome youth in this
+rôle of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans that La Marche
+claims to have heard discussed in the council meeting, he says plainly
+that he was to play the rôle of Holy Church, but as he makes no
+further allusion to the fact, it may be dismissed as one of his
+careless statements.
+
+This pompous announcement of big plans was the prelude to nothing! Yet
+it was by no means a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to
+make this crusade the crowning event of his life, and his proceedings
+immediately after the great fête were all to further that end. To
+obtain allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to ensure a peaceful
+succession for his son in case of his own death in the East--such were
+the cares demanding the duke's attention.
+
+The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was entrusted with the regency
+for the term of his father's sojourn abroad in quest of allies, and
+he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of government, but he was
+speedily recalled to Lille to submit once more to paternal authority
+before being left to his own devices and to maternal bias.
+
+For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the subject of their son's
+second marriage. Isabella wished that a bride should be sought in
+England, and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles himself. The
+important topic was discussed with more or less freedom among the
+young courtiers, until the drift of the conversations, whose burden
+was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came to Philip's ears,
+together with the information that one of his own children was among
+those who incited the count to independent desires about his future
+wife. Very stern was the duke in his reprimand to the two young men.
+He acknowledged that force of circumstances had once led him into
+friendly bonds with the foes of his own France, but never had he been
+"English at heart." Charles must accept his father's decision on pain
+of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip added, turning to the
+other son, destitute of status in the eyes of the law, "if I find that
+he counsels you to oppose my will, I will have him tied up in a sack
+and thrown into the sea."[9]
+
+The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of Bourbon, daughter
+of the duke's sister, and the betrothal was hastily made. Even the
+approval of the bride's parents was dispensed with. This passed the
+more easily as the young lady herself was conveniently present in the
+Burgundian court under the guardianship of her aunt, the duchess,
+who had superintended her education. A papal dispensation was more
+necessary than paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far as
+the betrothal was concerned. To that extent was Philip obeyed. Then
+Charles returned to Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to
+obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enterprise.
+
+The duke's departure from Lille was made very privately at five
+o'clock in the morning. He was off before his courtiers were aware of
+his last preparations. That was a surprise, but not the only one in
+store for those left behind. In order to save every penny for his
+journey, Philip ordered radical retrenchment in his household
+expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his retainers were abolished
+and all alike found themselves forced to restrict their appetites to
+the dainties they could purchase with the table allowance accorded
+them. "The court's leg is broken," said Michel, the rhetorician.[10]
+
+In his own outlay there was no stinting; the duke's progress was
+pompous and stately as was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland,
+Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and obtained permission to show
+their friendship with ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of
+"_Vive Bourgogne_." Equally hospitable were the German cities. Game,
+wine, fodder, were offered for the traveller's use at every stage, as
+he and his suite rode to the imperial diet.
+
+At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The emperor whom he had come
+so far to see in person failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the
+plan of co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic
+simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially lazy, he shrank from
+committing himself to a difficult enterprise, nor was his ambition
+tempted by possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the crown
+of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had he been personally ambitious
+he might still have been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's
+project, in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing renown of the
+greatest duke of the Occident might throw a poor emperor as ally
+into the shade. The very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had
+chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he sent his secretary,
+Æneas Sylvius, to represent him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from
+pleasing to the visitor.
+
+There were other defections, too, from the diet. None of those present
+was in a position to aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter
+was brought forward and laid on the table to be discussed at the next
+diet, appointed to meet in November at Frankfort. But Philip would
+not wait for that. Germany did not agree with him. He was not well.
+Rumours there were of various kinds about his reasons for returning
+home. They do not seem to require much explanation, however. He had
+not been met half way in Germany and was highly displeased at the
+failure. Declining all further entertainment proffered by the cities,
+he travelled back to Besançon by way of Stuttgart and Basel. In the
+early autumn he was at Dijon.
+
+During this summer, negotiations about Charles's marriage had
+continued. The Duke of Bourbon was inclined to chaffer about the dowry
+demanded by Philip. One of the estates asked for was Chinon, and it
+was urged that it, a male fief, was not capable of alienation. Philip
+was not inclined to accept this reason as final and the negotiations
+hung fire, much to the distress of the Duchess of Bourbon, who feared
+a breach between her husband and brother. Naïve are the phrases in one
+of her letters as quoted by Chastellain[11]:
+
+    "MY VERY DEAR SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,
+
+    "I have heard all Boudault's message from you ... To be brief,
+    Monseigneur is content and ready to accede the points that you
+    demand. It seems to me that you ought to give him easy terms and
+    that you ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against
+    him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as done, I beg you to
+    celebrate the nuptials as soon as possible although not without me
+    as you have promised me."[12]
+
+The king, too, was interested in the matter, and wrote as follows to
+Duke Philip:
+
+    "DEAR AND MUCH LOVED BROTHER:
+
+    "Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed me of the
+    negotiations for the marriage of my cousin of Charolais, your son,
+    to my cousin Isabella of Bourbon, his daughter, which marriage
+    has been deferred, as he writes me, because he does not wish to
+    alienate to his daughter the seignory of Château-Chinon. It is not
+    possible for him to do this on account of the marriage agreement
+    of our daughter Jeanne and my cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein
+    it was stipulated that Château-Chinon should go to them and their
+    heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female line, and in
+    default of heirs male it must return to the crown as a true
+    appanage of France.
+
+    "Lest, peradventure, you may doubt the truth of this, and imagine
+    that the point is urged by our cousin of Bourbon simply as an
+    excuse for not ceding the estate, we assure you that it is true,
+    and was considered in arranging the alliance of our daughter so
+    that it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to make any
+    alienation or transfer of the territory at the marriage of his
+    daughter. We never would have permitted the marriage of our
+    daughter without this express settlement. With this consideration
+    it seems to me that you ought not to block the marriage in
+    question, especially as my cousin says he is offering you an
+    equivalent. He cannot do more as we have charged our councillor,
+    the bailiff of Berry, to explain to you in full. So pray do not
+    postpone the marriage for the above cause or for any cause, if
+    by the permission of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be
+    lawfully completed.
+
+    "Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17.
+
+    "CHARLES.[13]
+
+    CHALIGAUT."
+
+
+As the marriage was an event of importance, and the circumstances
+are simple historic facts, it is strange that there should be any
+uncertainty regarding the details of its solemnisation. But there is a
+certain vagueness about the narratives. One version is so amusing that
+it deserves a slight consideration.[14] The chronicler relates how
+Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay in the negotiations.
+Conscious of the sentiments of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared
+lest her well-known sympathies for England might prevail in the final
+decision.
+
+When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff of Berry came as the
+king's special envoy to discuss some aspects of the subject with him.
+The mission was gladly undertaken as the messenger had never seen
+Philip nor his court and he was pleased at the chance of meeting a
+personage whose fame rang through Europe. Very graciously was he
+received by the duke, who read the king's letters attentively and
+replied to the envoy's messages in general terms of courteous
+recognition, without making his own intention manifest. The bailiff
+waited for an answer, finding, in the meanwhile, that his days passed
+very agreeably.
+
+As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon Philip Pot had set
+out for the Netherlands, bearing the duke's orders to his son to
+celebrate his nuptials without further delay. The duke did not intend
+to be influenced by any one. It was his will that his son should
+accept the bride selected and that was all sufficient. The reason why
+the duke detained the king's messenger was that he "awaited news from
+Messire Philip de Pot, whom he had sent in all speed to his son to
+hasten the wedding."[15] The said gentleman found the count at Lille
+with the duchess, his mother, and he was so diligent in the discharge
+of his mission that he made all the arrangements himself and saw the
+wedding rites solemnised immediately. The bridegroom did not even know
+of the plan until the night preceding the important day. Then Philip
+Pot rode back to Dijon.
+
+When the duke was assured that the alliance was irrevocably sealed
+he was quite ready to answer the king's messenger, whom he at once
+invited to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip remarked:
+
+"Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a matter which I am
+humbly grateful for his interest in. You know my opinion. I had no
+desire to dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from Flanders; ask him
+his news and note his reply."
+
+"What tidings, Monsieur, do you bring us?
+
+Prithee impart it" said the bailiff to the chevalier. And the
+gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my faith, Monsieur bailiff, the
+greatest news that I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is
+married!"
+
+"Married! to whom?"
+
+"To whom?" responded the chevalier, "why, to his first cousin,
+Monseigneur's niece."
+
+Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's blank amazement. Again the
+latter had to be reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip Pot
+told him that it was so true that the wedded pair had spent the night
+together according to their lawful right.
+
+The bailiff did not know which way to turn. "So he acted out his
+two rôles. Returning thanks to the duke in the king's name with all
+formality, he then joined in the general laugh over the unsuspected
+trick. He was a man of the world and knew how to take advantage of
+sense and of folly."
+
+It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the wedding knot that the
+Countess of Charolais sent a messenger to announce the fact to her
+parents. They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made no further
+objection to any point, and the mooted territory of Chinon made part
+of the dower in spite of the reasons urged against it.
+
+As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at Dijon, Philip presented
+him with a round dozen stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks,
+and he went home a surprised and delighted man.
+
+    "About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Monsieur de Charolais
+    married Mademoiselle de Bourbon and he married her on the eve of
+    All Saints[16] at Lille, and there was no festival because Duke
+    Philip was then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the
+    duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the ladies of
+    Lille, but they were seated all together, as is usually done at
+    an ordinary banquet, without mesdames holding state as would have
+    been proper for such an occasion."
+
+It is evident from all the stories that Charles protested against his
+father's orders as much as he dared and then obeyed simply because he
+could not help himself.
+
+Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom proved a faithful
+husband in a court where marital fidelity was a rare trait.
+
+Philip's plans for the international union against the Turk were less
+easily completed than those for the union of his son and his niece. In
+November, the diet met at Frankfort; the expedition was discussed and
+some resolutions were passed, but nothing further was achieved.
+
+Charles VII. would not even promise co-operation on paper. He had
+gradually extended his own domain in French-speaking territory and had
+dislodged the English from every stronghold except Guisnes and Calais.
+Under him France was regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose,
+therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by Philip and he was
+wholly unwilling to risk it. From him Philip obtained only expressions
+of general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and more definite
+suggestions of the dangers that would menace Western Europe if all her
+natural defenders carried their arms and their fortunes to the East.
+
+When the anniversary of the great fête came round not a vow was yet
+fulfilled!
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The chroniclers are not at one on this point.]
+
+[Footnote 3: DuClercq, _Mémoires_, ii., 159.]
+
+[Footnote 4: This banquet at Lille was the subject of several
+descriptions by spectators or at least contemporary authors.
+
+The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript copied from an
+older one which contains the order of proceedings together with the
+text of all vows. There is a minute description in Mathieu d'Escouchy,
+who claims to have been present, and in a manuscript coming from
+Baluze, whose anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of
+the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most original.
+One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon, called Dion du Cret,
+received, in 1455, a sum of five francs and a half for having, at the
+order of the accountants, copied and written in parchment the history
+of the banquet of my said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453,
+containing fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note).
+It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with this
+account, which seems to have been merely a copy.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Laborde, i., 127.]
+
+[Footnote 6: II., 361.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion.
+_Béguine_ is probably the right reading.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Mathieu d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as
+though made then, and differs in many unessential points from La
+Marche's account.
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clerq, ii., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 10:'"Michel dit que le gigot de la cour était rompu."--La
+Marche, i., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Chastellain, iii., 20, note.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "Toute fois que ce ne soit pas sans moy."]
+
+[Footnote 13: The original, signed, is in the _Archives de la
+Côte-d'Or,_ B. 200. _See_ Du Fresne de Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
+VII_., v. 470.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Chastellain, iii., 23, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 24]
+
+
+[Footnote 16: The chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain
+(iii., 25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch.
+cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallowe'en _(Les
+Honneurs de la Cour_, p. 187). The last was one of Isabella's ladies
+in waiting.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+1455-1456.
+
+
+The duke's journey failed in accomplishing its object, but it proved
+an important factor in the development of the character of Charles of
+Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the government in his father's
+absence changed him from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he
+was, was plain to see.
+
+His character was built on singularly simple lines. Vigorous of
+body, intense of purpose, inclined to melancholy, he was profoundly
+convinced of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke in
+Christendom, as future successor to an uncrowned potentate, who could
+afford to treat lightly the authority of both king and emperor whose
+nominal vassal he was.
+
+The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an immense effect in enhancing
+the count's belief in his father's power, in causing him to forget
+that the communes of Flanders did not owe their existence to their
+overlord. As yet, Charles of Burgundy had not met a single check to
+his self-esteem, to his family pride. As a governor, he probably
+exercised his brief authority with the rigour of one new to the helm.
+
+    "And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well and so virtuously
+    in the task, that nothing deteriorated under his hand, and when
+    the good duke returned from his journey, he found his lands as
+    intact as before."
+
+Such, is La Marche's testimony.[1] Intact undoubtedly, but possibly
+the satisfaction was not quite perfect. Du Clercq[2] declares that
+Count Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge and made
+himself respected as a magistrate. Above all, he insisted that justice
+should be dealt out to all alike. The only danger in his methods was
+that he acted on impulse without sufficiently informing himself of the
+matter in hand, or hearing both sides of a controversy. As a result,
+his decisions were not always impartial and the father was preferred
+to the strenuous and impetuous son. "Not that Philip was often
+inclined to recognise other law than his own will, but he was more
+tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more guided by reason," adds
+a later author.[2] There was an evident dread as to what might be the
+outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour.
+
+The duke's chief measures after his return in February, 1455, seemed
+hardly calculated to arouse any great personal devotion to himself or
+a profound trust that his first consideration was for the advantage of
+his Netherland subjects. His thoughts were still turned to the East,
+and his main interest in the individual countships was as sources of
+supply for his Holy War. Considerable sums flowed into his exchequer
+that were never used for their destined purpose, but the duke cannot
+be justly accused of actual bad faith in amassing them. His intention
+to make the Eastern campaign remained firm for some years.
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF CHARLES THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK]
+
+In another matter, his despotic exercise of personal authority, far
+without the pale of his jurisdiction inherited or acquired, shows no
+shadow of excuse.
+
+In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical head was also lay
+lord. Here the counts of Holland possessed no voice. They were near
+neighbours, that was all. Philip ardently desired to be more in this
+tiny independent state in the midst of territories acknowledging his
+sway.
+
+In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and Philip was most anxious
+to have it filled by his son David, whom he had already made Bishop of
+Thérouanne by somewhat questionable methods. The Duke of Guelders
+also had a neighbourly interest in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet
+candidate, Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged. The chapter
+resolutely ignored the wishes of both dukes and the canons were almost
+unanimous in their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.[4]
+
+A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria, but not a single
+one for David of Burgundy.
+
+Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral and an eminently
+worthy choice, both for his attainments and for his character. He was
+proclaimed in the cathedral, installed in the palace, and confirmed,
+as regarded his temporal power, by the emperor.
+
+Philip, however, refused to accept the returns, although not a single
+suffrage had been cast by the qualified electors for his son. He
+despatched the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new pope,
+Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late election and to confer
+the see upon David, out of hand. Philip's tender conscience found
+Gijsbrecht ineligible to an episcopal office because he had
+participated in the war against Ghent, certainly a weak plea in an age
+of militant bishops!
+
+The pope was afraid to offend the one man in Europe upon whose
+immediate aid he counted in the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift
+of four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys, the customary
+gift in asking papal confirmation for a bishop-elect, but secretly
+he delivered to Philip's ambassador letters patent creating David of
+Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.[5]
+
+The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically that David was elected
+to the see, and the Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
+Philip had to levy an army and come in person to support the new
+bishop.[6] Du Clercq puts a different colour on the story and
+d'Escouchy[7] implies that the whole trouble arose from party strife
+which had to be quelled in the interests of law and order.
+
+Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters by imposing upon
+them a spiritual director of acknowledged base birth, the right of
+choice lay with them and the emperor had confirmed their choice as far
+as the lay office was concerned. While the issue was undecided, the
+Estates of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and defender of the
+see to assure him a legal status pending the papal ratification. The
+people were prepared to support their candidate with arms, a game that
+Philip did not refuse, and the force of thirty thousand men with which
+he invaded the bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two and
+able to carry David of Burgundy to the episcopal throne, upon which he
+was seated in his father's presence, October 16, 1455.
+
+Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advantages from the situation.
+Alkmaar and Kennemerland redeemed certain forfeited privileges by
+means of their contributions to the duke's army. The city of Utrecht
+preferred a compromise to the risk of war. The bishop-elect,
+Gijsbrecht, consented to withdraw his claim, being permitted to retain
+the humbler office of provost of Utrecht and an annuity of four
+thousand guilders out of the episcopal revenues.
+
+Deventer was the only place which was obstinate enough to persist in
+her rebellion and Philip was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms
+by a siege when news was brought to him that a visitor had arrived at
+Brussels under circumstances which imperatively demanded his personal
+attention.
+
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since the Treaty of Arras, there
+had been great changes in France in the character both of the realm
+and of the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved himself to
+be a very different person from the inert king of Bourges.[8] Old at
+twenty, Charles VII. seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers
+were replaced by others better chosen and his administration gradually
+became effective. Fortune favoured him in depriving England of the
+Duke of Bedford (1435), the one man who might have maintained English
+prestige abroad and peace at home during the youth of Henry VI. It was
+at a time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles VII. succeeded
+in assuming the offensive on the Continent and in wresting Normandy
+and Guienne from the late invader.
+
+But this territorial advantage was not all. Distinct progress had been
+made towards a national existence in France. The establishment of
+the nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid in curbing the
+depredations of the "_écorcheurs_," the devastating, marauding
+bands which had harassed the provinces. There was new activity in
+agriculture and industry and commerce.[9] The revival of letters and
+art, never completely stifled, proved the real vitality of France in
+spite of the depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal justice was
+reorganised, public finance was better administered. By 1456, misery
+had not, indeed, disappeared, but it was less dominant.
+
+The years of growing union between king and his kingdom were, however,
+years of discord between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis had
+not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his Burgundian cousin. Very
+poor and forlorn was his father at the time of the birth of his heir
+(1423).[10] There was nothing in the treasury to pay the chaplain who
+baptised the child or the woman who nourished him. The latter received
+no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of fifteen pounds.
+The first allowance settled on the heir to his unconsecrated royal
+father's uncertain fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every feature of
+his infancy was a marked contrast to the early life of the Count of
+Charolais.
+
+From his seventeenth year Louis was in active opposition to the
+king, heading organised rebellion against him in the war called
+the _Praguerie_. Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his charge the
+administration of Dauphiné, thus practically banishing him honourably
+from the court where he was, evidently, a disturbing element. The only
+restrictions placed upon him in his provincial government were such
+as were necessary to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown. To
+these restrictions, however, Louis paid not the slightest heed. He
+assumed all the airs of an independent sovereign. He made wars and
+treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded to arrange his own
+marriage.
+
+At this time Louis was already a widower, having been married at the
+age of thirteen to Margaret of Scotland, who led a mournful existence
+at the French court, where she felt herself a desolate alien. Her
+death at the age of twenty was possibly due to slander. "Fie upon
+life," she said on her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
+the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk to me no more of it."
+
+Her husband cared less for her life than did Margaret herself. He took
+no interest in the inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
+charges against the princess, and was more than ready to turn to a new
+alliance. At the date of his widowerhood he was in Dauphiné and his
+own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Savoy.
+After negotiations in his own behalf he informed his father of his
+matrimonial project. It did not meet the views of Charles VII., who
+ordered his son to abandon the idea immediately.
+
+A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambéry to stop the
+dauphin's nuptials.[11] The duke evaded an interview and the envoy was
+forced to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy. On the morrow
+of his arrival, he was taken to church, where the wedding ceremony was
+performed (March 10, 1451), but his seat was in such a remote place
+that he could barely catch a glimpse of the bridal procession, though
+he saw that Louis was clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two
+days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to the king, expressing
+regrets on the part of the Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made
+before the paternal prohibition arrived.
+
+Nine years were spent by Louis in Dauphiné. He introduced many
+administrative and judicial reforms, excellent in themselves but not
+popular. There were various protests and when he dared to impose taxes
+without the consent of the Estates, an appeal was made to the king
+begging him to check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles
+summoned his son to his presence. Instead of obeying this order in
+person, Louis sent envoys who were dismissed by his father with a curt
+response: "Let my son return to his duty and he shall be treated as a
+son. As to his fears, security to his person is pledged by my word,
+which my foes have never refused to accept."[12]
+
+Louis showed himself less compliant than his father's foes. As Charles
+approached Dauphiné, and made his preparations to enforce obedience,
+Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the Duke of Burgundy,
+and of the King of Castile, beside sending offerings to all the chief
+shrines in Christendom, imploring aid against parental wrath. Then
+his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He called the nobles of his
+principality to arms and bade the fortified towns prepare for siege,
+while he loftily declared that he would not trouble his father to seek
+him. He would meet him at Lyons.
+
+Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was directed by the king to take
+military possession of Dauphiné and to put the dauphin under arrest.
+As he was _en route_ to fulfil these orders, the count heard that
+a day had been set by Louis for a great hunt. That an excellent
+opportunity might be afforded for securing his quarry in the course
+of the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's lieutenant. So
+there might have been had not the wily hunter received timely warning
+of the project for making _him_ the game.
+
+At the hour appointed for the meet, the dauphin's suite rode to the
+rendezvous, but the prince turned his horse in the opposite direction
+and galloped away at full speed, attended by a few trusty followers.
+He hardly stopped even to take breath until he was out of his father's
+domain, and made no pause until he reached St. Claude, a small town
+in the Franche-Comté, where he threw himself on the kindness of the
+Prince of Orange.
+
+How gossip about this strange departure of the French heir fluttered
+here and there! Du Clercq[13] tells the story with some variation from
+the above outline, laying more stress on the popular appeal to the
+king for relief from Louis's transgressions as governor of Dauphiné,
+and enlarging on the accusation that Louis was responsible for the
+death of _La belle Agnès_, "the first lady of the land possessing the
+king's perfect love." He adds that the dauphin was further displeased
+because the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de Villeclerc,
+was kept at court after her aunt's death. Wherever the king went he
+was followed by this lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
+this conduct of his father that had forced the son to absent himself
+from court life for twelve years and more, during which time he
+received no allowance as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
+obliged to make his own requisitions from his seigniory.
+
+There were other reports that the king was quite ready to accord his
+son his full state; others, again, that Charles drove Louis into exile
+from mere dislike and intended to make his second son his heir and
+successor. At this point Du Clercq's manuscript is broken off abruptly
+and the remainder of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where the
+text begins again, the author dismisses all this contradictory hearsay
+and says in his own character as veracious chronicler, "I concern
+myself only with what actually occurred. The dauphin gave a feast
+in the forest and then departed secretly to avoid being arrested by
+Dammartin."
+
+This flight was the not unnatural termination of a long series of
+misunderstandings between a father whose private conduct was not above
+criticism, and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute of respect for
+any person or thing except for the superstitious side of his religion.
+
+Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man whose mental development
+occurred during the later years of his life. When his son was under
+his personal influence his character was not one to instil filial
+deference, and Louis certainly cherished neither respect nor affection
+for the father whose inert years he remembered vividly.
+
+Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in Agnes Sorel's death which
+gave him especial reason to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
+of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he travelled as rapidly
+as his steed could go, and from that spot on Burgundian soil he
+despatched the following exemplary letter to his father:
+
+    "MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LORD:
+
+    "To your good grace I recommend myself as humbly as I can. Be
+    pleased to know, my very redoubtable lord, that because, as you
+    know, my uncle of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade
+    against the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because my
+    desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting, considering that
+    our Holy Father the Pope bade me so to do, and that I am standard
+    bearer of the Church, and that I took the oath by your command, I
+    am now on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that I can
+    take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith.
+
+    "Also, I wish to implore him to find means of reinstating me in
+    your good grace, which is something that I desire most in the
+    world. My very redoubtable lord, I pray God to give you good life
+    and long.
+
+    "Written at St. Claude the last day of August.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient son,
+
+    "LOYS."[14]
+
+
+This letter hardly succeeded in carrying conviction to the king.
+He characterised the projected expedition to Turkey as a farce, a
+pretence, and a frivolous excuse.[15] Probably, too, he did not
+contradict his courtiers when they declared that the project had
+been in the wind a long time, and that the Duke of Burgundy would
+be prouder than ever to have the heir to France dependent on his
+protection.
+
+The epistle despatched, Louis continued his journey under the escort
+of the Seigneur de Blaumont, Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of
+thirty horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit of Tristan
+l'Hermite. The prince needed no spurs to make him flee. Even if his
+father did not intend to have him drowned in a sack his immediate
+liberty was certainly in jeopardy. "In truth this thing was a
+marvellous business. The Prince of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy
+were the two men whom the dauphin hated more than any one else,
+but necessity, which knows no law, overcame the distaste of the
+dauphin."[16]
+
+Louvain was the next place where Louis felt safe enough to rest. Here
+he wrote to the Duke of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his
+territory. The letter found Philip in camp before Deventer. It is
+evident that he was entirely taken by surprise, and was prepared to be
+very cautious in his correspondence with the French king. He assured
+him that he was willing to receive and honour Louis as his suzerain's
+heir, but he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the duke, for
+that heir's flight to his protection.
+
+His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many reassuring messages in
+addition to the epistle. Before he reached the French court, his
+news was no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The messenger was very
+eloquent in his assurances to the king that Philip was wholly innocent
+in the affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet
+
+    "stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do not know what
+    they discussed, but during that time news came that the king had
+    garrisoned Compiègne, Lyons, and places where his lands touched
+    the duke's territories. When the envoy returned to the duke, he
+    published a manifesto ordering all who could bear arms to be in
+    readiness."[17]
+
+Philip sent messages of welcome to Louis with apologies for his
+own inevitable absence, and the visitor was profuse in his return
+assurances to his uncle that he understood the delay and would not
+disturb his business for the world. "I have leisure enough to wait and
+it does not weary me. I am safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town
+which I have long wished to see." He showed his courtesy when the
+Count d'Étampes, Philip's nephew-in-law, presented his suite, by
+pronouncing each individual name and assuring its bearer that he had
+heard about him.[18]
+
+The count was commissioned to conduct the dauphin to Brussels and we
+have the story of an eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the
+ducal family:
+
+    "I saw the King of France, father of the present King Charles,
+    chased away by his father Charles for some difference of which
+    they say that the fair Agnes was the cause, and on account of
+    which he took refuge with Duke Philip, for he had no means of
+    subsistence.[19]
+
+    "The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to Brussels accompanied
+    by about ten cavaliers and by the Marshal of Burgundy. At this
+    time Duke Philip was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to
+    receive the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and Madame
+    de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant with Madame Mary of
+    Burgundy, since then Duchess of Austria.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where were the ladies,
+    at eight o'clock in the evening, about St. Martin's Day.[20] When
+    the ladies heard that he was in the city they hastened down to the
+    courtyard to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted and
+    saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charolais and Mme. de
+    Ravestein. All kneeled and then he kissed the other ladies of the
+    court."
+
+Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter of an hour was
+consumed by a friendly altercation between Isabella and her guest as
+to the exact way in which they should enter the door, the dauphin
+resolute in his refusal to take precedence and Isabella equally
+resolute not even to walk by the side of the future king. "Monsieur,
+it seems to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for you wish
+me to do what befits me not." To this the dauphin replied that it was
+incumbent upon him to pay honour for there was none in the realm of
+France so poor as he, and that he would not have known whither to flee
+if not to his uncle Philip and to her.
+
+Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess and guest finally
+proceeded hand in hand to the chamber prepared for the latter and
+Isabella then took leave on bended knee.
+
+When the duke returned to Brussels this contention as to the proper
+etiquette was renewed. Isabella tried to retain the dauphin in his own
+apartment so that the duke should greet him there as befitted their
+relative rank. She was greatly chagrined, therefore, when Louis
+rushed down to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival. This
+punctilious hostess actually held the prince back by his coat to
+prevent his advancing towards the duke.
+
+Throughout the visit the minor points of etiquette were observed with
+the utmost care. Both duchess and countess refrained from employing
+their train-bearers when they entered the dauphin's presence. When he
+insisted that his hostess should walk by his side, she managed her own
+train if possible. If she accepted any aid from her gentlemen she was
+very careful to keep her hand upon the dress, so that technically she
+was still her own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess ate in the
+dauphin's presence, there was no cover to her dish and nothing was
+tasted in her behalf.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis with every requisite, but he,
+too, never forgot for a moment that this dependent visitor was future
+monarch of France. Without doors as within, every minor detail of
+etiquette was observed. The duke never so far forgot himself in the
+ardour of the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance beyond
+the tail of the prince's steed.
+
+In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary of Burgundy was born.
+Our observant court lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed
+in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and at the baptism.
+Brussels rang with joyful bells and blazed with torches, four hundred
+supplied by the city ahd two hundred by the young father. Each torch
+weighed four or five pounds.
+
+The Count of Charolais was his own messenger to announce the birth of
+his daughter to the dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joyful
+was Louis to accept the invitation and to bestow his mother's name on
+the baby-girl. Ste. Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church
+of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony and richly adorned
+with Holland linen, velvet, and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her
+grandchild to the font,--a font draped with cramoisy velvet.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I heard it said that
+    there was no one on the left because there was none his equal. On
+    that day, the duchess wore a round skirt _à la Portuguaise_, edged
+    with fur. There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot
+    state who carried it,"
+
+sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic.
+
+Later events made later chroniclers less enthusiastic about the honour
+paid to Mademoiselle[21] Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La
+Marche's _Mémoires_ at The Hague, the words "Lord! what a god-father!"
+appear in the margin of the page describing the baptism.[22] But in
+these early days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have been
+a pleasant person and to have posed as the ruined poor relation,
+entirely free from pride at his high birth and delighted to repay
+hospitality by his general complaisance.
+
+Charles VII. received all the reports with somewhat cynical amusement.
+He had no great trust in his son. "Louis is fickle and changeable and
+I do not doubt that he will return here before long. I am not at all
+pleased with those who influence him," are his words as quoted by
+d'Escouchy.[23]
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI FROM THE ENGRAVING BY A. BOILLY, AFTER THE
+DRAWING BY J. BOILLY]
+
+Undoubtedly, though, the king was much surprised at his son's action.
+He had rather expected him to take refuge somewhere but he never
+thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his protector--a strange
+choice to his mind. "My cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will
+eat his chickens" is reported as another comment of this impartial
+father.[24] Like many a phrase, possibly the fruit of later harvests,
+this is an excellent epitome of the situation.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: I.,ch. xxxi.]
+
+[Footnote 2:II.,204.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Barante, vi.,50.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Some of the canons wrote their reasons after their
+recorded vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate member
+of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which office
+Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all the Sticht nobles
+were his relations," etc.--(Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Historie,_ iv.,
+50.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: Du Clercq, ii., 210.]
+
+[Footnote 6: _Mémoires_, i., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 7: II., 315.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 317.]
+
+[Footnote 9: For the effects of operations on a large scale see
+_Jacques Coeur and Charles VII_., by Pierre Clémart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Duclos_, "Hist. de Louis XI.," _OEuvres Complètes_ v.,
+8.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Duclos, iii., 78.]
+
+[Footnote 12: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 292.]
+
+[Footnote 13: II.,223.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Lettres de Louis XI_., i., 77.
+
+According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter shows
+that _September 2nd_ was written first and erased.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 185.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Du Clercq, ii., 228.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Chastellain iii., 197.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Séjour de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas;_ Reiffenberg:
+Nouveaux mem. de l'Acad. Royale, 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Alienor de Poictiers, _Les Honneurs de la Cour_, ii.,
+208. It was early in October.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This date, November 11th, does not agree with the
+others.]
+
+[Footnote 21: "At that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was
+not the son of a sovereign."--La Marche, ii., 410, note.]
+
+[Footnote 22: La Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain!"]
+
+[Footnote 23: II., 343.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iii., 185; Lavisse iv^{ii}., 299.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+1456-1461
+
+
+The picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing in happy unison over the
+advent of an heiress to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with the
+dauphin participating in the family joy, shows the tranquil side of
+the first months of the long visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an
+incident had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin and Charles
+VII. were not the only father and son between whom relations were
+strained, and that a moment had arrived when the attitude of the Count
+of Charolais to the duke was no longer characterised by unquestioning
+filial obedience.
+
+Charles was on his way to Nuremberg[1] to fulfil a mission with
+certain German princes when the dauphin alighted in Brabant, like "a
+bird of ill omen," as he designated himself on one occasion. The count
+did not return to Brussels until January 12, 1457. Thus he took no
+part in the hearty welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than
+possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly pleased with the
+state of affairs placidly existing by mid-winter.
+
+Instead of resuming the first position which he had enjoyed during his
+brief regency, or the honoured second that had been his after Philip
+came back, Charles was now relegated to a third place. Further,
+without having been consulted as to the policy, he found that he
+was forced into following his father's lead in treating a penniless
+refugee like an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and a joy. It
+is more than probable that Charles was already feeling somewhat hurt
+at the duke's warmth towards Louis when a serious breach occurred
+between father and son about another matter.
+
+It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant in his own household,
+and the count assumed that the appointment of a successor was
+something that lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the duke
+interfered in a peremptory fashion and insisted that the appointment
+should be made at his instance, the son refused to accept his
+authority, especially as his father's nominee was Philip de Croy, one
+of a family already over-dominant in the Burgundian court. At least,
+that was Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed his father's
+commands to bring his _ordonnance_, or household list, to the duke's
+oratory, he unhesitatingly carried the document which contained the
+name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d'Émeries, in place of Philip de Croy.
+
+The duke was very angry at this apparent contempt for his expressed
+wishes. Indignantly he threw the lists into the fire with the words,
+"Now look to your _ordonnances_ for you will need new ones[2]."
+
+There was evidently a succession of violent scenes in which the
+duchess tried to stand between her husband and son. But Philip was
+beside himself with wrath and refused to listen to a word from her or
+from the dauphin, who also endeavoured to mediate[2].
+
+Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself, ordered a horse,
+and rode out alone into the forest of Soignies. When he became calmer
+it was dark and he found himself far from the beaten tracks, in the
+midst of underbrush through which he could not ride. He dismounted and
+wandered on foot for hours in the January night until smoke guided him
+to a charcoal burner, who conducted him to the more friendly shelter
+of a forester's hut. In the morning he made his way to Genappe.
+
+Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned. Search parties seeking
+their sovereign were out all night. No one, however, was in such a
+state of dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he would be counted
+at fault when family dissensions followed so soon on his arrival.
+Delighted he was, therefore, to act as mediator between father and
+son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified state to listen to
+reason. Charles betook himself to Dendermonde for a time until the
+duke was ready to see him[4]. His young wife made the most of her
+expectations to soften her father-in-law's resentment, and between
+her entreaties and those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his
+gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over.
+
+There was one marked difference between this family dispute and the
+breach between the French king and the dauphin. In the latter case no
+feeling was involved. In the former, the son was really deeply wounded
+by what he deemed lack of parental affection for his interests. At the
+same time he was shocked by the bitter words and was, for the moment,
+so filled with contrition that he was eager to make any concession
+agreeable to the duke. He dismissed two of his servants[5], suspected
+by his father of fomenting trouble between them, and he showed himself
+in general very willing to placate paternal displeasure.
+
+Reconciliation between duke and duchess was more difficult. Isabella
+resented Philip's reproaches for her sympathy with Charles. She said
+she had stepped between the two men because she had feared lest the
+duke might injure his son in his wrath[6]. This was in answer to the
+Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of Philip's displeasure.
+She concluded her dignified defence with an expression of her utter
+loneliness. Stranger in a strange land she had no one belonging to her
+but her son.
+
+She was certainly present at the baptism of her grandchild, but
+shortly afterwards she retired to a convent of the Grey Sisters,
+founded by herself, and rarely returned to the world or took part in
+its ceremonies during the remainder of her life.
+
+The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It is not probable that
+he had much personal liking for the guest upon whom his father heaped
+courtesies and solicitous care. On one occasion, when the two young
+men were hunting they were separated by chance. When Charles returned
+alone to the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his son's
+careless desertion of the guest in his charge. Again the court was
+organised into search parties and there was no rest until the dauphin
+was discovered some leagues from Brussels[7]. Here, also, it is an
+easy presumption that the Count of Charolais was a trifle sulky over
+his father's preoccupation in regard to the prince.
+
+The transient character of the dauphin's sojourn in his cousin's
+domains soon changed. In the summer of 1457, when news came that
+Dauphiné had submitted to Charles VII., when the successive embassies
+despatched by Philip to the king had all proved fruitless in their
+conciliatory efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent
+arrangements for the fugitive's comfort.
+
+    "Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased to deprive you
+    of Dauphiné ... you are to-day lord and prince without land. But,
+    nevertheless, you shall not be without a country, for all that I
+    have is yours and I place it within your hand without reserving
+    aught except my life and that of my wife. Pray take heart. If God
+    does not abandon me I will never abandon you[8]."
+
+The duke made good his words by giving his guest the estate of
+Genappe, of which Louis took possession at the end of July. Then as a
+further step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip sent for
+Charlotte of Savoy who had remained under her father's care ever since
+the formal marriage in 1451. She was now eighteen.
+
+It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe. Louis's favourite
+amusement of the chase was easy of access. "The court is at present
+at Louvain," wrote a courtier[9] on July 1st, "and Monseigneur the
+Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good hunting and falconry and
+a great number of rabbits within and without the city." With killing
+of every kind at his service, what greater solace could a homeless
+prince expect?
+
+From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance, and the sum of 1200
+livres, furnished by Philip for the dauphin's journey to his new
+abode, seemed a large provision. The pension then settled on him was
+36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness arrived 1000 livres a month
+were provided for her private purse[10].
+
+Pleasant was existence in this château. There was no dearth of company
+to throng around the prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no
+prejudice of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of duty towards
+his host to hamper him in making useful friends. A word here and
+a word there, aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had
+exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate, were very potent
+in intimating to many a Burgundian servant that there might come a
+time when a new king across the border might better appreciate their
+real value than their present or future sovereign.
+
+Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the dauphin did not confine his
+invitations to sportsmen. The easy accessibility of the little court
+attracted men of science and of letters as well as others capable of
+making the time pass agreeably. When there was nothing else on foot,
+it is said that the company amused themselves by telling stories,
+each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collection of the _Cent
+Nouvelles Nouvelles_[11], named in imitation of Boccaccio's _Cento
+Novelle_.
+
+The first printed edition of this collection was issued in Paris, in
+1486, by Antoine Verard, who thus admonishes the gentle reader: "Note
+that whenever _Monseigneur_ is referred to, Monseigneur the Dauphin
+must be understood, who has since succeeded to the crown and is King
+Louis. Then he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy." Another
+editor asserts that _Monseigneur_ is evidently the Duke of Burgundy
+and not Louis, and later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale
+wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio, and that the
+names of the narrators were as imaginative or rather as editorial as
+the rest of the volume.
+
+If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author would have given an
+appearance of verisimilitude to his fiction by mentioning the actual
+habitués of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count of Charolais
+does not appear at all. The duke tells three or more stories according
+to the interpretation given to _Monseigneur_. With three exceptions
+the tales are very coarse, nor does their wit atone for their
+licentiousness. Possibly Charles held himself aloof from the kind of
+talk they suggest. All reports make him rigid in standards of morality
+not observed by his fellows. That he had little to do with the court
+is certain, whatever his reason.
+
+Louis did not confine himself to the estate assigned him. There were
+various court visits to the Flemish towns where he was afforded
+excellent opportunities for seeing the wealth of the burghers and
+their status in the world of commerce.
+
+Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring his guest within her
+gates and give her an opportunity of displaying her regret for the
+past unpleasantness. "In his goodness," Philip at last yielded to
+their entreaties to make them a visit himself, but he decided not to
+take the prince or the count with him.[12] He was either afraid for
+their safety or else he did not care to bring a future French king
+into relation with citizens who might find it convenient to remember
+his suzerainty in order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign
+duke.[13]
+
+Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this state visit of
+reconciliation. The duke took the precaution to send scouts ahead to
+ascertain that the late rebels were sincere in their contrition, and
+that there was no danger of anarchist agitations. The report was
+brought back that all was calm and that joyful preparations were
+making to show appreciation of Philip's kindness.
+
+On April 22d, the duke slept at l'Écluse, and on the 23d he was gaily
+escorted into the city by knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland,
+Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor priests were in his
+train." As a further assurance to him of their peaceful intention,
+the citizens actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as to
+leave open exits.
+
+Once within the walls, the duke found the whole community, who had
+shown intelligent and sturdy determination not to endure arbitrary
+tyranny, ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical and
+classical parable whose one purpose was to prove how evil had been
+their ways. A pompous procession sang _Te Deum_ as the duke rode in,
+and the first "mystery" that met his eyes within the gates was a
+wonderful representation of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, while the
+legend "All that the Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to
+refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to the Ghenters'
+perfect submission to Philip. A young girl stood ready to greet him
+with the words of Solomon, "I have found one my soul loves."[14]
+
+All the legends were in Latin. _Inveni quem diligit anima mea._]
+
+Farther on there were various emblems all designed to compare
+Philip now to Cæsar, now to Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most
+humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed in a lion's skin,
+thus personifying the Lion of Flanders, leading Philip's horse by the
+bridle. "_Vive Bourgogne_ is now our cry," was symbolised in every
+vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent.
+
+Not altogether explicable is this extreme self-abnegation. Civic
+prosperity must have returned in four years or there would have been
+no money for the outlay. Apparently, Philip's countenance was worth
+more to them than their pride.
+
+The birth and death of two children at Genappe gave the duke new
+reasons for showering ostentatious favours on his guest, and furnished
+the dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his own father, who
+answered him in kind.
+
+The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles[l5]:
+
+  _The King to the Dauphin_, 1459.
+    "VERY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED SON:
+
+    "We have received the letters that you wrote us making mention
+    that on July 27 our dear and much loved daughter, the dauphiness,
+    was delivered of a fine boy, for which we have been and are very
+    joyous, and it seems to me that the more God our Creator grants
+    you favour, by so much the more you ought to praise and thank
+    Him and refrain from angering Him, and in all things fulfil His
+    commandments.
+
+    "Given at Compiègne, Aug.7th.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+
+During these five years, Charles was more or less aloof from the
+courts of his father and of their guest. He spent part of the time in
+Holland and part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The Count of St.
+Pol was one of his intimate friends, and a friend who managed to
+make many insinuations about the duke's treatment of his son and
+infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated with increasing
+fervency.
+
+There is a story that Charles went from Le Quesnoy to his father's
+court to demand a formal audience from the duke in order to lodge his
+protest against the Croys. Evidently relations were strained when such
+a degree of ceremony was needed between father and son.
+
+Gerard Ourré was commissioned to set forth the count's grievances, and
+he was in the midst of his carefully prepared statement when the duke
+interrupted him with the curt observation: "Have a care to say nothing
+but the truth and understand, it will be necessary to prove every
+assertion." The orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few
+moments, and then excused himself from completing his harangue.
+There were only a few nobles present and all were surprised at this
+embarrassment, as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then, seeing that
+his deputy was too much frightened to proceed, Charles took up the
+thread of his discourse. In a firm voice he continued the list of
+accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short in his turn.
+Peremptory was the duke in his command to his son to be silent and
+never again to refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip
+added "see to it that my son is satisfied with you," and withdrew from
+the audience chamber.
+
+Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be conciliatory. "When you
+have repaired the ill you have wrought I will remember the good you
+have done," was the count's only reply. He took leave of his father
+with an outward show of love and respect and returned to his wife at
+Le Quesnoy, escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of Brussels,
+but with no better understanding between them.
+
+St. Pol found good ground to work on. He inflamed the count's
+discontent and his distrust of the duke's favourite until Charles
+despatched him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascertain what
+Charles VII. would do for the heir of Burgundy should he decide to
+take refuge in the French court.[16]
+
+At the first interview "I was not present," states the unknown
+reporter, but on succeeding occasions this man heard for himself that
+the king was ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais who
+"has no ill intentions against his father. All he wants to do is to
+separate him from the people who govern him badly."
+
+The conferences were held in the lodgings of Odet d'Aydie. Among those
+present was Dammartin and the matter was discussed in its various
+aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous witness were charged with
+drawing up a report of the discussion. When this was presented to the
+king it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good faith of the
+count's message. He had been assured that it was all a fiction
+especially designed by the Sieur de Burgundy.
+
+Certain general promises were made in spite of this royal distrust,
+quite natural under the circumstances. If he decided to espouse the
+cause of Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given a command.
+It was evident that the count was by no means ready to go to all
+lengths, for St. Pol states in one of his conferences with the "late
+king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him that for two realms
+such as his he would not do a deed of villainy.
+
+Nothing came of this talk. It would have been a singular state of
+affairs had the heirs of France and Burgundy thus changed places in
+their fathers' courts. Spying and counterspying there were between
+the courts to a great extent and rumours in number. A certain Italian
+writes to the Duke of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he
+had been at Genappe and at Brussels:[17]
+
+    "M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand that the
+    reconciliation of the dauphin with the King of France would not be
+    with the approval of the Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince
+    laments that since he received the dauphin into his states,
+    and treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred the
+    implacable hatred of the king added to his ancient grievances. On
+    the other hand, the affairs of England, on whose issue depends war
+    or peace for the duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to
+    him honest to make advances to the king at this moment.
+
+    "M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem to have carried
+    into this affair the circumspection and reflection befitting a
+    prince of his quality. He has maintained towards the duke the
+    most complete silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition
+    concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is anything in it,
+    but if the thing were so it ought not to be secret. He does not
+    believe that peace will be made between the dauphin and his
+    father, and mentioned that his brother was on the embassy from
+    duke to king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the
+    bottom.
+
+    "The dauphin it seems has been out of humour with the Duke of
+    Burgundy on account of the luke-warmness shown for his interests
+    by the ambassador sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy.
+
+    "The silent agreement which reigns between the dauphin and Monsg.
+    de Charolais is one of the causes which has chilled this great
+    love between the dauphin and the duke which existed at the
+    beginning.
+
+    "Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely, especially in
+    almsgiving without considering his purse finds himself very hard
+    pressed. He has only two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of
+    Burgundy and that seems to force him into peace with the king. The
+    duke expects nothing during the king's lifetime.
+
+    "Everything makes me want to wait here for the arrival of news
+    from England. It is expected daily, good or bad the last play must
+    be made. The duke fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason
+    is going to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of celebrating
+    there the fête of the Toison d'Or he has ordered all his escort to
+    be armed."
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD. FROM A
+CONTEMPORARY SKETCH IN MS.]
+
+For a long time before his final illness the death of Charles VII. was
+anticipated. When it came it was a dolorous end.[18] At Genappe, the
+dauphin had been making his preparations for the wished-for event in
+many ways, all in exact opposition to his father's policy. In Italy
+and in Spain he sided with the opponents of Charles VII. In England,
+his sympathies were all for the House of York because his father was
+favourable to Henry of Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned
+with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV., and was more than
+willing to see him invade France. With certain princes of Germany he
+entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while his father's own
+agents disclosed secrets to him from time to time.
+
+In his exile he kept reminding official bodies at Paris that he was
+heir to the throne. As dauphin he claimed the right to give orders to
+the _parlement_ at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that he had a
+hand in the conspiracies which troubled the last year of his father's
+reign, but it is certain that he managed to win to himself a party
+within the royal circle.
+
+Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate, did not hesitate to
+suggest that Louis should be disinherited and his brother Charles put
+in his stead, but this Charles VII. would not accept. He kept hoping
+for Louis's submission. The latter, however, had no idea of this. He
+was sure that his father would not live to grow old. A trouble in his
+leg threatened to be cancerous. In July, there was a growth in his
+mouth. He died July 22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him.
+
+After July 17th constant bulletins from the king's bedside came to
+Louis. Genappe was too far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes
+in order to receive his messages more speedily. Our chronicler
+Chastellain[19] begins his story of Louis's accession as follows:
+
+    "Since I am not English but French, I who am neither Spanish nor
+    Italian but French, I have written of two Frenchmen, the one king,
+    the other duke. I have written of their works and their quarrels
+    and of the favour and glories which God has given them in their
+    time.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and meritorious works
+    serve man on his bier and gain him eternal glory. O you Frenchmen,
+    see the cause and the end in my labours!"
+
+The guest who had displayed so much humility and thankfulness when he
+arrived, who had deprecated honours to his high birth and desired to
+offer all the courtesies, departed from the residence so generously
+given him for five years in a very cavalier manner.
+
+    "Now the king left the duke's territories without having taken
+    leave nor said adieu to the Countess of Charolais,[20] although he
+    was in her neighbourhood, and he left behind him the queen, his
+    wife. The said queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which
+    to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered her to borrow
+    the hackneys of the countess and chariots, too. Heartily did the
+    countess accede to this request in spite of the fact that the
+    thing seemed to her rather strange that a noble king, and one who
+    had received so much honour and service from the House of Burgundy
+    and had promised to recognise it when the hour came, should thus
+    depart thence without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the
+    countess would gladly have given the queen the hackneys as a gift
+    if they had been asked, and she sent them to her by one of her
+    equerries named Corneille de la Barre, together with chariots and
+    waggons. And thus the queen left the country just as her husband
+    had done without saying a word either to the duke or the countess,
+    and Corneille went with her on foot to bring back the hackneys
+    when the queen had arrived at the place of her desire."
+
+Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam guest to show outward
+respect to his father's memory. The duke clad himself and his suite
+in deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at Avesnes, whither
+representatives from the University of Paris and from all parts of the
+realm had flocked to greet their new sovereign.
+
+It was a great concourse that marched from Avesnes as escort to the
+uncrowned king. Philip was magnificent in his appointments as he
+entered Rheims, and behind him came his son,
+
+    "the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble company of
+    knights and squires, attracted hearts and eyes in admiration of
+    his rich array wherein cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and
+    embroidery were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten pages
+    and twenty-six archers, and this whole company numbered three
+    hundred horse."[21]
+
+This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had waited at St. Thierry. On
+the actual day of the coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
+that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims until seven o'clock. The
+king passed his night in a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no
+repose until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied at their toilets he
+slipped off alone to church.
+
+Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony. Very magnificent were
+the duke's robes and ermine when, as chief among the peers, he
+escorted his late guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
+simple was Louis. After the consecration, the king and his friends
+listened to an address from the Bishop of Tournay, in which he
+described in Latin the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion. He felt that all
+future power was in his hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
+to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And for a time Louis was
+quite ready to foster this belief. When they entered Paris, the peer
+so far outshone the sovereign that there was general astonishment.[22]
+Moreover, whatever the latter did have was a gift. The very plate used
+on the royal table was a ducal present.[23]
+
+Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude of grateful humility.
+When he met the _parlement_ of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about
+its reformation. It was to Philip that all the petitioners flocked.
+But Louis was conscious, too, that there would be a morrow in
+Burgundy, and he took care to be friendly with the count even while he
+was flattering the duke. For this purpose he found Guillaume de Biche
+a very useful go-between.[24] This was one of the retainers dismissed
+in 1457 by Charles at his father's request. He had then passed into
+Louis's service. This man quickly insinuated himself into the king's
+graces, was admitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked arm in
+arm with the returned exile through Paris.
+
+The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries of the city well in
+his four years' residence. Louis found him an amusing companion and
+skilfully managed to flatter the count by his favour towards the man
+whom he had liked.
+
+For six weeks Philip remained in the capital and astonished the
+Parisians with the fêtes he offered. Equally astonished were they
+with their new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not attractive in
+person. His eyes were piercing but his visage was made plain by a
+disproportionate nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
+uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an old pilgrim's hat,
+ornamented by a leaden saint. As he rode into Abbeville in company
+with Philip, the simple folk who had never seen the king were greatly
+amazed at his appearance and said quite loud, "Benedicite! Is that a
+king of France, the greatest king in the world? All together his horse
+and dress are not worth twenty francs."[25]
+
+From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI. never lived very long in
+any one place. He did not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had
+the palace of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine became by
+preference his residence, where he lived alternately at Amboise and
+in his new château at Plessis-lès-Tours. But his sojourns were always
+brief. He wanted to know everything, and he wandered everywhere to
+see France and to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts, the
+chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian ambassador, show him on a
+perpetual journey.
+
+He would set out at break of day with five or six intimates dressed in
+grey cloth like pilgrims; archers and baggage followed at a distance.
+He would forbid any one to follow him, and often ordered the gates of
+the city he had left to be closed, or a bridge to be broken behind
+him. Ambassadors ordered to see him without fail, sometimes had to
+cross France to obtain an interview, at least if their object was
+something in which he was not much interested. Then he would often
+grant them an audience in some miserable little peasant hut.
+
+In the cities where he stopped he would lodge with a burgomaster or
+some functionary. To avoid harangues and receptions he would often
+arrive unannounced through a little alley. If forced to accept an
+_entrée_ he stipulated that it should not be marked with magnificence.
+There never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies, balls, banquets,
+and tourneys. At his court young people were bored to death. He never
+ordered festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures were those
+of a simple private gentleman. He liked to dine out of his palace.
+Cagnola relates with surprise that he had seen the king dine after
+mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours. He invited small nobles
+and bourgeois to dine with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois
+women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speaking to and of women
+without reserve, sparing neither sister, mother, nor queen.
+
+Yet it was a sombre court. "Farewell dames, citizens, demoiselles,
+feasts, dances, jousts, and tournaments; farewell fair and gracious
+maids, mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Martial d'Auvergne.
+Pompous magnificence may have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit
+to Burgundy.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: He had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November
+19th.--_Archives du Nord_. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 113. No
+mention of this seems to appear elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Chastellain (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from
+the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel. The duke
+was so angry that it was hideous to see him.]
+
+[Footnote 3: La Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain,
+iii., 230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The
+author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in her delicate
+state of health.]
+
+[Footnote 4: "Thus there was much coming and going: and it was ordered
+by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Ravestein and the
+king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to Dendermonde to learn the
+wishes of the Count of Charolais and his intentions, of which I am
+entitled to speak for I was despatched several times to Brussels in
+behalf of my said Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the
+Chancellor Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present
+affair"--(La Marche, ii., 419.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: La Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche, went
+to France and La Marche says that he himself often went to him to
+obtain valuable information.]
+
+[Footnote 6: La Marche, ii., 418.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Du Clercq, ii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, iii., 308.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de Vébry to the
+Count de Vaudemart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, ed. A.J.V. Le Roux. The
+stories are, as a rule, only retold tales.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "The spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais
+nor by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for certain
+reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer, P.322.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: Kervyn, _Hist. de Flandre_, v., 23. At this time Philip
+was ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parliament of
+Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Meyer, p. 321.
+
+[Footnote 15: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Report of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., 195.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: Du Fresne de Beaucourt. vi., 326.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 321.]
+
+[Footnote 19: IV., 21.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Chastellain, iv., 45.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chastellain was not present, but he says of Philip's
+suite (iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have seen in
+writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never been seen in
+this kingdom."]
+
+[Footnote 22: "And I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all
+the nobles" (Chastellain, iv., 52).]
+
+[Footnote 23: When return presents were distributed to the nobles
+Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iv., 115.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 325.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+1464-1465
+
+
+The era of good feeling between Louis XI. and his Burgundian kinsmen
+was of short duration, and no wonder. The rich rewards confidently
+expected as fitting recompense for five years' kindness more than
+cousinly, towards a penniless refugee were not forthcoming.
+
+The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary in certain
+ostentatious recognition towards his late host, but the fairly
+munificent pension, together with the charge of Normandy settled upon
+the Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical reminder of promises
+as regularly unfulfilled on each recurring quarter day, while the post
+of confidential adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip had
+intended to occupy, remained empty.
+
+Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now to one counsellor,
+now to another, and used such fragments of advice as pleased his whim
+and paid no further heed to the giver.
+
+Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred that change in
+Philip's bodily constitution that comes to all active men sooner or
+later. His health began to give way, his energies relaxed, and matters
+that had been of paramount importance throughout his career were
+allowed to slip into the background of his desires. In the famous
+treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater importance than that
+which placed the towns on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to a
+redemption of two hundred thousand gold crowns. Whether Charles VII.
+had actually pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at least
+during Philip's life does not seem assured, but that any sum would be
+insufficient to induce the duke to release them unless his intellect
+were somewhat deadened, is clear.
+
+In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack, possibly the result
+of his indulgence in the pleasures of the table during the prolonged
+festivities at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour. This was
+the time, by the way, when opportunity was afforded his courtiers to
+prove that devotion to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity. When
+his head was shaved by order of the court physician, more than five
+hundred nobles sacrificed their own locks so that their becoming curls
+might not remind their chief of his own bald head. The sacrifice was
+not always voluntary, adds an informant.[1] Philip forced compliance
+with this new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be
+unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by nature's gift. This
+servility may have consoled Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In
+his depressed condition any solace was acceptable.
+
+It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled state that Louis,
+through the mediation of the Croys, pushed forward his proposition to
+redeem the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying upon the chance
+that it would be no easy matter for the French king to wring the
+required sum from his impoverished land. Philip's assent was, however,
+promptly clinched by a cash payment of half the amount[2]; the
+remainder followed.
+
+Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valuable bulwarks for the
+Netherland provinces, fine nurseries for the human material requisite
+for Burgundian armies, rich tax payers as they were, all tumbled into
+the outstretched hands of the duke's wily rival.
+
+The transaction was hurried through and completed before a rumour of
+its progress came to the ear of the interested heir. Charles was in
+Holland sulking and indignant. He had expected good results from his
+tender devotion during his father's acute illness, a devotion shared
+by Isabella of Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside from her
+convent seclusion when Philip was in need of her ministrations. But,
+in his convalescence, Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys
+whom Charles continued to distrust with bitterness that varied in its
+intensity, but which never vanished from his consciousness. The young
+man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious that personal danger
+to himself lurked in the air of his father's court.
+
+The various rumours of plots against his life may not all have been
+baseless. At last, one of own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was
+accused of having recourse to diabolic means of doing away with the
+duke's legitimate heir.[2] Three little waxen images were found in his
+house, and it was alleged that he practised various magic arts withal
+in order to win the favour of the duke and of the French king, and
+still worse to cause Charles to waste away with a mysterious sickness.
+The accusations were sufficient to make Nevers resign all his offices
+in his kinsman's court and retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been
+wholly innocent he would have demanded trial at the hands of his peers
+of the Golden Fleece as behooved one of the order. But he withdrew
+undefended, and left his tattered reputation fluttering raggedly in
+the breeze of gossip.
+
+Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal court until a fresh
+incident drove him thither to give vent to his indignation. Only three
+days had Philip de Commines been page to Duke Philip, then resident at
+Lille, when an embassy headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France,
+was given audience in the presence of the Burgundian court, including
+the Count of Charolais. The future historian,[4] then nineteen years
+old, was keenly alive to all that passed on that November fifth, 1464.
+Morvilliers used very bitter terms in his assertion that Charles had
+illegally stopped a little French ship of war and arrested a certain
+bastard of Rubempré on the false charge that his errand in Holland,
+where the incident occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles
+himself. Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir Olivier de La Marche
+had caused this tale to be bruited everywhere,
+
+    "especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations resort.
+    This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now demanded through his
+    chancellor that Duke Philip should send this same Sir Olivier de
+    La Marche prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case
+    required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that the said Sir
+    Olivier was steward of his house, born in the County of Burgundy
+    and in no respect subject to the Crown of France."
+
+Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill to the king's honour
+he, the duke, would see to his punishment. As to the bastard of
+Rubempré, true it was that he had been apprehended in Holland,[5] but
+there was adequate ground for his arrest as his behaviour had been
+strange, at least so thought the Count of Charolais. Philip added that
+if his son were suspicious
+
+    "he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his mother
+    who had been the most jealous lady that ever lived. But
+    notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that myself never were supicious, yet
+    if I had been in my son's place at the same time that this bastard
+    of Rubempré haunted those coasts I would surely have caused him to
+    be apprehended as my son did."
+
+In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up Rubempré to the king were
+his innocence satisfactorily proven.
+
+Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging upon the treacherous
+designs of Francis, Duke of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately
+sworn brotherhood at the very moment when he was the honoured guest
+of King Louis at Tours. During this discussion the Count of Charolais
+became very restive. Finally he could no longer endure Morvilliers's
+indirect slurs, and
+
+    "made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously out of patience
+    to hear such reproachful speeches used of his friend and
+    confederate. But Morvilliers cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of
+    Charolais, I am not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your
+    father.' The said earl besought his father divers times to give
+    him leave to answer, who in the end said unto him: 'I have
+    answered for thee as methinketh the father should answer for the
+    son, notwithstanding if thou have so great desire to speak bethink
+    thyself to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.'"
+
+Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that he could not imagine
+what had moved the earl to enter into the league with the Duke of
+Brittany unless it were because of a pension the king had once given
+him together with the government of Normandy and afterwards taken from
+him.
+
+In regard to Rubempré, Commines adds to his story Charles's own
+statement given on the morrow:
+
+"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever proved against him, though
+I confess the presumption to have been great. Five years after I
+myself saw him delivered out of prison." This from Commines. La Marche
+is less detailed in his record[6] of the Rubempré incident:
+
+    "The bastard was put in prison and the Count of Charolais sent me
+    to Hesdin to the duke to inform him of the arrest and its cause.
+    The good duke heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth
+    he at once suspected that the craft of the King of France lurked
+    at the bottom of the affair. Shortly afterwards the duke left
+    Hesdin and returned to his own land, which did not please the King
+    of France who despatched thither a great embassy with the Count
+    d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that I should be delivered to
+    him to be punished as he would, because he claimed that I had been
+    the cause of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempré and also of the
+    duke's departure from Hesdin without saying adieu to the King of
+    France, but the good duke, moderate in all his actions, replied
+    that I was his subject and his servitor, and that if the king or
+    any one else had a grievance against me he would investigate it.
+    The matter was finally smoothed over [adds La Marche], and Louis
+    evinced a readiness to conciliate his offended cousin."
+
+In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to be one not easily disposed
+of by soft phrases flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father
+and prepared in advance his defence to the chancellor. When he had
+finished his own statement about Rubempré, he proceeded to the point
+of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany, declaring that it was
+right and proper and that if King Louis knew what was to the advantage
+of the French sovereign, he would be glad to see his nobles welded
+together as a bulwark to his throne. As to his pension, he had never
+received but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had made no suit
+for the remainder nor for the government of Normandy. So long as he
+enjoyed the favour and good will of his father he had no need to crave
+favour of any man.
+
+"I think verily had it not been for the reverence he bore to his said
+father who was there present" continues the observant page, "and to
+whom he addressed his speech that he would have used much bitterer
+terms. In the end, Duke Philip very wisely and humbly besought the
+king not lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his son but to
+continue his favour towards them. Then the banquet was brought in and
+the ambassadors took their leave. As they passed out Charles stood
+apart from his father and said to the archbishop of Narbonne, who
+brought up the rear of the little company:
+
+"'Recommend me very humbly to the good grace of the king. Tell him he
+has had me scolded here by the chancellor but that he shall repent it
+before a year is past.'" His message was duly delivered and to this
+incident Commines attributes momentous results.
+
+Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which Louis's ambassadors
+treated him, indignant at the injury to his heritage by the redemption
+of the towns on the Somme, and further, already alienated from his
+royal cousin through the long series of petty occasions where the
+different natures of the two young men clashed, in this year 1464,
+Charles was certainly more than ready to enter into an open contest
+with the French monarch. It was not long before the opportunity came
+for him to do so with a certain éclat.
+
+In the early years of his own freedom, before he learned wisdom, Louis
+XI. had planted many seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful
+crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among the nobles of the
+land.
+
+One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the gradual growth of
+the body of standing troops instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These,
+in the regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guarantee of support
+without the aid of his nobles. By the date of Louis's accession,
+certain ducal houses besides that of Burgundy had grown very
+independent within their own boundaries: Orleans, Anjou, Bourbon, not
+to speak of Brittany.[7] Now the efforts to curtail the prerogatives
+of these petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were steady and
+persistent in the new reign. They had no longer the power of coining
+money, of levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the judicial
+authority of the crown had been extended little by little over France.
+Then their privileges were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of
+the chase.
+
+It was the accumulation of these invasions of local authority, added
+to a real disbelief in the king's ability, that led to a formation of
+a league among the nobles, designed to check the centralisation policy
+of the monarch, a League of Public Weal to form a bulwark against the
+tyrannical encroachments of their liege lord.
+
+Not to follow the steps of the growth of this coalition, it is
+sufficient for the thread of this narrative to say that it comprised
+all the great French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as
+others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as those whom he had
+slighted alike fell from his standards, distrustful of his ability to
+withstand organised opposition, and they threw in their lot with the
+protestors so as not to miss their share of the spoil.
+
+The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned, was in a mood when
+his ears were eagerly open to overtures from Louis's critics. The
+redemption of the towns on the Somme he was unable to prevent, but the
+affair left him very sore. Shortly after its completion, the count
+did, indeed, succeed in depriving the Croys of their ascendency over
+the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long desired victory was attained,
+the towns had one and all accepted their transfer and were under
+French sovereignty. When the count joined the league, the hope of
+ultimate restoration was undoubtedly prominent among the motives for
+his own course of action, though his intimacy with the chief leader of
+the revolt, the Duke of Brittany, might easily have led to the same
+result.
+
+Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had been especially wanting in
+tact during the first months of his reign. The king treated him as a
+vassal of France, while the duke held that he and his forbears owed
+simple homage to the crown, not dependence. Therefore, in order to
+resist being subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not to leave
+his estates except in a suitable manner. His messages to the king
+were sent in all ceremony, he rendered proper homage, declared his
+readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as a vassal for certain
+territories, but demanded freedom to exercise his hereditary rights
+and to enjoy his hereditary dignities.[8]
+
+"Rude and strange" were the terms employed by the king in response to
+these statements, and then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
+the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose of the hands of
+Breton heiresses in unequal marriages, and to arrogate to himself
+other rights--all sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
+Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the league. Very delightful
+is Chastellain's colloquy with himself[9] as to the difficulty of
+maintaining perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of this
+Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately the result of his patient
+efforts is lost.
+
+Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines, however, were both
+present in the Burgundian army and their stories are preserved. La
+Marche had reason to remember the first actual engagement between the
+royal and invading forces at Montl'héry, "because on that day I was
+made knight." He does not say, as does Commines, that this battle was
+against the king's desire. Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms
+and to coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by other methods.
+Not that they characterised themselves as rebellious, far from it.
+Clear and definite was their statement that in their obligation
+
+    "to give order to the estate, the police and the government of the
+    kingdom, the princes of the blood as chief supports of the crown,
+    by whose advice and not by that of others, the business of the
+    king and of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
+    their persons and their property, and in this laudable endeavour
+    all virtuous citizens ought to aid."[10]
+
+Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens, and the words were
+typical of similar appeals made in every quarter of the realm by the
+various feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In truth this war,
+ostentatiously called that of the Public Weal, was but a struggle on
+the part of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The weal demanded
+was home rule for the feudal chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a
+fierce protest against monarchical authority, against concentration. A
+king indeed, but a king in leading strings was the ideal of the peers.
+
+Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis almost alone, deserted by his
+brother the Duke of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
+unity, hedged in by their pompous and self-righteous assertions that
+all their thoughts were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
+needed lightening. Of all the great vassals, Gaston de Foix was the
+single one loyal to the king.
+
+The part of the great duke fell entirely to the share of the Count of
+Charolais. A small force was levied for him within the Netherlands,
+and he started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents from the
+two Burgundies and his brother peers of France with their own troops.
+His men were good individually but they had not been trained to act as
+one, and there was no coherence between the different companies.
+
+July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed rendezvous. He
+was first in the field. While he awaited his allies, his little army
+became restive at the situation in which they found themselves, fifty
+leagues from Burgundian territory with no stronghold as their base. It
+was urged again and again upon the count that his first consideration
+ought to be his men's safety. His allies had failed him. He should
+retreat. "I have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross the
+Seine if I have but a single page to follow me," was the leader's firm
+reply to these demands.
+
+The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges, and Charles decided that
+it was his mission to prevent Louis from entering his capital, to
+which he was advancing with great rapidity from the south. To carry
+out this purpose Charles disregarded all protests, crossed the Seine
+at St. Cloud, and made his way to the little village of Longjumeau,
+whither he was preceded by the Count of St. Pol, commanding one
+division of the Burgundian army. Montl'héry was a village still
+farther to the south, and here it was that La Marche and other
+gentlemen were knighted. This ceremony was evidently part of the
+count's endeavour to encourage his followers--all unwilling to risk an
+engagement before the arrival of the allies.
+
+To the king it was of infinite advantage that no delay should occur.
+Nevertheless, it was Charles who opened active hostilities on July
+15th, with soldiers who had not broken their fast that day. Armed
+since early dawn, wearied by a forced march with a July sun beating
+down upon their heads, their movements hampered by standing wheat and
+rye, the men were at a tremendous disadvantage when they were led to
+the attack. It was a hot assault. No quarter was given, many fled.
+At length, Louis found himself abandoned by all save his body-guard.
+Pressed against the hill that bounded the grain fields, the king at
+last retreated up its slope into a castle on its summit.
+
+Charles rode impetuously after the retreating royalists. Separated
+from his men, he fell among the royal guard at the gate of the castle.
+There was a vehement assault resisted as vehemently by his meagre
+escort. Several fell and Charles himself received a sword wound on his
+neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised by the French, he might
+have been taken or slain in his resistance, when the Bastard of
+Burgundy rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed the count's
+condition. When night fell, no one knew where lay the advantage. The
+fugitives spread rumours that the king was dead and that Charles was
+in possession, others carried the reverse statements as they rode
+headlong to the nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with no
+credit to either leader. But in the darkness of the night, the king
+managed to slip out of his retreat and march quietly towards the
+greater security of Paris.
+
+It was a very shadowy victory that Charles proudly claimed. All
+through the night of July 15th, the Burgundians were discussing
+whether to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds all
+recognised. Daybreak found the council in session when a peasant
+brought tidings that the foe had departed. The fires in sight only
+covered their retreat. To be sure that same foe had taken Burgundian
+baggage with them to Paris. But what of that? The Burgundians held the
+battlefield and they made the best of it.
+
+On July 16th, Louis supped with the military governor of Paris and
+"moved the company, nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his
+touching description of the perils he had met and escaped." Charles,
+meanwhile, effected a junction with his belated allies, Francis of
+Brittany and Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Étampes. Thither
+too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of Lorraine, but none of these
+leaguers could claim any share in the battle of Montl'héry.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY, JULY 16, 1465 (COMINES, ED.
+LENGLET DU FRESNOY, 1.)]
+
+While these peers perfected their plans to force their chief into
+redressing the wrongs of the poor people, the king was showing a very
+pleasant side of his character to the Parisian citizens. In response
+to a petition that he should take advice on the conduct of his
+administration, he declared his perfect willingness to add to his
+council six burgesses, six members of _parlement_, and the same number
+from the university. Besides this concession, he relieved the weight
+of the imposts and hastened to restore certain financial franchises to
+the Church, to the university, and to various individuals. Three weeks
+were consumed in establishing friendly relations in this all important
+city, and then the king departed for Normandy to levy troops and to
+collect provisions for a siege.[11] There was need for this last for
+the allies had moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris.
+
+Before the king's return to his capital on August 28th, a formidable
+array was encamped at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More
+formidable, however, they were in numbers than in strength. Like all
+confederated bodies there was inherent weakness, for there was no
+leader whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of Berry, heir
+presumptive to the throne, was the only one among the peers whose
+birth might have commanded the needful authority, but he had not
+sufficient personal character to assert his position. So the
+confederates remained a loose aggregation of small armies. The longer
+they remained in camp the weaker they grew, the more disintegrated.
+A pitched battle might have been a great advantage to these gallant
+defenders of the Public Weal of France and that was the last desire of
+their antagonist.
+
+Many skirmishes took place between the Parisians and the leaguers, but
+no engagement. Once, indeed, there were hurried preparations on the
+part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of whose imminence they
+were warned by a page before break of day, one misty morning. Yes,
+there was no doubt. The pickets could see the erect spears and furled
+banners of the enemy all ready to advance upon the unwary camp. Quick
+were the preparations. There were no laggards. The Duke of Calabria
+was more quickly armed than even the Count of Charolais. He came to a
+spot where a number of Burgundians, the count's own household stood,
+by the standard. Among them was Commines[l2] and he heard the duke
+say: "We now have our desire, for the king is issued forth with his
+whole force and marches towards us as our scouts report. Wherefore let
+us determine to play the men. So soon as they be out of the town we
+will enter and measure with the long ell." By these words he meant
+that the soldiers would speedily have a chance to use their pikes as
+yard sticks to measure out their share of the booty. False prophet
+was the duke that time! When the daylight grew stronger, the upright
+spears and furled banners of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of
+thistles looming large in the magnifying morning mist! The princes
+took their disappointment philosophically, enjoyed early mass, and
+then had their breakfast.
+
+The young Commines is surprised that Paris and her environs were rich
+enough to feed so many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs changed.
+Negotiating back and forth became more frequent. The disintegration of
+the allies became more and more evident. Louis XI. bided his time and
+then took the extraordinary resolution to go in person to the camp at
+Charenton to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few attendants,
+practically unguarded, he went down the Seine. His coming had been
+heralded and the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive him, with
+the Count of St. Pol at his side. "Brother, do you pledge me safety?"
+(for the count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which the count
+responded: "Yes, as one brother to another."[13]
+
+Nothing could have been more genial than was the king. He assured
+Charles that he loved a man who kept his word beyond anything.
+
+Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the promise he had sent by
+the archbishop of Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he was
+a gentleman and true to the blood of France. Further, he disavowed the
+insolence of his chancellor towards Charles, and repeated that his
+cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You have kept your promise
+and that long before the day."[14]
+
+Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an opportunity to Charles and
+St. Pol to state, informally, the terms on which they would withdraw
+from their hostile footing, and count the weal restored to the
+oppressed public whose sorrows had moved them to a confederation.
+
+Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he accepted the requisition of
+those who felt that they were in a position to dictate, and after a
+little more parleying at later dates, the treaty of Conflans was duly
+arranged. It was none too soon for the allies. They could hardly have
+held together many days longer in the midst of the jealousies rife in
+their camps.
+
+The king paused at nothing. To his brother he gave Normandy, to
+Charles of Burgundy the towns on the Somme with guarantee of
+possession for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was made
+Constable of France.
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI. WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR
+OF PUBLIC WEAL TAKEN FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF ST.
+GERMAIN DES PRÉS (COMINES-LENGLET, II., FRONTISPIECE)]
+
+Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to Charles, lesser places and
+pensions to the other confederates. The contest ended with complete
+victory for the allies who were left with the proud consciousness
+that they had set a definite limit to royal pretensions, at least, on
+paper.
+
+After the treaty was signed, the king showed no resentment at his
+defeat but urged his cousin to amuse himself a while in Paris before
+returning home. Charles was rash, but he had not the temerity to trust
+himself so far. Pleading a promise to his father to enter no city gate
+until on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and soon returned
+to the Netherlands, where his own household had suffered change.
+During his absence, the Countess of Charolais had died and been buried
+at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly lauded for his perfect faithfulness
+to his wife, but her death seems to have made singularly little ripple
+on the surface of his life. The chroniclers touch on the event very
+casually, laying more stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI.
+to offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on the event
+itself.[15]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: La Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the
+chamberlain to enforce this.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The receipt for this half payment was signed October
+8, 1462. (Comines, _Mémoires_, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii.,
+392-403.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Du Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, _Mêmoires_ I., ch. i. In the above passages
+Dannett's translation is followed for the racy English.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Commines says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum.]
+
+[Footnote 6: III., 3.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Lavisse iv^{ii}., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, v., i, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 9: V., II.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Letter of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of
+Amiens. (_Collection de Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France_.)
+"Mélanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS. in the Bibl.
+Nat. there are many letters private and public about these events.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Since its recovery from the English, there had been no
+duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to the king.]
+
+[Footnote 12: I., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be
+read in detail.]
+
+[Footnote 13: I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commines, I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 15: La Marche, iii., p. 27.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+1465-1467
+
+
+"When we have finished here we shall make a fine beginning against
+those villains the Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on
+October 18th.[1] Charles had no desire to rest on the laurels won
+before Paris. To another city he now turned his attention, to Liege
+which owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy.
+
+Before the days when the buried treasures of the soil filled the
+air with smoke, the valley where Liege lies was a lovely spot.[2]
+Tradition tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop of
+Tongres, as he made a progress through his diocese was attracted by
+the beauties of the site where a few hovels then clustered near the
+Meuse. After looking down from the heights to the river's banks for
+a brief space, the bishop turned to his followers and said, as if
+uttering a prophecy:
+
+"Here is a place created by God for the salvation of many faithful
+souls. One day a prosperous city shall flourish here. Here I will
+build a chapel." Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised chapel
+became a shrine which attracted many pilgrims who returned to their
+various homes with glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.
+Little by little others came who did not leave, and by the seventh
+century when Bishop Lambert sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a
+small town.
+
+An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert. He gave himself no
+rest but travelled continually from one church to another in his
+diocese to look after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless
+prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke to the Frankish
+Pepin for a lawless deed excited the wrath of a certain noble,
+accessory to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was slain as he knelt
+before the altar in Monulphe's chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer
+the pious man did not hear the servants' calls, "Holy Lambert, Holy
+Lambert come to our aid," words that later became a war-cry when the
+bishop was exalted into the patron saint of the town.
+
+Not until the thirteenth century, however, when the episcopal see was
+finally established at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay
+overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege. Monulphe's little
+chapel had given way to a mighty church dedicated to the canonised
+Bishop Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost autonomous, the
+episcopal authority being restricted without the walls only by the
+distant emperor and still more distant pope. Within the walls, the
+same authority had by no means a perfectly free hand. There were
+certain features in the constitution of Liege which differentiated it
+from its sister towns in the Netherlands.
+
+Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly democratic manner.
+There was no distinction between the greater and lesser gilds, and,
+within these organisations, the franchise was given to the most
+ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple condition of
+attaining his fifteenth year. Moreover, the naturalisation laws were
+very easy. Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens and
+enjoyed eligibility to office as well as the franchise. The tenure of
+office being for one year only, there was opportunity for frequent
+participation in public affairs, an opportunity not neglected by the
+community.[2]
+
+The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic officers chosen by
+this liberal franchise. He was elected by the chapter of St. Lambert,
+subject to papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres of his
+jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his function there were many
+restrictions to his free administration, which papal and imperial
+sanction together were unable to remove.
+
+A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change in the laws without the
+consent of the estates, and he could administer justice only by means
+of the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be countersigned. When
+there was an issue between overlord and people, the question was
+submitted to the _schepens_ or superior judges who, before they gave
+their opinion, consulted the various charters which had been granted
+from time to time, and which were not allowed to become dead letters.
+A permanent committee of the three orders supervised the executive and
+the administration of the laws. These "twenty-two" received an appeal
+from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb "In his own home the
+poor man is king," was very near the possible truth.
+
+Yet the wheels of government were by no means perfect in their
+running. Many were the conflicts between the different members of the
+state, and broils, with the character of civil war in miniature, were
+of frequent occurrence. The submergence of the aristocratic element,
+the nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power between the
+bishop-prince and the people. The commons exerted power beyond their
+intelligence. Annual elections, party contests headed by rival
+demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser extent, the smaller
+towns of the little state in continuous commotion[4].
+
+The ecclesiastical origin of the community was evident at all points
+of daily life. The cathedral of St. Lambert was the pride of the city.
+Its chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place held by the
+aristocratic element in the other towns.
+
+In the cathedral, the holy standard of St. Lambert was suspended. At
+the outbreak of war this was taken down and carried to the door by the
+clergy in solemn procession. There it was unfurled and delivered to
+the commander of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white steed. When
+he received the precious charge he swore to defend it with his life.
+
+One object of popular veneration was this standard, another was the
+_perron_, an emblem of the civic organisation. This was a pillar of
+gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple surmounted by a cross.
+This stood on a pedestal in the centre of the square where was the
+_violet_ or city hall. In front of the perron were proclaimed all the
+ordinances issued by the magistrates, or the decrees adopted by the
+people in general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin was rung,
+the deans of the gilds would hasten out with their banners and plant
+them near the perron as rallying points for the various gild members
+who poured out from forge, work-shop, and factory until the square was
+filled.
+
+There were two powerful weapons whereby the bishop-prince might
+enforce his will in opposition to that of his subjects did the latter
+become too obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the _schepens_,
+and he could pronounce an interdict of the Church which caused the
+cessation of all priestly functions. When this interdict was in
+action, civil suits between burghers could be adjudged by the
+municipal magistrates, but no criminals could be arrested or tried.
+The elementary principles of an organised society were thrown into
+confusion. Still worse confusion resulted from the bishop's last
+resort as prince of the Church. An interdict caused the church bells
+to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The celebration of the
+rites of baptism, of marriage, of burial ceased.[5] The fear of such
+cessation was potent in its restraint, unless the populace were too
+far enraged to be moved by any consideration.
+
+While the Burgundian dukes extended their sway over one portion of
+Netherland territory after another, this little dominion maintained
+its complete independence of them. The fact that its princes were
+elective protected it from lapsing through heritage to the duke who
+had been so neatly proven heir to his divers childless kinsfolk. It
+was a rich little vineyard without his pale.
+
+They were clever people those Liegeois. Their Walloon language is
+a species of French with many peculiarities showing Frankish
+admixture.[6] The race was probably a mixed one too, but its acquired
+characteristics made a very different person from a Hollander, a
+Frisian, or a Fleming, though there was a certain resemblance to the
+latter.
+
+In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful resources of coal and
+minerals which now glow above and below the furnace fires until, from
+a distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But the people were
+industrious and energetic in their crafts. It was a country of skilled
+workmen. The city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thousand
+inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers reported slain in
+the various battles in which the town was involved run into the
+thousands.[7]
+
+In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his success in the diocese
+of Utrecht, obtained a certain ascendency over the affairs of Liege by
+interfering in the election of a bishop. There was no natural vacancy
+at the moment. John of Heinsberg was the incumbent, a very pleasant
+prelate with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement and gay society,
+pleasures more easily obtainable in Philip's court than in his own,
+and his agreeable host found means of persuading him to resign all the
+cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke proceeded to place his
+own nephew, Louis of Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne.
+
+This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student at the University of
+Louvain, destitute of a single qualification for the office proposed.
+Nevertheless, all difficulties, technical and general were ignored,
+and a papal dispensation enabled the candidate even to dispense with
+the formality of taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered
+Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry into his future
+capital and was duly enthroned as bishop-prince in spite of his
+manifest unfitness for the place.
+
+Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his people, better than the
+promise of his youth, as some reckless princes have done. On the
+contrary, ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at drawn
+swords with his subjects. After a time he withdrew to Huy where he
+indulged in gross pleasures while he attempted to check the rebellious
+citizens of his capital by trying some of the measures of coercion
+used by his predecessors as a last resort.
+
+Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters dragged on for a long
+time. The people appealed to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the
+pope, and to the "pope better informed," but no redress was given.
+Philip continued to protect the bishop, and none dared put themselves
+in opposition to him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XI. for aid.
+Their appeal was heard and the king's agent arrived in the city
+just as one of the bishop's interdicts was about to be enforced,
+an interdict, too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the usual
+anathema if the provisions were not obeyed.
+
+It was the moment for a demagogue and one appeared in the person of
+Raes de la Rivière, lord of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be
+unbroken silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his followers
+proclaimed that every priest who refused to chant should be thrown
+into the river. Mass was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual
+conditions, and the presence of the French envoys gave new heart to
+the bishop's opponents. A treaty was signed between the Liegeois
+and Louis; wherein mutual pledges were made that no peace should be
+concluded with Burgundy in which both parties were not included. It
+was a solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when he signed the
+treaty of Conflans whose articles contained not a single reference to
+the Liegeois.
+
+Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of the battle of
+Montl'héry reaching Liege gave the victory to Louis, a report that
+spurred on the Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostility to their
+neighbour, still farther afield. The other towns of the Church state
+were infected by an anti-Burgundian sentiment. In Dinant this feeling
+was high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation of special
+animosity against the Count of Charolais. A rabble marched out of the
+city to the walls of Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy,
+carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its neck. Certain
+well-known emblems of Burgundy on a tattered mantle showed that this
+represented Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd declared
+that they were going to hang the effigy as his master, the King of
+France, had already hanged Count Charles in reality. Further, they
+said that he was no count at all, but the son of their old bishop,
+Heinsberg. They went so far as to suspend the effigy on a gallows and
+then riddled it with arrows and left it dangling like a scarecrow in
+sight of the citizens of Bouvignes.[8]
+
+The actual contents of the treaty made at Conflans did not reach Liege
+until messages from Louis had assured them that he had been mindful of
+their interests in making his own terms, assurances, however, coupled
+with advice to make peace with their good friend the duke. But there
+speedily came later information that the only mention of Liege in the
+new treaty was an apology that Louis had ever made friends in that
+city!
+
+The rebels lost heart at once. Without the king, they had no
+confidence in their own efforts. Envoys were despatched to Philip who
+refused to answer their humble requests for pardon until his son could
+decide what punishment the principality deserved. Nor was much delay
+to be anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming. Charles
+hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not pausing even to greet his
+father. By the third week of January, he was encamped between St.
+Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation from Liege found him.
+These envoys, between eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly
+because they feared attacks from their anti-peace fellow-citizens.[9]
+
+They found Charles flushed by his recent achievement of bringing King
+Louis to his way of thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body than
+when it left the Netherlands. The troops were more skilled from
+their experience and elated at what they counted their success; more
+capable, too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a resolute
+leader, now inclined to despise councils with free discussion. The
+count's quick temper had gained him weight but it had made him feared.
+The slightest breach of discipline brought a thunder-cloud on his
+face. If we may believe one authority,[10] he himself was often so
+lacking in discipline that he would strike an officer with a baton,
+and once at least, he killed a soldier with his own hand.
+
+His audience with the envoys resulted in a treaty, of which certain
+articles were so harsh that the messengers were insulted when the
+report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of thirty-two gilds voted to
+accept all the articles. A certain noble on pleasant terms with the
+count offered to carry the unpopular document back to him to ask for a
+modification of the harsh terms.
+
+By this time the weather was severe. Charles's troops were in need of
+repose, and it seemed prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles
+revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration of an increase of
+the war indemnity. With this change the treaty was accepted, and a
+Piteous Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege. Instead
+of owing allegiance to emperor and to pope alone as free imperial
+citizens, they agreed to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary
+protectors of Liege.
+
+When it was desired, Burgundian troops could march freely across the
+territory. Burgundian coins were declared valid at Burgundian values.
+No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian marches, and unqualified
+obedience was pledged to the new overlords. The same terms were
+conceded to all the rebel towns alike except to Dinant. The story of
+the personal insult to himself and his mother had reached the count's
+ears and he was not inclined to ignore the circumstance. His further
+action was, however, deferred.
+
+January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty[11] and, after its
+conclusion, Charles ordered a review of his forces, a review that
+almost culminated in a pitched battle between army and citizens of St.
+Trond, and then on January 31st, the count returned to Brussels where
+there was a great display of Burgundian etiquette before the duke
+embraced his victorious son.
+
+Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the province at large, still
+more piteous was the lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from the
+participation in the treaty. Her fate remained uncertain for months.
+Other affairs occupied the Count of Charolais until late in the summer
+of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis, well freed from the
+allies pressing up to the gates of Paris, was in very different temper
+from Louis ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not only had
+he withdrawn his promises in regard to the duchy conferred on his
+brother, but he had begun taking other measures, ostensibly to prepare
+against a possible English invasion, which alarmed his cousin of
+Burgundy for the undisturbed possession of his recently recovered
+towns on the Somme.
+
+Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes, Charles despatched the
+following letter from Namur:[12]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I recommend myself very humbly to your good grace and beg to
+    inform you, Monseigneur, that recently I have been advised of
+    something very surprising to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond
+    doubt considering the source of my information. It is with much
+    regret that I communicate it to you when I remember all the good
+    words you have given to me this year, orally and in writing.
+    Monseigneur, it is evident that there has been some agreement
+    between your people and the English, and that the matter has been
+    so well worked that you have consented, as I have heard, to yield
+    them the land of Caux, Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to
+    aid them in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu, and
+    further, to cement with them certain alliances against me and my
+    country in making them large offers greatly to my prejudice and,
+    in order to complete the whole, they are to come to Dieppe.
+
+    "Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you wish: but,
+    Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns me, it seems to me that
+    you would do better to leave my property in my hand than to be the
+    instrument of putting it into the hands of the English or of any
+    foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Monseigneur, that
+    if such overtures or greater ones have been opened by your people
+    that you will not commit yourself to them in any manner but will
+    insist on their cessation, and that you will do this in a way that
+    I may always have cause to remain your very humble servant as I
+    desire to do with all my heart. Above all, write to me your good
+    pleasure, and I implore you, Monseigneur, if there be any service
+    that I can render you, I am the one who would wish to employ all
+    that God has given me [to do it]. Written at Namur, August 16th.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient subject,
+
+    "CHARLES."
+
+Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict the punishment that the
+culprits had, to his mind, too long escaped.
+
+Commines calls this a strong and rich town, superior even to
+Liege.[13] A comparison of the two sites shows, however, that this
+statement could hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in a
+narrow space between the Meuse and high land. A lofty rock at one
+end of the town dominating the river is crowned by a fortress most
+picturesque in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how many
+inhabitants there actually were in the place in 1466, but there is
+no doubt as to their energy and character. As mentioned before, the
+artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their specialty, and
+their brass work was renowned far and wide. Pots and pans and other
+utensils were known as _Dinanderies_.
+
+The traffic in them was so important that Dinant had had her own
+commercial relations with England for a long period. Her merchants
+enjoyed the same privileges in London as the members of the Hanseatic
+League, and an English company was held in high respect at Dinant.[14]
+The brass-founders' gild ranked at Dinant as the drapers at Louvain,
+and the weavers at Ghent. As a "great gild they formed a middle class
+between the lower gilds and the _bourgeois_," the merchants and richer
+folk.[15] In municipal matters each of these three classes had a
+separate vote.
+
+As it happened, Dinant had not been very ready to open hostilities
+against the House of Burgundy though she was equally critical of Louis
+of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It was undoubtedly her rivalry
+with Bouvignes of Namur that brought her into the strife. That
+neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation, and the fact that
+it was safe under the Duke of Burgundy and backed by him as Count of
+Namur, had brought a Burgundian element into the local contest.
+
+The incidents of the insult to Charles and the aspersion on his
+mother's reputation undoubtedly were due to an irresponsible rabble
+rather than to any action that could properly be attributed to the
+leading men. Further, it really seems probable that the weight
+attached to the insulting act never occurred to the respectable
+burghers until they heard of it from others, so insignificant were the
+participants in it.
+
+As soon as it was realised that serious consequences might result
+from reckless folly, the authorities were quite ready to separate
+themselves from the event, and to arrest the culprits as common
+malefactors. Once, indeed, the prisoners were temporarily rescued by
+their friends, and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a suspicious
+circumstance that this happened just at a moment when there was
+renewed hope for help from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes
+were vain, the magistrates became seriously alarmed and ready to go
+to any lengths to avert Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following
+letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy:[16]
+
+    "The poor, humble and obedient servants and subjects of the most
+    reverend father in God, Louis of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege; and
+    your petty neighbours and borderers, the burgomaster's council and
+    folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to their knowledge
+    that the wrath of your grace has been aroused against the town on
+    account of certain ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants
+    thereof, in contempt of your honourable person. The city is as
+    displeased about these words as it is possible to be, and far from
+    wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested as many as could be
+    found and now holds them in durance awaiting any punishment your
+    _grace_ may decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do
+    your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your anger to be
+    appeased, holding the people of Dinant exonerated, and resting
+    satisfied with the punishment of the guilty, inasmuch as the
+    people are bitterly grieved on account of the insults and have, as
+    before stated, arrested the culprits."
+
+With further apologies for any failure of duty towards the Duke of
+Burgundy, the petitioners humbly begged to be granted the same terms
+that Liege and the other towns had received. March 31st is the date
+of this humble document. Months of doubt followed before the terrible
+experience of August proved the futility of their pleas, to which the
+ducal family refused to listen, so deep was their sense of personal
+aggrievement. Long as it was since the duchess had taken part in
+public affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And she, too, was
+implacable against the town where any citizen had dared accuse her of
+infidelity to her husband and to the Church whose interests were more
+to her than anything in the world except her son.[17]
+
+The petition was as unheeded as were all the representations of the
+would-be mediators. Again Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XI.
+and with assurances that after God his royal majesty was their only
+hope, besought him from mere charity and pity to persuade his cousin
+of Burgundy to forgive them. Apparently Louis took no notice of this
+appeal. Dinant's last hope was that her fellow-communes of Liege would
+refuse to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included. The sole
+concession, obtained by their envoys to Charles in the winter, had
+been a short truce afterwards extended to May, 1466.
+
+During that summer the critical position of the little town was well
+known. Some sympathisers offered aid but it was aid that there was
+possible danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from Liege, who had
+been expressly excluded from the terms of the peace, had joined the
+ranks of a certain free lance company called "The Companions of the
+Green Tent," as their only shelter was the interlaced branches of the
+forest. To Dinant came this band to aid in her defence.[18] At one
+time it seemed as though a peaceful accommodation might be reached but
+it fell through. Not yet were the citizens ready to surrender their
+charters--"Franchises,--to the rescue," was a frequent cry and no
+treaty was made.
+
+Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the reduction of this
+place in person. Too feeble to ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a
+litter, and arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then attended by a small
+escort only, he proceeded to Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point
+whence he could command a view of the scene of his son's intended
+operations. As the crisis became imminent there were a few further
+efforts to effect a reconciliation. When these failed, the town
+prepared to meet the worst.[19] Stories gravely related by Du
+Clercq[20] represent the people of Dinant goaded to actual fury of
+resistance.
+
+By August 7th, the Burgundian troops made their appearance, winding
+down to the river. Conspicuous among the standards--and nobles from
+all Philip's dominions were in evidence--was the banner of the Count
+of Charolais, displaying St. George slaying the dragon.
+
+On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested and the siege began.
+Within the walls the most turbulent element had gained complete
+control of affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to the winds.
+From the walls they hurled words at the foe:
+
+"Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you have brought him
+here to perish?[21] Your Count Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him
+go fight the King of France at Montl'hêry. If he waits for the noble
+Louis or the Liegeois he will have to take to his heels," etc.
+
+It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled with cannon-balls but
+there was no assault. By the sixth day the magistrates determined
+to send their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for mercy. The
+captain of the great gild of coppersmiths, Jean de Guérin, tried to
+encourage the faint-hearted to protest openly against this procedure.
+Seizing the city colours he declared: "I will trust to no humane
+sentiment. I am ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live or
+die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the town before the foe
+enter it." It was too late, the capitulation was made.
+
+When the keys were brought to Charles he remembered that he was not
+yet duke and ordered them presented to his father in his stead, and to
+his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task of formally accepting
+the surrender.
+
+It was late in the evening when the Bastard of Burgundy marched in. At
+first he held the incoming troops well under control, but the stores
+of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning there were wild scenes
+of disorder. When Charles arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday,
+just a week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness was checked
+with a strong hand. Any ill treatment of women was peculiarly
+repugnant to him, and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
+justice upon offenders.[22]
+
+[Illustration: ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY AFTER HANS MEMLING. DRESDEN
+GALLERY]
+
+His entry into the fallen town was made with all the wonted Burgundian
+pomp. Nothing in the proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate
+manner. A council of war was held and the proceedings decided upon.
+The cruelty that was exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
+not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults to his mother and to
+himself rankled in the count's mind. As one author remarks[23] with
+undoubted reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible for
+the insult were among those punished. After the siege, "pitiable it
+was to see, for the innocent suffered and the guilty escaped."
+
+Certain rich citizens bought their lives with large sums, others _were
+sold as slaves,_[24] or were hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into
+the Meuse.[25] In the monasteries, life was conceded to the inmates
+but that was all. All their property was confiscated. The Count of St.
+Pol, now Constable of France, tried to intercede for the citizens with
+Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to no result. It might have been
+chance or it might have been intentional that at last flames completed
+the work of destruction. The abode of Adolph of Cleves, at the corner
+of Nôtre Dame, was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the
+morning of Thursday, August 28th.
+
+That Charles was responsible for this conflagration Du Clercq thinks
+is incredible.[26] He would certainly have saved all ecclesiastical
+property which was almost completely consumed. Indeed, Charles gave
+orders to extinguish the flames as soon as they were discovered, but
+every one was so occupied with saving his own portion of booty that
+nothing was accomplished and the town-hall caught fire and the church
+of Nôtre Dame. From the latter some ornaments and treasures were saved
+and the bones of Ste. Perpète, with other holy relics, were rescued by
+Charles himself at risk to his own life.
+
+    "It was never known how the fire originated. Some say it was
+    due to a defective flue. To my mind," [concludes the pious
+    historian],[27] "it was the Divine Will that Dinant should be
+    destroyed on account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I
+    trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone lost more than
+    a hundred thousand crowns' value."
+
+_Cy fust Dinant_, "Dinant was," is the sum of his description, four
+days after the conflagration.[28]
+
+On September 1st, Philip, who had remained at Bouvignes while all this
+passed under the direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down to
+Namur. It was almost a triumph,--that trip that proved one of the last
+ever made by the proud duke--and the procession on the river and the
+entry into Namur were closed by a humble embassy from Liege in regard
+to certain points of their peace.
+
+Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the Count of St. Pol's men
+had had no part in the plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the
+poor fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their mercies, as a
+compensation for this deprivation, the little town of Tuin, which had
+been rebellious and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, submitted
+to St. Pol, and then compounded the right of pillage for a round sum
+of money. Moreover, they promised to lay low their gates and their
+walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is said that the
+constable made ten thousand Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men
+felt ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant.
+
+Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare on the various towns of
+Liege territory. The people of Liege themselves seem to have varied
+in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being very humble in their
+petitions for peace and again very insolent. As a rule, this conduct
+seems to be traceable to their hope of Louis's support. On September
+7th, there was one pitched battle where victory decided the final
+terms of the general peace, and after various skirmishes and
+submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the winter and joined
+his father at Brussels.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Doc. inédits sur l'hist. de France_. "Mélanges," ii.,
+398.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Polain, _Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège_,
+I, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See Kirk, _Charles the Bold_, i., 329.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Jacques de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of
+difficulty in Liege government:
+
+1. The size of the council--two hundred, where twenty would do.
+
+2. The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to size, when
+all were assembled by the council to vote on a matter.
+
+3. Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen.
+
+4. Facile naturalisation laws. (_See_ Kirk, i., 325.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: In many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is
+probable that it was only partially operative.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See Victor Hugo, _Le Rhin_, i. The Walloon dialect varies
+greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the "Prodigal Son"
+as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille:
+
+LIEGE. Jésus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis. Li pus jone dérit
+à s'père: père dinnez-m'con qui m'dent riv' ni di vosse bin; et l'père
+lezi partagea s'bin.
+
+HUY. Jésus l'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li peus jone dérit a
+s'père etc.
+
+LILLE. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux garchens. L'pus jeune
+dit à sin père-mon père donez me ch que j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et
+l'père leu-z-a doné a chacun leu parchen.
+
+See also _Doc. inédits concernant l'hist. de la Belgique_, ii., 238,
+for comment on Scott's treatment of the language.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The numbers are probably exaggerated. To-day it contains
+about two hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Du Clercq, iv., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clercq, iv., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Clercq, iv., 239-262.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii., 285, 322. For letters and
+negotiations anterior to this peace see p. 197 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Duclos, v., 236.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Book ii., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight
+thousand inhabitants.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In addition to Commines and Du Clercq _see also_ Kirk,
+i., 385, for quotations from Borgnet and others.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 213, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. inéd.,_ ii., 350.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Est falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse
+de Bourgogne, à cause desdictes injures at conclut telle hayne sur
+cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a juré comme on dist que s'il li
+devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner cestedite ville en
+mettant toutes personnes à l'espée. (Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii.,
+222.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., ii., 337, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Du Clercq, iv., 273.]
+
+[Footnote 20: He says messengers were put to death without regard to
+their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from limb.
+Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say mass, and the
+situation was strained to the last degree.]
+
+[Footnote 21: _Qui a mandé ce vieil monnart vostre duc_, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Du Clercq, iv., 278.]
+
+[Footnote 23: De Ram, _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de
+Liége,_ "Henricus de Merica," p. 159.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Vel vendebantur in servos. See De Ram _et passim_ for
+documents.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It seems to be well attested that the prisoners were
+tied together and drowned.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Du Clercq, iv., 280.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _Ibid._, 281.]
+
+[Footnote 28: In 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly
+called Dinant" and after that, little by little, the town came to
+life. (Gachard, _Analectes Belgiques_, 318, etc.).]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+1467
+
+
+The Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where he witnessed the manner in
+which his authority was vindicated was his last effort. In the early
+summer following, on Friday, June 10th, Philip, then at Bruges, was
+taken ill and died on the following Monday, June 13th, between nine
+and ten in the evening.[1] Charles was summoned on the Sunday, and it
+seemed as though his horse's hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he
+rode, so swift was his course on the way to Bruges.
+
+When he reached the house where his father lay dying, he was told that
+speech had already ceased, but that there was still life. The count
+threw himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all tenderness,
+and implored a paternal benediction and pardon for all wherein he had
+offended his father. Near the duke stood his confessor who begged the
+dying man to make a sign if he could still understand what was said
+to him. On this admonition and in reply to his son's prayers, Philip
+turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him and pressed the hand which
+was laid upon his own, but further token was beyond his strength. The
+count stayed by his side until he breathed his last.
+
+Thus ended the life of a man who had been a striking figure in Europe
+for forty years. His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been
+fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the Holy Land from the
+invading Turks had proved vain. Many years had passed since he had
+had military success of any kind, and even in his earlier life his
+successes had been owing to diplomacy and to a happy conjunction
+of circumstances rather than to skilful generalship. He possessed
+pre-eminently the power of personality.
+
+When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge at Montereau and Philip
+came into his heritage, Henry V. of England was in the full flush of
+his prosperity, standing triumphant over England and France, and in a
+position to make good his claim with three stalwart brothers to back
+him. All these young men had died prematurely. Their only descendant
+was Henry VI., and that meagre and wretched representative of the
+ambitious Henry V. had had no spark of the character of his father and
+uncles. The one vigorous element in his life was his wife, Margaret
+of Anjou, who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband on his
+throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467, Edward of York was on that
+throne. Gone, too, was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded
+his early, whose son darkened his latter years.
+
+Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke Philip alone had marched
+steadily to every desired goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate
+list of his achievements in doggerel verses:
+
+  "John was born of Philip, child of good King John.
+  To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son.
+  Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed to me
+  Therein to follow him and rule them legally.
+  With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm greater grew.
+  Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too.
+  The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied,
+  By force of right and arms they have been pacified.
+  At one single time against me were maintained
+  French, English, German forces,--nothing have they gained.
+  Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great array.
+  From me he begged a peace and king was from that day!
+  The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered seven.
+  Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given.
+  Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted,
+  But I put them down. I would not be insulted.
+  In Barrois and Lorraine, King René warred upon me.
+  Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he.
+  Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee,
+  From me received his crown. Five years my guest was he.
+  Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land;
+  That now he's England's king is due my aid and hand.
+  To defend the Church, which is the House Divine,
+  The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order mine.
+  Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength,
+  My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length.
+  In later days I planned and most sincerely meant
+  To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent.
+  When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained,
+  Through my control alone as Pope was he retained.
+  In 1467, Time my goal has set.
+  When I am seventy-one, I pay Dame Nature's debt.
+  With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here.
+  As in life I ever was their equal and their peer.
+  Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed,
+  Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed!"
+
+The territories thus named, that passed to the new duke, covered
+a goodly space of earth. Had Philip not slacked his ambition at a
+critical time, undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather than a
+ducal crown to his son. He did not so will it, and, moreover, in a
+way he had receded from his independence as he had accepted feudal
+obligations towards Louis XI. which he never had towards Charles VII.
+
+Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser of the French king, he had
+emphasised his position as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke
+of Burgundy _par excellence_ that Philip died, as the typical peer
+whose luxury and magnificence far surpassed the state possible to his
+acknowledged liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of attempting
+to turn that ducal state into state royal, and of establishing a realm
+which should hold the balance of power between France and Germany.
+
+There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to which was the greater, the
+cleverer, the more powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles the
+duke. Had not the former been a beggarly suppliant at his father's
+gates, as dauphin? As king, had he not been forced to yield at the
+gates of his own capital to every demand made by Charles, standing as
+the conscientious representative of the public welfare of France?
+
+Had not Louis befriended the contumelious neighbour of Charles, only
+to learn that his Burgundian cousin could and would deal summarily
+with all protests against his authority among the lesser folk on
+Netherland territory?
+
+The Croys made an attempt to gain the new duke's friendship, as
+appears from this letter to Duke Charles:
+
+    "Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has pleased Our
+    Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw from the world the good
+    Duke Philip, our beloved lord and father, prince of glorious
+    memory, august duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron
+    and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity, and the
+    dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds, he has won an
+    immortal name among living men, and deserves to our mind to find
+    grace before the merciful bounty of God whom we implore to pardon
+    his faults.
+
+    "Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous death shows what
+    is to be expected by all mortals. How many lands, how many nobles,
+    how many peoples, how many treasures, and how many powers would
+    have been ready to prevent what has come to pass, and how many
+    prayers would have risen to God could He have prevented this
+    death!...
+
+    "Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is the end of all
+    evils and the beginning of all benefits, but still your loss
+    and ours cannot pass without affliction. Nevertheless, our most
+    puissant lord, when we consider that we are not left orphans, and
+    that you, his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause
+    for comfort.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "We implore you to be pleased to count us your loyal subjects
+    and very humble servitors and to permit us to go to you, to thus
+    declare ourselves, etc.
+
+    "A. DE CROY, "J. DE CROY."
+
+At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La Marche was in England,
+whither he had accompanied the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to
+King Edward.[2] Right royally had the latter received the embassy.
+
+    "Clad in purple, the garter on his leg and a great baton in his
+    hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage worthy of being king, for he
+    was a fine prince with a grand manner. A count held the sword
+    in front of him, and around his throne were from twenty to
+    twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking like
+    senators gathered together to advise their master."
+
+Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a tourney given in honour
+of the embassy which La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The
+Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian coat-of-arms with a bar
+sinister, made a fine record for himself.
+
+After the tournament he invited the ladies to a Sunday dinner,
+
+    "especially the Queen and her sisters and made great preparations
+    therefor and then we departed, Thomas de Loreille, Bailiff of
+    Caux, and I to go to Brittany to accomplish our embassy. We
+    arrived at Pleume and were obliged to await wind and boats to
+    go into Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke of
+    Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great was the bastard's
+    mourning when he heard of his father's death, and how the nobility
+    who were with him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into
+    tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all valour.
+
+    "In his life he accomplished two things to the full. One was he
+    died as the richest prince of his time, for he left four hundred
+    thousand crowns of gold cash, seventy-two thousand marks of silver
+    plate, without counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes
+    garnished with precious stones, a large and well equipped library,
+    and rich furniture. For the second, he died as the most liberal
+    duke of his time. He married his nieces at his own expense; he
+    bore the whole cost of great wars several times. At his own
+    expense, he refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave
+    ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy at Rhodes; ...
+    No one went from him who was not well recompensed. The state
+    he maintained was almost royal. For five years he supported
+    Monseigneur the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned that all the
+    world spoke well of him."
+
+The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the English court and hastened
+to Bruges to join his brother, the Count of Charolais, who received
+him warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, "when I mention the said
+count I will call him the Duke of Burgundy as is reasonable."
+
+Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the church of St. Donat
+in Bruges, there to repose until it could be taken to Burgundy to be
+buried at Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses the funeral
+with a brief phrase as he was not himself present at Bruges, being
+busied in Brittany. There was a memorial service there, the finest
+he ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted in the chapel
+decorations, not merely pinned on,[2] a fact that impressed the
+chronicler. No nobles, not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
+put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared that none but him was
+worthy of the honour for so high a prince.
+
+    "So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the service I went to
+    thank him for the reverence he had shown the House of Burgundy,
+    and he responded that he had only done his duty. Then I finished
+    my business as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again and
+    returned to my new master."
+
+In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the Duke of Burgundy,[4]
+Chastellain recounts, more at length than La Marche, all that his
+great master had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe the duke
+as he knew him.
+
+    He was medium in height, rather slight but straight as a rush,
+    strong in hip and in arm, his figure well-knit. His neck was
+    admirably proportioned to his body, his hand and foot were
+    slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his veins were
+    full-blooded. Like all his ancestors, his face was long, as was
+    his nose, his forehead high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
+    brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows the same
+    colour, but the former curly, the latter were bushy and inclined
+    to stand up like horns when he was angry. His mouth was
+    well-proportioned, his lips full and high-coloured; his eyes were
+    grey, sometimes arrogant but usually amiable in expression.
+    His personality corresponded perfectly to his appearance. His
+    countenance showed his character, and his character was a witness
+    to the truth of his physiognomy. Nothing was contradictory,
+    perfect was the harmony between the inner and the outer man,
+    between the nobility of thought and the simple dignity,
+    well-poised and graceful. Among the great ones of this earth, he
+    was like a star in heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
+    and a man unique."
+
+    It was for his bearing rather than his beauty that he commanded
+    universal admiration. In a stable he would have looked like an
+    image in a temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Whereever his
+    body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready for the demands of the
+    hour. He was singularly joyous and nicely tempered in speech with
+    so much personal magnetism that he could mollify any enemy if he
+    could only meet him face to face. His dress was always rich and
+    appropriate. He was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in
+    tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase. He liked to linger
+    at the table and demanded good serving but was really moderate in
+    his tastes, as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence
+    ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never heard from him. To
+    all alike his speech was courteous even when there was nothing to
+    be gained.
+
+    "Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips, his mouth was equal
+    to his seal and his spoken word to his written. Loyal as fine gold
+    and whole as an egg." Chastellain repeats himself somewhat in
+    the profusion of his eulogy, but such are the main points of his
+    characterisation. Then he proceeds to some qualifications:
+
+    "In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I acknowledge that he
+    had faults. None is perfect except God. Often he was very careless
+    in administration, and he neglected questions of justice, of
+    finance, and of commerce in a way that may redound to the injury
+    of his house. The excuse urged is that it was his deputies who
+    were at fault. The answer to that is that he trusted too much to
+    deputies and should not be excused for his confidence. A ruler
+    ought to understand his business himself.
+
+    "Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his heart at the
+    desire of his eyes. At the desire of his heart he multiplied his
+    pleasures. His wishes were easy to attain. What he wanted was
+    offered freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his wife,
+    a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For this I offer no
+    excuse. To God I leave the cause.
+
+    "Another fault was that he was not wise in his treatment of his
+    nobles. Especially in his old age he often preferred the less
+    worthy, the less capable advisers. The answer to this charge is
+    that, as his health failed, whoever was by his side obtained
+    ascendency over him and succeeded in keeping the others at a
+    distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the excuse is to the
+    princely invalid. In his solitude even valets used their power, as
+    is not wonderful.
+
+    "He went late to mass and often out of hours. Sometimes he had
+    it celebrated at two o'clock or even three, and in so doing he
+    exceeded all Christian observance. For this there is no excuse
+    that I dare allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had,
+    indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for causes which he
+    explained, _and he only_ is responsible. God alone can judge about
+    him.
+
+    "It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered for this
+    neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice to deplore, nor the
+    nature of man to lament the perdition of such a soul and of such a
+    prince. Hell is not worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. 0
+    God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single virtuous act, do
+    not suffer this man to descend therein!"
+
+Having thus tried his best to give a vivid description of the father's
+personality, while acknowledging that he is not sure of the fate of
+his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an excellent moment
+to paint the son, too, for all time, in view of his mortality. "I will
+use the past tense so that my words may be good for always."
+
+Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than Duke Philip, but well
+formed, strong in arm and thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set
+and a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted to activity.
+The contour of his face was rounder than that of his father, his
+complexion brunette. His eyes were black and laughing, angelically
+clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as though his father
+looked out of them. Like his father's mouth was his, full and red. His
+nose was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair black. His forehead
+was fine, his neck white and well set, though always bent as he
+walked. He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but nevertheless
+he was a fine prince with a fair outer man.
+
+When he began to speak he often found difficulty in expressing
+himself, but once started his speech became fluent, even eloquent.
+His voice was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although he had
+studied the technique and was fond of music. In conversation he was
+more logical than his father, but very tenacious of his own opinion
+and vehement in its expression, although, at the bottom, he was just
+to all men.
+
+In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He listened to others'
+arguments judicially and gave them due weight before his own concluded
+the discussion. He was attentive to his own business to a fault, for
+he was rather more industrious than became a prince. Economical of his
+own time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates and worked them
+very hard. He was fond of his servants and fairly affable, though
+occasionally sharp in his words. His memory was long and his anger
+dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed him, but being naturally
+impetuous there was often a struggle between impulse and reason.
+
+He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the Virgin Mary, rigid in
+his fasts, lavish in charity. He was determined to avoid death and
+to hold on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's peer in
+valour. Like his father, he dressed richly; unlike him, he cared more
+for silver than for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual to
+princes and was always master of himself. He drank little wine, though
+he liked it, because he found that it engendered fever in him. His
+only beverage was water just coloured with wine. He was inclined to no
+indulgence or wantonness. "At the hour in which I write his taste for
+hard labour is excessive, but in other respects his good sense has
+dominated him, at least thus far. It is to be hoped that as his reign
+grows older he will curb his over-strenuous industry."
+
+As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets that circumstances
+have turned him towards England. Naturally he belonged to the French,
+and it was a pity that the machinations of the king, "whose crooked
+ways are well known to God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on
+his forehead he wears the fleur-de-lys."
+
+Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused of avarice, but
+defends him on the ground that he has been driven into collecting
+a large army. "A penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of
+another." "To take precautions in advance is a way to save honour and
+property," prudently adds the historian, who evidently flourishes
+his maxims to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's economy,
+which, quite as evidently, is not pleasing to him. "I have seen him
+the very opposite of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in
+largesse. When he came into his seigniory his nature did not change."
+It was simply the exigencies of his critical position that forced him
+to restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain the undeserved
+reputation for parsimony.
+
+It was also said that he was a very hard taskmaster, but as a matter
+of fact he demanded nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to
+undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was his own commander, drew up
+his own troops himself in battle array, and then passed from one end
+of the line to the other, encouraging the men individually with cheery
+words, promising them glory and profit, and pledging himself to share
+their dangers. In victory he was restrained and showed more mercy than
+cruelty.
+
+After expatiating on the points where Charles was like his
+father--conventional princely qualities --Chastellain adds: "In some
+respects they differed. The one was cold and the other boiling with
+ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other strenuous in his
+promptness; the elder negligent of his own concerns, the younger
+diligent and alert. They differed in the amount of time consumed at
+meals and in the number of guests whom they entertained. They differed
+more or less in their voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in
+the way in which they took solace and amusement." But in all other
+respects, "in life they marched side by side as equals and if it
+please God He will be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the
+final assurance of their eulogist.
+
+Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his adjectives about his
+patron, there is considerable discrimination between his summaries of
+the two dukes. It is very evident that from his accession Charles
+was less of a favourite than his father. While endeavouring to be
+as complimentary as possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out
+between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and thus never saw
+Charles's final disaster. But the violence of his character had
+inspired lack of confidence in his power of achievement, a violence
+that made people dislike him as Philip with all his faults was never
+disliked.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Du Clercq, iv., 302 _et seq_. Erasmus was born in this
+year, 1467.]
+
+[Footnote 2: II., 49.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "Non par armes attachées à espingles."]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Oeuvres_, vii., 213.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+1467
+
+
+After the dauphin was crowned at Rheims, he was monarch over all his
+domains. Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a series of
+ceremonies to perform before he was properly invested with the various
+titles worn by his father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be
+taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited. Then he had
+to exchange pledges of fidelity with his Flemish subjects before
+receiving recognition as Count of Flanders.
+
+According to the custom of his predecessors, Charles stayed at the
+little village of Swynaerde, near Ghent, the night before he made his
+"joyous entry" into that city. It had chanced that the day selected by
+Charles for the event was St. Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of
+the workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed conveniently in a
+portable shrine, rested in the cathedral church, whence they were
+carried once a year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession to
+the little village of Houthem, where the blessed saint had suffered
+martyrdom in the seventh century. All day and all night the saint's
+devotees, the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, remained at
+this spot. Merry did the festival become as the hours wore on, for
+good cheer was carried thither as well as the sacred shrine.
+
+Now the magistrates were a little apprehensive about the rival claims
+of the new count of Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They knew
+that they could not cut short the time-honoured celebration for the
+sake of the sovereign's inauguration, so they decided to prolong the
+former, and directed that the saint should leave town on Saturday and
+not return until Monday. This left Sunday free for the young count's
+entry. It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction of events to
+the city fathers, because the more turbulent portion of the citizens
+was sure to follow the saint.
+
+Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and dignified entrance,[1]
+having paused at the gates to listen to the fair words of Master
+Mathys de Groothuse as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of
+Flanders, and requested God to receive the present one, when he, too,
+was forced to leave earth, as graciously as Ghent was receiving him
+that day. All passed well; oaths of fealty were duly taken and given
+at the church of St. John the Baptist. Charles himself pulled the
+bell rope according to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of
+Flanders was in possession. This all took place in the morning of June
+28th. At the close of the ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and
+the magistrates to their dwellings.
+
+The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their holiday until Monday
+afternoon. It was five o'clock[2] when the revellers returned to
+Ghent. Many of the saint's followers were, by that time, more or less
+under the influence of the contents of the casks which had formed part
+of the outward-bound burden. The protracted holiday-making had its
+natural sequence. There was, however, too much method in the next
+proceedings for it to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety.
+
+The procession passed through the city gate and entered a narrow
+street near the corn market, where stood a little house used as
+headquarters for the collection of the _cueillotte_, a tax on every
+article brought into the city for sale, and one particularly obnoxious
+to the people. Suddenly a cry was raised and echoed from rank to rank
+of St. Lievin's escort, "Down with the _cueillotte_."
+
+Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic crowd, quick to take a
+fantastic advantage of a situation, a second cry was heard: "St.
+Lievin must go through the house. Lievin is a saint who never turns
+aside from his route."
+
+Delightful thought, followed by speedy action. Axes were produced and
+wielded to good effect.
+
+Down came the miniature customs-house in a flash. Little pieces of
+the ruin were elevated on sticks and carried by some of the rabble as
+standards with the cry "I have it--I have it." As they marched
+the procession was constantly augmented and the cries become more
+decidedly revolutionary: "Kill, kill these craven spoilers of God and
+of the world.[2] Where are they? Let us seek them out and slay them in
+their houses, those who have flourished at our pitiable expense."
+
+This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of St. Lievin's mantle,
+resistance to regularly instituted customs could hardly be described
+by any other name. Excited by their own temerity, the crowd now surged
+on to the great market-place in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where the
+Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint promptly to his
+safe abiding-place as was meet.
+
+There the lawless deeds--lawless to the duke's mind certainly--became
+more audacious. Counterparts of the very banners whose prohibition
+had been part of the sentence in 1453 were unfurled,[4] and their
+possession alone proved insurrectionary premeditation on the part of
+the gild leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the young duke in
+their midst felt it was an open insult to him as sovereign count.
+
+His messenger failed to return from the market-place. His master
+became impatient and followed him to the scene of action with a small
+escort. As they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged them in. The
+nobles became alarmed and urged the duke to return, but cries from
+the crowd promised safety to his person. To the steps of the Hôtel de
+Ville rode the duke, his face dark, menacing with suppressed wrath.[5]
+
+As he dismounted, he turned towards a man whom he thought he saw
+egging on a disturbance and struck him with his riding whip, saying,
+"I know you." The man was quick enough to realise the value of the
+duke's violence at that moment and cried, "Strike again," but the
+Seigneur Groothuse, who had already tried to check Charles's anger and
+to curb the popular turbulence, exclaimed, "For the love of God do
+not strike again!" The wiser burgher at once understood the unstable
+temper of the mob, which had been fairly civil to the duke up to this
+moment. There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the blow would cost
+him dear.
+
+    "Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mischief was so
+    imminent that God alone averted it, and there was not an archer
+    or noble or man so full of assurance that he did not tremble with
+    fear, nor one who would not have preferred to be in India for his
+    own safety. Especially were they in terror for their young prince,
+    who, they thought, was exposed to a dolorous death."
+
+It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster:
+
+    "Do you not see that your life and ours hang on a silken thread?
+    Do you think you can coerce a rabble like this by threats and hard
+    words--a rabble who at this moment do not value you more than the
+    least of us? They are beside themselves, they have neither reason
+    nor understanding.[6]... If you are ready to die, I am not, except
+    in spite of myself. You must try quite a different method--appease
+    them by sweetness and save your house and your life.
+
+    "What could you do alone? How the gods would laugh! Your courage
+    is out of place here unless it enables you to calm yourself and
+    give an example to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom
+    you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They were within the town
+    hall.] Show yourself and you will make an impression by your good
+    sense and all will go well."
+
+To this eminently sound advice the young duke yielded. He appeared on
+a balcony or on the upper steps of the town hall and stood ready to
+harangue his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment sufficed to still
+the turmoil and the silence showed a readiness to hear him speak.
+
+Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish, but he was wise enough
+to use that tongue. One trait of the Ghenters was respect for the
+person of their overlord. When that overlord showed any disposition to
+meet them half-way the response was usually immediate. So it was now.
+The crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin, and not to the
+duke's joyous entry, suddenly remembered that his welcome had been
+strangely ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings. "Take heart,
+Monseigneur. Have no fear. For you we will live and die and none shall
+be so audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fellows with no bump
+of reverence, endure it for the moment. Later you shall be avenged. No
+time now for fear."
+
+This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently appeased to address the
+crowd as "My children," and to assure them that if they would but meet
+him in peaceful conference, their grievances should be redressed.
+"Welcome, welcome! we are indeed your children and recognise your
+goodness."
+
+Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech than was possible either
+to Charles's Flemish or to his mood. This address was equally
+well received, and matters were in train for the appointment of a
+conference between popular representatives and the new Count of
+Flanders, when suddenly a tall, rude fellow climbed up to the balcony
+from the square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to strike on
+the wall, he commanded attention and turned gravely to address the
+audience as though he were on the accredited list of speakers:
+
+"My brothers, down there assembled to set your complaints before your
+prince, your first wish--is it not?--is to punish the ill governors of
+this town and those who have defrauded you and him alike."
+
+"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle crowd.--"You desire the
+suppression of the _cueillotte_, do you not?"--"Yes, yes."--"You
+want all your gates opened again, your banners restored, and your
+privileges reinforced as of yore?"--"Yes, yes." The self-appointed
+envoy turned calmly to Charles and said:
+
+"Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have come together to ask you.
+This is your task. I have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear,
+they make my words their own."
+
+Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified ejaculation over the
+extraordinary insolence of this big villain, who thus audaciously
+associated himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty of God,
+think of such an outrageous and intolerable piece of villainy being
+committed before the eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to
+come and stand side by side with such a gentleman as our seigneur, and
+to proffer words inimical to his authority--words the poorest noble in
+the world would hardly have endured! And yet it was necessary for this
+noble prince to endure and to tolerate it for the moment, and needful
+that he should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough to kill him
+with grief."
+
+Groothuse's answer to the man was mild. Evidently he did not think it
+was a safe moment to exasperate the mob: "'My friend, there was no
+necessity of your intruding up here, a place reserved for the prince
+and his nobles. From below, you could have been heard and Monseigneur
+could have answered you as well there as here. He requires no advocate
+to make him content his people. You are a strange master. Get down. Go
+down below and keep to your mates. Monseigneur will do right by every
+one.'
+
+"Off went the rascal and I do not know what became of him. The duke
+and his nobles were simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage and his
+impudent daring."
+
+The sober report[7] is less detailed and elaborate, but the thread is
+the same. Monseigneur, having returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur
+de la Groothuse, Jean Petitpas, and Richard Utenhove back to the
+market to invite the people to put their grievances in writing. A
+draft was made and carried to the duke. After he had examined it and
+discussed it with his council, he sent Monseigneur de la Groothuse
+back to the market-place to tell the people that he wanted to sleep
+on the proposition and would give his answer at an early hour on the
+morrow. All through the night the people remained in arms on the
+market-place. At about eight o'clock on June 30th Groothuse returned,
+thanked the people in the count's name for having kept such good
+watch, and was answered by cries of "_À bas la cueillotte_."
+
+Then he assured them that all was pardoned and that they should obtain
+what they had asked in the draft. Only he requested them to appoint a
+committee of six to present their demands to Monseigneur and then to
+go home. This they did. St. Lievin was restored to the church and his
+followers betook themselves to the gates specified in the treaty of
+Gaveren. These they broke down, and also destroyed another house where
+was a tax collector's office.
+
+"The report of these events carried to Monseigneur did not have a good
+effect upon his spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted the city."
+The members of the corporation with the two deans and the popular
+committee of six having obtained audience before his departure,
+Groothuse acted as spokesman: "We implore you in all humility to
+pardon us for the insult you have suffered, and to sign the paper
+presented. The bad have had more authority than the good, which could
+not be prevented, but we know truly that if the draft is not signed
+they will kill us."
+
+It is evident in all this story that the municipal authorities were
+frightened to death and that Charles allowed himself to be restrained
+to an extraordinary extent considering the undoubted provocation. His
+reasons for conciliatory measures were two, and literally were his
+ducats and his daughter. He had with him all the portable treasure and
+ready money that his father had had at Bruges, a large treasure
+and one on which he counted for his immediate military
+operations--operations very important to the position as a European
+power which he ardently desired to attain.
+
+Still more important was the fact that his young daughter, Mary, now
+eleven years old, was living in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of
+the city. If the unruly majority should realise their strength what
+easier for them than to seize the treasure and hold the daughter as
+hostage, until her father had acceded to every demand, and until
+democracy was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the neighbouring
+cities?
+
+Charles simply did not dare attempt further coercion of the democratic
+spirit until he was beyond the walls. It is evident that he was
+completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude towards him, as the
+city had always professed great personal attachment to him. But there
+was a difference between being heir and sovereign. The agreement was
+signed, with a mental reservation on the part of the Duke of Burgundy.
+He only intended to keep his pledge until he could see his way clear
+to make terms better to his liking.
+
+On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking his daughter and his
+treasure away, but a safe shelter for both was not easy to find.
+The duke's anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon her
+neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle fears. There were revolts
+of more or less importance at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and
+other places. Moreover, there was serious discussion in the estates
+assembled at Louvain as to whether Charles should be acknowledged as
+Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his cousin, the Count of
+Nevers, should be considered as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the
+late duke's title had never been considered perfect.
+
+Louis XI. seized the opportunity to urge the pretensions of the
+latter, and there were many reasons to recommend him, in the
+estimation of the Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a sovereign
+exclusively their own, instead of one with the widespread geographical
+interests of the Burgundian family. The final decision was, however,
+for Charles; a notice of the resolution of the deputies was sent to
+him at Mechlin, and he made his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he
+received homage from the nobles, the good cities, and the university.
+
+The various insurgent manifestations were promptly quelled one after
+another, but, with a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the duke
+was strongly impressed by them as personal insults. He blamed Ghent
+for their occurrence and deeply resented every one. Throughout
+Philip's whole career he remembered the localised tenure of his titles
+and the fact that they were not perfectly incontestable. For his own
+advantage he often found a conciliatory attitude the best policy.
+Charles considered all his rights heaven-born. Questioning his
+authority was rank rebellion. That he had accepted advice in regard
+to Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the nonce, did not
+mitigate his intense bitterness.
+
+In another town that gave him serious trouble at this time, nothing
+led him to curb the severity of his measures. Though only a
+"protector," not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion in Liege
+he rigorously exacted the most complete and humiliating penalties. The
+city charters were abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As
+an unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth, walls and
+fortifications rased to the ground.
+
+    "The perron on the market-place of the said town shall be taken
+    down, and then Monseigneur the duke shall treat it according to
+    his pleasure. The city may not remake the said perron, nor replace
+    another like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city. Nor
+    shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms of Liege."[8]
+
+This was a terrible indignity for the city and a clear proof of their
+fear of their bishop's friend.
+
+The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent with the duke's power, and
+made the more timorous anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his
+mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their arguments, but the
+scene of abnegation and self-humiliation crowning their apology was
+not enacted until eighteen months after the events apologised for,
+when the new duke had still further proven his metal.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 210, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Some authorities make this five A.M., but the _Rapport_
+is probably correct.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Chastellain, v., 260 _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: So say some historians. But it seems probable that the
+drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Chastellain, v., ch. 7, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 6: These are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober
+_Rapport_ is similar in purport.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 212. ]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard. _Doc. inéd_., ii., 462, "_Instrument notarié_."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+1468
+
+
+For many months before Philip's death there had been negotiations
+concerning Charles's marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling a
+closer bond with his mother than with his father, Charles's sympathy
+had ever been towards the Lancastrian party in England, the family to
+whom Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only the necessity for
+making a strong alliance against Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride
+from the House of York. It was on this business that La Marche and
+the great Bastard were engaged when Philip's death interrupted the
+discussion, which Charles did not immediately resume on his own
+behalf.
+
+Pending the final decision in regard to this important indication of
+his international policy, the duke busied himself with the adjustment
+of his court, there being many points in which he did not intend to
+follow his father's usage.[1] Philip's lavishness, without too close
+a query as to the disposition of every penny, was naturally very
+agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal air about his
+households. It was easy to come and go, and it was pleasant to have
+the handling of money and the giving of orders--orders which were
+fulfilled and richly paid without haggling. Charles had other notions.
+He was willing to pay, but he wanted to be sure of an adequate
+return. How he started in on his administration with reform ideas is
+delightfully told by Chastellain.[2]
+
+One of his first measures when he was finally established at Brussels
+was to secure more speedy execution of justice. He appointed a new
+provost, "a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently fitted to
+carry out perilous work." Then he determined to settle petty civil
+suits himself, as there were many which had dragged on for a long
+time. In order to do this and to receive complaints from poor people,
+he arranged to give audience three times a week, Monday, Wednesday,
+and Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he required the
+attendance of all his nobles, seated before him on benches, each
+according to his rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so that
+few places were empty. Charles himself was elevated on a high throne
+covered with cloth of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judgments
+and heard and answered petitions, a process that sometimes lasted two
+or three hours and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers.
+
+    "In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent course of action and
+    very praiseworthy. But in my time I have never heard of nor seen
+    like action taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the
+    least similar.
+
+    "When the duke went through the city from place to place and from
+    church to church, it was wonderful how much state and order was
+    maintained and what a grand escort he had. Never a knight so old
+    or so young who dared absent himself and never a squire was bold
+    enough to squeeze himself into the knights' places."
+
+At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was observed. Every one had
+to wait his turn in his proper room--the squires in the first, the
+knights in the second, and so on. All left the palace together to go
+to mass. As soon as the offering was made all the nobles were free
+to dine, but they were obliged to report themselves to the duke
+immediately after his repast. Any failure caused the forfeiture of the
+fee for the day. It was all very orderly and very dull.
+
+Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law-giver, paternal guide,
+philosopher, and friend to his people. From time to time he delivered
+harangues to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hearing, but
+certainly did not win popularity. The adulatory phrases used as mere
+conventionalities seemed to have actually turned his head. And those
+stock phrases were very grandiloquent. There is no doubt that such
+comparisons were used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the first
+deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the sins committed at the
+dolorous unjoyous entry into the Flemish capital.[2]
+
+    "My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold double place, place
+    of God and place of man, and have in yourself the double nature
+    by office and commission in divine estate, and as your noble
+    discretion knows and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator,
+    of all offences committed against you, and who may be appeased
+    by tears and by weeping as He permits Himself to be softened by
+    contrition, entreaties, etc., and resumes His natural benignity by
+    forgetting things past [etc.].... Alas, what kindness did He use
+    toward Adam, His first offender, upon whom through his son Seth He
+    poured the oil of pity in five thousand future years, and then to
+    Cain the first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his crime
+    for ten generations etc. What did he do in Abraham's time, when He
+    sent word to Lot that if there were ten righteous men in Sodom and
+    Gomorrah He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In Ghent,"
+    etc.[4]
+
+In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the duke's consent to grant
+forgiveness to Ghent is again compared to God's own mercy. The divine
+attributes were referred to again and again, not only on the pages
+of contemporaneous chroniclers who may be accused of desiring ducal
+patronage, but also in sober state papers.
+
+There was one antidote to this homage universally offered to Charles
+wherever there was no rebellion against him. One of the rules of the
+Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike should be subject to
+criticism by their fellows. In May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an
+assembly of the Order, the first over which he had presided. It was a
+fitting opportunity for the knights to express their sentiments. When
+it came to his turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to the
+representations that his conduct fell short of the ideals of chivalry
+because he was too economical, too industrious, too strenuous, and not
+sufficiently cognisant of the merits of his faithful subjects of high
+degrees.[5]
+
+In these plaints, respectful as they are, there is perhaps a note of
+regret for the lavish and amusing good cheer of the late duke's times.
+Charles was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at this period. The
+vision of wide dominions was already in his dreams, and he was prudent
+enough to begin his preparations. And prudence is not a popular
+quality. Still his courtiers were not quite bereft of the gorgeous and
+spectacular entertainments to which the "good duke" had accustomed
+them. Soon after the assembly of the Order, the alliance between Duke
+Charles and Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our Burgundian
+Chastellain is not pleased with this marriage. That Charles inclined
+towards England at all was due to the French king, whom both he and
+his father had found untrustworthy. Again, had there been any other
+eligible _partie_ in England Charles would never have allied himself
+with King Edward when all his sympathies were with the blood of
+Lancaster. But when King Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou,
+whose woes should have commanded pity, simply for the purpose of
+undermining the Duke of Burgundy, the latter felt it wise to make
+Edward his friend.
+
+    "That it was sore against his inclination he confessed to one who
+    later revealed it to me, but he decided that it was better to
+    injure another rather than be down-trodden and injured himself.[6]
+
+    "For a long time there had been little love lost between him and
+    the king. The monarch feared the pride and haughtiness of his
+    subject, and the subject feared the strength and profound subtilty
+    of the king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the whip. And
+    all this, alas, was the result of that cursed War of Public Weal
+    cooked up by the French against their own king. When Charles was
+    deeply involved in it he was deserted by the others and the whole
+    weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so that he alone was
+    blamed by the king, and he alone was forced to look to his own
+    safety and comfort. It is a pity when such things occur in a realm
+    and among kinsfolk."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+
+FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN LENGLET DU FRESNOY
+EDITION OF COMINES]
+
+
+Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine when news came to
+him that the marriage was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
+it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the future result. But
+the king used all kinds of machinations to break off the alliance....
+God suffered two young proud princes to try their strength each at
+his will, often in ways that would have been incompatible in common
+affairs."
+
+The fullest account of the wedding is given by La Marche, an
+eyewitness of the event[7]:
+
+    "Gilles du Mas, maître d'hôtel du Duc de Bretagne--to you I
+    recommend myself. I have collected here roughly according to my
+    stupid understanding what I saw of the said festival, to send it
+    to you, beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me of the
+    noble states and high deeds in your quarter ... as becomes two
+    friends of one rank and calling in two fraternal, allied and
+    friendly houses.
+
+    "My lady and her company arrived at l'Écluse on a Saturday, June
+    25th, and on the morrow Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother
+    of the duke, Mlle. of Burgundy and various other ladies and
+    demoiselles visited Madame Margaret[8] and only
+
+stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased with her
+prospective daughter-in-law and could not say enough of her character
+and her virtues. There remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of
+the duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempré and various other
+ladies and gentlemen to act the hosts to the strange ladies and
+gentlemen who had crossed from England with the bride. The Count and
+Countess de Charny met Madame as she disembarked and never budged from
+her side until she had arrived at Bruges.
+
+"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur of Burgundy made his
+way to l'Écluse with a small escort and entered the chateau at the
+rear. After supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights of the
+Order, he went very secretly to the hôtel of Dame Margaret, who had
+been warned of his intention, and was attended by the most important
+members of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's
+brother.
+
+    "At his arrival when they saw each other the greetings were very
+    ceremonious and then the two sat down on one bench and chatted
+    comfortably together for some time. After some conversation, the
+    Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged plan of his own,
+    kneeled before the two and made complimentary speeches. He was
+    followed by M. de Charny, who spoke as follows:
+
+    "'Monseigneur, you have found what you desired and since God has
+    brought this noble lady to port in safety and to your desire, it
+    seems to me that you should not depart without proving the
+    affection  you bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now
+    at this moment and give her your troth.'
+
+    "Monseigneur answered that it did not depend upon him. Then the
+    bishop spoke to Margaret and asked her what she thought. She
+    answered that it was just for this and nothing else that the king
+    of England had sent her over and she was quite ready to fulfil
+    the king's command. Whereupon the bishop took their hands and
+    betrothed them. Then Monseigneur departed and returned on the
+    morrow to Bruges.
+
+    "Dame Margaret remained at l'Écluse until the following Saturday
+    and was again visited by Monseigneur. On Saturday the boats were
+    richly decorated to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was
+    received very honourably according to the capacity of that little
+    town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July, Monseigneur the duke set out
+    with a small escort between four and five o'clock in the morning,
+    and went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready to receive
+    him as all had been prearranged, and Monseigneur wedded her as was
+    suitable, and the nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the
+    Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles returned to his hotel
+    at Bruges, and you may believe that during the progress of the
+    other ceremonies he slept as if he were to be on watch on the
+    following night.
+
+    "Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of Luxemburg, John of
+    Nassau, and others returned to Damme and paid their homage to the
+    new duchess, and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully
+    draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white cloth of gold made
+    like a wedding garment as was proper. On her hair rested a crown
+    and her other jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English
+    ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by her litter
+    and the others behind. Five chariots followed the thirteen
+    hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk, the most beautiful woman in
+    England, being in the first. In this array Madame proceeded to
+    Bruges and entered at the gate called Ste. Croix."
+
+There were too many names to be enumerated, but La Marche cannot
+forbear mentioning a noble Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of
+Breda, who had six horses covered with cloth of gold, jewelry, and
+silk.
+
+    "I mention him for two reasons [he explains[9]]: first, that he
+    was the most brilliant in the procession, and the second is that
+    by the will of God he died on the Wednesday from a trouble in his
+    leg, which was a pity and much regretted by the nobility.
+
+    "The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace was magnificent,
+    with all the dignitaries in their order. So costly were the
+    dresses of the ducal household that Charles expended more than
+    forty thousand francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone.
+
+    "Prominent in this stately procession were the nations or foreign
+    merchants in this order: Venetians, Florentines--at the head of
+    the latter marched Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of
+    the duke at the same time that he was chief of their nation and
+    therefore dressed in their garb; Spaniards; Genoese--these latter
+    showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on horseback guarded by
+    St. George from the dragon.--Then came the Osterlings, 108 on
+    horseback, followed by six pages, all clad in violet.
+
+    "Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all decorated with
+    cloth  of gold and silk and tapestries. As to the theatrical
+    representations I can remember at least ten. There were Adam and
+    Eve, Cleopatra married to King Alexander, and various others.
+
+    "The reception at the palace was very formal. The dowager duchess
+    herself received her daughter-in-law from the litter and escorted
+    her by the hand to her chamber, and for the present we will leave
+    the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrangement of the
+    hôtel.
+
+    "In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess was served
+    _d'eschançon et d'escuyer tranchant et de pannetier_. All English,
+    all knights and gentlemen of great houses, and the chief steward
+    cried 'Knights to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get
+    the food, and around the buffet marched all the relations of
+    Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of great houses. And
+    for that day Mme. the duchess the mother declined to be served _à
+    couvert_ but left the honour to her daughter-in-law as was right.
+
+    "After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms for a little rest
+    and there were some changes of dress. Then they all mounted their
+    chariots and hackneys and issued forth on the streets in great
+    triumph and wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Several
+    days of festivity followed when the usual pantomimes and shows were
+    in evidence.
+
+    "Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fête, the grand _salle_ was
+    arranged in the same state as on the wedding day itself, except the
+    grand buffet which stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet,
+    too, was a grand affair and concluded the festivities.
+
+    On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur departed for
+    Holland on a pressing piece of business, and he took leave of the
+    Duchess of Norfolk and the other lords and ladies of quality and
+    gave them gifts each according to his rank. Thus ends the story
+    of this noble festival, and for the present I know nothing worth
+    writing you except that I am yours."
+
+To this may be added the letter of one of the Paston family who was in
+Margaret's train.[10]
+
+    "John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston:
+
+    "To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr Margaret Paston
+    dwelling at Caster, be thys delyveryed in hast.
+
+    "Ryth reverend & worchepfull Modyr, I recommend me on to you as
+    humbylly as I can thynk, desyryng most hertly to her of your
+    welfare & hertsese whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my
+    hert can thynk. Ples yt you to wete that at the makyng of thys
+    byll my brodyr & I & all our felawshep wer in good helle, blyssyd
+    be God.
+
+    "As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as worchepfull as all
+    the world can devyse it, & ther wer never Englyshe men had so good
+    cher owt of Inglong that ever I herd of.
+
+    "As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can non send yow;
+    savyng my Lady Margaret was maryed on Sonday last past at a town
+    that is called Dame IIj myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the
+    morning; & sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr dener;
+    & ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully as all the world cowd
+    devyse as with presession with ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny
+    pepell that ever I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in
+    hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that ever I sye.
+    And the same Sonday my Lord the Bastard took upon hym to answere
+    xxiiij knyts & gentylmen within viij dayis at jostys of pese &
+    when that they wer answered, they xxiiij & hymselve shold torney
+    with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on Monday next
+    comyng; & they that have jostyd with hym into thys day have been
+    as rychly beseyn, & hymselfe also, as clothe of gold & sylk &
+    sylvyr & goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger & gold
+    & perle & stonys they of the dukys coort neyther gentylmen nor
+    gentylwomen they want non; for with owt that they have it by
+    wyshys, by my trowthe, I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords & ladys & gentylwomen
+    knyts, sqwyers & gentylmen I hert never of non lyek to it
+    save King Artourys cort. And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor
+    remembrance to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but that
+    lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you when I come home
+    whyche I trust to God shal not be long to; for we depart owt of
+    Brygge homward on Twysday next comyng & all folk that cam with my
+    lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as shall abyd her
+    styll with hyr whyche I wot well shall be but fewe.
+
+    "We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that the Frenshe king
+    is purposyd to mak wer upon hym hastyly & that he is with in IIIj
+    or v dayis jorney of Brugys & the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next
+    comyng forward to met with hym. God geve hym good sped & all hys;
+    for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest felawshep that ever I cam
+    among & best can behave themselves & most like gentlemen.
+
+    "Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the Duke of Somerset &
+    all hys band departyd well beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that
+    my Lady the Duchess cam thedyr & they sey her that he is to Queen
+    Margaret that was & shal no more come her agen nor be holpyn by
+    the Duke. No more; but I beseche you of your blessyng as lowly as
+    I can, wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday onys.
+    And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good mastras to my lytyll
+    man & to se that he go to scole.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt Thomas.
+
+    "Your sone & humbyll servaunt,
+
+    "J. PASTON THE YOUNGER."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Chastellain, v., 570.]
+
+[Footnote 2: V., 576.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This deputation was composed of representatives from "all
+the city in its entirety in three chief members--the bourgeois and
+nobles, the fifty-two _métiers_, and the weavers who possess twelve
+different places in the city entirely for themselves and in their
+control." The formal apology was made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Ibid_ 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467,
+Duke Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges which
+he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a deputation from the
+three members [_Trois membres_] of the city should come to Brussels to
+beg pardon on their knees, bareheaded, ungirded, for all the disorder
+of St. Lievin. This act of submission took place probably not until
+January, 1469, though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Hist, de l'Ordre_, etc., p. 511.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Chastellain, V., 342.]
+
+[Footnote 7: III., 101. Evidently this was composed for a separate
+work and then incorporated into the memoirs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: There is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the
+Bibliothèque de Burgogne. _See_ also Wavrin, _Anchiennes Croniques
+d'Engleterre_, ii., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 9: III., 108.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _The Paston Letters_, ii., 317.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+1468
+
+
+    "My brother, I beseech you in the name of our affection and of
+    our alliance, come to my aid, come as speedily as you can, come
+    without delay. Written by the own hand of your brother.
+
+    "FRANCIS."
+
+Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent appeal from the
+Duke of Brittany that followed Charles into Holland, whither he had
+hastened after the completion of the nuptial festivities.
+
+The titular Duke of Normandy found that his royal brother was in no
+wise inclined to fulfil the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally,
+Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into terror lest the king
+should invade his duchy and punish him for his share in the
+proceedings that had led up to that compact.
+
+It is in this year that Louis XI. begins to show his real astuteness.
+Very clever are his methods of freeing himself from the distasteful
+obligations assumed towards his brother. They had been easy to make
+when a hostile army was encamped at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy
+weighed lightly when balanced by the desire to separate the allies.
+That separation accomplished, the point of view changed. Relinquish
+Normandy, restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege lord
+after its long retention by the English kings? Louis's intention
+gradually became plain and he proved that he was no longer in the
+isolated position in which the War for Public Weal had found him. He
+had won to himself many adherents, while the general tone towards
+Charles of Burgundy had changed.[1]
+
+In April, 1468, the States-General of France assembled at Tours in
+response to royal writs issued in the preceding February.[2] The
+chancellor, Jouvençal, opened the session with a tedious, long-winded
+harangue calculated to weary rather than to illuminate the assembly.
+Then the king took the floor and delivered a telling speech. With
+trenchant and well chosen phrases he set forth the reasons why
+Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of the French realm. The
+advantages of centralisation, the weakness of decentralisation, were
+skilfully drawn. The matter was one affecting the kingdom as a whole,
+in perpetuity; it was not for the temporal interests of the present
+incumbent of regal authority, who had only part therein for the brief
+space of his mortal journey. Louis's words are pathetic indeed, as
+he calls himself a sojourner in France, _en voyage_ through life,
+as though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of ephemeral
+mankind was novel to his audience. He reiterated the statement that
+the interests involved were theirs, not his.
+
+It was a goodly body which listened to Louis. The greatest feudal
+lords, indeed, were not present, but many of the lesser nobility were,
+while sixty-four towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies. These
+hearers gave willing attention to the thesis that it was a burning
+shame for the French people to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the
+insolent peers from rebelling against their sovereign--those noble
+scions of the royal stock whose bounden duty it was to protect the
+state and the head of the royal house.
+
+What was the reason for their selfish insubordination? The root of the
+evil lay in the past, when extensive territories had been carelessly
+alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted to acquire too much
+independence of the crown, so that the monarchy was threatened with
+disruption. There was more to the same purpose and then the deputies
+deliberated on the answer to make to this speech from the throne. It
+was an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed the value of
+suggestion. Charles the Wise had thought that an estate yielding an
+income of twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a prince of
+the blood. Louis XI. was more generous. He was ready to allow his
+brother Charles a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to the
+government of Normandy--why! no king, either from fraternal affection
+or from fear of war, was justified in committing that province to
+other hands than his own.
+
+The States-General dissolved in perfect accord with the monarch, and a
+definite order was left in the king's hands, declaring that it was
+the judgment of the towns represented that concentration of power was
+necessary for the common welfare of France. Public opinion declared
+that national weakness would be inevitable if the feudatories were
+unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies. Above all, Normandy must be
+retained by the king. On no consideration should Louis leave it to his
+brother.[2]
+
+Before the dissolution of the assembly there was some discussion as to
+the probable attitude of the great nobles in regard to this platform
+of centralisation. Very timid were the comments on Charles of
+Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be an excellent mediator between the
+lesser dukes and the king? Would it not be better to suspend action
+until his opinion was known, etc? But at large there was less reserve.
+The statements were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever come to
+France from Burgundy. The present duke's father and grandfather had
+wrought all the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles, his
+illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest content with his
+paternal heritage. Ghent and Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too?
+Let the king recover the towns on the Somme. Rightfully they were
+French. Louis made no scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty
+of Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by undue influence.
+And this royal sentiment was repeated here and there with growing
+conviction of its justice.
+
+While Charles was occupied with the preparation for his wedding, Louis
+was engaged in levying troops and mobilising his forces, and these
+preparations continued throughout the summer of 1468. Naturally, news
+of this zeal directed against the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany
+followed the traveller in Holland.
+
+Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once to the king, reminding
+him that these seigneurs were his allies, and demanding that nothing
+should be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his remonstrance
+might be futile, and urged on by appeals from the dukes, Charles
+hastened to cut short his stay in Holland so that he might move nearer
+to the scene of Louis's activities. His purpose in going to the north
+had been twofold--to receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand,
+and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of money for which he
+saw immediate need if he were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from
+him.
+
+In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in Flanders to
+Middelburg, and thence made his progress through the cities of
+Zealand, receiving homage as he went. Next he passed to The Hague,
+where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland met him and gave
+him their oaths of fealty on July 21st. Fifty-six towns[4] were
+represented and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks and the
+islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It is noteworthy," comments a Dutch
+historian, "that the people's oath was given first. The older custom
+was that the count should give the first pledge while the people
+followed suit."
+
+As soon as he was thus legally invested with sovereign power, Charles
+demanded a large _aide_ from Holland and Zealand--480,000 crowns of
+fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin money for his new
+consort; 16,000 crowns as donations for various servants, and 4800
+crowns towards his travelling expenses. The total sum was 532,800
+crowns. The share of Holland and West Friesland was 372,800 crowns,
+and of Zealand 16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half
+years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest quota, 3549 crowns, and
+Schiedam the smallest, 350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South
+Holland villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and the remainder was
+divided among the other cities and villages.
+
+There was considerable opposition to the assessments. In many cases
+the new imposts upon provisions pressed very heavily on the poor
+villagers. Having obtained promise of the grant, however, Charles left
+all further details in its regard to the local officials and returned
+to Brussels at the beginning of August to make his own preparation.
+For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the treaty of
+Conflans were plain, though there still fluttered a thin veil of
+friendship between the cousins. Gathering what forces he could
+mobilise, ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved westward and
+took up his quarters at Peronne on the river Somme.
+
+Louis had been bold in his utterance to the States-General as to his
+perfect right to ignore the treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his
+brother, and to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the summer
+of 1468 he made advances towards accomplishing the last-named
+desideratum. Brittany was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was
+diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis peaceably consented
+to renounce his close alliances with Burgundy and England, nominally
+at least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France to submit his
+claims to Normandy to the arbitration of Nicholas of Calabria and the
+Constable St. Pol.[5]
+
+Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with on some different
+basis. And in regard to him Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified
+his friends and caused the world to wonder as to his sanity. All
+previous attempts at mediation having failed--St. Pol was among the
+many who tried--the king determined to be his own messenger to parley
+with his Burgundian cousin. It is curious how small was his measure
+of personal pride. He had been negligent of his personal safety at
+Conflans, but even then Charles had better reason to respect and
+protect him than in 1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years
+in every direction to harass and undermine the young duke's power,
+and when, too, the latter was aware of half of the machinations and
+suspicious of more.
+
+Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sudden hare-brained
+enterprise. There is much evidence that he nursed the project for many
+weeks without giving any intimation of his intentions. Nor was the
+situation as strange as it appears, looking backward.
+
+Charles had doubtless made all preparations to combat Louis if need
+were, and had chosen Peronne for his headquarters with the express
+purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the same time, he had
+published abroad that his military preparations were solely for
+the purpose of keeping his obligations to his allies. Now these
+obligations were momentarily removed by the action of those same
+allies. Francis of Brittany had entered into amicable relations with
+his sovereign, young Charles of France had accepted arbitration to
+settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers, while the
+correspondence between Louis and Liege, was still unknown to the Duke
+of Burgundy. For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no definite
+quarrel with the French king. But he was not in the least anxious for
+an interview with him. Charles was as far as ever from understanding
+his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of Louis's efforts to
+make friends in the Netherlands, Charles suspected enough to turn his
+youthful distrust of the man's character into mature conviction that
+friendship between them was impossible. But he could not refuse the
+royal overtures. His letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited
+visitor bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows:[6]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it be your
+    desire to come to this city of Peronne in order that we may talk
+    together, I swear and I promise you by my faith and on my honour
+    that you may come, remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon,
+    according to your pleasure and as often as it shall please you,
+    freely and openly without any hindrance offered either to you or
+    to any of your people by me or by any other for any cause that now
+    exists or _that may hereafter arise_."
+
+Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential messenger between duke and
+king. He it was whom Charles had dismissed from his own service in
+1456 at his father's instance. From that time on the man had been in
+Louis's household, deep in his secrets it was said, and certainly
+admitted to his privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter was
+written by Charles in the presence of Biche, through whose hand it
+passed directly to the king.
+
+By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to move as soon as the
+safe-conduct arrived. No time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday,
+October 9th, the king started out, accompanied by the Bishop of
+Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue,
+St. Pol, a few more nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish
+guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of Crèvecoeur, with two
+hundred lances, met him on the way to act as his escort to the
+presence of the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of a stream a
+short distance out of Peronne.
+
+St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the duke as herald of
+Louis's approach. Then Charles rode forward to greet the traveller. As
+he came within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his saddle and was
+about to dismount when Louis, his head bared, prevented his action.
+Fervent were the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the duke's
+cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly about the latter's neck.
+Then he turned graciously to the by-standing nobles and greeted them
+by name. But his cousinly affection was not yet satisfied. Again he
+embraced Charles and held him half as long as before in his arms. How
+pleasant he was and how full of confidence towards this trusted cousin
+of his!
+
+The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two princes in the
+middle, and made a stately entry into Peronne at a little after
+mid-day.[7] The chief building then and the natural place to lodge
+a royal visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair, ill
+furnished, and affording less comfort than a neighbouring house
+belonging to a city official. Here rooms had been prepared for the
+king and a few of his suite, the others being quartered through the
+town. At the door Charles took his leave and Louis entered alone with
+Cardinal Balue and the attendants he had chosen to keep near him.
+These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and were treated
+by their master with a familiarity very astonishing to the stately
+Burgundians.
+
+Louis entered the room assigned for his use, walked to the window,
+and looked out into the street. The sight that met his view was most
+disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the point of entering the
+castle. They were gentlemen just arrived from Burgundy with their
+lances, in response to a summons issued long before the present visit
+was anticipated. As he looked down on the troops, Louis recognised
+several men who had no cause to love him or to cherish his memory.
+There was, for instance, the queen's brother Philip de Bresse[8] who
+had led a party against Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a
+time of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of his
+brother-in-law's profession and had visited him to obtain his
+mediation. The king had violated both the specified safe-conduct and
+ambassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De Bresse into the citadel
+of Loches, where he suffered a long confinement before he succeeded in
+making his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as well as in race.
+But with him on that October day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who
+had fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or another and had
+saved their liberty by flight, renouncing their allegiance to him
+for ever. Four there were in all who wore the cross of St. Andrew.
+Approaching Peronne as they had from the south, these new-comers had
+ridden in at the southern gates without intimation of this royal
+visitation extraordinary until they were almost face to face with
+guest and host. Their arrival was "a half of a quarter of an hour
+later than that of the king."
+
+When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned what was going on, they
+hastened to the duke's chambers "to give him reverence." Monseigneur
+de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke that the three above
+named should be assured of their security notwithstanding the king's
+presence at Peronne,--of security such as he had pledged them in
+Burgundy and promised for the hour when they should arrive at his
+court. On their part they were ready to serve him towards all and
+against all. Which petition the duke granted orally. "The force
+conducted by the Marshal of Burgundy was encamped without the gates,
+and the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did the others I
+have mentioned."[9]
+
+It was, however, a situation in which apprehension was not confined
+to the men of lower station. To Louis, looking down from his window,
+there seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these persons who had
+heavy grievances against him, and the unfortified private house seemed
+slight protection against their possible vengeance. Here, Charles
+might disavow injury to him as something happening quite without his
+knowledge. On ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under shelter
+patently ducal. There, there would be no doubt of responsibility did
+misfortune happen.
+
+Straightway the king sent a messenger to Charles asking for quarters
+within the castle. The request was granted and the uneasy guest passed
+through the massive portals between a double line of Burgundian
+men-at-arms. It was no cheerful, pleasant, palatial dwelling-place
+this little old castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that vain
+had been all assaults against it.[10] Designed for a fortress rather
+than a residence, it had been repeatedly used as a prison, and the air
+of the whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls, dungeons
+which had seen many unwilling lodgers. Five centuries earlier than
+this date, Charles the Simple had languished to death in one of the
+towers.
+
+This change of arrangement, or rather the disquieting reason for the
+change, undoubtedly clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet
+outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts that the two princes
+directed their people to behave amicably to each other and that the
+commands were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days the desired
+conferences took place between Charles and Louis. The king's wishes
+were perfectly plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other alliances
+and to pledge himself to support his feudal chief, first and foremost,
+from all attacks of his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had submitted
+to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy would only accept terms equally
+satisfactory in their way, the pernicious alliance between the two
+would vanish, to the weal of French unity.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP DE COMMINES.]
+
+Apparently the first discussion was heard by none except the Cardinal
+Balue and Guillaume de Biche. Charles was willing to pledge allegiance
+and to promise aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations that
+weakened the value of his words. Nothing could induce him to renounce
+alliance with other princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There
+was a second interview on the following day. Charles held tenaciously
+to his position. Then there came a sudden alteration in the situation,
+a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of view.
+
+The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the behests of her
+imperious neighbour, but the citizens had never ceased to hope that
+his unwelcome "protection" might be dispensed with; that, by the aid
+of French troops, they might eventually wrest themselves free from
+the Burgundian incubus. In spite of all promises to Charles, secret
+negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party and Louis XI. had never
+ceased. The latter never refused to admit the importunate embassies to
+his presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the city even in
+its ruined condition. He sent envoys as well as received them, and
+Commines states definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne,
+the fact of a confidential commission recently despatched to Liege had
+wholly slipped the king's mind.
+
+In that town the duke's lieutenant, Humbercourt, had been left to
+supervise the humiliating changes ordered. And the work of demolition
+was the only industry. Other ordinary business was at a standstill.
+For a period there was a sullen silence in the streets and the church
+bells were at rest. In April, a special legate from the pope arrived
+to see whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a better
+footing.
+
+It was about the same time that the States-General were meeting
+at Tours that, under the direction of this legate, Onofrio de
+Santa-Croce, the cathedral was purified with holy water, and Louis of
+Bourbon celebrated his very first mass, though he had been seated on
+the episcopal throne for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate
+between the city and the Duke of Burgundy. To Bruges he went to
+see Charles, and obtained permission to draft a project for the
+re-establishment of the civic government, to be submitted to the duke
+for approval.
+
+If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop by forcing him into
+performing his priestly rites he soon learned his mistake. That
+ecclesiastic speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed
+festivities, and then forsook the city and sailed away to Maestricht
+in a gaily painted barge, with gay companions to pass the summer in
+frivolous amusements suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the
+state of affairs when the report of Louis's extensive military
+preparations encouraged the Liegeois to hope that he was to take the
+field openly against the duke.
+
+About the beginning of September, troops of forlorn and desperate
+exiles began to return to the city. They came, to be sure, with shouts
+of _Vive le Roi!_ but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing to
+make any accommodation for the sake of being permitted to remain.
+"Better any fate at home than to live like wild beasts with the
+recollection that we had once been men."
+
+To make a long story short, Onofrio again endeavoured to rouse the
+bishop to a sense of his duty. Again he tried to make terms for the
+exiles and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was useless. Louis
+of Bourbon refused to approach nearer to Liege than Tongres, and
+declined to meet the advances of his despairing subjects. It was just
+at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived from Louis, despatched,
+as already stated, _before_ Charles had consented to prolong the
+truce.
+
+Excited by their presence the Liegeois once more roused themselves to
+action. A force of two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced by
+night upon Tongres--also without walls--surrounded the house where lay
+their bishop, and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there was
+and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the mob respected the
+person of their bishop and of Humbercourt the chief Burgundian
+official. This event happened on October 9th, the very day that Louis
+rode recklessly into Peronne.
+
+On Wednesday, October 11th, the news of the fray reached Peronne,
+but news greatly exaggerated by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and
+Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly murdered in the very
+presence of Louis's own envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous
+crime! To follow the story of an eyewitness:[11]
+
+    "Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted the contrary,
+    for such advertisments are never reported after one sort. At
+    length others came who had seen certain canons slain and supposed
+    the bishop[12] to be of the number, as well as the said seigneur
+    de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they said that they had
+    seen the king's ambassadors in the attacking company and mentioned
+    them by name. All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith
+    believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that the king
+    had come thither to abuse him, and gave commands to shut the gates
+    of the castle and of the town, alleging a poor enough excuse,
+    namely, that he did this on account of the disappearance of a
+    little casket containing some good rings and money.
+
+    "The king finding himself confined in the castle, a small one at
+    that, and having seen a force of archers standing before the gate,
+    was terrified for his person--the more so that he was lodged in
+    the neighbourhood of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois
+    had caused the death of one of his predecessors as king of
+    France.[13] At that time, I was still with the duke and served him
+    as chamberlain, and had free access to his chamber when I
+    would, for such was the usage in this household.
+
+    "The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed, ordered all to
+    leave his presence and said to a few of us that stayed with him
+    that the king had come on purpose to betray him, and that he
+    himself had tried to avoid his coming with all his strength, and
+    that the meeting had been against his taste. Then he proceeded to
+    recount the news from Liege, how the king had pulled all the wires
+    through his ambassadors, and how his people had been slain. He was
+    fearfully excited against the king. I veritably believe that if
+    at that hour he had found those to whom he could appeal ready to
+    sympathise with him and to advise him to work the king some
+    mischief, he would have done so, at the least he would have
+    imprisoned him in the great tower.
+
+    "None were present when the words fell from the duke but myself
+    and two grooms of the chamber, one of whom was named Charles de
+    Visen, a native of Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with
+    his master. We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the duke
+    as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same phrases on others,
+    and a report of them ran through the city and penetrated to the
+    very apartment of the king, who was greatly terrified, as was
+    everyone, because of the danger that they saw imminent, and
+    because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel when it
+    has commenced between such great princes. Assuredly they were
+    blameworthy in failing to notify their absent servants of this
+    projected meeting. Great inconveniences were bound to arise from
+    this negligence."
+
+Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness though he was, it must be
+remembered that when he wrote the account of this famous interview it
+was long after the event, and when his point of view was necessarily
+coloured by his service with Louis. Delightful, however, are the
+historian's own reflections that he intersperses with his plain
+narrative. To his mind the only period when it is safe for princes to
+meet is
+
+    "in their youth when their minds are bent on pleasure. Then they
+    may amuse themselves together. But after they are come to man's
+    estate and are desirous each of over-reaching the other, such
+    interviews do but increase their mutual hatred, even if they incur
+    no personal peril (which is well-nigh impossible). Far wiser is
+    it for them to adjust their differences through sage and good
+    servants as I have said at length elsewhere in these memoirs."
+
+Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous instances of disastrous
+royal interviews before returning to his subject and to Peronne:
+
+    "I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his new chapter]
+    to tell the princes my opinion of such meetings.[14] Thus the
+    gates were closed and guarded and two or three days passed by.
+    However, the Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had
+    Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and those only
+    through the wicket. Nor did the duke see any of his people who had
+    influence over him.
+
+    "The first day there was consternation throughout the city. By the
+    second day the duke was a little calmed down. He held a council
+    meeting all day and the greater part of the night. The king
+    appealed to every one who could possibly aid him. He was lavish in
+    his promises and ordered fifteen thousand crowns to be given where
+    it might count, but the officer in charge of the disbursement of
+    this sum acquitted himself ill and retained a part, as the king
+    learned later.
+
+    "The king was especially afraid of his former servants who had
+    come with the army from Burgundy, as I mentioned above, men who
+    were now in the service of the Duke of Normandy.
+
+    "Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned council-meeting.
+    Some held that the safe-conduct accorded to the king protected
+    him, seeing that he fairly observed the peace as it had been
+    stated in writing. Others rudely urged his capture without further
+    ceremony, while others again advised sending for his brother, the
+    Duke of Normandy, and concluding with him a peace to the advantage
+    of all the princes of France. They who gave this advice thought
+    that in case it was adopted, the king should be restrained of his
+    liberty. Further, it was against all precedent to free so great a
+    seigneur when he had committed so grave an offence.
+
+    "This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw a man booted
+    and spurred ready to depart with a packet of letters addressed to
+    Monseigneur of Normandy, being in Brittany, and stayed only for
+    the Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to naught. The
+    king made overtures to leave as hostages the Duke of Bourbon, the
+    cardinal, his brother, and the constable with a dozen others while
+    he should be permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was
+    concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should repair their
+    mischief or he would declare himself their foe. The appointed
+    hostages were profuse in their offers to immolate themselves, at
+    least they were in public. I do not know whether they would have
+    said the same things in private. I rather suspect not. And in
+    truth, I believe that those who were left would never have
+    returned.
+
+    "On the third night after the arrival of the news, the duke never
+    undressed, but lay down two or three times on his bed, and
+    then rose and walked up and down. Such was his way when he was
+    troubled. I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him from
+    time to time. In the morning his fury was greater than ever, his
+    tone very menacing, and he seemed ready to go to any extreme.
+
+    "However, he finally brought himself to say that if the king would
+    swear the peace and would accompany him to Liege to help avenge
+    Monsgn. of Liege, his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then
+    he suddenly betook himself to the king's chamber and expressed
+    himself to that effect. The king had a friend[15] who warned him,
+    assuring him that he should suffer no ill if he would concede
+    these two points. Did he do otherwise he ran grave risk, graver
+    than he would ever incur again."
+
+    When the duke entered the royal presence his voice trembled, so
+    agitated was he and on the verge of breaking into a passion. He
+    assumed a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and word as he
+    demanded whether the king would keep the treaty of peace as it had
+    been drafted, and whether he was ready to swear to it. "Yes" was
+    the king's response. In truth, nothing had been added to the
+    agreement made before Paris, or at least little as far as the Duke
+    of Burgundy was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Normandy, it
+    was stipulated that if he would renounce that province he should
+    have Champagne and Brie besides other neighbouring territories for
+    his share.
+
+    Then the duke asked if the king would accompany him to avenge the
+    outrage committed upon his cousin the bishop.
+
+    "To which demand the king gave assent as soon as the peace was
+    sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to Liege and with a small or
+    large escort, just as the duke preferred. This answer pleased
+    the duke immensely. In was brought the treaty, out of the king's
+    coffer was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one carried
+    by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of Victory, and thereupon
+    the two swore the peace.
+
+    "This was now October 14th. In a minute the bells pealed out their
+    joy throughout Peronne and all men were glad. It hath pleased the
+    king since to attribute the credit of this pacification to me."
+
+There was undoubtedly an immense sense of relief in Peronne when this
+degree of accommodation was reached. The duke was unwilling, however,
+to have too much rejoicing in his domains until he had ascertained for
+himself the state of Liege. Among the letters despatched from Peronne
+this October 14th, was the following to the magistrates of Ypres:[16]
+
+    "Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we have to-day
+    made peace and convention with Monseigneur the king, and that for
+    this reason you might be inclined to let off fire-works and make
+    other manifestations of joy, we hasten to advise you that ... our
+    pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or assemblies in our
+    town of Ypres on account of the said peace until we have subdued
+    the people of Liege, and avenged the said outrage [described
+    above]. This with God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point
+    of departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved, may our Lord
+    protect you.
+
+    "Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14, 1468."
+
+A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions to the magistrates of
+Ypres, possibly managing to slip them under the same cover.[17]
+
+    "To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace was concluded between the king
+    and Monseigneur, and also between the king and the Duke of Berry.
+    Here, bells are ringing and the _Te Deum_ is sung. It is generally
+    believed that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God deserves
+    thanks for the result, for I assure you that last night the
+    outlook was not clear."[18]
+
+The king wrote as follows to his confidential lieutenant:
+
+    "PERONNE, October 14th.
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, you are already informed how there
+    has been discussion in my council and that of my brother-in-law of
+    Burgundy, as to the best manner of adjusting certain differences
+    between him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive at a
+    conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here we have busied
+    ourselves with the requisitions passing between us, so that to-day
+    we have, thanks to our Lord, in the presence of all the nobles
+    of the blood, prelates and other great and notable personages in
+    great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn peace
+    solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid, defend and
+    succour each other for ever. Also on the same cross we have
+    ratified the treaty of Arras with its corrections and other points
+    which seemed productive of peace and amity.
+
+    "Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy ordered thanksgivings
+    in the churches of his lands, and in this town he has already had
+    great solemnity. And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that
+    the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the bishop of Liege,
+    whom he is determined to deliver as quickly as possible, he has
+    besought me as a favour to him, and also because the bishop is my
+    kinsman whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege, not far
+    from here. This I have agreed to, and have chosen as my escort
+    a portion of the troops under monseigneur the constable, in the
+    hopes of a speedy return by the aid of God.
+
+    "And because it is for my weal and that of my subjects I write to
+    you at once, because _I am sure_ you will be pleased, and that
+    you will order like solemnities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand
+    master, as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible
+    disband my _arriere ban_ together with the free lances, and
+    do every possible thing for the mass of poor folks; appoint
+    well-to-do men as leaders in every bailiwick and district. Above
+    all, see to it that they do not indulge in any new and startling
+    conduct. That done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer
+    me, I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any further
+    action that may arise. Written at Peronne October 14th.
+
+    "Loys MEURIN.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[19]
+
+Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased for the purpose of
+passing Charles's censorship. He took the liberty of disregarding his
+master's orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held himself
+in readiness to go to fetch the errant monarch if he did not return
+speedily from the enemy's country. His letter to the king and the
+unwritten additions delivered by his confidential messengers terrified
+his liege lest too much zeal on his behalf in France might work him
+ill in Liege. A week later Louis writes again:
+
+    NAMUR, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR THE GRAND MASTER:
+
+    "I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage. _Be assured that
+    I make this journey to Liege under no constraint, and that I never
+    took any journey with such good heart as I do this._ Since God and
+    Our Lady have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur of
+    Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over there take arms
+    against me. Monseigneur the grand master, my friend, you have
+    proved that you love me, and you have done me the greatest service
+    that you can, and there is another service that you can do. The
+    people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that I mean to deceive
+    them, and people there [in France] think that I am a prisoner.
+    Distrust between the two would be my ruin.
+
+    "Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men, you know what we
+    planned, you and I, touching the action of Armagnac. It seems
+    to me that you ought to send your people straight ahead in that
+    direction and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as
+    I am out of this, and you can make what choice you will. M. the
+    grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to Laon and await me
+    there. Send me a messenger the minute you arrive and I will let
+    you have frequent news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois
+    are subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of Burgundy
+    is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he has finished his work
+    at Liege, and he desires my return more than I do. Francois Dunois
+    will tell you what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur,
+    etc.
+
+    "Writ at Namur, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "LOUIS "TOUSSAINT.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[20]
+
+Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and others also declare that
+Louis goes most gladly with his dear brother of Burgundy and that the
+affair will not require much time. To Cardinal Balue he writes only a
+few words, telling him that the messenger will be more communicative.
+
+Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn aside to visit the
+young Duchess of Burgundy, either at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the
+conjecture of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his surmise
+further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn was performed
+Chastellain's mystery of "The Peace of Peronne."[21] Perhaps these
+verses, if put in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have pleased
+the princely spectators of the dramatic poem. Mutual admiration was
+the key-note of these flowery speeches while the other _dramatis
+personæ_ expressed unstinted admiration for the wonderful deed
+accomplished by these two pure souls who have sworn peace when they
+might have brought dire war on their innocent subjects.
+
+    "Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that proud knight,
+    nor the great Charlemagne, nor the proud Duke of Mayence, nor
+    Mongleive, the heir, from whom issued noble fruit, nor King
+    Arthur, nor Oliver, nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens
+    of victories approach or touch with hand or foot the work I treat
+    of."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    [The king speaks.]
+
+    "Charles, be assured that Louis will be the re-establisher and
+    provider of all that touches your honour and peace between you
+    and him. That he will ever be appreciator of you and avenger, a
+    nourisher of joy and love in repairing all that my predecessor
+    did.
+
+    [The duke speaks.]
+
+    "And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his soul, wishes
+    nothing better than to serve you and this realm and to extol
+    your house. For I know that is the reason why I have glory and
+    reputation. Then if it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep
+    from blame."
+
+One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a note of doubt:
+"Charles, so many debates may occur, so many incidents and accidents
+in our various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded."
+
+Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare possibility of a new breach
+between him and his liege. The whole is a pæan at a love feast. If the
+two together heard their counterfeits express such perfect fidelity,
+how Louis XI. must have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced
+courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was quite capable of taking it
+all seriously, wholly unconscious that he had not cut the lion's claws
+for once and all.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}.,356.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The letters of convocation bear the date February 26,
+1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th, they had
+returned home, and on May 2d they made a report. The items of
+expenditure are very exact. So hard had they ridden that a fine horse
+costing eleven crowns was used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van
+der Broeck, archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the
+register of the Council. _See_ Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _See_ Lavisse iv^[ii]., 356.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Dordrecht was not among them. Her deputies held that
+it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later Charles
+received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Hist._,
+iv., 101.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Treaty of Ancenis, September 10, 1468. _See_ Lavisse,
+iv^[ii].] One of the results of the War of Public Weal was that St.
+Pol was appointed constable of France.]
+
+[Footnote 6: The original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.;
+Lenglet, iii., 19.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the
+basis of this narrative. (Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 196.) There
+is, however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous and
+commentating. _See also_ Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc. Chastellain's
+MS. is lost.]
+
+[Footnote 8: _See_ Lavisse, iv^[ii]., 397.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Ludwig v. Diesbach, (_See_ Kirk, i., 559.) The author
+was a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss
+affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 10: It was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Commines, ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the
+mob, but it was many years later.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Le roi ... se voyait logé, rasibus d'une grosse tour ou
+un Comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien prédécesseur Roy de France_.
+(Commines, ii., ch. vii.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Memoires_, ii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Undoubtedly Commines wishes it to be inferred that this
+was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines, whose memoirs
+remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive history of the times. There
+are the errors inevitable to any contemporary statement. Meyer, to be
+sure, says, apropos of an incident incorrectly reported, _Falsus in
+hoc ut in pluribus historicus_. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries
+later is also severe. _See_, too, "L'autorité historique de Ph. de
+Commynes," Mandrot, _Rev. Hist_., 73.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 199.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Ibid._, 200.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Waer ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer
+ghestaen heeft._]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Lettres de Louis XI_, iii., 289. The king apparently
+never resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dauphin. His
+letters to him are very intimate.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Lettres_, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.)]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn ed., _Oeuvres de Chastellain_, vii., xviii. _See_
+poem, _ibid._, 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence
+bears this line: "Here follows a mystery made because of the said
+peace of good intention in the thought that it would be observed by
+the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way out of the route between
+Peronne and Namur, where the party was on October 14th. It would
+hardly seem possible for journey and visit in so brief a time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+1468
+
+
+It was in the midst of heavy rains that the journey was made to Namur
+and then on to the environs of Liege. Grim was the weather, befitting,
+in all probability, Charles's own mood. The king's escort was confined
+to very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body of three hundred
+troopers was permitted to follow him at a distance, while the faithful
+Dammartin across the border kept himself closely informed of every
+incident connected with the march that his scouts could gather, and
+in readiness to fall upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm,
+while he restrained his ardour for the moment in obedience to Louis's
+anxious command.
+
+By the fourth week of October the Franco-Burgundian party were settled
+close to Liege in straggling camps, separated from each other by hills
+and uneven ground. Long was the discussion in council meeting as to
+the best mode of procedure. Liege was absolutely helpless in the face
+of this coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless. Moats she had
+never possessed, for digging was well-nigh impossible on her rocky
+site covered by mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse. On
+account of this evident weakness, the king advised dismissing half the
+army as needless, advice that was not only rejected immediately but
+which excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith. Over a week
+passed and feeble Liege continued obstinate, while each division of
+the army manoeuvred to be first in the assault for the sake of the
+plunder. But advance was very difficult, for the soldiers were
+impeded in their movements by the slime. Wild were some of the night
+skirmishes over the uneven, slippery ground and amidst the little
+sheltering hills.
+
+On one occasion, "a great many were hurt and among the rest the Prince
+of Orange (whom I had forgotten to name before), who behaved that day
+like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved foot off the place he
+first possessed.
+
+The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he failed sometimes
+in order giving, and to say the truth, he behaved himself not so
+advisedly as many wished because of the king's presence."[1]
+
+There is no doubt that Charles entertained increasingly sinister
+suspicions of his guest. He thought the king might either try to enter
+the city ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient allies by a
+specious explanation, or else he might succeed in effecting his escape
+without fulfilling his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday,
+October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own quarters were in
+a little suburb of mean, low houses, with rough ground and vineyards
+separating his camp from the city. Between his house and that of the
+king, both humble dwellings, was an old granary, occupied by a picked
+Burgundian force of three hundred men under special injunctions to
+keep close watch over the royal guest and see that he played no sudden
+trick. To further this purpose of espionage, they had made a breach in
+the walls with heavy blows of their picks.
+
+The men were wearied with all their marching and skirmishing, and in
+order to have them in fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered
+all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The exhausted troops
+gladly obeyed this injunction. Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so,
+too, were Philip de Commines and the few attendants that lay within
+the narrow ducal chamber. Only a dozen pickets mounted guard in the
+room over Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired eyes open
+by playing at dice.
+
+On that Saturday night when Charles was thus prudently gathering
+strength for the final tussle, the people of Liege also indulged in
+repose, counting on Sunday being a day of rest, that is, the major
+part of the burgher folk did within city limits. But another plan was
+on foot among some of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An attack
+on the Burgundian camp was planned by a band from Franchimont, a wild
+and wooded district, south of the episcopal see. The natives there had
+all the characteristics of mountaineers, although the heights of their
+rugged country reached only modest altitudes.[2]
+
+These invaders were fortunate in obtaining as guides the owners of
+the very houses requisitioned for the lodgings of the two princes.
+Straight to their goal they progressed through paths quite unknown to
+the foe, and therefore unwatched. The highlanders made a mistake
+in not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where in the first
+confusion they might have accomplished their design upon the lives of
+Louis and of Charles or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a
+pause at a French nobleman's tent created a disturbance which roused
+the archers in the granary. The latter sallied out, to meet with a
+fierce counter-attack. In order to confuse them the mountaineers
+echoed the Burgundian cries, _Vive Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez,
+tuez_, and they were not always immediately identified by their harsh
+Liege accent.
+
+The highlanders were far outnumbered by the Burgundians, and it was
+only by dint of their desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy
+darkness and of the locality with its unknown roughness that the
+former inflicted the damage that they did.
+
+Commines and his fellows helped the duke into his cuirass, and stood
+by his person, while the king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved
+themselves good fellows, who never budged from their master's feet and
+shot arrow upon arrow out into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians
+than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's own host, the guide of
+the marauders to his own cottage door. There were many more victims
+and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter characterised by the
+passions of war and the conditions of a mere burglarious attack on
+private houses.
+
+Quaking with fear was the king. He thought that if the duke should now
+fail to make a complete conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang in
+the balance. At a hasty council meeting held that night, Charles
+was very doubtful as to the expediency of carrying out his proposed
+assault upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were the allies,
+a fact that caused Philip de Commines to comment,[3] "scarcely fifteen
+days had elapsed since these two had sworn a definitive peace and
+solemnly promised to support each other loyally. But confidence could
+not enter in any way."
+
+Charles gave Louis permission to retire to Namur and wait until the
+duke had reduced the recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought
+it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until they parted
+company for ever, and the morrow found him in the duke's company as he
+marched on to Liege.
+
+    "My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would have been wise to
+    depart that night. He could have done it for he had a hundred
+    archers of his guard, various gentlemen of his household, and,
+    near at hand, three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was stayed
+    by considerations of honour. He did not wish to be accused of
+    cowardice."
+
+Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely pair entered Liege,
+heard the king say: "March on, my brother, for you are the luckiest
+prince alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted lustily,
+"_Vive Bourgogne_," to the infinite dismay of his former friends, the
+burghers of Liege.
+
+The remainder of the history of that dire Sunday morning differs from
+that of other assaults only in harrowing details, and the extremity of
+the pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the conquerors. Charles
+had previously spared churches, and protected the helpless. Above
+all he had severely punished all ill treatment of respectable women.
+Little trace of this former restraint was to be seen on this occasion.
+The inhabitants were destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who fled
+from their homes leaving their untasted breakfasts to be eaten by the
+intruding soldiers, those who were scattered through the numerous
+churches, those who attempted to defend the breaches in the walls--all
+alike were treated without mercy.
+
+The Cathedral of St. Lambert, Charles did endeavour to protect. "The
+duke himself went thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own
+hand, whereupon all the company departed and that particular church
+was not pillaged, but at the end the men who had taken refuge there
+were captured as well as the wealth of the church."
+
+[Illustration: OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+
+(FROM MS. REPRODUCED IN MÉM. COURONNÉS, ETC., PAR L'ACAD,
+
+ROYALE DE BELGIQUE VOL. XLIX.)]
+
+At about midday Charles joined Louis at the episcopal palace, where
+the latter had found apartments better suited to his rank than the
+rude huts that had sheltered him for the past few days. The king was
+in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner in spite of the unsavoury
+scenes that were still in progress about him. He manifested great joy
+in the successful assault, and was lavish in his praises of the duke's
+courage, taking care that his admiring phrases should be promptly
+reported to his cousin.[4] His one great preoccupation, however, was
+to return to his own realm.
+
+After dinner the duke and he made good cheer together. "If the king
+had praised his works behind his back, still more loud was he in
+his open admiration. And the duke was pleased." No telling sign of
+friendship for Charles had Louis spared that day, so terrified was he
+lest some testimony from his ancient protégés might prove his ruin.
+"Let the word be Burgundy," he had cried to his followers when the
+attack began. "_Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne_."
+
+There is another contemporaneous historian who somewhat apologetically
+relates the following incident of this interview.[5] In this friendly
+Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he ought to treat Liege when
+his soldiers had finished their work. No trace of kindliness towards
+his old friends was there in the king's answer.
+
+"Once my father had a high tree near his house, inhabited by crows
+who had built their nests thereon and disturbed his repose by their
+chatter. He had the nests removed but the crows returned and built
+anew. Several times was this repeated. Then he had the tree cut down
+at the roots. After that my father slept quietly."
+
+Four or five days passed before Louis dared press the question of his
+return home. The following note written in Italian, dated on the day
+of the assault, is significant of his state of mind:
+
+
+    LOUIS XI. TO THE COUNT DE FOIX
+
+    "Monseigneur the Prince:
+
+    "To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered in great multitude
+    and with force into this city of Liege, and because I have great
+    desire to return, I advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will
+    depart hence, and I will not cease riding without making any stops
+    until I reach there.[6] I pray you to let me know what is to be
+    done.
+
+    "Writ at Liege, October 30th.
+
+    "LOYS
+
+    "DE LA LOERE."
+
+
+Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his host that if he could
+be of any further aid he hoped his cousin would command him. If there
+were, indeed, nothing, he thought his best plan would be to go to
+Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded and published to insure
+its validity. Charles grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed
+his parting guest after the treaty had been again read aloud to the
+king so that he might dissent from any one of its articles or ever
+after hold his peace.
+
+Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm everything sworn to at Peronne.
+Just as he was departing he put one more query: "'If perchance my
+brother now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the share I accord
+him out of love to you, what do you want me to do?' The duke answered
+abruptly and without thought: 'If he does not wish to take it, but
+if you content him otherwise, I will trust to you two.' From this
+question and answer arose great things as you shall hear later. So
+the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de Cordes and d'Émeries,
+Grand Bailiff of Hainaut escorted him out of ducal territory."[7]
+
+    "O wonderful and memorable crime of this king of the French
+    [declares a contemporaneous Liege sympathiser.][8] Scarcely
+    anything so bad can be found in ancient annals or in modern
+    history. What could be more stupid or more perfidious, or a better
+    instance of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to
+    arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake of his own
+    safety? Not once but many times had he pledged them his faith,
+    offering them defence and assistance against the same Burgundians.
+    And now when they are overwhelmed and confounded by this
+    Burgundian duke, this king actually co-operates with their foe, to
+    their damage, wears that foe's insignia and dares to hide himself
+    behind those emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he
+    himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges of good
+    faith! I am ashamed to commit this to writing, and to hand it down
+    to posterity, knowing that it will seem incredible to many. But
+    it is so notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so many
+    adequate witnesses who have seen and heard these things that no
+    room is left for doubt of their veracity except to one desiring to
+    ignore the truth."[9]
+
+November 2d is the date of Louis's departure. It needs no stretch
+of the imagination to believe the words of his little Swiss page,
+Diesbach, when he says that on reaching French soil Louis dismounted
+and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of joy that he was his own man
+again.[10] Devoutly, too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his
+need. Still this joy was concealed under euphemistic phrases in his
+correspondence. On November 5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan
+from Beaumont:
+
+    "We went in person with the duke against the Liegeois, on account
+    of their rebellion and offence, and the city being reduced by
+    force to the power of the duke, we have left him in some part of
+    Liege as we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France."
+
+In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the brother of the faithful
+secretary Aloysius Toustain, who had written several of Louis's
+letters from Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis
+writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure his protégé a
+pleasant reception in the university.
+
+The ratification of the treaty took place duly at Paris on Saturday,
+November 19th, and the king also sternly forbade the circulation of
+any "paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory pamphlets"
+about Charles.[11] The same informant tells us that loquacious birds
+were put under a ban.
+
+    "And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by virtue of his
+    commission addressed to a young man of Paris named Henry Perdriel,
+    all the magpies, jays, and _chouettes_, caged or otherwise, were
+    taken in charge, and a record was made of all the places where the
+    said birds were taken and also all that they knew how to say, like
+    _larron, paillart_, etc., _va hors, va! Perrette donnes moi à
+    boire_, and various other phrases that they had been taught."
+
+Abbé le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was meant for Peronne instead of
+a mistress of Louis of that name. But this conjecture seems the only
+basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that _Peronne_ was a word
+Louis could not bear to have uttered.
+
+"In the way of justice there is nothing going on here, [wrote one
+Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the president of Burgundy], except
+every day they hang and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been
+taken prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves. The city is
+well plundered, nothing remains but rubbish. For example I have not
+been able to find a sheet of paper fit for writing to you, but with
+all my pains could get nothing but some leaves from an old book."[12]
+
+Charles decided that nothing should be left standing except churches
+and ecclesiastical buildings. On November 9th, before the final fires
+were lit, he departed from the wretched town and went down the left
+bank of the Meuse to an abbey on the river, where he paused for the
+night. Four leagues distant from the city was this place, and from it
+were plainly visible the flames of the burning buildings on that grim
+St. Hubert's Day--a day when Liege had been wont to give vent to
+merriment.
+
+"From all the dangers that had encompassed him, Charles escaped with
+his life, simply because his hour had not yet struck, and because
+he was God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning city," is the
+verdict of one chronicler who does not spare his fellow-Liegeois for
+their follies while he profoundly pities their fate.[13]
+
+Out of the many contemporaneous accounts a portion of a private letter
+from the duke's cup-bearer to his sister is added:[14]
+
+    "Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recommend myself to
+    you and to all my good friends, men and women in our parts, not
+    forgetting my _beaux-pères,_ Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray
+    know that, thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound.
+    As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick in the hands
+    of the marshals at Namur, and the others are thin enough and have
+    no grain to eat except hay. The weather, has, indeed, been enough
+    to strike a chill to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left
+    Burgundy there have not been three fine days in succession and we
+    are in a worse state than wolves.
+
+    "You already know how we passed through Lorraine and Ratellois
+    without troubling about Salesart or other French captains, nor the
+    other Lorrainers either, although they were under orders to
+    attack us, and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As we
+    approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke sent Messire
+    Pierre de Harquantbault[15] to us to show us what road to take.
+    He told us that the duke had made a treaty with the king, who had
+    visited him, news that filled us with astonishment....
+
+    After skirmishing for several days we reached the faubourgs of
+    Liege and remained there three of four days under arms, with no
+    sleep and little food, and our horses standing in the rain with no
+    shelter but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king and
+    the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up their quarters in
+    certain houses near the faubourg. [... Constant firing was
+    interchanged for several days. Sallies were essayed and men were
+    slain.]
+
+    "Finally a direct attack was made on the king and Monseigneur
+    and there were more of their people than ours and that night
+    Monseigneur was in great danger. The following Sunday at 9 A.M. we
+    began the assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing
+    to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said city, some
+    climbing and others scaling them with ladders. The standards
+    of monseigneur the marshal and monsgn. de Renty who had been
+    stationed together in the faubourgs, were the first within the
+    said city which contained at that moment sixteen to eighteen
+    thousand combatants, who were surprised when they saw their walls
+    scaled.
+
+    "In a moment we entered crying 'Burgundy' and 'city gained.' Ever
+    so many of their people were slain and drowned in their flight. We
+    flew to reach the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where
+    a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the water. Our
+    ensign stood in the midst of the fray on the market-place, in the
+    hopes that they would rally for a combat but they rallied only
+    to flee. While we held our position on the square several were
+    created knights.... All the churches--more than four hundred--were
+    pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured that they will be burnt
+    together with the rest of the city. Piteous it is to see what ill
+    is wrought.... [The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur two
+    or three days. Then he departed, it is said for Brussels to await
+    my said lord. It is a great thing to have seen the puissance of my
+    master, _which is great enough to defeat an emperor_. I believe
+    the Burgundians will shortly return to Burgundy.
+
+    "I paid my respects to my said lord, who received me very well. At
+    present I am listed[16] among those whose term is almost expired
+    and I am ready to follow him wherever he wishes until my service
+    is out, which will be soon. I would have written before had I had
+    any one to send it by. Pray write me about yourself by the first
+    comer. Praying our Lord, beloved sister, to keep you. Written in
+    Liege, November 8, 1468.
+
+    "JEHAN DE MAZILLES."
+
+
+This sober letter and other accounts by reliable witnesses agree as to
+the terrible havoc wrought in the city by the assault on October 30th
+and by determined and systematic measures of destruction, both during
+Charles's ten days' sojourn for the express purpose of completing the
+punishment and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly fell
+short of the intention. The destruction was not complete as was that
+of Dinant. Vitality remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus
+intentionally preserved by the duke.
+
+Having watched the tongues of flame lap the unfortunate city, Charles
+turned with his army towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country
+which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent antagonists to
+Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de Mazilles is in close attendance and
+gives further details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles carried
+out his purpose of leaving no seed of resistance to germinate. Four
+nights and three days they sojourned in a certain little village while
+there was a hard frost and where, without unarming, they "slept under
+the trees and drank water." Meantime a small party was despatched
+by the duke to attack the stronghold of Franchimont. The despairing
+Liegeois who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it was taken by
+assault. A few more days and the duke was assured that Liege and her
+people were shorn of their strength. When the remnant of survivors
+began to creep back to the city and tried to recover what was left
+of their property, many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits
+succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years.
+
+In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too, demanded
+reimbursement for his trouble in bending these free citizens to
+his illegal will. The reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal
+perquisites, all difficult to collect, and many were the ponderous
+documents that passed on the subject. How justly pained sounds
+Charles's remonstrance on the default of payment of taxes to his
+friend, the city's lord!
+
+"Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these things, taking into
+account the terror of our departure to Brussels last January, we
+decide, my brother and I, that the payment of both _gabelle_ and poll
+tax must be forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of such
+taxes under any colour or pretence. At the request of our brother and
+cousin we order the inhabitants of the said territories to pay both
+_gabelle_ and poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed
+and for the time to come, under penalty of the confiscation of their
+goods and their persons."
+
+It was the old story of bricks without straw--taxes and rents for
+property ruthlessly destroyed were so easy. To this extent of tyranny
+had Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the treatment of Liege was
+a step towards Charles's final disaster. So much hatred was excited
+against him that his adherents fell off one by one when his luck began
+to fail him.
+
+No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this time, however. That month
+of November saw him master absolute wherever he was and he used his
+power autocratically. At Huy, he had a number of prisoners executed.
+At Louvain, at Brussels, he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness
+as an overlord.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place
+where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse exactly a
+hundred years later.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The story of the "men of Franchimont" is questioned.
+Commines is the only authority for it.]
+
+[Footnote 3: II., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, ii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Oudenbosch, _Veterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima
+Collectio_, ed. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de
+Veteri Busco, p. 1343. The writer acknowledges that the story is
+hearsay.]
+
+[Footnote 6: "_Non cessero di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna.
+Lettres,iii_., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines, ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "_O proeclarum et memorabile facinus hujus regis
+Francorum_."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Basin, _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI_., Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in _Excerpta ex
+Amelgardi. De gestis Ludovici XI_., cap. xxiii. Martene's _Amplissima
+Collectio,_ iv., 740 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Quoted in Kirk, i., 606, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Jean de Roye, _Chronique Scandaleuse_, ed. Mandrot, i.,
+220.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Comines-Lenglet, iii., 83.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Johannes de Los, _Chronicon_, p. 60. _Quia hora nendum
+venerat._ De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liége."]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commynes-Dupont, _Preuves_, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan
+de Mazilles to his sister.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Hagenbach, later Governor of Alsace.]
+
+[Footnote 16: _Conte aux escros_. This word strictly applies to the
+prisoners on a jailer's list--evidently used in jest.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+1469-1473
+
+
+This successful expedition against Liege carried Charles of Burgundy
+to the very crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was moreover
+gratified by the regard shown to him at home and abroad. A man who
+could force a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful rôle enacted by
+Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a man to be respected if not loved.
+And messages of admiration and respect couched in various terms
+were despatched from many quarters to the duke as soon as he was at
+Brussels to receive them.
+
+Ghent had long since made apologies for the sorry reception accorded
+to their incoming Count of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed
+the formal _amende_ until a convenient moment of leisure. January 15,
+1469, was finally appointed for this ceremony and the occasion was
+utilised to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humiliation, to as
+many people as possible who might spread the report far and wide.
+
+It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the palace the snow was thick
+on the ground where a group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for
+an hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal presence. There,
+too, where every one could see those emblems of the artisans'
+corporate strength, fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the
+deans of the Ghentish _métiers_.[1]
+
+Within, the great hall of the palace showed a splendid setting for a
+brilliant assembly. The most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the
+walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander, of Hannibal, and of
+other notable ancients formed the background for the duke and his
+nobles, knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As spectators,
+too, there were all the envoys and ambassadors then present in
+Brussels from "France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples, Aragon,
+Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Russia, Livornia, Prussia,
+Austria, Milan, Lombardy, and other places."
+
+Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind of throne, and to his
+feet Olivier de la Marche conducted the civic procession of penitents.
+Before this pompous gathering, after a statement of the city's sin and
+sorrow, the precious charter called the Grand Privilege of Ghent
+was solemnly read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with a
+pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the penalties imposed upon,
+and accepted by, the citizens (closing of the gates, etc)., and then
+the paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pronounced the fault
+forgiven with the benediction, "By virtue of this submission and by
+keeping your promises and being good children, you shall enjoy our
+grace and we will be a good prince." "May our Saviour Jesus Christ
+confirm and preserve this peace to the end of this century," is the
+pious ejaculation with which the _Relation_ closes.
+
+Among the witnesses of the above scene, when the independent citizens
+of Ghent meekly posed as the duke's children, were envoys from George
+Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed by the pope, he was
+seeking some favourable ally who might help him to recover his realm.
+He had conceived a plan for a coalition between Bohemia, Poland,
+Austria, and Hungary to present a solid rampart against the Turks,
+and strong enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He was ready for
+intrigue with any power and had approached Louis XI. and Matthias
+Corvinus, King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of Burgundy.[2]
+
+Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit links with this same
+Matthias by suggesting that he might be the next emperor, assuring
+him that he could count on the support of the electors of Mayence, of
+Trèves, and of Saxony. He himself was world-weary and was anxious to
+exchange his imperial cares for the repose of the Church could he
+only find a safe guardian for his son, Maximilian, and a desirable
+successor for himself. Would not Matthias consider the two offices?
+
+Potent arguments like these induced Matthias not only to turn his back
+on Podiebrad, but to accept that deposed monarch's crown which the
+Bohemian nobles offered him May 3, 1469. Then he proceeded to ally
+himself with Frederic, elector palatine, and with the elector of
+Bavaria. This was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia made renewed
+offers of friendly alliance to Charles of Burgundy. In his name the
+Sire de Stein brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles which
+contained the provision that Podiebrad should support the election
+of Charles as King of the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two
+hundred thousand florins (Rhenish).[2]
+
+This modest sum was to secure not only Podiebrad's own vote but his
+"influence" with the Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony
+and the Margrave of Brandenburg.[4] While Podiebrad thus dangled
+the ultimate hopes of the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he
+over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of fact the royal exile had
+no "influence" at all with the first named elector, and the last, too,
+showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his unstable policy. Both
+were content to advise Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty
+overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of importance.
+
+Another negotiation which sought him unasked had, however, a material
+influence on the course of events, and must be touched on in some
+detail. Sigismund of Austria--first duke then archduke,--Count of
+Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic, was a member of the House of
+Habsburg. In 1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and became
+brother-in-law of Louis during the term of the dauphin's first
+marriage. An indolent, extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated
+by his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol included certain
+territories lying far from his capital, Innsbruck. Certain portions
+of Upper Alsace, lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau in
+Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seigniories in the Black Forest
+were under his sway.
+
+These particular domains were so remote from Innsbruck that the
+authority of the hereditary overlord had long been eluded. The nobles
+pillaged the land near their castles very much at their own sweet
+will. The harassed burghers appealed to the Alsatian Décapole,[5] and
+again to the free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes obtained
+more than they wanted.
+
+Mulhouse was seriously affected by these lawless depredations. To her,
+Berne promised aid in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466,
+and at Berne's insistance the cowardly nobles restrained their
+license. But when the city attempted to extend its authority Sigismund
+interfered. Having no army, however, he could not recover Waldshut,
+which the Swiss claimed a right to annex, except by offering ten
+thousand florins for the town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men,
+he had, however, no means to pay this ransom and begged aid in every
+direction. Moreover, he feared further aggressions from the cantons,
+which were growing more daring. What man in Europe was better able to
+teach them a lesson than Charles, the destroyer of Liege, the stern
+curber of undue liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person to
+tame insolent Swiss cowherds?
+
+In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made known to Charles his
+desire for a bargain, intimating that in case of the duke's refusal,
+he would carry his wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was
+busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigismund's proposition.
+The latter tried to see Louis XI. personally in accordance with his
+imperial cousin's advice that an interview might be more effective
+than a letter.
+
+It did not prove a propitious time, however; Louis was deeply engaged
+with Burgundy and he was not disposed to take any steps that might
+estrange the Swiss--and any espousal of Sigismund's interests might
+alienate them. He did not even permit an opening to be made, but
+stopped Sigismund's approach to him by a message that he would not for
+a moment entertain a suggestion inimical to those dear friends of his
+in the cantons--a sentiment that quickly found its way to Switzerland.
+
+Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear, Sigismund decided that
+he would make another essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time
+face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he journeyed and found
+Charles in the midst of the ostentatious magnificence already
+described. Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a splendour
+hardly attained by the emperor in the most pompous functions of his
+court. Sigismund was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy
+prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's sole heiress led
+the Austrian to conceive the not unnatural idea that this attractive
+Burgundian wealth might be turned into the impoverished imperial
+coffers by a marriage between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian, the
+emperor's son.
+
+[Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE
+REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "LES DUCS DE BOURGOGNE"]
+
+The visitor not only thought of this possibility, but he immediately
+broached it to Charles. The bait was swallowed. As to the main
+proposition which Sigismund had come expressly to make, that, too,
+was not rejected. The duke perceived that the transfer of the Rhenish
+lands to his jurisdiction might militate to his advantage. A passage
+would be opened towards the south for his troops without the need of
+demanding permission from any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble
+with the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the advantages of
+Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which he finally decided to accept.
+Probably he found his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not
+only did he broach the tempting alliance between Mary and Maximilian,
+but he, too, seems to have hinted that the title of "King of the
+Romans" might be added to the long list of appellations already signed
+by Charles.[6] As Sigismund was richer in kin, if not in coin, than
+the feeble Podiebrad, Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion
+which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in the course of the
+long conversations held at Bruges.
+
+Certain precautions were taken to protect Charles from being dragged
+into Swiss complications against his will, and then in May, 1469,
+the treaty of St. Omer was signed,[7] wherein the Duke of Burgundy
+accorded his protection to Sigismund of Austria and received from him
+all his seigniorial rights within certain specified territories.
+
+The most important part of this cession comprised Upper Alsace and
+the county of Ferrette, but there were also many other fragments of
+territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides lordship over
+various Rhenish cities, such as Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg,
+Waldshut and Brisac. This last named town commanded the route
+eastward, as Waldshut that to the southeast, and Thann the highway
+through the Vosges region.
+
+Fifty thousand florins was the price for the property and the claims
+transferred from Sigismund to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at
+once, in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The remainder was
+due on September 24th. On his part, Sigismund specifically recognised
+the duke's right to redeem all domains nominally his but mortgaged for
+the time being, certain estates or seignorial rights having been thus
+alienated for 150 years.
+
+This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was a mortgage, but a
+mortgage with possession to the mortgagee and further restricted by
+the provision that there could be no redemption unless the mortgager
+could repay at Besançon the whole loan plus all the outlay made by the
+mortgagee up to that date. Instalment payments were expressly ruled
+out. The entire sum intact was made obligatory. Therefore the danger
+of speedy redemption did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man he had
+to deal with. Sigismund's lack of foresight and his prodigality were
+notorious. There was faint chance that he could ever command the
+amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was fairly justified in
+counting the mortgaged territory as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity.
+
+Sigismund pocketed his florins eagerly. Nothing could have been more
+welcome to him. But this relief from the pressure of his pecuniary
+embarrassment did not inspire him with love for the man who held his
+lost lands. His sentiments towards Charles were very similar to those
+of an heir towards a usurer who has helped him in a temporary strait
+by mulcting him of his natural rights.
+
+As for the emperor, when this transfer of territory was an
+accomplished fact, he began to take fright at the consequences. He did
+not like this intrusion of a powerful French peer into the imperial
+circle.[8] At the same time he was ready to make him share
+responsibility in any further difficulties that might arise between
+Sigismund and the Swiss.
+
+The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen difficulties for
+Charles on his own account, both foreign and domestic. His own
+relations with the Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had
+never before been so near a neighbour, while, within the Rhine lands,
+it was an open question whether the bartered inhabitants were to
+enjoy or regret their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of their
+sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference to Charles as was
+danger from the Confederation. Neither conciliation nor diplomacy
+was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the intricacies of the
+situation. He counted the landgraviate as definitely his by the treaty
+of St. Omer as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.
+
+The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley towns--a policy
+that might have won their allegiance--never occurred to him. They were
+his property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course of time, made
+lieutenant-governor in his behalf.
+
+Apart from all personal considerations of enmity and amity of natives
+and neighbours, the territory of Upper Alsace and the county of
+Ferrette, delivered from needy Austria to rich Burgundy, like a coat
+pawned by a poor student, was held under very complex and singular
+conditions.[9] The status of the bargain between Sigismund and Charles
+was in point of fact something between pawn and sale, according to the
+point of view. Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while Charles
+did not admit that possibility as remotely contingent. Nor was that
+the only peculiarity. The itemised list of the ceded territories as
+given in the treaty was far from telling the facts of the possessions
+passing to Sigismund's proxy.
+
+In the first place the Austrian seigniories were not compact. They
+were scattered here and there in the midst of lands ruled by others,
+as the Bishop of Strasburg, the Abbé of St. Blaise in the Black
+Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel and of Mulhouse, and
+others.
+
+The existent variety in the extent and nature of Austrian title was
+extraordinary. Nearly every possible combination of dismembered
+prerogative and actual tenure had resulted from the long series of
+ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or a quit-rent was the
+sole cession, and again a toll or a prerogative was almost the only
+residue remaining to the ostensible overlord, while all his former
+property or transferable birthright privileges were lodged in
+various hands on divers tenures. There were cases in which the
+mortgagee--noble, burgher, or municipal corporation--had taken the
+exact place of the Austrian duke and in so doing had become the vassal
+of his debtor, stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty.
+For in these bargains wherein elements of the Roman contract and
+feudal customs were curiously blended, two classes of rights had been
+invariably reserved by the ducal mortgagers:
+
+  (1) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured free circulation on
+the highways, the old Roman roads, all jurisdiction of passports and
+travellers' protection.
+
+  (2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power to confer fiefs, of
+requisition of military service, of requesting _aids_ and admission to
+strongholds, cities, or castles, _le droit de forteresse jurable et
+rendable_.
+
+In these regards the compact between Charles and Sigismund differed
+from all previous covenants not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke
+of Burgundy entered into the _sovereign_ as well as into the mangled,
+maimed, and curtailed proprietary rights of the hereditary over-lord.
+
+In his assumption of this involved and doubtful property, Charles laid
+heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. The actual price of fifty
+thousand gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction of the
+pecuniary obligations incurred, while the weight of care was difficult
+to gauge. He succeeded to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose
+misrule had long been a curse to the land. The incursions of
+the Swiss, the repeated descents of the Rhine nobles from their
+crag-lodged strongholds to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants
+and plunged peaceful labourers into misery.
+
+Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the neighbouring cities
+repeatedly became the accomplices of these brigands, affording them
+asylums for refitting and free passage when they were laden with
+evident booty.
+
+In all departments of finance and administration disorder prevailed.
+The chief officials, castellans and councillors, enjoyed high salaries
+for neglected duties. The castles were in wretched repair and there
+were insufficient troops to guard the roads. There was no dependence
+upon the receipts nominally to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged
+lands, the lords simply levied what they could, without the slightest
+responsibility for the order of the domain; they did not hesitate to
+charge their suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no one
+would verify their declaration.
+
+In the territories of the immediate domain, the Austrian dukes and
+their officials had no notion of the rigid system maintained in
+Burgundy. Only here and there can little memoranda be found and these
+are confused and obscure. There is a dearth of accurate records like
+those voluminous registers of outlays kept by Burgundian receivers,
+registers so rich in detail that they are more valuable for the
+historian than any chronicle.
+
+Exact appraisal of the resources of these _pays de par de là_ was very
+difficult. Between 1469 and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain
+reliable information by means of as many successive commissions
+despatched to the Rhine valley by the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+Envoys drew up minutes of their observations in addition to their
+official reports and all were preserved in the archives. As these were
+written from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the accounts of
+the receivers now lost, etc., there is real value in the documents.
+
+The first commission in behalf of Burgundy was composed of two Germans
+and three Walloons. One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach, who
+won no enviable reputation in the later exercise of his office as
+lieutenant-governor of the annexed region, to which he was shortly
+afterwards appointed. This first commission entered into formal
+possession in Charles's name and instituted some desired reforms
+immediately, such as policing the highways, etc.
+
+The second commission made its visit in 1471. It consisted of Jean
+Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of
+Amont.
+
+The third commission (1473) was under the auspices of Monseigneur
+Coutault, master of accounts at Dijon. He carried with him the report
+of his predecessors and made his additions thereto.
+
+Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June 13, 1471) were vague
+and general. They were "to see the conduct of his affairs" _(voir la
+conduite de ses affaires_). The important point was to find out how
+much revenue could be obtained. As the duke's plan of expansion grew
+larger he had need of all his resources.
+
+The reports were eminently discouraging. Outlay was needed
+everywhere--income was small. As the chances of peculation diminished,
+the castellans deserted their posts and left the castles to decay.
+The Burgundian commission of 1471 found the difficulties of their
+exploration increased by two items. Charles had not advanced an
+allowance for their expenses and they were anxious to be back at
+Vesoul by Michaelmas, the date of the change in municipal offices and
+of appropriations for the year. It was in hopes of receiving advance
+moneys that they delayed in starting, but the approaching election and
+coming winter finally decided them to set out, pay their own expenses,
+and complete the business as rapidly as they could in a fortnight.
+
+The summary of this report of 1471 was that there was little present
+prospect that Charles would be able to reimburse himself for his
+necessary expenses. An undue portion of authority and of revenue was
+legally lodged in alien hands. Charles was possessed of germs of
+rights rather than of actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria
+held all the best mortgages with their attendant emoluments. The
+immediate profits accruing to the Duke of Burgundy fell far short
+of the minimum necessary to disburse to keep his government, his
+strongholds, his highways in repair. Very disturbed were the good
+treasurer of Vesoul and the procureur-general of Amont at this state
+of affairs, and distressed at the prospect of the ampler receipts from
+Burgundy being required to relieve the pressing necessities of the
+poor territories _de par de là_.
+
+To avoid this contingency, the commissioners recommended the duke
+to redeem all the existing mortgages great and small. It would cost
+140,000 florins, but the revenue would at once increase with the new
+security which would immediately follow under firm Burgundian rule.
+Sole master, Charles could then enforce obedience from nobles and
+cities and better conditions would be inaugurated.
+
+Evidently this rational advice was not taken, for it is repeated by
+Coutault in 1473. Redemption of the mortgages, "if your affairs can
+afford it," is the counsel given by the chamber of accounts at Dijon,
+though this sage board adds that they were well aware that in the
+previous month Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hundred
+florins to redeem one wretched little _gagerie._ The native coffers of
+the region did not suffice to settle the salaries of the officers in
+charge.
+
+Such then was the new acquisition of Charles after four years of his
+administration. Peter von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this
+unremunerative territory, is a character painted in the darkest
+colours by all historians. It is more than probable that his unpopular
+efforts to make bricks without straw were largely responsible for his
+unenviable reputation. Ground between the upper and lower millstones
+of Charles's clamours for revenues and popular clamours that the
+people had nothing wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a
+taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying type, who made himself
+thoroughly hated by the people he was set to rule.
+
+It must be remembered that there was no cleft in nationality or in
+language between governor and governed. He was not a foreigner set
+over them. He was one of them raised to a high position. There was
+then no French element in Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and
+simple.
+
+[Illustration: UPPER ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORY BY PERMISSION OF
+HACHETTE, 1902]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 204-209. "Relation de
+l'assemblée solennelle tenue à Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469."]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Toutey, _Charles le Téméraire et la ligue de
+Constance_, p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See the text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., 116. Charles
+is characterised as _ducem strenuum in armis ac justitiæ præcipium
+zelatorem_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Thus was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from
+Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confederation by
+the Emperor Charles IV.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See "Fontes Rerum Austriacarum" Chmel, J., _Urkunden zur
+Geschichte von Osterreich_, etc., II^2, 223 _et passim_. One document,
+p. 229, has _Marz_ as a misprint for _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Charles was, to be sure, already within that circle for
+some of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there
+were very shadowy.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable
+article by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes dans la
+vallée du Rhin sous Charles le Téméraire," _Annales de l'Est,_ vol.
+18. This article, is the result of a careful examination of the
+reports made by Poinsot and Pellet, Charles's commissioners.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+1470-1471
+
+
+In order to follow out the extension of Burgundian jurisdiction in
+one direction, the course of events in the duke's life has been
+anticipated a little. The thread of the story now returns to 1469,
+when Charles and Sigismund separated at St. Omer both well pleased
+with their bargain. Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges
+and then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his sojourn had been
+interrupted in 1468 by his alarm about French duplicity. In the glow
+caused by his past achievements, his present reputation, and future
+prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a mood to prove to his subjects
+his excellence as a paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey
+easy access was permitted to his presence and he was lavish in the
+time given to receiving petitions from the humblest plaintiff. The
+following gruesome incident is an illustration of the summary methods
+attributed to him.[1]
+
+Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the governor, a man
+of noble birth, a knight, fell in love with a married woman who
+indignantly repudiated his advances. In revenge the governor had the
+husband arrested on a charge of high treason. The wife, left without a
+protector, continued obdurate to the knight until the alternative of
+her husband's release or his death was offered her as the reward for
+accepting the governor's base suit or as the penalty of her refusal.
+She chose to redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she went to
+the prison and was led to her husband truly, but he lay dead and in
+his coffin!
+
+When the Duke of Burgundy was once within the Zealand capital, this
+injured woman hastened to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner
+for justice. He heard her complaint and straightway summoned the
+ex-governor to his presence. The accused confessed that he had been
+carried away by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles of
+his long and faithful devotion to the late duke and to himself, and
+offered any possible reparation for his crime. The duke ordered him to
+marry his victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion, but was
+forced by her family to accept it. After the nuptial benediction, the
+knight again appeared before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff
+was satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly, "but not I." He
+remanded the bridegroom to prison, had him shriven and executed all
+within an hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown her second
+husband in his coffin as she had seen her first, and on the same spot.
+"It was a penalty that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the
+plaintiff died from the double shock."
+
+The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to Holland. Everywhere he
+evinced himself equally uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable and
+considerate towards the lower classes and humble folk. Various other
+stories related about him at this epoch are difficult to accept as
+authentic, for the main detail has appeared at other times under
+different guises. Wandering tales seem to alight, like birds of
+passage, on successive people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
+hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.
+
+The Hague was the duke's headquarters during two months, and there
+also he held open court and gave audience to many embassies in the
+midst of his administrative work pertaining to Holland and its nearest
+neighbours. He took measures to recover what he claimed had been
+usurped by Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make good the
+title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the wisp to successive Counts
+of Holland and never acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld
+together the various provinces the months passed, until a new turn of
+foreign events began to absorb the duke's whole attention.
+
+The details of English politics with all the reasons for revolution
+and counter-revolution involved in the complicated civil disorders,
+the Wars of the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can only
+be suggested in his biography. It must be remembered that the modern
+impression of English stability and French fickleness in political
+institutions, an impression casting reflections direct and indirect
+upon literature as well as history, is based on the changes in France
+from 1789 down to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Quite
+the reverse is the earlier tradition based on the kaleidoscopic
+shifts familiar to several generations of observers in the fifteenth
+century[2]; stable and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings
+of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across the Channel.
+
+Since 1461, Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster had been a passive
+prisoner, while Margaret of Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts
+to win adherents at home and abroad for her captive husband and her
+exiled son.[3] In 1463, she had received some aid, some encouragement
+from Philip of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward IV. as king
+and although, too, his personal sympathies were Yorkish rather than
+Lancastrian.
+
+It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into Lille, but later the
+duke himself entertained her munificently. The poverty-stricken exile
+probably found the accompanying ducal gifts more to the immediate
+purpose than the ducal feasts. Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed
+upon herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while various
+Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard times by useful sums of money.
+
+Pleasant though the recognition was, however, the pecuniary assistance
+was quite insufficient to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine
+years Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts were made to
+dislodge him. As he never forgot his mother's lineage, the sympathies
+of Charles of Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Margaret may
+have counted confidently on that sympathy proving valuable for her son
+as soon as Charles himself had a free hand. But when he came into his
+heritage, his marriage with Margaret of York put a definite end to
+those hopes. The new duke thereby declared his acceptance of the king
+whom the Earl of Warwick had seated upon the English throne. Then
+came clashing of wills between that king and his too powerful
+subject-adviser.[4] To punish his unruly royal protégé, Warwick turned
+his attention to the Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive to
+Edward IV. A marriage was planned between this possible future monarch
+and the earl's eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated at Calais
+without the king's knowledge (July, 1469).
+
+In the same summer occurred a rising in Yorkshire, possibly instigated
+by Warwick.[5] The malcontents, sixty thousand strong, declared that
+the king was giving ear to base counsellors and must be coerced into
+better ways. An attempt to suppress this revolt by the royal troops
+resulted in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father of
+Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was taken prisoner and beheaded.
+
+Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to Warwick. Over the Channel
+hastened the earl and his new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king
+at Olney, and--Edward found himself if not exactly a prisoner, at
+least under restraint. Two sovereigns--both without power even over
+their own actions,--such was the situation in England at the end of
+1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self-complacently regarding Louis
+XI. as a foe convinced of his own inferiority.
+
+A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal brother-in-law was
+probably the reason why Edward IV. was set at liberty, and why a
+reconciliation was patched up between him and his councillor, with
+full pardon for Warwick's adherents. But it was short-lived. A fresh
+outbreak in March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and Clarence
+sided with the rebels, the king was victorious, and his unfaithful
+friend and brother were again forced to flee under a shower of menaces
+hurled after them.
+
+    "But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erle of Warrewyk our Rebell and
+    Traytour come into oure seid Land we woll ... that ye doo Hym
+    and Theym to be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto Us
+    either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C._l_ of Land in
+    Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or Mil. _Lib_ in Redy money
+    at his election."[6]
+
+Such was the proclamation issued on March 22d by the king himself at
+York.
+
+Between Edward and Charles a new link had just been forged in the
+chain of friendship. The Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by
+the duke:
+
+    "We have to-day received from our much honoured seigneur and
+    brother, the king of England, his Order of the Garter together
+    with the mantle and other ornaments and things appertaining to the
+    said Order and have ... taken the oath according to the statutes
+    of the Order.
+
+    "Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal, February 4, 1469
+    [O.S.]."[7]
+
+Now it was in consideration of needs that might arise in the near
+future, following on the trail of these wide-reaching English
+convulsions, that Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for
+a strong military defence calculated to suit any emergency. Louis XI.
+had a permanent force at his command. He had made the beginning of the
+French standing army, the nucleus of one of those bodies that have
+ever since urged each other on to expensive growth from opposite sides
+of European frontiers. What one monarch possessed that must his near
+neighbour have.
+
+Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercenaries, were all alike
+unstable bulwarks for a nation. Nation as yet Charles had not, but
+he wanted to be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he issued
+an ordinance for the levy of a thousand lances, amounting to five
+thousand combatants, to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at
+call under officers of his own appointment. The ducal treasury could
+not stand the whole expense. To meet the deficit, Charles asked from
+his Netherland Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns for three
+years. Power to impose taxes he had none. A request to each individual
+province was all the requisition that he could make.
+
+In this case, most of the provinces approached had acceded to the
+demand, when the Estates of Flanders convened at Lille. Here the
+Chancellor of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of the demand,
+and then the session was changed to Bruges, where they debated on the
+merits of the request, urged on further by explanatory letters from
+Charles. Finally, a deputation was appointed by the Estates to go over
+to Ghent and present a _Remonstrance_ to their impatient sovereign
+beggar.
+
+Three points were set forth. The deputies objected to this grant being
+asked only from the lands _de par de ça_--the Netherlands and not from
+the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite assessment imposed on
+each province. Thirdly, they desired a declaration that the fiefs and
+arrière-fiefs already bound to furnish troops should be exempt from
+share in this tax. The remonstrance was courtly in tone. Written
+in French, the concluding phrases were in Latin and suggested that
+nothing was more becoming a prince than clemency, especially towards
+his subjects.[8]
+
+Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's response.[9] How could Burgundy
+furnish money? It is a poor land. It takes after France.[10] But its
+men make a third of the army. They are the Burgundian contribution. As
+to an assessment, what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid?
+Only out of malice is this idle point suggested.
+
+    "You act as you have always done--you Flemings. Neither to my
+    father nor to me have you ever been liberal. What you have
+    granted--sometimes more than our request--has always been given so
+    tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish skulls
+    are hard and thick and you cling to your stubborn and perverse
+    opinions.... I am half of France and half of Portugal and I know
+    how to meet such heads as yours, ay and _will_ do it. You have
+    always either hated or despised your prince--if powerful you
+    hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your hatred to your
+    contempt. Not for your privileges or anything else will I permit
+    myself to be trampled on--and I have the power to prevent such
+    trampling."
+
+    Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his demand, whose purpose
+    mainly was for defence of Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate
+    his visitors soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring
+    that as to the fiefs and arrière-fiefs he would see to it that no
+    double burdens were borne.
+
+    "And when you shall have determined to accord my request,--which
+    you will assuredly do (and I do not mean to burden you further
+    unless I am forced to it),--send some of your deputies after me to
+    Lille or St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my council, I
+    will determine the apportionment and we will speak also of other
+    matters touching my province of Flanders."
+
+It was this vehement oratory--and this vehemence was repeated on many
+occasions--that did more to alienate Charles from his hereditary
+subjects than his actual demands. There is little doubt that his
+period of residence in their midst brought with it hatred rather
+than liking. No political error of his serves to explain the Flemish
+attitude towards the duke as does his method of address, the
+gratuitous contempt displayed towards burghers whose purses were
+needed for his game. The _aide_ was granted, indeed, but it was levied
+with sullen reluctance.
+
+What cause Charles had to make his preparations, what were the
+proceedings of the English exiles may be seen from the following
+letters to his mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is probably
+in answer to her questionings; the second is a specimen of the
+epistles showered upon the border towns.
+
+    "TO MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LADY AND MOTHER,
+
+    MADAME THE DUCHESS, AT AIRE:
+
+    "May it please you to know that in regard to what the Sgr. de
+    Crèvecoeur has written you about the king's proclamations that he
+    intends to maintain his treaties and promises to me, etc., and has
+    no desire to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects
+    to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and his,
+    assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary has been and is well
+    known before the said publications and after. The Earl of Warwick
+    is my foe and could not, according to the treaty existing between
+    the king and me, be received in Normandy or elsewhere in the realm
+    ... [complaints about the procedure have been sent to king and
+    parliament and councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more,
+    the Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext of
+    carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which man was charged
+    to spy upon my ships and by means of a caravel named the
+    _Brunette_, sent for this purpose by the admiral, to cut the
+    cables to set them adrift and founder--or to capture certain ships
+    with such captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find, and
+    myself, too, if they were able.
+
+    "Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy on my towns, etc.,
+    and those of the caravel called the _Brunette_ were charged, if
+    they failed in taking my ships, or in cutting their cables, to
+    set fire to them--all in direct conflict with the terms of the
+    treaties, and procedures that the king would never have tolerated
+    had he had the slightest intention of maintaining his word ...
+    [Charles does not consider Groothuse to blame at all, etc.][11]
+
+
+_Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates of Ypres, June 10,
+1470_
+
+    "DEAR FRIENDS:
+
+    "It has come to your knowledge how after the Duke of Clarence and
+    the Earl of Warwick were expelled from England on account of their
+    sedition and their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both
+    by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and on _Vendredi
+    absolut_[12] went so far as to capture by fraud ships and property
+    belonging to our subjects, and have further done damage whenever
+    opportunity presented itself.
+
+    "In order to repel them we have ordered them to be attacked on
+    the sea. Moreover, at the same time we were advised that the same
+    Clarence and Warwick and their people, after they were routed at
+    sea by the troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King of
+    England, retreated to the marches of Normandy and were honourably
+    received at Honfleur by the Admiral of France with all which they
+    had saved from the raid on our subjects after the defeat.
+
+    "All this was direct infringement of the treaties lately made
+    between Monseigneur the king and myself. Therefore, we wrote at
+    once to Monsgr. the king begging him not to favour or aid the said
+    Clarence and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere in his
+    realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute the property of
+    our subjects, and to show his will by publishing such prohibitions
+    throughout Normandy and elsewhere where need is.
+
+    "Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris, and to the
+    council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The answer was that the king
+    meant to keep the treaty between him and us and had ordered his
+    subjects in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to our
+    subjects ... but we have since learned that, notwithstanding,
+    this same property has been distributed and ransoms have been
+    negotiated in the sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and
+    his officers.
+
+    "Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means of the aid
+    furnished by the king to the said Clarence and Warwick, the latter
+    are enabled to continue the war on our subjects and not on the
+    English, it being understood that they who were banished from
+    England are not strong enough to return by the force of arms but
+    must do so by friendship and favour.... On account of the above
+    and other depredations, we shall attack the said Warwick and
+    Clarence on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is needful
+    for the protection of our lands and subjects.
+
+    "Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."[13]
+
+    "Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist him to recover
+    England either with the help of Queen Margaret or by whatever
+    other means he may propose.... Only let him communicate his
+    desires in this respect as speedily as possible and the king will
+    lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of accomplishing it,"
+
+wrote the complaisant King of France in his directions to the
+confidential messenger sent to discuss matters with the English
+earl.[14]
+
+
+But that was not his language towards his cousin of Burgundy, whom he
+assured that there should be no infringement of their treaty, and that
+it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish property
+captured at sea in defiance of that treaty should be sold in French
+market-places. There is a hot correspondence,[15] that is, it is hot
+on the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are smoothly surprised
+at there being any cause for dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall
+be investigated, his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from the duke
+to two of Louis's council is emphatic in its expressions of doubt as
+to the good faith of these royal statements:
+
+    "ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:
+
+    "The vessels which you assure me are destined by the king for
+    an attack on England have attempted nothing except against my
+    subjects; but, by St. George, if some redress be not seen to, I
+    will take the matter into my own hands without waiting for your
+    motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."[16]
+
+
+Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent French merchants,
+coming peaceably to the fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of
+their private property, while the duke felt fully justified in
+stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to guard the Channel.
+Philip de Commines was one of the company who went at the duke's
+behest to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be faithful to King
+Edward, and to give no shelter to the rebellious earl and his protégé
+Clarence.[17]
+
+Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an inconvenient moment. He
+temporised. To Warwick, he denied a personal interview, but at the
+same time he sent him a confidential emissary, Sr. du Plessis, to whom
+he wrote as follows:
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have for Warwick's
+    return to England, as well because I wish to see him get the
+    better of his enemies--or that at least through him the realm of
+    England may be embroiled--as to avoid the questions which have
+    arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you know that these Bretons
+    and Burgundians have no other aim than to find a pretext for
+    rupturing peace and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see
+    commenced under this colour.... Wherefore I pray you take pains,
+    you and others there, to induce Mons. de Warwick to depart by all
+    arguments possible. Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so
+    that he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything else
+    but his personal advantage."[18]
+
+
+To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment. The envoys
+sent by Louis to placate the duke's resentment at the incidents in
+connection with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that Louis meant
+well by him and his subjects, found Charles holding high state at St.
+Omer. When they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered
+sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above floor level, "higher than
+was the wont of king or emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head
+as the representatives of his feudal overlord bowed to him and he
+acknowledged their obeisance by a slight nod and a gesture permitting
+them to rise.
+
+Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered their address with
+a prosy speech. Burgundian officials revelled in grandiloquent
+phrases--which this time bored Charles, He cut short the harangue
+impatiently, took the floor himself, and made a statement of the
+injuries he had suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend, but he
+was aiding the foe of the duke's brother. The envoys repeated their
+sovereign's offers of redress. Charles declared that redress was
+impossible. Pained, very pained were the French envoys to think that
+a petty dispute could not be settled amicably. "The king desires to
+avoid friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress for every
+wrong. It will not be his fault if trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the
+king and you have a judge who is above you both."
+
+The insinuation that it was he who was ready to break the peace
+infuriated Charles. He started to his feet, his eyes flashing with
+fire. "Among us Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends
+become friends to our foes we send them to the hundred thousand devils
+of hell."[19] "A piece of bad taste to send by implication a king of
+France to a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave Chastellain,
+aghast at this impolite, emphatic, though indirect reference to Louis
+XI.
+
+Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers present at this occasion.
+After all, they, too, were French by nature. To wreck the new-made
+peace for the sake of the English alliance, which had never been
+really popular among them, that seemed an act of rash unwisdom.
+
+    "A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because their chief
+    thus implied contempt for the name of France to which the duke
+    belonged. Not going quite so far as to call himself English,
+    though that was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother,
+    ancient friend of England and enemy of France."
+
+
+There were, indeed, times when the duke was more emphatic in asserting
+his English blood. Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands
+which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates and citizens of
+Calais, whom he addresses, "O you my friends."[20] While reiterating
+that he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By St. George who
+knows me to be a better Englishman and more anxious for the weal of
+England than you other English ... [you] shall recognise that I am
+sprung from the blood of Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied
+with the circumstances.
+
+While he was so conscious of his own greatness, present and future,
+and of his own laudable intentions to do well by his subjects, it is
+quite possible, too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously
+by his failure to win popularity. For he was quite as unpopular with
+his courtiers as with his subjects. The former did not like the rigid
+court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting through audiences silent
+and stiff "as at a sermon," and exposed to personal reprimands from
+their chief if there were the slightest lapses from his standard of
+conduct. They did not know on what meat the duke was feeding his
+imagination, an imagination that already saw him as Cæsar. Had he
+actually attained the loftier rank that he dreamed of, his premature
+arrogance might have been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible
+to the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his popularity during
+the years 1470-73.
+
+Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer, Louis had been relieved
+of anxiety in regard to the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers
+of an heir like his brother who might easily be used as a tool by some
+clever faction opposed to the ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was
+born to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant still
+were his words to his Burgundian cousin, but the moment was drawing
+near when his efforts to circumvent him were no longer secret.
+
+The embassy returned home. Possibly their report of the duke's
+passionate words goaded the king into discarding his mask of
+friendship. At any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in showing
+which side of the fresh English quarrel he meant to espouse. Margaret
+of Anjou hated the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had unseated
+her husband but because he had doubted her fidelity to that husband.
+Nevertheless, under Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her
+past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on fraternising with him on
+a basis of common hate for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed
+by the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the prince whose very
+legitimacy Warwick had questioned, with the earl's younger daughter.
+It was a singular union to be accepted by the parents, separated as
+they had been by the wall of insults interchanged during more than a
+decade of bitter enmity.
+
+Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession. She saw her
+seventeen-year-old son betrothed to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville,
+and later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick on a piece of
+the true cross in St. Mary's Church at Angers (August 4, 1470).
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July 25th], I have sent
+    you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick
+    in surety, and I order him to make such arrangements that the
+    people of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity until he
+    is there. To-day we have made the marriage of the Queen of England
+    and of him, and hope to-morrow to have all in readiness to
+    depart."[21]
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY (FROM BARANTE)]
+
+Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme towns, insinuating
+opposition to the duke, and reminding the citizens that they were
+French at heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the Burgundian
+court, saying many things in secret besides those they said in public.
+Plenty there were that wished for war, remarks the observant Commines.
+Nobles like St. Pol and others could not maintain the same state in
+peace as in war, and state they loved. In time of war four hundred
+lances attended the constable, and he had a large allowance to
+maintain them from which he reaped many a profitable commission
+besides the fees of his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover,"
+adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to say among themselves
+that if there were no battles without, there would be quarrels within
+the realm."
+
+The matter of the grants to Charles of France had been settled to his
+royal brother's liking, not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne
+and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were withdrawn and
+Guienne substituted. When Normandy had been exchanged for Champagne
+and Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of Burgundy approved
+the change as he thought it assured him an obedient friend as
+neighbour.[22] The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne and
+Brie, was quite a different thing.
+
+Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away from Burgundy. Naturally,
+Charles was not content. Then, too, it looked as though he had lost a
+useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new Duke of Guienne was
+formally reconciled to his brother and took oath that his fraternal
+devotion to his monarch should never again waver.
+
+Long before Charles was completely convinced that Louis was not going
+to maintain the humble attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he
+became very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against him. "He
+hastened to Hesdin where he entered into jealousy of his servants"
+says Commines. That he was assured that there were reasons for his
+apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated as an open letter,[23]
+to various cities, wherein he makes a detailed statement of the plots
+against his life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of Duke Philip.
+
+Sorry return was this from one recognised as Bastard of Burgundy and
+brought up in the ducal household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa,
+Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave of the duke's
+service and made his way to the king in his castle of Amboise, where
+he had been pleasantly received and promised rich reward when he had
+"executed his damnable designs against our person."
+
+Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in Charles's court at St.
+Omer were arrested as suspicious, and that circumstance frightened
+Baldwin and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his retinue, his
+horses, and his baggage behind. He dreaded lest he might be attainted
+and convicted of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the king.
+
+    "Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and clemency of God,
+    we inform you of the events so that you may render thanks
+    by public processions, solemn masses, sermons, and prayers,
+    beseeching Him devoutly and from the heart that He will always
+    guard and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and subjects
+    from such plots.
+
+    "May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in our castle of
+    Hesdin, December 13, 1470.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+    "LE GROS."
+
+
+It was not long before Charles had less reason to fear French
+"subtleties." At an assembly of notables[24] convened at Tours at the
+end of 1470, Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily for
+just two years, and made an open brief of his grievances against the
+duke.
+
+His case was cited with a luxury of detail more or less authentic. The
+interview at Peronne was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the Duke
+of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468, both obtained by undue
+pressure, had not been respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was
+obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.
+
+Even Commines shows that it is not surprising that there was
+unanimity[25] in the declaration that according to God and his
+conscience in all honour and justice the king was released from those
+treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion into Picardy as soon
+as possible.
+
+Charles's public accusations of plots against him did not go
+unanswered. Jehan de Chassa promptly issued a rejoinder:
+
+    "As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has sent to divers
+    places letters signed by himself and his secretary, Jehan le
+    Gros, written at Hesdin, December 13th, falsely charging me with
+    plotting against his life with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy,
+    and Jehan d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching my
+    honour, feel bound to reply.... By God and by my soul I declare
+    that these charges against me made by Charles of Burgundy are
+    false and disloyal lies"[26]
+
+Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation at the slur on his
+character, but he remained in the French court as did many others who
+had formerly served Charles.
+
+Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his daughter in the hands
+of Margaret of Anjou, openly aided by Louis, sailed back to England in
+September But there had been one further change of base of which the
+earl was still unconscious. His elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in
+the Warwick-Lancaster alliance. It brought young Prince Edward to the
+fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence--long ready to replace Edward of
+York--of any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined to accept
+offers of a reconciliation tendered him by King Edward.
+
+Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence sailed with Warwick and
+joined with him in the proclamations scattered over England, declaring
+that the exiles were returning to "set right and justice to their
+places, and to reduce and redeem for ever the realm from its
+thraldom." Never a mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI. Perhaps
+it was as convenient to see which way the wind blew and to put in a
+name accordingly.
+
+On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was raised as a cry. In
+Nottinghamshire, where Edward lay, not a word was heard for York.
+There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had turned against him
+and off he rode to Lyme with a small following, took ship, and made
+for Holland. It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns gave
+chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter at Alkmaar where De la
+Groothuse, Governor of Holland, welcomed him in the name of the
+duke.[27] Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with which to pay
+his fare across the Channel but a gown lined with marten's fur, and as
+for his train, never so poor a company was seen.
+
+Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all England and official
+business was transacted in the name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless
+on his throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow and pretence
+and what was done in his name was done without his will or knowledge.
+
+Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his unbidden guest. He
+would rather have heard that his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade
+Groothuse show him every courtesy and supply him with necessaries and
+five hundred crowns a month for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps
+informed by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind blowing over in
+England was but a fickle breeze, he consented to forget his hereditary
+sympathies.
+
+    "The same day that the duke received news of the king's arrival in
+    Holland, I was come from Calais to Boulogne (where the duke then
+    lay) ignorant of the event and of the king's flight.[28] The duke
+    was first advised that he was dead, which did not trouble him much
+    for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of York.
+    Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter and of Somerset and
+    divers others of King Henry's faction, by which means he thought
+    himself assured of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared
+    the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content him that was
+    to come to him, I mean King Edward, whose sister he had married
+    and who was also brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden
+    Fleece and the duke the Garter.
+
+    "Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais accompanied by
+    a gentleman or two of this new faction of Henry, and gave me
+    instructions how to deal with this new world, urging me to
+    go because it was important for him to be well served in the
+    matter.[29] I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes,
+    and then dared not proceed because I found people fleeing for fear
+    of the English who were devastating the country.... Never before
+    had I needed a safe-conduct for the English are very honourable.
+    All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen these
+    mutations in the world."
+
+Commines was uncertain as to what he had better do and wanted
+instructions. "The duke sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go
+forward with the promise that if I were taken prisoner he would redeem
+me." New surprises met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known
+faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate of my lodgings and
+the very door of my chamber were a hundred white crosses and rhymes
+signifying that the King of France and Earl of Warwick were one--all
+of which seemed strange to me." Well received was Commines and
+entertained at dinner. It was told at table how within a quarter of an
+hour after the arrival of news from England every man wore this livery
+(the ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden was the change.
+"This is the first time that I ever knew how little stable are these
+mundane affairs."
+
+    "In all communications that passed between them and me, I repeated
+    that King Edward was dead, of which fact I said I was well
+    assured, notwithstanding that I knew the contrary, adding further
+    that though it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke of
+    Burgundy and the king and realm of England such that this accident
+    could not infringe it--whomever they would acknowledge as king him
+    would we recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the league should
+    remain firm and inviolate between us and the king and realm of
+    England save that for Edward we named Henry."
+
+Commines explains further that the wool trade was what made amity with
+England necessary to Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal
+cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly for peace."
+
+Charles made vague promises to his uninvited guest, declaring
+ostentatiously that his blood was Lancastrian. Nevertheless he
+finally consented to an interview with him of York, in spite of the
+remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset and Exeter. "The duke
+could not tell whom to please and either party he feared to displease.
+But in the end, because sharp war was upon him face to face, he
+inclined to the English dukes, accepting their promises against the
+Earl of Warwick, their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who was on the
+spot and very ill at ease," was quieted by secret assurances that the
+duke was obliged to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep the
+king but that he was bound to return to England and fearing for divers
+considerations altogether to discontent him, Charles pretended that he
+could not aid the king and forbade his subjects to enter his service."
+Privately, however, he gave him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's
+cross, and had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand, a
+harbour where all nations were received. Besides this he secretly
+hired fourteen well appointed "ships of the Easterlings, which
+promised to serve him till he landed in England and for fifteen days
+after, "great aid considering the times."
+
+King Edward departed out of Flanders in the year 1471, when the
+Duke of Burgundy went to wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the
+king.[30] "The said duke thought now howsoever the world went in
+England he could not speed amiss because he had friends on both
+sides."[31]
+
+Edward's adventures in England proved that he had not lost his hold
+there. Warwick's extraordinary brief success was but a flash in the
+pan. London opened her gates and then the pitched battle at Barnet
+gave a final verdict between the rival Houses which England accepted.
+This battle was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and the like
+speech of the two bodies caused hopeless confusion. Many friends slew
+each other unwittingly, and among the slain was the indefatigable,
+energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with his royal puppets. Only
+forty-four was he and worthy of a better and more statesmanlike
+career.
+
+On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son landed at Weymouth.
+Hearing of Warwick's death, they tried to reach Wales but were
+intercepted and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here the young prince,
+too, met his death. To Edward's direct command is attributed the
+murder of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which happened at
+about the same time. The desolated Margaret of Anjou lingered five
+years under restraint in England before she was ransomed by King
+Louis.
+
+    "Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten at London the
+    Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.
+
+    "God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke Hym that made all
+    and can undoo agayn whare Hym lyst."[32]
+
+Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on his foresight. His
+brother of the two Orders was himself again.
+
+    "The very day on which this fight happened [says Commines] the
+    Duke of Burgundy, being before Amiens, received letters from
+    the duchess his wife, that the King of England was not at all
+    satisfied with him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if
+    for very little cause he would have deserted him. To speak plainly
+    there never was great friendship between them afterwards. Yet the
+    Duke of Burgundy seemed to be extremely pleased at this news and
+    published it everywhere."
+
+A transaction of his own of this time, the duke did not publish. It
+was a procedure perhaps justified by these wonderful "mutations in the
+world" which impressed Commines as strange and terrible. The Duke of
+Burgundy caused a legal document to be drawn up attesting his own
+heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the same in the Abbey of
+St. Bertin with all due formality. If there came more "mutations"
+in the world whose very existence was a new experience to Philip de
+Commines, Charles was ready to interpose his own plank in the new
+structure.
+
+In the archives of the House of Croy in the château of Beaumont, rests
+this document, which was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471,
+in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to the statement
+that no one was truer heir to the Lancaster House than Charles of
+Burgundy.[33] Two canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the
+witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.
+
+It was expressly stipulated that if there were any delay in the duke's
+entering upon his English inheritance--which devolved to him
+through his mother,--a delay caused by motives of public utility of
+Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, this should not prejudice
+his rights or those of his successors. A mere deferring of assuring
+the titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. His delay ended
+in his death and Edward IV. never had to combat this claim of the
+brother-in-law who had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his
+throne.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Meyer is the earliest historian to tell this story and it
+is vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice
+lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York and
+Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between Englishmen on
+English soil. Three out of four kings died by violence. Eighty persons
+connected with the blood royal were executed or assassinated.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Ramsay, _Lancaster and York_, ii., 232 _et seq._; Oman,
+_Hundred Years' War_ and _Warwick, the King-maker_, are followed here
+in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 4: That the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge
+or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again denied by
+various authorities.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See Oman's _Warwick_, p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Rymer, _Fædera_, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on
+for about a year.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, 651.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "Quia nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut
+clemencia et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Gachard, _Doc. inéd._, i., 216. The editor thinks that
+the speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was
+delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Il sent la France_.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Middleburg, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign manual"
+on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, _Histoire générale et
+particulière de Bourgogne_, etc., iv., cclxxi).]
+
+[Footnote 12: Good Friday, April 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 226.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Comines-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at
+Amboise, May, 12, 1470.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Plancher, iv., cclxi., etc.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Duke Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May
+29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Mémoires_, iii., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Duclos "Preuves," v., 296.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Chastellain, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure,
+those of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance is
+that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis accepts it.
+(Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 363.)]
+
+[Footnote 20: _See_ Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Aujourd'hui avons fait le mariage de la reine
+d'Angleterre et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating the
+alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the King's
+accounts for December, 1470: "à maistre Jehan le prestre, la somme de
+xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or à lui donnée par le roy, pour le
+restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance d'icellui seigneur,
+il avait baillée du sien au vicaire de Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur
+en a fait don en faveur de ce qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de
+Galles a la fille du Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the
+actual marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation.
+(Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also _Lettres de Louis XI_.,
+iv., 131.)]
+
+[Footnote 22: A group of smaller seigniories was also involved,
+Quercy, Périgord, La Rochelle, etc. _See_ letter-patent,
+(Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 97.)]
+
+[Footnote 23: Duclos, "Preuves" v., 302.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, iv^{ii},
+364.]
+
+[Footnote 25: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}, 364. He states that the king
+named all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Duclos, "Preuves," v., 307.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Commines, iii., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _See_ instructions given to him for this mission,
+Wavrin-Dupont, iii., 271.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Commines, iii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 31: As soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles
+published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]
+
+[Footnote 32: _Letters_, iii., 4.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _See_ Gachard, _Études et Notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas,_ ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant toutes
+les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que plus grant
+foy soit adjoustée à tout ce que cy desus est escript, avant signé ce
+présent instrument de nostre propre main et le fait sceller de nostre
+seau en signe de vérité, l'an et jour desusdit. [This in French, the
+body in Latin.]
+
+"CHARLES."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+1471
+
+
+All work had ceased at Paris for three days by the king's command,
+while praise was chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints male
+and female, for the victory won by Henry of Lancaster, in 1470, over
+the base usurper Edward de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made a
+special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at Poitiers to breathe in
+pious solitude his own prayers of thanksgiving for the happy event.
+The battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this abundant stream of
+gratitude, and there were other thanksgivings.[1]
+
+In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent letters from
+Canterbury to his good friends at Bruges,[2] acknowledging their
+valuable assistance to his brother Charles,[3] recognising his part in
+restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his throne. To his sister,
+the Duchess of Burgundy, the returned exile gave substantial proof
+of his gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture and
+trade.[4]
+
+Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss weather vane the King
+of England had swung out into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair
+weather over his head, while Louis was forced back into solitary
+impotence. He seemed singularly isolated. His English friends were
+gone, his nobles were again forming a hostile camp around Charles of
+France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten his late protestations
+of fraternal devotion, and there were many indications that the
+Anglo-Burgundian alliance might prove as serious a peril to France as
+it had in times gone by but not wholly forgotten.
+
+The two most important of the disputed towns on the Somme were,
+however, in Louis's possession, and Charles of Burgundy, ready to
+reduce Amiens by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his
+proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed in July. This
+afforded a valuable respite to the king, and he busied himself in
+energetic efforts to detach his brother from the group of malcontents.
+Various disquieting rumours about the prince's marriage projects
+caused his royal brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch a
+special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy Louis wrote as follows[5]:
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:
+
+    "Guiot du Chesney[6] has brought me despatches from Monsg. de
+    Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has, further, mentioned three
+    points to me: First, in behalf of Mme. de Savoy,[7] ... second, in
+    regard to M. d'Ursé ... third, touching the mission of Mons. de
+    Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the daughter of Monsg. de
+    Foix.... The Ursé matter I will leave to you, and will agree to
+    what you determine upon. On the spot you will be a better judge of
+    what I ought to say and what would be advantageous to me, than I
+    can here.
+
+    "In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage, you know what a
+    misfortune it would be to me. Use all your five senses to prevent
+    it. I am told that my brother does not really like the idea, and
+    it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has brought him to
+    consent in order to further the marriage of the duchess,[8] so
+    that in taking the sister, the duke will be relieved of this sum,
+    a condition that would please him greatly because he has nothing
+    to pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all the
+    accompanying claims and then be through with it. In effect, I beg
+    you make him agree to another [bride] before you leave, and do not
+    be in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair[9] can be
+    arranged you will place me in Paradise.
+
+    "_Item._ I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would not approve this
+    Aragon girl, because he himself has some hopes of the kingdom of
+    Aragon through his wife. If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of
+    this, I believe it would help along our case.
+
+    "_Item._ It seems to me that you have a splendid opportunity to be
+    very frank with my brother. For he has informed me through this
+    man that the duke [of Brittany] has paid no attention to the
+    representations made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray,
+    and since my brother himself confides this to me, you have an
+    opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and that I never
+    cherish him so highly as when he tells me the truth, and that I
+    now recognise that he does not desire to deceive me, since he
+    does not spare the duke [of Brittany] and that, since he sees him
+    opposed to me, he should return the seal that you know of and
+    refuse to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the
+    Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.
+
+    "If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as long as I live
+    I will harbour no misgiving of him and he shall be as puissant in
+    all the realm of France as I myself, as long as I live. In short,
+    Mons. du Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you will
+    place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until Monseigneur de
+    Lescun has arrived, and a good piece afterwards, even if you have
+    to play the invalid, and before you depart put our affair in
+    surety if you can, I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du
+    Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre Dame de Behuart
+    aid your negotiations. The women[10] of Mme. de Burgundy have
+    all been ill with the _mal chault,_ and it is reported that the
+    daughter is seriously afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is
+    already dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite certain of
+    the malady.
+
+    "Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.
+
+    "LOYS.
+
+    "TILHART."
+
+That the king's professed confidence in his brother did not remove all
+suspicions of that young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown
+by the following letter, written two days later than the above, to
+Lorenzo de' Medici:
+
+    "Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that our brother of
+    Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation from the oath he
+    swore to us, of which we send you a duplicate. Since you are a
+    great favourite with our Holy Father pray use your influence with
+    his Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation,
+    and that his messenger may not be able to do any negotiating. In
+    this you will do us a singular and agreeable pleasure which we
+    will recognise in the future as we have in the past on fitting
+    occasion....
+
+    "Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.
+
+    "LOYS."
+
+Louis does not seem to have taken his own doubts as to the very
+existence of Mary of Burgundy very seriously. While he was infinitely
+anxious to prevent her alliance with his brother, he made overtures to
+betroth her to his baby son, while he reminded her father in touching
+phrases that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and hence exactly
+the person to be her father-in-law.
+
+The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts to make terms between
+the king and the duke before the termination of the truce. The king
+was very hopeful of attaining this good result, and sweetly trustful
+of the duke's pacific and friendly intentions. He sternly refused to
+listen to suggestions that Charles meant to play him false and was
+very definite in his expressions of confidence. The following epistle
+to his envoys at the duke's court was an excellent document to fall by
+chance into Burgundian hands[11]:
+
+    "To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:
+
+    "My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received your letters
+    this evening at the hostelry of Montbazon where I came because I
+    have not yet dared to go to Amboise.[12] When I imparted to you
+    the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose of
+    delaying you in completing your business but only to advise you of
+    the dangers that were in the air. And to free you from all doubts
+    I assure you, that if Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to
+    confirm, by writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at
+    Orleans[13], I wish you to accept it and to clinch the matter and
+    I am quite determined to trust to it. As to your suspicion that
+    he may wish to make the chief promises in private letters without
+    putting it in a formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a
+    pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing I never withdraw
+    my decision.
+
+    "My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to it that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate assurance of the
+    letters that he is to issue. When I once have the letter such as
+    we agreed upon and he is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep
+    faith. If my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do
+    not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure you that my
+    greatest worldly desire is that the matter be finished, since he
+    has given verbal assurance that he wishes me well. You write that
+    the pronotary told you that I was negotiating in every direction.
+    By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by the words that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy said to you you can easily solve the
+    question, for he has only offered you what he mentioned before
+    when the matters were discussed. It looks to me as though they
+    were not free from traitors since they have Abbé de Begars and
+    Master Ythier Marchant.[14]
+
+    "A herald of the King of England came here on his way to Monsg. of
+    Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct to send a messenger to me
+    for this truce. Since your departure the council thought I ought
+    not to give any pass for more than forty days except to merchants.
+    If it please God and Our Lady that you may conclude your mission,
+    I assure you that as long as I live I will have no embassy either
+    large or small without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy
+    and I will only answer as if through him. I assure you that until
+    I hear from you whether Monsg. of Burgundy decides to conclude
+    this treaty or not as we agreed together, I will make no agreement
+    with any creature in the world and of that you may assure him.
+
+    "Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).
+
+    "Loys."
+
+At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly intercourse with the
+towns he proposed to cede.
+
+    "To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king: "Dear and
+    beloved, we have heard reports at length from Amiens and we are
+    well content with you.... Give credence to all my messengers say.
+    We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies have done
+    in our cause."
+
+At the Burgundian court the duke's friends thought that he would play
+the part of wisdom did he keep an army within call, and refrain from
+implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was, moreover, an
+impression abroad that the latter was not in a position to be very
+formidable.
+
+    "Once [says Commines][15] I was present when the Seigneur d'Ursé
+    [envoy from the Duke of Guienne] was talking in this wise and
+    urging the duke to mobilise his forces with all diligence. The
+    duke called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur d'Ursé
+    urging me to make my army as big as possible, and tells me that we
+    would do well for the realm. Do you think that I should wage a war
+    of benefit if I should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered
+    that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I love the welfare
+    of France more than Mons. d' Ursé imagines, for instead of the one
+    king that there is I would fain see six.'"
+
+The animus of this expression is clear. It implies a wish to see the
+duke's friends, the French nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head,
+until the titular monarch had no more power than half a dozen of his
+peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal terms that Charles's next
+moves were to disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard their
+alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis whose terms were wholly
+to his own advantage and implied complete desertion of the allied
+interest.
+
+    "This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and I was present[16]
+    and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon and the Chancellor of
+    France[17] in behalf of the king. When they departed they advised
+    the duke not to disband his army but to increase it, so that the
+    king their master might be the more inclined to cede promptly the
+    two places mentioned above. They took with them Simon de Quingey
+    to witness the king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors'
+    work. The king delayed this confirmation for several days.
+    Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother, the Duke of Guienne
+    ... shortly afterwards the said Simon returned, dismissed by the
+    king with very meagre phrases and without any oath being taken.
+    The duke felt mocked and insulted by this treatment and was very
+    indignant about it."[18]
+
+This story involves so serious a charge against Charles of Burgundy
+that the fact of his setting his signature to the treaty has been
+indignantly denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's
+truthfulness rather than accept the duke's betrayal of his friends. It
+is true that only a few months later than this negotiation, Commines
+himself forsook the duke's service for the king's, a change of base
+that might well throw suspicion on his estimate of his deserted
+master.
+
+Yet it must be remembered that he does not gloss over Louis's actions,
+even though he had an admiration for the success of his political
+methods, methods which Commines believed to be essential in dealing
+with national affairs. In many respects he gives more credit to the
+duke than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer chief. That
+there is no documentary evidence of such a treaty is mere negative
+evidence and of little importance.
+
+The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy was at a parting
+of the ways, in character as in action. His natural bent was to tell
+the truth and to adhere strictly to his given word. He felt that he
+owed it to his own dignity. He felt, too, that he was a person to
+command obedience to a promise whether pledged to him by king or
+commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe shocks had been dealt
+him. He had lost all faith in Louis, a faith that had really been
+founded on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction that the weak
+king must respect the redoubtable cousin of Burgundy.
+
+The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to make him adopt the
+tools used by his rival, or at least to attempt to do so. At the
+moment of the negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation
+was to regain the towns on the Somme. That accomplished, it is not
+probable that he would have abandoned his friends, the French
+peers, whom he desired to see become petty monarchs each in his own
+territory. There seems no doubt that words were used with singular
+disregard of their meaning. It is surprising that time was wasted in
+concocting elaborate phrases that dropped into nothingness at the
+slightest touch. In citing the above passage from Commines referring
+to the treaty, the close of the negotiations has been anticipated.
+Whether or not any draft of a treaty received the duke's signature,
+the king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when his brother's death
+freed him from the dread of dangerous alliance between Charles of
+France and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th, he was still
+uncertain as to the decree of fate and wrote as follows to the
+Governor of Rousillon[19]:
+
+    "Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the Duke of Burgundy
+    declares war against me, I will set out immediately for that
+    quarter [Brittany], and in a week we will finish the matter. On
+    the other hand, if peace be made we shall have everything without
+    a blow or without any risk of restoration. However, if you can get
+    hold of anything by negotiating and manoeuvring, why do it. As
+    to the artillery, it is close by you, and when it is time, and I
+    shall have heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."
+
+Ten days later he is more hopeful.[20]
+
+    "Since my last letter to you I have had news that Monsieur de
+    Guienne is dying and that there is no remedy for his case. One
+    of the most confidential persons about him has advised me by a
+    special messenger that he does not believe he will be alive a
+    fortnight hence.... The person who gave me this information is
+    the monk who repeated his Hours with M. de G[uienne.] I am much
+    abashed at this and have crossed myself from head to foot.
+
+    "Written at Moutils-lès-Tours, May 18th."
+
+This prognostic was correct. In less than a fortnight the Duke of
+Guienne lay dead, and the heavy suspicion rested upon his royal
+brother of having done more than acquiesce in the decree of fate.
+Whether or not there was any truth in this charge the king was
+certainly not heartbroken by the loss. Indeed, the event interested
+him less than the question of making the best use of the remainder of
+his truce with Charles. The following letters to Dammartin and the
+Duke of Milan belong to this time.
+
+    "Thank you for the pains you have taken but pray, as speedily as
+    you can, come here to draw up your ordinance for we only have
+    a fortnight more of the truce. I have sent the artillery and
+    soldiers to Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's
+    forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the seneschal of
+    Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company. Then if there are
+    more at large, form them into a body and send them to me and I
+    will find them a captain and pay all those who are willing to
+    stay.
+
+    "As to him,[21] make him talk on the way and learn whether he
+    would like to enter into an agreement in his brother's name, and
+    work it so that the duke will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at
+    all points for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know how,
+    for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun left here for any
+    other reason than to attempt to make an arrangement of some kind.
+
+    "Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser than I and will
+    know how to act far better than I can instruct you, but, above
+    all, I implore you come in all haste for without you we cannot
+    make an ordinance.
+
+    "Written at Xaintes, May 28th.
+
+    "LOYS."[22]
+
+    "AMBOISE, June 7th.
+
+    "Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Beloved brother and
+    cousin, we have received the letters you have written making
+    mention, as you have heard, that in the truce lately concluded
+    between us and the Duke of Burgundy up to April 1st next coming,
+    which will be the year 1473, the Duke of Burgundy has mentioned
+    you as his ally, which you do not like because you never asked the
+    Duke of Burgundy to do so, and you do not know whether he made
+    this statement on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who is
+    with him.
+
+    "Therefore, and because you do not mean to enter into alliance or
+    understanding with the Duke of Burgundy but wish to remain
+    our confederate and ally and have sworn to that effect before
+    notaries, and sealed your oath with your seal ... that you are no
+    ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that you renounce and repudiate
+    his nomination as such ... also you may be certain that on our
+    part we are determined to maintain all friendship between us and
+    you ... and if we make any treaty in the future we will expressly
+    include you in it and never will do otherwise."[23]
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised how while the truce is
+    still in being, the Duke of Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all
+    whom he found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished you to
+    know so that if you can find means to do him a like injury in his
+    country you will do it there and anywhere that you can without
+    sparing anything. I have good hopes that God will aid in avenging
+    us, considering the murders for which he is responsible within the
+    church and elsewhere, and because by virtue of the terms of their
+    surrender [they thought] they had saved their lives.
+
+    "Done at Angers, June 19th.
+
+    "P.S.--If the said place had been destroyed and rased as I ordered
+    this never would have happened. Therefore, see to it that all such
+    places be rased to the ground, for if this be not done the people
+    will be ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
+    damage to me."[24]
+
+One fact stated by Louis in this letter was true. Charles of Burgundy
+broke the truce when it had but two weeks to run, and thus put
+himself in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him wild with anger.
+Apparently he had not believed in the imminence of the danger,
+although he had been constantly informed of the progress of the
+prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand of Louis, not the
+judgment of God, that ended the life of the prince.
+
+    "On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472, so far as I remember
+    [says Commines] came letters from Simon de Quingey, the duke's
+    ambassador to the king, announcing the death of the Duke of
+    Guienne and that the king had recovered the majority of his
+    places. Messages from various localities followed headlong one on
+    the other, and every one had a different story of the death.
+
+    "The duke being in despair at the death, at the instigation of
+    other people as much concerned as himself, wrote letters full of
+    bitter accusations against the king to several towns--an action
+    that profited little for nothing was done about it.[25]... In this
+    violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle in Vermandois,
+    and commenced a kind of warfare such as he had never used before,
+    burning and destroying wherever he passed."
+
+It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines sails by the capital
+charges against the king. He neither accepts nor denies the king's
+crime, while frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an opportune
+circumstance for Louis. He apologises for mentioning any evil report
+of either king or duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
+truth without palliation.
+
+Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the Somme which refused
+the duke's summons to surrender, sent to it on June 10th. It seems
+possible that there was a misunderstanding between the citizens
+and the garrison which resulted in the slaughter of the Burgundian
+heralds. Whereupon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong upon the
+ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible vengeance on the town.
+
+When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage was over, but he was
+unreproving as he inspected the gruesome result. Into the great church
+itself he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the blood lying
+inches deep on the floor. The desecrated building was full of
+dead--men, women, and children--but the duke's only comment as he
+looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily I have good butchers
+with me," and he crossed himself piously.
+
+    "Those who were taken alive were hanged, except some few suffered
+    to escape by the compassionate common soldiers. Quite a number had
+    their hands chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I
+    was on the spot and needs must give some account of it."[26]
+
+The story of the duke's treatment of the innocent little town of Nesle
+is painted in colours quite as lurid as the king's murder of his
+brother. There is some ground for the denunciations of Charles,
+but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised clemency to the
+citizens on surrender and then basely broke his word, does not deserve
+credence. He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors were
+committed in passion, not in cold blood.[27]
+
+[Illustration: BURGUNDIAN STANDARD PRESERVED AT BEAUVAIS]
+
+It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indignation at his
+cousin's proceedings, coupled with his regrets that he himself had not
+destroyed the town.
+
+With the terrible report of the events at Nesle flying before his
+advance guard, Charles went on towards Normandy. Roye he gained
+easily, and then, passing by Compiègne where "Monseigneur the grand
+master" had intrenched himself, and Amiens with the good burghers whom
+Louis delighted to honour, he marched on until he reached Beauvais, an
+old town on the Thérain. Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had
+taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its defences, not even
+having its usual garrison or cannon, as it happened.
+
+Disappointed in his first expectation of picking the town like a
+cherry, Charles sat down before it. The siege that followed won
+a reputation beyond the warrant of its real importance from the
+extraordinary tenacity and energy of the people in their own defence.
+Every missile that the ingenuity of man or woman could imagine was
+used to drive back the besiegers when the town was finally invested.
+
+From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited, then an assault was
+ordered. Charles laughed at the idea of any serious resistance. "He
+asked some of his people whether they thought the citizens would wait
+for the assault. It was answered yes, considering their number even if
+they had nothing before them but a hedge."[28] He took this as a joke
+and said, "To-morrow you will not find a person." He thought that
+there would be a simple repetition of his experience at Dinant and
+Liege, and that the garrison would simply succumb in terror. When the
+Burgundians rushed at the walls their reception showed not only that
+every point had a defender, but also that those same defenders were
+provided with huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches--all
+most unpleasant things when thrown in the faces of men trying to scale
+a wall. Three hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants the
+difficulty of the task. Twelve hundred were slain and maimed, and the
+strength of the place was proven.
+
+Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme, but the weather
+came to the aid of the besieged. Heavy rains forced the troops to
+change camp. More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic assaults,
+losses that Charles could ill afford at the moment. Finally at the end
+of three fruitless weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians
+marched on to try to redeem their reputation in Normandy. Had Beauvais
+fallen, it would have been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany,
+against whom Louis had marched with all his forces and whom he had
+enveloped as in a net. This reverse was the first serious rebuff that
+had happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his fortunes.
+
+Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage to himself, and was not
+stinting in his reward to the plucky little town. Privileges and a
+reduction of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual procession
+was inaugurated in which women were to have precedence as a special
+recognition of their services with boiling water and other irregular
+weapons, while a special gift was bestowed on one particular girl,
+Jeanne Laisné, who had wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier
+just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not only was she endowed
+from the royal purse, but she and her husband and their descendants
+were declared tax free for ever.[29]
+
+_Charles to the Duke of Brittany_
+
+    "My good brother, I recommend myself to you with good heart. I
+    rather hoped to be able to march through Rouen, but the whole
+    strength of the foe was on the frontier, where was the _grand
+    master, of whose loyalty I have not the least doubt_, so that the
+    project could not be effected. I do not know what will happen.
+    Realising this, I have given subject for thought elsewhere and
+    I have pitched my camp between Rouen and Neufchâtel, intending,
+    however, to return speedily. If not I will exploit the war in
+    another quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert
+    myself to keep them from your route. My Burgundians and
+    Luxemburgers have done bravely in Champagne. I know, too, that you
+    have done well on your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned
+    the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will not injure you,
+    nor us, nor others, and I will not lay down arms without you, as
+    I am certain you will not without me. I will pursue the work
+    commenced by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord, may He give
+    you good and long life with a fruitful victory.
+
+    "Written at my camp near Boscise, September 4th.
+
+    "Your loyal brother,
+
+    "CHARLES."[30]
+
+The duke's course was marked by waste and devastation from the
+walls of Rouen to those of Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this
+desolation. By September, keen anxiety about his territories led him
+to fear staying so far from his own boundaries, and he decided to
+return. Through Picardy he marched eastward burning and laying waste
+as before.
+
+Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands, when Louis marched into
+Brittany against his weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis
+found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie, who had ridden in hot
+haste to Brittany, scattering from his saddle dire accusations of
+fratricide against Louis--this same Odet became silenced and took
+service with the king.[31] When reconcilations were effected, most
+kind to the returning ally or servant did Louis always show himself.
+
+On November 3d, a truce was struck between Louis and Charles, which,
+later, was renewed for a year. But never again did the two men come
+into actual conflict with each other, though they were on the eve of
+doing so in 1475.
+
+The period of the great coalitions among the nobles was at an end.
+Charles of France was dead and so, too, were others who were strong
+enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brittany showed no more
+energy. When again within his own territories, Charles of Burgundy
+became absorbed in other projects which he wished to perfect before he
+again measured steel with Louis.
+
+  "The Duke of Berry, he is dead,
+  Brittany doth nod his head,
+  Burgundy doth sulky sit,
+  While Louis works with every wit."[32]
+
+Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in France, a verse that
+probably never came to Charles's ears--though Louis might have
+listened to it cheerfully.
+
+Infinitely disastrous were the events of that summer to Charles of
+Burgundy. Not only had he lost in allies, not only had he squandered
+life and money uselessly in his reckless expedition over the north of
+France, but his own retinue was diminished and weakened by the men
+whom Louis had succeeded in luring from his service. The loss that
+Charles suffered was not only for the time but for posterity. Among
+those convinced that there was more scope for men of talent in France
+than in Burgundy was that clever observer of humanity who had been at
+Charles's side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip de Commines
+took French leave of his master and betook himself to Louis, who
+evidently was not surprised at his advent.
+
+The historian's own words in regard to this change of base are
+laconic: "About this time I entered the king's service (and it was
+the year 1472), who had received the majority of the servitors of his
+brother the Duke of Guienne. And he was then at Pont de Cé."[33] This
+passing from one lord to another happened on the night between the 7th
+and 8th of August, when the Burgundian army lay near Eu.
+
+The suddenness of the departure was probably due to the duke's
+discovery of his servant's intentions not yet wholly ripe, and those
+intentions had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in 1471, when
+Commines made a secret journey to the king. On his way back to
+Burgundy, he deposited a large sum of money at Tours. Evidently he
+did not dare put this under his own name, or claim it when it was
+confiscated as the property of a notorious adherent of Louis's
+foe.[34]
+
+When the fugitive reached the French court, however, he was amply
+recompensed for all his losses.[35] For, naturally, at his flight, all
+his Burgundian estates were abandoned.[36] It was at six o'clock on
+the morning of August 8th that the deed was signed whereby the duke
+transferred to the Seigneur de Quiévrain all the rights appertaining
+to Philip de Commines, "which rights together with all the property of
+whatever kind have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation because
+he has to-day, the date of this document, departed from our obedience
+and gone as a fugitive to the party opposed to us."[37]
+
+There are various surmises as to the cause of this precipitate
+departure. Not improbable is the suggestion that Charles often
+overstepped the bounds of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so
+runs one story, he found the historian sleeping on his bed where he
+had flung himself while awaiting his master. Charles pulled off one of
+his boots "to give him more ease" and struck him in the face with it.
+In derision the courtiers called Commines _tête bottée_, and their
+mocking sank deep into his soul.
+
+Contemporary writers make little of the chronicler's defection.
+These crossings from the peer's to the king's camp were accepted
+occurrences. But by Charles they were not accepted. There is
+a vindictive look about the hour when he disposes of his late
+confidant's possessions, only explicable by intense indignation not
+itemised in the deed approved by the court of Mons.[38]
+
+More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier de la Marche, though to
+him, also, came intimations that he would find a pleasant welcome at
+the French court. He, too, had opportunities galore to make links with
+Louis. The accounts teem with references to his secret missions
+here and there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all carefully
+itemised. So zealous was this messenger on his master's commissions,
+that his hackneys were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold
+for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XI. was not blind to the quality
+of La Marche's services, and he thought that they, too, might be
+diverted to his use.[39]
+
+    "Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has told me that
+    Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to enter my service and
+    I am afraid that there may be some deception. However, there is
+    nothing that I would like better than to have the said Sieur
+    de Cimay, as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the matter
+    stands, and if you see that it is in good earnest work for it with
+    all diligence. Whatever you pledge I will hold to. Advise me of
+    everything.
+
+    "Written at Cléry, October 16th [1472].
+
+    "To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor, Sire du
+    Bouchage."[40]
+
+But La Marche was not tempted, and was rewarded for his fidelity
+by high office in a duchy which, shortly after these events, was
+"annexed" to his master's domain.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Journal de Jean de Roye_, i., 258.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Commynes-Dupont, iii., 202.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Plancher, iv., cccvi., May 28th.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Rymer, _Foedera_, xi., 735. _Pro Ducissa Burgundiæ super
+Lana claccanda_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 256.]
+
+[Footnote 6: One of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's
+service.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Louis's sister Yolande.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of
+the Count de Foix.]
+
+[Footnote 9: This was an allusion to a proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile. Vaesen
+cannot explain the use of Aragon. Various documents relating to this
+negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet, iii., 156.)]
+
+[Footnote 10: Vaesen gives _femmes_, Duclos _filles_. The king was
+above all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lettres de Louis XI._., iv., 286.]
+
+[Footnote 12: There was a pestilence raging at Amboise.]
+
+[Footnote 13: At Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of
+November, there was a conference wherein the king apparently promised
+to restore St. Quentin and Amiens to Charles, if he would renounce his
+alliance with the dukes of Brittany and Guienne and would betroth his
+daughter to the dauphin.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Ythier Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received "signed and sealed
+blanks" from the two princes in order to enable him to hasten matters.
+(_Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 289.)]
+
+[Footnote 15: III., ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Cette paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois
+présent."]
+
+[Footnote 17: The king's envoys who had spent the winter in the
+Burgundian court. _See_ letter to them in December.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _See_ Kervyn, _Bulletin de l'Academie royale de
+Belgique_, p. 256. _Also_ Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Louis to the Vicomte de la Belliére, _Lettres_, etc.,
+iv., 319.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Louis to Dammartin, _Ibid_., 325. _Mars_ was written
+first and then replaced by _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Odet d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de
+Lescun.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres, XI_., iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472.]
+
+[Footnote 23: _Lettres_, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Lettres_, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. _See also_
+Duclos, v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two texts,
+but the differences do not affect the narrative.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Odet d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted to
+his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis broadcast
+over the land. The truth of the death is not proven. Frequent mentions
+of Guienne's condition occur through the letters of the winter '71-72.
+The story was that the poison, administered subtly by the king's
+orders, caused the illness of both the prince and his mistress, Mme.
+de Thouan. She died after two months of suffering, December 14th,
+while he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely
+shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably wretched and
+painful, a constant torture until death mercifully released him in
+May. Accusations of poisoning are often repeated in history. In this
+case, there was certainly a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In
+his manifestos, (Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's
+tools in compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre,
+and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.
+
+The story told by Brantôme _(OEuvres Complètes_ de Pierre de
+Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantôme, ii., 329. "Grands Capitaines
+Francois." There is nothing too severe for Brantôme to say about Louis
+XI.) is very detailed. A fool passed to Louis's service from that of
+the dead prince. While this man was attending his new master in the
+church of Notre Dame de Cléry, he heard him make this prayer to the
+Virgin: "Ah! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great friend in whom
+I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a suppliant to God in my
+behalf, be my advocate with Him so that He may pardon me for the death
+of my brother whom I had poisoned by this wicked Abbé of St. John. I
+confess it to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was to
+be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me pardoned and I know well
+what I will give thee."
+
+Brantôme tells further that the fool, using the privilege of free
+speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death at dinner
+in public and after that day was never seen again. On the other hand,
+the young duke's will was all to his brother's favour. Louis was
+made executor and legatee, "and if we have ever offended our beloved
+brother," dictated the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we
+with _débonnaire_ affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Commynes
+(1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious fabrication of
+Odet d'Aydie, and other authorities refer the cause to disease. The
+very date of the death varies from May 12th to May 24th.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Commines, iii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 27: There is a curious document in existence (see _Bulletins
+de L'Hist. de France_, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the event. It
+is the deposition of several old people who had been just old enough
+to remember that awful experience of their youth. Fifty years of
+repetition gave time for the growth of the story.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Legend makes it that Jeanne Laisné, called _Fouquet_,
+chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet. Hence
+her name was changed to _La Hachette_, and she is represented with a
+hatchet.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Barante, vii., 333.]
+
+[Footnote 31: _See_ Lavisse, iv^{ii.}, 368.]
+
+[Footnote 32:
+
+  "Berri est mort,
+  Bretagne dort,
+  Bourgogne hongne,
+  Le Roy besogne."
+
+Le Roux de Lincy, _Chants historiques et populaires du temps de Louis
+XI_.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Commines also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke
+of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the Duke of
+Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.)]
+
+[Footnote 34: Kirk (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only
+Louis's way of prodding him up to act.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Dupont (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not
+enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift of the
+principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not registered in
+_Parlement_ until December 13, 1473, and in the court of records May
+2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Commines become at last, and as such he
+married Helen de Chambes, January 27, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 36: It is strange that La Marche does not mention this
+defection.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See document quoted by Gachard, _Études et Notices_,
+etc. ii., 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preserved
+in the château of Beaumont.]
+
+[Footnote 38: _See also_ Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of
+this event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too corrupt for
+honest men to endure it.]
+
+[Footnote 39: _See_ Stein. _Étude_, etc., _sur Olivier de la _Marche_.
+(Mém. Couronnés) xlix.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Letter of Louis XI. in Bibl. Nat.: _Ibid._, p. 179.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+GUELDERS
+
+1473
+
+
+The affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were among the matters
+urgently demanding the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close
+of his campaign in France. The circumstances of the long-standing
+quarrel between Duke Arnold and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a
+scandal throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming reconciliation of the
+parties had not only been effected but celebrated in the town of Grave
+by a pleasant family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke,
+fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was he in bed, when he
+was aroused rudely, and carried off half clad to a dungeon in the
+castle of Buren, by the order of his son, who superintended the
+abduction in person and then became duke regnant. For over six years
+the old man languished in prison, actually taunted, from time to time,
+it is said, by Duke Adolf himself.
+
+Indignant remonstrances against this conduct were heard from various
+quarters, and were all alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles
+of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring his father to his
+presence, and to submit the dispute to his arbitration. Charles was
+too near and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded, and his
+peremptory invitation was accepted. Pending the decision, the
+two dukes were forced to be guests in his court, under a strict
+surveillance which amounted to an arrest.
+
+The first suggestion made by Charles was for a compromise between
+father and son. "Let Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in
+Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair income, while
+to Adolf be ceded the full power of administration." The latter was
+emphatic in his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather would I
+prefer to see my father thrown into a well and to follow him thither
+than to agree to such terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty-four
+years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold thought it would be a
+simple feat to fight out the dispute. "I saw them both several times
+in the duke's apartment and in the council chamber when they pleaded,
+each his own cause. I saw the old man offer a gage of battle to his
+son."[1] The senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry. A
+trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly fashion of ending his
+differences with his importunate heir.
+
+No settlement was effected before the French expedition, but Charles
+was not disposed to let the matter slip from his control, and when
+he proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under restraint, were
+obliged to follow in his train. At a leisure moment Charles intended
+to force them to accept his arbitration as final. Before that moment
+arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs, Adolf, succeeded in
+eluding surveillance and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made his
+way successfully to Namur disguised as a Franciscan monk. Then, at
+the ferry, he gave a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The
+liberality, inconsistent with his assumed rôle, aroused suspicion and
+led to the detection of his rank and identity. He was stayed in his
+flight and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a decision on
+his case by his self-constituted judge. This was not pronounced until
+the summer of 1473.
+
+By that time, Charles was resolved on another course of action than
+that of adjusting a family dispute in the capacity of puissant,
+impartial, and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour towards his
+father had been extraordinarily brutal and outrageous. Public comment
+had been excited to a wide degree. It was not an affair to be dealt
+with lightly by Duke Charles. The young Duchess of Guelders was
+Catharine of Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy, and
+Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden Fleece. In consideration of
+these links of family and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that
+the case should be tried with all formality.
+
+[Illustration: ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS (FROM THE ENGRAVING BY
+PINSSIO, AFTER THE DRAWING BY J. ROBERT)]
+
+On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was held at Valenciennes,[2]
+and the knights were asked to pass upon the conduct of their
+delinquent fellow, who was permitted to present his own brief through
+an attorney, but was detained in his own person at Namur. The
+innocence or guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point of
+interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was concerned. The latter had
+made an excellent bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke of
+Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a document wherein he sold
+to Charles all his administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for
+ninety-two thousand florins,[3] in consideration of Arnold's enjoying
+a life interest in half of the revenue of his ancient duchy. That
+clause soon lost its significance. The old man's life ceased in March,
+1473, and, by virtue of the contract, Charles proposed to enter into
+full possession of his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he
+was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal, quite beyond the pale of
+society, but that Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose
+hereditary claims had also been ignored by his grandfather.
+
+Before the knights of the Order as a final court, were rehearsed all
+the circumstances of the old family quarrel and of the late commercial
+transaction. Their verdict was the one desired by their chief. It was
+proven to their entire satisfaction that Arnold's sale of the duchy of
+Guelders and Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the deed
+executed by him was a perfect and valid instrument, whereby Charles of
+Burgundy was duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of, and to exert
+authority in, his new duchy at his pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he
+was condemned by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment as
+punishment for his unfilial and unjustifiable cruelty towards Arnold,
+late Duke of Guelders.
+
+Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars, but the people of
+Guelders were by no means disposed to accept unquestioned this deed
+of transfer, made when the two parties to the conveyance were in
+very unequal conditions of freedom. In order to convince them of the
+justice of his pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as efficient
+as his army of the preceding summer, and fell upon Guelders. A truce,
+a triple compact with France and England, had recently been renewed,
+so that for the moment his hands were free from complications, an
+event commented upon by Sir John Paston, as follows:
+
+    "April 16, 1473, CANTERBURY.
+
+    "As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys about the xxvi
+    day off March last, betwyn the Duke of Burgoyn and the Frense
+    Kings inbassators and Master William Atclyff ffor the king heer,
+    whiche is a pese be londe and be water tyll the ffyrst daye off
+    Apryll nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland, and also the
+    Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever."
+
+The writer had recently been in Charles's court. Writing from Calais
+in February, he says:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that the Duke of
+    Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth well. I was with them on
+    Thorysdaye last past at Gaunt."[4]
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pretender to the vacated
+sovereignty of Guelders. The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to
+urge his cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At the sight
+of Burgundian puissance, however, he was ready to be convinced, and
+accepted 24,000 florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness of
+the accession. Several of the cities manifested opposition to Charles,
+but yielded one after another. In Nimwegen--long hostile to Duke
+Arnold--there was a determined effort to support little Charles of
+Guelders who, with his sister, was in that city. The child made a
+pretty show on his little pony, and there were many declarations of
+devotion to his cause as he was put forward to excite sympathy. For
+three weeks, the town held out in his name. The resistance to the
+Burgundian troops was sturdy. When the gates gave way before their
+attacks the burghers defended the broken walls. Six hundred English
+archers were repulsed from an assault with such sudden energy that
+they left their banners sticking in the very breaches they thought
+they had won, fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But the game
+was unequal, and the combatants, convinced that discretion was the
+better part of valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a
+mediator with their would-be sovereign.
+
+On July 19th, a long civic procession headed by the burgomasters,
+wearing neither hats nor shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a
+prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the opposition to his
+accession were delivered over to the mercy of the victor. The garrison
+were accorded their lives and a tax was imposed on the city to
+indemnify the duke for his needless trouble, and Guelders was added
+_de facto_ to the list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various
+state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the mention of the
+circumstance of his accession to the sovereignty was simple and
+straightforward, as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la
+Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the date of August 18th and
+was one of the earliest issued by Charles in this new capacity.
+
+    "As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his life Duke of
+    Guelderland, these counties and duchy have lapsed to me, and by
+    the same token the offices of the land have escheated to our
+    disposition, and among others the office of master of the moneys
+    of those countships ... using the rights, etc., escheated to me,
+    and in consideration of the good and agreeable services already
+    rendered and continually rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de
+    la Marche, having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity,
+    and good diligence--for these causes and others we entrust the
+    office of master and overseer of moneys of the land of Guelders
+    to him, with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereto
+    pertaining. In testimony of this we have set our seal to these
+    papers. Done in our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 1473. Thus signed
+    by M. le duc."
+
+On the back of this document was written:
+
+    "To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la Marche ... took
+    the oath of office of master and overseer of the land and duchy of
+    Guelders."[5]
+
+The charge of the ducal children, Charles and Philippa, was entrusted
+to the duke who, in his turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise
+their education. In a comparatively brief time agitation in behalf
+of the disinherited heir ceased, and imperial ratification alone was
+required to stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the Burgundian
+domains. Under the circumstances the minor heirs were the emperor's
+wards, and it was his express duty to look to their interests, but
+Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert himself as their
+champion. On the contrary, the embassy that arrived from his court on
+August 14th was charged with felicitations to his dear friend, Charles
+of Burgundy, for his acquisition, and with assurances that the
+requisite investiture into his dignities should be given by his
+imperial hand at the duke's pleasure.[6]
+
+Communication between Frederic and Charles had been intermittently
+frequent during the past three years, and one subject of their letters
+was probably a reason why Charles had been willing to abandon a losing
+game in France to give another bias to his thoughts. He was lured
+on by the bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite form
+indeed, but full of promise that he might be enabled, eventually, to
+confer with Louis XI. from a better vantage ground than his position
+as first peer of France. The story of these hopes now becomes the
+story of Charles of Burgundy.
+
+When Sigismund of Austria completed his mortgage, in 1469, at St.
+Omer, and returned home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to
+divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth into the empty imperial
+coffers. An alliance between Mary of Burgundy and the young Archduke
+Maximilian seemed to him the most advantageous matrimonial bargain
+possible for the emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with
+all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish in his offers to be
+mediator between him and his new friend Charles.
+
+Frederic was impressed by Sigismund's enthusiastic exposition of the
+advantages of the match, and little time elapsed before his ambassador
+brought formal proposals to Charles for the alliance. The duke
+received the advances complacently and returned propositions
+significant of his personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his
+instructions to certain envoys sent to the intermediary, Sigismund,
+are plain. In unequivocal terms, his daughter's hand is made
+contingent on his own election as King of the Romans, that shadowy
+royalty which veiled the approach to the imperial throne.
+
+    "_Item_--And in regard to the said marriage, the ambassadors shall
+    inform Monseigneur of Austria that, since his departure from
+    Hesdin, certain people have talked to Monseigneur about this
+    marriage and mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be
+    willing to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the government of
+    the Kingdom of the Romans, with the stipulation that Monseigneur,
+    _arrived at the empire by the good pleasure of the emperor_ or
+    by his death, would, in his turn, procure the said crown of the
+    Romans for his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire
+    will be continued in the person of the emperor's son and his
+    descendants.
+
+    "_Item_--They shall tell him about a meeting between the imperial
+    and ducal ambassadors, at which meeting there was some talk of
+    making a kingdom out of certain lands of Monseigneur and
+    joining these to an _imperial_ vicariate of all the lands and
+    principalities lying along the Rhine."
+
+In the following paragraphs of this instruction,[7] Charles directs
+his envoys to make it clear to Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund)
+that the duke's interest in the plan does not spring from avarice or
+ambition. He is purely actuated by a yearning to employ his time and
+his strength for God's service and for the defence of the Faith, while
+still in his prime.
+
+Should the emperor refuse to approve the duke's nomination as King of
+the Romans, the ambassadors are instructed to say that they are not
+empowered to proceed with the marriage negotiations without first
+referring to their chief. They must ask leave to return with their
+report. If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound the emperor
+again about his sentiments, the envoys might await the result of his
+investigations. He was to be assured that while Charles was resolved
+to hold back until he was fully satisfied on this point, if it were
+once ceded, he would interpose no further delay in the celebration of
+the nuptials. He must know, however, just what power and revenue the
+emperor would attach to the proposed title. He was not willing to
+accept it without emoluments. His present financial burdens were
+already heavy, etc. The concluding items of the instructions had
+reference to the marriage settlements.
+
+A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream at this stage of
+Burgundo-Austrian negotiations. The title that Charles desired
+primarily was King of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign
+power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing imperial dignity.
+Significant is the intimation that after this preliminary title was
+conferred, its wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside
+voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient as death in making
+room for his appointed successor.
+
+Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally that a life of
+meditation would suit his tastes better than the imperial throne, but
+he seems in no wise to have been tempted by the offer made by Charles
+to relieve him of his onerous duties, and then to pass on the office
+to his son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the opportunity to enjoy
+an irresponsible ease. His answer to the duke was that he did not
+exercise sufficient influence over his electors to ensure their
+accepting his nominee as successor to the _imperium_.
+
+There was, however, one honour that lay wholly within his gift. If
+Charles desired higher rank, the emperor would be quite willing to
+erect his territories into a realm and to create him monarch of
+his own agglomerated possessions, welded into a new unity. This
+proposition wounded Charles keenly. He assured Sigismund[8] (January
+15, 1471) that his nomination as King of the Romans would never have
+occurred to him spontaneously. He had been assured that it was a
+darling project of the emperor, and he had simply been willing
+to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own, he refused the
+proposition with actual disdain.
+
+Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of Burgundy appeared on
+the scene successively. To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine,
+grandson of old King René of Anjou, she was formally betrothed.[9]
+
+"My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very redoubtable seigneur
+and father, I promise you that, you being alive, I will take none
+other than you and I promise to take you when God permits it." So
+wrote Mary with her own hand on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December
+3d, she declared all such pledges revoked as though they never had
+been made, and Nicholas, too, formally renounced his pretensions to
+her hand.
+
+There were several moments when Charles of France had appeared to be
+very near acceptance as Mary's husband, and several other princes
+seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father found his daughter very
+valuable as a means of attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as
+Commines says, he was not anxious to introduce any son-in-law into his
+family. His fortieth year was only completed in 1473, and he was by no
+means ready to range himself as an ancestor.
+
+At successive times the negotiations between Charles and Frederic were
+ruptured only to be renewed on some slightly different basis. Threaded
+together they made a story fraught with interest for Louis XI., and
+one that, very probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up to August,
+1472, it is a safe inference that Philip de Commines was fully
+cognisant of the propositions and counter-propositions, the
+understandings and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as well
+as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian envoys that appeared
+at one Burgundian camp after another. Probably there was nothing more]
+valuable in the store of learning carried by the astute historian from
+his first patron to his second than all this fund of confidential
+miscellany.
+
+It seems a fair surmise that Louis XI. enjoyed immensely the
+delightful private view into his rival's dreams, the disappointments
+and rehabilitation of his shattered visions. The relation would have
+made him not only fully aware of the reasons why Charles was diverted
+from his hot pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly informed as to
+the great obstacles lying in the path which the duke hoped to travel.
+Naturally, the king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin was
+inevitable. If his rival were disposed to wreck himself rashly on
+German shoals, the king was equally disposed to be an acquiescent
+onlooker and to spare his own powder.
+
+On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of the extent of his loss
+of prestige within the French realm in 1472. There had been other
+periods when the king had appeared triumphant over his aspiring nobles
+only to be again checked by their alliance. In the radical change
+undergone by the feudatories after Guienne's death and Brittany's
+reconciliation, there was, however, no opening left for the Duke
+of Burgundy's re-entry as a French political leader. It was this
+definitive cessation of his importance that Charles failed to
+recognise. Confident that his star was rising in the east he did
+not note the significance of its setting in the west. Thereupon the
+situation was,--Charles, believing that his plans were his own
+secret, _versus_ Louis, fully advised of those plans and alert to all
+incidents of the past, present, and future in a fashion impossible to
+the duke in his absorbed contemplation of his own prospects, blocking
+the scope of his view.
+
+With the emperor's congratulations at the duke's accession to
+Guelders, and his offers to invest him with the title, were coupled
+intimations that it was an opportune moment to resume consideration of
+an alliance between the Archduke Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The
+duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf de Soulz and Peter
+von Hagenbach proceeded to the Burgundian and Austrian courts
+respectively, as confidential envoys to discuss the marriage.[10]
+
+Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than he had been to the
+last imperial messenger, the Abbé de Casanova, who had restricted his
+proposals to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's. The duke had no
+intention of permitting any conference to proceed on that line. He was
+explicit as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised by a gift of
+ten thousand florins, explained by the phrase, "because Monseigneur
+recognised the love and affection borne him by the said count." That
+was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices, and estates were
+conferred, to take effect on the day when Monseigneur was named King
+of the Romans.
+
+The instructions to Hagenbach were definite, covering the ground
+of those previously mentioned, issued in 1470. He was, however,
+especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the duke did not require
+his abdication. He would be content to step into the shoes naturally
+vacated by his death.
+
+The final suggestion resulting from these parleyings was that an
+interview between the two principals would be far more satisfactory
+than any further interchange of messages. It was not only a propitious
+time for a conference, but it was necessary. The ceremony of
+investiture of the duke into his latest acquired fief made it
+evidently imperative that he should visit the emperor. And to
+preparations for that event, Charles turned his attention, now
+absolutely confident that the outcome must be to his satisfaction. He
+had as little comprehension of the character of the man with whom he
+was to deal as he had of Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some
+difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near his own frontier.
+Metz was selected and abandoned on account of an epidemic. Finally
+Trèves was appointed for the important occasion, and Frederic sent
+official invitations to the princes of the empire to follow him
+thither in October.
+
+Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY C. LAPLANTE)]
+
+Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous, another event had occurred
+that had an important bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of
+Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir. He had been
+relinquished as a son-in-law, but the geographical position of his
+duchy made the question of its sovereignty all important to Charles of
+Burgundy. If it could be under his own control, how convenient for
+the passage of his troops from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for
+duchies like many another can grow by what it feeds upon.
+
+Prepared to set out for his journey to Trèves, Charles hastened his
+movements and proceeded to Metz with an escort so large that it had a
+formidable aspect to the city fathers. Whether they feared that their
+free city was too tempting a base for attack on Lorraine or not, the
+magistrates yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian thousands
+without their walls. The emperor, too, was on his way to Trèves. Many
+of his suite were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might be found for
+Charles and his immediate retainers, indeed, but the troops must make
+themselves as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So said the
+burgomaster, and Charles was forced to yield and he made a splendid
+entry into the town under the prescribed conditions.
+
+His own paraphernalia had been forwarded from Antwerp, so that
+there should be an abundance of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his
+temporary quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had been scoured to
+secure game for the banquets.
+
+It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a humour to be pleased.
+He was annoyed about his troops; very probably he had intended leaving
+a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine if occasion
+offered. He cut short his stay in the town and marched on with his
+imposing escort to Trèves, whence he hoped to march out again a
+greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy had ever been.[11]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, iv., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Hist. de l'Ordre,_ etc., p. 64. One of the places to be
+filled at this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower
+of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace of the
+ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated in the minutes of
+the session that Adolf of Guelders was asked to nominate candidates
+from his prison, but he would not do it. Striking is Charles's remark
+on the nomination of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that
+the Order was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very
+excellent, he judged it more _à propos_ to distribute the five empty
+collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was elected, as
+was also Engelbert of Nassau.
+
+Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules of the Order.
+There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard for taking a gift of 20,000
+crowns from Louis XI. Payable as it was in terms, it savoured of a
+pension. Had Henry van Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's
+landing in England? etc.
+
+Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the disposition of
+the scarlet mantles now discarded by the chevaliers. It was decided
+after deliberation that they should be sold and the proceeds applied
+to the purchase of tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the
+treasurer was deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this
+connection that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or
+rather abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order and
+the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best to defer this
+point until his return from his proposed journey to Guelders. Lengthy,
+too, were the discussions upon the exact usage in respect to wearing
+the collar and insignia of the Order.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The first sum named was three hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _The Paston Letters, iii., 79._.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Mémoires Couronnés_, xlix., 180.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the Duke
+of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to Nimwegen where the
+ambassador of the emperor visited him.]
+
+[Footnote 7: This instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the
+Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been referred to
+1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to conclude that it belongs
+rather to 1470. The question of the marriage comes in at the end of
+the paper, the first part being devoted to Swiss affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Lenglet, iii., 192.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Toutey, p. 44; Chmel, _Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3._]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey, p. 46.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES
+
+1473
+
+
+On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor Frederic made his entry into the
+old Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days later, the Duke of
+Burgundy arrived and was welcomed most pompously outside of Trèves, by
+his suzerain.
+
+After the first greetings, ensued an argument about the etiquette
+proper for the occasion, an argument similar to those which had
+absorbed the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when the dauphin
+made his famous visit to Duke Philip. For thirty minutes, the emperor
+argued with his guest before feudal scruples were overcome and the
+vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side into the city.
+
+The entry was a grand sight, and crowds thronged the streets, more
+curious about the duke than about the emperor. Charles was then in the
+very prime of life. His personality commanded attention, but there
+were some among the onlookers who found it more striking than
+attractive. One bystander thought that the very splendour of his
+dress, wherein cloth of gold and pearls played a part, only brought
+into high relief the severity of his features. His great black eyes,
+his proud and determined air failed to cast into oblivion a certain
+effect of insignificance given by his square figure, broad shoulders,
+excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed from continuous
+riding.[l]
+
+There is, however, another word portrait of the duke as he looked in
+the year 1473, whose trend is more sympathetic.[2] "His stature was
+small and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark chestnut, eyes black
+and brilliant, his presence majestic but stern. He was high-spirited,
+magnanimous, courageous, intrepid, and impetuous. Capable of action,
+he lacked nothing but prudence to attain success."
+
+From the two descriptions emerges a fairly clear picture of an
+energetic man, somewhat undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert
+his dignity in a fashion that did not quite comport with his physical
+characteristics. The conviction that he was a very important personage
+with greater importance awaiting him, and his total lack of a sense of
+humour, combined with his inability to feel the pulse of a situation,
+undoubtedly affected his bearing and made it seem more pompous.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD IDEALISED BY RUBENS. IN THE IMPERIAL
+GALLERY AT VIENNA BY PERMISSION OF J.J. LOWY, VIENNA]
+
+The emperor was not an heroic figure in appearance any more than he
+was in the records of his reign, distinguished for being the feeblest
+as well as the longest in the annals of the empire. He was indolent,
+timid, irresolute, and incapable. His features and manners were
+vulgar, his intellect sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies,
+he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding his imperial sceptre.
+At Trèves he was accompanied by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a
+fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready to be fascinated by
+his proposed father-in-law, who was a striking contrast to his own
+languid and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous love of action.
+
+As the two princes rode together into the city, Charles's
+accoutrements attracted all eyes. The polished steel of his armour
+shone like silver. Over it hung a short mantle actually embroidered
+with diamonds and other precious stones to the value of two hundred
+thousand gold crowns. His velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out
+of compliment to the emperor, was ornamented with a diamond whose
+price no man could tell. Before him walked a page carrying his helmet
+studded with gems, while his magnificent black steed was heavily
+weighted down with its rich caparisons.
+
+Frederic III., very simple in his ordinary dress, had exerted himself
+to appear well to his great vassal. His robe of cloth of gold
+was fine, though it may have looked something like a luxurious
+dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish fashion and bordered
+with pearls. The emperor was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the
+tradition, by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but innocent
+doors that chanced to impede his way.
+
+The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and silver, walked by the side
+of an Ottoman prince, prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity
+by the pope himself. And then there was a host of nobles, great and
+small. Among them were Engelbert of Nassau[3] and the representative
+of the House of Orange-Châlons, whose titles were destined to be
+united in one person within the next half-century.
+
+The magnificence remained unrivalled in the history of royal
+conferences. The very troopers wore habits of cloth of gold over their
+steel, while their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed with silver
+bells. Surpassing all others, were the heralds-at-arms of the various
+individual states which acknowledged Charles as their sovereign,
+seigneur, count, or duke as the case might be. They preceded their
+liege lord, clad in their distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with
+colour. Before them were the trumpeters in white and blue, their very
+instruments silvered, while first of all rode one hundred golden
+haired boys, "an angel throng."
+
+It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite etiquette of escort,
+that the emperor and duke agreed to separate on the fairly neutral
+ground of the market-place. Each proceeded with his own suite to his
+lodgings, Frederic to the archbishop's palace, and Charles to
+the abbey of St. Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years
+previously, the honorary title of "Protector." His army was quartered
+within and without the city. Two days for repose and then the first
+official interview took place, which is described as follows, by an
+unknown correspondent, evidently in the ducal suite:[4]
+
+    "Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur waited upon the emperor
+    and escorted him to his own lodging which is in the abbey of St.
+    Maximin. My said lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat.
+    The emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy, and his
+    son was in a robe of green damask. As to their people, both suites
+    were very brave, jewelry and cloth of gold being as common as
+    satin or taffeta. Monseigneur received the emperor in a little
+    chamber decorated with hangings from Holland that many recognised.
+
+    "The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his mouthpiece to describe
+    the stress of Christianity and to urge Charles to lend his
+    assistance. Having listened to this address, Monseigneur requested
+    the emperor to please come into a larger place where more people
+    could hear his answer. Accordingly they entered a hall decorated
+    with the tapestry of Alexander, while the very ceiling was covered
+    with cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a double row of
+    seats. Benches and steps were spread over with tapestry wrought
+    with my lord's arms. Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais
+    with difficulty.... Mons., the chancellor, clad in velvet over
+    velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a discourse in beautiful Latin
+    as a response to what had been said by the seigneur of Mayence.
+    Then, showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected by
+    the king, he began with an account of the king's reception by
+    Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evidently the late duke], in his
+    own residence, and he continued down to the present day, dilating
+    upon the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis]
+    received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extortions he had
+    made since and desires to make. Never a word was forgotten, but
+    all was well stated, especially the case of M. de Guienne.[5]
+    Finally, Monseigneur declared that if his lands were in security,
+    there was nothing he would like better than to give aid to
+    Christianity.
+
+    "After this statement, which was marvellously honest, the emperor
+    arose from the throne, wine and spices were brought, and then
+    Monseigneur escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand
+    display of torches. This is the outline of what happened on
+    October 4th, in the said year lxxiii. And as to the future, next
+    Thursday the emperor will dine where Monseigneur lodges, _et là
+    fera les grants du roy_,[6] and there will be novelties. In regard
+    to the fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very
+    fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human, and benign.
+    I do not know with whom to compare his figure better than
+    Monseigneur de Croy, as he was eight or ten years ago, except that
+    his flesh is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor has
+    seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the major part
+    of the nobles present come from this locality. In regard to
+    Monseigneur's departure, there is no news, and they make great
+    cheer--this is all for this time."
+
+    The German scholars in the imperial party listened most
+    attentively to the style of the Netherlander's speech as well as
+    to his subject-matter. "More abundant in vocabulary than elegant
+    in Latinity," was their comment, a fault they considered marking
+    all French Latin. The audience found time to note the style for
+    the subject of the address did not interest them greatly. The
+    least observant onlooker knew that the main purpose of this
+    interview was not the plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic
+    appointed a committee to discuss that, whose members, Burgundian
+    and German in equal numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern
+    question while emperor and duke were absorbed in other matters.[7]
+    In their very first session, this committee decided that the
+    chief obstacle to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgundian
+    quarrel. This point was also raised by Charles in his first
+    conference with Frederic. No campaign was feasible until the
+    European powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI. was aiding
+    and abetting the heathen by being a disturbing element which
+    rendered this desired unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a
+    fresh commission to discuss European peace. And this insolvable
+    problem was a convenient blind for other discussions.
+
+    On October 5th, a Burgundian fête gave new occasion for a display
+    of wealth; "vulgar ostentation," sneered the less opulent German
+    nobles who tried to show that their pride was not wounded by the
+    sharp contrasts between imperial habits and those of a mere duke.
+    On their side, the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to
+    waste good things on boors so little accustomed to elegantly
+    equipped apartments that they used silken bedspreads to polish up
+    their boots!
+
+    A running commentary of international criticism, fine feasts,
+    ostensible negotiations about projects that probably no one
+    expected would come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent
+    and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on one side, feebly
+    accepted by the other while the two principals were together, and
+    petulantly disliked by the emperor as soon as he was alone again
+    --such was the course of the conference.
+
+    Frederic III. had one simple desire--to marry his son to the
+    Burgundian heiress. Charles desired many things, some of which are
+    clear and others obscure. The very fact that the emperor did not
+    at once refuse his demands, gave him confidence that all were
+    obtainable. Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal chief
+    by a display of his resources, and by showing the high esteem in
+    which he was held by all nations. There at Trèves, embassies came
+    to him from England, from various Italian and German states, and
+    from Hungary.
+
+    On October 15th, a treaty was signed that made the new Duke of
+    Lorraine virtually a vassal to Charles, an important step towards
+    Burgundian expansion. There was time and to spare for these many
+    comings and goings during the eight weeks of the sojourn at
+    Trèves, and the duke was not idle. That his own business hung
+    fire, he thought was due to the machinations of Louis XI. He had
+    no desire to prolong his visit, for he was well aware of the
+    risk involved in keeping his troops in Trèves.[8] At first the
+    magnificence of his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but
+    little by little, in spite of the duke's strict discipline, the
+    presence of idle soldiers became very onerous. Charles did not
+    hesitate to hang on the nearest tree a man caught in an illicit
+    act, but much lawlessness passed without his knowledge. Provisions
+    became very dear; there was some danger of an epidemic due to the
+    unsanitary conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so many
+    strangers. The precautions instituted by the Roman founders in
+    regard to their water supply had long since fallen into disuse.
+
+    Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite answer from the
+    emperor as to the proposed kingdom, the matrimonial alliance, and
+    his own status. Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then
+    substituted vague promises for present assent to the demands. But
+    when Charles, indignant, broke off negotiations on October 31st,
+    and began to prepare for immediate departure, Frederic became
+    anxious, renewed his overtures, and a new conference took place,
+    in which he consented to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the
+    proviso the sanction of his election should be obtained.
+
+    Charles promised to go against the Turk in person, and to place
+    a thousand men at Frederic's disposal, so soon as all points at
+    issue between him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that
+    his estates were erected into a kingdom, which should also
+    comprise the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the
+    duchies of Lorraine, Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be
+    a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, and
+    transmissible by heredity in the male and female line--a necessary
+    recognition of a woman's right, approved by both parties, for Mary
+    of Burgundy was to marry Maximilian.
+
+    Electoral confirmation alone was wanting, and in regard to that
+    there was much voluminous correspondence and much shuffling of
+    responsibility. The electors of Mayence and of Trèves were the
+    only ones present to speak for themselves, and they declared
+    that the matter ought to be referred to a full conclave of the
+    electoral college.[9] Let the candidate for royalty await the
+    decision of the next diet, appointed for November at Augsburg.
+
+    Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed this solution to
+    Charles, who replied haughtily that if his request were not
+    complied with he would join Louis XI. in a league hostile to the
+    empire. This was on November 6th. The Archbishop of Trèves then
+    suggested that if the question could not wait for a diet, at
+    least the electors should be summoned, especially the elector of
+    Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential with the emperor, and
+    who was a leader in the anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German
+    party. This seemed fair, but the emperor suddenly put on a show of
+    authority and declared, with an injured air, that he was perfectly
+    free to act on his own initiative without confirmation. In the
+    interests of Christianity and of the empire he would appoint
+    Charles of Burgundy chief of the crusade, and he would crown him
+    king.
+
+    The organised opposition to his plan came to the duke's ears and
+    made him very angry. Yet, at the same time, he had no desire
+    to dispense with electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the
+    imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure his kingdom into
+    permanent existence. It was finally decided that Frederic III.
+    should display his power to the extent of investing Charles
+    at once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more important
+    investiture should be postponed.
+
+    Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the market-place.
+    Frederic was exalted upon a high platform ascended by a flight
+    of steps. Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded and
+    unattended, rode slowly around the platform three times, "which
+    they say was the custom in such solemnities of investiture," adds
+    an eyewitness,[10] as though he considered the ceremony somewhat
+    archaic. Then the candidate dismounted, received the mantle of the
+    empire from an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the
+    emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying the insignia of
+    the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered on the Burgundian arms, was
+    carried before him. Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid
+    two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the oath of fealty and
+    service in low but distinct tones. Other rites followed, and then
+    Charles was proclaimed Duke of Guelders.
+
+    [Illustration: MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA, MEDAL]
+
+    Thus one object of the conference was attained, and all the
+    world thought it was only a question of time when the greater
+    investiture would be celebrated. Charles's star was in the
+    ascendant. There seemed no limit to the power he had acquired
+    over his suzerain, who apparently graciously nodded assent to his
+    requests, while the duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with
+    the King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory in all doubtful
+    issues. At the same time, his confidence in Frederic was by no
+    means perfect.
+
+    "The emperor is acting with perfect imperial authority and thinks
+    that no one has a right to dispute it, nevertheless the duke
+    yearns for the sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining
+    it."[11] The tone taken by Charles was that of humble ignorance.
+    "Little instructed as I am in imperial German law, I am anxious to
+    have your opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to erect a
+    kingdom." On November 8th, in the evening, the electors present in
+    Trèves declared that they were not exactly sure about the imperial
+    authority, but they were sure that it was not their duty to
+    discuss the legal attributes of imperial puissance.
+
+    Under these circumstances what remained to hinder the attainment
+    of Charles's desire? The emperor consented, and the only people
+    who could have stayed his consent expressly stated that his was
+    the final word, not theirs. It was easy for onlookers to conclude
+    not only that the coronation was certain but that it was done.
+
+    "Know that our lord the emperor has made the Duke of Burgundy a
+    king of the lands hereafter mentioned and has assured the royal
+    title to him and his heirs, male and female; all the territories
+    that he holds from the empire together with Guelderland lately
+    conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to the empire
+    in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy that formerly was held from
+    the crown of France; also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen,
+    and others belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories,
+    also imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he
+    receives from a Roman emperor."
+
+So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November 13th, trusting to the
+word of an envoy who had left matters in so advanced a state when he
+departed from Trèves that he felt safe in concluding that achievement
+had been reached.[12]
+
+Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too, were filled with
+rumours from Trèves. Most extraordinary is one of November 29th,
+intended to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, containing _exact
+details of the coronation of Charles as it had taken place five days
+previously_. The boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.[13]
+Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had instantly shown
+exceptional honour to the Burgundian resident. How exact it all
+sounded! Yet there was no truth in it.
+
+The vacillating emperor was affected by the attitude of his suite, and
+by their varying representations. There is no actual proof of French
+interference, but French agents had been seen in the city, and might
+have had private audiences with the emperor. Gradually, relations
+changed between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud, not
+dissipated by a three days' fête given by the duke (November
+19th-22d), evidently in farewell. Was Charles too exigeant with his
+demands, too chary of his daughter? Probably.
+
+On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty a simple convention
+was signed, postponing the coronation until February. Emperor and
+regal candidate were to meet again at Besançon, Cologne, or Basel. In
+the interval, Charles was to come to a satisfactory understanding with
+the electors and obtain their official endorsement for the imperial
+grant.
+
+November 25th was appointed, _not_ for the regal investiture, but for
+Frederic's departure. On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to
+his councillors and princes. The electors present were urged by the
+Burgundians to give their own conditional approval at least, and to
+consent to a reduction of the military obligations to be incurred
+by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where nobody wished to pledge
+anything definitely. There was an evident disposition to await some
+further issue before final action.
+
+The leave-taking between the bargain makers was expected to be as
+pompous as had been the entry into Trèves. It was far into the night
+of November 24th when the audience broke up. Little rest was there for
+the imperial suite, for when the tardy November sun arose above the
+eastern horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the Moselle. Not
+only had no imperial adieux been uttered, but no imperial debts had
+been settled. This was the news that was awaiting Charles when he
+awoke. Baffled he was, but not in his hope of being a king that day.
+No, only in his expectation of a stately pageant.[14] In all haste he
+sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly along the bank than the
+boat could sail, so as to overtake the traveller and urge him to wait
+for a few more words on divers topics. In one account it is reported
+that Frederic, though annoyed at the interruption, still assented to
+Hagenbach's request. No sooner was the latter away, however, than he
+changed his mind and continued his course.
+
+Rumour was busy, in regard to this strange exit of the emperor from
+the scene. The general belief among contemporaries was that it was on
+the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic turned his back on
+the scene. Take first the words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that
+he was in the very midst of the events can hardly be doubted:[15]
+
+    "But alas how easily and instantly human desires change, and how
+    fragile are the alliances and friendships of men, especially of
+    princes, which are not joined and confirmed by the glue of Christ
+    ... as the sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes
+    nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.' Suddenly,
+    forsooth, when they were thought to be harmonious in charity,
+    benevolence, and friendship, when they offered each other such
+    splendid entertainment, when they feasted together in regal luxury
+    in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has been said,
+    needed for the magnificence of such a great honour were made
+    ready and prepared, so that on the third day should occur the
+    celebration of that regal dignity _[fastigii],_ and the
+    _[provectio]_ promotion of a new king and the erection of a new
+    kingdom or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one,
+    now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with great
+    attention;--something occurred. I do not know what; hesitation or
+    suspicion, fancied or justified, unexpectedly affected the emperor
+    ... and embarking on his ship in the very early morning he sailed
+    down the river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated the
+    hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who believed that
+    he was to be elevated to a king. In a moment this hope was
+    extinguished like a candle.
+
+    "We were present there in the city of Trèves, attached to the
+    suite of neither prince, not serving or pretending to serve either
+    of them. But we ascertained nothing either then or later, although
+    we made many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure
+    and we are still ignorant of the truth. When the day broke after
+    the emperor's departure, and the duke was informed of the fact, he
+    was also assured that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was
+    opposite the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs. So he
+    sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to stay for a very
+    brief interview with the duke, assuring him that the very least
+    delay possible should occur if he did the favour. But no attention
+    was paid to the signals from the shore and the course was
+    continued."
+
+The bishop wrote these words some time after the event. There are
+other accounts preserved, actual letters written within a few days or
+weeks of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar ignorance of what
+had actually passed. The following gives several suggestions of
+difficulties not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar Cesner,
+secretary, writes to Master Johannes Gelthauss and others in
+Frankfort, from Cologne, on December 6th.[16] He was attached to
+the imperial service, and possibly was one of the few attendants on
+Frederic in the hasty journey from Trèves. After touching on Cologne
+affairs he proceeds:
+
+    "I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of Burgundy came
+    with all pomp for his coronation as king of the kingdom of
+    Burgundy and Friesland with twenty-six standards besides a
+    magnificent sceptre and crown. He also wished to take his duchy
+    and territories in Savoy[17] and Guelders and others in fief from
+    him [the emperor] and not from the empire.[18] This and other
+    extraordinary demands his imperial grace did not wish to grant,
+    and on that account he has broken off the interview and gone away.
+    Everything was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the
+    taking.[19] It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix. It may be
+    hoped not [_non speratur_]. You can understand me as well as your
+    faithful servant.
+
+    "Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh at me. I can
+    please my gracious lord and be worthy of praise if you will only
+    trust me.
+
+    "Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.
+
+    "To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss, Distinguished
+    advocate, master, preceptor of the city of Frankfort."
+
+The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:
+
+    "Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the second, Holland,
+    Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg, Namur, Hainaut, and the
+    dioceses of Liege, Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy,
+    Luxemburg, Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."
+
+The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed in secret
+conference.[20]
+
+Again the rumour that the final straw that broke the emperor's
+resolution was the duke's desire to take Savoy and Guelders from
+his hand alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this wish might
+indicate an attempt to separate a portion of territory from the empire
+in a way to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that his kingdom
+was an imperial fief, while, in reality, it was an independent realm,
+as he or his successors could declare at a convenient moment. But this
+seems at variance with his attested desire for electoral support.
+
+It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled. Yet, considering
+the emperor's personal characteristics, his last action does not
+seem inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity of his will,
+Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic, obstinate, yet conscious of his
+own weakness, personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate and
+much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant. The collision made him
+writhe uneasily and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as quietly
+as he could.
+
+The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent, and the
+magnificence again was significant of Burgundian wealth. Whether the
+duke would surely keep his pledge of sharing that wealth with the
+archduke if the emperor went so far that he could not draw back, was a
+consideration that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic. Had Mary of
+Burgundy accompanied her father, had the wedding of the daughter and
+investiture of the new king been planned for the same day, had the
+promises been exchanged simultaneously, the leave-taking might have
+passed, indeed, as a third ceremonial in all stateliness.
+
+If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain, it is not surprising.
+It was notorious how the duke had played fast and loose with his
+daughter's hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor as the
+greater advantages of another alliance were presented to him, or as
+the mere disadvantage of any marriage at all became unpleasantly near.
+Vigorous man of forty that he was, Charles had no personal desire to
+see a son-in-law, _in propria persona_, waiting for his shoes--a fact
+perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the rest of the world.
+
+The task of making the imperial adieux was entrusted to the imperial
+chamberlain, Ulrich von Montfort, who duly presented his master's
+formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of November 25th.
+"Important and urgent affairs had necessitated his presence elsewhere.
+The arrangement discussed between them was not broken but simply
+postponed until a more convenient occasion rendered its execution
+possible," etc.
+
+The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles was in a towering rage on
+receiving this communication. He clinched his fists, ground his teeth,
+and kicked the furniture about the room in which he had locked himself
+up.[21] But by the time these words were penned, these authors
+were better informed than Charles about the ultimate result of the
+emperor's intentions. The duke may have been angry, but he certainly
+controlled himself sufficiently to give several audiences in the
+course of the day--to envoys from Lorraine among others--and was ready
+to take his own departure by evening, not doubting that the crown and
+sceptre, carefully packed with the mountain of his valuable treasure,
+would assuredly fulfil their destiny in the near future. Trèves was
+left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last man to realise
+that in its silence were entombed for ever his chances of wearing the
+prematurely prepared insignia.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: This comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is
+quoted by De Bussière in his _Histoire de la Ligue contre Charles le
+Téméraire_, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that this contemporary
+had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Guillaume Faret or Farrel. His _Hist. de René II._ is
+lost. This citation from it is found in _La Guerre de René II. contre
+Charles le Hardi_, by P. Aubert Roland.]
+
+[Footnote 3: He had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the
+May meeting. From this time on some member of the Nassau family was
+prominent in Burgundian affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Gachard, _Doc. inédits_, i., 232. Letter from Trèves,
+October 4, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 5: About this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to
+unravel the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the chancellor
+of Brittany, _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 190.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gachard could not explain this phrase. It might easily
+refer to the desired investiture.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, _Mon. Habs_., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey bases this statement on three letters (October
+30, 31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector of
+Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Basin, _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI._, ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had been
+new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many times between the
+chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]
+
+[Footnote 11: Albert of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller,
+_Reichstag Theatrum_, p. 598.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 57.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Toutey, p. 60, note.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In this account, differing from the current
+tradition, Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (_Deutsche
+Reichsgeschichte,_ ii., 435).]
+
+[Footnote 15: Basin, ii., 325.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Preserved in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr.
+5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published by
+Karl Schellhass in _Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtewissenschaft,_
+(1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture of German and
+Latin.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Charles asked on October 23d, through his chancellor,
+for investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Under this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had
+lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]
+
+[Footnote 19: This means the throne from which Charles was to step
+down to receive the fief.]
+
+[Footnote 20: "Loquitur etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiæ et Burgundiæ
+sibi constituendes quæ audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam negare
+imperator quam dissimulare.
+
+"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones suas velle
+in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiæ et Frisiæ: in hoc Hollandia,
+Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum, Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses
+Leodiensis, Cameracensis et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum,
+Arthesia, Flandria, ecclesæque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis
+Verdunensis essent." (P. 1131.)
+
+Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that his
+statement is tradition but founded on what he might have heard from
+eye-witnesses.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chmel, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+1473-1474
+
+
+Late as it was in November, the weather was still very mild, and as
+the emperor and duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the
+former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter as he passed up
+the valley of the Moselle to that of the Ell, was hindered by autumn
+storms. The summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented heat and
+a prolonged drouth.[1] Forest fires raged unchecked on account of the
+dearth of water and, for the same reason, the mills stood still.
+The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, but the vintage was not
+profitable because the wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains
+in September prepared the ground for an untimely fertility. Trees
+blossomed and, though some fruits withered prematurely, cherries
+actually ripened. Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance
+as Charles rode to Lorraine.
+
+His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, where he stayed about
+a fortnight and received ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice,
+England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate, and Cologne.[2]
+The result of his conference with the last named was a declaration
+on the duke's part which seriously affected his later career. The
+condition of Cologne must be touched on as an essential part of this
+narrative.
+
+The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to pursue a line of policy in
+regard to the ecclesiastical elections in the diocese of Cologne that
+had succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463, he had tried to force
+the chapter to elect his candidate. They had refused to follow
+his leading, but their own choice, Robert, brother of the
+elector-palatine, did not prove a congenial chief, and the new prelate
+turned to Philip for aid when he found his chapter disposed to
+restrict both his revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in 1467,
+as the audacity of his opponents increased, the archbishop appealed to
+his brother, the elector, and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter
+was busy in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to Cologne,
+exhorting both chapter and city to be obedient to their chosen
+spiritual and lay lord. This intervention was resented. The breach
+widened between Robert and his people, culminating in actual
+hostilities. The chapter took possession of the town of Neuss,
+accepted Hermann of Hesse as their protector, and sent an embassy to
+Rome to state their grievances. The elector aided his brother and the
+belligerent parties grew in strength.
+
+The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided which cause to
+espouse, and finally chose the chapter's side, signing a five years'
+alliance with that body, which had officially renounced allegiance to
+Robert, pending the judgment of pope and emperor on the dissension.
+Such was the state of affairs when Charles entered into possession of
+Guelders and manifested a disposition to interest himself in Cologne.
+He informed the chapter that he was greatly displeased with their
+contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral," but the burghers showed
+so little inclination to heed his neighbourly advice that he tried
+harsher measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be molested in his
+domains.
+
+In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the hopes of imperial
+intervention.[3] While Charles was still in Guelders, Robert paid
+him a visit, held long conferences with him, and probably received
+promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance when he
+returned from the interview. During the sojourn of duke and emperor at
+Trèves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone, arrived from Rome
+with plenary powers to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were
+endorsed by Charles in a letter from Trèves.
+
+For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to refrain from interference,
+then something influenced him in another direction. When he arrived
+at Cologne in November, he received a warm welcome and costly gifts,
+which he repaid by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good
+city,"--cheap and easy benefits,--but he did not prove an efficient
+arbitrator, simply postponing any decision from day to day, though he
+was begged to settle all difficulties before Charles should attempt to
+relieve him of the trouble.
+
+True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he no longer felt the need
+of conciliating the emperor, and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473,
+he issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert was entirely in
+the right, his opponents in the wrong.[4] As these latter defied papal
+legate and arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of dispute,
+he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute himself defender of the
+insulted archbishop. At the same time, he despatched Ètienne de Lavin
+to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels. The declaration
+emboldened Robert to defy the emperor's summons to meet him and the
+papal legate. They both declared that they would take measures to
+bring him to obedience, but Frederic did not wish to tarry longer at
+Cologne. In January he took his departure, having directed Hermann of
+Hesse to protect that see against all aggression.
+
+Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto, there was no
+formal treaty between Charles and Robert, but there are two drafts for
+such a treaty in existence,[5] wherein the former pledged himself to
+force chapter, nobles, and city to submission, in consideration of the
+sum of 200,000 florins, while the archbishop gave permission to his
+ally to garrison all strongholds, including Cologne. Pending his
+autumn sojourn in the upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans
+regarding Cologne definitely in mind.
+
+
+
+_Lorraine_
+
+This duchy was even more interesting to Charles than Cologne, and
+there were many matters in its regard which demanded his urgent
+attention in 1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and conveniently
+adjacent to Burgundian lands. A natural means of annexation had been
+considered by Charles in the proposed marriage between Nicholas, Duke
+of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. When that project was abandoned to
+suit Charles's pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
+son-in-law until the latter's death in the spring of 1473. So
+unexpected was this event, that there was the usual suspicion of
+poisoning, and this crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
+XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly that monarch reaped
+no immediate advantage from the death, for the family to whom the
+succession passed was more friendly to Burgundy than to France.
+
+The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt Yolande of Anjou,
+daughter of old King René of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate
+Margaret, late Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of Vaudemont.
+The council of Lorraine lost no time in acknowledging Yolande as their
+duchess. She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her son René, aged
+twenty-two, where they were received hospitably, and then Yolande
+formally abdicated in favour of the young man, who was duly accepted
+as Duke of Lorraine.
+
+Now there was a large party of Burgundian sympathisers in Nancy, and
+it was probably owing to their pressure that very strong links were at
+once forged between Charles and the new sovereign of the duchy. The
+apprehension lest the former should protect the land as he had the
+heritage of his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was expressed by
+the timorous, but their counsels were overweighted, and, on October
+15th, René accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable to
+Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"--an office that the
+emperor had already been asked to change into suzerainty,--René
+cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Charles, giving
+the latter full permission to march his forces across Lorraine.
+Further, he pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
+places on the route "men bound by oath to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes,
+more, these were discharged from fidelity to Renè in case he abandoned
+Burgundian interests.
+
+Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles by adding her signature
+to that of her son. Charles feared, however, that the provisions
+might not be adhered to by the Lorrainers--so humiliating were the
+terms--and exacted in addition the signatures of the chief nobles. On
+November 18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested their
+approval of an act that practically delivered their land to a
+stranger,--evidence that they doubted the ability of their hereditary
+chief, and preferred Burgundy to France.
+
+There is a story that Charles tried other methods than diplomacy,
+before he got the better of the young duke in this bargain, that he
+actually had him stolen away from the castle of Joinville where he was
+staying with his mother.[6] Louis promptly came forward and arrested a
+nephew of the emperor, a student in the University of Paris, and kept
+him as a hostage until the release of René. Rumour, too, asserts that
+there was a treaty of Joinville, wherein René asserted his friendship
+with Louis, which was intermitted by his relations with Charles, to be
+resumed later. That also seems to be improbable. The formal alliance
+with Louis did not come then, though the king took immediate care
+to build up a party in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself
+informed of the progress of the new regime.
+
+From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to Nancy, where he was welcomed
+by his protégé, outside the city walls, and the two rode in together
+as the duke and the emperor had entered Trèves. Charles had been so
+long keeping up a show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that,
+undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first personage.[7] He
+refused, however, to accept the young man's hospitality, and spent the
+two days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie, where
+he felt more at ease in his conferences with Lorrainers willing to
+proceed further to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.
+
+The ally certainly became more exigeant. In various towns on the
+Moselle, Épinal, Charmes, Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were
+replaced by Burgundians. This immediate and arrogant use of the rights
+he had wrested from the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had been
+warm for Burgundy. René himself admired Charles as Maximilian had
+done. The strong man exercised a fascination over both youths, but
+the duke did not turn this admiration into real friendship,
+underestimating the character of his protégé. His measures, too, were
+taken without the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison
+after garrison was installed and commanded to obey his officers alone,
+while the soldiers were allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent
+to raids on a friendly country. As always, the agglomeration of
+mercenary companies was difficult to control. The duke did not succeed
+in having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in due restraint.
+Complaints began to pour into his headquarters. Public sentiment
+shifted day by day. The Burgundian became the personification of a
+public foe. Before Charles proceeded on his way to Alsace, René had
+begun to lose his admiration and it was not long before he impatiently
+awaited an opportunity to break with his too doughty protector.
+
+
+
+_Alsace_
+
+During the four years that Charles had delayed in coming to look at
+the result of the bargain of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant,
+Peter von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason to regret
+the easy-going absentee Austrian seigneurs. Much had been done,
+undoubtedly, in restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons. The
+roads were well policed, and safety was assured to travellers. "I
+spy," was the motto blazoned on the livery of the forces led by
+Hagenbach up and down the land, until he had unearthed lurking
+vagabonds. It was acknowledged that gold and silver could be carried
+openly from place to place, and that night journeys were as safe as
+day. Still, this advantageous change had not won popularity for the
+man who wrought it. Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to
+make their own little bargains with highwaymen or petty nobles,[8] a
+law unto themselves, than to meet the rigorous requisitions of the
+Burgundian tax collector.
+
+It was the country that had profited most by the new administration.
+The small towns had long enjoyed great independence, and had shown
+ability in managing their own affairs. They wanted no interference.
+Not liked by those whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was
+absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron hand, without
+acknowledging that its pressure had more good than evil in it.
+
+Then there were the neighbours to be considered. The Swiss had hated
+Sigismund and all Austrians, and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy
+as a power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took no pains to win their
+friendship. His insolent fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or
+"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked if not condoned by
+him, aroused bitter dislike to him in the confederated cantons,[9] and
+in their allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there was a growing
+sentiment in Helvetia that they would be happier if Austria had her
+own again, while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone had
+greatly increased.
+
+Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the opposition to his
+measures took a definite form long before the duke's arrival there.
+The various commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the quality of
+his bargain had all agreed in an urgent recommendation to the duke to
+redeem, at the earliest possible moment, all the troublesome mortgages
+honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach, too, was fully convinced of the
+necessity for this measure, but he was not provided with sufficient
+money to accomplish it.
+
+In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to lay a new tax on
+wine. This impost, called the "Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for
+two reasons. The burden was oppressive to the vintners and it was an
+illegal measure, as no sanction had been given by the local estates.
+Three towns, Thann, Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were
+determined to refuse payment.
+
+Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg, a stronghold dominating
+Thann, bombarded the town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were
+condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous rebellion against the
+just orders of their lawful governor. Some of these, indeed, were
+pardoned, though their estates were confiscated, but five or six
+were publicly executed, and their bodies hung exposed to view on the
+market-place, as a hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting
+Burgundian orders.
+
+One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim submissive, but Brisac
+proved more obstinate. The magistrates there did not resort to force.
+They declared there was no need, for they were fully protected by the
+article in the treaty of St. Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition
+of any tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined refusal made
+the lieutenant consent to refer the question to the Duke of Burgundy,
+and messengers were despatched to Trèves to represent the respective
+grievances of governor and governed. The collection of the tax was
+postponed until Charles could examine the situation.
+
+A determined effort to bring the independent town of Mulhouse under
+Burgundian sway was another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white
+heat that forged organised resistance to any extension of Burgundian
+authority. For three years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince the
+burghers of that imperial city that they would be wise to accept the
+duke's protection and have their debts paid. The latter were, indeed,
+oppressive, but there was fear lest "protection" might be more so, and
+conference after conference failed to produce the acquiescence desired
+by Hagenbach.
+
+In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared that if the
+burghers persisted in their refusal he would resort to force. Their
+reply was that Mulhouse could not take such an important step without
+consulting her friends, the Swiss. "Are the cantons going to help you
+pay your debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach. "Mulhouse is
+a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant that must be extirpated. Its
+submission would make a charming pleasure ground out of the Sundgau,
+Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew no city which he would prefer to
+Mulhouse for a sojourn," were his further statements.[10]
+
+Two days were given to the town council for an answer. Hagenbach
+remarked that it was useless to think that time could be gained until
+the mortgaged territories should return to Austria. "Far from planning
+redemption, Duke Sigismund is now preparing to cede to _Charles le
+téméraire_ as much again of his domain and vassals." Still Mulhouse
+was not convinced that the only course open to her was to let Charles
+pay her debts and receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming in the
+two days, but ready scribes had prepared many copies of Hagenbach's
+letter, which were sent to all who might be interested in checking
+these proposals of Burgundy.
+
+On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne and there the
+matter was weighed. Hagenbach's letter was shown to those who had
+not seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from her dilemma were
+carefully considered. Years ago a union had existed between the forest
+cantons and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions to renew
+this alliance so as to present a strong front to their Burgundian
+neighbour. The cantons had enough to do with their own affairs, but
+the result of the discussion was that, on March 14th, a ten-year
+Alsatian confederation was formed in imitation of the Swiss.
+
+The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse, Schlestadt, and two
+dioceses, and it is referred to as the _Basse-Union_ or the Lower
+Union, the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights of the
+contracting parties, to meet for discussion on various questions, and,
+specifically, to help Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, March
+19th, there was a fresh proposition to make an alliance between
+this _Basse-Union_ and the Swiss confederation. This required a
+_referendum_. Each Swiss delegate received a copy of the articles to
+take back to his constituents for their consideration. No bond between
+the confederation and the union was, however, in existence at the time
+when Charles was approaching Alsace. Various conciliatory measures
+on his part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition to him, but,
+nevertheless, there were frequent conferences about affairs. Diets
+were almost continuous and there were strenuous efforts to raise money
+to free Mulhouse from her hampering financial embarrassments.
+
+Hagenbach had not followed up his threats of immediate war measures,
+but it was known that he had obtained imperial authorisation to
+assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step which her allies hoped to
+forestall by settling her debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six
+hundred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, Basel four hundred,
+while Colmar, Schlestadt, Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to
+raise another four hundred. A diet was called at Basel for December
+11th, and Zürich and Lucerne were expected to enter into the union.
+The tidings of the duke's approach were undoubtedly a stimulus to
+these renewed efforts to make the league strong enough to withstand
+him. The sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May God protect us
+from his mighty hand," voiced probably a wide-spread dread.
+
+When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was large enough to
+inspire fear, but there was no opposition to his advance, though
+consultations, now at one city, now at another, were frequent. The
+duke paid little heed to their deliberations, under-estimating their
+importance, while he was gracious to any words of welcome offered to
+him. Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at Châtenois, and so
+did Colmar. The latter town expressed her willingness to receive him
+and an escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her refusal to
+admit a larger force within her walls. By this precaution, Charles was
+baffled in his plot to gain possession of the town, and so passed on
+his way.
+
+On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal entry into Brisac, where
+a temporary court was established, and where audience was given to
+various embassies with the customary Burgundian pomp. Meanwhile the
+troops, forced to camp without the walls, were a burden to the land,
+and seem to have been more odious than usual to their unwilling hosts.
+
+The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their knees and had their
+hopes raised high by their suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they
+failed to obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty of St. Omer
+should be observed in all respects. Among the envoys were many who
+undertook to remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition
+of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and the over-severity of
+Hagenbach's administration. The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged,
+notably by Berne. The representations of these last envoys were
+received most courteously. The duke rather thought that the city could
+be detached from the league, and therefore gave himself some trouble
+to establish friendly relations.
+
+To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory. He wrote a pleasant
+letter to the town and despatched a councillor thither, who would, he
+assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction. But an abortive
+_coup d'état_ on the part of the Burgundians, which would have given
+them possession of Basel, destroyed the effect of these reassuring
+phrases. The burghers were warned in time, looked to their defences,
+and banished from their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian
+sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully scrutinised before he was
+admitted within the walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The
+propriety of these precautions was soon proven.
+
+Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the official capital of the
+landgraviate. Thither marched his troops from every quarter. Those
+from Säckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found their shortest route over
+the bridge at Basel, and there they appeared and begged to be allowed
+to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the least foothold on the
+city's territory was sternly refused then and a week later, when the
+request was renewed. The method of introducing friendly troops into a
+town and then seizing it by a sudden _coup de main_ was what Charles
+had been suspected of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and
+there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of this rather stupid
+stratagem was planned, only to fail again, and this time to be
+peculiarly disastrous in its reflex action.
+
+The review took place and the strength of the Burgundian mercenaries
+was duly displayed to the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances
+were given to Brisac and the other towns that their suzerain
+would restrict his measures of taxation and administration to the
+stipulations of the contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when
+Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all that he had _not_
+restricted the powers of his lieutenant in any respect, but rather had
+endorsed his general method of procedure.
+
+One night was spent at Thann[11] and then the duke took his leave of
+the annexed region whose people had hoped so much from his visit to
+them. In mid-January he arrived at Besançon, his winter journeying
+being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly mild weather.
+
+Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the levying of the impost now
+approved by the duke, who had at the same time expressly ordered that
+the people were to be treated mildly, and that summary punishment
+was to check all excesses on the part of the eight hundred Picards
+employed by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector. The governor, however,
+saw no further need for gentle treatment or for respect to privileges.
+In Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set aside, and
+officers appointed by the governor. The corporation was curtailed
+of power, and the burghers were forced to prepare to march against
+Mulhouse.
+
+Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction, Hagenbach
+proceeded to give himself some relaxation. His own marriage took place
+on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion with great fêtes. It
+is of this period in Hagenbach's life that the stories of gross excess
+are told.[12] It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint
+towards the city, his personal passions, too, were permitted to run
+riot, and he spared no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.
+
+As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad Penny" on the little
+independent landowners, he tried to extend it to the territory of the
+Bishop of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which was reported to the
+duke, who promptly ordered his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he
+had taken and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not ready to
+meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer an issue, but he was wholly
+ignorant of the real strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then
+proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and waited for further
+action.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: De Roye, p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 2: He also issued administrative orders. It was at this time
+that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of accounts
+at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland provinces.
+This measure was bitterly resented by the local authorities.
+(Fredericq. _Le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_, p.
+183.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey,
+p. 64.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: Toutey, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]
+
+[Footnote 5:_See_ Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet,
+_Urkunden_, iv., 468, 470.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
+Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (_See_ Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, ii.,
+271.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: Toutey's suggestion.]
+
+[Footnote 8: All sons inherited their father's title, so that there
+were many landless lords.]
+
+[Footnote 9: At this period there were eight in the confederation,
+which was a loose structure in which each member preserved her
+individuality.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _See_ Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the _Cartulaire de
+Mulhouse_, iv., _et passim_. This last furnishes the details for these
+passages.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There
+are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. The
+duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) does not agree
+with that of Knebel and others. But the facts of the narrative are
+little affected by the variations. The following is the itinerary
+accepted by Toutey:
+
+Dep. from Ensisheim                    Jan.  8
+Stay at Thann                           "    9-10
+Dep. from Belfort                       "   11
+Besançon                                "   17
+Auxonne, slept                          "   18
+Dijon, a                                "   23
+Dijon, d                               Feb.  19, 1474
+Auxonne, slept                          "   20
+Dôle                                    "  21-March 8
+(Invested with the Franche Comté of Burgundy.)
+Besançon                              March 12 or 15
+Vesoul and Luxeuil                    March   23-28
+Lorraine                                "     28
+Luxemburg                              Apr.  4-June 9
+Easter fêtes                            "   10
+Fête of the Order of the Garter         "   23
+Brussels                               June 27]
+
+[Footnote 12: Kirk considers that they are well founded and too
+indecent to repeat.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+1474-1475
+
+
+"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious in his apparel,
+travelling in the greatness of his strength?" These words in Latin,
+on scrolls fluttering from the hands of living angels, met the eyes
+of Charles of Burgundy at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the
+confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle flattery of the
+implied comparison between him and the subject of the words of the
+prophet.[1]
+
+The traveller had slept at Périgny, about a league from the capital
+of Burgundy, so as to make the last stage of his journey thither in
+leisurely state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday, January 22d, the
+appointed day, made postponement of the ducal parade necessary, out
+of consideration for the precious hangings and costly ecclesiastical
+robes that were to grace the ceremonies of reception and investiture.
+Fortunately, Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds rode
+through the city streets at an early hour, proclaiming the duke's
+gracious intention to make his entry on that day. Immediately,
+tapestries were spread and every one was alert with the last
+preparations.
+
+[Illustration: A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century]
+
+Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like that cited, which
+were planted along the ducal way and on a succession of stagings
+erected for various exhibits. On the great city square, the platform
+was capacious and many actors played out divers roles. Here stood the
+scroll-bearing angels on either side of a living representation of
+Christ. In the background clustered three separate groups of people
+representing, respectively, the three Estates. Above their heads more
+inscriptions were to be read.[2] "All the nations desire to see the
+face of Solomon," "Behold him desired by all races," "Master, look on
+us, thy people," were among the legends.
+
+The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical,
+from other parts of the duke's domains participated, proceeded past
+all these soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy resembled
+Solomon in more ways than one, to the church of St. Benigne. Here
+pledges of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians and
+their ruler. The Abbé of Citeaux placed the ducal ring solemnly
+upon Charles's finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all the
+prerogatives of his predecessors.
+
+From the church, the train wound its way to the Ste. Chapelle, past
+more stages decorated with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as
+"A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any,"
+"The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold
+as a lion," etc.
+
+Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of investiture were
+performed, and followed by a banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal
+robes, and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with gold, pearls,
+and precious stones. After a repast, prelates, nobles, and civic
+deputies were convened in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where
+first they listened to a speech from the chancellor. When he had
+finished, the duke himself delivered an harangue wherein he expatiated
+on the splendours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. Wrongfully
+usurped by the French kings, it had been belittled into a duchy, a
+measure much to be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the speaker
+broke off abruptly with an ambiguous intimation "that he had in
+reserve certain things that none might know but himself."[3]
+
+What was the significance of these veiled allusions? It could not have
+been the simple scheme to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly
+known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an ostrich-like quality of
+mind which made him oblivious to the world's vision but even he could
+hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours regarding the
+interview of Trèves, rumours flying north, east, south, and west.
+Might not this suggestion of secrets yet untold have had reference to
+the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and himself to divide France
+between them?
+
+When his own induction into his heritage was accomplished, Charles was
+ready to pay the last earthly tribute to his parents. A cortège had
+been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the bodies of Philip and
+Isabella to their final resting-place in the tomb at Dijon, to which
+they were at last consigned.[4]
+
+A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city of his birth, and then
+went to Dôle where he was invested with the sovereignty of the
+Franche-Comté and confirmed the privileges. Thus after seven years of
+possession _de facto_, he first actually completed the formalities
+needful for the legal acquisition of his paternal heritage. The
+expansion of that heritage had been steady for over half a century.
+Every inch of territory that had come under the shadow of the family's
+administration had remained there, quickly losing its ephemeral
+character, so that temporary holdings were regarded in the same light
+as the estates actually inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke,
+count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction in the natures of his
+tenures. But just as the last link was legally riveted in his own
+chain of lands, he was to learn that there were other points of view.
+
+The statement is made and repeated, that the report of the duke's
+after-dinner speech at Dijon was a fresh factor in alarming the people
+in Alsace and Switzerland about his intentions, and making them hasten
+to shake off every tie that connected them with Charles and his
+ambitious projects of territorial expansion.[5] As a matter of fact,
+there had been for months constant agitation in the councils of the
+Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union as to the next action.
+
+Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent, antipathy to Austria
+was so deeply rooted that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the
+Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably the arguments that
+came from France were what carried conviction. It was a time when
+Louis spared no expense to attain the end he desired, while he posed
+as a benevolent neutral.[6] His servants worked underground. Their
+open work was very cautious. It was French envoys, however, who
+announced to the Swiss Diet, convened at Lucerne, that Sigismund was
+quite ready to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance and
+the redemption of his mortgaged lands.
+
+That was on January 21, 1474, the very day when the mortgagee was
+preparing to ride into Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his
+wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month and Sigismund's envoys
+were seated on the official benches at the Basel diet, ranking with
+the delegates from the cantons and the emissaries from France. On
+March 27th, the diet met at Constance, and for three days a debate
+went on which resulted in the drafting of the _Ewige Richtung_,
+the _Réglement définitif_, a document which contained a definite
+resolution that the mortgaged lands were to be completely withdrawn
+from Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This resolution was
+subscribed to by Sigismund and the Swiss cantons. Further, it was
+decided to ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St. Omer and
+to offer payment to Charles at Basel instead of Besançon.
+
+Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in his own mind that
+the legends of his birthplace were correct in their rating of his
+character and his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered
+Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was shortly after that
+festival, on April 17th, that a letter from Sigismund was delivered to
+him announcing in rather casual and off-hand terms that he was now in
+a position to repay the loan of 1469, made on the security of those
+Rhinelands. Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel 80,000
+florins, 40,000 the sum received by him, 10,000 paid in his behalf to
+the Swiss, and 30,000 which he understood that Charles had expended
+during his temporary incumbency,[7] and he, Sigismund, would resume
+the sovereignty in Alsace.
+
+It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish was. The expressions
+employed in the paper were, however, so ambiguous, the language so
+involved, that Charles expended severe criticism on his cousin's style
+before he proceeded to answer his subject-matter. To that he replied
+that the bargain between him and Sigismund was none of his seeking.
+The latter had implored his protection from the Swiss, had begged
+relief in his financial straits. Touched by his petitions, Charles
+had acceded to his prayers and the lands had enjoyed security under
+Burgundian protection as they never had under Austrian. Charles had
+duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he had done nothing to
+forfeit his title. The conditions of redemption offered by Sigismund
+were not those expressly stipulated. If a commission were sent to
+Besançon, the duke would see to it that the merits of the case were
+properly examined.
+
+"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose you have
+declared, in violation of the terms of the contract and of your
+princely word, we shall make resistance, trusting with God's help that
+our ability in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have used
+to repulse the attacks of the Swiss--those attacks from which you
+sought and received our protection."
+
+Before this letter reached its destination, the duke's deputy in the
+mortgaged lands had already found his resources wholly inadequate to
+maintain his master's authority. After Charles departed from Alsace,
+Hagenbach's increased insolence and abandonment of all the restraint
+that he had shown while awaiting the duke's visit soon became
+unbearable. The deliberations in Switzerland concerning their return
+to Austrian domination also naturally affected the Alsatians and made
+them bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.
+
+Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing admission to his
+garrisons. Brisac was in his hands already, and her fortifications
+held by mercenaries, but an order to the citizens to work, one and
+all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance with very
+serious results. It was at Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a
+hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the Rhinelands, proved
+the final provocation to rebellion.
+
+There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle, moreover, that this
+misuse of Easter Day was not Hagenbach's real crime. He simply
+wished to get all combatants out of the city before butchering the
+inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in time. That charge does
+not, however, seem substantiated by other evidence. But there is no
+doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a state of fury, fell
+upon the mercenaries, and killed many of them in spite of their own
+unarmed condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings, appeared
+at the window and offered various concessions, being actually humbled
+and intimidated by the unexpected turning of the submissive folk
+against him.
+
+But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the reach of conciliatory
+words. Some of the more intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a
+show of propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing their own
+ancient council, arbitrarily abolished by Hagenbach, while taking a
+new oath to the Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of 1469.
+They also despatched envoys to the duke with explanations of their
+proceedings, stating further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone to
+which protest was made; that they were not in revolt against Charles.
+The latter answered, "Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional
+government, by the time they received this order, felt strong enough
+to disregard it and to continue to act on their own initiative.
+
+Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but into irons. All fear of
+and respect for his authority was thrown to the winds, his offer of
+fourteen thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.
+
+Deputations came from the confederation to congratulate the officials
+_de facto_ and to promise aid. The next step gave the lie direct to
+the message sent to Charles upholding his authority while protesting
+against his lieutenant. Sigismund was urged to return to his own
+without further delay for legal formalities with his creditor. He
+assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the Austrian duke arrived in
+Brisac and picked up the reins of authority which he had joyfully
+dropped four years previously.
+
+The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion, singing a ready parody
+of an Easter hymn:[8]
+
+  "Christ is arisen, the _landvogt_ is in prison,
+  Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.
+  Kyrie Eleison!
+  Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,
+  But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.
+  Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the late governor was
+brought to trial. Instruments of torture sent from Basel were employed
+to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But there was nothing to
+confess. As a matter of fact the charges against him were for
+well-known deeds the character of which depended on the point of view.
+What the Alsatians declared were infringements of their rights, the
+duke's deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the terms of the
+treaty. In regard to his private career the prisoner persisted in
+his statement that he was no worse than other men and that all his
+so-called victims had been willing and well rewarded for their
+submission to him.
+
+On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared over and the trial began
+before a tribunal whose composition is not perfectly well known,
+but which certainly included delegates from the chief cities of the
+landgraviate, and from Strasburg, Basel, and Berne.[9]
+
+The trial was practically lynch law in spite of the cloak of legality
+thrown over it. Charles alone was Hagenbach's principal and he alone
+was responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic incompetence
+of the court was hotly urged by Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's
+self-appointed advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public opinion
+insisted upon extreme measures, and the sentence of capital punishment
+was promptly followed by execution.
+
+Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by the sword and be
+permitted to bequeath a portion of his property to the church of
+St. Étienne at Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth was
+confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn to Fribourg during the
+progress of the trial. Even Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged
+that the late governor made a dignified and Christian exit from the
+life he had not graced.
+
+Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger who brought him the
+news of this trial and execution, in the very presence of Sigismund
+who had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate, where he
+had appointed Oswald von Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus
+presuming to use sovereign power. This was not sufficient, however,
+to make the duke change his own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was
+entrusted with the commission of punishing the Alsatians for his
+brother's ignominious deposition, and he did his task grimly.
+According to the Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north,
+and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the south, did not have
+more than six or eight thousand men apiece, but they left Hun-like
+reputations behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in houses and
+churches, all in the name of the duke, contributed to the zeal with
+which the Austrian's return was ratified by popular acclamation, and
+with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the confederates were
+received.
+
+Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone and obscure in
+phraseology. A statement presented somewhat later to the emperor by
+the _Basse Union_ is more precise in the justification offered for the
+events and in the grievances rehearsed.[10] That is, Sigismund treats
+the transaction as a purely financial one, naturally completed between
+him and his creditor by the offer to liquidate his debt. The plea made
+by the Alsatians and their friends is, that Charles had failed to keep
+his solemn engagements and that his appointed lieutenant had been
+peculiarly odious and had broken the laws of God and man, and that the
+mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians, Lombardians, and their
+fellows, had pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the Sundgau,
+and the diocese of Basel. The charges are itemised.[11]
+
+    "All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy, has neither been
+    checked nor punished by him. In consequence, our gracious Seigneur
+    of Austria has been obliged to restore the land and people to his
+    sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he has done
+    with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation and total
+    destruction of land and people."
+
+Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle matters in person, but
+pursued his intention of reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control,
+undoubtedly thinking that the base which would then be open to the
+archbishop's protector on the lower Rhine would facilitate his
+operations in the upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic had
+emphatically declared that he alone was the Defender of the Diocese,
+and that the unholy alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace
+to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted him to abandon the
+enterprise and to accept mediation; those to the electors, princes,
+and cities of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against Burgundy
+until he himself arrived on the scene. There was a hot correspondence
+between all parties concerned, from which nothing resulted. Charles
+had various reasons for delay. There was trouble in other quarters of
+his domain. Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions
+for money, and the Franche-Comté was on the point of making active
+resistance to the imposition of the _gabelle_.
+
+In view of all these complications, Charles decided to prolong his
+truce with Louis XI., to May 1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased
+to continue to pursue his own plans under cover of neutrality. The
+determination of the anti-Burgundian coalition in Germany to keep
+Charles within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant sight to
+the French king, and he felt that he could afford to wait.
+
+In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg, forbidding all owing
+allegiance to the Duke of Burgundy to have any commercial relations
+with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with the cities of the
+_Basse Union_, and declaring the duke's intention to take the field
+at once, to reinstate the archbishop in his rightful see. This was a
+declaration of war and was speedily followed by the duke's advance
+to Maestricht, where he spent a few days in July, collecting a force
+which finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.
+
+On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which had again emphatically
+refused entry to him and his troops. Three days the duke gave himself
+for the reduction of the town, but there he remained encamped for
+nearly a whole year! Neuss was resolved to resist to the last
+extremity, while Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their
+assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers to the best of
+their ability. It was a period when Charles seemed to have only one
+sure ally, and that was Edward of England, whose own plans were
+forming for a mighty enterprise--no less than a new invasion of
+France.
+
+On July 25th, the very day that Charles was on his march up to Neuss,
+his envoys signed at London a treaty wherein the duke promised Edward
+six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer his realm of France."
+Nothing loth to dispose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn,
+pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, without any lien
+of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers,
+Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates
+of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories of Charles were to be
+exempt from homage. Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in
+France and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial interests
+forgotten; "to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded
+permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and
+to carry thither foreign merchandise."
+
+The year when Charles was waiting before the gates of Neuss was full
+of many abortive diplomatic efforts on the part of both the duke and
+Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to save something even
+from broken bargains. The Swiss not only counted on his friendship,
+but were constantly encouraged by his money, which emboldened them to
+send a letter of open defiance to Charles: "We declare to your most
+serene highness and to all of your people, in behalf of ourselves
+and our friends, an honourable and an open war." To the herald who
+delivered this document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"[12] He
+felt that he had been betrayed.
+
+This was on October 26th. The defiance was followed by a descent of
+the mountaineers upon Alsace, which Charles had not yet released
+from his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared to defend Burgundian
+interests at Héricourt, a good strategic position on the tiny Luzine.
+Here, the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the Count of Blamont
+arrived with two bodies of Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than
+twelve thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging force.
+His plan failed--the tables were turned. It was the Burgundians who
+were fiercely attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach was forced to
+surrender, obtaining honourable terms, however, and Sigismund put a
+garrison into Héricourt on November 16th.
+
+This was a tremendous surprise to Charles. That cowherds could repulse
+his well-trained troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.
+But he put aside all idea of punishing them for the moment, and
+continued to "reduce Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,"
+and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town in its determined
+resistance.
+
+The opprobrious names applied to the would-be and baffled conqueror at
+this time are curiously similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon
+a few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ himself, with
+demoniac attributes added, when Alexander was felt to be too mild a
+comparison. There was still a terrible fear of the duke's ambition,
+even though, in the face of all Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his
+men, and Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, while the world
+wondered at the duke's obstinacy displayed in the wrong place. The
+belief expressed several times by Commines that God troubled Charles's
+understanding out of very pity for France, was a current rumour.
+
+At the end of April an English embassy arrived at the camp, which was
+kept in a marvellous state of luxury, even though disease was not
+successfully curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the embassy
+was that Charles should raise this useless siege, fruitless as it
+promised to be, owing to the difficulty of cutting off the town's
+supplies. Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading army.
+He implored his dear brother to send him transports and to prepare to
+receive him when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a glimpse
+into the situation[13]:
+
+    "For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that the assege
+    lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn affoor Nuse, and the
+    Emperor hath besyged also not fferr from there a castill and
+    another town in lykewyse wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the
+    Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water off Somme
+    with 4000 spers; and sum men have that he woll, at the daye off
+    brekyng off trewse, or else beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys
+    heer. When I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.
+
+    "The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere and the Master off
+    the Rolls be comyng homwards ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke
+    I sholde be sek but iff I see it....
+
+    "For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde in to Flaundyrs
+    to purveye me off horse and herneys and percase I shall see the
+    essege at Nwse er I come ageyn."
+
+There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick at the sight than
+for John Paston, and he did grow weary of the further waiting and
+anxious, for his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On May 22d,
+there was a skirmish between his troops and the imperial forces,
+wherein Charles claimed the victory. In reality, there was none on
+either side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe his _amour
+propre_, and to convince him that an accommodation with Frederic would
+not detract from his dignity.
+
+A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched to help convey
+the English army, thirsting for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand
+men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to meet Edward IV., and
+swell his escort as he marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other
+matters also demanded Charles's personal attention. Months had elapsed
+and Héricourt was unpunished--Berne had not been reproved.
+
+René of Lorraine was formally admitted to the League of Constance on
+April 18, 1475, and was now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he
+had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a touch of old King René's
+theatrical taste in his grandson's method of despatching the herald
+who rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet on May 10th. The
+man was, however, so overcome at the first view of _le Téméraire_ that
+he hastily delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained
+gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of war, without uttering a word.
+Then he fell on his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.[14] Charles
+was so little displeased at the signs of the impression his presence
+made that, instead of being angry with the man, he gave him twelve
+florins for his good news. The terms of the declaration of war carried
+by the herald were as follows:
+
+    "To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the very high, etc.,
+    Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce defiance with fire and
+    blood against thee, thy countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and
+    other charge further have I not."[15]
+
+The reply was straightforward:
+
+    "Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge, whereby thou
+    hast given me subject for joy, and, to show you how matters are,
+    thou shalt wear my robe with this gift, and shalt tell thy master
+    that I will find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear
+    is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst not be afraid
+    to return, I desire my marshal and the king-at-arms of the Toison
+    d'Or to convoy thee in perfect safety, for I should be sorry if
+    thou didst not make thy report to thy master as befits a good and
+    loyal officer."
+
+Thus was Charles pressed from the south and lured to the north.
+Excellent reason for obeying the order of the pope's legate that duke
+and emperor must lay down arms under pain of excommunication did
+either belligerent refuse! The armistice accepted on May 28th was
+followed by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It was a truce
+strictly to the advantage of Frederic and Charles. The Rhine cities,
+Louis XI., René of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed in
+the expectations they had based on Frederic.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Plancher, _Histoire générale et particulière de
+Bourgogne, avec des notes et des preuves justificatives_, iv.,
+cccxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Preparations for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set
+on foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One Frère
+Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures for
+appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every phrase indicating
+leonine strength was noted down. The good brother died before the
+anticipated event came to pass but the result of his patient labour
+was preserved.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Dit qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de
+scavoir à nuls que à lui_ (Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii.).]
+
+[Footnote 4: Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii. The document
+describing this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is
+evidently an error and not accepted.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Toutey, p. 117.]
+
+[Footnote 6: There are many records in the_Bibl. nat._. of the sums
+paid out to the Swiss at this time.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, i., 92 et seq.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Kirk, ii., 488.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey, p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Text given by Toutey, _Pièces justificatives_, p. 442.]
+
+[Footnote 11: The details are very brutal and untranslatable.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Paston Letters_, iii., 122.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 244.]
+
+[Footnote 15: _Bulletin de l'acad. royale de Belgique_, 1887.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what to write to you of
+    the English, for thus far they have done nothing but dance at St.
+    Omer and we are not sure whether the King of England has landed.
+    If he has, it must be with so small a force that it makes no
+    noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville know anything,
+    nor do they believe that there will be any English here in XL
+    days. Tell the news to Monsg. de Comminge, and recommend my
+    interests to him as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de
+    Thierry and Mons. the vice-admiral."[1]
+
+Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later and he has heard of the
+truce. He seizes the occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne
+his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frederic has deserted us all!"[2]
+Well, it was not the first time! Thirty years previous, when Louis was
+dauphin, the emperor had tried to turn the Swiss against him. Had not
+God, knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave mountaineers, Louis
+would have been a victim of execrable treachery. The outcome had been
+wonderful, for an eternal friendship had sprung up between him and the
+Swiss which must be preserved.
+
+Meantime, Charles has made his own definite plan of the campaign which
+was to introduce Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The following
+letter from him to Edward IV. bears no date, but it was evidently
+written at about the time of the truce[3]:
+
+    "Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself to you. I have
+    listened carefully to your declaration through the pronotary, and
+    understand that you do not wish to land without my advice, for
+    which I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors
+    think you had better land in Guienne, others in Normandy, others
+    again at Calais. If you choose Guienne you will be far from my
+    assistance but my brother of Brittany could help you. Still it
+    would be a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to
+    Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your people nor I
+    for mine. Nor could the two forces make juncture without attack,
+    and my brother of Brittany would be very far from both. To my
+    mind, your best landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the
+    Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will soon gain
+    possession of cities and places, and you will be at the right hand
+    of my brother of Brittany and of me. Tell me how many ships you
+    want and where you wish me to send them and I will do it."
+
+On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival of the English, Louis
+hastened to Normandy to inspect the situation for himself. There he
+learned that his own naval forces stationed in the Channel to ward off
+the invaders had landed on the very day before his arrival, abandoning
+the task.
+
+    "When I heard that we took no action, I decided that my best plan
+    would be to turn my people loose in Picardy and let them lay
+    waste the country whence they [the English] expected to get their
+    supplies."[4]
+
+At the same time, the rumour that was permitted to be current in
+France was, that Charles of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at
+Neuss, and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend from him.
+He, meanwhile, was continuing his own preparations by strenuous
+endeavours to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies. After
+the signing of the convention with the emperor, the duke proceeded to
+Bruges to meet the Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand for
+subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish funds, on the plea that
+his expansion policy was ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst
+from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving him in the lurch and
+thus causing his failure at Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor
+soldiers had they sent him as loyal subjects should.
+
+[Illustration: KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+
+CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN
+EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK. POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I.]
+
+    "For whom does your prince labour? Is it for himself or for you,
+    for your defence? You slumber, he watches. You nestle in warmth,
+    he is cold. You are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the
+    wind and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease.... Henceforth you
+    shall be nothing more than subjects under a sovereign. I am and I
+    will be master, bearding those who oppose me."[5]
+
+Then turning to the prelates he continued: "Do you obey diligently and
+without poor excuses or your temporal goods shall be confiscated."
+To the nobles: "Obey or you shall lose your heads and your fiefs."
+Finally, he addressed the deputies of the third estate in a tone full
+of bitterness: "And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not obey
+my orders literally as my chancellor will explain them to you, you
+shall forfeit privileges, property, and life."
+
+All the fervency of this adjuration failed to convince the deputies of
+their duty, as conceived by the orator. They declared that they had
+levied troops and would levy more, for defence, but that the four
+members of Flanders were agreed that they would contribute nothing to
+offensive measures. Charles must accept their decision as his sainted
+father had done. The details of all the aid they had given him, 2500
+men for Neuss and many other contributions, were recapitulated.
+Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding phrases of their
+answer were as follows:
+
+    "As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen days every
+    man capable of bearing arms report at Ath, these were orders
+    impossible of execution, and unprofitable for you yourself. Your
+    subjects are merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
+    Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which your noble
+    ancestors have for four hundred years maintained the land,
+    commerce, most redoubtable seigneur, is irreconcilable with war."
+
+This answer gave the true key to the situation. The Estates of
+Flanders were determined to be bled no further for schemes in which
+they did not sympathise. When this memorial was presented to Charles
+he broke out into fresh invective about the base ingratitude of the
+Flemish: "Take back your paper," were his last words. "Make your own
+answer. _Talk_ as you wish, but _do_ your duty." This was on July
+12th. Charles had no further time to waste in argument. He was still
+convinced that the burghers would, in the end, yield to his demands.
+
+With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and reached Calais on July
+14th, where he had been preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her
+brother, who had actually landed on July 4th, with the best equipped
+army--about twenty-four thousand men--that had ever left the shores of
+England, and the latest inventions in besieging engines.
+
+The expedition proved a wretched failure--a miserable disappointment
+to the English at home, who had been lavish in their contributions.
+Charles seems to have been put out by the place of landing. His own
+plan is clear from the letter quoted. He wished the two armies of
+Edward and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory as they
+marched toward each other. The one thing that he objected to was a
+consolidation of the two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or
+an unwelcome situation to account was one of the duke's most
+deeply ingrained characteristics. He showed no inventiveness or
+resourcefulness. He held his own army at a distance from the English,
+much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to march unaided over
+regions rendered inhospitable by Louis's stern orders, and outside
+of cities ready to hold him at bay. "If you do not put yourself in a
+state of security, it will be necessary to destroy the city, to our
+regret," was the king's message to Rheims, and the most skilful of
+French engineers was fully prepared to make good the words.
+
+Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped on the field of
+Agincourt, where perhaps he dreamed of his ancestor's success, but
+no fresh blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He did not
+proceed to Paris, there was no coronation at Rheims, no comfortable
+reception within any gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis
+himself of giving the English a foothold, though he advised Edward to
+accept an invitation from St. Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however,
+proved another disappointment. Just as Edward was ready to enter,
+the gates opened to let out a troop which effectually repulsed the
+advancing foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his mind.
+
+"It is a miserable existence this of ours when we take toil and
+trouble enough to shorten our life, writing and saying things exactly
+opposite to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer of this
+elaborate network of pompous falsehoods[6] wherein every action was
+entangled. Louis XI trusted no one but himself, while he played
+with the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His fear of the
+invaders was soon allayed. "These English are of different metal from
+those whom you used to know. They keep close, they attempt nothing,"
+he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.
+
+It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was not a foe to be feared.
+Baffled and discouraged, he readily opened his ears to his French
+brother, and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every Englishman who
+helped incline his sovereign to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and
+coin did their work. Edward was easily led into the path of least
+resistance, and an interview between the rival kings was appointed
+for August 29th. Great preparations were made for their meeting on a
+bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating was erected. Like Pyramus
+and Thisbe, the two princes kissed each other through the barriers,
+and exchanged assurances of friendship. Edward was, indeed, so easy to
+convince that Louis was in absolute terror lest his English brother
+would accept his invitation to show him Paris before his return. No
+wonder Edward was deceived, for Louis was definite in his hospitable
+offers, suggesting that he would provide a confessor willing to give
+absolution for pleasant sins.
+
+The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy. On August 18th, he was
+staying at Peronne, whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It was
+ended without any intimation of Edward's change of heart towards the
+French king whom he had come to depose, though his plan was then ripe.
+On the 20th, Charles received a written communication with the news
+which Edward had disliked broaching orally, and was officially
+informed that the king had yielded to the wishes of his army, and was
+considering a treaty with Louis XI., wherein Edward's dear brother of
+Burgundy should receive honourable mention did he desire it.
+
+On hearing these most unwelcome tidings, Charles set off for the
+English camp in hot haste, attended by a small escort, and nursing
+his wrath as he rode.[7] King Edward was rather alarmed at the duke's
+aspect when the latter appeared, and asked whether he would not like a
+private interview. Charles disregarded his question. "Is it true? Have
+you made peace?" he demanded. Edward's attempt at smooth explanations
+was blocked by a flood of invectives poured out by Charles, who
+remembered himself sufficiently to speak in English so that the
+bystanders might have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches.
+He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual, pleasure-loving
+monarch, whose easeful ways were rapidly increasing his weight of
+flesh, with the heroism of other English Edwards with whom he was
+proud to claim kin. As to the offers to remember his interests in
+the perfidious peace that perfidious Albion was about to swear
+with equally perfidious France, his rejection was scornful indeed.
+"Negotiate for _me_! Arbitrate for _me_! Is it I who wanted the French
+crown? Leave _me_ to make my own truce. I will wait until you have
+been three months over sea." Among those who witnessed the scene were
+several Englishmen who sympathised with Charles--if we may believe
+Commines. "The Duke of Burgundy has said the truth," declared the Duke
+of Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Having given vent to his
+sentiments, Charles hurried away from his disappointing ally and
+reached Namur on the 22d, where he spent the night.
+
+Edward troubled himself little about his brother-in-law's summary of
+his character. He was tired of camp hardships, and both he and his men
+found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her gates to them at the
+order of Louis XI. Food and wine were lavished upon all alike. It
+was a delightful experience for the English soldiers to see tables
+groaning with good things spread in the very streets, and to be bidden
+to order what they would at the taverns with no consideration for the
+reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free of charge, until their
+host intimated to King Edward that his men were very intoxicated and
+that there were limits in all things. But Louis did not spare his
+money or his pains until he was sure that a bloodless victory had been
+won. He fully realised the importance of extravagant expenditure in
+order to reach the goal he had set himself.
+
+    "We must have the whole sum at Amiens before Friday evening,
+    besides what will be wanted for private gratifications to my Lord
+    Howard, and others who have had part in the arrangement.... Do not
+    fail in this that there may be no pretext for a rupture of what
+    has been already settled."
+
+Though they had now no rood of land, the English returned richer than
+they came, and they eased their _amour propre_ by calling the sums
+that had changed hands, "tribute money."[8]
+
+    "Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd Moodre, I recommende
+    me to youw. Pleas it yow to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage
+    of the kynges is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost
+    is comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to seye the
+    iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many of hys host be
+    passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and in especiall my Lorde off
+    Norfolk, and my bretheryn ....I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr
+    heer; for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come hyddre and
+    all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never a better stomake in my
+    lyffe and now in viij dayes I am crasyd ageyn."[9]
+
+Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and doubtless many others found
+the air more wholesome at home.
+
+Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider the affairs of Lorraine.
+He advised René of his intentions, in a manifesto which reached him
+on September 5th. The preamble contained a long list of the manifold
+benefits conferred upon Lorraine by the House of Burgundy. Then René
+was admonished to observe in every particular the terms of his own
+treaty with Charles, which he, René, had signed voluntarily, or the
+former would "make him know the difference between his friendship and
+his enmity."
+
+This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of Lorraine. For on September
+13th, his friend Louis XI. had signed a fresh treaty with Charles
+of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was marching mercenaries in
+Burgundian pay towards the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the
+French king abandoned the young protégé whom he had spared no pains
+to alienate from Burgundian protection. It was a moment when his one
+interest apparently was to settle accounts with the Count of St.
+Pol, who had been equally treacherous in his dealings with England,
+Burgundy, and France.[10]
+
+Having rested during the summer, the Burgundian troops were in fine
+trim when Charles marched to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat
+down before the capital in the last week of October. From his camp he
+wrote to the Duke of Milan:
+
+    "Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you. I have just
+    accepted a truce with the king for nine years to come, in the form
+    and manner contained at length in the copy of the articles which
+    I have given to your ambassador, resident with me . . . . And be
+    sure, _fratello mio_, that nothing would have induced me to accept
+    the truce, had you not been comprised therein. And, similarly, you
+    must be satisfied in all the pacts between the king and myself,
+    just as you were comprised in the convention lately made at Neuss.
+
+    "For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador about the troops
+    that can be furnished me, for which I am well content, praying you
+    to continue to serve me in accordance with the promises of your
+    ambassador. As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Duc de
+    Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now for delay as he
+    can travel in Lorraine as safely as in Lombardy, as I have said
+    to your ambassador. Pray the Lord to give you the desires of your
+    heart.
+
+
+    "Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day of October, 1475.
+
+    "CHARLES."[11]
+
+
+Some trifling assistance was offered to René by Strasburg and other
+foes to Burgundy, but it was wholly insufficient to rescue him from
+his difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the capitulation
+of Nancy on November 19th. The magistrates desired to hold out, but
+were forced by the populace to submit, and on November 30, 1475,
+Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly through the gate of Craffe
+into the capital of Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign
+duke.[12]
+
+This time Charles acted the role of a merciful and diplomatic
+conqueror. There was no cruelty permitted, and every evidence of
+conciliation was shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted the
+new order of things without further protest. At the end of December,
+Charles convened the Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace,
+addressed them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to be a good
+prince, demanded their attachment, confided his plans of expansion,
+and announced his intention of making Nancy the capital of his states.
+Again the duke's star rose. This acquisition seemed a sign of the
+reality of his dreams. Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching
+success bore fruit, inasmuch as the emperor changed the late
+convention into a firmer treaty signed on November 17th. Indeed had
+Charles died at that moment, there would have been little doubt that
+his dreamed-of kingdom had been simply prevented by a mere accident.
+
+The detailed story of all that had happened in the Swiss Confederation
+and the Lower Union, since their formal declaration of war against
+Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begining of 1476, the
+situation was, briefly, that Sigismund held the debated mortgaged
+lands, while the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant member
+of the league, had continued to carry on offensive operations against
+the duke and his allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The conquest
+of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the face of the fresh
+agreements between the duke and the emperor and the king.
+
+There was a short period of hesitation, marked by a truce till January
+1, 1476, between Charles and the confederates, a period when the timid
+among the allies urged their counsel of reconciliation at all hazards.
+Charles, too, seems to have desired an accord rather than hostilities,
+even though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for Héricourt. It
+was probably appeals from Yolande of Savoy that decided him to open a
+campaign in midwinter.
+
+    "The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote the Milanese
+    ambassador] in the reorganisation of his army according to new
+    ordinances, and in the regulation of his receipts and outlays that
+    he has scarcely given himself time to eat once in twenty-four
+    hours. He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the Count of
+    Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect no treaty, and do
+    not cease increasing their forces. In consequence, Duke Charles
+    intends leaving Nancy in six days to go towards the Jura. He
+    expects to take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which,
+    joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy, will swell his
+    army to the number of 25,000 combatants. His operations are so
+    planned that he will have more to gain than to lose."[13]
+
+
+When Charles left Nancy on January 11th, he issued one of his
+grandiloquent manifestoes declaring that he was acting in behalf of
+all princes and seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of the
+Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who had provoked his just
+wrath by ravaging his province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious
+act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain go off to make a
+pilgrimage just as he was on the eve of a campaign, but so he did,
+granting Campobasso leave of absence to visit the shrine of St. James
+at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised by the Italian to further
+the understanding with Louis XI., at which he arrived later.
+
+On across the Jura marched the Burgundian army, while the Swiss diet
+came to a slow and confused decision to prepare to meet him. He did
+not take the route generally expected, directly towards Berne, his
+chief antagonist, but turned aside and attacked the little fortress of
+Granson. The castle was not over strong. Efforts to provision it by
+water failed, and, finally, on February 28th, after a brief siege, the
+captain of the garrison, Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German
+forces, who represented to them that Charles was as generous as he was
+magnificent.
+
+If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the surrender was
+unconditional. Charles was soon on the spot. The four hundred and
+twelve soldiers, who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian army at
+bay for ten whole days, were made to march past his tent with bowed
+heads. Then he ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two to
+help in the executions. Four hours were occupied in fulfilling these
+pitiless orders. Panigarola arrived at the camp on the 29th,--it was
+leap year, 1476,--and found this accomplished and saw the bodies
+hanging on the trees, but he asserts that no word was broken.[14]
+Charles was now absolutely confident of complete success. "_Bellorum
+eventus dubii sunt_," remarked the prudent Milanese, however, and he
+was proved right.
+
+When the allied forces of the mountaineers finally arrived in the
+duke's neighbourhood a hot pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians,
+led by the duke in person, were thrown into utter confusion. The
+mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth yells and battle-cries of Uri
+and Unterwalden, simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles was
+pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only a defeat, but a complete
+rout. When the Swiss came in sight of the late garrison hanged to
+the trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn they massacred,
+hanged, and drowned every one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay
+hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives when they could, but
+their valuable artillery and their baggage, the mass of riches that
+Charles carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and gathered
+up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss, who cared little for the
+tapestries and jewels though they prized the gold. Such was the battle
+of Granson, on the 2nd of March.
+
+The fatal mistake committed by Charles was that he despised his enemy
+and underestimated his quality as well as his strength. Just before
+engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell upon their knees in
+prayer that the issue might be successful. This action deceived
+Charles into thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion was
+shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh broke out from the Burgundian
+ranks.[15]
+
+Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of Granson with the
+following rather barren words[16]:
+
+    "In short the Duke of Burgundy lost the day and was pushed back as
+    far as Jougne, where he stopped, and it is meet that I tell how
+    the duke's bodyguard saved themselves ... and reached Salins where
+    I saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle on account
+    of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the duke went to Noseret, and
+    you can understand that he was very sad and melancholy at having
+    lost the battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his army
+    shattered."
+
+On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to Margaret Paston from
+Calais:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde. ... Item, the
+    Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall
+    nott nowe be lykelyhod have it; wherffer the Frenshe kynge
+    cheryssheth hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn
+    the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off the Swechys
+    [Swiss] to conquer them butt the berded hym att an onsett place
+    and hathe dystrussyd hym and hathe slayne the most part of his
+    vanwarde and wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr
+    all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym; exceppte men and
+    horse ffledde nott but they roode that nyght xx myle; and so the
+    ryche saletts, heulmetts garters, nowchys[17] gelt and all is
+    goone with tente pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is
+    abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde karlys butte he
+    wolde nott beleve it and yitt men seye that he woll to them ageyn.
+    Gode spede them bothe."
+
+Many of the rumours that were current represented Charles as
+completely prostrated by his disaster. This was only half true.
+His efforts to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically, he
+certainly showed the effects of this campaign. He was attacked by a
+low fever, his stomach rejected food, insomnia afflicted his nights,
+and dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This condition was
+attributed to his fatigues and exposure in a hard climate, and to his
+habit of drinking warm barley-water in the morning. He was urged to
+use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard couch, while Yolande's own
+physician and one Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The latter
+claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles was not, however, fully
+recovered when he resumed his activities and held a review on May 9th.
+With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely to yield results,
+the whole number of troops was but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker
+felt that the duke was now trying to accomplish something quite beyond
+his resources.
+
+    "Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary[18]], we cannot
+    sufficiently wonder that you should have been so gravely deceived
+    and that, after having once found that you were lured into loss
+    and disgrace, again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth from
+    which you will either never escape, or escape only with damage and
+    shame.... Without risk to himself [your foe] has precipitated you
+    into an abyss and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of
+    your possessions and your life.... We exhort you to pause before
+    incurring heavier losses and greater dangers. If fortune smiles
+    upon you in your attack on that people, you will have the whole
+    empire against you. In the opposite event--which God avert--it
+    will be turned into a common tale how a mighty prince was overcome
+    by rustics whom there would have been no honour in conquering,
+    while to be conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace."
+
+This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its destination until after
+the prophecy had been fulfilled. Its warning would probably have been
+futile had Charles read it before he marched on towards Berne, on June
+8th. On the road that he chose lay the town of Morat, which had made
+ready for his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then on to Berne
+was his plan. His force succeeded in holding the ground and cutting
+off communication with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a messenger
+made his way through from the beleaguered city to Berne, and all the
+allies were then urged to do their best. The result was encouraging.
+"There are three times as many as at Granson, but let no one be
+dismayed, with God's help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of
+Berne.
+
+The encounter came on June 23d. The force was really a formidable one.
+René of Lorraine was among the commanders on the side of the Swiss.
+It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was savage; at two o'clock the
+assault was made and within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost all
+the infantry perished. The slain is estimated variously from ten
+to twenty-two thousand. Charles did not keep his vow to perish if
+defeated. To his assured allies he clung closely, and none had more
+reason to be faithful to him than Yolande of Savoy. After Granson he
+hastened to give the duchess his own view of the disaster:
+
+    "It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of your calmness and
+    constancy of soul; for the thought of your affliction weighed more
+    heavily upon me than what has befallen me ... every day diminishes
+    the inconvenience and proves that the loss in men is less than we
+    thought. _Such as it is it came from a mere skirmish_. The bulk
+    of the armies did not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they
+    fought the victory would have been mine. There has been none on
+    either side. God, I trust, reserves it for you and for me ... the
+    hope you have placed in me shall not be vain."
+
+Thus he wrote on March 7th to encourage his anxious protégée.
+
+[Illustration: A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT]
+
+After the second defeat it was to her that the duke turned again. In
+the very early morning after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at
+Morges on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard through the night.
+There he heard mass, breakfasted, rested awhile, and then rode on,
+reaching the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening, where
+Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming in full knowledge of the
+second disaster he had suffered.
+
+At the foot of the staircase, attended by her ladies, Yolande was
+waiting to greet her disappointed friend. Charles dismounted and
+kissed each member of the family in order of precedence, the little
+duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter, and the ladies
+in waiting. Yolande had had time to move out of her own suite of
+apartments and have them prepared for her guest's use, and there the
+two talked together confidentially, while their attendants waited
+patiently just out of earshot.
+
+Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to her son's room,
+returning to his own, showing signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola
+was absent, but another Milanese was among her suite, and he pressed
+forward as the duke re-entered the apartment, offering to carry any
+message to the Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, "It is well. That
+is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de la Marche and the Sire de
+Givry, commander of the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service,
+were summoned and had a long conference with Charles.
+
+Yolande was, apparently, more communicative to the Milanese Appiano
+than to Charles, but he saw that she was not frank with him. "She must
+throw herself on the protection of France or of Milan," he wrote to
+his master.[20] She was, however, clear in her own mind that she would
+not accept Sforza's protection any more than that of Charles. She
+absolutely refused to identify her fortunes with the latter. She was
+determined to go to Geneva, but no farther. The duke remained at Gex
+until the 27th, and renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross
+the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering to her own plan. The
+two parties set out from the castle together, their roads lying in
+opposite directions, but Charles escorted his hostess about half-way
+to Geneva, riding beside her carriage, and continuing his persuasions
+in a low voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a farewell kiss,
+and rode off. He was much displeased at her determination, and he
+speedily resolved upon other methods of making sure of her fidelity to
+him. La Marche thus relates the story:[21]
+
+    "After the duke had been discomfited the second time by the Swiss
+    before Morat, believing that he could do the thing secretly, he
+    made a plan to kidnap Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them
+    to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva, on my head to
+    capture Mme. of Savoy and her children and bring them to him. In
+    order to obey my prince and master I did his behest quite against
+    my heart, and I took madame and her children near the gate of
+    Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away from me (for it was
+    two o'clock in the night) by the means of some of our own company
+    who were subjects of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did
+    no more than their duty. What I did was simply to save my life,
+    for the duke, my master, was the kind that insisted on having his
+    will done under penalty of losing one's head. So I took my way,
+    and carried Mme. of Savoy behind me, and her two daughters
+    followed and two or three of her maids, and we took the road over
+    the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured of the second
+    son, and had him carried by a gentleman. I thought I was assured
+    of the Duke of Savoy, but he was stolen from me as I said. As
+    soon as we were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and
+    especially the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought and took
+    the duke back to Geneva, in which they had great joy. And I with
+    Mme. of Savoy and the little boy (who was not the duke), crossed
+    the mountain in the black night and came to a place called Mijoux,
+    and thence to St. Claude.
+
+    "You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer to the company,
+    and chiefly to me. I was in danger of my life because I had not
+    brought the Duke of Savoy. Then the duke went on to Salins without
+    speaking to me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted Mme.
+    of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take her to the castle of
+    Rochefort. Thence she was taken to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that
+    I had nothing more to do with her or her affairs."
+
+This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the tone in which La Marche
+relates it indicates that he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner,
+and might have been more willing to lend an ear to Louis's suggestions
+than he had been five years previously.
+
+It is not evident that he played his master false or that he was
+cognisant of the recapture of the little duke, but he says himself
+that he thought the attendants were absolutely justified in it.
+
+It is after this incident that the astute Panigarola returns and joins
+the duke's suite at Salins. He finds Charles a changed man, indulging
+in strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a couple of
+thousand more of his troops had been killed, "French at heart" as they
+were. He refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtaining the
+means of so doing, and sent her to the castle of the Sire of Rochefort
+for safe-keeping. Abstemious as he had been all his life, never taking
+wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which he now suddenly
+indulged went to his head.
+
+Rumours went abroad that his mental balance was shaken. That does
+not seem to have been true to the extent of insanity. He was only
+infinitely chagrined but he certainly put on a brave front and
+retained his self-confidence and declared
+
+    "They are wrong if they believe me defeated. Providence has
+    provided me with so many people and estates with such abundant
+    resources, that many such defeats would be needed to ruin them. At
+    the moment when the world imagines that I am annihilated, I will
+    reopen the campaign with an army of 150,000 men."[22]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Nos omnes relinquens, Ibid_., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Commynes-Dupont, i., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Lettres_, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Gachard, _Doc. inéd_., i., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Commines, iv., ch. vi.]
+[Footnote 7: Commines, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The terms of the treaty provided for a seven years'
+truce, with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil
+or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance went so far
+that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing the title of King of
+England and France.]
+
+[Footnote 9: _The Paston Letters_. Sir John Paston to his mother,
+Sept. 11, 1475.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The story must be omitted here. The constable was
+finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Dépêches Milanaises_, i., 253. The copy only is at
+Milan and there is no seal.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 380.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Dép. Milan_., i., 266.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Dép. Milan_., i., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Jomini lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had
+committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army resting on
+the lake, the other ill-secured at the foot of a wooded mountain.
+Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to have one of its wings
+resting on an unbridged stream, on a lake, or on the sea." Charles
+explained to Europe that he had been surprised, and his defeat was a
+mere bagatelle.]
+
+[Footnote 16: III., 216.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Embossed ornaments.]
+
+[Footnote l8: _Dép. Milan._, ii., 126.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Dép. Milan._, ii., 335.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Dep. Milan_., ii., 295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: III., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Dep. Milan_, ii., 339.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+1477
+
+
+It was manifestly impossible for Charles to attempt to retrieve his
+fortunes without having large sums of ready money at his command.
+He therefore proceeded to appeal to the guardians of each and every
+treasury in his various states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however,
+the only quarters whence succour was in the least probable. The
+Estates of the latter duchy met, deliberated, and resolved to make no
+pretence nor to "yield anything contrary to the duty which every one
+owes to his country."[1] A certain Sieur de Jarville, accompanied
+by other true Burgundians, undertook to report the proceedings to
+Charles,--a duty usually falling to the share of the presiding officer
+of the ecclesiastical chamber. The message which he carried was
+laconic but sturdy:
+
+"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave subjects and servitors,
+but as to what is asked in his behalf, it never has been done, it
+cannot be done, it never will be done."
+
+"Small people would never dare use such language," is the comment
+of the Burgundian chronicler, proud of the temerity of his fellow
+countrymen.
+
+In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were equally emphatic in
+their refusal to meet the duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved
+to call together a general assembly of deputies in the hope of finding
+them, collectively, more amenable. Writs of summons were issued very
+widely and a "States-general" was formally convened at Ghent on
+Friday, April 26, 1476.[2] At the last assembly of this nature, in
+1473, the duke had expressly promised, in consideration of an annual
+grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded to him, to refrain
+from further demands, and there was a spirit of sullen resentment in
+the air when this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened by
+Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points for consideration.
+Monseigneur wished his daughter Mary, "that most precious jewel," to
+join him in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to ensure her
+safe journey and that the duke requested the States to provide.
+Secondly he desired the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to
+meet his immediate requirements. Further, he requested each town to
+equip a specified number of horses at its own expense; he demanded the
+service of his tenants, fief and arrière-fief; and, in addition, he
+required that all other men, no matter what their condition, able to
+bear arms, should enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the
+troops should be set to guard the frontier, and the rest should be
+sent to the duke in Burgundy.
+
+It was a demand pure and simple for a universal call to arms, a
+national levy. The duke's paternal desire to see his daughter was the
+flimsiest of excuses that deceived no one for a moment.
+
+After the chancellor's exposition there was probably adjournment for
+discussion. The pensionary of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as
+spokesman to present the following report, as the result of their
+deliberations, to the duchess-regent.
+
+As for Mlle. of Burgundy, the deputies would ascertain the wishes
+of their principals, but the second request did not call for a
+referendum. The representatives were fully capable of settling the
+matter at once. Considering the heavy burdens laid on the people, and
+taking into account the promises made to them in 1473, that no
+further demands should be made on the public purse, the three Estates
+concurred in humbly petitioning Monseigneur to excuse them from
+granting his request.
+
+It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th) when this decision was
+communicated to the duchess in her own hotel. After a private colloquy
+between her and Hugonet, the chancellor told the messenger that it was
+quite right for the deputies to consult their principals before the
+heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship of her faithful
+subjects. That was a grave matter, but surely there was no reason why
+her "escort" could not be determined upon at once. In regard to the
+levies, Madame was not empowered to take any excuse. It was beyond her
+province. Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters had
+arrived from the duke urging the speedy execution of his previous
+instructions. The chancellor then appointed a committee to meet a
+committee from the States at 8 A.M. on the morrow at the convent of
+the Augustines.
+
+This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speedily notified that the
+States did not feel empowered to appoint a committee. The most they
+could do was to resolve themselves into a committee of the whole. The
+objection to this was that a small conference was far better suited
+to free discussion. It was easy for unqualified persons to enter the
+session of a large body. The States, however, were tenacious in their
+opinion that their writs did not qualify them to appoint committees.
+Every point must be threshed out in the presence of every deputy.
+_Potestas delegata non deleganda est_.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY MATHEY)]
+
+There was further negotiation, and it was not until Monday afternoon
+that Hugonet's commissioner brought a conciliatory message that if the
+gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in spite of the difficulty of
+discussion in an open meeting, talk over both points with them in
+full assembly. Again the States objected. They had no instructions
+whatsoever in regard to Mademoiselle, and could not discuss her
+movements either in public or in private session. As to levies, they
+repeated in detail all previous arguments, and expressed a fervent
+hope that Monseigneur would withdraw the request. It would, in the
+end, be more to Monseigneur's advantage, etc. Back and forth travelled
+the commissioner between States and duchess. The latter simply
+reiterated her dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit her
+father in May, with an adequate escort, in whose ranks must appear
+three prelates, three or four barons, fifty knights, and notable men
+from the "good towns," well armed.
+
+The States were then resolved into a committee of the whole, for a
+private deliberation, an action that probably enabled them to exclude
+the embarrassing spectators. In preparation for this, the diligent
+commissioner called apart one deputy from each contingent, and
+expatiated on the duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to
+eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's escort and the fiefs
+and arrière-fiefs, Monseigneur could manage to make suffice for the
+present, and these must be provided. These confidences were at once
+reported to the assembly, which then adjourned to think over the
+matter during the night.[3]
+
+When they met again on April 30th, the chancellor was ready with a new
+message from Madame: "Go home now, consult your principals, and return
+on May 15th." On the motion of some deputy, this date was changed to
+May 24th. Precautions were taken to prevent any binding action in the
+interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the reports to the separate
+groups of constituents was also agreed upon by the majority of the
+deputies. In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that province
+there was a reluctance to deny the obligations of the fiefs.
+
+When the deputies reassembled a month later, Hugonet tried to weaken
+the effect of their answer by a suggestion that it had better not
+be considered the final decision, but a mere informal expression of
+opinion. "There were so many strangers present," etc. The States
+determinedly refused to be trifled with. "Madame must not be
+displeased if they gave the result of their deliberations in the
+presence of the whole assembly, not by way of opinion, but as a formal
+and conclusive report." Their charge was restricted to this manner
+of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting them, asked, since their
+charge was thus restricted, whether they had also been limited in the
+number of times they might drink on their way.[4] The answer was:
+"Chancellor, come now, say what you wish. The answer shall be given as
+it was meant to be given."
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLE OF NANCY. REPRODUCED FROM KIRK'S
+"CHARLES THE BOLD," BY PERMISSION OF J.B. LIPPINCOTT CO.]
+
+The communication was so long that its delivery took from 3 to 8
+P.M. It was nothing more than a detailed apology for refusing the
+sovereign's demands. Several days more were consumed in unsuccessful
+efforts to cajole or browbeat the deputies into a more genial mood.
+The only concessions offered were insignificant, and to their
+resolution the deputies held firmly. "According to current rumour
+[concludes Gort Roelants's story] the ducal council would gladly have
+accepted a notable sum in lieu of the service of towns and of the
+fiefholders, but the States made no such offer."
+
+There was evidently a hope that better results might be obtained from
+a new assembly,[5] but none was held and the most earnest endeavours
+of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse enthusiasm for his
+plans. Moreover, when there seemed a prospect that the Netherlands
+might be attacked from France, the sympathy of even the duchess and
+council for offensive operations was chilled. Not only did Margaret
+fail to send her husband the extra supplies demanded, but she decided
+to appropriate the three months' subsidy, the chief item of regular
+ducal revenue, for protection of the Flemish frontier--an action that
+made Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes, indeed, they were
+necessary, but the people must provide them. The subsidy was lawfully
+his and he needed every penny of it. His army had not been destroyed.
+He was simply obliged to strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him.
+Flanders must do her part. They were deaf to this appeal, although a
+generous message was sent saying that if he were hard pressed they
+would go in person to rescue him from danger.
+
+The story of the assembly of the Estates of the two Burgundies is
+equally interesting as a picture of the clash between sovereign will
+and popular unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money-boxes.[6]
+The deputies convened at Salins on July 8th, in the presence of the
+duke himself. The session was opened by Jean de Grey, the president
+of the _parlement_ of the duchy, with a brief statement of the
+sovereign's needs. Then Charles took the floor, and delivered a
+tremendous harangue with a marvellous command of language. Panigarola
+declared that his allusions to parallel crises in ancient times were
+so apt and so fluent that it seemed as though the book of history lay
+opened before him and that he read from its pages.[7] The impression
+he made was plain to see.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF NANCY CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF
+ST. GERMAIN DES PRÉS (COMINES-LENGLET, III.)]
+
+His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disasters were open and
+aboveboard this time. There was no such pretence put forward as the
+escort of Mary. The argument was that any ruler, backed by his people
+unanimous in their willingness to give their last jewel for public
+purposes, must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc.
+
+His learned and able discourse was well received, according to other
+reporters besides the Milanese, but there was no hearty yielding to
+sentiment in the reply. Four days were consumed in deliberation before
+that was ready on July 12th. They had certainly considered that the
+grant of 100,000 florins annually for six years, accorded two years
+previously, was their share. But in view of the duke's appeal, they
+would endeavour to aid him. Let him stipulate which cities he wished
+fortified and they would assume charge of the work. Two favours they
+begged--that Charles should not rashly expose his person "for he was
+the sole prince of his glorious House," and that he should be ready
+to receive overtures of peace. "We will give life and property for
+defence, but we implore you to take no offensive step." Charles did
+not, perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and of his
+judgment that these words implied.
+
+Financial stress was not the duke's only difficulty in 1476. The
+defection of his allies continued, Yolande--that former good friend of
+his--was now a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to restore
+her to freedom and to her son's estates. Not that her restraint was
+in itself hard to bear. At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from
+Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished, except to depart.
+Couriers, too, were at her service apparently, who carried uninspected
+letters to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XI. Commines
+says that she hesitated to take refuge with the last lest he should
+promptly return her to Burgundian "protection." Yet her brother's
+hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong assurance against such
+action. Louis XI. was never so genial as when hearing some ill of
+Charles. "From what I have learned, I believe his Turk, his devil
+in this world, the person he loathes most intensely, is the Duke of
+Burgundy, with whom he can never live in amity." These words were sent
+by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan,[8] who was also turning slowly,
+with some periods of hesitation, to an alliance with Louis, now
+engaged in "following the hare with a cart."[9]
+
+On his side the king declared that he had no intention of troubling
+further about his obligations to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has himself
+broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a war when I please. But I
+have thought it best to temporise."
+
+[Illustration: COLUMN COMMEMORATING CHARLES AT NANCY AFTER THE DRAWING
+BY PERNOT]
+
+In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper and deeper into
+negotiations with any and every one whom he could turn against
+Charles. In October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne, --the
+territory that Edward IV. had failed to consign to the duke's
+sovereignty,--made a descent on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy.
+There was no attempt to stay her departure, and she was scrupulous, so
+it is said, in leaving money behind to pay for the Burgundian property
+carried off in her train--though it were nothing but an old crossbow.
+"Welcome, Madame the Burgundian," was the fraternal salutation which
+she received on her arrival at her brother's court. She replied that
+she was a good French woman and quite ready to obey his majesty's
+commands.[10]
+
+During the summer, Charles remained at La Rivière exerting every
+effort to levy an army. It was no easy task, and the review held on
+July 27th showed a meagre return for his exertions. But he did not
+slacken his efforts. Lists were immediately drawn up showing the
+vacancies in each company, and his money stress did not prevent
+his offering increased pay as an extra inducement to recruits. "An
+excellent means of encouragement," comments Panigarola.
+
+The necessity for his preparations was evident. An opportune legacy
+inherited by René of Lorraine enabled that dispossessed prince to work
+to better advantage than he had been able to do since Charles had
+convened the Estates of Lorraine at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day
+of the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a Swiss diet at
+Fribourg adopted resolutions regarding, a closer alliance with
+René.[11] Louis XI. ostensibly maintained his truce with Charles but
+he had intimated that a French army would wait in Dauphiné ready "to
+help adjust the affairs of Savoy," and, at about the same time when
+Yolande was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss embassy,
+so that René did not feel himself without support as he advanced to
+recover his city.
+
+The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were weak and indifferent--a
+brief siege, and the capital of Lorraine capitulated to Duke René.
+Charles was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His forces, too,
+were a mere shadow. Three to four thousand men rallied round him in
+the Franche-Comté, a few hundred joined him in Burgundy, and as he
+skirted the frontier of Champagne he received slight reinforcements
+from Luxemburg. Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops, and
+the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs as had, individually,
+respected the duke's appeal. In all, the forces at Charles's
+disposition amounted to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at
+Neuss or at Granson.
+
+At a diet of October 17th, the compact between René and the Swiss was
+confirmed, and the former was assured of efficient aid to help him
+repulse Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was need. The city
+of Toul refused admission to both dukes, but furnished provision for
+Charles's troops, so that for the moment he was the better off of the
+two. René then proceeded to provision Nancy and to prepare it for a
+siege, while he himself proceeded to Pont-à-Mousson, and for several
+days the two adversaries were only separated by the Moselle. Charles's
+army was augmented daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and
+England, and by fragments of the garrisons of the towns in Lorraine
+that had yielded to René and the latter fell back, little by little.
+Charles in his turn held Pont-à-Mousson, and proceeded along the road
+to Nancy, not deterred by the Lorrainers.
+
+It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Burgundy laid siege for the
+second time to Nancy. In thus entering into active hostilities, he was
+ignoring the advice of his councillors who were unanimous in begging
+him to devote the winter months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or
+Flanders. His position was really very dangerous. He had no base on
+which to rest as he had recovered no towns except Pont-à-Mousson. But
+he ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault after assault upon
+Nancy--all most valiantly repulsed. Within the walls, there was an
+amazing display of courage, energy, and good humour. As a matter of
+fact, the duke's reputation had waned, while the fear of his cruelty
+emboldened the burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate would
+be better than falling into his hands, was the general opinion.
+
+Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the garrisons seized every
+occasion to harry the Burgundians. Familiar with the lay of the land,
+with every cross-road and by-path, they were able to lie in wait for
+the foragers and to do much damage. Four hundred cavaliers, coming
+up from Burgundy, were attacked by one Malhortie de Rozière, and
+literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed sides with ease.
+Only a few escaped to report the fate of the others to Charles. Not
+long after, Malhortie, encouraged by this success, crept up to the
+Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and captured a goodly number
+of horses.
+
+The troops on which Charles counted most confidently were
+Campobasso's. Several attempts were made to warn him that treachery
+was possible in that quarter if the commander were too much
+exasperated by delays in payment, too much tried by the ill-temper of
+his employer. But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what was
+passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting the moment for his final
+defection, the Italian found it possible to enter into communication
+with René and to retard the operations of the siege so as to give time
+for the advance of the army of relief.
+
+The weather of this year was a marked contrast to the mild season of
+1473. The winter set in early and the cold became very severe, almost
+at once. Their sufferings made the burghers very impatient for the
+relief of whose coming they could get no certain assurance. The
+Burgundian lines were held so rigidly that the interchange of messages
+between the city and her friends was rendered very difficult.[12] One
+Suffren de Baschi tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged
+that René was levying troops in Switzerland and would soon be with
+them. Baschi fell into the duke's hands and was immediately hanged.
+One story says that Campobasso was among the interceders for his life
+and received a box on the ear for his pains, an insult that proved the
+last straw in his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however, declares
+that the Italian urged the death of the captive, fearful of the
+premature betrayal of his own intended treachery.
+
+This execution was one of those arbitrary acts condemned by public
+opinion as contrary to the code of warfare. Intense indignation among
+the Lorrainers and the Swiss forced René to retaliatory measures, and
+he ordered the execution of all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred
+and twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing an inscription
+to the effect that their death was the work of _le téméraire_. The
+rancour of the proceedings became terrible. No quarter was given in
+any engagements. Slaughter was the only thought on either side.
+
+Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a draper of Mirecourt,
+proved more successful than Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information,
+that René's army would leave Basel on December 26th, put heart into
+the beseiged and the bells rang out joyfully.
+
+Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at mediation between the
+combatants. The King of Portugal,[13] nephew of Isabella, appeared at
+his cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to the carnage, and
+in the name of humanity to stop a war that was horrible to all the
+world. In spite of his own stress, Charles managed to give his kinsman
+a splendid reception, but he waved aside his petition, and simply
+invited him to join him in his campaign.
+
+A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to march from Basel to Nancy,
+across the plains of Alsace. Meantime René had rallied about four
+thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to this was added an
+Alsatian force which had joined him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port.
+They were a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by routing
+a few Burgundians out of the houses where they had hidden, and
+massacring them publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles, was
+easily put to flight.
+
+On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh troops had reached St.
+Nicolas. He showed assurance, arrogance, and negligence. His belief in
+his star was fully restored. He actually did not take the trouble to
+try once more to ascertain the exact strength of the enemy. He had
+commissioned the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him at Basel, and
+refused to credit the statement that the Swiss were throwing in their
+fortunes with René. He thought that "the Child," as he contemptuously
+termed his adversary, had simply gone right and left to hire
+mercenaries, and he rather ridiculed the idea of taking such
+_canaille_ seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of a
+gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish them once for all.[14]
+
+It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were a different and far
+less efficient body than the volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
+French gold, scattered freely, had done its work in exciting the
+cupidity of every man who could bear arms. There were some staunch
+leaders, like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein, but their kind
+was in the minority. Berne aided with money rather than with men, but
+she was not a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages to
+ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was evident in every quarter. As
+the troops made their way over the Jura their behaviour showed that
+the late splendid booty had affected them. Plunder was their aim. When
+René reviewed these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending
+officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor of Alsace.[15]
+Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed over to the Duke of Lorraine, who
+appointed him marshal.
+
+On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held a council meeting. The
+opinion of the wisest, already given on previous occasions, was urged
+again:
+
+    "Do not risk battle. René is poor. If there are no immediate
+    engagements, his mercenaries will abandon him for lack of pay.
+    Raise the siege and depart for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army
+    can rest and be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will
+    be easy to fall upon René deprived of his troops."
+
+Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments. He was determined on
+facing the issue at once. Leaving a small force to sustain the siege,
+he ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of the 4th and a
+movement made towards St.-Nicolas. He selected a ground favourable
+for the manipulation of a large body, and placed his artillery on a
+plateau situated between Jarville and Neuville. It was not a good
+position, being hedged in on the right and in front by woods which
+could conceal the movements of a foe without impeding them. Only one
+way of retreat was open--towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's
+last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to cross several small
+streams and deceptive marshes, half frozen as they were, besides the
+river Meurthe, a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the
+flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread surprise, while
+in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe was more than possible.
+Curiously, the precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of
+Morat were repeated here--proof that Charles had not the qualities of
+a general who could learn by experience.[16]
+
+The exact force at his disposal on this occasion has been variously
+estimated. Considering the ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during
+the siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual combatants
+did not number more than ten thousand, all told. And only half of
+these were of any value--two thousand men under Galeotto, and
+three thousand Burgundians commanded by Charles and his immediate
+lieutenants. The remainder were unreliable mercenaries and the still
+more unreliable troops of Campobasso already pledged to the foe. La
+Marche estimates René's force at twelve thousand and adds: "The Duke
+of Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience, he had not two
+thousand fighting men."[17]
+
+The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by a Lorrainer, Vautrin
+Wuisse. The first manoeuvre was to divert the foe and turn him towards
+the woods, and then to attack his centre, which would at the same
+time be pressed at the front by the Lorraine forces, headed by René
+himself. The plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that they dared
+take the offensive, Charles was alert to the harsh cries of the "bull"
+of Uri and the "cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across the
+woods. A sudden presentiment saddened him. Putting on his helmet, he
+accidentally knocked off the lion bearing the legend _Hoc est signum
+Dei_. He replaced it and plunged into the mêlée.
+
+The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops and the duke's were the
+only ones to make sturdy resistance. The right wing of the army gave
+way under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry, "_Sauve qui
+pent_!" raised possibly by Campobasso's traitors, produced a terrible
+rout. Three quarters of the troops were in flight, while the duke
+still fought on with superhuman ferocity.
+
+Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected his own mercenaries
+as best he could, while Campobasso completed the treason that he had
+plotted with René, which had been partially accomplished four days
+previously, and calmly took up his position on the bridge of Bouxières
+on the Meurthe, to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then the
+besieged made a sudden sortie which increased the disorder. The battle
+proper was of short duration, with little bloodshed, but the pursuit
+was sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian army had left no
+loophole open for retreat.
+
+The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as Bouxières and
+inflicted carnage right and left on the route. It was easy work. The
+morasses were traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their arms,
+found it impossible to free themselves, when they once were entangled.
+They fell like flies before the fury of the mountaineers. The
+Lorrainers and Alsatians were more humane or more mercenary, for they
+took prisoners instead of killing indiscriminately. Charles fought
+desperately to the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged into
+the thick of the fight and risked his life in a reckless manner,
+but there is absolute uncertainty as to how he met his death. It is
+generally accepted that the last person to see him alive was one
+Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan captain. This
+lad, with an extra helmet swung over his shoulder, found himself
+close to the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops, noticed his horse
+stumble, was sure that the rider fell. The next moment, Colonna's
+attention was diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and knew no
+more of the day's events. The figure of Charles of Burgundy disappears
+from the view of man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the
+closing scenes of his life.
+
+At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine rode into the rescued
+city and re-entered his palace. At the gates was heaped up a ghastly
+memorial of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion to
+his cause. This was a pile of the bones of the foul animals they had
+consumed when other food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to
+their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe now became René's
+chief anxiety, and he despatched messengers to Metz and elsewhere
+to find out where Charles had taken refuge. The reports were all
+negative. The first positive assurance that the duke was dead came
+from young Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself introduced into
+René's presence on Monday evening. The page told his tale and declared
+that he could point out the precise place where he had seen the Duke
+of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, January 7th, a
+party went forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and were
+guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool which he asserted confidently
+was the very spot where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evidence
+went to give corroboration to his word, for the dozen or more bodies
+that lay strewn along the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool
+were close friends and followers of the duke, men who would, in all
+probability, have stayed faithfully by their master's person, a
+volunteer bodyguard as long as they drew breath. These bodies were all
+stripped naked. Harpies had already gathered what plunder they could
+find, and no apparel or accoutrements were left to show the difference
+in rank between noble and page. But the faces were recognisable and
+they were identified as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court.
+Separated from this group by a little space at the very edge of the
+pool, was another naked body in still more doleful plight. The face
+was disfigured beyond all semblance of what it might have been in
+life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one was imbedded in the frozen
+slime. Yet there was evidence on the poor forsaken remains that
+convinced the searchers that this was indeed the mortal part of the
+great duke. Two wounds from a pick and a blow above the ear--inflicted
+by "one named Humbert"--showed how death had been caused. The missing
+teeth corresponded to those lost by Charles, there was a scar just
+where he had received his wound at Montl'héry, the finger nails were
+long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula on the groin, and an
+ingrowing nail were additional marks of identification,--six definite
+proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this wretched sight, on that
+January morning, were men intimately acquainted with the duke's
+person.
+
+    "There were his physician, a Portuguese named Mathieu, and his
+    valets, besides Olivier de la Marche[18] and Denys his chaplain
+    who were taken thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It
+    has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and to know it
+    better it [the body] has been bathed in warm water and good wine
+    and cleansed. In that state it was recognisable by all who
+    had previously seen and known him. The page who had given the
+    information was taken to the king. Had it not been for him it
+    would never have been known what had become of him considering the
+    state and the place where he was found."[19]
+
+Before the body could be freed from the ice in which it was imbedded,
+implements had to be brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles hastened
+to the spot, when they heard the tidings, to show honour to the man
+who had been their accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted
+as escort as the burden was carried into the town and placed in a
+suitable chamber in the home of one George Marquiez. There seems to
+have been no insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference in
+the proceedings. The very spot where the bier rested for a moment was
+marked with a little black cross.
+
+As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became evident--a deep cut
+from a halberd in the head, spear thrusts through the thighs and
+abdomen--proofs of the closeness of the last struggle. When all the
+dignity possible had been given to the miserable human fragment and
+the chamber hung with conventional mourning, René came thither clad
+in black garments. Kneeling by the bier, he said: "Would to God, fair
+cousin, that your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you to the
+condition in which I see you."
+
+For five days the body lay in state before the high altar of the
+church of St. George, and the obsequies that followed were attended by
+René and his nobles, and the coffin was honourably placed among the
+ducal dead.
+
+Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried with the bones to
+which his name was given. When the Swiss turned their way homeward,
+their farewell words to René were: "If the Duke of Burgundy has
+escaped and should reopen war, tell us." "If he has assured his
+safety," René answered, "we will fight again when summer comes." There
+was no delay, however, in the division of the spoils. The Burgundian
+treasure was distributed among René's allies, and the ignorant
+soldiers received articles worth many times their pay, which they, in
+many cases, disposed of for an infinitesimal part of their value.
+
+As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and Mary of Burgundy wrote
+to Louis XI. from Ghent:
+
+"We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in the hands of his
+enemies." Other rumours continued to be current, not only for weeks
+but for years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that the vanished
+duke had retired to Brucsal in Swabia, where he led an austere life,
+_genus vitae horridum atque asperum_. Bets were made, too, on the
+chances of his return.[20]
+
+Louis XI. was a very pleasant person when news was brought him that he
+liked to hear. Commines and Bouchage together had told him about the
+defeat of Morat and had each received two hundred silver marks. It was
+a Seigneur de Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters from
+Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It was "really difficult for the
+king to keep his countenance so surprised was he with joy."[21] His
+letter to Craon was written on January 9th and ran as follows.[22]
+
+    "M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter and heard
+    the good news that you impart to me, for which I thank you as much
+    as I can. Now is the time to use all your five natural senses to
+    deliver the duchy and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the
+    duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne take your
+    troops and put yourselves within the land, and, if you love me,
+    keep as good order among your men as if you were in Paris, and
+    prove that I mean to treat them [the Burgundians] better than any
+    one in my realm."
+
+The "five natural senses" of the king's lieutenant were employed most
+loyally to his master's service. The duchy of Burgundy returned to the
+French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were convened by Louis XI,
+and there was no longer any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful
+peer in France.
+
+With the exception of Guelders the lands acquired by Charles fell
+away, but the remainder as inherited by him passed under the rule of
+his daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the House of Austria,
+through which it passed finally to the King of Spain.
+
+On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Burgundy had only just
+passed middle life. He was forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six
+days old, an age when a man has the right to look forward to new
+achievements. Every circumstance of the dreary and premature death was
+in glaring contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in insolent
+contradiction to his own estimation of the obligations assumed by Fate
+in his behalf. In certain details of the catastrophe there are, of
+course, accidents. No one could have predicted that the duke whose
+chief title was a synonym for magnificence, that this cherished heir
+to his House, who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his
+epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours long, unattended and
+uncared-for, naked and frozen on a bed of congealed mud, with a winter
+sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it overwhelmed him was too
+appalling for any foresight. But the great dream of the man's life
+that vanished with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere
+chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended by the battle of
+Nancy, other means of destruction, inevitable and sure, would have
+appeared. The projected erection of a solidified kingdom stretching
+from the North Sea to Switzerland and possibly to the Mediterranean,
+one that could hold the balance of power between France and Germany,
+contained elements of disintegration, latent at its foundation. It is
+clear, from a consideration of the Duke of Burgundy and his position
+in the Europe of his time, that the materials which he expected to
+mould into a realm were a collection of sentient units. Each separate
+one was instinct with individual life, individual desires, conscious
+of its own minute past, capable of directing its own contracted
+future. That the hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
+had lodged upon a head already dignified by a plurality of similar
+titles, was a mere chance and viewed by the burghers in a wholly
+different light from that in which this same overlord regarded it. The
+fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant, the merchants in
+Flanders, the vintners in Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings
+of an imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds, unmolested
+highways of commerce, vineyards free from the tramp of armies. And
+with their desires fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
+the political centralisation planned by their common ruler, often
+betrayed both ignorance and inconsistency. At various epochs some
+degree of imperialism for the Netherland group had been quite to
+popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and Hainaut, it had been conceded
+that Jacqueline of Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
+conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the exchange of sovereigns
+had been effected in spite of the manifest injustice involved in the
+transaction. But while there was willingness to accept any advantages
+that might accrue to a people from the reputation of a local overlord,
+it was never forgotten for an instant that his relation to his
+subjects was as their own count and strictly limited by conditions
+that had long existed within each petty territory. While Charles
+seemed to be on the straight road towards his goal, the people within
+each body politic of his inherited states were profoundly preoccupied
+with their own local concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
+feared demands upon their internal revenues for external purposes.
+
+It does not seem probable, however, that the abstract question of the
+projected kingdom was ever taken very seriously among those to be
+directly affected by the proposed change. The bars interposed by his
+own subjects in the duke's progress towards royalty were obstructions
+to his successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed, strenuous
+opposition to details was allied to a vague and passive acceptance of
+the whole. Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly as
+a revival, not as a novelty. The previous existence of a kingdom of
+Burgundy was undoubtedly a potent factor in the degree of progress
+made by Charles towards conjuring into new life a reincarnation of
+that ancient realm. Yet it was a factor clothed with a shadow rather
+than with the substance of truth. Geographically there was very little
+in common between the dominion projected more or less definitely in
+1473 and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they had successively
+existed. That of Charles corresponded very nearly to the ancient
+kingdom of Lorraine. Franche-Comté was the only ground common to the
+territories actually held by the duke and to the latest kingdom of
+Burgundy. His possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly beyond the
+limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine. But the old name survived in
+his ducal title, and it was that name that lent a semblance of reality
+to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle kingdom as outlined in the
+duke's mind more or less definitely or as bounded by his ambition.
+
+In retrospect it is clear that more was requisite for the realisation
+of the vision of the wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of
+a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group of lands. A modern
+writer has pointed out how infinitely subtle is the vital principle
+of a nation, one not even to be created by common interests. A
+_Zollverein_ is no _patria_. An element of sentiment is needful, and
+an element of growth.[23] The nation like the individual is the result
+of what has gone before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can
+command respect at home and abroad--that is the capital on which
+is based a national idea. To have wrought in common, to wish to
+accomplish more in the future, are essential conditions to be a
+people. "The existence of a nation is a plebiscite of every day, just
+as the existence of the individual is a perpetual affirmation of
+life."
+
+Now it is evident, in summing up the salient features of this failure,
+that a vital principle was not germinating in the inchoate mass.
+Charles himself never attained the rank of a national hero. More than
+that, with all his individual states, he never had any nation, great
+or small, at his back. Personally he was a man without a country. His
+father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite as French as his
+grandfather, Philip the Hardy, the first Duke of Burgundy out of the
+House of Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended his sway
+to many non-French-speaking peoples and was able to use the Flemish
+speech if it suited his whim. But that was as a condescension and as
+something extraneous. The chief of French peers remained his proudest
+title; his ability to influence French affairs, the task he liked
+best.
+
+His son was quite different in his attitude towards France. He
+minimised his degree of French blood royal. More than once he boasted
+of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock. He had certain
+characteristics of an immigrant, who has abandoned family traditions
+and is proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is to outshine
+what he has inherited. Charles was not exactly a stupid man, but he
+certainly was dazzled by his early surroundings into an overestimate
+of himself, into a conceit that was a tremendous stumbling-block in
+his path. He had not the kind of intelligence that would have enabled
+him to take at their worth the rhetorical phrases of adulation heaped
+upon him on festal occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very
+self-confidence, gave him a high conception of his duties. At his
+accession, he showed a sense of his responsibilities, a definite
+theory of conduct which he fully intended to act upon. His very belief
+in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of purpose. He was
+convinced that he could maintain law, order, justice in his domain,
+and he fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he left out of
+consideration the rights of the people, rights older than his dynasty.
+In his military career, too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest
+bent towards preserving the best conditions possible amid the
+brutalities of warfare. He curbed the soldiers' passions, he protected
+women, and was as relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as
+towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted himself to secure
+impartial equity for all alike. When he gave a promise, he fully
+intended to make his words good. It was only in the face of repeated
+deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous Louis XI. that
+Charles changed for the worse. Exasperated by the knowledge that the
+king's solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no intention of
+fulfilment, he attempted to adopt a similar policy and was singularly
+infelicitous in his imitation. His political methods degenerated into
+mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces, illumined by no clever
+intuition of where to draw the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was
+worth no more than the king's, and words were assuredly at a discount
+just then. A perusal of the international correspondence of the period
+leaves the reader marvelling why time was wasted in covering paper,
+with flimsy, insincere phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no
+true indication of the road to be travelled. There are, however,
+differences in the art of dissimulation and Charles never attained a
+mastery of the science.
+
+The adjective which has attached itself to his name in English in an
+inaccurate rendering of _le téméraire_ which belongs to him in French.
+There were other terms too applied to Charles at different periods of
+his career. He was Charles the Hardy in his early youth, Charles the
+Terrible in those last months when he tried to fortify himself with
+wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all times he might have been
+called Charles the self-absorbed, Charles the solitary. There have
+been many men more passionate, more uncontrolled, than Charles of
+Burgundy, whose personal magnetism yet enabled them to win friends and
+to keep them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure to command
+personal devotion, unquestioning loyalty, was one of his chief
+personal misfortunes. Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found
+many lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son received
+criticism for his faults even from the faithful among his servitors.
+How a reflection of his bearing glows out from the mirror turned
+casually upon him by Commines' skilful hand! Take the glimpse of Louis
+XI. as he lures on St. Pol's messenger to imitate Charles. The Sire
+de Créville inspired by the royal interest in his narration about an
+incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his cheeks, stamps his
+feet in a dictatorial manner, and swears by St. George as he quotes
+the duke's words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines, and a
+Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his liege lord so mocked. It is
+a time when St. Pol is trying to ride three horses at once and
+the French king takes this method to have Charles informed of his
+duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I grow a little deaf," and the
+flattered envoy repeats his dramatic performance in a way to engrave
+it on the memory of the duke's retainer.
+
+[Illustration: THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY]
+
+In thus touching on the traits of his former master, Commines does not
+show malice or even a dislike for the duke. He is much more severe
+about Louis--only he found the latter easier to serve.
+
+In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to have found any
+companionship that affected his life. He is lauded as a faithful
+husband to Isabella of Bourbon but her death seemed to make little
+difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York had the actual
+significance enjoyed by Isabella of Portugal as consort to Philip the
+Good with his notoriously roving fancy.
+
+Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of Burgundy tried to
+stand alone. Perhaps his chief happiness in life was that he never
+knew how insufficient for his desired task he was and how the new art
+of printing, the birth of Erasmus of Rotterdam, were the really great
+events of his brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good fortune
+that he never knew that no splendid achievement gave significance to
+his device: "I have undertaken it"--_Je lay emprins_.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Mém. de la soc. bourg. de géog. et d' hist_. Article by
+A. Cornereau, vi., 229.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Les états de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, _Études et notices
+hist,. des Pays-Bas_, i., I.)
+
+This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pensionary of
+Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of 1476. This so-called
+"States-general" was by no means a legislative assembly. When Philip
+the Good convened deputies from the various states at Bruges in 1463,
+it was to save himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals
+to ask for _aides_. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several
+times before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of
+self-convention and when a constitutional rôle was assured to the
+body; though not used for many years (_See_ Pirenne, ii., 379.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Pour y penser la nuit jusques aw lendemain_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _S'ils n'avaient point charge limitée quantefois ils
+devaient boire en chemin_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Compte-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. 1,
+1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are proofs that
+another assembly was confidently expected.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gingins la Sarra, ii., 354.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid_., 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro
+avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in
+Kirk, iii., 487.]
+
+[Footnote 9: An Italian phrase signifying to run down his game
+slowly.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Commines, v., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress
+of central Europe, the first of international congresses.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Huguénin Jeune, _Hist. de la guerre de Lorraine_, p.
+217.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking
+Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was refused on
+the score that Charles the Bold was menacing the safety of the French
+frontier. Alphonse's prayer for peace might have been instigated by
+thoughts of his own needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p.
+386.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Scott's _Anne of Geierstein_. This is the man whom
+the author makes the appointed instrument of the _Vehmgericht_ to slay
+Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Toutey, p. 388.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Mémoires_, iii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 18: It is strange that La Marche does not make more of
+this scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The duke
+remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like the poorest
+man in the world and I was taken and others." iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _La déconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par
+Monseigneur de Lorraine_. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493.
+
+This brief account was drawn up evidently before the duke's burial was
+known by the writer. It may have been written solely to please Louis
+XI. Still there is a simplicity about it that holds the attention,
+in spite of the fact that the story is not accepted by critical
+historians.]
+
+[Footnote 20: La Marche, iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Comines v., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres_ vi., p. 111.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Renan, _Qu'est ce qu'une nation_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the later years
+of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of Charles the Bold. Fairly
+adequate bibliographies can be found in Pirenne and Molinier (see
+list). The following list contains the full titles of the chief works
+to which direct reference is made in the text but falls far short of a
+complete description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which
+has coloured the treatment of the subject.
+
+When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by other writers the
+reference is to the later books only.
+
+_Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France_. Vol. i. (Paris, 1834.)
+Contains _Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du siège de Beauvais,
+en_ 1472, etc.
+
+BARANTE, M. DE. _Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de
+Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de Reiffenberg._ 6th ed. 10
+vols. (Brussels, 1835.)
+
+BASIN, THOMAS, 1412-1491. _Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de
+Louis XI._ (Latin text). Ed. J.E.J. Quicherat. 2 vols. (Paris, 1855.)
+
+BEAUCOURT, G. DU FRESNE, MARQUIS DE. _Histoire de Charles VII_ . 6
+vols. (Paris, 1890.)
+
+BLOK, P.J. _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourgondisch-Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij._ (The Hague, 1884.)
+
+BRANTÔME, PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, SEIGNEUR DE. _OEuvres complètes de_.
+Ed. Ludovic Lalanne. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+BUDT, ADRIAN DE. _Chronicon Flandriæ. De Smet Corpus chron. Flandr.
+I_. (Brussels, 1837-65.)
+
+BUSSIÈRE, BARON MARIE-THÉODORE DE. _Histoire de la ligue formée contre
+Charles le téméraire_. (Paris, 1846.)
+
+_Cent nouvelles nouvelles, Les_. Édition revue sur les textes
+originaux, etc., par A.J.V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris, 1841.)
+
+CHABEUF, H. _Deux portraits bourguignons du XV^{e} siècle_. (Dijon,
+1893.) (Mémoires de la société bourguignonne de géographie et
+d'histoire. Vol. ix.)
+
+CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES, 1404-1475. _OEuvres._ (Ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove.)
+8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV._ 2 vols. (Hamburg,
+1843.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Urkunden zur Geschichte von Österreich, Steiermark,_
+etc. [Monumenta Habsburgica.] 2 vols. (Vienna, 1849.)
+
+CLÉMART, PIERRE. _Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_. (Paris, 1873.)
+
+_Collection de documents inédits sur l'histoire de France_.
+"Mélanges." (Ed. M. Champollion-Figeac.) (Paris, 1843.)
+
+COMMINES, PHILIP DE. _The Historie of_, Englished by Thomas Dannett.
+Anno 1596. With an introduction by Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.)
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Comines,_ 1447-1511. Nouvelle édition par
+Messieurs Godefroy, augmentée par M. l'Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4
+vols. Ref. (Comines-Lenglet.) (Paris, 1747.)
+
+This edition contains many letters, documents, etc., collected by
+M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy has been impugned in many
+instances. Those cited have been taken with a view to the later
+criticism upon them.
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle édition publiée avec
+une introduction et des notes par Bernard de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref.
+(Commynes-Mandrot.) (Paris, 1901.)
+
+_Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle édition, revue sur les
+manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale, etc., par Mlle. Dupont. 3 vols.
+Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.) (Paris, 1840.)
+
+CORNEREAU, A. _Le palais des états de Bourgogne à Dijon_. (Dijon,
+1890.) (Mémoires de la soc. bourguignonne de géog. et d'hist., v.)
+
+COURTÉPÉE, M. _Description, générale et particulière du duché de
+Bourgogne_. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.)
+
+DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE. _Oeuvres complètes_. (Paris, 1878- 1904.) (Soc.
+des anciens textes français.) 11 vols.
+
+DES MAREZ, G. _L'organisation du travail à Bruxelles au XV^{e}
+siècle_. (Bruxelles, 1903-04.) (Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale
+de Belgique. Vol. lxv.-lxvi.)
+
+DEWEZ, M. _Histoire particulière des provinces belgiques sous le
+gouvernement des ducs et des comtes, pour servir de complément à
+l'histoire générale_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1834.)
+
+DU CLERCQ, JACQUES, 1420-1501. _Mémoires_. (Ed. Baron F. de
+Reiffenberg.) 4 vols. (Brussels, 1823.)
+
+DUCLOS, CHARLES P. _(Oeuvres complètes de_. Nouvelle édition. 9 vols.
+(Paris, 1820.)
+
+ESCOUCHY, MATHIEU D'(DE COUCY). _Chronique_. (1420?-1482 +.) (Ed. G.
+du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris, 1863.) (Soc. de l'hist. de
+France.)
+
+FREDERICQ, PAUL. _Le rôle politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_.
+(Brussels, 1875.)
+
+FREEMAN, EDWARD A. _The Historical Geography of Europe._ 2 vols. 3d
+edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 1903.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pièces inédites,_
+etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Collection des voyages des souverains des
+Pays-Bas._ 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Documents inédits concernant l'histoire de la
+Belgique_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Études et notices historiques concernant l'histoire
+des Pays-Bas._ 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.)
+
+_Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium_. (Marténe Coll. Vol. iv.) (Paris,
+1729.).
+
+GINGINS LA SARRA, LE BARON DE FRÉDERIC DE, Ed. _Dépêches des
+ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de Charles le Hardi_,
+1474-1477. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.)
+
+GOLLUT, M. LOYS. _Les mémoires historiques de la république séquanoise
+et des princes de la Franche-Comté de Bourgogne._ (Arbois, 1846.)
+
+JEUNE, HUGUÉNIN. _Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine et du siège de
+Nancy, par Charles le Téméraire, duc de Bourgogne,_ 1473-1477. (Metz,
+1837.)
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, LE BARON. [Ed. of works of Chastellain, Budt,
+etc.]; see article in _Bullétin de l'académie royale de Belgique_,
+1887, etc.
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE. _Histoire de Flandre_. 5 vols. (Brussels,
+1853-54.)
+
+KIRK, JOHN FOSTER. _History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy_. 3
+vols. (Philadelphia, 1864-1868.)
+
+LABORDE (L.E.S.J.), COMTE DE. _Les ducs de Bourgogne: Études sur les
+lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le XV^{e} siècle_, etc.
+"Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.)
+
+LACOMBLET, TH. J. _Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des Niederrheins._
+4 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1848.)
+
+LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE, 1422-1502. _Mémoires._ (1435-1488.) Paris,
+1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 vols.
+
+LAVISSE, ERNEST. _Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'à la
+révolution_. Publiée avec la collaboration de MM. Bayet, Block, Carré,
+Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Luchaire, Mariéjol, Petit-Dutaillis,
+etc. (Paris, 1893-.)
+
+The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI. is written
+by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University of Lille.
+(Reference used, Lavisse, IV^{11}.) (Paris, 1902.)
+
+LE FÉVRE, JEAN, SEIGNEUR DE ST. RÉMY. (_Toison d'or._) (1395-1463.)
+_Chronique._ 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+LE ROUX DE LINCY, A.J.V. _Chants historiques sur les règnes de Charles
+VII. et de Louis XI_.
+
+_Lettres de Louis XI_. (Paris, 1883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen, et
+Étienne Charavay,
+
+LOOMIS, LOUISE ROPES. _Medieval Hellenism_. (Columbia University,
+1906.)
+
+MARTÉNE, EDMUND. _Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum, Historicorum,
+Dogmaticorum, Moralium, Amplissium Collectio_. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.)
+
+_Mémoires et documents publiés par la société d'histoire de la suisse
+romande_. Vol. viii. "Mélanges." (Lausanne, 1849.)
+
+MEYER, J. _Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandricarum_. (Antwerp,
+1561.)
+
+MOLINET, JEAN. _Chronique_ (1474-1506.) (Paris, 1824-29.)
+
+This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting especially
+for the siege of Neuss.
+
+MONSTRELET, ENGUERRAND DE (d. 1453). _La Chronique_. (Paris, 1861.)
+
+MOLINIER, AUGUSTE. _Les sources de l'histoire de France des origines
+aux guerres d'Italie_. Vols. iv., v., 1461-1494. (Paris, 1904.)
+
+_Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde_.
+Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.)
+
+OMAN, CHARLES W.C. _Warwick the Kingmaker_. 1890. ONUFRIUS DE SANCTA
+CROCE, Bishop of Tricaria. _Mémoire sur les affaires de Liege_ (1468).
+(Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brussels, 1885.)
+
+OUDENBOSCH. _Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, historicorum_, etc.
+_Rerum Leodiensius. Opus Adriani de vetere Buseo_, 1343. See Marténe.
+
+PICQUÉ, CAMILLE. _Mémoire sur Philippe de Commines_. (Brussels, 1864.)
+Mém. couronnés par 1'acad. royale de Belgique, vol. xvi.
+
+PIOT, G.J.C., Ed. _Chronycke van Nederlandt_--1565. _Vlaamsche
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+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Histoire de Belgique_. 2 vols. (Brussels, 1903.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique: catalogue
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+1902.)
+
+PLANCHER, URBAIN. _Histoire générale et particulière de Bourgogne avec
+des notes et les preuves justificatives_, etc. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1739.)
+
+POICTIERS, ALIENOR DE. _Les honneurs de la cour_. (In Sainte-Palaye,
+_Mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie_, vol. 2, pp. 171-267.) (Paris,
+1781.)
+
+POLAIN, M.L. _Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège._ 4th ed.
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+
+PUTNAM, RUTH. _A Medieval Princess_. (New York, 1904.)
+
+RAM, P.F.X. DE. _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de Liège
+sous les princes-évêques Louis de Bourbon et Jean de Horne_, I vol.
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+
+RAMSAY, SIR JAMES H. _Lancaster and York, a Century of English
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+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Essai sur les enfants naturels de
+Philippe de Bourgogne_.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or_.
+(Brussels, 1830.)
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Mémoire sur le sejour de Louis XI. aux
+Pays-Bas_. Nouveaux mém. de l'acad. royale. 1829.
+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _De l'état de la population_, etc., _dans
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+
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+(Schaffhausen, 1843.)
+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
+TOUTEY, E. _Charles le téméraire et la ligue de Constance._ (Paris,
+1902.)
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+VANDER MAELEN, PH. _Dictionnaire géographique de la province de
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+WAGENAAR, JAN. _Vaderlandsche Historie_. 21 vols. (Amsterdam,
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+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbeville
+Agincourt
+Aire
+Aix
+Alkmaar
+Alsace
+Alsace
+Amboise
+Amiens
+Amont
+Andernach
+Angers
+Anjou
+Anjou, Margaret of, Queen of England
+Anjou, René, King of
+Anjou, Yolande of, _see_ Vaudemont
+Antwerp
+Appiano, Antoine d' (Antonius de Aplano), Milanese ambassador
+Aragon
+Argau
+Armagnac
+Arras, Bishop of
+Arras, treaty
+Arson, Jehan d
+Arthur, King
+Artois
+Artois, Bonne of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Atclyff, William
+Ath
+Augsburg, Diet of
+Austria
+Austria, House of
+Austria, Maximilian, Archduke of, _see_ Maximilian
+Austria, Sigismund of (Count of Tyrol;
+  mortgages lands to Charles of Burgundy;
+  resumes sovereignty of mortgaged lands;
+Auvergne, Marshal d'
+Auxonne
+Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d
+Avesnes
+Avranches, Bishop of
+Aydie, Odet d'
+
+
+
+B
+
+"Bad Penny," the, tax
+Balue, Cardinal
+Bar, duchy of
+Barante, cited
+Bari, Duc de (Sforza)
+Barnet, battle of
+Barre, Corneille de la
+Barrois
+Baschi, Suffren de
+Basel
+Basel, Bishop of
+Basin, Thomas, cited
+_Basse-Union_
+Baume-les-Dames
+Bavaria, elector of
+Bavaria, Stephen of
+Beaujeu, Lord of
+Beaumont, château of
+Beauvais, siege of
+Bedford, John, Duke of, death of
+Begars, Abbé de
+Belfort
+Bellière, Vicomte de la
+Berne
+Berry, Bailiff of
+Berry, Charles of France, Duke of (Normandy and Guienne),
+  heads League of Public Weal;
+  character of;
+  Normandy given to;
+  won over by Louis;
+  Guienne given to;
+  proposed marriage of;
+  suspicious death of
+Besançon
+Biche, Guillaume de
+Biscay, Bay of
+Black Forest
+Bladet
+Blamont, Count of
+Blaumont, Seigneur de, Marshal of Burgundy
+Boccaccio
+Bohemia
+Bonn
+Borselen, Adrian van, Seigneur of Breda
+Borselen, Frank van (Count of Ostrevant;
+  death of
+Borselen, Henry van
+Boscise
+Bouchage, Monseigneur du
+Boudault, Jehan
+Boulogne
+Bourbon, Catharine of, _see_ Guelders
+Bourbon, Duchess of
+Bourbon, duchy of
+Bourbon, Duke of
+Bourbon, Isabella of (Countess of Charolais), _see_ Charolais
+Bourbon, Louis of, Bishop of Liege
+Bourges
+Bouvignes
+Bouxières
+Brabant, Anthony, Duke of
+Brabant, duchy of
+Brabant, Duke of
+Brandenburg, Albert, elector of
+Brandenburg, Margrave of
+Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de, cited
+Breda
+Brederode, Gijsbrecht of
+Breisgau
+Bresse, Philip de
+Brie
+Brisac (Breisach)
+Brittany, Duchess of
+Brittany, duchy of
+Brittany, Francis, Duke of,
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  ally of Charles of Burgundy;
+  is reconciled to Louis XI.
+Broeck, M. van der
+Bruchsal
+Bruges
+_Brunette_
+Brussels
+Bureau, Jehan
+Buren, castle of
+Burgundy, duchy of;
+  Estates of
+Burgundy, Franche-Comté of
+Burgundy, Anthony, Grand Bastard of
+Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Charles the Bold, (Count of Charolais), Duke of;
+  birth of;
+  elected knight of the Golden Fleece;
+  description of;
+  ancestry of;
+  imperial ambitions of;
+  education of;
+  weds Catherine of France;
+  takes official part in public affairs;
+  character of;
+  first campaign of;
+  entrusted with regency of Holland;
+  English sympathies of;
+  weds Isabella of Bourbon;
+  judicial methods of;
+  rejoices over birth of daughter;
+  strained relations with his father;
+  enmity between Louis and ;
+  at coronation of Louis XI;
+  fears plots against his life;
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  allies of;
+  letters of, to cities;
+  to Louis;
+  to Duchess Isabella;
+  to French council;
+  to Duke of Brittany;
+  to Sigismund;
+  to Edward IV.;
+  to Duke of Milan;
+  at battle of Montl'héry;
+  armies of;
+  dictates terms of treaty of Conflans;
+  marches against Liege;
+  destroys Dinant;
+  underestimates character and strength of enemies;
+  accedes to the dukedom;
+  invested with titles;
+  unpopularity of;
+  punishes Ghent;
+  reforms of;
+  weds Margaret of York;
+  ducal state of;
+  demands _aides_;
+  receives Louis at Peronne;
+  crushes revolt of Liege;
+  makes treaty of Peronne;
+  proposed sons-in-law for;
+  signs treaty of St. Omer;
+  takes lands from Sigismund;
+  relations of, with Swiss;
+  invested with Order of the Garter;
+  _Remonstrance_ presented to;
+  embassies to;
+  truces of, with Louis XI;
+  besieges Beauvais;
+  reverses of;
+  acquires duchy of Guelders;
+  negotiations between Emperor Frederic and;
+  interview of, with emperor at Trèves;
+  becomes "protector" of Lorraine;
+  interferes in Cologne affairs;
+  visits Alsace;
+  troubles with Alsace;
+  besieges Neuss;
+  war declared against;
+  makes truce with Frederic;
+  defeated at Héricourt;
+  besieges Nancy;
+  allies desert;
+  defeated at Granson;
+  at Morat;
+  convenes states-general;
+  last battle of;
+  death and burial of
+Burgundy, Cornelius, Bastard of
+Burgundy, David of, Bishop of Utrecht
+Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of;
+  ancestry of;
+  English sympathies of;
+  retires to convent;
+  burial of
+Burgundy, John the Fearless, Duke of;
+  death of
+Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Margaret of York, Duchess of
+Burgundy, Mary of (Duchess of Austria;
+  godfather of;
+  proposed marriages for
+Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, marriages of;
+  institutes Order of Golden Fleece;
+  children of;
+  alliance of;
+  signs treaty of Arras;
+  territories acquired by;
+  suppresses revolt in Bruges;
+  wealth and magnificence of;
+  crushes rebellion of Ghent;
+  gives Feast of the Pheasant;
+  plans crusade;
+  chooses second wife for Charles;
+  character of;
+  interferes in affairs of Utrecht, of Liege, and of Cologne;
+  hospitality of, to dauphin;
+  influenced by the Croys;
+  attends coronation of Louis XI;
+  illnesses of;
+  witnesses punishment of Dinant;
+  death and burial of;
+  epitaph of;
+  description of;
+  popularity of
+Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, Duke of
+Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard of
+
+
+
+C
+
+Cagnola
+Calabria, Duke of, _see_ Lorraine
+Calais
+Calixtus III.
+Cambray
+Campobasso, Antonello de, mercenary captain;
+  treachery of
+Canterbury
+Casanova
+Castile
+Castile, Henry IV., King of
+Castile, Jeanne of
+Cat, Gilles le
+Catto, Angelo
+Caux;
+  Bailiff of
+_Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les_
+_Cento Novelle_, by Boccaccio
+Cesner, Balthasar
+Chambéry
+Chambes, Helen de
+Chamont, Sire de
+Champagne
+Channel
+Charenton
+Charlemagne
+Charles IV.
+Charles (V.) the Wise, King of France
+Charles VII., King of France,
+  reconciliation of, with Philip of Burgundy;
+  character of;
+  letters of;
+  refuses to join crusade;
+  breach between dauphin and;
+  illness and death of;
+  institutes standing army
+Charles VIII., King of France
+Charles the Simple, King of France
+Charmes
+Charny, Count de
+Charny, Countess de
+Charolais, Catherine of France, Countess of;
+  death and burial of
+Charolais, Count of, _see_ Charles of Burgundy
+Charolais, Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of;
+  death of
+Chassa, Jehan de
+Chastellain, cited;
+  death of
+Château-Chinon
+Châtenois
+Chauny,
+Chesny, Guiot du
+Chevelast, Louis de
+Chimay, Count of
+Citeaux, Abbé of
+Clarence, Duke of
+Cléry
+Cleves, Adolph, Duke of
+Cleves, duchy of
+Cleves, Marie of, Duchess of Orleans
+Cods, the (party name)
+Colmar
+Cologne
+Cologne, Robert, Archbishop of
+Colonna, Baptista
+Commines (Commynes, Comines), Philip de,
+  enters service of Duke of Burgundy;
+  defection of;
+  cited
+Compiègne
+Compostella
+Conflans, treaty of
+Constance;
+  League of
+Constantinople
+Cordes, Monsieur de
+Corguilleray
+Cornwallis, Lord
+Corvinus, Matthias, King of Hungary
+Cosmo
+Court, Jehan de la
+Coutault, Monsieur
+Craon, Seigneur de
+Cret, Dion du
+Crèvecoeur, Philip of
+Crèvecoeur, Seigneur of
+Créville, Sire de
+Croy, A. de
+Croy, J. de
+Croy, Philip de
+Croy family, the
+_Cueillotte_, the (tax)
+Cyprus
+
+
+
+D
+
+Damian
+Dammartin, Count of
+  letters of Louis to
+Damme
+Dauphiné
+Dauxonne, Jacquemin
+De Bussière, cited
+Décapole, Alsatian, the
+De la Loere, secretary
+Dendermonde
+Denmark
+Denys, Chaplain
+Deschamps, Eustache, _Lay de Vaillance_ by
+Deventer
+Dieppe
+Diesbach, Ludwig von
+Dijon
+Dinant;
+  destruction of
+Dôle
+Dombourc
+Dompaire
+Dordrecht
+Du Clercq, cited
+Duclos, cited
+Dunois, Count
+Dunois, François
+Du Plessis, Seigneur
+
+
+
+E
+
+Easterlings
+l'Écluse
+Edward IV., King of England;
+  aided by Charles of Burgundy;
+  plans conquest of France;
+  character of;
+  makes peace with Louis XI.
+Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales;
+  death of
+Émeries, Antoine Raulin, Sire d' (Aymeries)
+Engelburg
+England alliance of,
+  with Burgundy;
+  with France;
+  French possessions of;
+  commercial relations of;
+  wars of the Roses in
+Ensisheim
+Épinal
+Erasmus
+Escalles, Seigneur d'
+Escouchy, Mathieu d,'
+  cited
+Estampes, Count d'
+Étampes
+Eu
+Eu, Count d'
+_Ewige Richtung_
+Exeter, Duke of
+Eyb, Ludwig von
+
+
+
+F
+
+Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume
+Favre, Jourdain
+Ferrara
+Ferrette, county of
+Flanders;
+  Estates of;
+  commerce of
+Flanders, Count of
+Florence
+Foix, Count de
+Foix, Eleanor de
+Foix, Gaston de
+Forli, Bishop of
+Fossombrone, Bishop of
+Fou, Ivon du
+France, alliance of, with Burgundy;
+  waning power of England in;
+  changed conditions in;
+  assembly of states-general of;
+  invasion of
+France, Admiral of, the
+France, Catherine, Daughter of, _see_ Charolais
+France, Charles of, Duke of Berry, _see_ Berry
+France, Jeanne of
+France, Michelle of, _see_ Burgundy
+Franche-Comté
+Franchimont
+Frankfort
+Frederic, elector palatine
+Frederic III., Emperor;
+  character of;
+  negotiations of, with Charles of Burgundy;
+  meets Charles at Trèves;
+  description of;
+  signs treaty with Charles
+Fribourg
+Friesland;
+  title of Lord of
+Friesland, West
+
+
+
+G
+
+_Gabelle_
+Gachard, cited
+Galeotto
+Garter, Order of the
+Gauthier, Dan
+Gautier, cited
+Gaveren;
+  battle of;
+  treaty of
+Gelthauss, Johannes
+Genappe
+Geneva
+Geneva
+Genoa
+Gex
+Ghent;
+  rebellion of;
+  submission of;
+  insurrection in;
+  humiliation of
+Gilles, Frère
+Givry, Sire de
+Gloucester, Duke of
+Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of
+Golden Fleece, Order of the, instituted;
+  assemblies of;
+  knights of
+Gorcum
+Görlitz, Elizabeth of
+Granson, battle of
+Grave
+Grenoble
+Grey, Jean de
+Groothuse, Louis de la
+Groothuse, Mathys de la
+Guelders, Adolf, Duke of;
+  imprisonment of
+Guelders, Arnold, Duke of;
+  death of
+Guelders, Catharine of Bourbon, Duchess of
+Guelders, Charles of
+Guelders, duchy of
+Guelders, Philippa of
+Guérin, Jean de
+Guienne, Charles of France,  Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Guienne, duchy of
+Guise
+Guisnes
+
+
+
+H
+
+Haarlem
+Hagenbach, Peter von;
+  Governor of  Alsace;
+  trial and execution of
+Hagenbach, Stephen von
+Hague, The
+Hainaut
+Ham
+Hanseatic League
+Heers, Raes de la Rivière, Lord of
+Heinsberg, John of, Bishop of Liege
+Hemricourt, Jacques de
+Henry IV., of Castile
+Henry V., King of England
+Henry VI., King of England;
+  character of;
+  death of
+Henry VII., King of England
+Héricourt
+Hermite, Tristan l'
+Hesdin
+Hesse, Hermann of
+Holland;
+  title of Count of
+Holland, Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of
+Holland, South
+Holland, William VI., Count of
+Honfleur
+Hooks, the (party name)
+Houthem
+Howard, Lord
+Hugonet, Chancellor
+Humbercourt, Seigneur de
+Hungary;
+  King of
+Huy
+
+
+
+I
+
+Innsbruck
+Irma, Jean
+Isabella of Portugal, Duchess  of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+
+
+
+J
+
+Jarville
+Jarville, Sieur de
+Jerusalem
+Joan of Arc
+Joinville, castle  of;
+  treaty of
+Jomini
+Jougne
+Jouvençal
+Juliers, Duke of
+Jura, the
+
+
+
+K
+
+Kaisersberg
+Kennemerland
+Kervyn de Lettenhove, Baron, cited
+Knebel, Johannes R.
+
+
+
+L
+
+La Hogue
+Laisné, Jeanne (Fouquet), _La Hachette_
+Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess of;
+  death of
+La Marche, Olivier de, cited;
+  knighted;
+  loyalty and zeal  of
+Lambert, Bishop of Tongres
+Lancaster, House of
+Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de
+Lanternier, Jehan
+Laon
+La Rivière
+La Rochelle
+Lauffen
+Lauffenberg
+Laurentian Library, the
+Lausanne
+Lavin, Étienne de
+League of Constance
+League of Public Weal
+Le Grand, Abbé
+Le Gros, Jehan
+Le Quesnoy
+Lescun, Seigneur de
+Liege, description of;
+  government of;
+  bishop-princes of;
+  rebellion of;
+  aided by Louis XI.;
+  punishment of
+Liege, bishopric of
+Lille
+Limbourg
+Livornia
+Loches
+Loisey, Anthony de
+Lombardy
+London
+Longjumeau
+Longueval, Hugues de
+Loreille, Thomas de
+Lorraine, duchy of
+Lorraine, Estates of
+Lorraine, Duke of
+Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou,  Duke of (Calabria);
+  death  of
+Lorraine, René, Duke of,  accepts Burgundian protection;
+  joins league  against Charles
+Louis XI., King of France;
+  rebels against Charles  VII.;
+  marries Charlotte of Savoy;
+  letters of, to Charles VII.;
+    to Dammartin;
+    to envoys;
+    to Count de Foix;
+    to Lorenzo de' Medici;
+    to Duke of Milan;
+    to Amiens;
+    to chancellor;
+  flees to Duke of Burgundy;
+  generosity of Duke Philip to;
+  is godfather of Mary of Burgundy;
+  tastes of;
+  duplicity of;
+  accession of;
+  ingratitude of;
+  character of;
+  enmity between Charles and;
+  nobles in league against;
+  policy of;
+  signs treaty of Conflans;
+  incites opposition to Charles of Burgundy;
+  breaks treaties;
+  makes visit to Peronne;
+  signs treaty at Peronne;
+  ally of the Swiss;
+  makes nucleus of standing army;
+  aids Earl of Warwick and Margaret of Anjou;
+  birth of son of;
+  makes truce with Charles;
+  suspected of death of brother;
+  rewards Beauvais;
+  wins over Edward IV.;
+  rejoices in death of Charles
+Louvain;
+  University of
+Lower Union, the, _see_ Basse-Union
+Lucerne
+Lude, Seigneur de
+Luxemburg, duchy of
+Luxemburg, John of
+Luxeuil
+Luzine River, the
+Lyme
+Lyons
+
+
+
+M
+
+Maestricht
+Maine
+Malhortie
+Mandrot, Bernard Édouard,
+  editor of Commynes' _Mémoires, Jean de Roye_, etc.,
+  cited
+Manton, Seigneur de
+Marchant, Ythier
+Marck, Adolph de la
+Marne River, the
+Marquiez, George
+Mas, Gilles du
+Mathieu
+Maximilian, Archduke of Austria;
+  proposed marriage of
+Mayence
+Mayence, Archbishop of
+Mayence, Duke of
+Mazilles, Jehan de
+Mechlin
+Medici, Lorenzo de'
+Metz
+Metz
+Meurin, secretary to Louis XI.
+Meurthe River, the
+Meuse River, the
+Meyer, J., cited
+Michel, the Rhetorician, cited
+Middelburg
+Milan
+Milan
+Mirecourt
+Mongleive
+Mons
+Montbazon
+Montereau, bridge of
+Montfort, Ulrich von
+Montgomery, Sir Thomas  (Mongomere)
+Montl'héry, battle of
+Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres
+Morat, battle of
+Morges
+Morvilliers, Chancellor
+Moselle River, the
+Moutils-lès-Tours
+Mulhouse
+
+
+
+N
+
+Namur
+Namur
+Nancy;
+  sieges of;
+  battle of
+Naples
+Naples, King of
+Napoleon
+Narbonne, Archbishop of
+Nassau, Engelbert of
+Nassau, John of
+_Nations_, the
+Nesle
+Netherlands, the;
+  states-general  of
+Neufchâtel
+Neufchâtel, Isabelle of
+Neuss
+Neuville
+Nevers
+Nevers, Charles, Count of
+Neville, Anne
+Nice
+Nimwegen
+Norfolk, Duchess of
+Normandy, Charles of France, Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Normandy, duchy of
+Norway
+Noseret
+Noyon
+Nuremberg
+
+
+
+O
+
+Obernai
+Oise River, the
+Onofrio de Santa Croce
+Orange, Prince of
+Oriole, Pierre d'
+Orleans
+Orleans, duchy of
+Orleans, Duke of
+Osterlings, the
+Ostrevant, Count of, _see_ Borselen
+Oudenarde
+Ourré, Gerard
+Oxford
+
+
+
+P
+
+Palatinate, the
+Palatine, Count;
+  the elector;
+  Frederic, elector
+Panigarola, Johannes Petrus,
+  Milanese ambassador, cited
+Paris
+Paris, University of
+Paston, Sir John, letters of
+Paston, John, the younger
+  (brother of above), letter of
+Paston, Margaret
+Pavia
+Pellet, Jean
+Pepin
+Perdriel, Henry
+Périgny
+Périgord
+Peronne, interview of Louis XI. and Charles at;
+  treaty of
+"Peronne, the Peace of"
+Perrenet
+Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author of Vol. IV^{II}, Lavisse,
+    _Hist. de France, see_ Lavisse.
+Petitpas
+Petrasanta, Franciscus, Milanese ambassador
+Pheasant, Feast of the
+Picardy
+Picquigny
+Plessis-les-Tours
+Pleume
+Podiebrad, George, ex-king of Bohemia
+Poictiers, Alienor de
+Poinsot, Jean
+Poitiers
+Poland
+Pont-à-Mousson
+Pont de Cé
+Porcupine, Order of the
+Portinari, Thomas
+Portugal
+Portugal, Alphonse V., King of
+Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Pot, Philip de
+Poucque, castle of
+Prussia
+Public Weal, War of, _see_ League
+
+
+
+Q
+
+Quaux River, the
+Quercy
+Quiévrain, Seigneur de
+Quingey, Simon de
+
+
+
+R
+
+Rampart, Jean
+Ratellois
+Ratisbon
+Ravestein, Madame de
+Ravestein, Monseigneur de
+Renty, Monseigneur de
+Rethel
+Rheims
+Rheims, Archbishop of
+Rheinfelden
+Rhine, the;
+  Valley
+Rhinelands, the
+Rhodes
+Rivers, Earl
+Roche, Henri de la
+Rochefort
+Rochefort, Sire of
+Rochefoucauld
+Roelants, Gort
+Romans, King of the
+Rome
+Romont, Count of
+Romorantin
+Roses, Wars of the
+Rossillon
+Rottelin, Marquise Hugues de
+Rotterdam
+Rouen
+Rousillon
+Rouvre
+Roye
+Rozière, Malhortie de
+Rubempré, the bastard of
+Rubempré, Jehan de
+Ruple, G.
+Russia
+
+
+
+S
+
+Saeckingen
+St. Bavon, Abbot of
+Ste. Beuve, cited
+St. Blaise, Abbé of
+St. Claude
+St. Cloud
+St. Denis
+St. Lievin, feast of
+St. Michel-sur-Loire
+St. Nicolas-du-Port
+St. Omer;
+  treaty of
+St. Pol, Count of
+  made constable of France;
+  treachery of;
+  execution of
+St. Quentin
+St. Remy, Jean le Févre, Seigneur de
+St. Thierry
+St. Trond
+Sale, Anthony de la
+Salesart
+Salins
+Salisbury, Bishop of
+Savoy, Charlotte of, marries the dauphin
+Savoy, duchy of
+Savoy, dukes of
+Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of;
+  ally of Charles the Bold;
+  kidnapped;
+  rescued
+Saxony, Duke of
+Saxony, elector of
+Schellhass, Karl
+Schiedam
+Schlestadt
+Scotland, Eleanor of, wife of Sigismund of Austria
+Scotland, Margaret of, wife of Louis, the dauphin
+Seine River, the
+Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke of Milan
+Sicily
+Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, _see_ Austria
+Sigismund, Emperor
+Sluis
+Snoy, Renier, cited
+Soleure
+Somerset, Duke of
+Somme, towns on the river,
+  ceded to Duke of Burgundy;
+  redemption of towns on the
+Sorel, Agnes
+Soulz, Rudolf de
+Spain
+Spain, King of
+Stein, Hertnid von
+Stein, Rudolph de
+Stephen, Martin
+Strasburg
+Strasburg, Bishop of
+Stuttgart
+Sundgau, the
+Swabia
+Swiss, the, valour of;
+  victories of;
+  allies of Louis XI.
+Swiss Cantons, the;
+  declare war against Charles the Bold
+Swynaerde
+Sylvius, Æneas
+
+
+
+T
+
+Talmont, Prince of
+Tewkesbury, battle of
+Texel, island of
+Thann
+Thérain, the
+Thérouanne, Bishop of
+Thierry
+Thierry, Monsieur de
+Thierstein, Oswald von
+Thionville
+Thouan, Mme. de
+Thouars, Guillaume de
+Thurgau
+Tilhart, secretary to Louis XI.
+Tongres;
+  bishops of
+Tonnerre, Count of
+Toul
+Touraine
+Tournay
+Tournay, Bishop of
+Tournehem
+Tours
+Toustain, Aloysius (Toussaint)
+Toustain, Guillaume
+Toutey, E., cited
+Trausch, cited
+Tree of Gold, jousts of the
+Trémoille, Jehan de la
+Trèves
+Trèves, Archbishop of
+Tuin
+Turin
+Turks, the, capture Constantinople;
+  proposed  crusade against
+
+
+
+U
+
+Unterwalden
+Uri
+Ursé, Seigneur d'
+Utenhove, Richard
+Utrecht
+
+
+
+V
+
+Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis (editor of _Lettres de Louis XI_.)
+Valenciennes
+Valois, House of
+Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou,  Duchess of
+Vendôme, Count of
+Venice
+Verard, Antoine
+Verdun
+Vere
+Vermandois
+Vermandois, Count de
+Vesoul
+Villeclerc, Demoiselle de
+Virnenbourg, Count of
+Visen, Charles de
+Vosges, the
+
+
+
+W
+
+Wailly
+Waldemar of Zürich
+Waldshut
+Walloon language, the
+Warwick, Earl of;
+  death of
+Wavrin, Philip de
+Wellington, Duke of
+Wenlock, governor of Calais
+Weymouth
+Wieringen, island of
+Woodville, Elizabeth
+Wuisse, Vautrin
+Wyler, Hans
+
+
+
+X
+
+Xaintes
+
+
+
+Y
+
+York, House of
+York, Margaret of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Ypres
+
+
+Z
+
+Zealand
+Zürich
+Zutphen
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Charles the Bold
+       Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477
+
+Author: Ruth Putnam
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14496]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES THE BOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Lesley Halamek and the PG Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<h1>CHARLES THE BOLD</h1>
+<br /><br />
+<h2>LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY</h2>
+<br /><br />
+<h3>1433-1477</h3>
+<br /><br />
+
+<h6>BY</h6>
+<br /><br />
+
+<h3>RUTH PUTNAM</h3>
+<br /><br />
+<h4>AUTHOR OF "WILLIAM THE SILENT," "A MEDIÆVAL PRINCESS," ETC.</h4>
+<br /><br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<h4>G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h4>
+
+<h4>NEW YORK AND LONDON</h4>
+
+<h5>The Knickerbocker Press<br />
+
+1908</h5>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h5>COPYRIGHT 1908,</h5>
+
+<h6>BY</h6>
+
+<h5>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS</h5>
+
+<h6>The Knickerbocker Press, New York</h6>
+
+    <br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charlesbold">[plate 1]</a></span>
+	<p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image01charlesbold.jpg" width="400" height="613" alt="CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="piii">[page iii]</a></span>
+<h3>PREFACE</h3>
+<p>
+The admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy
+into the series of Heroes of the Nations, is
+justified by his relation to events rather than by
+his national or his heroic qualities. <i>"Il n'avait
+pas assez de sens ni de malice pour conduire ses
+entreprises,"</i> is one phrase of Philip de Commines
+in regard to the master he had once served. Render
+<i>sens</i> by <i>genius</i> and <i>malice</i> by <i>diplomacy</i> and the
+words are not far wrong. Yet in spite of the
+failure to obtain either a kingly or an imperial
+crown, the story of those same unaccomplished
+enterprises contains the germs of much that has
+happened later in the borderlands of France and
+Germany where the projected "middle kingdom"
+might have been erected. A sketch of the duke's
+character with its traits of ambition and shortcomings
+may therefore be placed, not unfitly,
+among the pen portraits of individuals who have
+attempted to change the map of Europe.</p>
+<p>
+The materials for an exhaustive study of the
+times, and of the participants in the scenes thereof,
+are almost overwhelming in quantity. Into this
+narrative, I have woven the words of contemporaries
+when these related what they saw and
+thought, or at least what they said they saw or
+thought, about events passing within their sight
+or their ken. The veracity attained is only that
+of a mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth.<span class="page"><a name="piv">[page iv]</a></span>
+And the rim in which these bits are set is too
+slender to contain all the illumination necessary.
+The narrative is, of necessity, partial and fragmentary,
+for a complete story would require a
+series of biographies presented in parallel columns.
+My own preliminary chapter to this book&mdash;a
+mere explanation of the presence of the dukes
+of Burgundy in the Netherlands&mdash;grew into an
+account of a sovereign whom they deposed and
+was published under the title of <i>A Mediæval
+Princess.</i></p>
+<p>
+John Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record
+of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Forty
+years have elapsed since that publication appeared
+and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the
+subject has been given out to the public, while
+separate phases of it have been minutely discussed
+by competent critics, so that at every point
+there is new temptation for the biographer to
+expand the theme where the scope of his work
+demands brevity.</p>
+<p>
+In using the later fruit of historical investigation,
+it is delightful for an American to find
+that scholars of all nations do justice to Mr.
+Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they
+may differ from his conclusions. It has been
+my privilege to be permitted free access to this
+scholar's collection of books, and I would here
+express my deep gratitude to the Kirk family for
+their generosity and courtesy towards me.</p>
+<p>
+After some preliminary reading at Brussels and<span class="page"><a name="pv">[page v]</a></span>
+Paris and in England, the work for this volume
+has been completed in America, where the opportunity
+of securing the latest results of research
+and criticism is constantly increasing, although
+these results are still lodged under many roofs.
+I have had many reasons to thank the librarians
+of New York, Boston, and Washington, and also
+those of Harvard, Columbia, and Cornell universities
+for courtesies and for serviceable aid;
+and just as many reasons to regret the meagreness
+of what can be put between two covers as the
+gleanings from so rich a harvest.</p>
+<p>
+One word further in explanation of the use
+of <i>Bold</i>. The adjective has been retained simply
+because it has been so long identified with
+Charles in English usage. I should have preferred
+the word <i>Rash</i> as a better equivalent for
+the contemporary term, applied to the duke in
+his lifetime,&mdash;<i>le téméraire</i>.</p>
+<p><span class="right">
+R.P.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><br /><br />
+<span class="indent">WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.</span></p>
+
+  <br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="pvii">[page vii]</a></span>
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><u>CONTENTS</u></h2>
+<table width="80%" align="center" summary="illustrations" border="0">
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top"><br />
+<a href="#I">CHAPTER I</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+CHILDHOOD</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+PAGE<br />
+1
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#II">CHAPTER II</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+YOUTH</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+24
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#III">CHAPTER III</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+45
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#IV">CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+67
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#V">CHAPTER V</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+86
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#VI">CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+109
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#VII">CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+130
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE NEW DUKE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+154
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#IX">CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+170
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#X">CHAPTER X</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+183
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XI">CHAPTER XI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+197
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XII">CHAPTER XII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+AN EASY VICTORY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+227
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+A NEW ACQUISITION</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+244
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+261
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XV">CHAPTER XV</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+293
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+GUELDERS</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+320
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE MEETING AT TRÈVES</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+339
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+362
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE FIRST REVERSES</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+382
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XX">CHAPTER XX</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 AND 1476</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+402
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a><br />
+<span class="indent">
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY</span><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+427
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#BIBLIO">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a><br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+463
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#INDEX">INDEX</a><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+469
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+
+	<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+	<p class="center">
+	<img src="cbimages/010.jpg" width="300" height="170" alt="decorative panel" border="0" /></p>
+
+
+	<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="pxi">[page xi]</a></span>
+<h2><u>ILLUSTRATIONS</u></h2>
+
+<table width="80%" align="center" summary="illustrations" border="0">
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top"><br />
+<a href="#charlesbold">CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY</a><br />
+<p class="indent">
+From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date
+of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This
+portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed
+to Roger van der Weyden. That, however,
+shows a much stronger face.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+PAGE<br />
+<i>Frontispiece</i><br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#philipgood">PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE</a> <br />
+<p class="indent">
+From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brussels.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+4
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#avignon">A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Petit's <br /><i>Hist. de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+16
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#patronletters">PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON
+OF LETTERS</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a
+beautiful MS. copy in Brussels Library of Jacques
+de Guise's <i>Annales</i>. The author is depicted
+presenting his book to the duke, who is attended
+by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is
+attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden, to
+Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans
+Memling.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+18
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#castle">A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY</a><span class="page"><a name="pxii">[page xii]</a></span>
+<p class="indent">
+From Petit's <i>Hist. de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+24
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#accountbook">FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+31
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#poljester">COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, <i>Les
+ducs de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+46
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#statue">THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRÜCK</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+68
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#louis">LOUIS XI</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From an engraving by A. Boilly after a drawing by
+G. Boilly.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+84
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#philipandcharles">PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a drawing in a MS. at Arras.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+101
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlemont">BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY (JULY 16, 1465)</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+124
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#publicweal">LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE
+WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+128
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#anthony">ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+150
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#charlesgolfleece">CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A
+CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at
+Brussels.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+189
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#commines">PHILIP DE COMMINES</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+210
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#olivier">OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in
+<br /><i>Mémoires couronnés de l'acad. royale de Belgique,</i>
+xlix.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+232
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#mary1">MARY OF BURGUNDY</a><span class="page"><a name="pxiii">[page xiii]</a></span>
+<p class="indent">
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Barante, <br /><i>Les ducs de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+250
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#map">MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From Toutey, <i>Charles le téméraire</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+260
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#medal">MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+280
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#standard">BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS</a>
+<br /><br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+ 310
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#arnold">ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+322
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#mary2">MARY OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+After design by C. Laplante.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+336
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#charles2">CHARLES THE BOLD</a>
+<p class="indent">
+Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By
+permission of J. J. Löwy, Vienna.)</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+340
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#max">MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA</a>
+<p class="indent">Medal.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+350
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#church">A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From Petit's <i>Hist. de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+383
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#ruhmreich">KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH</a>
+<p class="indent">
+(These characters in Maximilian's poem of <i>Theuerdank</i>
+represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.)
+From a reproduction of a wood engraving by
+Schäufelein in edition of 1517.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+404
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlemorat">A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT</a>
+<p class="indent">
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+J. B. Lippincott Company.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+422
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#philibert">PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+After a design by Matthey reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+430
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlenancy">PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY</a><span class="page"><a name="pxiv">[page xiv]</a></span>
+<p class="indent">
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+the J. B. Lippincott Company.</p>
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+433
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#battlenancy2">THE BATTLE OF NANCY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+435
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#monumentnancy">A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+From Barante, <i>Let ducs de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<br />
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+436
+</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td width="80%" valign="top">
+<a href="#charlestomb">THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY</a>
+<p class="indent">
+Church of Notre Dame, Bruges</p>
+</td>
+<td class="right" width="20%" valign="top">
+460
+<br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />
+
+<p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/015.jpg" width="300" height="159" alt="decorative panel" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="1">[page 1]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h1>CHARLES THE BOLD</h1>
+
+      <hr/>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="I">I</a></h2>
+
+<h3>CHILDHOOD</h3>
+
+<h4>1433-1440</h4>
+
+<p>
+On St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good
+people of Dijon were abroad, eager to catch
+what glimpses they might of certain stately functions
+to be formally celebrated by the Duke of
+Burgundy. The mere presence of the sovereign
+in the capital of his duchy was in itself a gala event
+from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions
+agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions
+successively. His residence was now here
+and now there, without long tarrying anywhere.
+His coming was usually very welcome. In times
+of peaceful submission to his behest, the city of
+his sojourn reaped many advantages besides
+the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond
+their wont. In the outlay for the necessities and
+the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal court, the
+expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary
+commercial activity enjoyed by the merchants,
+the fact that the burghers' own contributions to
+this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary<span class="page"><a name="2">[page 2]</a></span>
+oblivion.<a href="#I1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon
+was more significant than usual. It had lasted
+several weeks, and among its notable occasions
+was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden
+Fleece for the third anniversary of their Order.
+On this November 30th, Burgundy was to witness
+for the first time the pompous ceremonials
+inaugurated at Bruges in January, 1430. Three
+years had sufficed to render the new institution
+almost as well known as its senior English rival,
+the Order of the Garter, which it was destined to
+outshine for a brief period at least. Its foundation
+had formed part of the elaborate festivities
+accompanying the celebration of the marriage of
+Philip, Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal.
+As a signal honour to his bride, Philip published
+his intention of creating a new order of knighthood
+which would evince "his great and perfect
+love for the noble state of chivalry."</p>
+<p>
+Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the
+duke's real motives. It was whispered that a
+certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished
+by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair<span class="page"><a name="3">[page 3]</a></span>
+by a few merry courtiers, whereupon Philip declared
+that her tresses should be immortally honoured
+in the golden emblem of a new society.<a href="#I2"><sup>2</sup></a>
+But that may be set down as gossip. Philip's
+own assertion, when he instituted the Order of
+the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create
+a bulwark</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our
+Christian faith, and to honour and enhance the noble
+order of chivalry, and also for three reasons hereafter
+declared; first, to honour the ancient knights ...;<br />
+second, to the end that these present.... may exercise
+the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve;<br />
+third, that all gentlemen marking the honour paid
+to the knights will exert themselves to attain the
+dignity." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#I3"><sup>3</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+The special homage to the new duchess was
+expressed in the device</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<i>Aultre n'aray<br />
+Dame Isabeau tant que vivray</i> <a href="#I4"><sup>4</sup></a></blockquote>
+
+
+<p>
+This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella
+was, indeed, utterly disregarded by the bridegroom,
+but in outward and formal honour to her
+he never failed.</p>
+<p>
+The new institution was, from the beginning,
+pre-eminently significant of the duke's magnificent
+state existence, wherein his Portuguese consort<span class="page"><a name="4">[page 4]</a></span>
+proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet.
+Again and again during a period of thirty years,
+rich in diplomatic parleying, did Isabella act as
+confidential ambassador for her husband, and
+many were the negotiations conducted by her to
+his satisfaction.<a href="#I5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p>
+But it must be noted that whatever lay at the
+exact root of Philip's motives when he conceived
+the plan of his Order, the actual result of his foundation
+was not affected. He failed, indeed, to
+bring back into the world the ancient system of
+knighthood in its ideal purity and strength.
+Rather did he make a notable contribution to its
+decadence and speed its parting. What was
+brought into existence was a house of peers for
+the head of the Burgundian family, a body of
+faithful satellites who did not hamper their chief
+overmuch with the criticism permitted by the
+rules of their society, while their own glory added
+shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian
+court.</p>
+<span class="page1"><a name="philipgood">[plate 2]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image02philipgood.jpg" width="400" height="730" alt="PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the
+original number appointed to form the chosen
+circle of knights. This was speedily increased
+to thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the<span class="page"><a name="5">[page 5]</a></span>
+session of 1433, was the election of new members
+to fill vacancies and to round out the allotted
+tale.</p>
+
+<p>
+In their manner of accomplishing the appointed
+task, the new chevaliers had, from the outset,
+evinced a readiness to cast their votes to the satisfaction
+of their chief, even if his pleasure directly
+conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to
+obey. No candidate was to be eligible whose
+birth was not legitimate,<a href="#I6"><sup>6</sup></a> a regulation quite ignored
+when the duke proposed the names of his
+sons Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient
+knights did not refuse to open their ranks to
+these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a
+bar sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too,
+others of Philip's many illegitimate descendants
+were not rejected when their father proposed
+their names.</p>
+
+<p>
+Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new
+member should have proven himself a knight of
+renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one of the
+candidates proposed for election, though nominally
+a knight, had assuredly had no time to show
+his mettle. The dignity was his only because his
+spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle
+before his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength
+to grasp a rattle, and before he was even old
+enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his teeth<span class="page"><a name="6">[page 6]</a></span>
+upon.<a href="#I7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was
+Charles of Burgundy, Count of Charolais, son of
+the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the previous
+St. Martin's Eve, November 10th.<a href="#I8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The new chevaliers, with the exception of the
+Count of Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accustomed
+oath at the hands of the sovereign in a room
+of his palace."</p>
+
+<p>
+So runs the record. Jean le Févre, Seigneur de
+St. Remy, present on the occasion in his capacity
+of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle more communicative.<a href="#I9"><sup>9</sup></a>
+According to him, all the gentlemen
+were very joyous at their election as they
+received their collars and made their vows as
+stated. He excepted no member in the phrase
+about the joy displayed, though, as a matter
+of inference, the pleasure experienced by the
+Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat
+problematical.</p>
+
+<p>
+The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age
+of just twenty days when thus officially listed
+among the chevaliers present at the festival.<span class="page"><a name="7">[page 7]</a></span>
+Born on November 10th of this same year, 1433,<a href="#I10"><sup>10</sup></a>
+he had been knighted on the very day of his baptism,
+when Charles, Count of Nevers, and the
+Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former
+gave his name to the infant while the latter's
+name was destined to be identified with many
+unpleasant incidents in the career of the future
+man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason
+for the further item in the archives of the Golden
+Fleece:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into
+the same room. There the sovereign, his father, and
+the duchess, his mother, took the oath on his behalf.
+Afterwards the duke put the collars upon all." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#I11"><sup>11</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+
+<p>
+Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction
+that Charles of Burgundy was of different
+metal than the rest of the world. The great duke
+of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history
+of chivalry when he conferred its dignities
+upon a speechless, unconscious infant. The theory
+that knighthood was a personal acquisition had
+been maintained up to this period, the Children of
+France <a href="#I12"><sup>12</sup></a> alone being excepted from the rule, though
+in his <i>Lay de Vaillance</i> Eustache Deschamps
+complains that the degree of knighthood is actually<span class="page"><a name="8">[page 8]</a></span>
+conferred on those who are only ten or twelve
+years old, and who do not know what to do with
+the honour.<a href="#I13"><sup>13</sup></a> That plaint was written not later
+than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the
+poet's prediction that ruin of the institution was
+imminent when affected by such disorders seemed
+justified if, in 1433, even the years of the eligible
+age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not
+received the accolade until he was twenty-five.</p>
+
+<p>
+How his predecessor in Holland, Count William
+VI., had acquitted himself valiantly the moment
+that he was dubbed knight is told by Froissart,
+and the tales of other accolades of the period are
+too well known to need reference.</p>
+<p>
+It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished
+by his own mother. Having lost her first two
+infants, Isabella was solicitous for the welfare of
+this third child, who also proved her last. He
+was, moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle
+of France and Bonne of Artois, his first
+wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
+expended on the boy were repaid. Charles
+became a sturdy child who developed into youthful
+vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
+his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather
+than the English Lancastrians, from whom she
+was equally descended.</p>
+<p>
+His dark hair and his features were very different
+from the fair type of his paternal ancestors,
+the vigorous branch of the Valois family. Possibly<span class="page"><a name="9">[page 9]</a></span>
+other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese
+origin were intensified by close association with
+his mother, who supervised the education directed
+by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at
+The Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and
+official adviser to the duke's stadtholder in the
+administration.<a href="#I14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe
+his contemporaries, surprisingly so, considering
+his early taste for all martial pursuits and his
+intense interest in military operations.</p>
+<p>
+At two years of age he received his first lesson
+in horsemanship, on a wooden steed constructed
+for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a saddler
+of Brussels.</p>
+<p>
+His biographers repeat from each other statements
+of his proficiency in Latin. This must be
+balanced by noting that the only texts which he
+could have read were probably not classic. In
+the inventory of the various Burgundian libraries
+of the period, there are not six Greek and Latin
+classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not
+a single Roman historian in the original.<a href="#I15"><sup>15</sup></a> There
+was a translation of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi<span class="page"><a name="10">[page 10]</a></span>
+and late abridgments of Sallust, Suetonius, Lucan,
+and Cæsar,<a href="#I16"><sup>16</sup></a> with a French version of Valerius
+Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless
+these versions and a volume called <i>Les faits des
+Romains</i> were used as text-books to teach the
+young count about the world's conquerors. The
+last mentioned book shows what travesties of
+Roman history were gravely read in the fifteenth
+century.</p>
+
+<p>
+There are stories<a href="#I17"><sup>17</sup></a> that the bit of history most
+enjoyed by the pupil was the narrative of Alexander.
+Books about that hero were easy to come
+by long before the invention of printing, though
+Alexander would have had difficulty in recognising
+his identity under the strange mediæval motley
+in which his namesake wandered over the land.
+No single man, with the possible exception of
+Charlemagne, was so much written about or
+played so brilliantly the part of a hero to the Middle
+Ages and after.<a href="#I18"><sup>18</sup></a> The simplicity and universality
+of his success were of a type to appeal to the
+boy Charles, himself built on simple lines. The
+fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip
+stimulated his imagination and instilled in his
+breast hopes of conquering, not the whole world
+perhaps, but a good slice of territory which should
+enable him to hold his own between the emperor
+and the French king. Tales of definite schemes<span class="page"><a name="11">[page 11]</a></span>
+of early ambition are often fabricated in the later
+life of a conqueror, but in this case they may be believed,
+as all threads of testimony lead to the same
+conclusion.</p>
+<p>
+The air breathed by the boy when he first became
+conscious of his own individuality was certainly
+heavy with the aroma of satisfied ambition.
+The period of his childhood was a time when his
+father stood at the very zenith of his power. In
+1435, was signed the Treaty of Arras, the death-blow
+to the long coalition existing between Burgundy
+and England to the continual detriment
+of France. Philip was reconciled with great
+solemnity to the king, responsible in his dauphin
+days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy.
+After ostentatiously parading his filial resentment
+sixteen long years, Philip forgave Charles VII.
+his share in the death of John the Fearless, on the
+bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support
+to keep the French monarch on the throne whither
+the efforts of Joan of Arc had carried him from
+Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile.</p>
+<p>
+England's pretensions were repudiated. To
+be sure, the recent coronation of Henry VI. at
+Paris was not immediately forgotten, but while
+the Duke of Bedford had actually administered
+the government as regent, in behalf of his infant
+nephew, it was a mere shadow of his office that
+passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435,
+was almost coincident with the compact at Arras
+when the English Henry's realms across the Channel<span class="page"><a name="12">[page 12]</a></span>
+shrank to Normandy and the outlying fortresses
+of Picardy and Maine. Later events
+on English soil were to prove how little fitted was
+the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any kind.</p>
+<p>
+Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy
+rose triumphant with a seal set upon his
+personal importance.<a href="#I19"><sup>19</sup></a> His recognition of Charles
+VII. as lawful sovereign of France, and his reconciliation
+did not pass without signal gain to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>
+The king declared his own hands unstained by
+the blood of John of Burgundy, agreed to punish
+all those designated by Philip as actually responsible
+for that treacherous murder, and pledged
+himself to erect a cross on the bridge at Montereau,
+the scene of the crime. Further, he relinquished
+various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained
+by the crown from the moment when the junior
+branch of the Valois had been invested with the
+duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne,
+Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to
+the French sovereign on both banks of the Somme.
+To this last cession, however, was appended the
+condition that the towns included in this clause
+could be redeemed at the king's pleasure, for the
+sum of four hundred thousand gold crowns.
+Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of
+homage to himself, promised to demand no <i>aides</i>
+from the duke's subjects in case of war, and to
+assist his cousin if he were attacked from England.<span class="page"><a name="13">[page 13]</a></span>
+Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted
+with the emperor to Philip's disadvantage.<a href="#I20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+One clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness
+towards the powerful vassal. It provided
+that in case of Charles's failure to observe
+all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects
+would be justified in taking arms against him at
+the duke's orders. A similar clause occurs in certain
+treaties between an earlier French king and
+his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of
+the suzerain, not to that of the lesser lords.</p>
+<p>
+The duke was left in a position infinitely superior
+to that of the king, whose realm was terribly
+exhausted by the long contest with England, a
+contest wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's
+foot. French prosperity had been nibbled
+off like green foliage before a swarm of locusts,
+and the whole north-eastern portion of France was
+in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the
+other hand, the territories covered by Burgundy
+as an overlord had greatly increased during the
+sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
+aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships
+formed his domain, loosely hung together by reason
+of their several titles being vested in one person&mdash;titles
+which the bearer had inherited or
+assumed under various pretexts.</p>
+<p>
+Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy<span class="page"><a name="14">[page 14]</a></span>
+and county of Burgundy, came to him from his
+father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he
+bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself
+heir to his cousins in Brabant and Limbourg
+when Duke Anthony's second son followed his
+equally childless brother into a premature grave,
+and the claims were made good in spite of all opposition.
+Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut became
+his through the unwilling abdication of his other
+cousin, Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of
+her husband, Frank van Borselen, the last representative
+of the Bavarian House then formally
+resigned her titles, which she had already divested
+of all significance five years previously, when
+Philip of Burgundy had become her <i>ruward</i>, to
+relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of
+responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.<a href="#I21"><sup>21</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended
+in having the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added
+to his other designations. Also there were various places
+where his predecessor's name had to be effaced to make room
+for his. (Laborde, i., 345).]</p>
+<p>
+Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Brabant.
+Luxemburg was a later acquisition obtained
+through Elizabeth of Görlitz.</p>
+<p>
+There were very shady bits in the chapters about
+Philip's entry into many of his possessions, but
+it is interesting to note how cleverly the best colour
+is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche
+and other writers who enjoyed Burgundian patronage.
+Very gentle are the adjectives employed,<span class="page"><a name="15">[page 15]</a></span>
+and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the
+naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary
+criticism did occasionally make itself
+heard, especially from the emperor, who declared
+that the Netherland provinces must come to him
+as a lapsed imperial fief. For a time Philip denied
+that any links existed between his domain
+and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it
+convenient to discuss the question with Frederic
+III. at Besançon; still he never came to the point
+of paying homage.</p>
+<p>
+All these territories made a goodly realm for a
+mere duke. But they were individual entities centred
+around one head with little interconnection.</p>
+<p>
+Philip thought that the one thing needed to
+bring his possessions into a national life, as coherent
+as that of France, was a unity of legal existence
+among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain
+this unity was the one thought dominating
+the career of his successor, whose pompous introduction
+to life naturally inspired him with a high
+idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of
+greater dignities for himself and his successor than
+a bundle of titles,&mdash;a splendid, vain, fatal dream
+as it proved.</p>
+<p>
+As a final cement to the new friendship between
+Burgundy and France, it was also agreed at Arras
+that the heir of the former should wed a daughter
+of Charles VII. When the Count of Charolais was
+five years old, the Seigneur of Crèvec&oelig;ur,<a href="#I22"><sup>22</sup></a> "a<span class="page"><a name="16">[page 16]</a></span>
+wise and prudent gentleman" was despatched to
+the French court on divers missions, among which
+was the business of negotiating the projected alliance.
+A very joyous reception was accorded the
+envoy by the king and the queen, and his proposal
+was accepted in behalf of the second daughter,
+Catherine, easily substituted for an older sister,
+deceased between the first and second stages
+of negotiation.</p>
+
+<p>
+A year later, a formal betrothal took place at
+St Omer, whither the young bride was conducted,
+most honourably accompanied by the archbishops
+of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Vendôme,
+Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the
+Duke of Bourbon, named the Lord of Beaujeu,
+and various other distinguished nobles, besides a
+train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance
+on the princess, and an escort of three
+hundred horse.</p>
+<p>
+At the various cities where the party made halt
+they were graciously received, and all honour was
+paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of France. At
+Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and
+as she travelled on towards her destination, all the
+towns of Philip's obedience contributed their quota
+of welcome.</p>
+<p>
+At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming.
+When her approach was announced he rode out in
+person to greet her, attended by a brilliant escort.</p>
+<span class="page1"><a name="avignon">[plate 3]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image03avignon2.jpg" width="500" height="425" alt="A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready<span class="page"><a name="17">[page 17]</a></span>
+to burst into tune; the betrothal was confirmed
+amid joyousness and the ceremony was followed by
+tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.</p>
+<p>
+What a series of pompous betrothals between
+infant parties the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
+can show! Poor little puppets, in whose
+persons national interests were supposed to be
+centred, were made to lisp out their roles in international
+dramas whose final acts rarely were consistent
+with the promise of the prologue.</p>
+<p>
+Catherine did not live to become Duchess of
+Burgundy nor to temper the duel between her
+husband and her brother Louis. The remainder
+of her short existence was passed under the care of
+Duchess Isabella, sometimes in one city of the
+Netherlands, sometimes in another.</p>
+<p>
+La Marche<a href="#I23"><sup>23</sup></a> records one return of Philip to
+Brussels when his arrival was greeted by Charles
+of Burgundy, honourably accompanied by children
+of high birth about his age or less, some only
+eleven or twelve years old. There were with him
+Jehan de la Trémoille, Philip de Croy, Philip de
+Crèvec&oelig;ur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others.
+All were mounted on little horses harnessed like
+that of their governor, a very honest and wise
+gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et
+Ber d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man,
+well known, of good lineage, ready of speech and
+able to discuss matters of honour and of state.</p>
+
+<p>
+He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all<span class="page"><a name="18">[page 18]</a></span>
+exercise and sport.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman
+better adapted to supervise the education of a young
+prince than he.... Among his pupils were also
+Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#I24"><sup>24</sup></a></span> son of Philip, and
+the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were
+older than the first mentioned."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt
+in this youthful band of horse, and then tells how,
+within Brussels,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"he was received by the magistrates and conducted
+to his palace, where the Duchess of Burgundy awaited
+him holding by the hand Madame Catherine of France,
+Countess of Charolais. She was about twelve and
+seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and
+well conditioned for her age."</p>
+
+<p>
+At various state functions the Count and Countess
+of Charolais appeared together in public, and
+witnessed certain of the gorgeous and costly entertainments
+which were almost the daily food of
+the gay Burgundian court. One of these occasions
+was calculated to make a deep impression
+on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle
+of a proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep
+humiliation.</p>
+
+<span class="page1"><a name="patronletters">[plate 4]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><p class="center">
+<img src="cbimages/image04patronletters.jpg" width="400" height="681" alt="PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERs THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND..." border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges,
+when the animosity of the burghers had caused<span class="page"><a name="19">[page 19]</a></span>
+the duchess to flee from their midst, holding her
+little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal
+safety. Philip suppressed the revolt, but, in his
+anger at its insolence, declared that never again
+would he set foot within the gates unless in company
+with his superior.</p>
+<p>
+Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella
+played a prominent part as her husband's representative,
+were those concerning the liberation
+of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in England,
+a prisoner, after the battle of Agincourt in
+1415. The last advice given by Henry V. to his
+brothers was that they should make this captivity
+perpetual. Therefore, whenever overtures
+were made for his redemption, a strong party,
+headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them
+vehemently.</p>
+<p>
+In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide
+of sentiment. Possibly the low state of the English
+exchequer made the duke's ransom more
+attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000
+golden crowns were accepted as his equivalent,
+and the exile of twenty-five years returned to
+France, having pledged himself never to bear
+arms against England.</p>
+<p>
+Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome
+him, and to escort him to St. Omer, where high
+revels were held in his honour and in that of his
+alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece.</p>
+<p>
+The week intervening between the betrothal
+and the nuptials was passed in a succession of banquets
+and tourneys, gorgeous in their elaboration.<span class="page"><a name="20">[page 20]</a></span>
+Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just
+then, the new Burgundian Order was convened
+and the Duke of Orleans was elected a Knight of
+the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented
+his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the
+Porcupine. Lord Cornwallis and other English
+gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans across
+the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor
+were they among the least favoured guests, adds
+Barante.</p>
+<p>
+Amity was triumphant, and there was a general
+feeling abroad that the returned exile was henceforth
+to be the ruling power in France. People
+began to look to him to act as the go-between in
+their behalf, to be their mediator with Charles
+VII., still little known at his best. Many towns
+turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend,
+and among them was Bruges. But it was not royal
+favours that Bruges sought. Her burghers felt
+great inconvenience from the breach with their
+sovereign duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his
+grace, they seized the opportunity of reminding
+Philip of his assertion, and they besought him to
+enter their gates in company with the Duke of
+Orleans, a prince of the blood, closer to the French
+sovereign than the Duke of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+After some demur, Philip consented to grant
+their petition. Possibly he was not loth to be
+persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges
+to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and
+to prepare a reception for their appeased sovereign,<span class="page"><a name="21">[page 21]</a></span>
+calculated to make him content with the late rebels.</p>
+<p>
+Before the grand cortège, composed of the two
+dukes, their consorts, and the dignitaries who had
+assisted in the feasts of marriage and of chivalry,
+reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were
+ready with a touching spectacle of humility and
+repentance.<a href="#I25"><sup>25</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+A league from the gates, the magistrates and
+burghers stood in the road awaiting the travellers
+from St. Omer. All were barefooted and bareheaded.
+Under the December sky they waited
+the approach of the stately procession. When
+the duke arrived, they all fell upon their knees and
+implored him to forgive the late troubles and to
+reinstate their city in his favour. Philip did not
+answer immediately&mdash;delay was always a feature
+of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Orleans,
+both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined
+their entreaties to the citizens' prayers. Again a
+pause, and then, as if generously yielding to pressure,
+Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes
+and their hats while he accepted at their hands the
+keys of all the gates. Then the long procession
+moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were
+the clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and beguins
+of the various convents and foundations,
+bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and many
+precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were
+the gilds and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent<span class="page"><a name="22">[page 22]</a></span>
+accoutrements freshly burnished to do
+honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
+overlord.</p>
+<p>
+Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, platforms
+and stages were erected, whereon were enacted
+dramatic performances, given continuously,
+to provide amusement for the collected crowds.
+Sometimes the presentation carried significance
+beyond mere entertainment. Here a maid, garbed
+as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which
+wore the collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine.
+This last beast was to symbolise the Orleans
+device, <i>Near and Far</i>, as the creature was
+supposed to project his spines to a distance.</p>
+<p>
+One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house
+with gold and the roof with silver leaves to betoken
+his satisfaction. Indeed, if we may believe
+the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had
+any city incurred so much expense to honour its
+lord. The duke permitted his heart to be touched
+by these proofs of devotion, and on the very evening
+of his arrival he evinced that his confidence
+was restored by sending the civic keys and a gracious
+message to the magistrates. At the news
+of this condescension the cries of "<i>Noël</i>" re-echoed
+afresh through the illuminated streets.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was not present at this entry, which
+took place on Saturday, December 11th, but Philip
+was so much entertained with the performance
+that he sent for his son, and on the following Saturday
+he and the Countess of Charolais came from<span class="page"><a name="23">[page 23]</a></span>
+Ghent to join the party. The Duke of Orleans
+and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the
+young couple, who were formally escorted to the
+palace by magistrates and citizens in a body. On
+the Sunday there were repetitions of some of
+the plays and every attention was offered by the
+Bruges burghers to their young guests. When
+Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December
+14th, what wonder that the lady wept in
+sorrow at leaving these gay Burgundian doings!</p>
+<p>
+While Charles did not actually witness the humiliation
+of the citizens, the seven-year-old boy
+would, undoubtedly, have heard and known sufficient
+of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware
+that the citizens who had dared defy his father
+were glad to buy back his smiles at any cost to
+their pride and purse. He would have known,
+too, that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence,
+and elsewhere joined the Bruges burghers in the
+welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a spectacle
+of the relations between a city and the ducal
+father not to be easily forgotten by the son.</p>
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#1">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="I1">The</a> indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of
+Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. <i>(Collection des
+voyages des souverains des Pays Bas</i>, i., 71.) Unfortunately,
+owing to the destruction of papers, only a few years are
+complete. Between 1428-1441, there is nothing. But the
+itinerary for 1441 and for other years shows how often the
+duke changed his residences. Sometimes he is accompanied
+by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de
+Charolais.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#3">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="I2">It</a> was also said that the woollen manufactures of Flanders
+were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#3">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="I3">Reiffenberg</a>, <i>Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or,</i> p. xxi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#3">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="I4">Hist.</a> de I'Ordre,</i> etc., p. i.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#4">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="I5">All</a> the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to the
+public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from
+the accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity:<br /><br />
+
+"To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber,
+for delivering to a certain person for certain causes and for
+secret matters of which Monseigneur does not wish further
+declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17 sous."
+
+(Laborde <i>Les Ducs de Bourgogne</i>, etc., "Preuves," i. xiii.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#5">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="I6">"Vingt-quatre</a> chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
+et sans reproches nés et procrées en léal mariage" <i>(see</i> description
+of the first list).&mdash;<i>Hist. de l'Ordre,</i> p. xxi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#6">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="I7">Jacquemin</a> Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living
+at Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich
+cloth of black silk draped about the baptismal font. Why
+mourning was used on this joyful occasion does not appear.
+(Laborde, i., 321.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#6">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="I8">Summary</a> of a register containing the acts of the Order
+of the Golden Fleece quoted in <i>Histoire de l'Ordre,</i> pp. 12, 13.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#6">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="I9">St.</a> Remy, <i>Chronique</i>, ii., 284.  St. Remy is usually called
+<i>Toison d'Or.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#7">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="I10">His</a> full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone remains
+of the palace where he was born.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#7">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="I11">Hist,</a> de l'Ordre,</i> p. 13.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#7">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="I12">Selden</a> <i>(Titles of Honor</i>, p. 457), however, says he knows
+not by what authority this statement is made and that he
+knows nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by
+Gautier for receiving knighthood.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#8">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="I13">Deschamps,</a> <i>&OElig;uvres Complètes</i>, ii., 214.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#9">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="I14">The</a> ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of
+Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one notable
+occasion, to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared
+in public accompanied by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan
+of the Hooks, and by Frank van Borselen, himself a Cod, the
+widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess of Holland.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="I15">Barante,</a> <i>Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne</i>, vi., 2, note
+by Reiffenberg.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="I16">See</a> <i>Catalogue des manuscrits des Ducs de Bourgogne,</i>
+"Résumé historique," i., lxxix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="I17">Barante,</a> vi., 2, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#10">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="I18">Loomis,</a> <i>Medieval Hellenism</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#12">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="I19">Pirenne,</a> <i>Histoire de Belgique</i>, ii., 231.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#13">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="I20">It</a> was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made.
+Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant,
+Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were
+lapsed fiefs, of the empire.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#14">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="I21">Putnam,</a> <i>A Medieval Princess</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#16">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="I22">Monstrelet,</a> <i>La Chronique</i>, v., 344.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#17">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="I23">La</a> Marche, <i>Mémoires</i>, ii., 50.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#18">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="I24">Reiffenberg,</a> <i>Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe de
+Bourgogne.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#21">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="I25">Meyer,</a> <i>Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum,
+</i> p. 296.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+<span class="page"><a name="24">[page 24]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="II">II</a></h2>
+
+<h3>YOUTH</h3>
+
+<h4>1440-1453</h4>
+<p>
+The heir of Burgundy was still in very tender
+years when he began to take official part in
+public affairs, sometimes associated with one
+parent, sometimes with the other.</p>
+<p>
+There was a practical advantage in bringing the
+boy to the fore by which the duke was glad to
+profit. With his own manifold interests, it was
+impossible for him to be present in his various capitals
+as often as was demanded by the usage of
+the diverse individual seigniories. It was politic,
+therefore, to magnify the representative capacity
+of his son and of his consort in order to obtain the
+grants and <i>aides</i> which certain of his subjects declared
+could be given only when requested orally
+by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was
+Count Charles and the duchess who appeared in
+Holland to ask an <i>aide</i>.<a href="#II1"><sup>1</sup></a> In the following year,
+Charles accompanied his father when Philip made
+one of his rare visits&mdash;there were only three between
+1428 and 1466&mdash;to Holland and Zealand.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="castle">[plate 5]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image05castle.jpg" width="400" height="673" alt="A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="25">[page 25]</a></span>
+<p>
+Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants
+on this occasion, and he describes with great
+detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have
+their absentee count in their land.<a href="#II2"><sup>2</sup></a> Many
+matters could only be set aright by his authority.
+Among the complaints brought to him
+at Middelburg were accusations against a certain
+knight of high birth, Jehan de Dombourc.
+Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once
+and brought before him for trial. This was easier
+said than done. Warned of his danger, Dombourc,
+with four or five comrades, took refuge in the clock
+tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary
+that could not be taken by storm.<a href="#II3"><sup>3</sup></a> He was provided
+with a good store of food, this audacious
+criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There
+he remained three days, because, for the honour of
+the Church, they could not fire upon him.</p>
+
+<p>
+"And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun
+come out and call to Jehan Dombourc, her brother,
+advising him to perish defending himself rather than
+to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands
+of the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced
+to surrender to his prince, and he was beheaded in the
+market-place at Middelburg, but, at the plea of his
+sister, the said nun, his body was delivered to her to
+be buried in consecrated ground."</p>
+<p>
+In this same visit Philip presided over the Zealand
+estates and the young count sat by his side,<span class="page"><a name="26">[page 26]</a></span>
+not as an idle spectator, but because usage required
+the presence of the heir as well as that of the
+Count of Zealand.</p>
+<p>
+When Charles was twelve he was present at an
+assembly of the Order of the Golden Fleece held
+in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind
+witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his
+description of the lavish magnificence of the
+affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the citizens
+into complying with the requests of their Count
+of Flanders.</p>
+<p>
+Charles played a prominent part in all the functions,
+and assisted in the election of his tutor,
+Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. Another candidate of
+that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Ostrevant,
+widower of Jacqueline, late Countess of
+Holland.</p>
+<p>
+In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at
+Brussels. "Honourably as befitted a king's
+daughter" was she buried at Ste. Gudule.<a href="#II4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Tireless in their devotion were the duke and
+duchess in her last illness, and Charles VII. despatched
+two skilled doctors to her aid but all efforts were vain.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Much bemourned was the princess for she was
+virtuous. God have pity on her soul"</p>
+
+<p>
+piously ejaculates La Marche.</p>
+
+<p>
+A little item <a href="#II5"><sup>5</sup></a> in the accounts suggests that a
+pleasant friendship had existed between the two<span class="page"><a name="27">[page 27]</a></span>
+young people:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Countess
+of Charolais, for a harp which she had bought
+from him and given to Ms. the Count of Charolais for
+him to play and take his amusement, xii francs." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II6"><sup>6</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+It is easy to surmise that music was not, however,
+the young count's favourite amusement. In
+Philip's court, tournaments were still held and
+afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad
+whose bent was undoubtedly towards a military
+career.</p>
+
+<p>
+One valiant actor in these tourneys where were
+revived the ancient traditions of knighthood, was
+Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all the characteristics
+of times past, fighting for fame in the
+present. In his youth, this aspirant for reputation
+swore a vow to meet thirty knights in combat
+before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated
+by a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the
+court of Burgundy, because the Netherlands were
+on the highroad between England and many points
+in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had
+the best chance of falling in with all the prowess
+that might be abroad. For stay-at-home prowess<span class="page"><a name="28">[page 28]</a></span>
+he cared naught. A delightful personage is Messire
+Jacques and a brave rôle does he play in the
+series of jousts, sporting gaily on the pages of the
+various Burgundian chroniclers, who recorded in
+their old age what they had seen in their youth.
+One description, however, of these encounters
+reads much like another and they need not be
+repeated.</p>
+<p>
+During his childhood Charles was a spectator
+only on the days of mimic battle. In his seventeenth
+year he was permitted to enter the lists as a
+regular combatant, a permission shared by his fellow
+pupils all eager to flesh their maiden spears.
+The duke arranged that his son should have a preliminary
+tilt a few days before the public affair in
+order to test his ability. All the courtiers&mdash;and
+apparently ladies were not excluded from the discussion
+on the matter&mdash;agreed that no better
+knight could be found for this purpose than
+Jacques de Lalaing, who, on his part, was highly
+honoured by being selected to gauge the untried
+capabilities of the prince.<a href="#II7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In the park at Brussels with the duke and duchess
+as onlookers, the preliminary encounter took
+place. At the very first attack, Charles struck
+Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his
+lance into many pieces. The duke was displeased
+because he thought that the knight had not exerted
+his full strength and was favouring his son. He
+accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must<span class="page"><a name="29">[page 29]</a></span>
+play in earnest and not hold his force in leash.
+Fresh lances were brought; again did the count
+withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances
+were shattered. This time the boy's mother was
+the dissatisfied one, thinking that the knight was
+too hard with his junior, but the duke only
+laughed.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Thus differed the parents. The one desired him
+to prove his manhood, the other was preoccupied
+with his safety. With these two courses the trial
+ended amid rounds of applause for the prince."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II8"><sup>8</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+The actual tourney was held on the Marketplace
+in Brussels before a distinguished assembly.
+Count Charles was escorted into the arena by his
+cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles.
+Seigneur d'Auxy, his tutor, stood near to watch
+the maiden efforts of the prince and his mates.
+He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for
+his bearing and his skill. He gave and received
+excellent thrusts, broke more than ten lances,
+and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening
+he received the prize from two princesses, and
+"Montjoye" was cried by the heralds in his honour.
+From that time forth, the count was considered
+a puissant and rude jouster and gained
+great renown.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"And that is the reason why I commence my memoirs
+about him and his deeds<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II9"><sup>9</sup></a></span> [continues La Marche,<span class="page"><a name="30"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 30]</span></a></span>
+on concluding his description of the tournament],
+and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour. As
+one who has been brought up with him from his youth
+in his father's service and in his own, I will touch upon
+his education, his morals, his character, and his habits
+from the moment when I first saw him as appears
+above in my memoirs.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As to his character, I will commence at the worst
+features. He was hot, active, and impetuous: as a
+child he was very eager to have his own way. Nevertheless,
+he had so much understanding and good sense
+that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no
+one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he.
+He did not take the name of God or the saints in vain,
+and held God in great fear and reverence. He learned
+well and had a retentive memory. He was fond of
+reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot
+and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and
+boats. Falconry, too, he loved and he hunted whenever
+he had leave. In archery he early excelled his
+comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was
+the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did
+he devote himself to good and excellent exercise."</p>
+
+<p>
+That the report of the lavishness and extravagance
+of the Burgundian court was no idle rumour,
+exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is attested
+to by every bit of contemporary evidence. Enthusiastic
+and loyal chroniclers dwell on the magnificence,
+and the arid details of bills paid show
+what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while
+the protests from taxpayers prove that this splendour<span class="page"><a name="31">[page 31]</a></span>
+did not grow like the lilies of the field.</p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="accountbook">[plate 6]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image06accountbook.jpg" width="400" height="585" alt="FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Philip's treasury had many separate compartments.
+There were many quarters to which he
+could turn for his needed supplies, but there were
+times when his exchequer ran very threateningly
+low, and his financial stress led him to be very
+conciliatory towards the burghers with full purses.</p>
+<p>
+In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the celebration
+of the feast of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece within her gates. Two years later, Philip
+appeared in person at a meeting of the <i>collace</i>, or
+municipal assembly, and delivered a harangue
+to the Ghentish magistrates and burghers, flattering
+them, moreover, by using their vernacular.
+The tenor of this speech was as follows:<a href="#II10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"My good and faithful friends, you know how I
+have been brought up among you from my infancy.
+That is why I have always loved you more than the inhabitants
+of all my other cities, and I have proved this
+by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that
+I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon
+me to-day when I have need of your support. Doubtless
+you are not ignorant of the condition of my father's
+treasury at the period of his death. The majority
+of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were in
+pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate
+vengeance compelled me to undertake a long and
+bloody war, during which the defence of my fortresses
+and of my cities, and the pay of my army have necessitated<span class="page"><a name="32"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 32]</span></a></span>
+outlays so large that it is impossible to estimate
+them. You know, too, that at the very moment
+when the war on France was at its height, I was obliged,
+in order to assure the protection of my country of
+Flanders, to take arms against the English in Hainaut,
+in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding costing
+me more than 10,000 <i>saluts d'or,</i> which I raised
+with difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed
+against Liege, in behalf of my countship of Namur,
+which sprang from the bosom of Flanders? It is not
+necessary to add to all these outlays those which I
+assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jerusalem,
+and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"It is true, however, that, yielding to the persuasions
+of the pope and the Council, I have now consented
+to put an end to the evils multiplied by war
+by forgetting my father's death, and by reconciling
+myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this
+treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in
+preserving to my subjects during the war the advantages
+of industry and of peace, they had submitted
+to heavy burdens in taxes and in voluntary contributions,
+and that it was my duty to re-establish order
+and justice in the administration. But everything
+went on as though the war had not ceased. All my
+frontiers have been menaced, and I found myself
+obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so
+useful to the defence of my other lands, especially
+of Brabant and Flanders.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In this way, my expenses continued to increase;
+all my resources are now exhausted, and the saddest
+part of it all is that the good cities and communes of
+Flanders and especially the country folk are at the
+very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many<span class="page"><a name="33"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 33]</span></a></span>
+of my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obliged
+to emigrate. Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty
+that I have little advantage from them. Nor do I
+reap more from my hereditary lands, for all are equally
+impoverished.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"A way must be found to ease the poor people,
+and at the same time to protect Flanders from insult,
+Flanders for whose sake I would risk my own person,
+although to arrive at this end, important measures
+have become imperative."</p>
+
+<p>
+After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally
+states that, in order to raise the requisite revenues,
+no method seemed to him so good and so simple as
+a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a
+term of twelve years. He promised to dispense
+with all other subsidies and to make his son swear
+to demand nothing further as long as the <i>gabelle</i>
+was imposed.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you
+consent to it I will renounce it if others prove of a different
+opinion, for I do not desire that the communes
+of Flanders be more heavily weighted than any other
+portion of my territory."</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke might have spared his trouble and his
+elaborate condescension. The answer to his conciliatory
+request was a flat refusal to consider
+the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to
+Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not be increased
+to the least degree without serious inconvenience.
+The Flemings were wroth at his imitating<span class="page"><a name="34">[page 34]</a></span>
+the worst custom of his French kinsmen.</p>
+<p>
+Philip departed from Ghent in great dudgeon.
+After a time he was persuaded that the indisposition
+of the town to meet his reasonable wishes was
+not due to the citizens at large, but to the machinations
+of a few unruly agitators among the magistrates.
+In 1449, therefore, he took a high-handed
+course of trying to direct the issue of the regular
+municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of
+magistrates on whose obedience he could rely.
+The appearance of Burgundian troops in Ghent,
+before the election of mid-August, aroused the
+wrath of the community, who thought that their
+most cherished franchises were in jeopardy.</p>
+<p>
+This was the beginning of a bitter struggle between
+Ghent and Philip. The duke found it no
+light matter to coerce the independent burghers
+into remembering that they were simply part of
+the Burgundian state. "<i>Tantæ molis erat liberam
+gentem in servitutem adigere</i>!" ejaculates Meyer in
+the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen
+months of active hostilities.<a href="#II11"><sup>11</sup></a> Matters were long
+in coming to an outbreak. Various points had
+been contended over, when Philip had endeavoured
+to change the seat of the great council, or
+to take divers measures tending to concentrate
+certain judicial or legislative functions for his own
+convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the
+autonomy of Ghent. His centripetal policy was
+disliked, but when his policy went further, and he<span class="page"><a name="35">[page 35]</a></span>
+attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike
+grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in
+open revolt.</p>
+
+<p>
+For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's
+estimation as mere insignificant unruliness. By
+1452, however, the date of the tourney above described,
+it became evident that a vital issue was at
+stake. The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to
+mediate between overlord and town, but without
+success. Owing to Philip's interference in the
+elections, the results were declared void, and when
+a new election was appointed, the Burgundians
+accused the city of hastily augmenting its number
+of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation
+laws. The gilds, too, evinced a readiness to be
+very lenient in their scrutiny of candidates for
+admission to their cherished privileges, preferring,
+for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy
+of furnished rooms was declared sufficient for enfranchisement,
+and there were cases where mere
+guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the
+lists as full-fledged citizens.</p>
+<p>
+By these means the popular party waxed very
+strong numerically. The sheriffs found themselves
+quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit
+of democracy in check. The regular government
+was overthrown, and the demagogues succeeded in
+electing three captains <i>(hooftmans)</i> invested with
+arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees
+of the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of
+very radical measures promulgated and joyfully<span class="page"><a name="36">[page 36]</a></span>
+confirmed by the populace, assembled on the
+Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the
+town meeting that ruled, not deputed authority.
+One ordinance stipulated that at the sound of
+the bell every burgher must hasten to the marketplace,
+to lend his voice to the deliberations.</p>
+<p>
+For a time various negotiations went on between
+Philip and envoys from Ghent. The latter took
+a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable terms
+that if the duke refused an accommodation with
+them, they would appeal to their suzerain, the King
+of France. No act of rebellion, overt or covert,
+exasperated Philip more than this suggestion.
+Charles VII. was only too ready to ignore those
+clauses in the treaty of Arras, releasing the duke
+from homage, and virtually acknowledging his
+complete independence in his French territories.
+The king accepted missives from his late vassal's
+city, without reprimanding the writers for their
+presumption in signing themselves "Seigneurs of
+Ghent."<a href="#II12"><sup>12</sup></a> His action, however, was confined to
+mild attempts at mediation.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was plain to the duke that his other towns
+would follow Ghent's resistance to his authority
+if there were hopes of her success. Therefore he
+threw aside all other interests for the time being,
+and exerted himself to levy a body of troops to
+crush Flemish pretensions. His counsellors advised<span class="page"><a name="37">[page 37]</a></span>
+him to sound the temper of other citizens
+and to ascertain whether their sympathies were
+with Ghent. Answers of feeble loyalty came back
+to him from the majority of the other towns. Undoubtedly
+they highly approved Ghent's efforts.
+They, too, could not afford to pay taxes fraught
+with danger to their commerce, nor to relinquish
+one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive
+crises throughout a long period of years. The
+only doubt in their minds was as to the ultimate
+success of the burghers to stem the course
+of Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first
+hedged, and then consented to aid the duke.
+This course was pursued by the Hollanders and
+the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted.</p>
+<p>
+The Ghenters succeeded in possessing themselves
+of the castle of Poucque by force, and of the
+village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking advantage
+in the latter case of the castellan's absence
+at church.</p>
+<p>
+When every part of his dominions had been canvassed
+for troops, and Philip was prepared for his
+first active campaign against Ghent, he was anxious
+to leave his heir under the protection of the
+duchess, conscious that the imminent contest
+would be bitter and deadly. A pretence was made
+that the young count's accoutrements were not
+ready, and that, therefore, he would have to remain
+in Brussels.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the completion
+of his accoutrements, and swore by St. George,
+the greatest oath he ever used, that he would rather<span class="page"><a name="38"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 38]</span></a></span>
+go in his shirt than not accompany his father to punish
+his impudent rebel subjects."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The approaching hostilities were watched by
+foreign merchants in dread of commercial disaster.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"On May 18th, the <i>nations</i> <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II14"><sup>14</sup></a></span> of the merchants of
+Bruges departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make
+peace between that city and the Duke of Burgundy,
+and there were <i>nations</i> of Spain, Aragon, Portugal,
+and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese, Genoese,
+and Luccans."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II15"><sup>15</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+But the men of Ghent were beyond the point
+where commercial arguments could stem their
+course. The very day that this company arrived
+in the city, the burghers sallied forth six
+or seven thousand strong, fully equipped for
+offensive warfare.</p>
+<p>
+Both the actual engagements and guerilla skirmishes
+that raged over a minute stretch of territory
+were characterised by an extraordinary
+ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip
+was determined to relieve, men were beheaded
+like sheep.</p>
+<p>
+In the first regular engagement in which Charles
+took part, he showed a brave front and learned
+the duties of a prince by rewarding others with the
+honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the
+course of the war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Burgundy,
+and the gallant Jacques de Lalaing. Philip<span class="page"><a name="39">[page 39]</a></span>
+grieved deeply over the death of the former, his
+favourite among his natural sons, and buried him
+with all honours in the Church of Ste-Gudule
+in Brussels. The title by which he was known,
+hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his
+brother Anthony. Lalaing, too, was greatly
+mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his
+thirty-third year.</p>
+<p>
+There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legitimate
+heir might also perish in these conflicts where
+there was no mercy, that Charles was persuaded
+to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would
+keep him by her side. She made a feast in his
+honour, but, to the surprise of all, the duchess,
+who had wished to protect her son from the mild
+perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with
+brave words to return to fight in all earnest for his
+inheritance.<a href="#II16"><sup>16</sup></a> He himself was very indignant at
+the efforts to treat him as a child.</p>
+
+<p>
+The first truce and negotiations for peace, initiated
+in the summer of 1452, were broken off
+because the conditions were unbearable to the
+Ghenters. Another year of warfare followed before
+the decisive battle of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced
+them sadly to succumb. There was no other
+course open to them. Not only were they defeated
+but their numbers were decimated.<a href="#II17"><sup>17</sup></a> With
+full allowance for exaggeration, it is certain that the<span class="page"><a name="40">[page 40]</a></span>
+loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at
+an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every
+humiliating detail. More, the defeated rebels were
+bidden to be grateful that their kind sovereign had
+imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to
+abating the severity of the articles, he declared
+that he would not change an <i>a</i> for a <i>b</i>.<a href="#II18"><sup>18</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The chief provisions were as follows: The
+deans of the gilds were deprived of participation
+in the election of sheriffs. The privileges of the
+naturalisation laws were considerably abridged.
+No sentence of banishment could be pronounced
+without the intervention of the duke's bailiff,
+whose authorisation, too, was required before
+the publication of edicts, ordinances, etc. The
+sheriffs were forbidden to place their names at the
+head of letters to the officers of the duke. The
+banners were to be delivered to the duke and
+placed under five locks, whose several keys should
+be deposited with as many different people, without
+whose consensus the banners could not be
+brought forth to lead the burghers to sedition.
+One gate was to be closed every Thursday in memory
+of the day when the citizens had marched
+through it to attack their liege lord, and another
+was to be barred up in perpetuity or at the pleasure
+of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his
+enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid<span class="page"><a name="41">[page 41]</a></span>
+by the city.</p>
+<p>
+July 30th was the date appointed for the final
+act of submission, the <i>amende honorable</i> of the
+unfortunate city. The scene was very similar to
+that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand
+citizens headed by the sheriffs, councillors, and
+captains of the burgher guard met the duke and
+his suite a league without the walls of Ghent.
+Bareheaded, barefooted, and divested of all their
+robes of office and of dignity, clad only in shirts
+and small clothes, these magistrates confessed
+that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly
+rebellion, and begged his pardon most humbly.</p>
+<p>
+The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gaveren,
+prepared to march out in the morning with
+his whole army in handsome array. Philip was
+magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same
+horse which he had used on the day of battle, with
+the various wounds received on that day ostentatiously
+plastered over to make a dramatic show
+of what the injured sovereign had suffered at the
+hands of his disloyal subjects.</p>
+<p>
+The civic procession was headed by the Abbot
+of St. Bavon and the Prior of the Carthusians.
+The burghers who followed the half-clad officials
+were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and
+ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust
+and cried, "Mercy on the town of Ghent." While
+they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman of
+the council made an elaborate speech in French,
+assuring the duke that if, out of his benign grace.
+he would take his loving and repentant subjects<span class="page"><a name="42">[page 42]</a></span>
+again into his favour, they would never again give
+him cause for reproach.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and
+the Count of Charolais, there present, pardoned the
+petitioners for their evil deeds. The men of Ghent
+re-entered their town more happy and rejoiced than
+can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille,
+having disbanded his army, that every one might
+return to their several homes." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II19"><sup>19</sup></a></span>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The joy experienced by the conquered, here described
+by La Marche, as he looked back at the
+event from the calm retirement of his old age, was
+not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of
+this war was watched eagerly from other parts of
+Philip's dominion. His army was full of men from
+both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports
+to their own homes. Some passages from one of
+these reports by an unknown war correspondent
+run as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As to news from here, Monday after St. Magdalen's
+Day, Monseigneur the duke got the better of
+the Ghenters near Gaveren between ten and eleven
+o'clock. They attacked him near his quarters....
+The duke risked his own person in advance of his
+company in the very worst of the slaughter, which
+lasted from the said place up to Ghent, a distance of
+about two leagues. The slain number three or four
+thousand, more or less, and those drowned in the river
+of Quaux about two hundred.... This Tuesday,
+the date of writing, the army departs from their quarters<span class="page"><a name="43"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 43]</span></a></span>
+to advance on Ghent to demand the conditions
+lately offered them, and the bearer of this letter will
+tell you what is the result. M. the duke and his army
+marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of
+the citizens. They are very bitter and despondent.
+M. the marshall has been parleying. I hear that matters
+have been settled. I hear that the Ghenters' loss
+is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I cannot write
+more for I have no time owing to the haste of the
+messenger."</p>
+
+<p>
+This was written July 23d. There is another
+despatch of July 31st, giving the last news, which
+was "very joyous." The public apology had just
+been enacted&mdash;</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as
+a confession that my said seigneur was victorious,
+those of Ghent have delivered up all their banners
+to the number of eighty. And on this day my said
+lord has created seven or eight knights and heralds
+in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#II20"><sup>20</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+The duke's victory was certainly "inestimable"
+in its value to him, yet, in spite of the rigour enforced
+on this defeated people, they were not
+as crushed as they might have been had they<span class="page"><a name="44">[page 44]</a></span>
+submitted in 1445. Philip was clever enough to
+be more lenient than appeared at first. Ancient
+privileges were confirmed in a special compact,
+and the duke swore to maintain all former concessions
+in their entirety except in the points above
+specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed,
+and it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff
+refused to sustain the sheriffs in their exercise of
+justice, or tried to arrogate to himself more than his
+due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly,
+and more important than all, the duke made
+no attempt to revive the demand for the <i>gabelle</i>&mdash;salt
+was left free and untaxed. As a matter of
+fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfilment
+of every item of the treaty and, two years
+later, he increased certain privileges. He had
+cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to
+pit his strength again with Flemish communes.
+He had taught the audacious rebels a lesson and
+that sufficed him.<a href="#II21"><sup>21</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#24">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="II1">Blok</a>, <i>Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg. Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij,</i> p. 84.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#25">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="II2">La</a> Marche, ii., 79, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#25">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="II3">See</a> also <i>Chronijcke van Nederlant,</i> p. 76, and <i>Vlaamsche
+Kronijk,</i> p. 203. Ed. C. Piot.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#26">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="II4">D'Escouchy</a>, <i>Chronique</i>, i., 110.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#27">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="II5">The</a> items of the funeral expenses can be found in Laborde,
+i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#27">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="II6">In</a> that same year, 1440, in which this gift is recorded,
+there is another item showing how Charles took his amusement
+not only on the harp but in planning some of the elaborate
+surprises regularly introduced between courses in the
+banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter, for making the cover
+of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present to Monseigneur
+on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v
+francs" (Laborde, i., 381).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#28">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="II7">La</a> Marche, ii., 214.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#29">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="II8">Gachard</a> puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's
+outfit cost 360 livres.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#30">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="II9">La</a> Marche, i., ch. 21.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#31">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="II10">Kervyn</a>, <i>Histoire de Flandre</i>, iv. Kervyn quotes from
+the <i>Dagboek des gentsche collatie</i>, M. Schayes.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#34">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="II11">Meyer</a>, xvi., 303.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#36">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="II12">They</a> were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says
+that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of sheriffs
+and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their seignories.&mdash;(La
+Marche, ii., 221. <i>See also</i> d'Escouchy, ii., 25.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#38">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="II13">La</a> Marche, ii., 230.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#38">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="II14">Associations</a> of merchants in foreign cities.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#38">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="II15">Chastellain</a>, <i>&OElig;uvres</i>, ii., 221.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#39">[Footnote 16:</a> La <a name="II16">Marche</a>, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278.  See also
+<i>Chronique d'Adrian de Budt</i>, p. 242, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#40">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="II17">Meyer</a>, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313.  Lavisse, <i>Histoire
+de France</i>, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain
+(ii., 375) puts the number at 22-30,000, including those drowned
+by the duke's order. Du Clercq lets a certain sympathy
+for the rebellious people escape his pen. Chastellain
+and La Marche treat the antagonism to taxes as unreasonable.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#40">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="II18">Chastellain</a>, ii., 387.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#42">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="II19">La</a> Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for
+this event.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#43">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="II20">Revue</a> des sociétés savantes des départements</i>, 7me. série,
+6, p. 209.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated
+July 31 and August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont
+to the magistrates of Baume. The former was one of the
+highest officials in the Franche-Comté. The reporter might
+have been one of his secretaries. The two notes with their
+unsigned enclosures were discovered (1881)in the archives of
+the town of Baume-les-Dames.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#44">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="II21">Kervyn</a>, <i>Histoire de Flandre</i>, iv., 494.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="45">[page 45]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="III">III</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT</h3>
+
+<h4>1454</h4>
+<p>
+After the fatigues of this contest with Ghent,
+followed a period of relaxation for the Burgundian
+nobles at Lille, where a notable round of
+gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph
+of Cleves inaugurated the series with an entertainment
+where, among other things, he delighted his
+friends by a representation of the tale of the miraculous
+swan,<a href="#III1"><sup>1</sup></a> famous in the annals of his house
+for bringing the opportune knight down the Rhine
+to wed the forlorn heiress.</p>
+
+<p>
+When his satisfied guests took their leave,
+Adolph placed a chaplet on the head of one of the
+gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a
+new amusement for the company; and under
+the invitation lurked a tacit challenge to make
+the coming occasion more brilliant than the first.
+Again and again was this process repeated. Entertainment
+followed entertainment, all a mixture
+of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose preparation
+the successive hosts vied with each other to
+attain perfection.</p>
+<p>
+The hard times, the stress of ready money, so
+eloquently painted when the merchants were implored
+to take pity on their poverty-stricken lord,<span class="page"><a name="46">[page 46]</a></span>
+were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest
+tide for skilled craftsmen and artisans. Any one
+blessed with a clever or fantastic idea easily
+found a market for the product of his brain. He
+could see his poetic or quaint conception presented
+to an applauding public with a wealth of paraphernalia
+that a modern stage manager would not
+scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be
+inferred from the ducal accounts, which are eloquent
+with information about the creators of all
+this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the
+wage earned by a painter, while the plumbers
+received eight. These latter were called upon to
+coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often
+more grotesque than graceful.</p>
+<p>
+One fête followed another from the early autumn
+of 1453 to February, 1454, when "The Feast of
+the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was
+called, crowned the series with an elaborate magnificence
+that has never been surpassed.</p>
+<p>
+Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dramatic
+effect and it is more than possible that he
+instigated the progressive banquets for the express
+purpose of leading up to the occasion with which
+he intended to dazzle Europe.<a href="#III2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="poljester">[plate 7]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image07poljester.jpg" width="400" height="659" alt="COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+For the duke's thoughts were now turned from
+civic revolts to a great international movement
+which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost
+coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Philip's
+will had been the capitulation of Constantinople
+to the Turks. The event long dreaded by<span class="page"><a name="47">[page 47]</a></span>
+pope and Christendom had happened at last
+(May 29, 1453). Again and again was the necessity
+for a united opposition to the inroads of the
+dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve
+of St. Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bringing
+an official letter from the pope, setting forth
+the dire stress of the Christian Church, and imploring
+the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her
+saviour, and to assume the leadership of a crusade
+in her behalf against the encroaching Turk.<a href="#III3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer.
+Whatever the exact sequence of his plans in relation
+to the court revels, the result was that his
+own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for
+blazoning forth to the world with a flourish of trumpets
+his august intention of dislodging the invader
+from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.</p>
+<p>
+The superintendence of the arrangements for
+this all-eclipsing fête was entrusted, as La Marche
+relates,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of
+the Golden Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman,
+and to one Squire Jehan Boudault, a notable and discreet
+man. And the duke honoured me so far that he
+desired me to be consulted. Several councils were
+held for the matter to which the chancellor and the
+first chamberlain were invited. The latter had just returned
+from the war in Luxemburg already described.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"These council meetings were very important and
+very private, and after discussion it was decided what
+ceremonies and mysteries were to be presented. The<span class="page"><a name="48"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 48]</span></a></span>
+duke desired that I should personate the character
+of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at
+this assembly."</p>
+
+<p>
+As in many half amateur affairs the preparations
+took more time than was expected. At the
+first date set, all was not in readiness and the performance
+was postponed until February 17th.
+This entailed serious loss upon the provision merchants
+and they received compensation for the
+spoiled birds and other perishable edibles.<a href="#III4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript
+copied from an older one which contains the order of proceedings
+together with the text of all vows. There is a minute
+description in Mathieu d'Escouchy, who claims to have been
+present, and in a manuscript coming from Baluze, whose
+anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of
+the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most
+original. One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon,
+called Dion du Cret, received, in 1455, a sum of five francs
+and a half for having, at the order of the accountants, copied
+and written in parchment the history of the banquet of my
+said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453, containing
+fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note).
+It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with
+this account, which seems to have been merely a copy.]</p>
+<p>
+The gala-day opened with a tournament at
+which Adolph of Cleves again sported as Knight
+of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers.
+After the jousting, the guests adjourned to the banqueting
+hall, where fancy had indeed, run riot, to
+make ready for their admiring eyes and their
+sagacious palates. <i>Entremets</i> is the term applied
+to the elaborate set pieces and side-shows<span class="page"><a name="49">[page 49]</a></span>
+provided to entertain the feasters between courses,
+and these were on an unprecedented scale.</p>
+<p>
+Three tables stood prepared respectively for
+the duke and his suite, for the Count of Charolais,
+his cousins, and their comrades, and for the
+knights and ladies. The first table was decorated
+with marvellous constructions, among which was
+a cruciform church whose mimic clock tower was
+capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers.
+The enormous pie in which twenty-eight musicians
+were discovered when the crust was cut may
+have been the original of that pasty whose opening
+revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar
+plight. Wild animals wandered gravely at a
+machinist's will through deep forests, but in
+the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at
+least one live lion, for Gilles le Cat<a href="#III5"><sup>5</sup></a> received twenty
+shillings from the duke for the chain and locks
+he made to hold the savage beast fast "on the day
+of the said banquet."</p>
+
+<p>
+Again there was an anchored ship, manned with
+a full crew and rigged completely. "I hardly
+think," observes La Marche, "that the greatest
+ship in the world has a greater number of ropes
+and sails."</p>
+<p>
+Before the guests seated themselves they
+wandered around the hall and inspected the
+decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration
+exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the
+toothsome dainties provided for their delectation.</p>
+<p>
+During the progress of the banquet, the story of<span class="page"><a name="50">[page 50]</a></span>
+Jason was enacted. Time there certainly was for
+the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight dishes
+to every course, though he qualifies his statement
+by the admission that his memory might be inexact.
+These dishes were wheeled over the tables
+in little chariots before each person in turn.</p>
+<p>
+"Such were the mundane marvels that graced
+the fête," is the conclusion of La Marche's&nbsp;<a href="#III6"><sup>6</sup></a> exhaustive
+enumeration of the masterpieces from
+artists' workshops and ducal kitchen</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I will leave them now to record a pity moving
+<i>entremets</i> which seemed to be more special than the
+others. Through the portal whence the previous
+actors had made their entrance, came a giant larger
+without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long
+green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in
+Granada. His left hand held a great, old-fashioned
+two-bladed axe, his right hand led an elephant covered
+with silk. On its back was a castle wherein sat a
+lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of black
+cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse.&nbsp;<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III7"><sup>7</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Once within the hall and in sight of the noble
+company, like one who had work before her, she said
+to the giant, her conductor:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"'Giant, prithee let me stay<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;For I spy a noble throng<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;To whom I wish to speak.'<br /><br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"At these words her guide conducted his charge
+before the ducal table and there she made a piteous<span class="page"><a name="51"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 51]</span></a></span>
+appeal to all assembled to come to rescue her, Holy
+Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving miscreants.
+As soon as she ceased speaking a body of officers
+entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms,
+bringing up the rear. This last carried a live pheasant
+ornamented with a rich collar of gold studded
+with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maidens,
+Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the
+duke, and Isabelle of Neufchâtel, escorted by two gentlemen
+of the Order. They all proceeded to the host.
+After greetings, Toison d'Or then said:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"'High and puissant prince and my redoubtable
+lord, here are ladies who recommend themselves very
+humbly to you because it is, and has been, the custom
+at great feasts and noble assemblies to present to the
+lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird
+whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am
+sent hither with these two demoiselles to present to you
+this noble pheasant, praying you to remember them.'</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"When these words were said, Monseigneur the
+duke, who knew for what purpose he had given
+the banquet, looked at the personified Church, and
+then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his
+bosom a document containing his vow to succour
+Christianity, as will appear later. The Church manifested
+her joy, and seeing that my said seigneur had
+given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst forth
+forth into rhyme:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+&nbsp;"'God be praised and highly served<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France.<br />
+Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed<br />
+Until it seemed thou wert reserved<br />
+<span class="page"><a name="52"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page&nbsp;52]</span></a></span>
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;To bring me my deliverance.<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Near and far I seek alliance<br />
+And pray to God to grant thee grace<br />
+To work His pleasure in thy place.<br /><br />
+
+&nbsp;"'0 every prince and noble, man and knight,<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed.<br />
+Abandon ease, abjure delight,<br />
+Lift up your hand, each in his right,<br />
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Offer God the savings from thy greed.<br />
+  &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I take my leave, imploring each, indeed,<br />
+To risk his life for Christian gain,<br />
+To serve his God and 'suage my pain.'<br /><br />
+</blockquote>
+<p class="quote">
+"At this the giant led off the elephant and departed
+by the same way in which he had entered.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"When I had seen this <i>entremets</i>, that is, the
+Church and a castle on the back of such a strange
+beast, I pondered as to whether I could understand
+what it meant and could not make it out otherwise
+except that she had brought this beast, rare among
+us, in sign that she toiled and laboured in great adversity
+in the region of Constantinople, whose trials we
+know, and the castle in which she was signified Faith.
+Moreover, because this lady was conducted by this
+mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished to
+denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had
+chased her away and sought her destruction.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"As soon as this play was played out, the noble
+gentlemen, moved by pity and compassion, hastened
+to make vows, each in his own fashion."</p>
+
+<p>
+The vow of the Count of Charolais was as
+follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"I swear to God my creator, and to His glorious
+mother, to the ladies and to the pheasant, that, if my<span class="page"><a name="53"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 53]</span></a></span>
+very redoubtable lord and father embark on this
+holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I accompany
+him, I will go and will serve him as well
+as I can and know how to do."</p>
+
+<p>
+Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fantastic
+conditions being appended according to individual
+fancy. One gentleman decided never
+to go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were
+accomplished. Another that he would eat nothing
+on Fridays that had ever lived until he had
+had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand
+to hand, and of attacking, at peril of his life, the
+banner of the Grand Turk.</p>
+<p>
+Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tuesday
+and to wear no protection on his right arm.
+This last the duke refused to permit. Hugues de
+Longueval vowed that when he had once turned
+his face to the East he would abstain from wine
+until he had plunged his sword in an infidel's blood,
+and that he would devote two years to the crusade
+even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople
+were not recovered. Louis de Chevelast
+swore that no covering should protect his
+head until he had come to within four leagues of
+the infidels, and that he would fight a Turk on foot
+with nothing on his arm but a glove. There was
+the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets
+and many of the self-imposed penalties were as
+bizarre as the side-shows.</p>
+<p>
+There were so many chevaliers eager to bind
+themselves to the enterprise that the prolonged
+ceremony threatened to become tedious. The<span class="page"><a name="54">[page 54]</a></span>
+duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would
+be equally valid as the day.&nbsp;<a href="#III8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the
+banquet was finished and the cloth removed and every
+one began to walk around the room. To me it seemed
+like a dream, for, of all the decorations, soon nothing
+remained but the crystal fountain. When there was
+no further spectacle to distract me, then my understanding
+began to work and various considerations
+touching this business came into my mind. First, I
+pondered upon the outrageous excess and great expense
+incurred in a brief space by these banquets, for
+this fashion of progressive entertainments, with the
+hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time.
+All had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all,
+especially my said lord, had spent so much that I
+considered the whole thing outrageous and without
+any justification for the expense, except as regarded
+the <i>entremets</i> of the Church and the vows. Even that
+seemed to me too lightly treated for an important
+enterprise.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a
+gentleman, councillor and chamberlain, who was in
+my lord's confidence and with whom I had some acquaintance.
+To him I imparted my thoughts in the
+course of a friendly chat and his comment was as
+follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet
+entertainments would never have occurred except by<span class="page"><a name="55"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 55]</span></a></span>
+the secret desire of the duke to lead up to this very
+banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy purpose
+and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three
+years now since the distress of our Church was presented
+to the Knights of the Golden Fleece at Mons.
+My lord there dedicated his person and his wealth
+to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion of
+Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and
+money. Thanks be to God, he has attained there a
+good and honourable peace, as every one knows.
+Now it has chanced that, during this very period, the
+Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in
+their capture of Constantinople. The need of succour
+is very pressing and all that you have witnessed to-day
+is proof that the good duke is intent on the weal of
+Christendom.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+During the progress of this conversation, a new
+company was ushered into the hall, preceded by
+musicians. Here came <i>Grâce Dieu</i>, clad as a nun
+followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and
+black velvet ornamented with jewels. Not alone
+did they come. Each gentleman escorted a dame
+wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged
+round skirt <i>à la Portuguaise. Grâce Dieu</i> declared
+in rhyme that God had heard the pious resolution
+of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had forthwith
+sent her with her twelve attendants to promise
+him a happy termination to his enterprise. Her
+ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice, Reason, Prudence,
+and their sisters, were then presented to him.
+<i>Grâce Dieu</i> departs alone and no sooner has she
+disappeared than Philip's new attributes begin to
+dance to add to the good cheer. Among the knights<span class="page"><a name="56">[page 56]</a></span>
+was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among
+the ladies was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy,
+and the others were all of high birth. Not until
+two o'clock did the revels finally cease.</p>
+<p>
+It must be noted that La Marche's reflections
+upon the extravagance of the entertainment occur
+also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both drew
+their moralising from another author. It is
+stated by several reputable chroniclers that Olivier
+de la Marche himself represented the Church. That
+he merely wrote her lines is far more probable.
+Female performers certainly appeared freely in
+these as in other masques, and there was no
+reason for putting a handsome youth in this rôle
+of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans
+that La Marche claims to have heard discussed
+in the council meeting, he says plainly that he
+was to play the rôle of Holy Church, but as he
+makes no further allusion to the fact, it may be
+dismissed as one of his careless statements.</p>
+<p>
+This pompous announcement of big plans was
+the prelude to nothing! Yet it was by no means
+a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to
+make this crusade the crowning event of his
+life, and his proceedings immediately after the
+great fête were all to further that end. To obtain
+allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to ensure
+a peaceful succession for his son in case of his
+own death in the East&mdash;such were the cares demanding
+the duke's attention.</p>
+<p>
+The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was<span class="page"><a name="57">[page 57]</a></span>
+entrusted with the regency for the term of his
+father's sojourn abroad in quest of allies, and
+he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of
+government, but he was speedily recalled to Lille
+to submit once more to paternal authority before
+being left to his own devices and to maternal
+bias.</p>
+<p>
+For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the
+subject of their son's second marriage. Isabella
+wished that a bride should be sought in England,
+and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles
+himself. The important topic was discussed with
+more or less freedom among the young courtiers,
+until the drift of the conversations, whose burden
+was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came
+to Philip's ears, together with the information
+that one of his own children was among those who
+incited the count to independent desires about his
+future wife. Very stern was the duke in his reprimand
+to the two young men. He acknowledged
+that force of circumstances had once led him into
+friendly bonds with the foes of his own France,
+but never had he been "English at heart."
+Charles must accept his father's decision on pain
+of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip
+added, turning to the other son, destitute of
+status in the eyes of the law, "if I find that he
+counsels you to oppose my will, I will have
+him tied up in a sack and thrown into the
+sea." <a href="#III9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of<span class="page"><a name="58">[page 58]</a></span>
+Bourbon, daughter of the duke's sister, and the
+betrothal was hastily made. Even the approval
+of the bride's parents was dispensed with.
+This passed the more easily as the young lady herself
+was conveniently present in the Burgundian
+court under the guardianship of her aunt, the
+duchess, who had superintended her education.
+A papal dispensation was more necessary than
+paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far
+as the betrothal was concerned. To that extent
+was Philip obeyed. Then Charles returned to
+Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to
+obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enterprise.</p>
+<p>
+The duke's departure from Lille was made very
+privately at five o'clock in the morning. He was
+off before his courtiers were aware of his last
+preparations. That was a surprise, but not the
+only one in store for those left behind. In
+order to save every penny for his journey, Philip
+ordered radical retrenchment in his household
+expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his
+retainers were abolished and all alike found themselves
+forced to restrict their appetites to the dainties
+they could purchase with the table allowance
+accorded them. "The court's leg is broken,"
+said Michel, the rhetorician.<a href="#III10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In his own outlay there was no stinting; the
+duke's progress was pompous and stately as
+was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland,<span class="page"><a name="59">[page 59]</a></span>
+Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and obtained
+permission to show their friendship with
+ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of
+"<i>Vive Bourgogne</i>." Equally hospitable were the
+German cities. Game, wine, fodder, were offered
+for the traveller's use at every stage, as he and his
+suite rode to the imperial diet.</p>
+<p>
+At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The
+emperor whom he had come so far to see in person
+failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the plan of
+co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic
+simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially
+lazy, he shrank from committing himself to a difficult
+enterprise, nor was his ambition tempted by
+possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the
+crown of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had
+he been personally ambitious he might still have
+been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's project,
+in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing
+renown of the greatest duke of the Occident might
+throw a poor emperor as ally into the shade. The
+very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had
+chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he
+sent his secretary, Æneas Sylvius, to represent
+him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from pleasing
+to the visitor.</p>
+<p>
+There were other defections, too, from the
+diet. None of those present was in a position to
+aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter
+was brought forward and laid on the table to be
+discussed at the next diet, appointed to meet in
+November at Frankfort. But Philip would not<span class="page"><a name="60">[page 60]</a></span>
+wait for that. Germany did not agree with him.
+He was not well. Rumours there were of various
+kinds about his reasons for returning home. They
+do not seem to require much explanation, however.
+He had not been met half way in Germany and
+was highly displeased at the failure. Declining
+all further entertainment proffered by the cities,
+he travelled back to Besançon by way of Stuttgart
+and Basel. In the early autumn he was at
+Dijon.</p>
+<p>
+During this summer, negotiations about Charles's
+marriage had continued. The Duke of Bourbon
+was inclined to chaffer about the dowry demanded
+by Philip. One of the estates asked for was
+Chinon, and it was urged that it, a male fief,
+was not capable of alienation. Philip was not
+inclined to accept this reason as final and the
+negotiations hung fire, much to the distress of the
+Duchess of Bourbon, who feared a breach between
+her husband and brother. Naïve are the
+phrases in one of her letters as quoted by
+Chastellain:<a href="#III11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MY VERY DEAR SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I have heard all Boudault's message from you ...
+To be brief, Monseigneur is content and ready to accede
+the points that you demand. It seems to me
+that you ought to give him easy terms and that you
+ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against
+him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as
+done, I beg you to celebrate the nuptials as soon as
+possible although not without me as you have<span class="page"><a name="61"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 61]</span></a></span>
+promised me."&nbsp;<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III12"><sup>12</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The king, too, was interested in the matter, and
+wrote as follows to Duke Philip:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"DEAR AND MUCH LOVED BROTHER:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed
+me of the negotiations for the marriage of my cousin
+of Charolais, your son, to my cousin Isabella of Bourbon,
+his daughter, which marriage has been deferred,
+as he writes me, because he does not wish to alienate
+to his daughter the seignory of Château-Chinon. It
+is not possible for him to do this on account of the
+marriage agreement of our daughter Jeanne and my
+cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein it was stipulated
+that Château-Chinon should go to them and their
+heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female
+line, and in default of heirs male it must return to the
+crown as a true appanage of France.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Lest, peradventure, you may doubt the truth of
+this, and imagine that the point is urged by our cousin
+of Bourbon simply as an excuse for not ceding the
+estate, we assure you that it is true, and was considered
+in arranging the alliance of our daughter so that
+it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to
+make any alienation or transfer of the territory at the
+marriage of his daughter. We never would have
+permitted the marriage of our daughter without this
+express settlement. With this consideration it seems
+to me that you ought not to block the marriage in
+question, especially as my cousin says he is offering
+you an equivalent. He cannot do more as we have
+charged our councillor, the bailiff of Berry, to explain
+to you in full. So pray do not postpone the marriage
+for the above cause or for any cause, if by the permission<span class="page"><a name="62"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 62]</span></a></span>
+of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be
+lawfully completed.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+  "Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17.<br /><br />
+
+    "CHARLES.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="rindent">
+      CHALIGAUT."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+As the marriage was an event of importance,
+and the circumstances are simple historic facts, it
+is strange that there should be any uncertainty
+regarding the details of its solemnisation. But
+there is a certain vagueness about the narratives.
+One version is so amusing that it deserves a slight
+consideration.<a href="#III14"><sup>14</sup></a> The chronicler relates how
+Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay
+in the negotiations. Conscious of the sentiments
+of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared lest
+her well-known sympathies for England might
+prevail in the final decision.</p>
+
+<p>
+When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff
+of Berry came as the king's special envoy to discuss
+some aspects of the subject with him.
+The mission was gladly undertaken as the messenger
+had never seen Philip nor his court and
+he was pleased at the chance of meeting a personage
+whose fame rang through Europe. Very graciously
+was he received by the duke, who read the
+king's letters attentively and replied to the envoy's
+messages in general terms of courteous recognition,
+without making his own intention manifest. The
+bailiff waited for an answer, finding, in the meanwhile,<span class="page"><a name="63">[page 63]</a></span>
+that his days passed very agreeably.</p>
+<p>
+As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon
+Philip Pot had set out for the Netherlands, bearing
+the duke's orders to his son to celebrate his
+nuptials without further delay. The duke did
+not intend to be influenced by any one. It was
+his will that his son should accept the bride selected
+and that was all sufficient. The reason
+why the duke detained the king's messenger was
+that he "awaited news from Messire Philip de Pot,
+whom he had sent in all speed to his son to hasten
+the wedding."<a href="#III15"><sup>15</sup></a> The said gentleman found the
+count at Lille with the duchess, his mother, and
+he was so diligent in the discharge of his mission
+that he made all the arrangements himself and
+saw the wedding rites solemnised immediately.
+The bridegroom did not even know of the plan
+until the night preceding the important day.
+Then Philip Pot rode back to Dijon.</p>
+
+<p>
+When the duke was assured that the alliance
+was irrevocably sealed he was quite ready to answer
+the king's messenger, whom he at once invited
+to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip
+remarked:</p>
+<p>
+"Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a
+matter which I am humbly grateful for his interest
+in. You know my opinion. I had no desire to
+dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from
+Flanders; ask him his news and note his reply."</p>
+<p>
+"What tidings, Monsieur, do you bring us?</p>
+<p>
+Prithee impart it" said the bailiff to the chevalier.<span class="page"><a name="64">[page 64]</a></span>
+And the gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my
+faith, Monsieur bailiff, the greatest news that
+I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is
+married!"</p>
+<p>
+"Married! to whom?"</p>
+<p>
+"To whom?" responded the chevalier, "why, to
+his first cousin, Monseigneur's niece."</p>
+<p>
+Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's
+blank amazement. Again the latter had to be
+reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip
+Pot told him that it was so true that the wedded
+pair had spent the night together according to
+their lawful right.</p>
+<p>
+The bailiff did not know which way to turn. "So
+he acted out his two rôles. Returning thanks to
+the duke in the king's name with all formality, he
+then joined in the general laugh over the unsuspected
+trick. He was a man of the world and
+knew how to take advantage of sense and of
+folly."</p>
+<p>
+It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the
+wedding knot that the Countess of Charolais sent
+a messenger to announce the fact to her parents.
+They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made
+no further objection to any point, and the mooted
+territory of Chinon made part of the dower in
+spite of the reasons urged against it.</p>
+<p>
+As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at
+Dijon, Philip presented him with a round dozen
+stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks, and
+he went home a surprised and delighted man.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Monsieur<span class="page"><a name="65"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 65]</span></a></span>
+de Charolais married Mademoiselle de Bourbon
+and he married her on the eve of All Saints<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#III16"><sup>16</sup></a></span> at Lille,
+and there was no festival because Duke Philip was
+then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the
+duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the
+ladies of Lille, but they were seated all together,
+as is usually done at an ordinary banquet, without
+mesdames holding state as would have been proper
+for such an occasion."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+It is evident from all the stories that Charles
+protested against his father's orders as much as
+he dared and then obeyed simply because he could
+not help himself.</p>
+<p>
+Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom
+proved a faithful husband in a court where marital
+fidelity was a rare trait.</p>
+<p>
+Philip's plans for the international union against
+the Turk were less easily completed than those
+for the union of his son and his niece. In November,
+the diet met at Frankfort; the expedition was
+discussed and some resolutions were passed, but
+nothing further was achieved.</p>
+<p>
+Charles VII. would not even promise co-operation
+on paper. He had gradually extended his
+own domain in French-speaking territory and had
+dislodged the English from every stronghold except
+Guisnes and Calais. Under him France was
+regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose,<span class="page"><a name="66">[page 66]</a></span>
+therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by
+Philip and he was wholly unwilling to risk it.
+From him Philip obtained only expressions of
+general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and
+more definite suggestions of the dangers that
+would menace Western Europe if all her natural
+defenders carried their arms and their fortunes
+to the East.</p>
+<p>
+When the anniversary of the great fête came
+round not a vow was yet fulfilled!</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#45">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="III1">A</a> performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#46">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="III2">The</a> chroniclers are not at one on this point.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#47">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="III3">DuClercq</a>, <i>Mémoires</i>, ii., 159.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#48">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="III4">This</a> banquet at Lille was the subject of several descriptions
+by spectators or at least contemporary authors.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#49">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="III5">Laborde</a>, i., 127.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#50">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="III6">II</a>., 361.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#50">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="III7">The</a> text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion. <i>Béguine</i>
+is probably the right reading.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#54">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="III8">Mathieu</a> d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as though
+made then, and differs in many unessential points from La
+Marche's account.<br /><br />
+
+The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made
+his going dependent on the consent of the King of France, a
+condition very displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#57">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="III9">Du</a> Clerq, ii., 203.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#58">[Footnote 10:</a> '"<a name="III10">Michel</a> dit que le gigot de la cour était rompu."&mdash;La
+Marche, i., ch. xiv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#60">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="III11">Chastellain</a>, iii., 20, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#60">[Footnote 12:</a> "<a name="III12">Toute</a> fois que ce ne soit pas sans moy."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#62">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="III13">The</a> original, signed, is in the <i>Archives de la Côte-d'Or,</i> B.
+200. <i>See</i> Du Fresne de Beaucourt, <i>Histoire de Charles VII</i>., v.
+470.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#62">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="III14">Chastellain</a>, iii., 23, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#63">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="III15">Chastellain</a>, iii., 24]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#65">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="III16">The</a> chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain (iii.,
+25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch.
+cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallowe'en
+<i>(Les Honneurs de la Cour</i>, p. 187). The last was one
+of Isabella's ladies in waiting.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="67">[page 67]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="IV">IV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>BURGUNDY AND FRANCE</h3>
+
+<h4>1455-1456.</h4>
+<p>
+The duke's journey failed in accomplishing its
+object, but it proved an important factor in
+the development of the character of Charles of
+Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the
+government in his father's absence changed him
+from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he
+was, was plain to see.</p>
+<p>
+His character was built on singularly simple
+lines. Vigorous of body, intense of purpose, inclined
+to melancholy, he was profoundly convinced
+of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke
+in Christendom, as future successor to an uncrowned
+potentate, who could afford to treat
+lightly the authority of both king and emperor
+whose nominal vassal he was.</p>
+<p>
+The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an
+immense effect in enhancing the count's belief in
+his father's power, in causing him to forget that
+the communes of Flanders did not owe their existence
+to their overlord. As yet, Charles of Burgundy
+had not met a single check to his self-esteem,
+to his family pride. As a governor, he probably
+exercised his brief authority with the rigour of
+one new to the helm.</p>
+<span class="page"><a name="68">[page 68]</a></span>
+<p class="quote">
+"And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well
+and so virtuously in the task, that nothing deteriorated
+under his hand, and when the good duke returned
+from his journey, he found his lands as intact as
+before."</p>
+
+<p>
+Such, is La Marche's testimony.<a href="#IV1"><sup>1</sup></a> Intact undoubtedly,
+but possibly the satisfaction was not
+quite perfect. Du Clercq<a href="#IV2"><sup>2</sup></a> declares that Count
+Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge
+and made himself respected as a magistrate.
+Above all, he insisted that justice should be dealt
+out to all alike. The only danger in his methods
+was that he acted on impulse without sufficiently
+informing himself of the matter in hand, or hearing
+both sides of a controversy. As a result, his decisions
+were not always impartial and the father
+was preferred to the strenuous and impetuous son.
+"Not that Philip was often inclined to recognise
+other law than his own will, but he was more
+tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more
+guided by reason," adds a later author.<a href="#IV3"><sup>3</sup></a> There
+was an evident dread as to what might be the
+outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="statue">[plate 8]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image08statue.jpg" width="400" height="750" alt="THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRÜCK" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+The duke's chief measures after his return in
+February, 1455, seemed hardly calculated to
+arouse any great personal devotion to himself or
+a profound trust that his first consideration was
+for the advantage of his Netherland subjects. His
+thoughts were still turned to the East, and his
+main interest in the individual countships was as
+sources of supply for his Holy War. Considerable
+sums flowed into his exchequer that were never<span class="page"><a name="69">[page 69]</a></span>
+used for their destined purpose, but the duke cannot
+be justly accused of actual bad faith in amassing
+them. His intention to make the Eastern
+campaign remained firm for some years.</p>
+
+<p>
+In another matter, his despotic exercise of personal
+authority, far without the pale of his jurisdiction
+inherited or acquired, shows no shadow
+of excuse.</p>
+<p>
+In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical
+head was also lay lord. Here the counts of Holland
+possessed no voice. They were near neighbours,
+that was all. Philip ardently desired to be
+more in this tiny independent state in the midst of
+territories acknowledging his sway.</p>
+<p>
+In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and
+Philip was most anxious to have it filled by his son
+David, whom he had already made Bishop of
+Thérouanne by somewhat questionable methods.
+The Duke of Guelders also had a neighbourly interest
+in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet candidate,
+Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged.
+The chapter resolutely ignored the wishes of both
+dukes and the canons were almost unanimous in
+their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.<a href="#IV4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria,
+but not a single one for David of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral<span class="page"><a name="70">[page 70]</a></span>
+and an eminently worthy choice, both for his
+attainments and for his character. He was proclaimed
+in the cathedral, installed in the palace,
+and confirmed, as regarded his temporal power,
+by the emperor.</p>
+<p>
+Philip, however, refused to accept the returns,
+although not a single suffrage had been cast by
+the qualified electors for his son. He despatched
+the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new
+pope, Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late
+election and to confer the see upon David, out of
+hand. Philip's tender conscience found Gijsbrecht
+ineligible to an episcopal office because
+he had participated in the war against Ghent,
+certainly a weak plea in an age of militant bishops!</p>
+<p>
+The pope was afraid to offend the one man in
+Europe upon whose immediate aid he counted in
+the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift of
+four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys,
+the customary gift in asking papal confirmation
+for a bishop-elect, but secretly he delivered
+to Philip's ambassador letters patent
+creating David of Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.<a href="#IV5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically
+that David was elected to the see, and the
+Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
+Philip had to levy an army and come in person to
+support the new bishop.<a href="#IV6"><sup>6</sup></a> Du Clercq puts a
+different colour on the story and d'Escouchy<a href="#IV7"><sup>7</sup></a>
+implies that the whole trouble arose from party<span class="page"><a name="71">[page 71]</a></span>
+strife which had to be quelled in the interests of
+law and order.</p>
+
+<p>
+Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters
+by imposing upon them a spiritual director of
+acknowledged base birth, the right of choice lay
+with them and the emperor had confirmed their
+choice as far as the lay office was concerned.
+While the issue was undecided, the Estates
+of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and
+defender of the see to assure him a legal status
+pending the papal ratification. The people were
+prepared to support their candidate with arms, a
+game that Philip did not refuse, and the force of
+thirty thousand men with which he invaded the
+bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two
+and able to carry David of Burgundy to the
+episcopal throne, upon which he was seated in
+his father's presence, October 16, 1455.</p>
+<p>
+Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advantages
+from the situation. Alkmaar and Kennemerland
+redeemed certain forfeited privileges
+by means of their contributions to the duke's
+army. The city of Utrecht preferred a compromise
+to the risk of war. The bishop-elect, Gijsbrecht,
+consented to withdraw his claim, being
+permitted to retain the humbler office of provost
+of Utrecht and an annuity of four thousand guilders
+out of the episcopal revenues.</p>
+<p>
+Deventer was the only place which was obstinate
+enough to persist in her rebellion and Philip
+was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms by a
+siege when news was brought to him that a visitor<span class="page"><a name="72">[page 72]</a></span>
+had arrived at Brussels under circumstances which
+imperatively demanded his personal attention.</p>
+<p>
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since the
+Treaty of Arras, there had been great changes in
+France in the character both of the realm and of
+the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved
+himself to be a very different person from the inert
+king of Bourges.<a href="#IV8"><sup>8</sup></a> Old at twenty, Charles VII.
+seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers
+were replaced by others better chosen and his administration
+gradually became effective. Fortune
+favoured him in depriving England of the Duke of
+Bedford (1435), the one man who might have
+maintained English prestige abroad and peace at
+home during the youth of Henry VI. It was at a
+time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles
+VII. succeeded in assuming the offensive on the
+Continent and in wresting Normandy and Guienne
+from the late invader.</p>
+
+<p>
+But this territorial advantage was not all. Distinct
+progress had been made towards a national
+existence in France. The establishment of the
+nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid
+in curbing the depredations of the "<i>écorcheurs</i>,"
+the devastating, marauding bands which had
+harassed the provinces. There was new activity
+in agriculture and industry and commerce.<a href="#IV9"><sup>9</sup></a> The
+revival of letters and art, never completely stifled,
+proved the real vitality of France in spite of the
+depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal<span class="page"><a name="73">[page 73]</a></span>
+justice was reorganised, public finance was better
+administered. By 1456, misery had not, indeed,
+disappeared, but it was less dominant.</p>
+
+<p>
+The years of growing union between king and
+his kingdom were, however, years of discord
+between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis
+had not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his
+Burgundian cousin. Very poor and forlorn was
+his father at the time of the birth of his heir
+(1423).<a href="#IV10"><sup>10</sup></a> There was nothing in the treasury to
+pay the chaplain who baptised the child or the
+woman who nourished him. The latter received
+no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of
+fifteen pounds. The first allowance settled on
+the heir to his unconsecrated royal father's uncertain
+fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every
+feature of his infancy was a marked contrast to
+the early life of the Count of Charolais.</p>
+<p>
+From his seventeenth year Louis was in
+active opposition to the king, heading organised
+rebellion against him in the war called the <i>Praguerie</i>.
+Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his
+charge the administration of Dauphiné, thus practically
+banishing him honourably from the court
+where he was, evidently, a disturbing element.
+The only restrictions placed upon him in his provincial
+government were such as were necessary
+to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown.
+To these restrictions, however, Louis paid not
+the slightest heed. He assumed all the airs of
+an independent sovereign. He made wars and<span class="page"><a name="74">[page 74]</a></span>
+treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded
+to arrange his own marriage.</p>
+
+<p>
+At this time Louis was already a widower, having
+been married at the age of thirteen to Margaret
+of Scotland, who led a mournful existence at the
+French court, where she felt herself a desolate
+alien. Her death at the age of twenty was possibly
+due to slander. "Fie upon life," she said on
+her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
+the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk
+to me no more of it."</p>
+<p>
+Her husband cared less for her life than did
+Margaret herself. He took no interest in the
+inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
+charges against the princess, and was more than
+ready to turn to a new alliance. At the date of
+his widowerhood he was in Dauphiné and his
+own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of
+the Duke of Savoy. After negotiations in his
+own behalf he informed his father of his matrimonial
+project. It did not meet the views of
+Charles VII., who ordered his son to abandon the
+idea immediately.</p>
+<p>
+A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambéry
+to stop the dauphin's nuptials.<a href="#IV11"><sup>11</sup></a> The duke
+evaded an interview and the envoy was forced
+to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy.
+On the morrow of his arrival, he was taken to
+church, where the wedding ceremony was performed
+(March 10, 1451), but his seat was in such a remote
+place that he could barely catch a glimpse of the<span class="page"><a name="75">[page 75]</a></span>
+bridal procession, though he saw that Louis was
+clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two
+days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to
+the king, expressing regrets on the part of the
+Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made before
+the paternal prohibition arrived.</p>
+
+<p>
+Nine years were spent by Louis in Dauphiné.
+He introduced many administrative and judicial
+reforms, excellent in themselves but not popular.
+There were various protests and when he dared to
+impose taxes without the consent of the Estates,
+an appeal was made to the king begging him to
+check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles
+summoned his son to his presence. Instead of
+obeying this order in person, Louis sent envoys
+who were dismissed by his father with a curt response:
+"Let my son return to his duty and he
+shall be treated as a son. As to his fears, security
+to his person is pledged by my word, which my
+foes have never refused to accept."<a href="#IV12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Louis showed himself less compliant than his
+father's foes. As Charles approached Dauphiné,
+and made his preparations to enforce obedience,
+Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the
+Duke of Burgundy, and of the King of Castile,
+beside sending offerings to all the chief shrines in
+Christendom, imploring aid against parental wrath.
+Then his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He
+called the nobles of his principality to arms and
+bade the fortified towns prepare for siege, while
+he loftily declared that he would not trouble his<span class="page"><a name="76">[page 76]</a></span>
+father to seek him. He would meet him at Lyons.</p>
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was directed
+by the king to take military possession of
+Dauphiné and to put the dauphin under arrest.
+As he was <i>en route</i> to fulfil these orders, the count
+heard that a day had been set by Louis for a great
+hunt. That an excellent opportunity might be
+afforded for securing his quarry in the course of
+the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's
+lieutenant. So there might have been had not
+the wily hunter received timely warning of the
+project for making <i>him</i> the game.</p>
+<p>
+At the hour appointed for the meet, the dauphin's
+suite rode to the rendezvous, but the prince
+turned his horse in the opposite direction and
+galloped away at full speed, attended by a few
+trusty followers. He hardly stopped even to take
+breath until he was out of his father's domain, and
+made no pause until he reached St. Claude, a small
+town in the Franche-Comté, where he threw himself
+on the kindness of the Prince of Orange.</p>
+<p>
+How gossip about this strange departure of
+the French heir fluttered here and there! Du
+Clercq<a href="#IV13"><sup>13</sup></a> tells the story with some variation from
+the above outline, laying more stress on the popular
+appeal to the king for relief from Louis's transgressions
+as governor of Dauphiné, and enlarging
+on the accusation that Louis was responsible for
+the death of <i>La belle Agnès</i>, "the first lady of the
+land possessing the king's perfect love." He adds
+that the dauphin was further displeased because<span class="page"><a name="77">[page 77]</a></span>
+the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de
+Villeclerc, was kept at court after her aunt's death.
+Wherever the king went he was followed by this
+lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
+this conduct of his father that had forced the son
+to absent himself from court life for twelve years
+and more, during which time he received no allowance
+as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
+obliged to make his own requisitions from his
+seigniory.</p>
+
+<p>
+There were other reports that the king was
+quite ready to accord his son his full state; others,
+again, that Charles drove Louis into exile from
+mere dislike and intended to make his second son
+his heir and successor. At this point Du Clercq's
+manuscript is broken off abruptly and the remainder
+of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where
+the text begins again, the author dismisses all
+this contradictory hearsay and says in his own
+character as veracious chronicler, "I concern myself
+only with what actually occurred. The dauphin
+gave a feast in the forest and then departed
+secretly to avoid being arrested by Dammartin."</p>
+<p>
+This flight was the not unnatural termination
+of a long series of misunderstandings between a
+father whose private conduct was not above criticism,
+and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute
+of respect for any person or thing except for the
+superstitious side of his religion.</p>
+<p>
+Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man
+whose mental development occurred during the
+later years of his life. When his son was under<span class="page"><a name="78">[page 78]</a></span>
+his personal influence his character was not one
+to instil filial deference, and Louis certainly cherished
+neither respect nor affection for the father
+whose inert years he remembered vividly.</p>
+<p>
+Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in
+Agnes Sorel's death which gave him especial reason
+to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
+of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he
+travelled as rapidly as his steed could go, and from
+that spot on Burgundian soil he despatched the
+following exemplary letter to his father:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LORD:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To your good grace I recommend myself as
+humbly as I can. Be pleased to know, my very redoubtable
+lord, that because, as you know, my uncle
+of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade against
+the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because
+my desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting,
+considering that our Holy Father the Pope bade me
+so to do, and that I am standard bearer of the Church,
+and that I took the oath by your command, I am now
+on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that
+I can take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Also, I wish to implore him to find means of reinstating
+me in your good grace, which is something that
+I desire most in the world. My very redoubtable
+lord, I pray God to give you good life and long.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+  "Written at St. Claude the last day of August.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br/>
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient son,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br/><br/>
+
+       "LOYS." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV14"><sup>14</sup></a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+This letter hardly succeeded in carrying conviction<span class="page"><a name="79">[page 79]</a></span>
+to the king. He characterised the projected
+expedition to Turkey as a farce, a pretence, and
+a frivolous excuse.<a href="#IV15"><sup>15</sup></a> Probably, too, he did not
+contradict his courtiers when they declared that
+the project had been in the wind a long time, and
+that the Duke of Burgundy would be prouder than
+ever to have the heir to France dependent on his
+protection.</p>
+
+<p>
+The epistle despatched, Louis continued his
+journey under the escort of the Seigneur de Blaumont,
+Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of thirty
+horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit
+of Tristan l'Hermite. The prince needed no spurs
+to make him flee. Even if his father did not intend
+to have him drowned in a sack his immediate
+liberty was certainly in jeopardy. "In truth
+this thing was a marvellous business. The Prince
+of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy were the
+two men whom the dauphin hated more than any
+one else, but necessity, which knows no law, overcame
+the distaste of the dauphin."<a href="#IV16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Louvain was the next place where Louis felt
+safe enough to rest. Here he wrote to the Duke
+of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his
+territory. The letter found Philip in camp before
+Deventer. It is evident that he was entirely
+taken by surprise, and was prepared to be very
+cautious in his correspondence with the French
+king. He assured him that he was willing to receive
+and honour Louis as his suzerain's heir, but<span class="page"><a name="80">[page 80]</a></span>
+he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the
+duke, for that heir's flight to his protection.</p>
+
+<p>
+His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many
+reassuring messages in addition to the epistle.
+Before he reached the French court, his news was
+no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The
+messenger was very eloquent in his assurances to
+the king that Philip was wholly innocent in the
+affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do
+not know what they discussed, but during that time
+news came that the king had garrisoned Compiègne,
+Lyons, and places where his lands touched the duke's
+territories. When the envoy returned to the duke,
+he published a manifesto ordering all who could
+bear arms to be in readiness." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV17"><sup>17</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Philip sent messages of welcome to Louis with
+apologies for his own inevitable absence, and the
+visitor was profuse in his return assurances to his
+uncle that he understood the delay and would not
+disturb his business for the world. "I have leisure
+enough to wait and it does not weary me. I am
+safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town which I
+have long wished to see." He showed his courtesy
+when the Count d'Étampes, Philip's nephew-in-law,
+presented his suite, by pronouncing each
+individual name and assuring its bearer that he
+had heard about him.<a href="#IV18"><sup>18</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The count was commissioned to conduct the<span class="page"><a name="81">[page 81]</a></span>
+dauphin to Brussels and we have the story of an
+eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the
+ducal family:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I saw the King of France, father of the present
+King Charles, chased away by his father Charles for
+some difference of which they say that the fair Agnes
+was the cause, and on account of which he took refuge
+with Duke Philip, for he had no means of subsistence.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to
+Brussels accompanied by about ten cavaliers and by
+the Marshal of Burgundy. At this time Duke Philip
+was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to receive
+the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and
+Madame de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant
+with Madame Mary of Burgundy, since then Duchess
+of Austria.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where
+were the ladies, at eight o'clock in the evening, about
+St. Martin's Day.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IV20"><sup>20</sup></a></span> When the ladies heard that he
+was in the city they hastened down to the courtyard
+to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted
+and saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charolais
+and Mme. de Ravestein. All kneeled and then
+he kissed the other ladies of the court."</p>
+<p>
+Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter
+of an hour was consumed by a friendly altercation
+between Isabella and her guest as to the exact
+way in which they should enter the door, the<span class="page"><a name="82">[page 82]</a></span>
+dauphin resolute in his refusal to take precedence
+and Isabella equally resolute not even to walk by
+the side of the future king. "Monsieur, it seems
+to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for
+you wish me to do what befits me not." To this
+the dauphin replied that it was incumbent upon
+him to pay honour for there was none in the realm
+of France so poor as he, and that he would not
+have known whither to flee if not to his uncle
+Philip and to her.</p>
+<p>
+Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess
+and guest finally proceeded hand in hand to the
+chamber prepared for the latter and Isabella then
+took leave on bended knee.</p>
+<p>
+When the duke returned to Brussels this contention
+as to the proper etiquette was renewed. Isabella
+tried to retain the dauphin in his own apartment
+so that the duke should greet him there
+as befitted their relative rank. She was greatly
+chagrined, therefore, when Louis rushed down
+to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival.
+This punctilious hostess actually held the prince
+back by his coat to prevent his advancing towards
+the duke.</p>
+<p>
+Throughout the visit the minor points of etiquette
+were observed with the utmost care. Both
+duchess and countess refrained from employing
+their train-bearers when they entered the dauphin's
+presence. When he insisted that his hostess
+should walk by his side, she managed her own
+train if possible. If she accepted any aid from
+her gentlemen she was very careful to keep her hand<span class="page"><a name="83">[page 83]</a></span>
+upon the dress, so that technically she was still her
+own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess
+ate in the dauphin's presence, there was no cover
+to her dish and nothing was tasted in her behalf.</p>
+<p>
+The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis
+with every requisite, but he, too, never forgot for
+a moment that this dependent visitor was future
+monarch of France. Without doors as within,
+every minor detail of etiquette was observed. The
+duke never so far forgot himself in the ardour of
+the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance
+beyond the tail of the prince's steed.</p>
+<p>
+In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary
+of Burgundy was born. Our observant court
+lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed
+in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and
+at the baptism. Brussels rang with joyful bells
+and blazed with torches, four hundred supplied
+by the city ahd two hundred by the young father.
+Each torch weighed four or five pounds.</p>
+<p>
+The Count of Charolais was his own messenger
+to announce the birth of his daughter to the
+dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joyful
+was Louis to accept the invitation and to bestow
+his mother's name on the baby-girl. Ste.
+Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church
+of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony
+and richly adorned with Holland linen, velvet,
+and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her grandchild
+to the font,&mdash;a font draped with cramoisy
+velvet.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I<span class="page"><a name="84"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 84]</span></a></span>
+heard it said that there was no one on the left because
+there was none his equal. On that day, the duchess
+wore a round skirt <i>à la Portuguaise</i>, edged with fur.
+There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot
+state who carried it,"</p>
+
+<p>
+sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic.</p>
+<p>
+Later events made later chroniclers less enthusiastic
+about the honour paid to Mademoiselle<a href="#IV21"><sup>21</sup></a>
+Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La
+Marche's <i>Mémoires</i> at The Hague, the words "Lord!
+what a god-father!" appear in the margin of the
+page describing the baptism.<a href="#IV22"><sup>22</sup></a> But in these early
+days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have
+been a pleasant person and to have posed as the
+ruined poor relation, entirely free from pride at
+his high birth and delighted to repay hospitality
+by his general complaisance.</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles VII. received all the reports with somewhat
+cynical amusement. He had no great trust
+in his son. "Louis is fickle and changeable and
+I do not doubt that he will return here before long.
+I am not at all pleased with those who influence
+him," are his words as quoted by d'Escouchy.<a href="#IV23"><sup>23</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="louis">[plate 9]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image09louis.jpg" width="400" height="631" alt="LOUIS XI" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Undoubtedly, though, the king was much surprised
+at his son's action. He had rather expected
+him to take refuge somewhere but he never
+thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his
+protector&mdash;a strange choice to his mind. "My<span class="page"><a name="85">[page 85]</a></span>
+cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will eat
+his chickens" is reported as another comment of
+this impartial father.<a href="#IV24"><sup>24</sup></a> Like many a phrase, possibly
+the fruit of later harvests, this is an excellent
+epitome of the situation.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#68">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="IV1">I</a>.,ch. xxxi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#68">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="IV2">II</a>.,204.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#68">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="IV3">Barante</a>, vi.,50.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#69">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="IV4">Some</a> of the canons wrote their reasons after their recorded
+vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate member
+of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which
+office Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all
+the Sticht nobles were his relations," etc.&mdash;(Wagenaar, <i>Vaderlandsche
+Historie,</i> iv., 50.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#70">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="IV5">Du</a> Clercq, ii., 210.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#70">[Footnote 6:</a> <i><a name="IV6">Mémoires</a></i>, i., ch. xxxiii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#70">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="IV7">II</a>., 315.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#72">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="IV8">See</a> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 317.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#72">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="IV9">For</a> the effects of operations on a
+large scale see <i>Jacques C&oelig;ur and Charles VII</i>., by Pierre Clémart.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#73">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="IV10">Duclos</a></i>, "Hist. de Louis XI.," <i>&OElig;uvres Complètes</i> v., 8.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#74">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="IV11">Duclos</a>, iii., 78.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#75">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="IV12">See</a> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 292.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#76">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="IV13">II</a>.,223.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#78">[Footnote 14:</a> <i><a name="IV14">Lettres</a> de Louis XI</i>., i., 77.<br /><br/>
+
+According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter
+shows that <i>September 2nd</i> was written first and erased.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#79">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="IV15"></a>, iii., 185.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#79">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="IV16">Du</a> Clercq, ii., 228.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#80">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="IV17">Chastellain</a> iii., 197.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#80">[Footnote 18:</a> See <i><a name="IV18">Séjour</a> de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas;</i> Reiffenberg: Nouveaux
+mem. de l'Acad. Royale, 1829.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#81">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="IV19">Alienor</a> de Poictiers, <i>Les Honneurs de la Cour</i>, ii., 208.
+It was early in October.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#81">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="IV20">This</a> date, November 11th, does not agree with the others.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#84">[Footnote 21:</a> "<a name="IV21">At</a> that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was
+not the son of a sovereign."&mdash;La Marche, ii., 410, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#84">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="IV22">La</a> Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain!"]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#84">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="IV23">II</a>., 343.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#85">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="IV24">Chastellain</a>, iii., 185; Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 299.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="86">[page 86]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="V">V</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN</h3>
+
+<h4>1456-1461</h4>
+<p>
+The picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing
+in happy unison over the advent of an heiress
+to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with
+the dauphin participating in the family joy, shows
+the tranquil side of the first months of the long
+visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an incident
+had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin
+and Charles VII. were not the only father and
+son between whom relations were strained, and
+that a moment had arrived when the attitude of
+the Count of Charolais to the duke was no longer
+characterised by unquestioning filial obedience.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was on his way to Nuremberg<a href="#V1"><sup>1</sup></a> to fulfil
+a mission with certain German princes when the
+dauphin alighted in Brabant, like "a bird of ill
+omen," as he designated himself on one occasion.
+The count did not return to Brussels until January
+12, 1457. Thus he took no part in the hearty
+welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than
+possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly
+pleased with the state of affairs placidly existing
+by mid-winter.</p>
+
+<p>
+Instead of resuming the first position which he<span class="page"><a name="87">[page 87]</a></span>
+had enjoyed during his brief regency, or the honoured
+second that had been his after Philip came
+back, Charles was now relegated to a third place.
+Further, without having been consulted as to the
+policy, he found that he was forced into following
+his father's lead in treating a penniless refugee like
+an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and
+a joy. It is more than probable that Charles was
+already feeling somewhat hurt at the duke's
+warmth towards Louis when a serious breach
+occurred between father and son about another
+matter.</p>
+<p>
+It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant
+in his own household, and the count assumed that
+the appointment of a successor was something that
+lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the
+duke interfered in a peremptory fashion and insisted
+that the appointment should be made at
+his instance, the son refused to accept his authority,
+especially as his father's nominee was Philip
+de Croy, one of a family already over-dominant
+in the Burgundian court. At least, that was
+Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed
+his father's commands to bring his <i>ordonnance</i>, or
+household list, to the duke's oratory, he unhesitatingly
+carried the document which contained
+the name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d'Émeries, in
+place of Philip de Croy.</p>
+<p>
+The duke was very angry at this apparent contempt
+for his expressed wishes. Indignantly he
+threw the lists into the fire with the words, "Now
+look to your <i>ordonnances</i> for you will need new<span class="page"><a name="88">[page 88]</a></span>
+ones<a href="#V2"><sup>2</sup></a>."</p>
+
+<p>
+There was evidently a succession of violent
+scenes in which the duchess tried to stand between
+her husband and son. But Philip was beside himself
+with wrath and refused to listen to a word
+from her or from the dauphin, who also endeavoured
+to mediate<a href="#V3"><sup>3</sup></a>.</p>
+
+<p>
+Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself,
+ordered a horse, and rode out alone into the forest
+of Soignies. When he became calmer it was dark
+and he found himself far from the beaten tracks,
+in the midst of underbrush through which he
+could not ride. He dismounted and wandered
+on foot for hours in the January night until
+smoke guided him to a charcoal burner, who conducted
+him to the more friendly shelter of a forester's
+hut. In the morning he made his way to
+Genappe.</p>
+<p>
+Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned.
+Search parties seeking their sovereign were out all
+night. No one, however, was in such a state of
+dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he
+would be counted at fault when family dissensions
+followed so soon on his arrival. Delighted he was,
+therefore, to act as mediator between father and
+son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified<span class="page"><a name="89">[page 89]</a></span>
+state to listen to reason. Charles betook himself
+to Dendermonde for a time until the duke was
+ready to see him<a href="#V4"><sup>4</sup></a>. His young wife made the
+most of her expectations to soften her father-in-law's
+resentment, and between her entreaties and
+those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his
+gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over.</p>
+
+<p>
+There was one marked difference between this
+family dispute and the breach between the French
+king and the dauphin. In the latter case no feeling
+was involved. In the former, the son was
+really deeply wounded by what he deemed lack
+of parental affection for his interests. At the
+same time he was shocked by the bitter words and
+was, for the moment, so filled with contrition that
+he was eager to make any concession agreeable to
+the duke. He dismissed two of his servants<a href="#V5"><sup>5</sup></a>,
+suspected by his father of fomenting trouble between
+them, and he showed himself in general
+very willing to placate paternal displeasure.</p>
+
+<p>
+Reconciliation between duke and duchess was
+more difficult. Isabella resented Philip's reproaches<span class="page"><a name="90">[page 90]</a></span>
+for her sympathy with Charles. She
+said she had stepped between the two men because
+she had feared lest the duke might injure
+his son in his wrath<a href="#V6"><sup>6</sup></a>. This was in answer to the
+Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of
+Philip's displeasure. She concluded her dignified
+defence with an expression of her utter loneliness.
+Stranger in a strange land she had no one belonging
+to her but her son.</p>
+
+<p>
+She was certainly present at the baptism of her
+grandchild, but shortly afterwards she retired to
+a convent of the Grey Sisters, founded by herself,
+and rarely returned to the world or took part in
+its ceremonies during the remainder of her life.</p>
+<p>
+The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It
+is not probable that he had much personal liking
+for the guest upon whom his father heaped courtesies
+and solicitous care. On one occasion, when
+the two young men were hunting they were separated
+by chance. When Charles returned alone to
+the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his
+son's careless desertion of the guest in his charge.
+Again the court was organised into search parties
+and there was no rest until the dauphin was discovered
+some leagues from Brussels<a href="#V7"><sup>7</sup></a>. Here, also,
+it is an easy presumption that the Count of Charolais
+was a trifle sulky over his father's preoccupation
+in regard to the prince.</p>
+
+<p>
+The transient character of the dauphin's sojourn
+in his cousin's domains soon changed. In
+the summer of 1457, when news came that Dauphiné<span class="page"><a name="91">[page 91]</a></span>
+had submitted to Charles VII., when the
+successive embassies despatched by Philip to the
+king had all proved fruitless in their conciliatory
+efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent
+arrangements for the fugitive's comfort.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased
+to deprive you of Dauphiné ... you are to-day
+lord and prince without land. But, nevertheless,
+you shall not be without a country, for all that I have
+is yours and I place it within your hand without reserving
+aught except my life and that of my wife.
+Pray take heart. If God does not abandon me I will
+never abandon you <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#V8"><sup>8</sup></a></span>."</p>
+
+<p>
+The duke made good his words by giving his
+guest the estate of Genappe, of which Louis took
+possession at the end of July. Then as a further
+step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip
+sent for Charlotte of Savoy who had remained
+under her father's care ever since the formal marriage
+in 1451. She was now eighteen.</p>
+<p>
+It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe.
+Louis's favourite amusement of the chase was easy
+of access. "The court is at present at Louvain,"
+wrote a courtier<a href="#V9"><sup>9</sup></a> on July 1st, "and Monseigneur
+the Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good
+hunting and falconry and a great number of rabbits
+within and without the city." With killing
+of every kind at his service, what greater solace<span class="page"><a name="92">[page 92]</a></span>
+could a homeless prince expect?</p>
+
+<p>
+From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance,
+and the sum of 1200 livres, furnished by Philip
+for the dauphin's journey to his new abode, seemed
+a large provision. The pension then settled on
+him was 36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness
+arrived 1000 livres a month were provided for
+her private purse<a href="#V10"><sup>10</sup></a>.</p>
+
+<p>
+Pleasant was existence in this château. There
+was no dearth of company to throng around the
+prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no prejudice
+of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of
+duty towards his host to hamper him in making
+useful friends. A word here and a word there,
+aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had
+exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate,
+were very potent in intimating to many a Burgundian
+servant that there might come a time when
+a new king across the border might better appreciate
+their real value than their present or
+future sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the
+dauphin did not confine his invitations to sportsmen.
+The easy accessibility of the little court
+attracted men of science and of letters as well as
+others capable of making the time pass agreeably.
+When there was nothing else on foot, it is said that
+the company amused themselves by telling stories,
+each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collection
+of the <i>Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles</i><a href="#V11"><sup>11</sup></a>, named in<span class="page"><a name="93">[page 93]</a></span>
+imitation of Boccaccio's <i>Cento Novelle</i>.</p>
+
+<p>
+The first printed edition of this collection was
+issued in Paris, in 1486, by Antoine Verard, who
+thus admonishes the gentle reader: "Note that
+whenever <i>Monseigneur</i> is referred to, Monseigneur
+the Dauphin must be understood, who has since
+succeeded to the crown and is King Louis. Then
+he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy."
+Another editor asserts that <i>Monseigneur</i> is evidently
+the Duke of Burgundy and not Louis, and
+later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale
+wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio,
+and that the names of the narrators were as imaginative
+or rather as editorial as the rest of the volume.</p>
+<p>
+If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author
+would have given an appearance of verisimilitude
+to his fiction by mentioning the actual habitués
+of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count
+of Charolais does not appear at all. The duke
+tells three or more stories according to the interpretation
+given to <i>Monseigneur</i>. With three
+exceptions the tales are very coarse, nor does
+their wit atone for their licentiousness. Possibly
+Charles held himself aloof from the kind of talk
+they suggest. All reports make him rigid in standards
+of morality not observed by his fellows. That
+he had little to do with the court is certain, whatever
+his reason.</p>
+<p>
+Louis did not confine himself to the estate<span class="page"><a name="94">[page 94]</a></span>
+assigned him. There were various court visits
+to the Flemish towns where he was afforded excellent
+opportunities for seeing the wealth of
+the burghers and their status in the world of
+commerce.</p>
+<p>
+Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring
+his guest within her gates and give her an opportunity
+of displaying her regret for the past unpleasantness.
+"In his goodness," Philip at last
+yielded to their entreaties to make them a visit
+himself, but he decided not to take the prince or
+the count with him.<a href="#V12"><sup>12</sup></a> He was either afraid for
+their safety or else he did not care to bring a future
+French king into relation with citizens who might
+find it convenient to remember his suzerainty in
+order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign duke.<a href="#V13"><sup>13</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this
+state visit of reconciliation. The duke took the
+precaution to send scouts ahead to ascertain that
+the late rebels were sincere in their contrition,
+and that there was no danger of anarchist agitations.
+The report was brought back that all was
+calm and that joyful preparations were making
+to show appreciation of Philip's kindness.</p>
+<p>
+On April 22d, the duke slept at l'Écluse, and<span class="page"><a name="95">[page 95]</a></span>
+on the 23d he was gaily escorted into the city by
+knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland,
+Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor
+priests were in his train." As a further assurance
+to him of their peaceful intention, the citizens
+actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as
+to leave open exits.</p>
+<p>
+Once within the walls, the duke found the whole
+community, who had shown intelligent and sturdy
+determination not to endure arbitrary tyranny,
+ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical
+and classical parable whose one purpose was to
+prove how evil had been their ways. A pompous
+procession sang <i>Te Deum</i> as the duke rode in, and
+the first "mystery" that met his eyes within the
+gates was a wonderful representation of Abraham
+sacrificing Isaac, while the legend "All that the
+Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to
+refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to
+the Ghenters' perfect submission to Philip. A
+young girl stood ready to greet him with the words
+of Solomon, "I have found one my soul loves."<a href="#V14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p>
+Farther on there were various emblems all designed
+to compare Philip now to Cæsar, now to
+Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most
+humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed
+in a lion's skin, thus personifying the Lion of Flanders,
+leading Philip's horse by the bridle. <span class="page"><a name="96">[page 96]</a></span>
+"<i>Vive
+Bourgogne</i> is now our cry," was symbolised in
+every vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent.</p>
+<p>
+Not altogether explicable is this extreme self-abnegation.
+Civic prosperity must have returned
+in four years or there would have been no money
+for the outlay. Apparently, Philip's countenance
+was worth more to them than their pride.</p>
+<p>
+The birth and death of two children at Genappe
+gave the duke new reasons for showering ostentatious
+favours on his guest, and furnished the
+dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his
+own father, who answered him in kind.</p>
+<p>
+The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles:<a href="#V15"><sup>l5</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>The King to the Dauphin</i>, 1459.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"VERY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED SON:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"We have received the letters that you wrote us
+making mention that on July 27 our dear and much
+loved daughter, the dauphiness, was delivered of a
+fine boy, for which we have been and are very joyous,
+and it seems to me that the more God our Creator
+grants you favour, by so much the more you ought to
+praise and thank Him and refrain from angering Him,
+and in all things fulfil His commandments.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+  "Given at Compiègne, Aug.7th.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />
+
+    "CHARLES."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+During these five years, Charles was more or less
+aloof from the courts of his father and of their
+guest. He spent part of the time in Holland and
+part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The
+Count of St. Pol was one of his intimate friends,<span class="page"><a name="97">[page 97]</a></span>
+and a friend who managed to make many insinuations
+about the duke's treatment of his son and
+infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated
+with increasing fervency.</p>
+<p>
+There is a story that Charles went from Le
+Quesnoy to his father's court to demand a formal
+audience from the duke in order to lodge his protest
+against the Croys. Evidently relations were
+strained when such a degree of ceremony was
+needed between father and son.</p>
+<p>
+Gerard Ourré was commissioned to set forth the
+count's grievances, and he was in the midst of his
+carefully prepared statement when the duke interrupted
+him with the curt observation: "Have a
+care to say nothing but the truth and understand,
+it will be necessary to prove every assertion." The
+orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few
+moments, and then excused himself from completing
+his harangue. There were only a few nobles
+present and all were surprised at this embarrassment,
+as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then,
+seeing that his deputy was too much frightened
+to proceed, Charles took up the thread of his discourse.
+In a firm voice he continued the list of
+accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short
+in his turn. Peremptory was the duke in his command
+to his son to be silent and never again to
+refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip
+added "see to it that my son is satisfied with you,"
+and withdrew from the audience chamber.</p>
+<p>
+Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be<span class="page"><a name="98">[page 98]</a></span>
+conciliatory. "When you have repaired the ill
+you have wrought I will remember the good you
+have done," was the count's only reply. He took
+leave of his father with an outward show of love
+and respect and returned to his wife at Le Quesnoy,
+escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of
+Brussels, but with no better understanding
+between them.</p>
+<p>
+St. Pol found good ground to work on. He
+inflamed the count's discontent and his distrust
+of the duke's favourite until Charles despatched
+him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascertain
+what Charles VII. would do for the heir of
+Burgundy should he decide to take refuge in the
+French court.<a href="#V16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+At the first interview "I was not present," states
+the unknown reporter, but on succeeding occasions
+this man heard for himself that the king was
+ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais
+who "has no ill intentions against his father. All
+he wants to do is to separate him from the people
+who govern him badly."</p>
+<p>
+The conferences were held in the lodgings of
+Odet d'Aydie. Among those present was Dammartin
+and the matter was discussed in its various
+aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous witness
+were charged with drawing up a report of the
+discussion. When this was presented to the king
+it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good
+faith of the count's message. He had been assured<span class="page"><a name="99">[page 99]</a></span>
+that it was all a fiction especially designed by the
+Sieur de Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+Certain general promises were made in spite of
+this royal distrust, quite natural under the circumstances.
+If he decided to espouse the cause of
+Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given
+a command. It was evident that the count was
+by no means ready to go to all lengths, for St. Pol
+states in one of his conferences with the "late
+king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him
+that for two realms such as his he would not do a
+deed of villainy.</p>
+<p>
+Nothing came of this talk. It would have been
+a singular state of affairs had the heirs of France
+and Burgundy thus changed places in their fathers'
+courts. Spying and counterspying there were
+between the courts to a great extent and rumours
+in number. A certain Italian writes to the Duke
+of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he had
+been at Genappe and at Brussels:<a href="#V17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand
+that the reconciliation of the dauphin with the King
+of France would not be with the approval of the
+Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince laments
+that since he received the dauphin into his states, and
+treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred
+the implacable hatred of the king added to his ancient
+grievances. On the other hand, the affairs of
+England, on whose issue depends war or peace for the
+duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to him<span class="page"><a name="100"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 100]</span></a></span>
+honest to make advances to the king at this moment.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem
+to have carried into this affair the circumspection
+and reflection befitting a prince of his quality. He
+has maintained towards the duke the most complete
+silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition
+concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is anything
+in it, but if the thing were so it ought not to be
+secret. He does not believe that peace will be made
+between the dauphin and his father, and mentioned
+that his brother was on the embassy from duke to
+king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the
+bottom.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The dauphin it seems has been out of humour
+with the Duke of Burgundy on account of the luke-warmness
+shown for his interests by the ambassador
+sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The silent agreement which reigns between the
+dauphin and Monsg. de Charolais is one of the causes
+which has chilled this great love between the dauphin
+and the duke which existed at the beginning.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely,
+especially in almsgiving without considering his
+purse finds himself very hard pressed. He has only
+two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of Burgundy
+and that seems to force him into peace with
+the king. The duke expects nothing during the
+king's lifetime.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Everything makes me want to wait here for the
+arrival of news from England. It is expected daily,
+good or bad the last play must be made. The duke
+fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason is going
+to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of celebrating
+there the fête of the Toison d'Or he has ordered<span class="page"><a name="101">[page 101]</a></span>
+all his escort to be armed."</p>
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="philipandcharles">[plate 10]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image10philipandcharles.jpg" width="400" height="535" alt="PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+For a long time before his final illness the death
+of Charles VII. was anticipated. When it came
+it was a dolorous end.<a href="#V18"><sup>18</sup></a> At Genappe, the dauphin
+had been making his preparations for the wished-for
+event in many ways, all in exact opposition to
+his father's policy. In Italy and in Spain he sided
+with the opponents of Charles VII. In England,
+his sympathies were all for the House of York
+because his father was favourable to Henry of
+Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned
+with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV.,
+and was more than willing to see him invade
+France. With certain princes of Germany he
+entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while
+his father's own agents disclosed secrets to him
+from time to time.</p>
+
+<p>
+In his exile he kept reminding official bodies at
+Paris that he was heir to the throne. As dauphin
+he claimed the right to give orders to the <i>parlement</i>
+at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that
+he had a hand in the conspiracies which troubled
+the last year of his father's reign, but it is certain
+that he managed to win to himself a party within
+the royal circle.</p>
+<p>
+Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate,
+did not hesitate to suggest that Louis should be
+disinherited and his brother Charles put in his
+stead, but this Charles VII. would not accept. He
+kept hoping for Louis's submission. The latter,<span class="page"><a name="102">[page 102]</a></span>
+however, had no idea of this. He was sure that
+his father would not live to grow old. A trouble
+in his leg threatened to be cancerous. In July,
+there was a growth in his mouth. He died July
+22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him.</p>
+<p>
+After July 17th constant bulletins from the
+king's bedside came to Louis. Genappe was too
+far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes in order
+to receive his messages more speedily. Our chronicler
+Chastellain<a href="#V19"><sup>19</sup></a> begins his story of Louis's accession
+as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Since I am not English but French, I who am
+neither Spanish nor Italian but French, I have written
+of two Frenchmen, the one king, the other duke. I
+have written of their works and their quarrels and
+of the favour and glories which God has given them
+in their time.
+ </p>
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ <br />
+<p class="quote">
+"Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and meritorious
+works serve man on his bier and gain him
+eternal glory. O you Frenchmen, see the cause
+and the end in my labours!"</p>
+
+<p>
+The guest who had displayed so much humility
+and thankfulness when he arrived, who had deprecated
+honours to his high birth and desired to offer
+all the courtesies, departed from the residence so
+generously given him for five years in a very
+cavalier manner.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Now the king left the duke's territories without
+having taken leave nor said adieu to the Countess of<span class="page"><a name="103"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 103]</span></a></span>
+Charolais, <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#V20"><sup>20</sup></a></span> although he was in her neighbourhood,
+and he left behind him the queen, his wife. The said
+queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which
+to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered
+her to borrow the hackneys of the countess and chariots,
+too. Heartily did the countess accede to this request
+in spite of the fact that the thing seemed to
+her rather strange that a noble king, and one who
+had received so much honour and service from the
+House of Burgundy and had promised to recognise
+it when the hour came, should thus depart thence
+without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the
+countess would gladly have given the queen the hackneys
+as a gift if they had been asked, and she sent
+them to her by one of her equerries named Corneille
+de la Barre, together with chariots and waggons.
+And thus the queen left the country just as her husband
+had done without saying a word either to the
+duke or the countess, and Corneille went with her
+on foot to bring back the hackneys when the queen
+had arrived at the place of her desire."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam
+guest to show outward respect to his father's
+memory. The duke clad himself and his suite in
+deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at
+Avesnes, whither representatives from the University
+of Paris and from all parts of the realm had
+flocked to greet their new sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+It was a great concourse that marched from
+Avesnes as escort to the uncrowned king. Philip
+was magnificent in his appointments as he entered<span class="page"><a name="104">[page 104]</a></span>
+Rheims, and behind him came his son,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble
+company of knights and squires, attracted hearts
+and eyes in admiration of his rich array wherein
+cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and embroidery
+were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten
+pages and twenty-six archers, and this whole company
+numbered three hundred horse." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#V21"><sup>21</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>
+This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had
+waited at St. Thierry. On the actual day of the
+coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
+that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims
+until seven o'clock. The king passed his night in
+a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no repose
+until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied
+at their toilets he slipped off alone to church.</p>
+<p>
+Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony.
+Very magnificent were the duke's robes and ermine
+when, as chief among the peers, he escorted his late
+guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
+simple was Louis. After the consecration, the
+king and his friends listened to an address from the
+Bishop of Tournay, in which he described in Latin
+the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.</p>
+<p>
+The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion.
+He felt that all future power was in his
+hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
+to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And<span class="page"><a name="105">[page 105]</a></span>
+for a time Louis was quite ready to foster this
+belief. When they entered Paris, the peer so far
+outshone the sovereign that there was general
+astonishment.<a href="#V22"><sup>22</sup></a> Moreover, whatever the latter
+did have was a gift. The very plate used on the
+royal table was a ducal present.<a href="#V23"><sup>23</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude
+of grateful humility. When he met the <i>parlement</i>
+of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about its reformation.
+It was to Philip that all the petitioners
+flocked. But Louis was conscious, too, that there
+would be a morrow in Burgundy, and he took care
+to be friendly with the count even while he was
+flattering the duke. For this purpose he found
+Guillaume de Biche a very useful go-between.<a href="#V24"><sup>24</sup></a>
+This was one of the retainers dismissed in 1457
+by Charles at his father's request. He had then
+passed into Louis's service. This man quickly
+insinuated himself into the king's graces, was admitted
+to his chamber at all hours, and walked
+arm in arm with the returned exile through Paris.</p>
+
+<p>
+The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries
+of the city well in his four years' residence. Louis
+found him an amusing companion and skilfully
+managed to flatter the count by his favour towards
+the man whom he had liked.</p>
+<p>
+For six weeks Philip remained in the capital<span class="page"><a name="106">[page 106]</a></span>
+and astonished the Parisians with the fêtes he
+offered. Equally astonished were they with their
+new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not
+attractive in person. His eyes were piercing but
+his visage was made plain by a disproportionate
+nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
+uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an
+old pilgrim's hat, ornamented by a leaden saint.
+As he rode into Abbeville in company with Philip,
+the simple folk who had never seen the king were
+greatly amazed at his appearance and said quite
+loud, "Benedicite! Is that a king of France, the
+greatest king in the world? All together his horse
+and dress are not worth twenty francs."<a href="#V25"><sup>25</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI.
+never lived very long in any one place. He did
+not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had the palace
+of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine
+became by preference his residence, where he lived
+alternately at Amboise and in his new château
+at Plessis-lès-Tours. But his sojourns were always
+brief. He wanted to know everything, and
+he wandered everywhere to see France and
+to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts,
+the chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian
+ambassador, show him on a perpetual journey.</p>
+<p>
+He would set out at break of day with five or
+six intimates dressed in grey cloth like pilgrims;
+archers and baggage followed at a distance. He<span class="page"><a name="107">[page 107]</a></span>
+would forbid any one to follow him, and often ordered
+the gates of the city he had left to be closed,
+or a bridge to be broken behind him. Ambassadors
+ordered to see him without fail, sometimes
+had to cross France to obtain an interview, at least
+if their object was something in which he was not
+much interested. Then he would often grant
+them an audience in some miserable little peasant
+hut.</p>
+<p>
+In the cities where he stopped he would lodge
+with a burgomaster or some functionary. To
+avoid harangues and receptions he would often
+arrive unannounced through a little alley. If
+forced to accept an <i>entrée</i> he stipulated that it
+should not be marked with magnificence. There
+never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies,
+balls, banquets, and tourneys. At his court young
+people were bored to death. He never ordered
+festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures
+were those of a simple private gentleman. He
+liked to dine out of his palace. Cagnola relates
+with surprise that he had seen the king dine after
+mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours.
+He invited small nobles and bourgeois to dine
+with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois
+women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speaking
+to and of women without reserve, sparing
+neither sister, mother, nor queen.</p>
+<p>
+Yet it was a sombre court. "Farewell dames,
+citizens, demoiselles, feasts, dances, jousts, and<span class="page"><a name="108">[page 108]</a></span>
+tournaments; farewell fair and gracious maids,
+mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Martial
+d'Auvergne. Pompous magnificence may
+have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit to
+Burgundy.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#86">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="V1">He</a> had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November
+19th.&mdash;<i>Archives du Nord</i>. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi.,
+113. No mention of this seems to appear elsewhere.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#88">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="V2">Chastellain</a> (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from
+the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel.
+The duke was so angry that it was hideous to see him.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#88">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="V3">La</a> Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain, iii.,
+230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The
+author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in
+her delicate state of health.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#89">[Footnote 4:</a> "<a name="V4">Thus</a> there was much coming and going: and it was ordered
+by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Ravestein
+and the king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to
+Dendermonde to learn the wishes of the Count of Charolais
+and his intentions, of which I am entitled to speak for I was
+despatched several times to Brussels in behalf of my said
+Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the Chancellor
+Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present
+affair"&mdash;(La Marche, ii., 419.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#89">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="V5">La</a> Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche,
+went to France and La Marche says that he himself often went
+to him to obtain valuable information.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#90">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="V6">La</a> Marche, ii., 418.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#90">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="V7">Du</a> Clercq, ii., 239.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#91">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="V8">Chastellain</a>, iii., 308.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#91">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="V9">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de Vébry to
+the Count de Vaudemart.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#92">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="V10">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#93">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="V11">Les</a> Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles</i>, ed. A.J.V. Le Roux. The
+stories are, as a rule, only retold tales.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#94">[Footnote 12:</a> "<a name="V12">The</a> spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais nor
+by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for
+certain reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer,
+P.322.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#94">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="V13">Kervyn</a>, <i>Hist. de Flandre</i>, v., 23. At this time Philip was
+ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parliament
+of Paris.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#95">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="V14">Meyer</a>, p. 321.<br /><br />
+
+All the legends were in Latin. <i>Inveni quem diligit anima
+mea.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#96">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="V15">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#98">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="V16">Report</a> of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., 195.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#99">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="V17">Du</a> Fresne de Beaucourt. vi., 326.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#101">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="V18">Lavisse</a>, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 321.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#102">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="V19">IV</a>., 21.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#103">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="V20">Chastellain</a>, iv., 45.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#104">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="V21">Chastellain</a> was not present, but he says of Philip's suite
+(iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have
+seen in writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never
+been seen in this kingdom."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#105">[Footnote 22:</a> "<a name="V22">And</a> I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all the
+nobles" (Chastellain, iv., 52).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#105">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="V23">When</a> return presents were distributed to the nobles
+Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#105">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="V24">Chastellain</a>, iv., 115.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#106">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="V25">Lavisse</a>, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 325.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="109">[page 109]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="VI">VI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL</h3>
+
+<h4>1464-1465</h4>
+<p>
+The era of good feeling between Louis XI. and
+his Burgundian kinsmen was of short duration,
+and no wonder. The rich rewards confidently
+expected as fitting recompense for five
+years' kindness more than cousinly, towards a
+penniless refugee were not forthcoming.</p>
+<p>
+The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary
+in certain ostentatious recognition towards his late
+host, but the fairly munificent pension, together
+with the charge of Normandy settled upon the
+Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical reminder
+of promises as regularly unfulfilled on each
+recurring quarter day, while the post of confidential
+adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip
+had intended to occupy, remained empty.</p>
+<p>
+Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now
+to one counsellor, now to another, and used such
+fragments of advice as pleased his whim and paid
+no further heed to the giver.</p>
+<p>
+Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred
+that change in Philip's bodily constitution that
+comes to all active men sooner or later. His health
+began to give way, his energies relaxed, and matters
+that had been of paramount importance<span class="page"><a name="110">[page 110]</a></span>
+throughout his career were allowed to slip into
+the background of his desires. In the famous
+treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater
+importance than that which placed the towns
+on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to
+a redemption of two hundred thousand gold
+crowns. Whether Charles VII. had actually
+pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at
+least during Philip's life does not seem assured,
+but that any sum would be insufficient to induce
+the duke to release them unless his intellect were
+somewhat deadened, is clear.</p>
+<p>
+In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack,
+possibly the result of his indulgence in the pleasures
+of the table during the prolonged festivities
+at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour.
+This was the time, by the way, when opportunity
+was afforded his courtiers to prove that devotion
+to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity.
+When his head was shaved by order of the court
+physician, more than five hundred nobles sacrificed
+their own locks so that their becoming curls
+might not remind their chief of his own bald head.
+The sacrifice was not always voluntary, adds an
+informant.<a href="#VI1"><sup>1</sup></a> Philip forced compliance with this
+new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be
+unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by
+nature's gift. This servility may have consoled
+Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In his<span class="page"><a name="111">[page 111]</a></span>
+depressed condition any solace was acceptable.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled
+state that Louis, through the mediation of the
+Croys, pushed forward his proposition to redeem
+the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying
+upon the chance that it would be no easy matter
+for the French king to wring the required sum
+from his impoverished land. Philip's assent
+was, however, promptly clinched by a cash
+payment of half the amount<a href="#VI2"><sup>2</sup></a>; the remainder
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>
+Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valuable
+bulwarks for the Netherland provinces, fine
+nurseries for the human material requisite for Burgundian
+armies, rich tax payers as they were, all
+tumbled into the outstretched hands of the duke's
+wily rival.</p>
+<p>
+The transaction was hurried through and completed
+before a rumour of its progress came to the
+ear of the interested heir. Charles was in Holland
+sulking and indignant. He had expected good
+results from his tender devotion during his father's
+acute illness, a devotion shared by Isabella of
+Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside
+from her convent seclusion when Philip was in
+need of her ministrations. But, in his convalescence,
+Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys
+whom Charles continued to distrust with bitterness<span class="page"><a name="112">[page 112]</a></span>
+that varied in its intensity, but which never
+vanished from his consciousness. The young
+man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious
+that personal danger to himself lurked in the air
+of his father's court.</p>
+<p>
+The various rumours of plots against his life
+may not all have been baseless. At last, one of
+own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was accused of
+having recourse to diabolic means of doing away
+with the duke's legitimate heir.<a href="#VI3"><sup>3</sup></a> Three little
+waxen images were found in his house, and it was
+alleged that he practised various magic arts withal
+in order to win the favour of the duke and of the
+French king, and still worse to cause Charles to
+waste away with a mysterious sickness. The
+accusations were sufficient to make Nevers
+resign all his offices in his kinsman's court and
+retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been wholly
+innocent he would have demanded trial at the
+hands of his peers of the Golden Fleece as behooved
+one of the order. But he withdrew
+undefended, and left his tattered reputation fluttering
+raggedly in the breeze of gossip.</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal
+court until a fresh incident drove him thither to
+give vent to his indignation. Only three days
+had Philip de Commines been page to Duke
+Philip, then resident at Lille, when an embassy
+headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France, was
+given audience in the presence of the Burgundian<span class="page"><a name="113">[page 113]</a></span>
+court, including the Count of Charolais.
+The future historian,<a href="#VI4"><sup>4</sup></a> then nineteen years old,
+was keenly alive to all that passed on that November
+fifth, 1464. Morvilliers used very bitter
+terms in his assertion that Charles had illegally
+stopped a little French ship of war and arrested
+a certain bastard of Rubempré on the false charge
+that his errand in Holland, where the incident
+occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles himself.
+Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir
+Olivier de La Marche had caused this tale to be
+bruited everywhere,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations
+resort. This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now
+demanded through his chancellor that Duke Philip
+should send this same Sir Olivier de La Marche
+prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case
+required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that
+the said Sir Olivier was steward of his house, born
+in the County of Burgundy and in no respect subject
+to the Crown of France."</p>
+
+<p>
+Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill
+to the king's honour he, the duke, would see to
+his punishment. As to the bastard of Rubempré,
+true it was that he had been apprehended in
+Holland,<a href="#VI5"><sup>5</sup></a> but there was adequate ground for his
+arrest as his behaviour had been strange, at least
+so thought the Count of Charolais. Philip added<span class="page"><a name="114">[page 114]</a></span>
+that if his son were suspicious</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his
+mother who had been the most jealous lady that ever
+lived. But notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that
+myself never were supicious, yet if I had been in my
+son's place at the same time that this bastard of
+Rubempré haunted those coasts I would surely have
+caused him to be apprehended as my son did."</p>
+
+<p>
+In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up
+Rubempré to the king were his innocence satisfactorily
+proven.</p>
+<p>
+Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging
+upon the treacherous designs of Francis, Duke
+of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately sworn
+brotherhood at the very moment when he was the
+honoured guest of King Louis at Tours. During
+this discussion the Count of Charolais became very
+restive. Finally he could no longer endure
+Morvilliers's indirect slurs, and</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously
+out of patience to hear such reproachful speeches
+used of his friend and confederate. But Morvilliers
+cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of Charolais, I am
+not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your
+father.' The said earl besought his father divers
+times to give him leave to answer, who in the end said
+unto him: 'I have answered for thee as methinketh
+the father should answer for the son, notwithstanding
+if thou have so great desire to speak bethink thyself
+to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that<span class="page"><a name="115">[page 115]</a></span>
+he could not imagine what had moved the earl to
+enter into the league with the Duke of Brittany
+unless it were because of a pension the king had
+once given him together with the government
+of Normandy and afterwards taken from him.</p>
+<p>
+In regard to Rubempré, Commines adds to
+his story Charles's own statement given on the
+morrow:</p>
+<p>
+"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever
+proved against him, though I confess the presumption
+to have been great. Five years after
+I myself saw him delivered out of prison." This
+from Commines. La Marche is less detailed in
+his record<a href="#VI6"><sup>6</sup></a> of the Rubempré incident:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The bastard was put in prison and the Count of
+Charolais sent me to Hesdin to the duke to inform
+him of the arrest and its cause. The good duke
+heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth
+he at once suspected that the craft of the King of
+France lurked at the bottom of the affair. Shortly
+afterwards the duke left Hesdin and returned to his
+own land, which did not please the King of France
+who despatched thither a great embassy with the
+Count d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that
+I should be delivered to him to be punished as he
+would, because he claimed that I had been the cause
+of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempré and also of
+the duke's departure from Hesdin without saying
+adieu to the King of France, but the good duke,
+moderate in all his actions, replied that I was his
+subject and his servitor, and that if the king or<span class="page"><a name="116"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 116]</span></a></span>
+any one else had a grievance against me he would
+investigate it. The matter was finally smoothed
+over [adds La Marche], and Louis evinced a readiness
+to conciliate his offended cousin."</p>
+
+<p>
+In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to
+be one not easily disposed of by soft phrases
+flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father
+and prepared in advance his defence to the
+chancellor. When he had finished his own statement
+about Rubempré, he proceeded to the point
+of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany,
+declaring that it was right and proper and that
+if King Louis knew what was to the advantage
+of the French sovereign, he would be glad to
+see his nobles welded together as a bulwark to his
+throne. As to his pension, he had never received
+but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had
+made no suit for the remainder nor for the government
+of Normandy. So long as he enjoyed the
+favour and good will of his father he had no need
+to crave favour of any man.</p>
+<p>
+"I think verily had it not been for the reverence
+he bore to his said father who was there present"
+continues the observant page, "and to whom he
+addressed his speech that he would have used
+much bitterer terms. In the end, Duke Philip
+very wisely and humbly besought the king not
+lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his
+son but to continue his favour towards them.
+Then the banquet was brought in and the ambassadors
+took their leave. As they passed out Charles<span class="page"><a name="117">[page 117]</a></span>
+stood apart from his father and said to the archbishop
+of Narbonne, who brought up the rear of
+the little company:</p>
+<p>
+"'Recommend me very humbly to the good
+grace of the king. Tell him he has had me scolded
+here by the chancellor but that he shall repent
+it before a year is past.'" His message was
+duly delivered and to this incident Commines
+attributes momentous results.</p>
+<p>
+Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which
+Louis's ambassadors treated him, indignant at
+the injury to his heritage by the redemption of
+the towns on the Somme, and further, already
+alienated from his royal cousin through the long
+series of petty occasions where the different
+natures of the two young men clashed, in this
+year 1464, Charles was certainly more than ready
+to enter into an open contest with the French
+monarch. It was not long before the opportunity
+came for him to do so with a certain éclat.</p>
+<p>
+In the early years of his own freedom, before
+he learned wisdom, Louis XI. had planted many
+seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful
+crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among
+the nobles of the land.</p>
+<p>
+One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the
+gradual growth of the body of standing troops
+instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These, in the
+regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guarantee
+of support without the aid of his nobles. By
+the date of Louis's accession, certain ducal houses<span class="page"><a name="118">[page 118]</a></span>
+besides that of Burgundy had grown very independent
+within their own boundaries: Orleans,
+Anjou, Bourbon, not to speak of Brittany.<a href="#VI7"><sup>7</sup></a> Now
+the efforts to curtail the prerogatives of these
+petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were
+steady and persistent in the new reign. They
+had no longer the power of coining money, of
+levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the
+judicial authority of the crown had been extended
+little by little over France. Then their privileges
+were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of the
+chase.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was the accumulation of these invasions of
+local authority, added to a real disbelief in the
+king's ability, that led to a formation of a league
+among the nobles, designed to check the centralisation
+policy of the monarch, a League of Public
+Weal to form a bulwark against the tyrannical
+encroachments of their liege lord.</p>
+<p>
+Not to follow the steps of the growth of this
+coalition, it is sufficient for the thread of this
+narrative to say that it comprised all the great
+French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as
+others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as
+those whom he had slighted alike fell from his
+standards, distrustful of his ability to withstand
+organised opposition, and they threw in their lot
+with the protestors so as not to miss their share
+of the spoil.</p>
+<p>
+The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned,<span class="page"><a name="119">[page 119]</a></span>
+was in a mood when his ears were eagerly open
+to overtures from Louis's critics. The redemption
+of the towns on the Somme he was unable to
+prevent, but the affair left him very sore. Shortly
+after its completion, the count did, indeed, succeed
+in depriving the Croys of their ascendency
+over the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long
+desired victory was attained, the towns had one
+and all accepted their transfer and were under
+French sovereignty. When the count joined the
+league, the hope of ultimate restoration was undoubtedly
+prominent among the motives for his
+own course of action, though his intimacy with
+the chief leader of the revolt, the Duke of Brittany,
+might easily have led to the same result.</p>
+<p>
+Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had
+been especially wanting in tact during the first
+months of his reign. The king treated him as a vassal
+of France, while the duke held that he and his
+forbears owed simple homage to the crown, not
+dependence. Therefore, in order to resist being
+subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not
+to leave his estates except in a suitable manner.
+His messages to the king were sent in all ceremony,
+he rendered proper homage, declared
+his readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as
+a vassal for certain territories, but demanded
+freedom to exercise his hereditary rights and to
+enjoy his hereditary dignities.<a href="#VI8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+"Rude and strange" were the terms employed<span class="page"><a name="120">[page 120]</a></span>
+by the king in response to these statements, and
+then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
+the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose
+of the hands of Breton heiresses in unequal
+marriages, and to arrogate to himself other rights&mdash;all
+sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
+Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the
+league. Very delightful is Chastellain's colloquy
+with himself&nbsp;<a href="#VI9"><sup>9</sup></a> as to the difficulty of maintaining
+perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of
+this Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately
+the result of his patient efforts is lost.</p>
+
+<p>
+Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines,
+however, were both present in the Burgundian
+army and their stories are preserved. La Marche
+had reason to remember the first actual engagement
+between the royal and invading forces at
+Montl'héry, "because on that day I was made
+knight." He does not say, as does Commines,
+that this battle was against the king's desire.
+Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms and to
+coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by
+other methods. Not that they characterised
+themselves as rebellious, far from it. Clear and
+definite was their statement that in their
+obligation</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"to give order to the estate, the police and the
+government of the kingdom, the princes of the blood
+as chief supports of the crown, by whose advice and
+not by that of others, the business of the king and<span class="page"><a name="121"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 121]</span></a></span>
+of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
+their persons and their property, and in this laudable
+endeavour all virtuous citizens ought to aid."&nbsp;<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#VI10"><sup>10</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens,
+and the words were typical of similar appeals made
+in every quarter of the realm by the various
+feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In
+truth this war, ostentatiously called that of
+the Public Weal, was but a struggle on the part
+of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The
+weal demanded was home rule for the feudal
+chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a fierce
+protest against monarchical authority, against
+concentration. A king indeed, but a king in
+leading strings was the ideal of the peers.</p>
+<p>
+Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis
+almost alone, deserted by his brother the Duke
+of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
+unity, hedged in by their pompous and
+self-righteous assertions that all their thoughts
+were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
+needed lightening. Of all the great vassals,
+Gaston de Foix was the single one loyal to the
+king.</p>
+<p>
+The part of the great duke fell entirely to the<span class="page"><a name="122">[page 122]</a></span>
+share of the Count of Charolais. A small force
+was levied for him within the Netherlands, and he
+started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents
+from the two Burgundies and his brother
+peers of France with their own troops. His men
+were good individually but they had not been
+trained to act as one, and there was no coherence
+between the different companies.</p>
+<p>
+July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed
+rendezvous. He was first in the field.
+While he awaited his allies, his little army became
+restive at the situation in which they found
+themselves, fifty leagues from Burgundian territory
+with no stronghold as their base. It was
+urged again and again upon the count that his first
+consideration ought to be his men's safety. His
+allies had failed him. He should retreat. "I
+have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross
+the Seine if I have but a single page to follow
+me," was the leader's firm reply to these demands.</p>
+<p>
+The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges,
+and Charles decided that it was his mission to
+prevent Louis from entering his capital, to which
+he was advancing with great rapidity from the
+south. To carry out this purpose Charles disregarded
+all protests, crossed the Seine at St. Cloud,
+and made his way to the little village of Longjumeau,
+whither he was preceded by the Count
+of St. Pol, commanding one division of the Burgundian
+army. Montl'héry was a village still
+farther to the south, and here it was that La<span class="page"><a name="123">[page 123]</a></span>
+Marche and other gentlemen were knighted.
+This ceremony was evidently part of the count's
+endeavour to encourage his followers&mdash;all unwilling
+to risk an engagement before the arrival
+of the allies.</p>
+<p>
+To the king it was of infinite advantage that no
+delay should occur. Nevertheless, it was Charles
+who opened active hostilities on July 15th, with
+soldiers who had not broken their fast that day.
+Armed since early dawn, wearied by a forced
+march with a July sun beating down upon their
+heads, their movements hampered by standing
+wheat and rye, the men were at a tremendous
+disadvantage when they were led to the attack.
+It was a hot assault. No quarter was given,
+many fled. At length, Louis found himself abandoned
+by all save his body-guard. Pressed
+against the hill that bounded the grain fields,
+the king at last retreated up its slope into a
+castle on its summit.</p>
+<p>
+Charles rode impetuously after the retreating
+royalists. Separated from his men, he fell
+among the royal guard at the gate of the castle.
+There was a vehement assault resisted as vehemently
+by his meagre escort. Several fell and
+Charles himself received a sword wound on his
+neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised
+by the French, he might have been taken or slain
+in his resistance, when the Bastard of Burgundy
+rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed
+the count's condition. When night fell, no one<span class="page"><a name="124">[page 124]</a></span>
+knew where lay the advantage. The fugitives
+spread rumours that the king was dead and that
+Charles was in possession, others carried the
+reverse statements as they rode headlong to the
+nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with
+no credit to either leader. But in the darkness
+of the night, the king managed to slip out of his
+retreat and march quietly towards the greater
+security of Paris.</p>
+<p>
+It was a very shadowy victory that Charles
+proudly claimed. All through the night of July
+15th, the Burgundians were discussing whether
+to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds
+all recognised. Daybreak found the council in
+session when a peasant brought tidings that the
+foe had departed. The fires in sight only covered
+their retreat. To be sure that same foe had
+taken Burgundian baggage with them to Paris.
+But what of that? The Burgundians held the
+battlefield and they made the best of it.</p>
+<p>
+On July 16th, Louis supped with the military
+governor of Paris and "moved the company,
+nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his
+touching description of the perils he had met and
+escaped." Charles, meanwhile, effected a junction
+with his belated allies, Francis of Brittany and
+Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Étampes.
+Thither too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of
+Lorraine, but none of these leaguers could claim
+any share in the battle of Montl'héry.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlemont">[plate 11]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image11battlemont.jpg" width="400" height="516" alt="BATTLE OF MONTL'HÉRY (JULY 16, 1465)" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="125">[page 125]</a></span>
+<p>
+While these peers perfected their plans to force
+their chief into redressing the wrongs of the poor
+people, the king was showing a very pleasant
+side of his character to the Parisian citizens.
+In response to a petition that he should take
+advice on the conduct of his administration, he
+declared his perfect willingness to add to his
+council six burgesses, six members of <i>parlement</i>,
+and the same number from the university. Besides
+this concession, he relieved the weight of the
+imposts and hastened to restore certain financial
+franchises to the Church, to the university, and to
+various individuals. Three weeks were consumed
+in establishing friendly relations in this all important
+city, and then the king departed for Normandy
+to levy troops and to collect provisions for a siege.<a href="#VI11"><sup>11</sup></a>
+There was need for this last for the allies had
+moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris.</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the king's return to his capital on
+August 28th, a formidable array was encamped
+at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More
+formidable, however, they were in numbers than
+in strength. Like all confederated bodies there
+was inherent weakness, for there was no leader
+whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of
+Berry, heir presumptive to the throne, was the
+only one among the peers whose birth might have
+commanded the needful authority, but he had
+not sufficient personal character to assert his<span class="page"><a name="126">[page 126]</a></span>
+position. So the confederates remained a loose
+aggregation of small armies. The longer they
+remained in camp the weaker they grew, the
+more disintegrated. A pitched battle might
+have been a great advantage to these gallant
+defenders of the Public Weal of France and that
+was the last desire of their antagonist.</p>
+<p>
+Many skirmishes took place between the Parisians
+and the leaguers, but no engagement. Once,
+indeed, there were hurried preparations on the
+part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of
+whose imminence they were warned by a page
+before break of day, one misty morning. Yes,
+there was no doubt. The pickets could see the
+erect spears and furled banners of the enemy
+all ready to advance upon the unwary camp.
+Quick were the preparations. There were no
+laggards. The Duke of Calabria was more quickly
+armed than even the Count of Charolais. He
+came to a spot where a number of Burgundians,
+the count's own household stood, by the standard.
+Among them was Commines<a href="#VI12"><sup>l2</sup></a> and he heard the
+duke say: "We now have our desire, for the
+king is issued forth with his whole force and
+marches towards us as our scouts report. Wherefore
+let us determine to play the men. So soon
+as they be out of the town we will enter and
+measure with the long ell." By these words he
+meant that the soldiers would speedily have a<span class="page"><a name="127">[page 127]</a></span>
+chance to use their pikes as yard sticks to measure
+out their share of the booty. False prophet was
+the duke that time! When the daylight grew
+stronger, the upright spears and furled banners
+of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of thistles
+looming large in the magnifying morning mist!
+The princes took their disappointment philosophically,
+enjoyed early mass, and then had their
+breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>
+The young Commines is surprised that Paris
+and her environs were rich enough to feed so
+many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs
+changed. Negotiating back and forth became
+more frequent. The disintegration of the allies
+became more and more evident. Louis XI.
+bided his time and then took the extraordinary
+resolution to go in person to the camp at Charenton
+to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few
+attendants, practically unguarded, he went down
+the Seine. His coming had been heralded and
+the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive
+him, with the Count of St. Pol at his side.
+"Brother, do you pledge me safety?" (for the
+count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which
+the count responded: "Yes, as one brother to
+another."<a href="#VI13"><sup>13</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing could have been more genial than was
+the king. He assured Charles that he loved
+a man who kept his word beyond anything.</p>
+<p>
+Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the<span class="page"><a name="128">[page 128]</a></span>
+promise he had sent by the archbishop of
+Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he
+was a gentleman and true to the blood of France.
+Further, he disavowed the insolence of his chancellor
+towards Charles, and repeated that his
+cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You
+have kept your promise and that long before the
+day."<a href="#VI14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an
+opportunity to Charles and St. Pol to state,
+informally, the terms on which they would
+withdraw from their hostile footing, and count
+the weal restored to the oppressed public whose
+sorrows had moved them to a confederation.</p>
+<p>
+Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he
+accepted the requisition of those who felt that
+they were in a position to dictate, and after a
+little more parleying at later dates, the treaty
+of Conflans was duly arranged. It was none too
+soon for the allies. They could hardly have
+held together many days longer in the midst of
+the jealousies rife in their camps.</p>
+<p>
+The king paused at nothing. To his brother
+he gave Normandy, to Charles of Burgundy the
+towns on the Somme with guarantee of possession
+for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was
+made Constable of France.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="publicweal">[plate 12]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image12publicweal.jpg" width="400" height="445" alt="LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to
+Charles, lesser places and pensions to the other
+confederates. The contest ended with complete<span class="page"><a name="129">[page 129]</a></span>
+victory for the allies who were left with the
+proud consciousness that they had set a definite
+limit to royal pretensions, at least, on paper.</p>
+<p>
+After the treaty was signed, the king showed
+no resentment at his defeat but urged his cousin
+to amuse himself a while in Paris before returning
+home. Charles was rash, but he had not the
+temerity to trust himself so far. Pleading a
+promise to his father to enter no city gate until
+on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and
+soon returned to the Netherlands, where his own
+household had suffered change. During his absence,
+the Countess of Charolais had died and
+been buried at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly
+lauded for his perfect faithfulness to his wife, but
+her death seems to have made singularly little
+ripple on the surface of his life. The chroniclers
+touch on the event very casually, laying more
+stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI. to
+offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on
+the event itself.<a href="#VI15"><sup>15</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#110">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="VI1">La</a> Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the chamberlain
+to enforce this.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#111">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="VI2">The</a> receipt for this half payment was signed October 8,
+1462. (Comines, <i>Mémoires</i>, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii.,
+392-403.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#112">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="VI3">Du</a> Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#113">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="VI4">Commines</a>, <i>Mêmoires</i> I., ch. i. In the above passages Dannett's
+translation is followed for the racy English.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#113">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="VI5">Commines</a> says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#115">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="VI6">III</a>., 3.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#118">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="VI7">Lavisse</a> iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 336.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#119">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="VI8">Chastellain</a>, v., i, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#120">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="VI9">V</a>., II.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#121">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="VI10">Letter</a> of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of Amiens.
+(<i>Collection de Documents inédits sur l'histoire de France</i>.)
+"Mélanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS.
+in the Bibl. Nat. there are many letters private and public
+about these events.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#125">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="VI11">Since</a> its recovery from the English, there had been no
+duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to
+the king.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#126">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="VI12">I</a>., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be
+read in detail.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#127">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="VI13">I</a>., ch. xii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#128">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="VI14">Commines</a>, I., ch. xii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#129">[Footnote 15:</a> La <a name="VI15">Marche</a>, iii., p. 27.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="130">[page 130]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="VII">VII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>LIEGE AND ITS FATE</h3>
+
+<h4>1465-1467</h4>
+<p>
+"When we have finished here we shall make
+a fine beginning against those villains the
+Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on
+October 18th.<a href="#VII1"><sup>1</sup></a> Charles had no desire to rest on
+the laurels won before Paris. To another city
+he now turned his attention, to Liege which
+owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy.</p>
+
+<p>
+Before the days when the buried treasures
+of the soil filled the air with smoke, the valley
+where Liege lies was a lovely spot.<a href="#VII2"><sup>2</sup></a> Tradition
+tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop
+of Tongres, as he made a progress through his
+diocese was attracted by the beauties of the site
+where a few hovels then clustered near the Meuse.
+After looking down from the heights to the river's
+banks for a brief space, the bishop turned to his
+followers and said, as if uttering a prophecy:</p>
+<p>
+"Here is a place created by God for the salvation of<span class="page"><a name="131">[page 131]</a></span>
+many faithful souls. One day a prosperous city
+shall flourish here. Here I will build a chapel."
+Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised
+chapel became a shrine which attracted many
+pilgrims who returned to their various homes with
+glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.
+Little by little others came who did not leave,
+and by the seventh century when Bishop Lambert
+sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a small town.</p>
+
+<p>
+An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert.
+He gave himself no rest but travelled continually
+from one church to another in his diocese to look
+after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless
+prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke
+to the Frankish Pepin for a lawless deed
+excited the wrath of a certain noble, accessory
+to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was
+slain as he knelt before the altar in Monulphe's
+chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer the pious
+man did not hear the servants' calls, "Holy
+Lambert, Holy Lambert come to our aid," words
+that later became a war-cry when the bishop
+was exalted into the patron saint of the town.</p>
+<p>
+Not until the thirteenth century, however,
+when the episcopal see was finally established
+at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay
+overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege.
+Monulphe's little chapel had given way to a
+mighty church dedicated to the canonised Bishop
+Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost
+autonomous, the episcopal authority being restricted<span class="page"><a name="132">[page 132]</a></span>
+without the walls only by the distant
+emperor and still more distant pope. Within
+the walls, the same authority had by no means
+a perfectly free hand. There were certain
+features in the constitution of Liege which
+differentiated it from its sister towns in the
+Netherlands.</p>
+<p>
+Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly
+democratic manner. There was no distinction between
+the greater and lesser gilds, and, within these
+organisations, the franchise was given to the most
+ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple
+condition of attaining his fifteenth year. Moreover,
+the naturalisation laws were very easy.
+Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens
+and enjoyed eligibility to office as well as
+the franchise. The tenure of office being for
+one year only, there was opportunity for frequent
+participation in public affairs, an opportunity
+not neglected by the community.<a href="#VII3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic
+officers chosen by this liberal franchise. He was
+elected by the chapter of St. Lambert, subject to
+papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres
+of his jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his
+function there were many restrictions to his free
+administration, which papal and imperial sanction
+together were unable to remove.</p>
+<p>
+A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change
+in the laws without the consent of the estates,<span class="page"><a name="133">[page 133]</a></span>
+and he could administer justice only by means of
+the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be
+countersigned. When there was an issue between
+overlord and people, the question was submitted
+to the <i>schepens</i> or superior judges who, before they
+gave their opinion, consulted the various charters
+which had been granted from time to time,
+and which were not allowed to become dead letters.
+A permanent committee of the three orders supervised
+the executive and the administration of the
+laws. These "twenty-two" received an appeal
+from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb
+"In his own home the poor man is king," was
+very near the possible truth.</p>
+<p>
+Yet the wheels of government were by no
+means perfect in their running. Many were the
+conflicts between the different members of the
+state, and broils, with the character of civil war
+in miniature, were of frequent occurrence. The
+submergence of the aristocratic element, the
+nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power
+between the bishop-prince and the people. The
+commons exerted power beyond their intelligence.
+Annual elections, party contests headed by rival
+demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser
+extent, the smaller towns of the little state in
+continuous commotion.<a href="#VII4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The ecclesiastical origin of the community<span class="page"><a name="134">[page 134]</a></span>
+was evident at all points of daily life. The cathedral
+of St. Lambert was the pride of the city. Its
+chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place
+held by the aristocratic element in the other towns.</p>
+<p>
+In the cathedral, the holy standard of St.
+Lambert was suspended. At the outbreak of
+war this was taken down and carried to the door
+by the clergy in solemn procession. There it
+was unfurled and delivered to the commander
+of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white
+steed. When he received the precious charge he
+swore to defend it with his life.</p>
+<p>
+One object of popular veneration was this
+standard, another was the <i>perron</i>, an emblem of
+the civic organisation. This was a pillar of
+gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple
+surmounted by a cross. This stood on a pedestal
+in the centre of the square where was the <i>violet</i>
+or city hall. In front of the perron were proclaimed
+all the ordinances issued by the magistrates,
+or the decrees adopted by the people in
+general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin
+was rung, the deans of the gilds would hasten out
+with their banners and plant them near the
+perron as rallying points for the various gild
+members who poured out from forge, work-shop,<span class="page"><a name="135">[page 135]</a></span>
+and factory until the square was filled.</p>
+<p>
+There were two powerful weapons whereby the
+bishop-prince might enforce his will in opposition
+to that of his subjects did the latter become too
+obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the
+<i>schepens</i>, and he could pronounce an interdict
+of the Church which caused the cessation of all
+priestly functions. When this interdict was in
+action, civil suits between burghers could be adjudged
+by the municipal magistrates, but no
+criminals could be arrested or tried. The elementary
+principles of an organised society were
+thrown into confusion. Still worse confusion
+resulted from the bishop's last resort as prince of
+the Church. An interdict caused the church bells
+to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The
+celebration of the rites of baptism, of marriage,
+of burial ceased.<a href="#VII5"><sup>5</sup></a> The fear of such cessation was
+potent in its restraint, unless the populace were
+too far enraged to be moved by any consideration.</p>
+
+<p>
+While the Burgundian dukes extended their
+sway over one portion of Netherland territory
+after another, this little dominion maintained
+its complete independence of them. The fact that
+its princes were elective protected it from lapsing
+through heritage to the duke who had been so
+neatly proven heir to his divers childless kinsfolk.
+It was a rich little vineyard without his pale.</p>
+<p>
+They were clever people those Liegeois. Their<span class="page"><a name="136">[page 136]</a></span>
+Walloon language is a species of French with
+many peculiarities showing Frankish admixture.<a href="#VII6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+The race was probably a mixed one too, but its
+acquired characteristics made a very different
+person from a Hollander, a Frisian, or a Fleming,
+though there was a certain resemblance to the
+latter.</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful
+resources of coal and minerals which now glow
+above and below the furnace fires until, from a
+distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But
+the people were industrious and energetic in their
+crafts. It was a country of skilled workmen. The
+city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thousand
+inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers
+reported slain in the various battles in which the
+town was involved run into the thousands.<a href="#VII7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his
+success in the diocese of Utrecht, obtained a certain<span class="page"><a name="137">[page 137]</a></span>
+ascendency over the affairs of Liege by interfering
+in the election of a bishop. There was no
+natural vacancy at the moment. John of Heinsberg
+was the incumbent, a very pleasant prelate
+with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement
+and gay society, pleasures more easily obtainable
+in Philip's court than in his own, and his agreeable
+host found means of persuading him to resign all
+the cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke
+proceeded to place his own nephew, Louis of
+Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne.</p>
+<p>
+This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student
+at the University of Louvain, destitute of a single
+qualification for the office proposed. Nevertheless,
+all difficulties, technical and general were
+ignored, and a papal dispensation enabled the
+candidate even to dispense with the formality of
+taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered
+Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry
+into his future capital and was duly enthroned
+as bishop-prince in spite of his manifest unfitness
+for the place.</p>
+<p>
+Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his people,
+better than the promise of his youth, as some
+reckless princes have done. On the contrary,
+ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at
+drawn swords with his subjects. After a time
+he withdrew to Huy where he indulged in gross
+pleasures while he attempted to check the rebellious
+citizens of his capital by trying some of the
+measures of coercion used by his predecessors as a<span class="page"><a name="138">[page 138]</a></span>
+last resort.</p>
+<p>
+Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters
+dragged on for a long time. The people appealed
+to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the pope, and to
+the "pope better informed," but no redress was
+given. Philip continued to protect the bishop,
+and none dared put themselves in opposition to
+him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XI. for
+aid. Their appeal was heard and the king's
+agent arrived in the city just as one of the bishop's
+interdicts was about to be enforced, an interdict,
+too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the
+usual anathema if the provisions were not
+obeyed.</p>
+<p>
+It was the moment for a demagogue and one
+appeared in the person of Raes de la Rivière, lord
+of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be unbroken
+silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his followers
+proclaimed that every priest who refused
+to chant should be thrown into the river. Mass
+was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual
+conditions, and the presence of the French envoys
+gave new heart to the bishop's opponents. A
+treaty was signed between the Liegeois and Louis;
+wherein mutual pledges were made that no
+peace should be concluded with Burgundy in
+which both parties were not included. It was a
+solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when
+he signed the treaty of Conflans whose articles
+contained not a single reference to the Liegeois.</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of<span class="page"><a name="139">[page 139]</a></span>
+the battle of Montl'héry reaching Liege gave the
+victory to Louis, a report that spurred on the
+Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostility to
+their neighbour, still farther afield. The other
+towns of the Church state were infected by an anti-Burgundian
+sentiment. In Dinant this feeling was
+high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation
+of special animosity against the Count of Charolais.
+A rabble marched out of the city to the walls of
+Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy,
+carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its
+neck. Certain well-known emblems of Burgundy on
+a tattered mantle showed that this represented
+Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd
+declared that they were going to hang the effigy as
+his master, the King of France, had already hanged
+Count Charles in reality. Further, they said
+that he was no count at all, but the son of their
+old bishop, Heinsberg. They went so far as to
+suspend the effigy on a gallows and then riddled
+it with arrows and left it dangling like a scarecrow
+in sight of the citizens of Bouvignes.<a href="#VII8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The actual contents of the treaty made at
+Conflans did not reach Liege until messages from
+Louis had assured them that he had been mindful
+of their interests in making his own terms, assurances,
+however, coupled with advice to make peace
+with their good friend the duke. But there
+speedily came later information that the only
+mention of Liege in the new treaty was an apology<span class="page"><a name="140">[page 140]</a></span>
+that Louis had ever made friends in that
+city!</p>
+<p>
+The rebels lost heart at once. Without the
+king, they had no confidence in their own efforts.
+Envoys were despatched to Philip who refused
+to answer their humble requests for pardon until
+his son could decide what punishment the principality
+deserved. Nor was much delay to be
+anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming.
+Charles hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not
+pausing even to greet his father. By the third
+week of January, he was encamped between St.
+Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation
+from Liege found him. These envoys, between
+eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly
+because they feared attacks from their anti-peace
+fellow-citizens.<a href="#VII9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+They found Charles flushed by his recent
+achievement of bringing King Louis to his way of
+thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body
+than when it left the Netherlands. The troops
+were more skilled from their experience and elated
+at what they counted their success; more capable,
+too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a
+resolute leader, now inclined to despise councils
+with free discussion. The count's quick temper
+had gained him weight but it had made him feared.
+The slightest breach of discipline brought a thunder-cloud
+on his face. If we may believe one
+authority,<a href="#VII10"><sup>10</sup></a> he himself was often so lacking in<span class="page"><a name="141">[page 141]</a></span>
+discipline that he would strike an officer with a
+baton, and once at least, he killed a soldier with
+his own hand.</p>
+
+<p>
+His audience with the envoys resulted in a
+treaty, of which certain articles were so harsh
+that the messengers were insulted when the
+report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of
+thirty-two gilds voted to accept all the articles.
+A certain noble on pleasant terms with the count
+offered to carry the unpopular document back
+to him to ask for a modification of the harsh
+terms.</p>
+<p>
+By this time the weather was severe. Charles's
+troops were in need of repose, and it seemed
+prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles
+revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration
+of an increase of the war indemnity. With this
+change the treaty was accepted, and a Piteous
+Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege.
+Instead of owing allegiance to emperor and to
+pope alone as free imperial citizens, they agreed
+to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary
+protectors of Liege.</p>
+<p>
+When it was desired, Burgundian troops could
+march freely across the territory. Burgundian
+coins were declared valid at Burgundian values.
+No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian
+marches, and unqualified obedience was pledged
+to the new overlords. The same terms were
+conceded to all the rebel towns alike except<span class="page"><a name="142">[page 142]</a></span>
+to Dinant. The story of the personal insult to
+himself and his mother had reached the count's
+ears and he was not inclined to ignore the circumstance.
+His further action was, however,
+deferred.</p>
+<p>
+January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty<a href="#VII11"><sup>11</sup></a>
+and, after its conclusion, Charles ordered a review
+of his forces, a review that almost culminated in
+a pitched battle between army and citizens of
+St. Trond, and then on January 31st, the count
+returned to Brussels where there was a great display
+of Burgundian etiquette before the duke
+embraced his victorious son.</p>
+
+<p>
+Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the
+province at large, still more piteous was the
+lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from
+the participation in the treaty. Her fate remained
+uncertain for months. Other affairs occupied
+the Count of Charolais until late in the summer
+of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis,
+well freed from the allies pressing up to the gates
+of Paris, was in very different temper from Louis
+ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not
+only had he withdrawn his promises in regard
+to the duchy conferred on his brother, but he
+had begun taking other measures, ostensibly
+to prepare against a possible English invasion,
+which alarmed his cousin of Burgundy for the
+undisturbed possession of his recently recovered<span class="page"><a name="143">[page 143]</a></span>
+towns on the Somme.</p>
+<p>
+Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes,
+Charles despatched the following letter from
+Namur:<a href="#VII12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I recommend myself very humbly to your good
+grace and beg to inform you, Monseigneur, that
+recently I have been advised of something very surprising
+to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond doubt
+considering the source of my information. It is with
+much regret that I communicate it to you when I
+remember all the good words you have given to me this
+year, orally and in writing. Monseigneur, it is evident
+that there has been some agreement between
+your people and the English, and that the matter
+has been so well worked that you have consented,
+as I have heard, to yield them the land of Caux,
+Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to aid them
+in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu,
+and further, to cement with them certain alliances
+against me and my country in making them large
+offers greatly to my prejudice and, in order to complete
+the whole, they are to come to Dieppe.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you
+wish: but, Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns
+me, it seems to me that you would do better to leave
+my property in my hand than to be the instrument
+of putting it into the hands of the English or of any
+foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Monseigneur,
+that if such overtures or greater ones have
+been opened by your people that you will not commit<span class="page"><a name="144">[page 144]</a></span>
+yourself to them in any manner but will insist on
+their cessation, and that you will do this in a way
+that I may always have cause to remain your very
+humble servant as I desire to do with all my heart.
+Above all, write to me your good pleasure, and I implore
+you, Monseigneur, if there be any service that I
+can render you, I am the one who would wish to
+employ all that God has given me [to do it]. Written
+at Namur, August 16th.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"Your very humble and obedient subject,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />
+
+"CHARLES."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict
+the punishment that the culprits had, to his mind,
+too long escaped.</p>
+<p>
+Commines calls this a strong and rich town,
+superior even to Liege.<a href="#VII13"><sup>13</sup></a> A comparison of the two
+sites shows, however, that this statement could
+hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in
+a narrow space between the Meuse and high land.
+A lofty rock at one end of the town dominating
+the river is crowned by a fortress most picturesque
+in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how
+many inhabitants there actually were in the
+place in 1466, but there is no doubt as to their
+energy and character. As mentioned before, the
+artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their
+specialty, and their brass work was renowned far
+and wide. Pots and pans and other utensils
+were known as <i>Dinanderies</i>.</p>
+
+<p>
+The traffic in them was so important that<span class="page"><a name="145">[page 145]</a></span>
+Dinant had had her own commercial relations
+with England for a long period. Her merchants
+enjoyed the same privileges in London as the
+members of the Hanseatic League, and an English
+company was held in high respect at Dinant.<a href="#VII14"><sup>14</sup></a>
+The brass-founders' gild ranked at Dinant as the
+drapers at Louvain, and the weavers at Ghent.
+As a "great gild they formed a middle class between
+the lower gilds and the <i>bourgeois</i>," the merchants
+and richer folk.<a href="#VII15"><sup>15</sup></a> In municipal matters
+each of these three classes had a separate vote.</p>
+
+<p>
+As it happened, Dinant had not been very
+ready to open hostilities against the House of
+Burgundy though she was equally critical of
+Louis of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It
+was undoubtedly her rivalry with Bouvignes of
+Namur that brought her into the strife. That
+neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation,
+and the fact that it was safe under the Duke of
+Burgundy and backed by him as Count of Namur,
+had brought a Burgundian element into the local
+contest.</p>
+<p>
+The incidents of the insult to Charles and the
+aspersion on his mother's reputation undoubtedly
+were due to an irresponsible rabble rather than
+to any action that could properly be attributed
+to the leading men. Further, it really seems
+probable that the weight attached to the insulting
+act never occurred to the respectable burghers<span class="page"><a name="146">[page 146]</a></span>
+until they heard of it from others, so insignificant
+were the participants in it.</p>
+<p>
+As soon as it was realised that serious consequences
+might result from reckless folly, the
+authorities were quite ready to separate themselves
+from the event, and to arrest the culprits
+as common malefactors. Once, indeed, the prisoners
+were temporarily rescued by their friends,
+and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a
+suspicious circumstance that this happened just at
+a moment when there was renewed hope for help
+from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes
+were vain, the magistrates became seriously
+alarmed and ready to go to any lengths to avert
+Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following
+letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy:<a href="#VII16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The poor, humble and obedient servants and
+subjects of the most reverend father in God, Louis
+of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege; and your petty neighbours
+and borderers, the burgomaster's council and
+folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to
+their knowledge that the wrath of your grace has
+been aroused against the town on account of certain
+ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants thereof,
+in contempt of your honourable person. The city is
+as displeased about these words as it is possible to be,
+and far from wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested
+as many as could be found and now holds them in
+durance awaiting any punishment your <i>grace</i> may
+decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do
+your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your<span class="page"><a name="147"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 147]</span></a></span>
+anger to be appeased, holding the people of Dinant
+exonerated, and resting satisfied with the punishment
+of the guilty, inasmuch as the people are bitterly
+grieved on account of the insults and have, as before
+stated, arrested the culprits."</p>
+
+<p>
+With further apologies for any failure of duty
+towards the Duke of Burgundy, the petitioners
+humbly begged to be granted the same terms that
+Liege and the other towns had received. March
+31st is the date of this humble document. Months
+of doubt followed before the terrible experience
+of August proved the futility of their pleas, to
+which the ducal family refused to listen, so deep
+was their sense of personal aggrievement. Long
+as it was since the duchess had taken part in public
+affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And
+she, too, was implacable against the town where
+any citizen had dared accuse her of infidelity to
+her husband and to the Church whose interests
+were more to her than anything in the world
+except her son.<a href="#VII17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+The petition was as unheeded as were all the
+representations of the would-be mediators. Again
+Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XI. and
+with assurances that after God his royal majesty
+was their only hope, besought him from mere<span class="page"><a name="148">[page 148]</a></span>
+charity and pity to persuade his cousin of Burgundy
+to forgive them. Apparently Louis took
+no notice of this appeal. Dinant's last hope was
+that her fellow-communes of Liege would refuse
+to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included.
+The sole concession, obtained by their envoys to
+Charles in the winter, had been a short truce afterwards
+extended to May, 1466.</p>
+<p>
+During that summer the critical position of the
+little town was well known. Some sympathisers
+offered aid but it was aid that there was possible
+danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from
+Liege, who had been expressly excluded from the
+terms of the peace, had joined the ranks of a certain
+free lance company called "The Companions
+of the Green Tent," as their only shelter was the
+interlaced branches of the forest. To Dinant
+came this band to aid in her defence.<a href="#VII18"><sup>18</sup></a> At one
+time it seemed as though a peaceful accommodation
+might be reached but it fell through. Not
+yet were the citizens ready to surrender their
+charters&mdash;"Franchises,&mdash;to the rescue," was a
+frequent cry and no treaty was made.</p>
+
+<p>
+Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the
+reduction of this place in person. Too feeble to
+ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a litter, and
+arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then attended
+by a small escort only, he proceeded to
+Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point whence he
+could command a view of the scene of his son's<span class="page"><a name="149">[page 149]</a></span>
+intended operations. As the crisis became imminent
+there were a few further efforts to effect a
+reconciliation. When these failed, the town prepared
+to meet the worst.<a href="#VII19"><sup>19</sup></a> Stories gravely related
+by Du Clercq<a href="#VII20"><sup>20</sup></a> represent the people of Dinant
+goaded to actual fury of resistance.</p>
+
+<p>
+By August 7th, the Burgundian troops made
+their appearance, winding down to the river. Conspicuous
+among the standards&mdash;and nobles from
+all Philip's dominions were in evidence&mdash;was the
+banner of the Count of Charolais, displaying St.
+George slaying the dragon.</p>
+<p>
+On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested
+and the siege began. Within the walls the most
+turbulent element had gained complete control of
+affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to
+the winds. From the walls they hurled words
+at the foe:</p>
+<p>
+"Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you
+have brought him here to perish?<a href="#VII21"><sup>21</sup></a> Your Count
+Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him go fight the
+King of France at Montl'héry. If he waits for
+the noble Louis or the Liegeois he will have to
+take to his heels," etc.</p>
+
+<p>
+It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled
+with cannon-balls but there was no assault. By<span class="page"><a name="150">[page 150]</a></span>
+the sixth day the magistrates determined to send
+their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for
+mercy. The captain of the great gild of coppersmiths,
+Jean de Guérin, tried to encourage the
+faint-hearted to protest openly against this procedure.
+Seizing the city colours he declared:
+"I will trust to no humane sentiment. I am
+ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live
+or die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the
+town before the foe enter it." It was too late,
+the capitulation was made.</p>
+<p>
+When the keys were brought to Charles he
+remembered that he was not yet duke and ordered
+them presented to his father in his stead, and to
+his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task
+of formally accepting the surrender.</p>
+<p>
+It was late in the evening when the Bastard
+of Burgundy marched in. At first he held the
+incoming troops well under control, but the stores
+of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning
+there were wild scenes of disorder. When Charles
+arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday, just a
+week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness
+was checked with a strong hand. Any ill treatment
+of women was peculiarly repugnant to him,
+and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
+justice upon offenders.<a href="#VII22"><sup>22</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="anthony">[plate 13]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image13anthony.jpg" width="400" height="586" alt="ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+His entry into the fallen town was made with
+all the wonted Burgundian pomp. Nothing in the
+proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate<span class="page"><a name="151">[page 151]</a></span>
+manner. A council of war was held and the
+proceedings decided upon. The cruelty that was
+exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
+not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults
+to his mother and to himself rankled in the count's
+mind. As one author remarks<a href="#VII23"><sup>23</sup></a> with undoubted
+reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible
+for the insult were among those punished. After
+the siege, "pitiable it was to see, for the innocent
+suffered and the guilty escaped."</p>
+
+<p>
+Certain rich citizens bought their lives with
+large sums, others <i>were sold as slaves,</i><a href="#VII24"><sup>24</sup></a> or were
+hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into the
+Meuse.<a href="#VII25"><sup>25</sup></a> In the monasteries, life was conceded
+to the inmates but that was all. All their property
+was confiscated. The Count of St. Pol, now Constable
+of France, tried to intercede for the citizens
+with Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to
+no result. It might have been chance or it might
+have been intentional that at last flames completed
+the work of destruction. The abode of
+Adolph of Cleves, at the corner of Nôtre Dame,
+was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the
+morning of Thursday, August 28th.</p>
+
+<p>
+That Charles was responsible for this conflagration
+Du Clercq thinks is incredible.<a href="#VII26"><sup>26</sup></a> He would<span class="page"><a name="152">[page 152]</a></span>
+certainly have saved all ecclesiastical property
+which was almost completely consumed. Indeed,
+Charles gave orders to extinguish the flames as
+soon as they were discovered, but every one was
+so occupied with saving his own portion of booty
+that nothing was accomplished and the town-hall
+caught fire and the church of Nôtre Dame. From
+the latter some ornaments and treasures were
+saved and the bones of Ste. Perpète, with other
+holy relics, were rescued by Charles himself at risk
+to his own life.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"It was never known how the fire originated.
+Some say it was due to a defective flue. To my
+mind," [concludes the pious historian], <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#VII27"><sup>27</sup></a></span> "it was the
+Divine Will that Dinant should be destroyed on
+account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I
+trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone
+lost more than a hundred thousand crowns' value."</p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Cy fust Dinant</i>, "Dinant was," is the sum of his
+description, four days after the conflagration. <a href="#VII28"><sup>28</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+On September 1st, Philip, who had remained
+at Bouvignes while all this passed under the
+direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down
+to Namur. It was almost a triumph,&mdash;that trip
+that proved one of the last ever made by the proud
+duke&mdash;and the procession on the river and the
+entry into Namur were closed by a humble embassy<span class="page"><a name="153">[page 153]</a></span>
+from Liege in regard to certain points of
+their peace.</p>
+<p>
+Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the
+Count of St. Pol's men had had no part in the
+plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the poor
+fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their
+mercies, as a compensation for this deprivation,
+the little town of Tuin, which had been rebellious
+and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, submitted
+to St. Pol, and then compounded the right
+of pillage for a round sum of money. Moreover,
+they promised to lay low their gates and their
+walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is
+said that the constable made ten thousand
+Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men felt
+ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant.</p>
+<p>
+Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare
+on the various towns of Liege territory. The
+people of Liege themselves seem to have varied
+in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being
+very humble in their petitions for peace and again
+very insolent. As a rule, this conduct seems to
+be traceable to their hope of Louis's support.
+On September 7th, there was one pitched battle
+where victory decided the final terms of the
+general peace, and after various skirmishes and
+submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the
+winter and joined his father at Brussels.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#130">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="VII1">Doc</a>. inédits sur l'hist. de France</i>. "Mélanges," ii., 398.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#130">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="VII2">Polain</a>, <i>Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liège</i>,
+I, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#132">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="VII3">See</a> Kirk, <i>Charles the Bold</i>, i., 329.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#133">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="VII4">Jacques</a> de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of
+difficulty in Liege government:</p>
+<ol><li>
+The size of the council&mdash;two hundred, where twenty
+would do.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to
+size, when all were assembled by the council to vote on a
+matter.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+Facile naturalisation laws.</li></ol>
+<p class="footnote">
+(<i>See</i> Kirk, i., 325.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#135">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="VII5">In</a> many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is
+probable that it was only partially operative.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#136">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="VII6">See</a> Victor Hugo, <i>Le Rhin</i>, i. The Walloon dialect varies
+greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the
+"Prodigal Son" as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille:</p>
+<ul class="none"><li>
+LIEGE. Jésus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis.
+Li pus jone dérit à s'père: père dinnez-m'con qui m'dent riv'
+ni di vosse bin; et l'père lezi partagea s'bin.<br /><br />
+</li><li>
+HUY. Jésus l'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li
+peus jone dérit a s'père etc.<br  /><br />
+</li><li>
+LILLE. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux garchens.
+L'pus jeune dit à sin père-mon père donez me ch que
+j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et l'père leu-z-a doné a chacun leu
+parchen. </li></ul>
+<p class="footnote">
+See also <i>Doc. inédits concernant l'hist. de la Belgique</i>,
+ii., 238, for comment on Scott's treatment of the language.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#136">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="VII7">The</a> numbers are probably exaggerated.  To-day it
+contains about two hundred thousand.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#139">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="VII8">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 203.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#140">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="VII9">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 249.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#141">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="VII10">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 239-262.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#142">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="VII11">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 285, 322. For letters and negotiations
+anterior to this peace see p. 197 <i>et seq</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#143">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="VII12">Duclos</a>, v., 236.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#144">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="VII13">Book</a> ii., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight thousand
+inhabitants.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#145">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="VII14">In</a> addition to Commines and Du Clercq <i>see also</i> Kirk, i.,
+385, for quotations from Borgnet and others.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#145">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="VII15">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 213, <i>et passim</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#146">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="VII16">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.,</i> ii., 350.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#147">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="VII17">Est</a> falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse
+de Bourgogne, à cause desdictes injures at conclut telle
+hayne sur cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a juré comme on
+dist que s'il li devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner
+cestedite ville en mettant toutes personnes à l'espée. (Gachard,
+<i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 222.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#148">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="VII18">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 337, <i>et passim</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#149">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="VII19">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 273.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#149">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="VII20">He</a> says messengers were put to death without regard
+to their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from
+limb. Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say
+mass, and the situation was strained to the last degree.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#149">[Footnote 21:</a> <i><a name="VII21">Qui</a> a mandé ce vieil monnart vostre duc</i>, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#150">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="VII22">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 278.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#151">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="VII23">De</a> Ram, <i>Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de Liége,</i>
+"Henricus de Merica," p. 159.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#151">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="VII24">Vel</a> vendebantur in servos. See De Ram <i>et passim</i> for
+documents.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#151">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="VII25">It</a> seems to be well attested that the prisoners were tied
+together and drowned.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#152">[Footnote 26:</a> <a name="VII26">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 280.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#152">[Footnote 27:</a> <i><a name="VII27">Ibid</a>.</i>, 281.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#152">[Footnote 28:</a> <a name="VII28">In</a> 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly
+called Dinant" and after that, little by little, the town came
+to life. (Gachard, <i>Analectes Belgiques</i>, 318, etc.).]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="154">[page 154]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="VIII">VIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE NEW DUKE</h3>
+
+<h4>1467</h4>
+<p>
+The Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where
+he witnessed the manner in which his authority
+was vindicated was his last effort. In
+the early summer following, on Friday, June 10th,
+Philip, then at Bruges, was taken ill and died on
+the following Monday, June 13th, between nine
+and ten in the evening.<a href="#VIII1"><sup>1</sup></a> Charles was summoned
+on the Sunday, and it seemed as though his horse's
+hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he rode, so
+swift was his course on the way to Bruges.</p>
+
+<p>
+When he reached the house where his father lay
+dying, he was told that speech had already ceased,
+but that there was still life. The count threw
+himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all
+tenderness, and implored a paternal benediction
+and pardon for all wherein he had offended his
+father. Near the duke stood his confessor who
+begged the dying man to make a sign if he could
+still understand what was said to him. On this<span class="page"><a name="155">[page 155]</a></span>
+admonition and in reply to his son's prayers,
+Philip turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him
+and pressed the hand which was laid upon his own,
+but further token was beyond his strength. The
+count stayed by his side until he breathed his
+last.</p>
+<p>
+Thus ended the life of a man who had been
+a striking figure in Europe for forty years.
+His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been
+fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the
+Holy Land from the invading Turks had proved
+vain. Many years had passed since he had had
+military success of any kind, and even in his
+earlier life his successes had been owing to diplomacy
+and to a happy conjunction of circumstances
+rather than to skilful generalship. He
+possessed pre-eminently the power of personality.</p>
+<p>
+When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge
+at Montereau and Philip came into his heritage,
+Henry V. of England was in the full flush of his
+prosperity, standing triumphant over England
+and France, and in a position to make good his
+claim with three stalwart brothers to back him.
+All these young men had died prematurely.
+Their only descendant was Henry VI., and that
+meagre and wretched representative of the ambitious
+Henry V. had had no spark of the character
+of his father and uncles. The one vigorous element
+in his life was his wife, Margaret of Anjou,
+who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband
+on his throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467,<span class="page"><a name="156">[page 156]</a></span>
+Edward of York was on that throne. Gone, too,
+was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded
+his early, whose son darkened his latter years.</p>
+<p>
+Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke
+Philip alone had marched steadily to every desired
+goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate list of
+his achievements in doggerel verses:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"John was born of Philip, child of good King John.<br />
+To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son.<br />
+Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed to me<br />
+Therein to follow him and rule them legally.<br />
+With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm greater grew.<br />
+Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too.<br />
+The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied,<br />
+By force of right and arms they have been pacified.<br />
+At one single time against me were maintained<br />
+French, English, German forces,&mdash;nothing have they gained.<br />
+Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great array.<br />
+From me he begged a peace and king was from that day!<br />
+The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered seven.<br />
+Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given.<br />
+Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted,<br />
+But I put them down. I would not be insulted.<br />
+In Barrois and Lorraine, King René warred upon me.<br />
+Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he.<br />
+Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee,<span class="page"><a name="157">[page&nbsp;157]</a></span><br />
+From me received his crown. Five years my guest was he.<br />
+Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land;<br />
+That now he's England's king is due my aid and hand.<br />
+To defend the Church, which is the House Divine,<br />
+The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order mine.<br />
+Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength,<br />
+My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length.<br />
+In later days I planned and most sincerely meant<br />
+To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent.<br />
+When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained,<br />
+Through my control alone as Pope was he retained.<br />
+In 1467, Time my goal has set.<br />
+When I am seventy-one, I pay Dame Nature's debt.<br />
+With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here.<br />
+As in life I ever was their equal and their peer.<br />
+Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed,<br />
+Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed!"</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+The territories thus named, that passed to the
+new duke, covered a goodly space of earth. Had
+Philip not slacked his ambition at a critical time,
+undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather
+than a ducal crown to his son. He did not so will
+it, and, moreover, in a way he had receded from
+his independence as he had accepted feudal obligations
+towards Louis XI. which he never had
+towards Charles VII.</p>
+<p>
+Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser
+of the French king, he had emphasised his position
+as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke of<span class="page"><a name="158">[page 158]</a></span>
+Burgundy <i>par excellence</i> that Philip died, as the
+typical peer whose luxury and magnificence far
+surpassed the state possible to his acknowledged
+liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of
+attempting to turn that ducal state into state
+royal, and of establishing a realm which should
+hold the balance of power between France and
+Germany.</p>
+<p>
+There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to
+which was the greater, the cleverer, the more
+powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles
+the duke. Had not the former been a beggarly
+suppliant at his father's gates, as dauphin? As
+king, had he not been forced to yield at the gates
+of his own capital to every demand made by
+Charles, standing as the conscientious representative
+of the public welfare of France?</p>
+<p>
+Had not Louis befriended the contumelious
+neighbour of Charles, only to learn that his Burgundian
+cousin could and would deal summarily
+with all protests against his authority among the
+lesser folk on Netherland territory?</p>
+<p>
+The Croys made an attempt to gain the new
+duke's friendship, as appears from this letter to
+Duke Charles:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has
+pleased Our Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw
+from the world the good Duke Philip, our beloved
+lord and father, prince of glorious memory, august
+duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron
+and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity,<span class="page"><a name="159"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 159]</span></a></span>
+and the dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds,
+he has won an immortal name among living men, and
+deserves to our mind to find grace before the merciful
+bounty of God whom we implore to pardon his faults.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous
+death shows what is to be expected by all mortals.
+How many lands, how many nobles, how many peoples,
+how many treasures, and how many powers would
+have been ready to prevent what has come to pass,
+and how many prayers would have risen to God
+could He have prevented this death!...</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is
+the end of all evils and the beginning of all benefits,
+but still your loss and ours cannot pass without affliction.
+Nevertheless, our most puissant lord, when we
+consider that we are not left orphans, and that you,
+his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause for
+comfort.</p>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+ &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"We implore you to be pleased to count us your
+loyal subjects and very humble servitors and to permit
+us to go to you, to thus declare ourselves, etc.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"A. DE CROY,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br />
+"J. DE CROY."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La
+Marche was in England, whither he had accompanied
+the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to
+King Edward.<a href="#VIII2"><sup>2</sup></a> Right royally had the latter
+received the embassy.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Clad in purple, the garter on his leg and a great
+baton in his hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage
+worthy of being king, for he was a fine prince with a<span class="page"><a name="160"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 160]</span></a></span>
+grand manner. A count held the sword in front of
+him, and around his throne were from twenty to
+twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking
+like senators gathered together to advise their master."</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a
+tourney given in honour of the embassy which
+La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The
+Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian
+coat-of-arms with a bar sinister, made a fine
+record for himself.</p>
+<p>
+After the tournament he invited the ladies to a
+Sunday dinner,</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"especially the Queen and her sisters and made great
+preparations therefor and then we departed, Thomas
+de Loreille, Bailiff of Caux, and I to go to Brittany to
+accomplish our embassy. We arrived at Pleume
+and were obliged to await wind and boats to go into
+Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke
+of Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great
+was the bastard's mourning when he heard of his
+father's death, and how the nobility who were with
+him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into
+tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all
+valour.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In his life he accomplished two things to the full.
+One was he died as the richest prince of his time, for
+he left four hundred thousand crowns of gold cash,
+seventy-two thousand marks of silver plate, without
+counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes garnished
+with precious stones, a large and well equipped
+library, and rich furniture. For the second, he died
+as the most liberal duke of his time. He married his<span class="page"><a name="161">[<span style="font-size:1.1em">page 161]</span></a></span>
+nieces at his own expense; he bore the whole cost of
+great wars several times. At his own expense, he
+refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave
+ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy
+at Rhodes; ... No one went from him who
+was not well recompensed. The state he maintained
+was almost royal. For five years he supported Monseigneur
+the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned
+that all the world spoke well of him."</p>
+<p>
+The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the
+English court and hastened to Bruges to join his
+brother, the Count of Charolais, who received him
+warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, "when
+I mention the said count I will call him the Duke
+of Burgundy as is reasonable."</p>
+<p>
+Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the
+church of St. Donat in Bruges, there to repose
+until it could be taken to Burgundy to be buried at
+Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses
+the funeral with a brief phrase as he was not himself
+present at Bruges, being busied in Brittany.
+There was a memorial service there, the finest he
+ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted
+in the chapel decorations, not merely pinned on,<a href="#VIII3"><sup>3</sup></a>
+a fact that impressed the chronicler. No nobles,
+not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
+put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared
+that none but him was worthy of the honour for so
+high a prince.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the<span class="page"><a name="162"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 162]</span></a></span>
+service I went to thank him for the reverence he had
+shown the House of Burgundy, and he responded that
+he had only done his duty. Then I finished my business
+as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again
+and returned to my new master."</p>
+
+<p>
+In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the
+Duke of Burgundy,<a href="#VIII4"><sup>4</sup></a> Chastellain recounts, more
+at length than La Marche, all that his great master
+had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe
+the duke as he knew him.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+He was medium in height, rather slight but
+straight as a rush, strong in hip and in arm, his
+figure well-knit. His neck was admirably proportioned
+to his body, his hand and foot were
+slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his
+veins were full-blooded. Like all his ancestors,
+his face was long, as was his nose, his forehead
+high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
+brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows
+the same colour, but the former curly, the
+latter were bushy and inclined to stand up like
+horns when he was angry. His mouth was well-proportioned,
+his lips full and high-coloured; his
+eyes were grey, sometimes arrogant but usually
+amiable in expression. His personality corresponded
+perfectly to his appearance. His countenance
+showed his character, and his character
+was a witness to the truth of his physiognomy.
+Nothing was contradictory, perfect was the
+harmony between the inner and the outer man,<span class="page"><a name="163"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 163]</span></a></span>
+between the nobility of thought and the simple
+dignity, well-poised and graceful. Among the
+great ones of this earth, he was like a star in
+heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
+and a man unique."</p>
+<p class="quote">
+It was for his bearing rather than his beauty
+that he commanded universal admiration. In a
+stable he would have looked like an image in a
+temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Whereever
+his body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready
+for the demands of the hour. He was singularly
+joyous and nicely tempered in speech with so
+much personal magnetism that he could mollify
+any enemy if he could only meet him face to face.
+His dress was always rich and appropriate. He
+was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in
+tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase.
+He liked to linger at the table and demanded good
+serving but was really moderate in his tastes,
+as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence
+ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never
+heard from him. To all alike his speech was courteous
+even when there was nothing to be gained.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips,
+his mouth was equal to his seal and his spoken
+word to his written. Loyal as fine gold and
+whole as an egg." Chastellain repeats himself
+somewhat in the profusion of his eulogy, but such
+are the main points of his characterisation. Then
+he proceeds to some qualifications:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I acknowledge<span class="page"><a name="164"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 164]</span></a></span>
+that he had faults. None is perfect except
+God. Often he was very careless in administration,
+and he neglected questions of justice, of finance,
+and of commerce in a way that may redound to the
+injury of his house. The excuse urged is that it was
+his deputies who were at fault. The answer to that
+is that he trusted too much to deputies and should not
+be excused for his confidence. A ruler ought to understand
+his business himself.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his
+heart at the desire of his eyes. At the desire of
+his heart he multiplied his pleasures. His wishes
+were easy to attain. What he wanted was offered
+freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his
+wife, a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For
+this I offer no excuse. To God I leave the cause.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Another fault was that he was not wise in his
+treatment of his nobles. Especially in his old age
+he often preferred the less worthy, the less capable
+advisers. The answer to this charge is that, as his
+health failed, whoever was by his side obtained ascendency
+over him and succeeded in keeping the others
+at a distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the
+excuse is to the princely invalid. In his solitude
+even valets used their power, as is not wonderful.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"He went late to mass and often out of hours.
+Sometimes he had it celebrated at two o'clock or even
+three, and in so doing he exceeded all Christian
+observance. For this there is no excuse that I dare
+allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had,
+indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for
+causes which he explained, <i>and he only</i> is responsible.
+God alone can judge about him.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered<span class="page"><a name="165"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 165]</span></a></span>
+for this neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice
+to deplore, nor the nature of man to lament the perdition
+of such a soul and of such a prince. Hell is not
+worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. O
+God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single
+virtuous act, do not suffer this man to descend
+therein!"</p>
+
+ <p>
+Having thus tried his best to give a vivid description
+of the father's personality, while acknowledging
+that he is not sure of the fate of
+his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an
+excellent moment to paint the son, too, for all
+time, in view of his mortality. "I will use the past
+tense so that my words may be good for always."</p>
+<p>
+Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than
+Duke Philip, but well formed, strong in arm and
+thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set and
+a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted
+to activity. The contour of his face was rounder
+than that of his father, his complexion brunette.
+His eyes were black and laughing, angelically
+clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as
+though his father looked out of them. Like his
+father's mouth was his, full and red. His nose
+was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair
+black. His forehead was fine, his neck white
+and well set, though always bent as he walked.
+He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but
+nevertheless he was a fine prince with a fair outer
+man.</p>
+<p>
+When he began to speak he often found difficulty<span class="page"><a name="166">[page 166]</a></span>
+in expressing himself, but once started his
+speech became fluent, even eloquent. His voice
+was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although
+he had studied the technique and was fond of
+music. In conversation he was more logical
+than his father, but very tenacious of his own
+opinion and vehement in its expression, although,
+at the bottom, he was just to all men.</p>
+<p>
+In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He
+listened to others' arguments judicially and gave
+them due weight before his own concluded the
+discussion. He was attentive to his own business
+to a fault, for he was rather more industrious
+than became a prince. Economical of his own
+time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates
+and worked them very hard. He was fond of his
+servants and fairly affable, though occasionally
+sharp in his words. His memory was long and his
+anger dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed
+him, but being naturally impetuous there was
+often a struggle between impulse and reason.</p>
+<p>
+He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the
+Virgin Mary, rigid in his fasts, lavish in charity.
+He was determined to avoid death and to hold
+on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's
+peer in valour. Like his father, he dressed
+richly; unlike him, he cared more for silver than
+for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual
+to princes and was always master of himself.
+He drank little wine, though he liked it, because
+he found that it engendered fever in him. His<span class="page"><a name="167">[page 167]</a></span>
+only beverage was water just coloured with wine.
+He was inclined to no indulgence or wantonness.
+"At the hour in which I write his taste for hard
+labour is excessive, but in other respects his good
+sense has dominated him, at least thus far. It is
+to be hoped that as his reign grows older he will
+curb his over-strenuous industry."</p>
+<p>
+As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets
+that circumstances have turned him towards
+England. Naturally he belonged to the French,
+and it was a pity that the machinations of the
+king, "whose crooked ways are well known to
+God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on
+his forehead he wears the fleur-de-lys."</p>
+<p>
+Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused
+of avarice, but defends him on the ground that he
+has been driven into collecting a large army. "A
+penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of
+another." "To take precautions in advance is a
+way to save honour and property," prudently adds
+the historian, who evidently flourishes his maxims
+to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's
+economy, which, quite as evidently, is not pleasing
+to him. "I have seen him the very opposite
+of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in
+largesse. When he came into his seigniory his
+nature did not change." It was simply the exigencies
+of his critical position that forced him to
+restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain
+the undeserved reputation for parsimony.</p>
+<p>
+It was also said that he was a very hard taskmaster,<span class="page"><a name="168">[page 168]</a></span>
+but as a matter of fact he demanded
+nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to
+undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was
+his own commander, drew up his own troops
+himself in battle array, and then passed from
+one end of the line to the other, encouraging the
+men individually with cheery words, promising
+them glory and profit, and pledging himself to
+share their dangers. In victory he was restrained
+and showed more mercy than cruelty.</p>
+<p>
+After expatiating on the points where Charles
+was like his father&mdash;conventional princely qualities
+&mdash;Chastellain adds: "In some respects they differed.
+The one was cold and the other boiling with
+ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other
+strenuous in his promptness; the elder negligent
+of his own concerns, the younger diligent and alert.
+They differed in the amount of time consumed
+at meals and in the number of guests whom they
+entertained. They differed more or less in their
+voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in
+the way in which they took solace and amusement."
+But in all other respects, "in life they marched
+side by side as equals and if it please God He will
+be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the
+final assurance of their eulogist.</p>
+<p>
+Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his adjectives
+about his patron, there is considerable
+discrimination between his summaries of the two
+dukes. It is very evident that from his accession
+Charles was less of a favourite than his father.<span class="page"><a name="169">[page 169]</a></span>
+While endeavouring to be as complimentary as
+possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out
+between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and
+thus never saw Charles's final disaster. But the
+violence of his character had inspired lack of confidence
+in his power of achievement, a violence
+that made people dislike him as Philip with all
+his faults was never disliked.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#154">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="VIII1">Du</a> Clercq, iv., 302 <i>et seq</i>. Erasmus was born in this
+year, 1467.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#159">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="VIII2">II</a>., 49.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#161">[Footnote 3:</a> "<a name="VIII3">Non</a> par armes attachées à espingles."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#162">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="VIII4">&OElig;uvres</a></i>, vii., 213.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="170">[page 170]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="IX">IX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY</h3>
+
+<h4>1467</h4>
+<p>
+After the dauphin was crowned at Rheims,
+he was monarch over all his domains.
+Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a
+series of ceremonies to perform before he was properly
+invested with the various titles worn by his
+father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be
+taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited.
+Then he had to exchange pledges of fidelity with
+his Flemish subjects before receiving recognition
+as Count of Flanders.</p>
+<p>
+According to the custom of his predecessors,
+Charles stayed at the little village of Swynaerde,
+near Ghent, the night before he made his "joyous
+entry" into that city. It had chanced that the
+day selected by Charles for the event was St.
+Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of the
+workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed
+conveniently in a portable shrine, rested in the
+cathedral church, whence they were carried once a
+year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession
+to the little village of Houthem, where the blessed
+saint had suffered martyrdom in the seventh century.<span class="page"><a name="171">[page 171]</a></span>
+All day and all night the saint's devotees,
+the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, remained
+at this spot. Merry did the festival become
+as the hours wore on, for good cheer was
+carried thither as well as the sacred shrine.</p>
+<p>
+Now the magistrates were a little apprehensive
+about the rival claims of the new count of
+Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They
+knew that they could not cut short the time-honoured
+celebration for the sake of the sovereign's
+inauguration, so they decided to prolong
+the former, and directed that the saint should leave
+town on Saturday and not return until Monday.
+This left Sunday free for the young count's entry.
+It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction
+of events to the city fathers, because the more
+turbulent portion of the citizens was sure to follow
+the saint.</p>
+<p>
+Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and
+dignified entrance,<a href="#IX1"><sup>1</sup></a> having paused at the gates to
+listen to the fair words of Master Mathys de Groothuse
+as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of
+Flanders, and requested God to receive the present
+one, when he, too, was forced to leave earth, as
+graciously as Ghent was receiving him that day.
+All passed well; oaths of fealty were duly taken
+and given at the church of St. John the Baptist.
+Charles himself pulled the bell rope according
+to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of
+Flanders was in possession. This all took place in<span class="page"><a name="172">[page 172]</a></span>
+the morning of June 28th. At the close of the
+ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and
+the magistrates to their dwellings.</p>
+
+<p>
+The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their
+holiday until Monday afternoon. It was five
+o'clock<a href="#IX2"><sup>2</sup></a> when the revellers returned to Ghent.
+Many of the saint's followers were, by that time,
+more or less under the influence of the contents
+of the casks which had formed part of the outward-bound
+burden. The protracted holiday-making
+had its natural sequence. There was, however,
+too much method in the next proceedings for it
+to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety.</p>
+
+<p>
+The procession passed through the city gate
+and entered a narrow street near the corn market,
+where stood a little house used as headquarters for
+the collection of the <i>cueillotte</i>, a tax on every article
+brought into the city for sale, and one particularly
+obnoxious to the people. Suddenly a cry
+was raised and echoed from rank to rank of St.
+Lievin's escort, "Down with the <i>cueillotte</i>."</p>
+<p>
+Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic
+crowd, quick to take a fantastic advantage of a
+situation, a second cry was heard: "St. Lievin
+must go through the house. Lievin is a saint
+who never turns aside from his route."</p>
+<p>
+Delightful thought, followed by speedy action.
+Axes were produced and wielded to good effect.</p>
+<p>
+Down came the miniature customs-house in a<span class="page"><a name="173">[page 173]</a></span>
+flash. Little pieces of the ruin were elevated on
+sticks and carried by some of the rabble as standards
+with the cry "I have it&mdash;I have it." As
+they marched the procession was constantly augmented
+and the cries become more decidedly
+revolutionary: "Kill, kill these craven spoilers
+of God and of the world.<a href="#IX3"><sup>3</sup></a> Where are they? Let
+us seek them out and slay them in their houses,
+those who have flourished at our pitiable expense."</p>
+
+<p>
+This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of
+St. Lievin's mantle, resistance to regularly instituted
+customs could hardly be described by any
+other name. Excited by their own temerity,
+the crowd now surged on to the great market-place
+in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where the
+Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint
+promptly to his safe abiding-place as was meet.</p>
+<p>
+There the lawless deeds&mdash;lawless to the duke's
+mind certainly&mdash;became more audacious. Counterparts
+of the very banners whose prohibition
+had been part of the sentence in 1453 were unfurled,<a href="#IX4"><sup>4</sup></a>
+and their possession alone proved insurrectionary
+premeditation on the part of the gild
+leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the
+young duke in their midst felt it was an open insult
+to him as sovereign count.</p>
+
+<p>
+His messenger failed to return from the market-place.
+His master became impatient and followed<span class="page"><a name="174">[page 174]</a></span>
+him to the scene of action with a small escort. As
+they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged
+them in. The nobles became alarmed and urged
+the duke to return, but cries from the crowd
+promised safety to his person. To the steps of the
+Hôtel de Ville rode the duke, his face dark, menacing
+with suppressed wrath.<a href="#IX5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+As he dismounted, he turned towards a man
+whom he thought he saw egging on a disturbance
+and struck him with his riding whip, saying, "I
+know you." The man was quick enough to
+realise the value of the duke's violence at that
+moment and cried, "Strike again," but the Seigneur
+Groothuse, who had already tried to check
+Charles's anger and to curb the popular turbulence,
+exclaimed, "For the love of God do not
+strike again!" The wiser burgher at once understood
+the unstable temper of the mob, which had
+been fairly civil to the duke up to this moment.
+There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the
+blow would cost him dear.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mischief
+was so imminent that God alone averted it,
+and there was not an archer or noble or man so full
+of assurance that he did not tremble with fear, nor
+one who would not have preferred to be in India
+for his own safety. Especially were they in terror
+for their young prince, who, they thought, was exposed
+to a dolorous death."</p>
+
+<p>
+It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster:<span class="page"><a name="175">[page 175]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Do you not see that your life and ours hang on a
+silken thread? Do you think you can coerce a rabble
+like this by threats and hard words&mdash;a rabble who
+at this moment do not value you more than the least
+of us? They are beside themselves, they have neither
+reason nor understanding.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IX6"><sup>6</sup></a></span>... If you
+are ready to die, I am not, except in spite of myself.
+You must try quite a different method&mdash;appease
+them by sweetness and save your house and your
+life.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"What could you do alone? How the gods would
+laugh! Your courage is out of place here unless it
+enables you to calm yourself and give an example
+to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom
+you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They
+were within the town hall.] Show yourself and you
+will make an impression by your good sense and all
+will go well."</p>
+
+<p>
+To this eminently sound advice the young duke
+yielded. He appeared on a balcony or on the upper
+steps of the town hall and stood ready to harangue
+his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment
+sufficed to still the turmoil and the silence showed
+a readiness to hear him speak.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish,
+but he was wise enough to use that tongue. One
+trait of the Ghenters was respect for the person
+of their overlord. When that overlord showed
+any disposition to meet them half-way the response
+was usually immediate. So it was now. The<span class="page"><a name="176">[page 176]</a></span>
+crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin,
+and not to the duke's joyous entry, suddenly remembered
+that his welcome had been strangely
+ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings.
+"Take heart, Monseigneur. Have no fear. For
+you we will live and die and none shall be so
+audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fellows
+with no bump of reverence, endure it for the
+moment. Later you shall be avenged. No time
+now for fear."</p>
+<p>
+This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently
+appeased to address the crowd as "My children,"
+and to assure them that if they would but meet
+him in peaceful conference, their grievances
+should be redressed. "Welcome, welcome! we
+are indeed your children and recognise your
+goodness."</p>
+<p>
+Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech
+than was possible either to Charles's Flemish or to
+his mood. This address was equally well received,
+and matters were in train for the appointment of
+a conference between popular representatives and
+the new Count of Flanders, when suddenly a tall,
+rude fellow climbed up to the balcony from the
+square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to
+strike on the wall, he commanded attention and
+turned gravely to address the audience as though
+he were on the accredited list of speakers:</p>
+<p>
+"My brothers, down there assembled to set your
+complaints before your prince, your first wish&mdash;is
+it not?&mdash;is to punish the ill governors of this town<span class="page"><a name="177">[page 177]</a></span>
+and those who have defrauded you and him alike."</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle
+crowd.&mdash;"You desire the suppression of the <i>cueillotte</i>,
+do you not?"&mdash;"Yes, yes."&mdash;"You want all
+your gates opened again, your banners restored,
+and your privileges reinforced as of yore?"&mdash;"Yes,
+yes." The self-appointed envoy turned calmly to
+Charles and said:</p>
+<p>
+"Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have
+come together to ask you. This is your task. I
+have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear, they
+make my words their own."</p>
+<p>
+Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified
+ejaculation over the extraordinary insolence of
+this big villain, who thus audaciously associated
+himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty
+of God, think of such an outrageous and intolerable
+piece of villainy being committed before the
+eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to
+come and stand side by side with such a gentleman
+as our seigneur, and to proffer words inimical to
+his authority&mdash;words the poorest noble in the
+world would hardly have endured! And yet it
+was necessary for this noble prince to endure and
+to tolerate it for the moment, and needful that he
+should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough
+to kill him with grief."</p>
+<p>
+Groothuse's answer to the man was mild.
+Evidently he did not think it was a safe moment
+to exasperate the mob: "'My friend, there
+was no necessity of your intruding up here, a<span class="page"><a name="178">[page 178]</a></span>
+place reserved for the prince and his nobles.
+From below, you could have been heard and
+Monseigneur could have answered you as well
+there as here. He requires no advocate to make
+him content his people. You are a strange master.
+Get down. Go down below and keep to your
+mates. Monseigneur will do right by every one.'</p>
+<p>
+"Off went the rascal and I do not know what
+became of him. The duke and his nobles were
+simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage
+and his impudent daring."</p>
+<p>
+The sober report<a href="#IX7"><sup>7</sup></a> is less detailed and elaborate,
+but the thread is the same. Monseigneur, having
+returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur de la
+Groothuse, Jean Petitpas, and Richard Utenhove
+back to the market to invite the people to put
+their grievances in writing. A draft was made
+and carried to the duke. After he had examined
+it and discussed it with his council, he sent Monseigneur
+de la Groothuse back to the market-place
+to tell the people that he wanted to sleep
+on the proposition and would give his answer
+at an early hour on the morrow. All through the
+night the people remained in arms on the market-place.
+At about eight o'clock on June 30th
+Groothuse returned, thanked the people in the
+count's name for having kept such good watch,
+and was answered by cries of "<i>À bas la cueillotte</i>."</p>
+
+<p>
+Then he assured them that all was pardoned and
+that they should obtain what they had asked in<span class="page"><a name="179">[page 179]</a></span>
+the draft. Only he requested them to appoint
+a committee of six to present their demands to
+Monseigneur and then to go home. This they did.
+St. Lievin was restored to the church and his followers
+betook themselves to the gates specified
+in the treaty of Gaveren. These they broke
+down, and also destroyed another house where
+was a tax collector's office.</p>
+<p>
+"The report of these events carried to Monseigneur
+did not have a good effect upon his
+spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted
+the city." The members of the corporation with
+the two deans and the popular committee of six
+having obtained audience before his departure,
+Groothuse acted as spokesman: "We implore
+you in all humility to pardon us for the insult
+you have suffered, and to sign the paper presented.
+The bad have had more authority than the good,
+which could not be prevented, but we know truly
+that if the draft is not signed they will kill us."</p>
+<p>
+It is evident in all this story that the municipal
+authorities were frightened to death and that
+Charles allowed himself to be restrained to an
+extraordinary extent considering the undoubted
+provocation. His reasons for conciliatory measures
+were two, and literally were his ducats and
+his daughter. He had with him all the portable
+treasure and ready money that his father had had
+at Bruges, a large treasure and one on which he
+counted for his immediate military operations&mdash;operations
+very important to the position as a<span class="page"><a name="180">[page 180]</a></span>
+European power which he ardently desired to
+attain.</p>
+<p>
+Still more important was the fact that his young
+daughter, Mary, now eleven years old, was living
+in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of the city.
+If the unruly majority should realise their strength
+what easier for them than to seize the treasure
+and hold the daughter as hostage, until her father
+had acceded to every demand, and until democracy
+was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the
+neighbouring cities?</p>
+<p>
+Charles simply did not dare attempt further
+coercion of the democratic spirit until he was
+beyond the walls. It is evident that he was
+completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude
+towards him, as the city had always professed
+great personal attachment to him. But there
+was a difference between being heir and sovereign.
+The agreement was signed, with a mental reservation
+on the part of the Duke of Burgundy. He
+only intended to keep his pledge until he could see
+his way clear to make terms better to his liking.</p>
+<p>
+On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking
+his daughter and his treasure away, but a safe
+shelter for both was not easy to find. The duke's
+anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon
+her neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle
+fears. There were revolts of more or less importance
+at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and
+other places. Moreover, there was serious discussion
+in the estates assembled at Louvain as to<span class="page"><a name="181">[page 181]</a></span>
+whether Charles should be acknowledged as
+Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his
+cousin, the Count of Nevers, should be considered
+as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the late duke's
+title had never been considered perfect.</p>
+<p>
+Louis XI. seized the opportunity to urge the pretensions
+of the latter, and there were many reasons
+to recommend him, in the estimation of the
+Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a
+sovereign exclusively their own, instead of one
+with the widespread geographical interests of the
+Burgundian family. The final decision was, however,
+for Charles; a notice of the resolution of the
+deputies was sent to him at Mechlin, and he made
+his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he received
+homage from the nobles, the good cities,
+and the university.</p>
+<p>
+The various insurgent manifestations were
+promptly quelled one after another, but, with
+a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the
+duke was strongly impressed by them as personal
+insults. He blamed Ghent for their occurrence
+and deeply resented every one. Throughout
+Philip's whole career he remembered the localised
+tenure of his titles and the fact that they were not
+perfectly incontestable. For his own advantage
+he often found a conciliatory attitude the best
+policy. Charles considered all his rights heaven-born.
+Questioning his authority was rank rebellion.
+That he had accepted advice in regard to
+Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the<span class="page"><a name="182">[page 182]</a></span>
+nonce, did not mitigate his intense bitterness.</p>
+<p>
+In another town that gave him serious trouble
+at this time, nothing led him to curb the severity
+of his measures. Though only a "protector,"
+not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion
+in Liege he rigorously exacted the most complete
+and humiliating penalties. The city charters were
+abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As an
+unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth,
+walls and fortifications rased to the ground.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The perron on the market-place of the said town
+shall be taken down, and then Monseigneur the duke
+shall treat it according to his pleasure. The city
+may not remake the said perron, nor replace another
+like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city.
+Nor shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms
+of Liege." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#IX8"><sup>8</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+This was a terrible indignity for the city and a
+clear proof of their fear of their bishop's friend.</p>
+<p>
+The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent
+with the duke's power, and made the more timorous
+anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his
+mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their
+arguments, but the scene of abnegation and
+self-humiliation crowning their apology was not
+enacted until eighteen months after the events
+apologised for, when the new duke had still further
+proven his metal.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#171">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="IX1">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 210, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#172">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="IX2">Some</a> authorities make this five A.M., but the
+<i>Rapport</i> is probably correct.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#173">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="IX3">Chastellain</a>, v., 260 <i>et passim</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#173">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="IX4">So</a> say some historians. But it seems probable that the
+drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#174">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="IX5">Chastellain</a>, v., ch. 7, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#175">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="IX6">These</a> are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober
+<i>Rapport</i> is similar in purport.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#178">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="IX7">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 212. ]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#182">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="IX8">Gachard</a>. <i>Doc. inéd</i>., ii., 462, "<i>Instrument notarié</i>."]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="183">[page 183]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="X">X</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE</h3>
+
+<h4>1468</h4>
+<p>
+For many months before Philip's death there
+had been negotiations concerning Charles's
+marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling
+a closer bond with his mother than with his father,
+Charles's sympathy had ever been towards the
+Lancastrian party in England, the family to whom
+Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only
+the necessity for making a strong alliance against
+Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride from the
+House of York. It was on this business that La
+Marche and the great Bastard were engaged
+when Philip's death interrupted the discussion,
+which Charles did not immediately resume on his
+own behalf.</p>
+<p>
+Pending the final decision in regard to this
+important indication of his international policy,
+the duke busied himself with the adjustment of
+his court, there being many points in which he did
+not intend to follow his father's usage.<a href="#X1"><sup>1</sup></a> Philip's
+lavishness, without too close a query as to the
+disposition of every penny, was naturally very
+agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal
+air about his households. It was easy to come and
+go, and it was pleasant to have the handling<span class="page"><a name="184">[page 184]</a></span>
+of money and the giving of orders&mdash;orders which
+were fulfilled and richly paid without haggling.
+Charles had other notions. He was willing to pay,
+but he wanted to be sure of an adequate return.
+How he started in on his administration
+with reform ideas is delightfully told by Chastellain.<a href="#X2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+One of his first measures when he was finally
+established at Brussels was to secure more speedy
+execution of justice. He appointed a new provost,
+"a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently
+fitted to carry out perilous work." Then he determined
+to settle petty civil suits himself, as there
+were many which had dragged on for a long time.
+In order to do this and to receive complaints
+from poor people, he arranged to give audience
+three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and
+Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he required
+the attendance of all his nobles, seated
+before him on benches, each according to his
+rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so
+that few places were empty. Charles himself
+was elevated on a high throne covered with cloth
+of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judgments
+and heard and answered petitions, a process
+that sometimes lasted two or three hours
+and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent
+course of action and very praiseworthy. But in
+my time I have never heard of nor seen like action<span class="page"><a name="185"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 185]</span></a></span>
+taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the
+least similar.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"When the duke went through the city from
+place to place and from church to church, it was
+wonderful how much state and order was maintained
+and what a grand escort he had. Never a
+knight so old or so young who dared absent himself
+and never a squire was bold enough to squeeze
+himself into the knights' places."</p>
+
+
+<p>
+At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was
+observed. Every one had to wait his turn in
+his proper room&mdash;the squires in the first, the
+knights in the second, and so on. All left the palace
+together to go to mass. As soon as the
+offering was made all the nobles were free to dine,
+but they were obliged to report themselves to the
+duke immediately after his repast. Any failure
+caused the forfeiture of the fee for the day. It
+was all very orderly and very dull.</p>
+<p>
+Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law-giver,
+paternal guide, philosopher, and friend to his
+people. From time to time he delivered harangues
+to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hearing,
+but certainly did not win popularity. The
+adulatory phrases used as mere conventionalities
+seemed to have actually turned his head. And
+those stock phrases were very grandiloquent.
+There is no doubt that such comparisons were
+used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the
+first deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the
+sins committed at the dolorous unjoyous entry<span class="page"><a name="186">[page 186]</a></span>
+into the Flemish capital.<a href="#X3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold
+double place, place of God and place of man, and have
+in yourself the double nature by office and commission
+in divine estate, and as your noble discretion knows
+and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator, of all
+offences committed against you, and who may be
+appeased by tears and by weeping as He permits
+Himself to be softened by contrition, entreaties, etc.,
+and resumes His natural benignity by forgetting
+things past [etc.].... Alas, what kindness
+did He use toward Adam, His first offender, upon
+whom through his son Seth He poured the oil of pity
+in five thousand future years, and then to Cain the
+first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his
+crime for ten generations etc. What did he do in
+Abraham's time, when He sent word to Lot that if
+there were ten righteous men in Sodom and Gomorrah
+He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In
+Ghent," etc. <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X4"><sup>4</sup></a></span></p>
+
+ <p>
+In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the<span class="page"><a name="187">[page 187]</a></span>
+duke's consent to grant forgiveness to Ghent is
+again compared to God's own mercy. The divine
+attributes were referred to again and again,
+not only on the pages of contemporaneous chroniclers
+who may be accused of desiring ducal patronage,
+but also in sober state papers.</p>
+<p>
+There was one antidote to this homage universally
+offered to Charles wherever there was no
+rebellion against him. One of the rules of the
+Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike
+should be subject to criticism by their fellows. In
+May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an assembly
+of the Order, the first over which he had presided.
+It was a fitting opportunity for the knights to
+express their sentiments. When it came to his
+turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to
+the representations that his conduct fell short of
+the ideals of chivalry because he was too economical,
+too industrious, too strenuous, and not sufficiently
+cognisant of the merits of his faithful
+subjects of high degrees.<a href="#X5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+In these plaints, respectful as they are, there
+is perhaps a note of regret for the lavish and amusing
+good cheer of the late duke's times. Charles
+was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at
+this period. The vision of wide dominions was
+already in his dreams, and he was prudent enough
+to begin his preparations. And prudence is not
+a popular quality. Still his courtiers were not
+quite bereft of the gorgeous and spectacular entertainments<span class="page"><a name="188">[page 188]</a></span>
+to which the "good duke" had accustomed
+them. Soon after the assembly of the
+Order, the alliance between Duke Charles and
+Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our
+Burgundian Chastellain is not pleased with this
+marriage. That Charles inclined towards England
+at all was due to the French king, whom
+both he and his father had found untrustworthy.
+Again, had there been any other eligible <i>partie</i> in
+England Charles would never have allied himself
+with King Edward when all his sympathies were
+with the blood of Lancaster. But when King
+Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou, whose
+woes should have commanded pity, simply for the
+purpose of undermining the Duke of Burgundy,
+the latter felt it wise to make Edward his friend.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"That it was sore against his inclination he confessed
+to one who later revealed it to me, but he
+decided that it was better to injure another rather
+than be down-trodden and injured himself. <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X6"><sup>6</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"For a long time there had been little love lost
+between him and the king. The monarch feared the
+pride and haughtiness of his subject, and the subject
+feared the strength and profound subtilty of the
+king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the
+whip. And all this, alas, was the result of that
+cursed War of Public Weal cooked up by the French
+against their own king. When Charles was deeply
+involved in it he was deserted by the others and the
+whole weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so
+that he alone was blamed by the king, and he alone<span class="page"><a name="189"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 189]</span></a></span>
+was forced to look to his own safety and comfort. It
+is a pity when such things occur in a realm and
+among kinsfolk."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charlesgolfleece">[plate 14]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image14charlesgolfleece.jpg" width="400" height="578" alt="CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine
+when news came to him that the marriage
+was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
+it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the
+future result. But the king used all kinds of
+machinations to break off the alliance....
+God suffered two young proud princes to try
+their strength each at his will, often in ways that
+would have been incompatible in common affairs."</p>
+<p>
+The fullest account of the wedding is given
+by La Marche, an eyewitness of the event:<a href="#X7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Gilles du Mas, maître d'hôtel du Duc de Bretagne&mdash;to
+you I recommend myself. I have collected
+here roughly according to my stupid understanding
+what I saw of the said festival, to send it to you,
+beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me
+of the noble states and high deeds in your quarter
+... as becomes two friends of one rank and
+calling in two fraternal, allied and friendly houses.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"My lady and her company arrived at l'Écluse
+on a Saturday, June 25th, and on the morrow
+Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother of the
+duke, Mlle. of Burgundy and various other ladies
+and demoiselles visited Madame Margaret <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X8"><sup>8</sup></a></span> and only
+stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased<span class="page"><a name="190"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 190]</span></a></span>
+with her prospective daughter-in-law and could not
+say enough of her character and her virtues. There
+remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of the
+duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempré
+and various other ladies and gentlemen to act the
+hosts to the strange ladies and gentlemen who had
+crossed from England with the bride. The Count
+and Countess de Charny met Madame as she disembarked
+and never budged from her side until she
+had arrived at Bruges.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur
+of Burgundy made his way to l'Écluse with a small
+escort and entered the chateau at the rear. After
+supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights
+of the Order, he went very secretly to the hôtel of
+Dame Margaret, who had been warned of his intention,
+and was attended by the most important members
+of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's
+brother.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"At his arrival when they saw each other the
+greetings were very ceremonious and then the two
+sat down on one bench and chatted comfortably
+together for some time. After some conversation,
+the Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged
+plan of his own, kneeled before the two and made
+complimentary speeches. He was followed by M.
+de Charny, who spoke as follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"'Monseigneur, you have found what you desired
+and since God has brought this noble lady to port in
+safety and to your desire, it seems to me that you
+should not depart without proving the affection you
+bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now
+at this moment and give her your troth.'</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Monseigneur answered that it did not depend<span class="page"><a name="191"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 191]</span></a></span>
+upon him. Then the bishop spoke to Margaret and
+asked her what she thought. She answered that it
+was just for this and nothing else that the king of
+England had sent her over and she was quite ready
+to fulfil the king's command. Whereupon the
+bishop took their hands and betrothed them. Then
+Monseigneur departed and returned on the morrow
+to Bruges.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Dame Margaret remained at l'Écluse until the
+following Saturday and was again visited by Monseigneur.
+On Saturday the boats were richly decorated
+to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was
+received very honourably according to the capacity
+of that little town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July,
+Monseigneur the duke set out with a small escort
+between four and five o'clock in the morning, and
+went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready
+to receive him as all had been prearranged, and
+Monseigneur wedded her as was suitable, and the
+nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the
+Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles returned
+to his hotel at Bruges, and you may believe
+that during the progress of the other ceremonies
+he slept as if he were to be on watch on the following
+night.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of
+Luxemburg, John of Nassau, and others returned to
+Damme and paid their homage to the new duchess,
+and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully
+draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white
+cloth of gold made like a wedding garment as was
+proper. On her hair rested a crown and her other
+jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English
+ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by<span class="page"><a name="192"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 192]</span></a></span>
+her litter and the others behind. Five chariots followed
+the thirteen hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk,
+the most beautiful woman in England, being in the
+first. In this array Madame proceeded to Bruges and
+entered at the gate called Ste. Croix."</p>
+
+<p>
+There were too many names to be enumerated,
+but La Marche cannot forbear mentioning a noble
+Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of Breda,
+who had six horses covered with cloth of gold,
+jewelry, and silk.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I mention him for two reasons [he explains<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#X9"><sup>9</sup></a></span>]:
+first, that he was the most brilliant in the procession,
+and the second is that by the will of God he died on
+the Wednesday from a trouble in his leg, which was
+a pity and much regretted by the nobility.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace
+was magnificent, with all the dignitaries in their
+order. So costly were the dresses of the ducal household
+that Charles expended more than forty thousand
+francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Prominent in this stately procession were the
+nations or foreign merchants in this order: Venetians,
+Florentines&mdash;at the head of the latter marched
+Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of the duke
+at the same time that he was chief of their nation
+and therefore dressed in their garb; Spaniards; Genoese&mdash;these
+latter showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on
+horseback guarded by St. George from the dragon.&mdash;Then
+came the Osterlings, 108 on horseback, followed
+by six pages, all clad in violet.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all<span class="page"><a name="193"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 193]</span></a></span>
+decorated with cloth of gold and silk and tapestries.
+As to the theatrical representations I can remember
+at least ten. There were Adam and Eve, Cleopatra
+married to King Alexander, and various others.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The reception at the palace was very formal.
+The dowager duchess herself received her daughter-in-law
+from the litter and escorted her by the hand
+to her chamber, and for the present we will leave
+the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrangement
+of the hôtel.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess
+was served <i>d'eschançon et d'escuyer tranchant et de
+pannetier</i>. All English, all knights and gentlemen
+of great houses, and the chief steward cried 'Knights
+to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get the
+food, and around the buffet marched all the relations
+of Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of
+great houses. And for that day Mme. the duchess
+the mother declined to be served <i>à couvert</i> but left the
+honour to her daughter-in-law as was right.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms
+for a little rest and there were some changes of dress.
+Then they all mounted their chariots and hackneys
+and issued forth on the streets in great triumph and
+wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Several
+days of festivity followed when the usual pantomimes
+and shows were in evidence.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fête, the
+grand <i>salle</i> was arranged in the same state as on the
+wedding day itself, except the grand buffet which
+stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet, too,
+was a grand affair and concluded the festivities.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur<span class="page"><a name="194"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 194]</span></a></span>
+departed for Holland on a pressing piece of business,
+and he took leave of the Duchess of Norfolk and the
+other lords and ladies of quality and gave them gifts
+each according to his rank. Thus ends the story
+of this noble festival, and for the present I know
+nothing worth writing you except that I am yours."</p>
+
+<p>
+To this may be added the letter of one of the
+Paston family who was in Margaret's train.<a href="#X10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr
+Margaret Paston dwelling at Caster, be thys delyveryed
+in hast.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Ryth reverend &amp; worchepfull Modyr, I recommend
+me on to you as humbylly as I can thynk,
+desyryng most hertly to her of your welfare &amp; hertsese
+whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my hert
+can thynk. Ples yt you to wete that at the makyng
+of thys byll my brodyr &amp; I &amp; all our felawshep wer
+in good helle, blyssyd be God.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as
+worchepfull as all the world can devyse it, &amp; ther wer
+never Englyshe men had so good cher owt of Inglong
+that ever I herd of.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can
+non send yow; savyng my Lady Margaret was maryed
+on Sonday last past at a town that is called Dame IIj
+myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the morning;
+&amp; sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr
+dener; &amp; ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully
+as all the world cowd devyse as with presession with
+ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny pepell that ever
+I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in<span class="page"><a name="195"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 195]</span></a></span>
+hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that
+ever I sye. And the same Sonday my Lord the Bastard
+took upon hym to answere xxiiij knyts &amp; gentylmen
+within viij dayis at jostys of pese &amp; when that
+they wer answered, they xxiiij &amp; hymselve shold
+torney with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on
+Monday next comyng; &amp; they that have jostyd with
+hym into thys day have been as rychly beseyn,
+&amp; hymselfe also, as clothe of gold &amp; sylk &amp; sylvyr &amp;
+goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger &amp;
+gold &amp; perle &amp; stonys they of the dukys coort neyther
+gentylmen nor gentylwomen they want non; for with
+owt that they have it by wyshys, by my trowthe,
+I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+
+<p class="quote1">
+And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords &amp; ladys &amp;
+gentylwomen knyts, sqwyers &amp; gentylmen I hert
+never of non lyek to it save King Artourys cort.
+And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor remembrance
+to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but
+that lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you
+when I come home whyche I trust to God shal not be
+long to; for we depart owt of Brygge homward on
+Twysday next comyng &amp; all folk that cam with my
+lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as
+shall abyd her styll with hyr whyche I wot well
+shall be but fewe.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that
+the Frenshe king is purposyd to mak wer upon hym
+hastyly &amp; that he is with in IIIj or v dayis jorney of
+Brugys &amp; the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next comyng
+forward to met with hym. God geve hym good sped
+&amp; all hys; for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest<span class="page"><a name="196"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 196]</span></a></span>
+felawshep that ever I cam among &amp; best can behave
+themselves &amp; most like gentlemen.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the
+Duke of Somerset &amp; all hys band departyd well
+beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that my Lady the
+Duchess cam thedyr &amp; they sey her that he is to
+Queen Margaret that was &amp; shal no more come
+her agen nor be holpyn by the Duke. No more; but
+I beseche you of your blessyng as lowly as I can,
+wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday
+onys. And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good
+mastras to my lytyll man &amp; to se that he go to scole.</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+
+<p class="quote1">
+Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt
+Thomas.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Your sone &amp; humbyll servaunt,</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"J. PASTON THE YOUNGER."</p><br />
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#183">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="X1">Chastellain</a>, v., 570.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#184">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="X2">V</a>., 576.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#186">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="X3">This</a> deputation was composed of representatives from
+"all the city in its entirety in three chief members&mdash;the
+bourgeois and nobles, the fifty-two <i>métiers</i>, and the weavers
+who possess twelve different places in the city entirely for
+themselves and in their control." The formal apology was
+made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#186">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="X4">Ibid</a></i> 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467, Duke
+Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges
+which he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a deputation
+from the three members [<i>Trois membres</i>] of the city
+should come to Brussels to beg pardon on their knees, bareheaded,
+ungirded, for all the disorder of St. Lievin. This act
+of submission took place probably not until January, 1469,
+though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#187">[Footnote 5:</a> <i><a name="X5">Hist</a>, de l'Ordre</i>, etc., p. 511.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#188">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="X6">Chastellain</a>, V., 342.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#189">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="X7">III</a>., 101. Evidently this was composed for a separate
+work and then incorporated into the memoirs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#190">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="X8">There</a> is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the
+Bibliothèque de Burgogne. <i>See</i> also Wavrin, <i>Anchiennes
+Croniques d'Engleterre</i>, ii., 368.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#192">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="X9">III</a>., 108.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#194">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="X10">The</a> Paston Letters</i>, ii., 317.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="197">[page 197]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XI">XI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE MEETING AT PERONNE</h3>
+
+<h4>1468</h4>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"My brother, I beseech you in the name of our
+affection and of our alliance, come to my aid,
+come as speedily as you can, come without delay.
+Written by the own hand of your brother.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"FRANCIS."</p>
+
+<p>
+Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent
+appeal from the Duke of Brittany that followed
+Charles into Holland, whither he had hastened
+after the completion of the nuptial festivities.</p>
+<p>
+The titular Duke of Normandy found that his
+royal brother was in no wise inclined to fulfil
+the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally,
+Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into terror
+lest the king should invade his duchy and
+punish him for his share in the proceedings that
+had led up to that compact.</p>
+<p>
+It is in this year that Louis XI. begins to show
+his real astuteness. Very clever are his methods
+of freeing himself from the distasteful obligations
+assumed towards his brother. They had been
+easy to make when a hostile army was encamped
+at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy weighed
+lightly when balanced by the desire to separate
+the allies. That separation accomplished, the<span class="page"><a name="198">[page 198]</a></span>
+point of view changed. Relinquish Normandy,
+restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege
+lord after its long retention by the English kings?
+Louis's intention gradually became plain and he
+proved that he was no longer in the isolated
+position in which the War for Public Weal had
+found him. He had won to himself many adherents,
+while the general tone towards Charles of
+Burgundy had changed.<a href="#XI1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+
+
+<p>
+In April, 1468, the States-General of France
+assembled at Tours in response to royal writs issued
+in the preceding February.<a href="#XI2"><sup>2</sup></a> The chancellor,
+Jouvençal, opened the session with a tedious, long-winded
+harangue calculated to weary rather than
+to illuminate the assembly. Then the king took
+the floor and delivered a telling speech. With trenchant
+and well chosen phrases he set forth the reasons
+why Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of
+the French realm. The advantages of centralisation,
+the weakness of decentralisation, were skilfully
+drawn. The matter was one affecting the
+kingdom as a whole, in perpetuity; it was not for
+the temporal interests of the present incumbent
+of regal authority, who had only part therein for <span class="page"><a name="199">[page 199]</a></span>
+the brief space of his mortal journey. Louis's
+words are pathetic indeed, as he calls himself a
+sojourner in France, <i>en voyage</i> through life, as
+though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of
+ephemeral mankind was novel to his audience.
+He reiterated the statement that the interests
+involved were theirs, not his.</p>
+<p>
+It was a goodly body which listened to Louis.
+The greatest feudal lords, indeed, were not present,
+but many of the lesser nobility were, while sixty-four
+towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies.
+These hearers gave willing attention to the thesis
+that it was a burning shame for the French people
+to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the insolent
+peers from rebelling against their sovereign&mdash;those
+noble scions of the royal stock whose bounden
+duty it was to protect the state and the head of the
+royal house.</p>
+<p>
+What was the reason for their selfish insubordination?
+The root of the evil lay in the past,
+when extensive territories had been carelessly
+alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted
+to acquire too much independence of the crown,
+so that the monarchy was threatened with disruption.
+There was more to the same purpose
+and then the deputies deliberated on the answer
+to make to this speech from the throne. It was
+an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed
+the value of suggestion. Charles the Wise had
+thought that an estate yielding an income of
+twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a<span class="page"><a name="200">[page 200]</a></span>
+prince of the blood. Louis XI. was more generous.
+He was ready to allow his brother Charles
+a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to
+the government of Normandy&mdash;why! no king,
+either from fraternal affection or from fear of
+war, was justified in committing that province
+to other hands than his own.</p>
+<p>
+The States-General dissolved in perfect accord
+with the monarch, and a definite order was left
+in the king's hands, declaring that it was the
+judgment of the towns represented that concentration
+of power was necessary for the common
+welfare of France. Public opinion declared that
+national weakness would be inevitable if the feudatories
+were unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies.
+Above all, Normandy must be retained by the
+king. On no consideration should Louis leave it
+to his brother.<a href="#XI3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Before the dissolution of the assembly there
+was some discussion as to the probable attitude
+of the great nobles in regard to this platform of
+centralisation. Very timid were the comments on
+Charles of Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be
+an excellent mediator between the lesser dukes
+and the king? Would it not be better to suspend
+action until his opinion was known, etc? But at
+large there was less reserve. The statements
+were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever
+come to France from Burgundy. The present
+duke's father and grandfather had wrought all<span class="page"><a name="201">[page 201]</a></span>
+the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles,
+his illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest
+content with his paternal heritage. Ghent and
+Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too? Let
+the king recover the towns on the Somme.
+Rightfully they were French. Louis made no
+scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty of
+Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by
+undue influence. And this royal sentiment was
+repeated here and there with growing conviction
+of its justice.</p>
+<p>
+While Charles was occupied with the preparation
+for his wedding, Louis was engaged in levying
+troops and mobilising his forces, and these preparations
+continued throughout the summer of
+1468. Naturally, news of this zeal directed against
+the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany followed
+the traveller in Holland.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once
+to the king, reminding him that these seigneurs
+were his allies, and demanding that nothing should
+be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his
+remonstrance might be futile, and urged on by
+appeals from the dukes, Charles hastened to cut
+short his stay in Holland so that he might move
+nearer to the scene of Louis's activities. His purpose
+in going to the north had been twofold&mdash;to
+receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand,
+and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of
+money for which he saw immediate need if he
+were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from<span class="page"><a name="202">[page 202]</a></span>
+him.</p>
+<p>
+In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in
+Flanders to Middelburg, and thence made his progress
+through the cities of Zealand, receiving homage
+as he went. Next he passed to The Hague,
+where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland
+met him and gave him their oaths of fealty on
+July 21st. Fifty-six towns<a href="#XI4"><sup>4</sup></a> were represented
+and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks
+and the islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It
+is noteworthy," comments a Dutch historian,
+"that the people's oath was given first. The
+older custom was that the count should give the
+first pledge while the people followed suit."</p>
+<p>
+As soon as he was thus legally invested with
+sovereign power, Charles demanded a large <i>aide</i>
+from Holland and Zealand&mdash;480,000 crowns of
+fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin
+money for his new consort; 16,000 crowns as donations
+for various servants, and 4800 crowns towards
+his travelling expenses. The total sum was
+532,800 crowns. The share of Holland and West
+Friesland was 372,800 crowns, and of Zealand
+16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half
+years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest
+quota, 3549 crowns, and Schiedam the smallest,
+350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South Holland
+villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and<span class="page"><a name="203">[page 203]</a></span>
+the remainder was divided among the other cities
+and villages.</p>
+
+<p>
+There was considerable opposition to the assessments.
+In many cases the new imposts upon provisions
+pressed very heavily on the poor villagers.
+Having obtained promise of the grant, however,
+Charles left all further details in its regard to
+the local officials and returned to Brussels at the
+beginning of August to make his own preparation.
+For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the
+treaty of Conflans were plain, though there still
+fluttered a thin veil of friendship between the
+cousins. Gathering what forces he could mobilise,
+ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved
+westward and took up his quarters at Peronne on
+the river Somme.</p>
+<p>
+Louis had been bold in his utterance to the
+States-General as to his perfect right to ignore the
+treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his brother, and
+to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the
+summer of 1468 he made advances towards accomplishing
+the last-named desideratum. Brittany
+was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was
+diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis
+peaceably consented to renounce his close alliances
+with Burgundy and England, nominally at
+least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France
+to submit his claims to Normandy to the arbitration
+of Nicholas of Calabria and the Constable St. Pol.<a href="#XI5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with<span class="page"><a name="204">[page 204]</a></span>
+on some different basis. And in regard to him
+Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified his
+friends and caused the world to wonder as to his
+sanity. All previous attempts at mediation having
+failed&mdash;St. Pol was among the many who
+tried&mdash;the king determined to be his own messenger
+to parley with his Burgundian cousin. It is
+curious how small was his measure of personal
+pride. He had been negligent of his personal
+safety at Conflans, but even then Charles had
+better reason to respect and protect him than in
+1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years
+in every direction to harass and undermine the
+young duke's power, and when, too, the latter was
+aware of half of the machinations and suspicious
+of more.</p>
+<p>
+Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sudden
+hare-brained enterprise. There is much evidence
+that he nursed the project for many weeks
+without giving any intimation of his intentions.
+Nor was the situation as strange as it appears,
+looking backward.</p>
+<p>
+Charles had doubtless made all preparations
+to combat Louis if need were, and had chosen
+Peronne for his headquarters with the express
+purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the
+same time, he had published abroad that his military
+preparations were solely for the purpose of
+keeping his obligations to his allies. Now these<span class="page"><a name="205">[page 205]</a></span>
+obligations were momentarily removed by the action
+of those same allies. Francis of Brittany had
+entered into amicable relations with his sovereign,
+young Charles of France had accepted arbitration
+to settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers,
+while the correspondence between Louis and Liege,
+was still unknown to the Duke of Burgundy.
+For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no definite
+quarrel with the French king. But he was
+not in the least anxious for an interview with him.
+Charles was as far as ever from understanding
+his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of
+Louis's efforts to make friends in the Netherlands,
+Charles suspected enough to turn his youthful distrust
+of the man's character into mature conviction
+that friendship between them was impossible.
+But he could not refuse the royal overtures. His
+letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited visitor
+bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows:<a href="#XI6"><sup>6</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it
+be your desire to come to this city of Peronne in order
+that we may talk together, I swear and I promise
+you by my faith and on my honour that you may come,
+remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon,
+according to your pleasure and as often as it shall
+please you, freely and openly without any hindrance
+offered either to you or to any of your people by me
+or by any other for any cause that now exists or <i>that</i><span class="page"><a name="206"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 206]</span></a></span>
+<i>may hereafter arise</i>."</p>
+
+<p>
+Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential messenger
+between duke and king. He it was whom
+Charles had dismissed from his own service in 1456
+at his father's instance. From that time on the
+man had been in Louis's household, deep in his secrets
+it was said, and certainly admitted to his
+privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter
+was written by Charles in the presence of Biche,
+through whose hand it passed directly to the
+king.</p>
+<p>
+By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to
+move as soon as the safe-conduct arrived. No
+time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday, October
+9th, the king started out, accompanied by the
+Bishop of Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke
+of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue, St. Pol, a few more
+nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish
+guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of
+Crèvec&oelig;ur, with two hundred lances, met him on
+the way to act as his escort to the presence of
+the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of
+a stream a short distance out of Peronne.</p>
+<p>
+St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the
+duke as herald of Louis's approach. Then Charles
+rode forward to greet the traveller. As he came
+within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his
+saddle and was about to dismount when Louis, his
+head bared, prevented his action. Fervent were
+the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the
+duke's cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly<span class="page"><a name="207">[page 207]</a></span>
+about the latter's neck. Then he turned graciously
+to the by-standing nobles and greeted
+them by name. But his cousinly affection was
+not yet satisfied. Again he embraced Charles and
+held him half as long as before in his arms.
+How pleasant he was and how full of confidence
+towards this trusted cousin of his!</p>
+<p>
+The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two
+princes in the middle, and made a stately entry
+into Peronne at a little after mid-day.<a href="#XI7"><sup>7</sup></a> The chief
+building then and the natural place to lodge a royal
+visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair,
+ill furnished, and affording less comfort than a
+neighbouring house belonging to a city official.
+Here rooms had been prepared for the king and a
+few of his suite, the others being quartered through
+the town. At the door Charles took his leave and
+Louis entered alone with Cardinal Balue and the
+attendants he had chosen to keep near him.
+These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and
+were treated by their master with a familiarity
+very astonishing to the stately Burgundians.</p>
+
+<p>
+Louis entered the room assigned for his use,
+walked to the window, and looked out into the
+street. The sight that met his view was most
+disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the
+point of entering the castle. They were gentlemen<span class="page"><a name="208">[page 208]</a></span>
+just arrived from Burgundy with their lances,
+in response to a summons issued long before the
+present visit was anticipated. As he looked down
+on the troops, Louis recognised several men who
+had no cause to love him or to cherish his memory.
+There was, for instance, the queen's brother
+Philip de Bresse<a href="#XI8"><sup>8</sup></a> who had led a party against
+Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a time
+of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of
+his brother-in-law's profession and had visited
+him to obtain his mediation. The king had
+violated both the specified safe-conduct and
+ambassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De
+Bresse into the citadel of Loches, where he suffered
+a long confinement before he succeeded in making
+his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as
+well as in race. But with him on that October
+day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who had
+fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or
+another and had saved their liberty by flight,
+renouncing their allegiance to him for ever.
+Four there were in all who wore the cross of St.
+Andrew. Approaching Peronne as they had from
+the south, these new-comers had ridden in at the
+southern gates without intimation of this royal
+visitation extraordinary until they were almost
+face to face with guest and host. Their arrival
+was "a half of a quarter of an hour later than that
+of the king."</p>
+
+ <p>
+When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned<span class="page"><a name="209">[page 209]</a></span>
+what was going on, they hastened to the duke's
+chambers "to give him reverence." Monseigneur
+de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke
+that the three above named should be assured of
+their security notwithstanding the king's presence
+at Peronne,&mdash;of security such as he had pledged
+them in Burgundy and promised for the hour when
+they should arrive at his court. On their part
+they were ready to serve him towards all and
+against all. Which petition the duke granted
+orally. "The force conducted by the Marshal of
+Burgundy was encamped without the gates, and
+the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did
+the others I have mentioned."<a href="#XI9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>
+It was, however, a situation in which apprehension
+was not confined to the men of lower station.
+To Louis, looking down from his window, there
+seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these
+persons who had heavy grievances against him,
+and the unfortified private house seemed slight
+protection against their possible vengeance. Here,
+Charles might disavow injury to him as something
+happening quite without his knowledge. On
+ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under
+shelter patently ducal. There, there would be no
+doubt of responsibility did misfortune happen.</p>
+<p>
+Straightway the king sent a messenger to
+Charles asking for quarters within the castle. The
+request was granted and the uneasy guest passed<span class="page"><a name="210">[page 210]</a></span>
+through the massive portals between a double
+line of Burgundian men-at-arms. It was no cheerful,
+pleasant, palatial dwelling-place this little old
+castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that
+vain had been all assaults against it.<a href="#XI10"><sup>10</sup></a> Designed
+for a fortress rather than a residence, it had been
+repeatedly used as a prison, and the air of the
+whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls,
+dungeons which had seen many unwilling lodgers.
+Five centuries earlier than this date, Charles the
+Simple had languished to death in one of the
+towers.</p>
+
+<p>
+This change of arrangement, or rather the
+disquieting reason for the change, undoubtedly
+clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet
+outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts
+that the two princes directed their people to behave
+amicably to each other and that the commands
+were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days
+the desired conferences took place between Charles
+and Louis. The king's wishes were perfectly
+plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other
+alliances and to pledge himself to support his
+feudal chief, first and foremost, from all attacks of
+his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had submitted
+to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy
+would only accept terms equally satisfactory in
+their way, the pernicious alliance between the two
+would vanish, to the weal of French unity.</p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="commines">[plate 15]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image15commines.jpg" width="400" height="547" alt="PHILIP DE COMMINES" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Apparently the first discussion was heard by none<span class="page"><a name="211">[page 211]</a></span>
+except the Cardinal Balue and Guillaume de Biche.
+Charles was willing to pledge allegiance and to promise
+aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations
+that weakened the value of his words. Nothing
+could induce him to renounce alliance with other
+princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There
+was a second interview on the following day.
+Charles held tenaciously to his position. Then
+there came a sudden alteration in the situation,
+a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of
+view.</p>
+<p>
+The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the
+behests of her imperious neighbour, but the citizens
+had never ceased to hope that his unwelcome
+"protection" might be dispensed with; that, by
+the aid of French troops, they might eventually
+wrest themselves free from the Burgundian incubus.
+In spite of all promises to Charles, secret
+negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party
+and Louis XI. had never ceased. The latter never
+refused to admit the importunate embassies to his
+presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the
+city even in its ruined condition. He sent envoys
+as well as received them, and Commines states
+definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne,
+the fact of a confidential commission recently despatched
+to Liege had wholly slipped the king's
+mind.</p>
+<p>
+In that town the duke's lieutenant, Humbercourt,
+had been left to supervise the humiliating changes
+ordered. And the work of demolition was the only<span class="page"><a name="212">[page 212]</a></span>
+industry. Other ordinary business was at a standstill.
+For a period there was a sullen silence in the
+streets and the church bells were at rest. In
+April, a special legate from the pope arrived to see
+whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a
+better footing.</p>
+<p>
+It was about the same time that the States-General
+were meeting at Tours that, under the
+direction of this legate, Onofrio de Santa-Croce,
+the cathedral was purified with holy water, and
+Louis of Bourbon celebrated his very first mass,
+though he had been seated on the episcopal throne
+for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate
+between the city and the Duke of Burgundy.
+To Bruges he went to see Charles, and obtained
+permission to draft a project for the re-establishment
+of the civic government, to be submitted to
+the duke for approval.</p>
+<p>
+If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop
+by forcing him into performing his priestly rites
+he soon learned his mistake. That ecclesiastic
+speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed festivities,
+and then forsook the city and sailed away to
+Maestricht in a gaily painted barge, with gay companions
+to pass the summer in frivolous amusements
+suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the
+state of affairs when the report of Louis's extensive
+military preparations encouraged the Liegeois
+to hope that he was to take the field openly against
+the duke.</p>
+  <p>
+About the beginning of September, troops of<span class="page"><a name="213">[page 213]</a></span>
+forlorn and desperate exiles began to return to the
+city. They came, to be sure, with shouts of <i>Vive le
+Roi!</i> but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing
+to make any accommodation for the sake of being
+permitted to remain. "Better any fate at home
+than to live like wild beasts with the recollection
+that we had once been men."</p>
+<p>
+To make a long story short, Onofrio again
+endeavoured to rouse the bishop to a sense of his
+duty. Again he tried to make terms for the exiles
+and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was
+useless. Louis of Bourbon refused to approach
+nearer to Liege than Tongres, and declined to meet
+the advances of his despairing subjects. It was
+just at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived
+from Louis, despatched, as already stated, <i>before</i>
+Charles had consented to prolong the truce.</p>
+<p>
+Excited by their presence the Liegeois once
+more roused themselves to action. A force of
+two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced
+by night upon Tongres&mdash;also without
+walls&mdash;surrounded the house where lay their bishop,
+and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there
+was and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the
+mob respected the person of their bishop and of
+Humbercourt the chief Burgundian official. This
+event happened on October 9th, the very day that
+Louis rode recklessly into Peronne.</p>
+<p>
+On Wednesday, October 11th, the news of the
+fray reached Peronne, but news greatly exaggerated
+by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and<span class="page"><a name="214">[page 214]</a></span>
+Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly
+murdered in the very presence of Louis's own
+envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous
+crime! To follow the story of an eyewitness:<a href="#XI11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted
+the contrary, for such advertisments are never
+reported after one sort. At length others came who
+had seen certain canons slain and supposed the
+bishop<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI12"><sup>12</sup></a></span> to be of the number, as well as the said seigneur
+de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they
+said that they had seen the king's ambassadors in the
+attacking company and mentioned them by name.
+All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith
+believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that
+the king had come thither to abuse him, and gave
+commands to shut the gates of the castle and of the
+town, alleging a poor enough excuse, namely, that he
+did this on account of the disappearance of a little
+casket containing some good rings and money.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The king finding himself confined in the castle,
+a small one at that, and having seen a force of archers
+standing before the gate, was terrified for his person&mdash;the
+more so that he was lodged in the neighbourhood
+of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois had
+caused the death of one of his predecessors as king
+of France.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI13"><sup>13</sup></a></span> At that time, I was still with the duke
+and served him as chamberlain, and had free access<span class="page"><a name="215"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 215]</span></a></span>
+to his chamber when I would, for such was the usage
+in this household.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed,
+ordered all to leave his presence and said to a few of us
+that stayed with him that the king had come on purpose
+to betray him, and that he himself had tried to
+avoid his coming with all his strength, and that the
+meeting had been against his taste. Then he proceeded
+to recount the news from Liege, how the king
+had pulled all the wires through his ambassadors,
+and how his people had been slain. He was fearfully
+excited against the king. I veritably believe that if
+at that hour he had found those to whom he could
+appeal ready to sympathise with him and to advise
+him to work the king some mischief, he would have
+done so, at the least he would have imprisoned him in
+the great tower.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"None were present when the words fell from the
+duke but myself and two grooms of the chamber, one
+of whom was named Charles de Visen, a native of
+Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with his master.
+We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the
+duke as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same
+phrases on others, and a report of them ran through
+the city and penetrated to the very apartment of the
+king, who was greatly terrified, as was everyone, because
+of the danger that they saw imminent, and
+because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel
+when it has commenced between such great princes.
+Assuredly they were blameworthy in failing to notify
+their absent servants of this projected meeting.
+Great inconveniences were bound to arise from this
+negligence."</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness<span class="page"><a name="216">[page 216]</a></span>
+though he was, it must be remembered that when
+he wrote the account of this famous interview it
+was long after the event, and when his point of
+view was necessarily coloured by his service with
+Louis. Delightful, however, are the historian's
+own reflections that he intersperses with his plain
+narrative. To his mind the only period when it is
+safe for princes to meet is</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"in their youth when their minds are bent on pleasure.
+Then they may amuse themselves together.
+But after they are come to man's estate and are
+desirous each of over-reaching the other, such interviews
+do but increase their mutual hatred, even if
+they incur no personal peril (which is well-nigh impossible).
+Far wiser is it for them to adjust their
+differences through sage and good servants as I have
+said at length elsewhere in these memoirs."</p>
+
+<p>
+Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous
+instances of disastrous royal interviews before
+returning to his subject and to Peronne:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his
+new chapter] to tell the princes my opinion of such
+meetings.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI14"><sup>14</sup></a></span> Thus the gates were closed and guarded
+and two or three days passed by. However, the
+Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had
+Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and
+those only through the wicket. Nor did the duke see
+any of his people who had influence over him.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The first day there was consternation throughout<span class="page"><a name="217"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 217]</span></a></span>
+the city. By the second day the duke was a little
+calmed down. He held a council meeting all day
+and the greater part of the night. The king appealed
+to every one who could possibly aid him. He was
+lavish in his promises and ordered fifteen thousand
+crowns to be given where it might count, but the officer
+in charge of the disbursement of this sum acquitted
+himself ill and retained a part, as the king learned
+later.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The king was especially afraid of his former servants
+who had come with the army from Burgundy,
+as I mentioned above, men who were now in the
+service of the Duke of Normandy.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned
+council-meeting. Some held that the safe-conduct
+accorded to the king protected him, seeing that he
+fairly observed the peace as it had been stated in
+writing. Others rudely urged his capture without
+further ceremony, while others again advised sending
+for his brother, the Duke of Normandy, and concluding
+with him a peace to the advantage of all the
+princes of France. They who gave this advice
+thought that in case it was adopted, the king should be
+restrained of his liberty. Further, it was against all
+precedent to free so great a seigneur when he had
+committed so grave an offence.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw
+a man booted and spurred ready to depart with a
+packet of letters addressed to Monseigneur of Normandy,
+being in Brittany, and stayed only for the
+Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to
+naught. The king made overtures to leave as hostages
+the Duke of Bourbon, the cardinal, his brother, and
+the constable with a dozen others while he should be<span class="page"><a name="218"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 218]</span></a></span>
+permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was
+concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should
+repair their mischief or he would declare himself their
+foe. The appointed hostages were profuse in their
+offers to immolate themselves, at least they were in
+public. I do not know whether they would have
+said the same things in private. I rather suspect not.
+And in truth, I believe that those who were left
+would never have returned.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"On the third night after the arrival of the news,
+the duke never undressed, but lay down two or three
+times on his bed, and then rose and walked up and
+down. Such was his way when he was troubled.
+I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him
+from time to time. In the morning his fury was greater
+than ever, his tone very menacing, and he seemed
+ready to go to any extreme.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"However, he finally brought himself to say that
+if the king would swear the peace and would accompany
+him to Liege to help avenge Monsgn. of Liege,
+his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then he suddenly
+betook himself to the king's chamber and expressed
+himself to that effect. The king had a friend<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI15"><sup>15</sup></a></span>
+who warned him, assuring him that he should suffer
+no ill if he would concede these two points. Did he
+do otherwise he ran grave risk, graver than he would<span class="page"><a name="219"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 219]</span></a></span>
+ever incur again."</p>
+
+<p>
+When the duke entered the royal presence his
+voice trembled, so agitated was he and on the
+verge of breaking into a passion. He assumed
+a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and
+word as he demanded whether the king would
+keep the treaty of peace as it had been drafted,
+and whether he was ready to swear to it. "Yes"
+was the king's response. In truth, nothing had
+been added to the agreement made before Paris,
+or at least little as far as the Duke of Burgundy
+was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Normandy,
+it was stipulated that if he would renounce
+that province he should have Champagne and Brie
+besides other neighbouring territories for his share.</p>
+<p>
+Then the duke asked if the king would accompany
+him to avenge the outrage committed upon
+his cousin the bishop.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To which demand the king gave assent as soon as
+the peace was sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to
+Liege and with a small or large escort, just as the duke
+preferred. This answer pleased the duke immensely.
+In was brought the treaty, out of the king's coffer
+was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one
+carried by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of
+Victory, and thereupon the two swore the peace.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"This was now October 14th. In a minute the bells
+pealed out their joy throughout Peronne and all men
+were glad. It hath pleased the king since to attribute
+the credit of this pacification to me."</p>
+
+<p>
+There was undoubtedly an immense sense of relief<span class="page"><a name="220">[page 220]</a></span>
+in Peronne when this degree of accommodation
+was reached. The duke was unwilling, however,
+to have too much rejoicing in his domains until
+he had ascertained for himself the state of Liege.
+Among the letters despatched from Peronne this
+October 14th, was the following to the magistrates
+of Ypres:<a href="#XI16"><sup>16</sup></a> </p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we
+have to-day made peace and convention with Monseigneur
+the king, and that for this reason you might
+be inclined to let off fire-works and make other manifestations
+of joy, we hasten to advise you that ... our
+pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or
+assemblies in our town of Ypres on account of the said
+peace until we have subdued the people of Liege, and
+avenged the said outrage [described above]. This with
+God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point of
+departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved,
+may our Lord protect you.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14,
+1468."</p>
+
+<p>
+A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions
+to the magistrates of Ypres, possibly managing to
+slip them under the same cover.<a href="#XI17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace was concluded
+between the king and Monseigneur, and also between
+the king and the Duke of Berry. Here, bells are ringing
+and the <i>Te Deum</i> is sung. It is generally believed
+that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God deserves
+thanks for the result, for I assure you that last<span class="page"><a name="221"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 221]</span></a></span>
+night the outlook was not clear." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI18"><sup>18</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The king wrote as follows to his confidential
+lieutenant:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"PERONNE, October 14th.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the grand master, you are already
+informed how there has been discussion in my council
+and that of my brother-in-law of Burgundy, as to the
+best manner of adjusting certain differences between
+him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive
+at a conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here
+we have busied ourselves with the requisitions passing
+between us, so that to-day we have, thanks to our
+Lord, in the presence of all the nobles of the blood,
+prelates and other great and notable personages in
+great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn
+peace solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid,
+defend and succour each other for ever. Also on the
+same cross we have ratified the treaty of Arras with
+its corrections and other points which seemed productive
+of peace and amity.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy
+ordered thanksgivings in the churches of his lands,
+and in this town he has already had great solemnity.
+And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that
+the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the
+bishop of Liege, whom he is determined to deliver
+as quickly as possible, he has besought me as a favour
+to him, and also because the bishop is my kinsman
+whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege,
+not far from here. This I have agreed to, and have
+chosen as my escort a portion of the troops under<span class="page"><a name="222"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 222]</span></a></span>
+monseigneur the constable, in the hopes of a speedy
+return by the aid of God.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"And because it is for my weal and that of my
+subjects I write to you at once, because <i>I am sure</i>
+you will be pleased, and that you will order like
+solemnities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand master,
+as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible
+disband my <i>arriere ban</i> together with the free lances,
+and do every possible thing for the mass of poor
+folks; appoint well-to-do men as leaders in every bailiwick
+and district. Above all, see to it that they do
+not indulge in any new and startling conduct. That
+done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer me,
+I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any
+further action that may arise. Written at Peronne
+October 14th.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"Loys</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+MEURIN.</p><br />
+<p class="quote">
+"To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of
+Dammartin, grand master of France." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased
+for the purpose of passing Charles's censorship.
+He took the liberty of disregarding his master's
+orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held
+himself in readiness to go to fetch the errant
+monarch if he did not return speedily from the
+enemy's country. His letter to the king and the
+unwritten additions delivered by his confidential
+messengers terrified his liege lest too much zeal
+on his behalf in France might work him ill in<span class="page"><a name="223">[page 223]</a></span>
+Liege. A week later Louis writes again:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+NAMUR, Oct. 22nd.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR THE GRAND MASTER:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage.
+<i>Be assured that I make this journey to Liege under no
+constraint, and that I never took any journey with such
+good heart as I do this.</i> Since God and Our Lady
+have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur
+of Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over
+there take arms against me. Monseigneur the grand
+master, my friend, you have proved that you love me,
+and you have done me the greatest service that you
+can, and there is another service that you can do.
+The people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that
+I mean to deceive them, and people there [in France]
+think that I am a prisoner. Distrust between the
+two would be my ruin.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men,
+you know what we planned, you and I, touching the
+action of Armagnac. It seems to me that you ought
+to send your people straight ahead in that direction
+and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as I
+am out of this, and you can make what choice you will.
+M. the grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to
+Laon and await me there. Send me a messenger the
+minute you arrive and I will let you have frequent
+news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois are
+subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of
+Burgundy is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he
+has finished his work at Liege, and he desires my
+return more than I do. Francois Dunois will tell you
+what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur,<span class="page"><a name="224"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 224]</span></a></span>
+etc.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Writ at Namur, Oct. 22nd.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"LOUIS</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"TOUSSAINT.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of
+Dammartin, grand master of France." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XI20"><sup>20</sup></a></span></p>
+
+
+<p>Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and
+others also declare that Louis goes most gladly with
+his dear brother of Burgundy and that the affair
+will not require much time. To Cardinal Balue
+he writes only a few words, telling him that
+the messenger will be more communicative.</p>
+<p>
+Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn
+aside to visit the young Duchess of Burgundy, either
+at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the conjecture
+of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his surmise
+further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn
+was performed Chastellain's mystery of "The
+Peace of Peronne."<a href="#XI21"><sup>21</sup></a> Perhaps these verses, if put
+in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have
+pleased the princely spectators of the dramatic
+poem. Mutual admiration was the key-note
+of these flowery speeches while the other
+<i>dramatis personæ</i> expressed unstinted admiration<span class="page"><a name="225">[page 225]</a></span>
+for the wonderful deed accomplished by these two
+pure souls who have sworn peace when they
+might have brought dire war on their innocent
+subjects.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that
+proud knight, nor the great Charlemagne, nor the
+proud Duke of Mayence, nor Mongleive, the heir, from
+whom issued noble fruit, nor King Arthur, nor Oliver,
+nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens of victories
+approach or touch with hand or foot the work
+I treat of."</p>
+
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;°
+<br />
+<blockquote>
+[The king speaks.]</blockquote>
+<p class="quote">
+"Charles, be assured that Louis will be the re-establisher
+and provider of all that touches your honour and
+peace between you and him. That he will ever be
+appreciator of you and avenger, a nourisher of joy
+and love in repairing all that my predecessor did.</p>
+<blockquote>
+[The duke speaks.]</blockquote>
+<p class="quote">
+"And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his
+soul, wishes nothing better than to serve you and
+this realm and to extol your house. For I know that is
+the reason why I have glory and reputation. Then if
+it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep from
+blame."</p>
+
+<p>
+One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a
+note of doubt: "Charles, so many debates may
+occur, so many incidents and accidents in our
+various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded."</p>
+<p>
+Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare<span class="page"><a name="226">[page 226]</a></span>
+possibility of a new breach between him and his
+liege. The whole is a pæan at a love feast. If
+the two together heard their counterfeits express
+such perfect fidelity, how Louis XI. must
+have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced
+courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was
+quite capable of taking it all seriously, wholly unconscious
+that he had not cut the lion's claws for
+once and all.</p>
+
+<hr/>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#198">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XI1">See</a></i> Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 356.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#198">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XI2">The</a> letters of convocation bear the date February 26,
+1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th,
+they had returned home, and on May 2d they made a
+report. The items of expenditure are very exact. So hard
+had they ridden that a fine horse costing eleven crowns was
+used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van der Broeck,
+archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the register
+of the Council. <i>See</i> Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#200">[Footnote 3:</a> <i><a name="XI3">See</a></i> Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 356.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#202">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XI4">Dordrecht</a> was not among them. Her deputies held that
+it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later
+Charles received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, <i>Vaderlandsche
+Hist.</i>, iv., 101.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#203">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XI5">Treaty</a> of Ancenis, September 10, 1468. <i>See</i> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>.]
+One of the results of the War of Public Weal was that St. Pol
+was appointed constable of France.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#205">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XI6">The</a> original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.;
+Lenglet, iii., 19.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#207">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XI7">Commines</a> and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the
+basis of this narrative. (Gachard, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 196.) There is,
+however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous
+and commentating. <i>See also</i> Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc.
+Chastellain's MS. is lost.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#208">[Footnote 8:</a> <i><a name="XI8">See</a></i> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 397.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#209">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XI9">Ludwig</a> v. Diesbach, (<i>See</i> Kirk, i., 559.) The author was
+a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss
+affairs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#210">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XI10">It</a> was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#214">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XI11">Commines</a>, ii., ch. vii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#214">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XI12">The</a> bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the
+mob, but it was many years later.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#214">[Footnote 13:</a> <i><a name="XI13">Le</a> roi ... se voyait logé, rasibus d'une grosse tour ou
+un Comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien prédécesseur Roy
+de France</i>. (Commines, ii., ch. vii.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#216">[Footnote 14:</a> <i><a name="XI14">Memoires</a></i>, ii., ch. ix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#218">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XI15">Undoubtedly</a> Commines wishes it to be inferred that this
+was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines,
+whose memoirs remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive
+history of the times. There are the errors inevitable to any
+contemporary statement. Meyer, to be sure, says, apropos
+of an incident incorrectly reported, <i>Falsus in hoc ut in pluribus
+historicus</i>. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries later
+is also severe. <i>See</i>, too, "L'autorité historique de Ph. de
+Commynes," Mandrot, <i>Rev. Hist</i>., 73.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#220">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XI16">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 199.] </p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#220">[Footnote 17:</a> <i><a name="XI17">Ibid</a>.</i>, 200.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#221">[Footnote 18:</a> <i><a name="XI18">Waer</a> ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer ghestaen
+heeft.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#222">[Footnote 19:</a> <i><a name="XI19">Lettres </a>de Louis XI</i>, iii., 289. The king apparently never
+resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dauphin.
+His letters to him are very intimate.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#224">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="XI20">Lettres</a></i>, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#224">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XI21">Kervyn</a> ed., <i>&OElig;uvres de Chastellain</i>, vii., xviii. <i>See</i> poem,
+<i>ibid.</i>, 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence
+bears this line: "Here follows a mystery made because of the
+said peace of good intention in the thought that it would be
+observed by the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way
+out of the route between Peronne and Namur, where the party
+was on October 14th. It would hardly seem possible for
+journey and visit in so brief a time.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="227">[page 227]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XII">XII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>AN EASY VICTORY</h3>
+
+<h4>1468</h4>
+<p>
+It was in the midst of heavy rains that the
+journey was made to Namur and then on
+to the environs of Liege. Grim was the
+weather, befitting, in all probability, Charles's
+own mood. The king's escort was confined to
+very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body
+of three hundred troopers was permitted to follow
+him at a distance, while the faithful Dammartin
+across the border kept himself closely informed
+of every incident connected with the march that
+his scouts could gather, and in readiness to fall
+upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm,
+while he restrained his ardour for the moment in
+obedience to Louis's anxious command.</p>
+<p>
+By the fourth week of October the Franco-Burgundian
+party were settled close to Liege
+in straggling camps, separated from each other by
+hills and uneven ground. Long was the discussion
+in council meeting as to the best mode of procedure.
+Liege was absolutely helpless in the face of this
+coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless.
+Moats she had never possessed, for digging was
+well-nigh impossible on her rocky site covered by
+mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse.
+On account of this evident weakness, the king<span class="page"><a name="228">[page 228]</a></span>
+advised dismissing half the army as needless, advice
+that was not only rejected immediately but which
+excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith.
+Over a week passed and feeble Liege continued
+obstinate, while each division of the army manoeuvred
+to be first in the assault for the sake of
+the plunder. But advance was very difficult, for
+the soldiers were impeded in their movements
+by the slime. Wild were some of the night skirmishes
+over the uneven, slippery ground and
+amidst the little sheltering hills.</p>
+<p>
+On one occasion, "a great many were hurt and
+among the rest the Prince of Orange (whom I had
+forgotten to name before), who behaved that day
+like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved
+foot off the place he first possessed.</p>
+<p>
+The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he
+failed sometimes in order giving, and to say the
+truth, he behaved himself not so advisedly as
+many wished because of the king's presence."<a href="#XII1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+There is no doubt that Charles entertained
+increasingly sinister suspicions of his guest. He
+thought the king might either try to enter the city
+ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient
+allies by a specious explanation, or else he might
+succeed in effecting his escape without fulfilling
+his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday,
+October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own
+quarters were in a little suburb of mean, low houses,<span class="page"><a name="229">[page 229]</a></span>
+with rough ground and vineyards separating his
+camp from the city. Between his house and that
+of the king, both humble dwellings, was an old
+granary, occupied by a picked Burgundian force
+of three hundred men under special injunctions to
+keep close watch over the royal guest and see that
+he played no sudden trick. To further this purpose
+of espionage, they had made a breach in the
+walls with heavy blows of their picks.</p>
+<p>
+The men were wearied with all their marching
+and skirmishing, and in order to have them in
+fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered
+all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The
+exhausted troops gladly obeyed this injunction.
+Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so, too, were
+Philip de Commines and the few attendants that
+lay within the narrow ducal chamber. Only a
+dozen pickets mounted guard in the room over
+Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired
+eyes open by playing at dice.</p>
+<p>
+On that Saturday night when Charles was thus
+prudently gathering strength for the final tussle,
+the people of Liege also indulged in repose, counting
+on Sunday being a day of rest, that is,
+the major part of the burgher folk did within city
+limits. But another plan was on foot among some
+of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An
+attack on the Burgundian camp was planned by a
+band from Franchimont, a wild and wooded district,
+south of the episcopal see. The natives
+there had all the characteristics of mountaineers,<span class="page"><a name="230">[page 230]</a></span>
+although the heights of their rugged country
+reached only modest altitudes.<a href="#XII2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+These invaders were fortunate in obtaining
+as guides the owners of the very houses requisitioned
+for the lodgings of the two princes.
+Straight to their goal they progressed through
+paths quite unknown to the foe, and therefore
+unwatched. The highlanders made a mistake in
+not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where
+in the first confusion they might have accomplished
+their design upon the lives of Louis and of Charles
+or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a
+pause at a French nobleman's tent created a disturbance
+which roused the archers in the granary.
+The latter sallied out, to meet with a fierce counter-attack.
+In order to confuse them the mountaineers
+echoed the Burgundian cries, <i>Vive
+Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez, tuez</i>, and they were
+not always immediately identified by their harsh
+Liege accent.</p>
+<p>
+The highlanders were far outnumbered by the
+Burgundians, and it was only by dint of their
+desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy
+darkness and of the locality with its unknown
+roughness that the former inflicted the damage
+that they did.</p>
+<p>
+Commines and his fellows helped the duke into
+his cuirass, and stood by his person, while the
+king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved
+themselves good fellows, who never budged from<span class="page"><a name="231">[page 231]</a></span>
+their master's feet and shot arrow upon arrow out
+into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians
+than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's
+own host, the guide of the marauders to his own
+cottage door. There were many more victims
+and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter
+characterised by the passions of war and the
+conditions of a mere burglarious attack on private
+houses.</p>
+<p>
+Quaking with fear was the king. He thought
+that if the duke should now fail to make a complete
+conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang
+in the balance. At a hasty council meeting held
+that night, Charles was very doubtful as to the
+expediency of carrying out his proposed assault
+upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were
+the allies, a fact that caused Philip de Commines
+to comment,<a href="#XII3"><sup>3</sup></a> "scarcely fifteen days had elapsed
+since these two had sworn a definitive peace and
+solemnly promised to support each other loyally.
+But confidence could not enter in any way."</p>
+<p>
+Charles gave Louis permission to retire to
+Namur and wait until the duke had reduced the
+recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought
+it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until
+they parted company for ever, and the morrow
+found him in the duke's company as he marched
+on to Liege.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would
+have been wise to depart that night. He could have<span class="page"><a name="232"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 232]</span></a></span>
+done it for he had a hundred archers of his guard,
+various gentlemen of his household, and, near at hand,
+three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was
+stayed by considerations of honour. He did not wish
+to be accused of cowardice."</p>
+
+<p>
+Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely
+pair entered Liege, heard the king say: "March
+on, my brother, for you are the luckiest prince
+alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted
+lustily, "<i>Vive Bourgogne</i>," to the infinite dismay
+of his former friends, the burghers of Liege.</p>
+<p>
+The remainder of the history of that dire Sunday
+morning differs from that of other assaults
+only in harrowing details, and the extremity of the
+pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the conquerors.
+Charles had previously spared churches,
+and protected the helpless. Above all he had
+severely punished all ill treatment of respectable
+women. Little trace of this former restraint was
+to be seen on this occasion. The inhabitants were
+destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who
+fled from their homes leaving their untasted
+breakfasts to be eaten by the intruding soldiers,
+those who were scattered through the numerous
+churches, those who attempted to defend the
+breaches in the walls&mdash;all alike were treated without
+mercy.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="olivier">[plate 16]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image16olivier.jpg" width="400" height="657" alt="OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+The Cathedral of St. Lambert, Charles did
+endeavour to protect. "The duke himself went
+thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own
+hand, whereupon all the company departed and<span class="page"><a name="233">[page 233]</a></span>
+that particular church was not pillaged, but at
+the end the men who had taken refuge there were
+captured as well as the wealth of the church."</p>
+
+<p>
+At about midday Charles joined Louis at the
+episcopal palace, where the latter had found
+apartments better suited to his rank than the rude
+huts that had sheltered him for the past few days.
+The king was in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner
+in spite of the unsavoury scenes that were still
+in progress about him. He manifested great joy
+in the successful assault, and was lavish in his
+praises of the duke's courage, taking care that his
+admiring phrases should be promptly reported
+to his cousin.<a href="#XII4"><sup>4</sup></a> His one great preoccupation,
+however, was to return to his own realm.</p>
+<p>
+After dinner the duke and he made good cheer
+together. "If the king had praised his works
+behind his back, still more loud was he in his open
+admiration. And the duke was pleased." No
+telling sign of friendship for Charles had Louis
+spared that day, so terrified was he lest some
+testimony from his ancient protégés might prove
+his ruin. "Let the word be Burgundy," he had
+cried to his followers when the attack began.</p>
+<blockquote>"<i>Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne</i>."</blockquote>
+<p>
+There is another contemporaneous historian
+who somewhat apologetically relates the following
+incident of this interview.<a href="#XII5"><sup>5</sup></a> In this friendly
+Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he<span class="page"><a name="234">[page 234]</a></span>
+ought to treat Liege when his soldiers had finished
+their work. No trace of kindliness towards his
+old friends was there in the king's answer.</p>
+<p>
+"Once my father had a high tree near his house,
+inhabited by crows who had built their nests
+thereon and disturbed his repose by their chatter.
+He had the nests removed but the crows returned
+and built anew. Several times was this repeated.
+Then he had the tree cut down at the roots. After
+that my father slept quietly."</p>
+<p>
+Four or five days passed before Louis dared
+press the question of his return home. The following
+note written in Italian, dated on the day of the
+assault, is significant of his state of mind:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+LOUIS XI. TO THE COUNT DE FOIX</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the Prince:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered
+in great multitude and with force into this city of
+Liege, and because I have great desire to return, I
+advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will depart
+hence, and I will not cease riding without making any
+stops until I reach there.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII6"><sup>6</sup></a></span> I pray you to let me know
+what is to be done.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Writ at Liege, October 30th.</p>
+
+<p class="rindent1">
+"LOYS&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br /><br /></p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"DE LA LOERE."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his<span class="page"><a name="235">[page 235]</a></span>
+host that if he could be of any further aid he hoped
+his cousin would command him. If there were, indeed,
+nothing, he thought his best plan would be to
+go to Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded
+and published to insure its validity. Charles
+grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed his
+parting guest after the treaty had been again
+read aloud to the king so that he might dissent
+from any one of its articles or ever after hold his
+peace.</p>
+<p>
+Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm everything
+sworn to at Peronne. Just as he was departing
+he put one more query: "'If perchance my brother
+now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the
+share I accord him out of love to you, what do you
+want me to do?' The duke answered abruptly
+and without thought: 'If he does not wish to
+take it, but if you content him otherwise, I will
+trust to you two.' From this question and answer
+arose great things as you shall hear later.
+So the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de
+Cordes and d'Émeries, Grand Bailiff of Hainaut
+escorted him out of ducal territory."<a href="#XII7"><sup>7</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"O wonderful and memorable crime of this king of
+the French [declares a contemporaneous Liege sympathiser.]<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII8"><sup>8</sup></a></span>
+Scarcely anything so bad can be found in
+ancient annals or in modern history. What could be
+more stupid or more perfidious, or a better instance<span class="page"><a name="236"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 236]</span></a></span>
+of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to
+arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake
+of his own safety? Not once but many times had
+he pledged them his faith, offering them defence
+and assistance against the same Burgundians. And
+now when they are overwhelmed and confounded
+by this Burgundian duke, this king actually co-operates
+with their foe, to their damage, wears that
+foe's insignia and dares to hide himself behind those
+emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he
+himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges
+of good faith! I am ashamed to commit this to
+writing, and to hand it down to posterity, knowing
+that it will seem incredible to many. But it is so
+notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so
+many adequate witnesses who have seen and heard
+these things that no room is left for doubt of their
+veracity except to one desiring to ignore the truth."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII9"><sup>9</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+November 2d is the date of Louis's departure.
+It needs no stretch of the imagination to believe
+the words of his little Swiss page, Diesbach, when
+he says that on reaching French soil Louis dismounted
+and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of
+joy that he was his own man again.<a href="#XII10"><sup>10</sup></a> Devoutly,
+too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his
+need. Still this joy was concealed under euphemistic
+phrases in his correspondence. On November
+5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan<span class="page"><a name="237">[page 237]</a></span>
+from Beaumont:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"We went in person with the duke against the
+Liegeois, on account of their rebellion and offence,
+and the city being reduced by force to the power
+of the duke, we have left him in some part of Liege as
+we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France."</p>
+
+<p>
+In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the
+brother of the faithful secretary Aloysius Toustain,
+who had written several of Louis's letters from
+Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis
+writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure
+his protégé a pleasant reception in the university.</p>
+<p>
+The ratification of the treaty took place duly
+at Paris on Saturday, November 19th, and the
+king also sternly forbade the circulation of any
+"paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory
+pamphlets" about Charles.<a href="#XII11"><sup>11</sup></a> The same informant
+tells us that loquacious birds were put under
+a ban.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by
+virtue of his commission addressed to a young man
+of Paris named Henry Perdriel, all the magpies, jays,
+and <i>chouettes</i>, caged or otherwise, were taken in
+charge, and a record was made of all the places where
+the said birds were taken and also all that they knew
+how to say, like <i>larron, paillart</i>, etc., <i>va hors, va! Perrette
+donnes moi à boire</i>, and various other phrases that
+they had been taught."</p>
+
+<p>
+Abbé le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was
+meant for Peronne instead of a mistress of Louis<span class="page"><a name="238">[page 238]</a></span>
+of that name. But this conjecture seems the only
+basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that <i>Peronne</i>
+was a word Louis could not bear to have
+uttered.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"In the way of justice there is nothing going on
+here, [wrote one Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the
+president of Burgundy], except every day they hang
+and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been taken
+prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves.
+The city is well plundered, nothing remains but rubbish.
+For example I have not been able to find a sheet
+of paper fit for writing to you, but with all my pains
+could get nothing but some leaves from an old book." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII12"><sup>12</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Charles decided that nothing should be left
+standing except churches and ecclesiastical buildings.
+On November 9th, before the final fires
+were lit, he departed from the wretched town
+and went down the left bank of the Meuse to an
+abbey on the river, where he paused for the
+night. Four leagues distant from the city was
+this place, and from it were plainly visible the
+flames of the burning buildings on that grim St.
+Hubert's Day&mdash;a day when Liege had been wont
+to give vent to merriment.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"From all the dangers that had encompassed
+him, Charles escaped with his life, simply because
+his hour had not yet struck, and because he was
+God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning
+city," is the verdict of one chronicler who does
+not spare his fellow-Liegeois for their follies while<span class="page"><a name="239"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 239]</span></a></span>
+he profoundly pities their fate.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Out of the many contemporaneous accounts
+a portion of a private letter from the duke's cup-bearer
+to his sister is added:<a href="#XII14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recommend
+myself to you and to all my good friends, men
+and women in our parts, not forgetting my <i>beaux-pères,</i>
+Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray know that,
+thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound.
+As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick
+in the hands of the marshals at Namur, and the others
+are thin enough and have no grain to eat except hay.
+The weather, has, indeed, been enough to strike a chill
+to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left Burgundy
+there have not been three fine days in succession
+and we are in a worse state than wolves.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"You already know how we passed through Lorraine
+and Ratellois without troubling about Salesart
+or other French captains, nor the other Lorrainers
+either, although they were under orders to attack us,
+and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As
+we approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke
+sent Messire Pierre de Harquantbault<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII15"><sup>15</sup></a></span> to us to show
+us what road to take. He told us that the duke had
+made a treaty with the king, who had visited him,
+news that filled us with astonishment....</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+After skirmishing for several days we reached the<span class="page"><a name="240"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 240]</span></a></span>
+faubourgs of Liege and remained there three of
+four days under arms, with no sleep and little food,
+and our horses standing in the rain with no shelter
+but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king
+and the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up
+their quarters in certain houses near the faubourg.
+[... Constant firing was interchanged for several
+days. Sallies were essayed and men were slain.]</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Finally a direct attack was made on the king and
+Monseigneur and there were more of their people than
+ours and that night Monseigneur was in great danger.
+The following Sunday at 9 A.M. we began the
+assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing
+to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said
+city, some climbing and others scaling them with
+ladders. The standards of monseigneur the marshal
+and monsgn. de Renty who had been stationed together
+in the faubourgs, were the first within the said
+city which contained at that moment sixteen to eighteen
+thousand combatants, who were surprised when
+they saw their walls scaled.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"In a moment we entered crying 'Burgundy' and
+'city gained.' Ever so many of their people were
+slain and drowned in their flight. We flew to reach
+the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where
+a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the
+water. Our ensign stood in the midst of the fray on
+the market-place, in the hopes that they would rally
+for a combat but they rallied only to flee. While we
+held our position on the square several were created
+knights.... All the churches&mdash;more than four
+hundred&mdash;were pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured
+that they will be burnt together with the rest of<span class="page"><a name="241"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 241]</span></a></span>
+the city. Piteous it is to see what ill is wrought....
+[The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur
+two or three days. Then he departed, it is said for
+Brussels to await my said lord. It is a great thing to
+have seen the puissance of my master, <i>which is great
+enough to defeat an emperor</i>. I believe the Burgundians
+will shortly return to Burgundy.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"I paid my respects to my said lord, who received
+me very well. At present I am listed<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XII16"><sup>16</sup></a></span> among those
+whose term is almost expired and I am ready to follow
+him wherever he wishes until my service is out, which
+will be soon. I would have written before had I had
+any one to send it by. Pray write me about yourself
+by the first comer. Praying our Lord, beloved
+sister, to keep you. Written in Liege, November
+8, 1468.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"JEHAN DE MAZILLES."</p>
+
+<p>
+This sober letter and other accounts by reliable
+witnesses agree as to the terrible havoc wrought
+in the city by the assault on October 30th and
+by determined and systematic measures of destruction,
+both during Charles's ten days' sojourn for the
+express purpose of completing the punishment
+and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly
+fell short of the intention. The destruction was
+not complete as was that of Dinant. Vitality
+remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus
+intentionally preserved by the duke.</p>
+<p>
+Having watched the tongues of flame lap the
+unfortunate city, Charles turned with his army<span class="page"><a name="242">[page 242]</a></span>
+towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country
+which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent
+antagonists to Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de
+Mazilles is in close attendance and gives further
+details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles
+carried out his purpose of leaving no seed
+of resistance to germinate. Four nights and
+three days they sojourned in a certain little
+village while there was a hard frost and where,
+without unarming, they "slept under the trees
+and drank water." Meantime a small party
+was despatched by the duke to attack the stronghold
+of Franchimont. The despairing Liegeois
+who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it
+was taken by assault. A few more days and the
+duke was assured that Liege and her people were
+shorn of their strength. When the remnant of
+survivors began to creep back to the city and
+tried to recover what was left of their property,
+many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits
+succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years.</p>
+<p>
+In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too,
+demanded reimbursement for his trouble in bending
+these free citizens to his illegal will. The
+reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal perquisites,
+all difficult to collect, and many were the
+ponderous documents that passed on the subject.
+How justly pained sounds Charles's remonstrance
+on the default of payment of taxes to his friend,
+the city's lord!</p>
+<p>
+"Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these<span class="page"><a name="243">[page 243]</a></span>
+things, taking into account the terror of our departure
+to Brussels last January, we decide, my brother and I,
+that the payment of both <i>gabelle</i> and poll tax must be
+forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of
+such taxes under any colour or pretence. At the
+request of our brother and cousin we order the inhabitants
+of the said territories to pay both <i>gabelle</i> and
+poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed
+and for the time to come, under penalty of the confiscation
+of their goods and their persons."</p>
+<p>
+It was the old story of bricks without straw&mdash;taxes
+and rents for property ruthlessly destroyed
+were so easy. To this extent of tyranny had
+Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the
+treatment of Liege was a step towards Charles's
+final disaster. So much hatred was excited against
+him that his adherents fell off one by one when his
+luck began to fail him.</p>
+<p>
+No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this
+time, however. That month of November saw
+him master absolute wherever he was and he used
+his power autocratically. At Huy, he had a number
+of prisoners executed. At Louvain, at Brussels,
+he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness as an
+overlord.</p>
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#228">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XII1">Commines</a>, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place
+where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse
+exactly a hundred years later.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#230">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XII2">The</a> story of the "men of Franchimont" is questioned.
+Commines is the only authority for it.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#231">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XII3">II</a>., ch. xiii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#233">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XII4">Commines</a>, ii., ch. xiii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#234">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XII5">Oudenbosch</a>, <i>Veterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima Collectio</i>,
+ed. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de Veteri Busco, p. 1343.
+The writer acknowledges that the story is hearsay.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#234">[Footnote 6:</a> "<i><a name="XII6">Non</a> cessero di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna.
+Lettres,iii</i>., 300.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#235">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XII7">Commines</a>, ii., ch. xiv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#235">[Footnote 8:</a> "<i><a name="XII8">O</a> pr&oelig;clarum et memorabile facinus hujus regis Francorum</i>."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#236">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XII9">Basin</a>, <i>Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XI</i>.,
+Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in <i>Excerpta ex Amelgardi.
+De gestis Ludovici XI</i>., cap. xxiii. Martene's <i>Amplissima
+Collectio,</i> iv., 740 <i>et seq</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#236">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XII10">Quoted</a> in Kirk, i., 606, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#237">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XII11">Jean</a> de Roye, <i>Chronique Scandaleuse</i>, ed. Mandrot, i., 220.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#238">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XII12">Comines</a>-Lenglet, iii., 83.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#239">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XII13">Johannes </a>de Los, <i>Chronicon</i>, p. 60. <i>Quia hora nendum
+venerat.</i> De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liége."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#239">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XII14">Commynes</a>-Dupont, <i>Preuves</i>, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan
+de Mazilles to his sister.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#239">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XII15">Hagenbach</a>, later Governor of Alsace.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#241">[Footnote 16:</a> <i><a name="XII16">Conte</a> aux escros</i>. This word strictly applies to the prisoners
+on a jailer's list&mdash;evidently used in jest.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="244">[page 244]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XIII">XIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>A NEW ACQUISITION</h3>
+
+<h4>1469-1473</h4>
+<p>
+This successful expedition against Liege
+carried Charles of Burgundy to the very
+crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was
+moreover gratified by the regard shown to him
+at home and abroad. A man who could force
+a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful rôle
+enacted by Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a
+man to be respected if not loved. And messages
+of admiration and respect couched in various
+terms were despatched from many quarters to the
+duke as soon as he was at Brussels to receive them.</p>
+<p>
+Ghent had long since made apologies for the
+sorry reception accorded to their incoming Count
+of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed
+the formal <i>amende</i> until a convenient moment of
+leisure. January 15, 1469, was finally appointed
+for this ceremony and the occasion was utilised
+to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humiliation,
+to as many people as possible who might
+spread the report far and wide.</p>
+<p>
+It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the
+palace the snow was thick on the ground where a
+group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for an
+hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal
+presence. There, too, where every one could see<span class="page"><a name="245">[page 245]</a></span>
+those emblems of the artisans' corporate strength,
+fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the
+deans of the Ghentish <i>métiers</i>.<a href="#XIII1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Within, the great hall of the palace showed a
+splendid setting for a brilliant assembly. The
+most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the
+walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander,
+of Hannibal, and of other notable ancients formed
+the background for the duke and his nobles,
+knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As
+spectators, too, there were all the envoys and
+ambassadors then present in Brussels from
+"France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples,
+Aragon, Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Denmark,
+Russia, Livornia, Prussia, Austria, Milan,
+Lombardy, and other places."</p>
+<p>
+Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind
+of throne, and to his feet Olivier de la Marche
+conducted the civic procession of penitents.
+Before this pompous gathering, after a statement
+of the city's sin and sorrow, the precious charter
+called the Grand Privilege of Ghent was solemnly
+read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with
+a pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the
+penalties imposed upon, and accepted by, the citizens
+(closing of the gates, etc)., and then the
+paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pronounced
+the fault forgiven with the benediction,
+"By virtue of this submission and by keeping <span class="page"><a name="246">[page 246]</a></span>
+your promises and being good children, you shall
+enjoy our grace and we will be a good prince."
+"May our Saviour Jesus Christ confirm and preserve
+this peace to the end of this century," is
+the pious ejaculation with which the <i>Relation</i>
+closes.</p>
+<p>
+Among the witnesses of the above scene, when
+the independent citizens of Ghent meekly posed
+as the duke's children, were envoys from George
+Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed
+by the pope, he was seeking some favourable
+ally who might help him to recover his realm.
+He had conceived a plan for a coalition between
+Bohemia, Poland, Austria, and Hungary to present
+a solid rampart against the Turks, and strong
+enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He
+was ready for intrigue with any power and had
+approached Louis XI. and Matthias Corvinus,
+King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of
+Burgundy.<a href="#XIII2"><sup>2</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit
+links with this same Matthias by suggesting that
+he might be the next emperor, assuring him that
+he could count on the support of the electors of
+Mayence, of Trèves, and of Saxony. He himself
+was world-weary and was anxious to exchange
+his imperial cares for the repose of the Church
+could he only find a safe guardian for his son,
+Maximilian, and a desirable successor for himself.<span class="page"><a name="247">[page 247]</a></span>
+Would not Matthias consider the two offices?</p>
+<p>
+Potent arguments like these induced Matthias
+not only to turn his back on Podiebrad, but to
+accept that deposed monarch's crown which the
+Bohemian nobles offered him May 3, 1469. Then
+he proceeded to ally himself with Frederic, elector
+palatine, and with the elector of Bavaria. This
+was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia
+made renewed offers of friendly alliance to Charles
+of Burgundy. In his name the Sire de Stein
+brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles
+which contained the provision that Podiebrad
+should support the election of Charles as King of
+the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two
+hundred thousand florins (Rhenish).<a href="#XIII3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+This modest sum was to secure not only Podiebrad's
+own vote but his "influence" with the
+Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony
+and the Margrave of Brandenburg.<a href="#XIII4"><sup>4</sup></a> While
+Podiebrad thus dangled the ultimate hopes of
+the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he
+over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of
+fact the royal exile had no "influence" at all
+with the first named elector, and the last, too,
+showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his
+unstable policy. Both were content to advise
+Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty
+overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of<span class="page"><a name="248">[page 248]</a></span>
+importance.</p>
+<p>
+Another negotiation which sought him unasked
+had, however, a material influence on the course
+of events, and must be touched on in some detail.
+Sigismund of Austria&mdash;first duke then archduke,&mdash;Count
+of Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic,
+was a member of the House of Habsburg. In
+1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and
+became brother-in-law of Louis during the term
+of the dauphin's first marriage. An indolent,
+extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated by
+his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol included
+certain territories lying far from his capital,
+Innsbruck. Certain portions of Upper Alsace,
+lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau
+in Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seigniories
+in the Black Forest were under his sway.</p>
+<p>
+These particular domains were so remote from
+Innsbruck that the authority of the hereditary
+overlord had long been eluded. The nobles pillaged
+the land near their castles very much at
+their own sweet will. The harassed burghers appealed
+to the Alsatian Décapole,<a href="#XIII5"><sup>5</sup></a> and again to the
+free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes
+obtained more than they wanted.</p>
+<p>
+Mulhouse was seriously affected by these lawless
+depredations. To her, Berne promised aid
+in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466, and
+at Berne's insistance the cowardly nobles restrained<span class="page"><a name="249">[page 249]</a></span>
+their license. But when the city attempted to
+extend its authority Sigismund interfered. Having
+no army, however, he could not recover Waldshut,
+which the Swiss claimed a right to annex,
+except by offering ten thousand florins for the
+town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men,
+he had, however, no means to pay this ransom
+and begged aid in every direction. Moreover, he
+feared further aggressions from the cantons, which
+were growing more daring. What man in Europe
+was better able to teach them a lesson than Charles,
+the destroyer of Liege, the stern curber of undue
+liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person
+to tame insolent Swiss cowherds?</p>
+<p>
+In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made
+known to Charles his desire for a bargain, intimating
+that in case of the duke's refusal, he would carry his
+wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was
+busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigismund's
+proposition. The latter tried to see Louis
+XI. personally in accordance with his imperial
+cousin's advice that an interview might be more
+effective than a letter.</p>
+<p>
+It did not prove a propitious time, however;
+Louis was deeply engaged with Burgundy and he
+was not disposed to take any steps that might
+estrange the Swiss&mdash;and any espousal of Sigismund's
+interests might alienate them. He did not even
+permit an opening to be made, but stopped Sigismund's
+approach to him by a message that he
+would not for a moment entertain a suggestion<span class="page"><a name="250">[page 250]</a></span>
+inimical to those dear friends of his in the cantons&mdash;a
+sentiment that quickly found its way to
+Switzerland.</p>
+<p>
+Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear,
+Sigismund decided that he would make another
+essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time
+face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he
+journeyed and found Charles in the midst of
+the ostentatious magnificence already described.
+Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a
+splendour hardly attained by the emperor in the
+most pompous functions of his court. Sigismund
+was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy
+prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's
+sole heiress led the Austrian to conceive the not
+unnatural idea that this attractive Burgundian
+wealth might be turned into the impoverished
+imperial coffers by a marriage between Mary of
+Burgundy and Maximilian, the emperor's son.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="mary1">[plate 17]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image17mary1.jpg" width="400" height="505" alt="MARY OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The visitor not only thought of this possibility,
+but he immediately broached it to Charles. The
+bait was swallowed. As to the main proposition
+which Sigismund had come expressly to make,
+that, too, was not rejected. The duke perceived
+that the transfer of the Rhenish lands to his jurisdiction
+might militate to his advantage. A passage
+would be opened towards the south for his troops
+without the need of demanding permission from
+any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble with
+the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the
+advantages of Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which<span class="page"><a name="251">[page 251]</a></span>
+he finally decided to accept. Probably he found
+his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not
+only did he broach the tempting alliance between
+Mary and Maximilian, but he, too, seems to have
+hinted that the title of "King of the Romans"
+might be added to the long list of appellations
+already signed by Charles.<a href="#XIII6"><sup>6</sup></a> As Sigismund was
+richer in kin, if not in coin, than the feeble Podiebrad,
+Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion
+which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in
+the course of the long conversations held at
+Bruges.</p>
+<p>
+Certain precautions were taken to protect
+Charles from being dragged into Swiss complications
+against his will, and then in May, 1469, the
+treaty of St. Omer was signed,<a href="#XIII7"><sup>7</sup></a> wherein the Duke
+of Burgundy accorded his protection to Sigismund
+of Austria and received from him all his seigniorial
+rights within certain specified territories.</p>
+<p>
+The most important part of this cession comprised
+Upper Alsace and the county of Ferrette,
+but there were also many other fragments of
+territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides
+lordship over various Rhenish cities, such as
+Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg, Waldshut
+and Brisac. This last named town commanded
+the route eastward, as Waldshut that to the southeast,
+and Thann the highway through the Vosges<span class="page"><a name="252">[page 252]</a></span>
+region.</p>
+<p>
+Fifty thousand florins was the price for the property
+and the claims transferred from Sigismund
+to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at once,
+in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The
+remainder was due on September 24th. On his
+part, Sigismund specifically recognised the duke's
+right to redeem all domains nominally his but
+mortgaged for the time being, certain estates or
+seignorial rights having been thus alienated for
+150 years.</p>
+<p>
+This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was
+a mortgage, but a mortgage with possession to the
+mortgagee and further restricted by the provision
+that there could be no redemption unless the
+mortgager could repay at Besançon the whole loan
+plus all the outlay made by the mortgagee up to
+that date. Instalment payments were expressly
+ruled out. The entire sum intact was made obligatory.
+Therefore the danger of speedy redemption
+did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man
+he had to deal with. Sigismund's lack of foresight
+and his prodigality were notorious. There
+was faint chance that he could ever command the
+amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was
+fairly justified in counting the mortgaged territory
+as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity.</p>
+<p>
+Sigismund pocketed his florins eagerly. Nothing
+could have been more welcome to him. But this
+relief from the pressure of his pecuniary embarrassment
+did not inspire him with love for the man<span class="page"><a name="253">[page 253]</a></span>
+who held his lost lands. His sentiments towards
+Charles were very similar to those of an heir towards
+a usurer who has helped him in a temporary
+strait by mulcting him of his natural rights.</p>
+<p>
+As for the emperor, when this transfer of territory
+was an accomplished fact, he began to take
+fright at the consequences. He did not like this
+intrusion of a powerful French peer into the imperial
+circle.<a href="#XIII8"><sup>8</sup></a> At the same time he was ready to
+make him share responsibility in any further
+difficulties that might arise between Sigismund
+and the Swiss.</p>
+<p>
+The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen
+difficulties for Charles on his own account, both
+foreign and domestic. His own relations with the
+Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had
+never before been so near a neighbour, while, within
+the Rhine lands, it was an open question whether
+the bartered inhabitants were to enjoy or regret
+their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of
+their sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference
+to Charles as was danger from the Confederation.
+Neither conciliation nor diplomacy
+was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the
+intricacies of the situation. He counted the landgraviate
+as definitely his by the treaty of St. Omer
+as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.</p>
+<p>
+The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley<span class="page"><a name="254">[page 254]</a></span>
+towns&mdash;a policy that might have won their allegiance&mdash;never
+occurred to him. They were his
+property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course
+of time, made lieutenant-governor in his behalf.</p>
+<p>
+Apart from all personal considerations of
+enmity and amity of natives and neighbours, the
+territory of Upper Alsace and the county of Ferrette,
+delivered from needy Austria to rich Burgundy,
+like a coat pawned by a poor student, was
+held under very complex and singular conditions.<a href="#XIII9"><sup>9</sup></a>
+The status of the bargain between Sigismund and
+Charles was in point of fact something between
+pawn and sale, according to the point of view.
+Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while
+Charles did not admit that possibility as remotely
+contingent. Nor was that the only peculiarity. The
+itemised list of the ceded territories as given in
+the treaty was far from telling the facts of the
+possessions passing to Sigismund's proxy.</p>
+<p>
+In the first place the Austrian seigniories were
+not compact. They were scattered here and there
+in the midst of lands ruled by others, as the Bishop
+of Strasburg, the Abbé of St. Blaise in the Black
+Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel
+and of Mulhouse, and others.</p>
+<p>
+The existent variety in the extent and nature<span class="page"><a name="255">[page 255]</a></span>
+of Austrian title was extraordinary. Nearly every
+possible combination of dismembered prerogative
+and actual tenure had resulted from the long series
+of ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or
+a quit-rent was the sole cession, and again a toll or a
+prerogative was almost the only residue remaining
+to the ostensible overlord, while all his former
+property or transferable birthright privileges
+were lodged in various hands on divers tenures.
+There were cases in which the mortgagee&mdash;noble,
+burgher, or municipal corporation&mdash;had taken
+the exact place of the Austrian duke and in so
+doing had become the vassal of his debtor,
+stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty.
+For in these bargains wherein elements of the
+Roman contract and feudal customs were curiously
+blended, two classes of rights had been invariably
+reserved by the ducal mortgagers:</p>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+(1) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured
+free circulation on the highways, the old Roman
+roads, all jurisdiction of passports and travellers'
+protection.</p>
+<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+(2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power
+to confer fiefs, of requisition of military service,
+of requesting <i>aids</i> and admission to strongholds,
+cities, or castles, <i>le droit de forteresse jurable et
+rendable</i>.</p>
+<p>
+In these regards the compact between Charles
+and Sigismund differed from all previous covenants
+not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke of
+Burgundy entered into the <i>sovereign</i> as well as<span class="page"><a name="256">[page 256]</a></span>
+into the mangled, maimed, and curtailed proprietary
+rights of the hereditary over-lord.</p>
+<p>
+In his assumption of this involved and doubtful
+property, Charles laid heavy responsibilities on
+his shoulders. The actual price of fifty thousand
+gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction
+of the pecuniary obligations incurred, while the
+weight of care was difficult to gauge. He succeeded
+to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose misrule
+had long been a curse to the land. The incursions
+of the Swiss, the repeated descents of the
+Rhine nobles from their crag-lodged strongholds
+to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants and
+plunged peaceful labourers into misery.</p>
+<p>
+Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the
+neighbouring cities repeatedly became the accomplices
+of these brigands, affording them asylums
+for refitting and free passage when they were
+laden with evident booty.</p>
+<p>
+In all departments of finance and administration
+disorder prevailed. The chief officials, castellans
+and councillors, enjoyed high salaries for neglected
+duties. The castles were in wretched repair and
+there were insufficient troops to guard the roads.
+There was no dependence upon the receipts nominally
+to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged
+lands, the lords simply levied what they could,
+without the slightest responsibility for the order
+of the domain; they did not hesitate to charge their
+suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no<span class="page"><a name="257">[page 257]</a></span>
+one would verify their declaration.</p>
+<p>
+In the territories of the immediate domain, the
+Austrian dukes and their officials had no notion
+of the rigid system maintained in Burgundy.
+Only here and there can little memoranda be
+found and these are confused and obscure. There
+is a dearth of accurate records like those voluminous
+registers of outlays kept by Burgundian receivers,
+registers so rich in detail that they are
+more valuable for the historian than any chronicle.</p>
+<p>
+Exact appraisal of the resources of these <i>pays
+de par de là</i> was very difficult. Between 1469
+and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain reliable
+information by means of as many successive commissions
+despatched to the Rhine valley by the
+Duke of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+Envoys drew up minutes of their observations
+in addition to their official reports and all were
+preserved in the archives. As these were written
+from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the
+accounts of the receivers now lost, etc., there is
+real value in the documents.</p>
+<p>
+The first commission in behalf of Burgundy
+was composed of two Germans and three Walloons.
+One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach,
+who won no enviable reputation in the later exercise
+of his office as lieutenant-governor of the
+annexed region, to which he was shortly afterwards
+appointed. This first commission entered
+into formal possession in Charles's name and
+instituted some desired reforms immediately,<span class="page"><a name="258">[page 258]</a></span>
+such as policing the highways, etc.</p>
+<p>
+The second commission made its visit in 1471.
+It consisted of Jean Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and
+Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of Amont.</p>
+<p>
+The third commission (1473) was under the
+auspices of Monseigneur Coutault, master of accounts
+at Dijon. He carried with him the report
+of his predecessors and made his additions
+thereto.</p>
+<p>
+Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June
+13, 1471) were vague and general. They were
+"to see the conduct of his affairs" <i>(voir la conduite
+de ses affaires</i>). The important point was to find
+out how much revenue could be obtained. As the
+duke's plan of expansion grew larger he had need
+of all his resources.</p>
+<p>
+The reports were eminently discouraging. Outlay
+was needed everywhere&mdash;income was small.
+As the chances of peculation diminished, the castellans
+deserted their posts and left the castles
+to decay. The Burgundian commission of 1471
+found the difficulties of their exploration increased
+by two items. Charles had not advanced an
+allowance for their expenses and they were anxious
+to be back at Vesoul by Michaelmas, the
+date of the change in municipal offices and of appropriations
+for the year. It was in hopes of
+receiving advance moneys that they delayed in
+starting, but the approaching election and coming
+winter finally decided them to set out, pay their
+own expenses, and complete the business as rapidly<span class="page"><a name="259">[page 259]</a></span>
+as they could in a fortnight.</p>
+<p>
+The summary of this report of 1471 was that
+there was little present prospect that Charles would
+be able to reimburse himself for his necessary expenses.
+An undue portion of authority and of
+revenue was legally lodged in alien hands. Charles
+was possessed of germs of rights rather than of
+actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria held
+all the best mortgages with their attendant emoluments.
+The immediate profits accruing to the
+Duke of Burgundy fell far short of the minimum
+necessary to disburse to keep his government, his
+strongholds, his highways in repair. Very disturbed
+were the good treasurer of Vesoul and the
+procureur-general of Amont at this state of affairs,
+and distressed at the prospect of the ampler
+receipts from Burgundy being required to relieve
+the pressing necessities of the poor territories <i>de
+par de là</i>.</p>
+<p>
+To avoid this contingency, the commissioners
+recommended the duke to redeem all the existing
+mortgages great and small. It would cost 140,000
+florins, but the revenue would at once increase
+with the new security which would immediately
+follow under firm Burgundian rule. Sole master,
+Charles could then enforce obedience from
+nobles and cities and better conditions would be
+inaugurated.</p>
+<p>
+Evidently this rational advice was not taken,
+for it is repeated by Coutault in 1473. Redemption
+of the mortgages, "if your affairs can afford<span class="page"><a name="260">[page 260]</a></span>
+it," is the counsel given by the chamber of accounts
+at Dijon, though this sage board adds that
+they were well aware that in the previous month
+Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hundred
+florins to redeem one wretched little <i>gagerie.</i>
+The native coffers of the region did not suffice to
+settle the salaries of the officers in charge.</p>
+<p>
+Such then was the new acquisition of Charles
+after four years of his administration. Peter
+von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this unremunerative
+territory, is a character painted
+in the darkest colours by all historians. It is
+more than probable that his unpopular efforts
+to make bricks without straw were largely
+responsible for his unenviable reputation.
+Ground between the upper and lower millstones
+of Charles's clamours for revenues and
+popular clamours that the people had nothing
+wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a
+taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying
+type, who made himself thoroughly hated by the
+people he was set to rule.</p>
+<p>
+It must be remembered that there was no cleft
+in nationality or in language between governor
+and governed. He was not a foreigner set over
+them. He was one of them raised to a high position.
+There was then no French element in
+Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and
+simple.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="map">[plate 18]</a></span>
+<p class="center">Click on <b>Map</b> to enlarge<br /><br />
+<a href="#largemap"><img src="cbimages/image18map1.jpg" width="400" height="661" alt="MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES" border="0" /></a></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#245">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XIII1">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 204-209. "Relation de l'assemblée
+solennelle tenue à Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#246">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XIII2">See</a>Toutey, <i>Charles le Téméraire et la ligue de Constance</i>,
+p. 7.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#247">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XIII3">See</a>  the text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., 116. Charles
+is characterised as <i>ducem strenuum in armis ac justitiæ
+præcipium zelatorem</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#247">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XIII4">See</a> Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 371.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#248">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XIII5">Thus</a> was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from
+Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confederation
+by the Emperor Charles IV.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#251">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XIII6">Toutey</a>, p. 11.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#251">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XIII7">See</a> "Fontes Rerum Austriacarum" Chmel, J., <i>Urkunden
+zur Geschichte von Osterreich</i>, etc., II<span class="super">2</span>, 223 <i>et passim</i>. One
+document, p. 229, has <i>Marz</i> as a misprint for <i>Mai</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#253">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XIII8">Charles</a> was, to be sure, already within that circle for some
+of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there
+were very shadowy.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#254">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XIII9">See</a> Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable article
+by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes
+dans la vallée du Rhin sous Charles le Téméraire," <i>Annales
+de l'Est,</i> vol. 18. This article, is the result of a careful
+examination of the reports made by Poinsot and Pellet,
+Charles's commissioners.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="261">[page 261]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XIV">XIV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>ENGLISH AFFAIRS</h3>
+
+<h4>1470-1471</h4>
+<p>
+In order to follow out the extension of Burgundian
+jurisdiction in one direction, the
+course of events in the duke's life has been anticipated
+a little. The thread of the story now returns
+to 1469, when Charles and Sigismund separated
+at St. Omer both well pleased with their bargain.
+Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges and
+then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his
+sojourn had been interrupted in 1468 by his alarm
+about French duplicity. In the glow caused by
+his past achievements, his present reputation, and
+future prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a
+mood to prove to his subjects his excellence as a
+paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey
+easy access was permitted to his presence and he
+was lavish in the time given to receiving petitions
+from the humblest plaintiff. The following gruesome
+incident is an illustration of the summary
+methods attributed to him.<a href="#XIV1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the
+governor, a man of noble birth, a knight, fell in
+love with a married woman who indignantly repudiated<span class="page"><a name="262">[page 262]</a></span>
+his advances. In revenge the governor had
+the husband arrested on a charge of high treason.
+The wife, left without a protector, continued
+obdurate to the knight until the alternative of her
+husband's release or his death was offered her as
+the reward for accepting the governor's base suit
+or as the penalty of her refusal. She chose to
+redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she
+went to the prison and was led to her husband
+truly, but he lay dead and in his coffin!</p>
+<p>
+When the Duke of Burgundy was once within
+the Zealand capital, this injured woman hastened
+to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner for justice.
+He heard her complaint and straightway summoned
+the ex-governor to his presence. The accused
+confessed that he had been carried away
+by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles
+of his long and faithful devotion to the late duke
+and to himself, and offered any possible reparation
+for his crime. The duke ordered him to marry his
+victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion,
+but was forced by her family to accept it. After
+the nuptial benediction, the knight again appeared
+before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff was
+satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly,
+"but not I." He remanded the bridegroom to
+prison, had him shriven and executed all within an
+hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown
+her second husband in his coffin as she had seen her
+first, and on the same spot. "It was a penalty
+that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the<span class="page"><a name="263">[page 263]</a></span>
+plaintiff died from the double shock."</p>
+<p>
+The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to
+Holland. Everywhere he evinced himself equally
+uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable
+and considerate towards the lower classes and
+humble folk. Various other stories related about
+him at this epoch are difficult to accept as authentic,
+for the main detail has appeared at other
+times under different guises. Wandering tales
+seem to alight, like birds of passage, on successive
+people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
+hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.</p>
+<p>
+The Hague was the duke's headquarters during
+two months, and there also he held open court and
+gave audience to many embassies in the midst of
+his administrative work pertaining to Holland
+and its nearest neighbours. He took measures to
+recover what he claimed had been usurped by
+Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make
+good the title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the
+wisp to successive Counts of Holland and never
+acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld
+together the various provinces the months passed,
+until a new turn of foreign events began to absorb
+the duke's whole attention.</p>
+<p>
+The details of English politics with all the reasons
+for revolution and counter-revolution involved
+in the complicated civil disorders, the Wars of
+the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can
+only be suggested in his biography. It must be
+remembered that the modern impression of English<span class="page"><a name="264">[page 264]</a></span>
+stability and French fickleness in political institutions,
+an impression casting reflections direct
+and indirect upon literature as well as history, is
+based on the changes in France from 1789 down
+to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century.
+Quite the reverse is the earlier tradition based on
+the kaleidoscopic shifts familiar to several generations
+of observers in the fifteenth century<a href="#XIV2"><sup>2</sup></a>; stable
+and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings
+of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across
+the Channel.</p>
+<p>
+Since 1461, Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster
+had been a passive prisoner, while Margaret of
+Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts to win
+adherents at home and abroad for her captive
+husband and her exiled son.<a href="#XIV3"><sup>3</sup></a> In 1463, she had received
+some aid, some encouragement from Philip
+of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward
+IV. as king and although, too, his personal sympathies
+were Yorkish rather than Lancastrian.</p>
+<p>
+It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into
+Lille, but later the duke himself entertained her
+munificently. The poverty-stricken exile probably
+found the accompanying ducal gifts more<span class="page"><a name="265">[page 265]</a></span>
+to the immediate purpose than the ducal feasts.
+Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed upon
+herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while
+various Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard
+times by useful sums of money.</p>
+<p>
+Pleasant though the recognition was, however,
+the pecuniary assistance was quite insufficient
+to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine years
+Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts
+were made to dislodge him. As he never forgot
+his mother's lineage, the sympathies of Charles of
+Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Margaret
+may have counted confidently on that sympathy
+proving valuable for her son as soon as
+Charles himself had a free hand. But when he
+came into his heritage, his marriage with Margaret
+of York put a definite end to those hopes.
+The new duke thereby declared his acceptance
+of the king whom the Earl of Warwick had seated
+upon the English throne. Then came clashing
+of wills between that king and his too powerful
+subject-adviser.<a href="#XIV4"><sup>4</sup></a> To punish his unruly royal
+protégé, Warwick turned his attention to the
+Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive
+to Edward IV. A marriage was planned between
+this possible future monarch and the earl's
+eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated
+at Calais without the king's knowledge (July,<span class="page"><a name="266">[page 266]</a></span>
+1469).</p>
+<p>
+In the same summer occurred a rising in Yorkshire,
+possibly instigated by Warwick.<a href="#XIV5"><sup>5</sup></a> The malcontents,
+sixty thousand strong, declared that
+the king was giving ear to base counsellors and
+must be coerced into better ways. An attempt
+to suppress this revolt by the royal troops resulted
+in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father
+of Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was
+taken prisoner and beheaded.</p>
+<p>
+Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to Warwick.
+Over the Channel hastened the earl and his
+new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king at
+Olney, and&mdash;Edward found himself if not exactly
+a prisoner, at least under restraint. Two sovereigns&mdash;both
+without power even over their own
+actions,&mdash;such was the situation in England at the
+end of 1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self-complacently
+regarding Louis XI. as a foe convinced
+of his own inferiority.</p>
+<p>
+A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal
+brother-in-law was probably the reason why Edward
+IV. was set at liberty, and why a reconciliation
+was patched up between him and his
+councillor, with full pardon for Warwick's adherents.
+But it was short-lived. A fresh outbreak in
+March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and
+Clarence sided with the rebels, the king was victorious,
+and his unfaithful friend and brother were
+again forced to flee under a shower of menaces<span class="page"><a name="267">[page 267]</a></span>
+hurled after them.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erle of Warrewyk
+our Rebell and Traytour come into oure seid
+Land we woll ... that ye doo Hym and Theym to
+be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto
+Us either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C.<i>l</i> of
+Land in Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or
+Mil. <i>Lib</i> in Redy money at his election." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV6"><sup>6</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Such was the proclamation issued on March
+22d by the king himself at York.</p>
+<p>
+Between Edward and Charles a new link had
+just been forged in the chain of friendship. The
+Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by the
+duke:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"We have to-day received from our much honoured
+seigneur and brother, the king of England, his Order
+of the Garter together with the mantle and other
+ornaments and things appertaining to the said Order
+and have ... taken the oath according to the
+statutes of the Order.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal,
+February 4, 1469 [O.S.]." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV7"><sup>7</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Now it was in consideration of needs that might
+arise in the near future, following on the trail
+of these wide-reaching English convulsions, that
+Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for
+a strong military defence calculated to suit any<span class="page"><a name="268">[page 268]</a></span>
+emergency. Louis XI. had a permanent force at
+his command. He had made the beginning of the
+French standing army, the nucleus of one of
+those bodies that have ever since urged each
+other on to expensive growth from opposite sides
+of European frontiers. What one monarch possessed
+that must his near neighbour have.</p>
+<p>
+Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercenaries,
+were all alike unstable bulwarks for a nation.
+Nation as yet Charles had not, but he wanted to
+be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he
+issued an ordinance for the levy of a thousand
+lances, amounting to five thousand combatants,
+to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at
+call under officers of his own appointment. The
+ducal treasury could not stand the whole expense.
+To meet the deficit, Charles asked from his Netherland
+Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns
+for three years. Power to impose taxes he had
+none. A request to each individual province was
+all the requisition that he could make.</p>
+<p>
+In this case, most of the provinces approached
+had acceded to the demand, when the Estates of
+Flanders convened at Lille. Here the Chancellor
+of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of
+the demand, and then the session was changed to
+Bruges, where they debated on the merits of the
+request, urged on further by explanatory letters
+from Charles. Finally, a deputation was appointed
+by the Estates to go over to Ghent and
+present a <i>Remonstrance</i> to their impatient sovereign<span class="page"><a name="269">[page 269]</a></span>
+beggar.</p>
+<p>
+Three points were set forth. The deputies
+objected to this grant being asked only from the
+lands <i>de par de ça</i>&mdash;the Netherlands and not from
+the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite
+assessment imposed on each province. Thirdly,
+they desired a declaration that the fiefs and arrière-fiefs
+already bound to furnish troops should be
+exempt from share in this tax. The remonstrance
+was courtly in tone. Written in French, the concluding
+phrases were in Latin and suggested that
+nothing was more becoming a prince than clemency,
+especially towards his subjects.<a href="#XIV8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's
+response.<a href="#XIV9"><sup>9</sup></a> How could Burgundy furnish money?
+It is a poor land. It takes after France.<a href="#XIV10"><sup>10</sup></a> But
+its men make a third of the army. They are the
+Burgundian contribution. As to an assessment,
+what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid?
+Only out of malice is this idle point suggested.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"You act as you have always done&mdash;you Flemings.
+Neither to my father nor to me have you ever
+been liberal. What you have granted&mdash;sometimes
+more than our request&mdash;has always been given so
+tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish
+skulls are hard and thick and you cling to your stubborn<span class="page"><a name="270"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 270]</span></a></span>
+and perverse opinions.... I am half of
+France and half of Portugal and I know how to meet
+such heads as yours, ay and <i>will</i> do it. You have always
+either hated or despised your prince&mdash;if powerful
+you hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your
+hatred to your contempt. Not for your privileges or
+anything else will I permit myself to be trampled on&mdash;and
+I have the power to prevent such trampling."</p>
+
+<p>
+Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his
+demand, whose purpose mainly was for defence of
+Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate his visitors
+soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring
+that as to the fiefs and arrière-fiefs he would see to
+it that no double burdens were borne.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"And when you shall have determined to accord
+my request,&mdash;which you will assuredly do (and I do
+not mean to burden you further unless I am forced
+to it),&mdash;send some of your deputies after me to Lille or
+St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my council,
+I will determine the apportionment and we will
+speak also of other matters touching my province of
+Flanders."</p>
+
+<p>
+It was this vehement oratory&mdash;and this vehemence
+was repeated on many occasions&mdash;that did
+more to alienate Charles from his hereditary subjects
+than his actual demands. There is little
+doubt that his period of residence in their midst
+brought with it hatred rather than liking. No
+political error of his serves to explain the Flemish
+attitude towards the duke as does his method of
+address, the gratuitous contempt displayed towards<span class="page"><a name="271">[page 271]</a></span>
+burghers whose purses were needed for his
+game. The <i>aide</i> was granted, indeed, but it was
+levied with sullen reluctance.</p>
+<p>
+What cause Charles had to make his preparations,
+what were the proceedings of the English
+exiles may be seen from the following letters to his
+mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is
+probably in answer to her questionings; the second
+is a specimen of the epistles showered upon the
+border towns.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"TO MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LADY AND MOTHER,</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+MADAME THE DUCHESS, AT AIRE:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"May it please you to know that in regard to what
+the Sgr. de Crèvec&oelig;ur has written you about the
+king's proclamations that he intends to maintain his
+treaties and promises to me, etc., and has no desire
+to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects
+to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and
+his, assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary
+has been and is well known before the said publications
+and after. The Earl of Warwick is my foe and
+could not, according to the treaty existing between
+the king and me, be received in Normandy or elsewhere
+in the realm ... [complaints about the
+procedure have been sent to king and parliament and
+councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more, the
+Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext
+of carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which
+man was charged to spy upon my ships and by means
+of a caravel named the <i>Brunette</i>, sent for this purpose
+by the admiral, to cut the cables to set them adrift
+and founder&mdash;or to capture certain ships with such<span class="page"><a name="272"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 272]</span></a></span>
+captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find,
+and myself, too, if they were able.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy
+on my towns, etc., and those of the caravel called
+the <i>Brunette</i> were charged, if they failed in taking
+my ships, or in cutting their cables, to set fire to them&mdash;all
+in direct conflict with the terms of the treaties,
+and procedures that the king would never have tolerated
+had he had the slightest intention of maintaining
+his word ... [Charles does not consider Groothuse
+to blame at all, etc.]<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV11"><sup>11</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+<i>Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates
+of Ypres, June 10, 1470</i></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"DEAR FRIENDS:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"It has come to your knowledge how after the
+Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick were expelled
+from England on account of their sedition and
+their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both
+by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and
+on <i>Vendredi absolut</i><span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV12"><sup>12</sup></a></span> went so far as to capture by fraud
+ships and property belonging to our subjects, and
+have further done damage whenever opportunity
+presented itself.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"In order to repel them we have ordered them to be
+attacked on the sea. Moreover, at the same time
+we were advised that the same Clarence and Warwick
+and their people, after they were routed at sea by the
+troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King<span class="page"><a name="273"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 273]</span></a></span>
+of England, retreated to the marches of Normandy
+and were honourably received at Honfleur by the
+Admiral of France with all which they had saved
+from the raid on our subjects after the defeat.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"All this was direct infringement of the treaties
+lately made between Monseigneur the king and myself.
+Therefore, we wrote at once to Monsgr. the king
+begging him not to favour or aid the said Clarence
+and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere
+in his realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute
+the property of our subjects, and to show his will by
+publishing such prohibitions throughout Normandy
+and elsewhere where need is.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris,
+and to the council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The
+answer was that the king meant to keep the treaty
+between him and us and had ordered his subjects
+in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to
+our subjects ... but we have since learned
+that, notwithstanding, this same property has been
+distributed and ransoms have been negotiated in the
+sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and his
+officers.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means
+of the aid furnished by the king to the said Clarence
+and Warwick, the latter are enabled to continue the
+war on our subjects and not on the English, it being
+understood that they who were banished from England
+are not strong enough to return by the force
+of arms but must do so by friendship and favour....
+On account of the above and other depredations,
+we shall attack the said Warwick and Clarence
+on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is
+needful for the protection of our lands and subjects.</p><span class="page"><a name="274"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 274]</span></a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<br /><hr style="color:#aaaaaa" /><br /><br />
+<p class="quote1">
+"Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist
+him to recover England either with the help of Queen
+Margaret or by whatever other means he may propose....
+Only let him communicate his desires
+in this respect as speedily as possible and the
+king will lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of
+accomplishing it,"</p>
+
+<p>
+wrote the complaisant King of France in his
+directions to the confidential messenger sent to
+discuss matters with the English earl.<a href="#XIV14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+But that was not his language towards his
+cousin of Burgundy, whom he assured that there
+should be no infringement of their treaty, and that
+it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish
+property captured at sea in defiance of that treaty
+should be sold in French market-places. There
+is a hot correspondence,<a href="#XIV15"><sup>15</sup></a> that is, it is hot on
+the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are
+smoothly surprised at there being any cause for
+dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall be investigated,
+his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from
+the duke to two of Louis's council is emphatic in
+its expressions of doubt as to the good faith of
+these royal statements:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"The vessels which you assure me are destined by
+the king for an attack on England have attempted<span class="page"><a name="275"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 275]</span></a></span>
+nothing except against my subjects; but, by St.
+George, if some redress be not seen to, I will take the
+matter into my own hands without waiting for your
+motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV16"><sup>16</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent
+French merchants, coming peaceably to the
+fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of their private
+property, while the duke felt fully justified
+in stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to
+guard the Channel. Philip de Commines was one
+of the company who went at the duke's behest
+to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be
+faithful to King Edward, and to give no shelter
+to the rebellious earl and his protégé Clarence.<a href="#XIV17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an
+inconvenient moment. He temporised. To Warwick,
+he denied a personal interview, but at the
+same time he sent him a confidential emissary,
+Sr. du Plessis, to whom he wrote as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have
+for Warwick's return to England, as well because I
+wish to see him get the better of his enemies&mdash;or
+that at least through him the realm of England may
+be embroiled&mdash;as to avoid the questions which have
+arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you
+know that these Bretons and Burgundians have no
+other aim than to find a pretext for rupturing peace
+and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see<span class="page"><a name="276"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 276]</span></a></span>
+commenced under this colour.... Wherefore
+I pray you take pains, you and others there, to induce
+Mons. de Warwick to depart by all arguments possible.
+Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so that
+he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything
+else but his personal advantage."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV18"><sup>18</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment.
+The envoys sent by Louis to placate the
+duke's resentment at the incidents in connection
+with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that
+Louis meant well by him and his subjects, found
+Charles holding high state at St. Omer. When
+they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered
+sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above
+floor level, "higher than was the wont of king or
+emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head
+as the representatives of his feudal overlord
+bowed to him and he acknowledged their obeisance
+by a slight nod and a gesture permitting
+them to rise.</p>
+<p>
+Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered
+their address with a prosy speech. Burgundian
+officials revelled in grandiloquent
+phrases&mdash;which this time bored Charles, He cut
+short the harangue impatiently, took the floor himself,
+and made a statement of the injuries he had
+suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend,
+but he was aiding the foe of the duke's brother.
+The envoys repeated their sovereign's offers of
+redress. Charles declared that redress was impossible.<span class="page"><a name="277">[page 277]</a></span>
+Pained, very pained were the French
+envoys to think that a petty dispute could not
+be settled amicably. "The king desires to avoid
+friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress
+for every wrong. It will not be his fault if
+trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the king and you
+have a judge who is above you both."</p>
+<p>
+The insinuation that it was he who was ready to
+break the peace infuriated Charles. He started to
+his feet, his eyes flashing with fire. "Among us
+Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends
+become friends to our foes we send them to the
+hundred thousand devils of hell."<a href="#XIV19"><sup>19</sup></a> "A piece of
+bad taste to send by implication a king of France to
+a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave
+Chastellain, aghast at this impolite, emphatic,
+though indirect reference to Louis XI.</p>
+<p>
+Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers
+present at this occasion. After all, they, too,
+were French by nature. To wreck the new-made
+peace for the sake of the English alliance, which
+had never been really popular among them, that
+seemed an act of rash unwisdom.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because
+their chief thus implied contempt for the name
+of France to which the duke belonged. Not going
+quite so far as to call himself English, though that<span class="page"><a name="278"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 278]</span></a></span>
+was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother,
+ancient friend of England and enemy of France."</p>
+
+<p>
+There were, indeed, times when the duke was
+more emphatic in asserting his English blood.
+Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands
+which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates
+and citizens of Calais, whom he addresses,
+"O you my friends."<a href="#XIV20"><sup>20</sup></a> While reiterating that
+he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By
+St. George who knows me to be a better Englishman
+and more anxious for the weal of England
+than you other English ... [you] shall recognise
+that I am sprung from the blood of
+Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied
+with the circumstances.</p>
+<p>
+While he was so conscious of his own greatness,
+present and future, and of his own laudable intentions
+to do well by his subjects, it is quite possible,
+too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously
+by his failure to win popularity. For he
+was quite as unpopular with his courtiers as with
+his subjects. The former did not like the rigid
+court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting
+through audiences silent and stiff "as at a sermon,"
+and exposed to personal reprimands from
+their chief if there were the slightest lapses from
+his standard of conduct. They did not know on
+what meat the duke was feeding his imagination,
+an imagination that already saw him as Cæsar.<span class="page"><a name="279">[page 279]</a></span>
+Had he actually attained the loftier rank that he
+dreamed of, his premature arrogance might have
+been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible to
+the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his
+popularity during the years 1470-73.</p>
+<p>
+Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer,
+Louis had been relieved of anxiety in regard to
+the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers of
+an heir like his brother who might easily be used
+as a tool by some clever faction opposed to the
+ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was born
+to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant
+still were his words to his Burgundian
+cousin, but the moment was drawing near when
+his efforts to circumvent him were no longer
+secret.</p>
+<p>
+The embassy returned home. Possibly their
+report of the duke's passionate words goaded the
+king into discarding his mask of friendship. At
+any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in
+showing which side of the fresh English quarrel
+he meant to espouse. Margaret of Anjou hated
+the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had
+unseated her husband but because he had doubted
+her fidelity to that husband. Nevertheless, under
+Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her
+past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on
+fraternising with him on a basis of common hate
+for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed by
+the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the
+prince whose very legitimacy Warwick had questioned,<span class="page"><a name="280">[page 280]</a></span>
+with the earl's younger daughter. It was
+a singular union to be accepted by the parents,
+separated as they had been by the wall of insults
+interchanged during more than a decade of bitter
+enmity.</p>
+<p>
+Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession.
+She saw her seventeen-year-old son betrothed
+to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville, and
+later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick
+on a piece of the true cross in St. Mary's Church
+at Angers (August 4, 1470).</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July
+25th], I have sent you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put
+the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick in surety, and I
+order him to make such arrangements that the people
+of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity
+until he is there. To-day we have made the marriage
+of the Queen of England and of him, and hope to-morrow
+to have all in readiness to depart."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV21"><sup>21</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="medal">[plate 19]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image19medal.jpg" width="400" height="213" alt="MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme<span class="page"><a name="281">[page 281]</a></span>
+towns, insinuating opposition to the duke, and
+reminding the citizens that they were French at
+heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the
+Burgundian court, saying many things in secret
+besides those they said in public. Plenty there
+were that wished for war, remarks the observant
+Commines. Nobles like St. Pol and others could
+not maintain the same state in peace as in war,
+and state they loved. In time of war four hundred
+lances attended the constable, and he had a large
+allowance to maintain them from which he reaped
+many a profitable commission besides the fees of
+his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover,"
+adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to
+say among themselves that if there were no battles
+without, there would be quarrels within the realm."</p>
+<p>
+The matter of the grants to Charles of France
+had been settled to his royal brother's liking,
+not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne
+and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were
+withdrawn and Guienne substituted. When Normandy
+had been exchanged for Champagne and
+Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of
+Burgundy approved the change as he thought it
+assured him an obedient friend as neighbour.<a href="#XIV22"><sup>22</sup></a>
+The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne
+and Brie, was quite a different thing.</p>
+<p>
+Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away<span class="page"><a name="282">[page 282]</a></span>
+from Burgundy. Naturally, Charles was not content.
+Then, too, it looked as though he had lost
+a useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new
+Duke of Guienne was formally reconciled to his
+brother and took oath that his fraternal devotion
+to his monarch should never again waver.</p>
+<p>
+Long before Charles was completely convinced
+that Louis was not going to maintain the humble
+attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he became
+very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against
+him. "He hastened to Hesdin where he entered
+into jealousy of his servants" says Commines.
+That he was assured that there were reasons for
+his apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated
+as an open letter,<a href="#XIV23"><sup>23</sup></a> to various cities, wherein he
+makes a detailed statement of the plots against his
+life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of
+Duke Philip.</p>
+<p>
+Sorry return was this from one recognised as
+Bastard of Burgundy and brought up in the ducal
+household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa,
+Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave
+of the duke's service and made his way to the king
+in his castle of Amboise, where he had been pleasantly
+received and promised rich reward when he
+had "executed his damnable designs against our
+person."</p>
+<p>
+Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in
+Charles's court at St. Omer were arrested as suspicious,
+and that circumstance frightened Baldwin<span class="page"><a name="283">[page 283]</a></span>
+and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his
+retinue, his horses, and his baggage behind. He
+dreaded lest he might be attainted and convicted
+of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the
+king.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and
+clemency of God, we inform you of the events so that
+you may render thanks by public processions, solemn
+masses, sermons, and prayers, beseeching Him devoutly
+and from the heart that He will always guard
+and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and
+subjects from such plots.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in
+our castle of Hesdin, December 13, 1470.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"CHARLES.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"LE GROS."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+It was not long before Charles had less reason
+to fear French "subtleties." At an assembly of
+notables<a href="#XIV24"><sup>24</sup></a> convened at Tours at the end of 1470,
+Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily
+for just two years, and made an open brief of his
+grievances against the duke.</p>
+<p>
+His case was cited with a luxury of detail
+more or less authentic. The interview at Peronne
+was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the
+Duke of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468,
+both obtained by undue pressure, had not been
+respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was
+obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.</p>
+<p>
+Even Commines shows that it is not surprising<span class="page"><a name="284">[page 284]</a></span>
+that there was unanimity<a href="#XIV25"><sup>25</sup></a> in the declaration
+that according to God and his conscience in all
+honour and justice the king was released from
+those treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion
+into Picardy as soon as possible.</p>
+<p>
+Charles's public accusations of plots against
+him did not go unanswered. Jehan de Chassa
+promptly issued a rejoinder:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has
+sent to divers places letters signed by himself and his
+secretary, Jehan le Gros, written at Hesdin, December
+13th, falsely charging me with plotting against his life
+with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy, and Jehan
+d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching
+my honour, feel bound to reply.... By God
+and by my soul I declare that these charges against me
+made by Charles of Burgundy are false and disloyal
+lies." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV26"><sup>26</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation
+at the slur on his character, but he remained in
+the French court as did many others who had
+formerly served Charles.</p>
+<p>
+Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his
+daughter in the hands of Margaret of Anjou, openly
+aided by Louis, sailed back to England in September
+But there had been one further change of
+base of which the earl was still unconscious. His
+elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in the Warwick-Lancaster<span class="page"><a name="285">[page 285]</a></span>
+alliance. It brought young Prince Edward
+to the fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence&mdash;long
+ready to replace Edward of York&mdash;of
+any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined
+to accept offers of a reconciliation tendered
+him by King Edward.</p>
+<p>
+Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence
+sailed with Warwick and joined with him in the
+proclamations scattered over England, declaring
+that the exiles were returning to "set right and
+justice to their places, and to reduce and redeem
+for ever the realm from its thraldom." Never a
+mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI.
+Perhaps it was as convenient to see which way
+the wind blew and to put in a name accordingly.</p>
+<p>
+On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was
+raised as a cry. In Nottinghamshire, where
+Edward lay, not a word was heard for York.
+There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had
+turned against him and off he rode to Lyme with a
+small following, took ship, and made for Holland.
+It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns
+gave chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter
+at Alkmaar where De la Groothuse, Governor of
+Holland, welcomed him in the name of the duke.<a href="#XIV27"><sup>27</sup></a>
+Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with
+which to pay his fare across the Channel but a gown
+lined with marten's fur, and as for his train, never
+so poor a company was seen.</p>
+<p>
+Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all<span class="page"><a name="286">[page 286]</a></span>
+England and official business was transacted in the
+name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless on his
+throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow
+and pretence and what was done in his name was
+done without his will or knowledge.</p>
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his
+unbidden guest. He would rather have heard that
+his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade Groothuse
+show him every courtesy and supply him
+with necessaries and five hundred crowns a month
+for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps informed
+by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind
+blowing over in England was but a fickle breeze,
+he consented to forget his hereditary sympathies.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The same day that the duke received news of the
+king's arrival in Holland, I was come from Calais to
+Boulogne (where the duke then lay) ignorant of the
+event and of the king's flight.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV28"><sup>28</sup></a></span> The duke was first advised
+that he was dead, which did not trouble him much
+for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of
+York. Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter
+and of Somerset and divers others of King Henry's
+faction, by which means he thought himself assured
+of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared
+the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content
+him that was to come to him, I mean King Edward,
+whose sister he had married and who was also
+brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden Fleece
+and the duke the Garter.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais
+accompanied by a gentleman or two of this new faction<span class="page"><a name="287"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 287]</span></a></span>
+of Henry, and gave me instructions how to deal
+with this new world, urging me to go because it was
+important for him to be well served in the matter.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV29"><sup>29</sup></a></span>
+I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes,
+and then dared not proceed because I found people
+fleeing for fear of the English who were devastating
+the country.... Never before had I needed a
+safe-conduct for the English are very honourable.
+All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen
+these mutations in the world."</p>
+
+<p>
+Commines was uncertain as to what he had
+better do and wanted instructions. "The duke
+sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go
+forward with the promise that if I were taken
+prisoner he would redeem me." New surprises
+met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known
+faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate
+of my lodgings and the very door of my chamber
+were a hundred white crosses and rhymes
+signifying that the King of France and Earl of
+Warwick were one&mdash;all of which seemed strange
+to me." Well received was Commines and entertained
+at dinner. It was told at table how within
+a quarter of an hour after the arrival of news
+from England every man wore this livery (the
+ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden
+was the change. "This is the first time that I
+ever knew how little stable are these mundane
+affairs."</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"In all communications that passed between them<span class="page"><a name="288"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 288]</span></a></span>
+and me, I repeated that King Edward was dead, of
+which fact I said I was well assured, notwithstanding
+that I knew the contrary, adding further that though
+it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke
+of Burgundy and the king and realm of England such
+that this accident could not infringe it&mdash;whomever
+they would acknowledge as king him would we
+recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the
+league should remain firm and inviolate between us
+and the king and realm of England save that for
+Edward we named Henry."</p>
+
+<p>
+Commines explains further that the wool trade
+was what made amity with England necessary to
+Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal
+cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly
+for peace."</p>
+<p>
+Charles made vague promises to his uninvited
+guest, declaring ostentatiously that his blood was
+Lancastrian. Nevertheless he finally consented
+to an interview with him of York, in spite of
+the remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset
+and Exeter. "The duke could not tell whom to
+please and either party he feared to displease.
+But in the end, because sharp war was upon him
+face to face, he inclined to the English dukes,
+accepting their promises against the Earl of Warwick,
+their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who
+was on the spot and very ill at ease," was quieted
+by secret assurances that the duke was obliged
+to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep
+the king but that he was bound to return to England<span class="page"><a name="289">[page 289]</a></span>
+and fearing for divers considerations altogether
+to discontent him, Charles pretended that
+he could not aid the king and forbade his subjects
+to enter his service." Privately, however, he gave
+him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's cross, and
+had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand,
+a harbour where all nations were received. Besides
+this he secretly hired fourteen well appointed
+"ships of the Easterlings, which promised to serve
+him till he landed in England and for fifteen days
+after, "great aid considering the times."</p>
+<p>
+King Edward departed out of Flanders in the
+year 1471, when the Duke of Burgundy went to
+wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the king.<a href="#XIV30"><sup>30</sup></a>
+"The said duke thought now howsoever the world
+went in England he could not speed amiss because
+he had friends on both sides."<a href="#XIV31"><sup>31</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Edward's adventures in England proved that he
+had not lost his hold there. Warwick's extraordinary
+brief success was but a flash in the pan.
+London opened her gates and then the pitched battle
+at Barnet gave a final verdict between the rival
+Houses which England accepted. This battle
+was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and
+the like speech of the two bodies caused hopeless
+confusion. Many friends slew each other unwittingly,
+and among the slain was the indefatigable,
+energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with<span class="page"><a name="290">[page 290]</a></span>
+his royal puppets. Only forty-four was he and
+worthy of a better and more statesmanlike career.</p>
+<p>
+On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son
+landed at Weymouth. Hearing of Warwick's
+death, they tried to reach Wales but were intercepted
+and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here
+the young prince, too, met his death. To Edward's
+direct command is attributed the murder
+of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which
+happened at about the same time. The desolated
+Margaret of Anjou lingered five years under
+restraint in England before she was ransomed by
+King Louis.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten
+at London the Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke
+Hym that made all and can undoo agayn whare Hym
+lyst."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIV32"><sup>32</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on
+his foresight. His brother of the two Orders was
+himself again.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"The very day on which this fight happened [says
+Commines] the Duke of Burgundy, being before
+Amiens, received letters from the duchess his wife,
+that the King of England was not at all satisfied with
+him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if for
+very little cause he would have deserted him. To
+speak plainly there never was great friendship between
+them afterwards. Yet the Duke of Burgundy seemed<span class="page"><a name="291"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 291]</span></a></span>
+to be extremely pleased at this news and published it
+everywhere."</p>
+
+<p>
+A transaction of his own of this time, the duke
+did not publish. It was a procedure perhaps
+justified by these wonderful "mutations in the
+world" which impressed Commines as strange
+and terrible. The Duke of Burgundy caused a
+legal document to be drawn up attesting his own
+heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the
+same in the Abbey of St. Bertin with all due
+formality. If there came more "mutations" in
+the world whose very existence was a new experience
+to Philip de Commines, Charles was ready
+to interpose his own plank in the new structure.</p>
+<p>
+In the archives of the House of Croy in the
+château of Beaumont, rests this document, which
+was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471,
+in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to
+the statement that no one was truer heir to the
+Lancaster House than Charles of Burgundy.<a href="#XIV33"><sup>33</sup></a> Two
+canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the
+witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.</p>
+<p>
+It was expressly stipulated that if there were any<span class="page"><a name="292">[page 292]</a></span>
+delay in the duke's entering upon his English inheritance&mdash;which
+devolved to him through his
+mother,&mdash;a delay caused by motives of public utility
+of Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy,
+this should not prejudice his rights or those of his
+successors. A mere deferring of assuring the
+titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights.
+His delay ended in his death and Edward IV. never
+had to combat this claim of the brother-in-law who
+had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his
+throne.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#261">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XIV1">Meyer</a> is the earliest historian to tell this story and it is
+vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#264">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XIV2">From</a> Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice
+lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York
+and Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between
+Englishmen on English soil. Three out of four kings died by
+violence. Eighty persons connected with the blood royal
+were executed or assassinated.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#264">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XIV3">Ramsay</a>, <i>Lancaster and York</i>, ii., 232 <i>et seq.</i>; Oman, <i>Hundred
+Years' War</i> and <i>Warwick, the King-maker</i>, are followed
+here in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#265">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XIV4">That</a> the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge
+or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again
+denied by various authorities.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#266">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XIV5">See</a> Oman's <i>Warwick</i>, p. 185.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#267">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XIV6">Rymer</a>, <i>Fædera</i>, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on
+for about a year.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#267">[Footnote 7:</a> <i><a name="XIV7">Ibid</a>.</i>, 651.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#269">[Footnote 8:</a> "<a name="XIV8">Quia</a> nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut clemencia
+et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#269">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XIV9">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd.</i>, i., 216. The editor thinks that the
+speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was
+delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#269">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="XIV10">Il</a> sent la France</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#272">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XIV11">Middleburg</a>, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign
+manual" on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, <i>Histoire
+générale et particulière de Bourgogne</i>, etc., iv., cclxxi).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#272">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XIV12">Good</a> Friday, April 20th.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#274">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XIV13">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 226.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#274">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XIV14">Comines</a>-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at Amboise,
+May, 12, 1470.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#274">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XIV15">Plancher</a>, iv., cclxi., etc.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#275">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XIV16">Duke</a> Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May
+29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#275">[Footnote 17:</a> <i><a name="XIV17">Mémoires</a></i>, iii., ch. iv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#276">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="XIV18">Duclos</a> "Preuves," v., 296.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#277">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="XIV19">Chastellain</a>, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure, those
+of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance
+is that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis
+accepts it. (Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 363.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#278">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="XIV20">See</a></i> Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#280">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XIV21">Aujourd'hui</a> avons fait le mariage de la reine d'Angleterre
+et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating
+the alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the
+King's accounts for December, 1470: "à maistre Jehan le prestre,
+la somme de xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or à lui donnée
+par le roy, pour le restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance
+d'icellui seigneur, il avait baillée du sien au vicaire de
+Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur en a fait don en faveur de ce
+qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de Galles a la fille du
+Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the actual
+marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation.
+(Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also <i>Lettres de
+Louis XI</i>., iv., 131.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#281">[Footnote 22:</a> <a name="XIV22">A</a> group of smaller seigniories was also involved, Quercy,
+Périgord, La Rochelle, etc. <i>See</i> letter-patent,
+(Comines-Lenglet,
+"Preuves," iii., 97.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#282">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="XIV23">Duclos</a>, "Preuves" v., 302.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#283">[Footnote 24:</a> <a name="XIV24">Comines</a>-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 364.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#284">[Footnote 25:</a> <i><a name="XIV25">See</a></i> Lavisse iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 364. He states that the king named
+all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#284">[Footnote 26:</a> <a name="XIV26">Duclos</a>, "Preuves," v., 307.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#285">[Footnote 27:</a> <a name="XIV27">Commines</a>, iii., ch. v.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#286">[Footnote 28:</a> <a name="XIV28">Commines</a>, iii., ch. vi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#287">[Footnote 29:</a> <i><a name="XIV29">See</a></i> instructions given to him for this mission, Wavrin-Dupont,
+iii., 271.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#289">[Footnote 30:</a> <a name="XIV30">Commines</a>, iii., ch. vii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#289">[Footnote 31:</a> <a name="XIV31">As</a> soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles
+published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#290">[Footnote 32:</a> <i><a name="XIV32">Letters</a></i>, iii., 4.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#291">[Footnote 33:</a> <i><a name="XIV33">See</a></i> Gachard, <i>Études et Notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas,</i> ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant
+toutes les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que
+plus grant foy soit adjoustée à tout ce que cy desus est escript,
+avant signé ce présent instrument de nostre propre main et
+le fait sceller de nostre seau en signe de vérité, l'an et jour
+desusdit. [This in French, the body in Latin.]</p>
+<p class="rindent2">
+"CHARLES."]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="293">[page 293]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XV">XV</a></h2>
+
+<h3>NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY</h3>
+
+<h4>1471</h4>
+<p>
+All work had ceased at Paris for three days
+by the king's command, while praise was
+chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints
+male and female, for the victory won by Henry
+of Lancaster, in 1470, over the base usurper Edward
+de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made
+a special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at
+Poitiers to breathe in pious solitude his own prayers
+of thanksgiving for the happy event. The
+battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this
+abundant stream of gratitude, and there were other
+thanksgivings.<a href="#XV1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent
+letters from Canterbury to his good friends
+at Bruges,<a href="#XV2"><sup>2</sup></a> acknowledging their valuable assistance
+to his brother Charles,<a href="#XV3"><sup>3</sup></a> recognising his
+part in restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his
+throne. To his sister, the Duchess of Burgundy,
+the returned exile gave substantial proof of his
+gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture<span class="page"><a name="294">[page 294]</a></span>
+and trade.<a href="#XV4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss
+weather vane the King of England had swung out
+into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair weather
+over his head, while Louis was forced back into
+solitary impotence. He seemed singularly isolated.
+His English friends were gone, his nobles
+were again forming a hostile camp around Charles
+of France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten
+his late protestations of fraternal devotion,
+and there were many indications that the Anglo-Burgundian
+alliance might prove as serious a peril
+to France as it had in times gone by but not
+wholly forgotten.</p>
+<p>
+The two most important of the disputed towns
+on the Somme were, however, in Louis's possession,
+and Charles of Burgundy, ready to reduce Amiens
+by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his
+proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed
+in July. This afforded a valuable respite to
+the king, and he busied himself in energetic efforts
+to detach his brother from the group of malcontents.
+Various disquieting rumours about
+the prince's marriage projects caused his royal
+brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch
+a special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy
+Louis wrote as follows:<a href="#XV5"><sup>5</sup></a></p>
+
+<span class="page"><a name="295">[page 295]</a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+"MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Guiot du Chesney<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV6"><sup>6</sup></a></span> has brought me despatches
+from Monsg. de Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has,
+further, mentioned three points to me: First, in
+behalf of Mme. de Savoy,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV7"><sup>7</sup></a></span> ... second, in regard
+to M. d'Ursé ... third, touching the mission of
+Mons. de Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the
+daughter of Monsg. de Foix.... The Ursé
+matter I will leave to you, and will agree to what you
+determine upon. On the spot you will be a better
+judge of what I ought to say and what would be advantageous
+to me, than I can here.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage,
+you know what a misfortune it would be to me.
+Use all your five senses to prevent it. I am told
+that my brother does not really like the idea, and
+it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has
+brought him to consent in order to further the
+marriage of the duchess,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV8"><sup>8</sup></a></span> so that in taking the sister,
+the duke will be relieved of this sum, a condition that
+would please him greatly because he has nothing to
+pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all
+the accompanying claims and then be through
+with it. In effect, I beg you make him agree
+to another [bride] before you leave, and do not be
+in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV9"><sup>9</sup></a></span>
+can be arranged you will place me in Paradise.</p>
+<span class="page"><a name="296">[page 296]</a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item.</i> I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would
+not approve this Aragon girl, because he himself has
+some hopes of the kingdom of Aragon through his wife.
+If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of this, I believe
+it would help along our case.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item.</i> It seems to me that you have a splendid
+opportunity to be very frank with my brother. For
+he has informed me through this man that the duke
+[of Brittany] has paid no attention to the representations
+made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray, and
+since my brother himself confides this to me, you have
+an opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and
+that I never cherish him so highly as when he tells me
+the truth, and that I now recognise that he does not
+desire to deceive me, since he does not spare the duke
+[of Brittany] and that, since he sees him opposed to me,
+he should return the seal that you know of and refuse
+to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the
+Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as
+long as I live I will harbour no misgiving of him
+and he shall be as puissant in all the realm of France
+as I myself, as long as I live. In short, Mons. du
+Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you
+will place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until
+Monseigneur de Lescun has arrived, and a good piece
+afterwards, even if you have to play the invalid, and
+before you depart put our affair in surety if you can,
+I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du
+Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre
+Dame de Behuart aid your negotiations. The women<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV10"><sup>10</sup></a></span>
+of Mme. de Burgundy have all been ill with the<span class="page"><a name="297"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 297]</span></a></span>
+ <i>mal chault,</i> and it is reported that the daughter is seriously
+afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is already
+dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite
+certain of the malady.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"LOYS.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"TILHART."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+That the king's professed confidence in his
+brother did not remove all suspicions of that
+young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown
+by the following letter, written two days later
+than the above, to Lorenzo de' Medici:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that
+our brother of Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation
+from the oath he swore to us, of which we
+send you a duplicate. Since you are a great favourite
+with our Holy Father pray use your influence with his
+Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation,
+and that his messenger may not be able to
+do any negotiating. In this you will do us a singular
+and agreeable pleasure which we will recognise in the
+future as we have in the past on fitting occasion....</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"LOYS."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+<p>
+Louis does not seem to have taken his own
+doubts as to the very existence of Mary of Burgundy
+very seriously. While he was infinitely anxious
+to prevent her alliance with his brother, he
+made overtures to betroth her to his baby son,
+while he reminded her father in touching phrases
+that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and<span class="page"><a name="298">[page 298]</a></span>
+hence exactly the person to be her father-in-law.</p>
+<p>
+The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts
+to make terms between the king and the duke
+before the termination of the truce. The king
+was very hopeful of attaining this good result,
+and sweetly trustful of the duke's pacific and
+friendly intentions. He sternly refused to listen
+to suggestions that Charles meant to play him
+false and was very definite in his expressions of confidence.
+The following epistle to his envoys at
+the duke's court was an excellent document to
+fall by chance into Burgundian hands:<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV11"><sup>11</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received
+your letters this evening at the hostelry of
+Montbazon where I came because I have not yet
+dared to go to Amboise.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV12"><sup>12</sup></a></span> When I imparted to you
+the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose
+of delaying you in completing your business but
+only to advise you of the dangers that were in the air.
+And to free you from all doubts I assure you, that if
+Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to confirm, by
+writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at
+Orleans<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV13"><sup>13</sup></a></span>, I wish you to accept it and to clinch the
+matter and I am quite determined to trust to it. As
+to your suspicion that he may wish to make the chief<span class="page"><a name="299"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 299]</span></a></span>
+promises in private letters without putting it in a
+formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a
+pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing
+I never withdraw my decision.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to
+it that Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate
+assurance of the letters that he is to issue. When I
+once have the letter such as we agreed upon and he
+is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep faith. If
+my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do
+not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure
+you that my greatest worldly desire is that the matter
+be finished, since he has given verbal assurance that
+he wishes me well. You write that the pronotary
+told you that I was negotiating in every direction.
+By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by
+the words that Monseigneur of Burgundy said to
+you you can easily solve the question, for he has only
+offered you what he mentioned before when the
+matters were discussed. It looks to me as though
+they were not free from traitors since they have Abbé
+de Begars and Master Ythier Marchant.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV14"><sup>14</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"A herald of the King of England came here on his
+way to Monsg. of Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct
+to send a messenger to me for this truce. Since
+your departure the council thought I ought not to
+give any pass for more than forty days except to
+merchants. If it please God and Our Lady that you
+may conclude your mission, I assure you that as long
+as I live I will have no embassy either large or small<span class="page"><a name="300"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 300]</span></a></span>
+without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy
+and I will only answer as if through him. I assure
+you that until I hear from you whether Monsg. of
+Burgundy decides to conclude this treaty or not as
+we agreed together, I will make no agreement with
+any creature in the world and of that you may assure
+him.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"Loys."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p>
+At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly
+intercourse with the towns he proposed to cede.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king:
+"Dear and beloved, we have heard reports at
+length from Amiens and we are well content with you....
+Give credence to all my messengers say.
+We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies
+have done in our cause."</p>
+
+<p>
+At the Burgundian court the duke's friends
+thought that he would play the part of wisdom
+did he keep an army within call, and refrain from
+implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was,
+moreover, an impression abroad that the latter was
+not in a position to be very formidable.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Once [says Commines]<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV15"><sup>15</sup></a></span> I was present when the
+Seigneur d'Ursé [envoy from the Duke of Guienne]
+was talking in this wise and urging the duke to
+mobilise his forces with all diligence.  The duke
+called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur
+d'Ursé urging me to make my army as big as possible,<span class="page"><a name="301"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 301]</span></a></span>
+and tells me that we would do well for the realm.
+Do you think that I should wage a war of benefit if I
+should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered
+that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I
+love the welfare of France more than Mons. d' Ursé
+imagines, for instead of the one king that there is I
+would fain see six.'"</p>
+
+<p>
+The animus of this expression is clear. It implies
+a wish to see the duke's friends, the French
+nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head, until the
+titular monarch had no more power than half a
+dozen of his peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal
+terms that Charles's next moves were to
+disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard
+their alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis
+whose terms were wholly to his own advantage
+and implied complete desertion of the allied
+interest.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and
+I was present<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV16"><sup>16</sup></a></span> and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon
+and the Chancellor of France<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV17"><sup>17</sup></a></span> in behalf of the king.
+When they departed they advised the duke not to disband
+his army but to increase it, so that the king
+their master might be the more inclined to cede
+promptly the two places mentioned above. They
+took with them Simon de Quingey to witness the
+king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors'
+work. The king delayed this confirmation for several
+days. Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother,<span class="page"><a name="302"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 302]</span></a></span>
+the Duke of Guienne ... shortly afterwards
+the said Simon returned, dismissed by the king
+with very meagre phrases and without any oath
+being taken. The duke felt mocked and insulted
+by this treatment and was very indignant about it."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV18"><sup>18</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+This story involves so serious a charge against
+Charles of Burgundy that the fact of his setting
+his signature to the treaty has been indignantly
+denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's
+truthfulness rather than accept the duke's
+betrayal of his friends. It is true that only a few
+months later than this negotiation, Commines
+himself forsook the duke's service for the king's,
+a change of base that might well throw suspicion
+on his estimate of his deserted master.</p>
+<p>
+Yet it must be remembered that he does not
+gloss over Louis's actions, even though he had
+an admiration for the success of his political
+methods, methods which Commines believed to
+be essential in dealing with national affairs. In
+many respects he gives more credit to the duke
+than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer
+chief. That there is no documentary evidence
+of such a treaty is mere negative evidence and of
+little importance.</p>
+<p>
+The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy
+was at a parting of the ways, in character
+as in action. His natural bent was to tell the
+truth and to adhere strictly to his given word.<span class="page"><a name="303">[page 303]</a></span>
+He felt that he owed it to his own dignity. He felt,
+too, that he was a person to command obedience
+to a promise whether pledged to him by king or
+commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe
+shocks had been dealt him. He had lost all
+faith in Louis, a faith that had really been founded
+on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction
+that the weak king must respect the redoubtable
+cousin of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to
+make him adopt the tools used by his rival, or at
+least to attempt to do so. At the moment of the
+negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation
+was to regain the towns on the Somme. That
+accomplished, it is not probable that he would
+have abandoned his friends, the French peers,
+whom he desired to see become petty monarchs
+each in his own territory. There seems no doubt
+that words were used with singular disregard of
+their meaning.  It is surprising that time was
+wasted in concocting elaborate phrases that
+dropped into nothingness at the slightest touch.
+In citing the above passage from Commines referring
+to the treaty, the close of the negotiations
+has been anticipated. Whether or not any draft
+of a treaty received the duke's signature, the
+king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when
+his brother's death freed him from the dread of
+dangerous alliance between Charles of France
+and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th,
+he was still uncertain as to the decree of fate<span class="page"><a name="304">[page 304]</a></span>
+and wrote as follows to the Governor of Rousillon:<a href="#XV19"><sup>19</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the
+Duke of Burgundy declares war against me, I will set
+out immediately for that quarter [Brittany], and in
+a week we will finish the matter. On the other hand,
+if peace be made we shall have everything without a
+blow or without any risk of restoration. However,
+if you can get hold of anything by negotiating and
+manoeuvring, why do it. As to the artillery, it is
+close by you, and when it is time, and I shall have
+heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."</p>
+
+<p>
+Ten days later he is more hopeful.<a href="#XV20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Since my last letter to you I have had news that
+Monsieur de Guienne is dying and that there is no
+remedy for his case. One of the most confidential
+persons about him has advised me by a special messenger
+that he does not believe he will be alive a
+fortnight hence.... The person who gave me
+this information is the monk who repeated his Hours
+with M. de G[uienne.] I am much abashed at this
+and have crossed myself from head to foot.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Moutils-lès-Tours, May 18th."</p>
+
+<p>
+This prognostic was correct. In less than a
+fortnight the Duke of Guienne lay dead, and the
+heavy suspicion rested upon his royal brother of
+having done more than acquiesce in the decree of
+fate. Whether or not there was any truth in this
+charge the king was certainly not heartbroken by
+the loss. Indeed, the event interested him less<span class="page"><a name="305">[page 305]</a></span>
+than the question of making the best use of the
+remainder of his truce with Charles. The following
+letters to Dammartin and the Duke of Milan
+belong to this time.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Thank you for the pains you have taken but
+pray, as speedily as you can, come here to draw up
+your ordinance for we only have a fortnight more of
+the truce. I have sent the artillery and soldiers to
+Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's
+forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the
+seneschal of Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company.
+Then if there are more at large, form them
+into a body and send them to me and I will find them
+a captain and pay all those who are willing to stay.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As to him,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV21"><sup>21</sup></a></span> make him talk on the way and
+learn whether he would like to enter into an agreement
+in his brother's name, and work it so that the duke
+will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at all points
+for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know
+how, for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun
+left here for any other reason than to attempt to
+make an arrangement of some kind.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser
+than I and will know how to act far better than I
+can instruct you, but, above all, I implore you come
+in all haste for without you we cannot make an
+ordinance.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Xaintes, May 28th.</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"LOYS."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV22"><sup>22</sup></a></span></p>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="306">[page 306]</a></span>
+<p class="quote1">
+"AMBOISE, June 7th.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Beloved
+brother and cousin, we have received the letters
+you have written making mention, as you have heard,
+that in the truce lately concluded between us and
+the Duke of Burgundy up to April 1st next coming,
+which will be the year 1473, the Duke of Burgundy
+has mentioned you as his ally, which you do not like
+because you never asked the Duke of Burgundy to do
+so, and you do not know whether he made this statement
+on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who
+is with him.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Therefore, and because you do not mean to
+enter into alliance or understanding with the Duke of
+Burgundy but wish to remain our confederate and
+ally and have sworn to that effect before notaries,
+and sealed your oath with your seal ... that
+you are no ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that
+you renounce and repudiate his nomination as such ...
+also you may be certain that on our part
+we are determined to maintain all friendship between
+us and you ... and if we make any treaty in the
+future we will expressly include you in it and never
+will do <span style="font-size:1.1em">."<a href="#XV23"><sup>23</sup></a></span></p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised
+how while the truce is still in being, the Duke of
+Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all whom he
+found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished
+you to know so that if you can find means to do him
+a like injury in his country you will do it there and
+anywhere that you can without sparing anything. I
+have good hopes that God will aid in avenging us,
+considering the murders for which he is responsible<span class="page"><a name="307"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 307]</span></a></span>
+within the church and elsewhere, and because by virtue
+of the terms of their surrender [they thought]
+they had saved their lives.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Done at Angers, June 19th.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"P.S.&mdash;If the said place had been destroyed and
+rased as I ordered this never would have happened.
+Therefore, see to it that all such places be rased to the
+ground, for if this be not done the people will be
+ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
+damage to me."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV24"><sup>24</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+One fact stated by Louis in this letter was
+true. Charles of Burgundy broke the truce when
+it had but two weeks to run, and thus put himself
+in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him
+wild with anger. Apparently he had not believed
+in the imminence of the danger, although he had
+been constantly informed of the progress of the
+prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand
+of Louis, not the judgment of God, that ended the
+life of the prince.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472,
+so far as I remember [says Commines] came letters
+from Simon de Quingey, the duke's ambassador to
+the king, announcing the death of the Duke of Guienne
+and that the king had recovered the majority of his
+places. Messages from various localities followed
+headlong one on the other, and every one had a different
+story of the death.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"The duke being in despair at the death, at the<span class="page"><a name="308"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 308]</span></a></span>
+instigation of other people as much concerned as
+himself, wrote letters full of bitter accusations against
+the king to several towns&mdash;an action that profited
+little for nothing was done about it.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV25"><sup>25</sup></a></span>... In this
+violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle
+in Vermandois, and commenced a kind of warfare
+such as he had never used before, burning and destroying
+wherever he passed."</p>
+
+<p>
+It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines
+sails by the capital charges against the king. He
+neither accepts nor denies the king's crime, while
+frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an
+opportune circumstance for Louis. He apologises<span class="page"><a name="309">[page 309]</a></span>
+for mentioning any evil report of either king or
+duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
+truth without palliation.</p>
+<p>
+Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the
+Somme which refused the duke's summons to surrender,
+sent to it on June 10th. It seems possible
+that there was a misunderstanding between the
+citizens and the garrison which resulted in the
+slaughter of the Burgundian heralds. Whereupon,
+the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong
+upon the ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible
+vengeance on the town.</p>
+<p>
+When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage
+was over, but he was unreproving as he inspected<span class="page"><a name="310">[page 310]</a></span>
+the gruesome result. Into the great church itself
+he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the
+blood lying inches deep on the floor. The desecrated
+building was full of dead&mdash;men, women,
+and children&mdash;but the duke's only comment as he
+looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily
+I have good butchers with me," and he crossed
+himself piously.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Those who were taken alive were hanged, except
+some few suffered to escape by the compassionate
+common soldiers. Quite a number had their hands
+chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I
+was on the spot and needs must give some account
+of it." <span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV26"><sup>26</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The story of the duke's treatment of the innocent
+little town of Nesle is painted in colours quite
+as lurid as the king's murder of his brother. There
+is some ground for the denunciations of Charles,
+but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised
+clemency to the citizens on surrender and then
+basely broke his word, does not deserve credence.
+He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors
+were committed in passion, not in cold blood.<a href="#XV27"><sup>27</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="standard">[plate 20]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image20standard.jpg" width="400" height="299" alt="BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indignation<span class="page"><a name="311">[page 311]</a></span>
+at his cousin's proceedings, coupled with his
+regrets that he himself had not destroyed the town.</p>
+<p>
+With the terrible report of the events at Nesle
+flying before his advance guard, Charles went on
+towards Normandy. Roye he gained easily, and
+then, passing by Compiègne where "Monseigneur
+the grand master" had intrenched himself, and
+Amiens with the good burghers whom Louis
+delighted to honour, he marched on until he
+reached Beauvais, an old town on the Thérain.
+Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had
+taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its
+defences, not even having its usual garrison or
+cannon, as it happened.</p>
+<p>
+Disappointed in his first expectation of picking
+the town like a cherry, Charles sat down before it.
+The siege that followed won a reputation beyond
+the warrant of its real importance from the extraordinary
+tenacity and energy of the people in their
+own defence. Every missile that the ingenuity of
+man or woman could imagine was used to drive back
+the besiegers when the town was finally invested.</p>
+<p>
+From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited,
+then an assault was ordered. Charles laughed at
+the idea of any serious resistance. "He asked
+some of his people whether they thought the citizens
+would wait for the assault. It was answered
+yes, considering their number even if they had
+nothing before them but a hedge."<a href="#XV28"><sup>28</sup></a> He took
+this as a joke and said, "To-morrow you will not<span class="page"><a name="312">[page 312]</a></span>
+find a person." He thought that there would
+be a simple repetition of his experience at
+Dinant and Liege, and that the garrison would
+simply succumb in terror. When the Burgundians
+rushed at the walls their reception showed not
+only that every point had a defender, but also
+that those same defenders were provided with
+huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches&mdash;all
+most unpleasant things when thrown in
+the faces of men trying to scale a wall. Three
+hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants
+the difficulty of the task. Twelve hundred were
+slain and maimed, and the strength of the place
+was proven.</p>
+<p>
+Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme,
+but the weather came to the aid of the besieged.
+Heavy rains forced the troops to change camp.
+More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic
+assaults, losses that Charles could ill afford at the
+moment. Finally at the end of three fruitless
+weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians
+marched on to try to redeem their reputation in
+Normandy. Had Beauvais fallen, it would have
+been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany,
+against whom Louis had marched with all his
+forces and whom he had enveloped as in a net.
+This reverse was the first serious rebuff that had
+happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his
+fortunes.</p>
+<p>
+Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage
+to himself, and was not stinting in his reward to the<span class="page"><a name="313">[page 313]</a></span>
+plucky little town. Privileges and a reduction
+of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual
+procession was inaugurated in which women
+were to have precedence as a special recognition
+of their services with boiling water and other
+irregular weapons, while a special gift was bestowed
+on one particular girl, Jeanne Laisné, who had
+wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier
+just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not
+only was she endowed from the royal purse, but
+she and her husband and their descendants were
+declared tax free for ever.<a href="#XV29"><sup>29</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+<i>Charles to the Duke of Brittany</i></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"My good brother, I recommend myself to you
+with good heart. I rather hoped to be able to march
+through Rouen, but the whole strength of the foe was
+on the frontier, where was the <i>grand master, of whose
+loyalty I have not the least doubt</i>, so that the project
+could not be effected. I do not know what will happen.
+Realising this, I have given subject for thought
+elsewhere and I have pitched my camp between
+Rouen and Neufchâtel, intending, however, to return
+speedily. If not I will exploit the war in another
+quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert
+myself to keep them from your route. My Burgundians
+and Luxemburgers have done bravely in Champagne.
+I know, too, that you have done well on
+your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned<span class="page"><a name="314"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 314]</span></a></span>
+the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will
+not injure you, nor us, nor others, and I will
+not lay down arms without you, as I am certain
+you will not without me. I will pursue the work commenced
+by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord,
+may He give you good and long life with a fruitful
+victory.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at my camp near Boscise, September
+4th.</p>
+<p class="rindent1">
+"Your loyal brother,</p>
+<p class="rindent">
+"CHARLES."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV30"><sup>30</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+The duke's course was marked by waste and
+devastation from the walls of Rouen to those of
+Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this desolation.
+By September, keen anxiety about his
+territories led him to fear staying so far from
+his own boundaries, and he decided to return.
+Through Picardy he marched eastward burning
+and laying waste as before.</p>
+<p>
+Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands,
+when Louis marched into Brittany against his
+weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis
+found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie,
+who had ridden in hot haste to Brittany, scattering
+from his saddle dire accusations of fratricide
+against Louis&mdash;this same Odet became silenced and
+took service with the king.<a href="#XV31"><sup>31</sup></a> When reconcilations
+were effected, most kind to the returning ally or
+servant did Louis always show himself.</p>
+<p>
+On November 3d, a truce was struck between<span class="page"><a name="315">[page 315]</a></span>
+Louis and Charles, which, later, was renewed for
+a year. But never again did the two men come
+into actual conflict with each other, though they
+were on the eve of doing so in 1475.</p>
+<p>
+The period of the great coalitions among the
+nobles was at an end. Charles of France was
+dead and so, too, were others who were strong
+enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brittany
+showed no more energy. When again within
+his own territories, Charles of Burgundy became
+absorbed in other projects which he wished to
+perfect before he again measured steel with Louis.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+"The Duke of Berry, he is dead,<br />
+Brittany doth nod his head,<br />
+Burgundy doth sulky sit,<br />
+While Louis works with every wit."<a href="#XV32"><sup>32</sup></a>
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in
+France, a verse that probably never came to
+Charles's ears&mdash;though Louis might have listened
+to it cheerfully.</p>
+<p>
+Infinitely disastrous were the events of that
+summer to Charles of Burgundy. Not only had he
+lost in allies, not only had he squandered life and
+money uselessly in his reckless expedition over
+the north of France, but his own retinue was
+diminished and weakened by the men whom<span class="page"><a name="316">[page 316]</a></span>
+Louis had succeeded in luring from his service.
+The loss that Charles suffered was not only for
+the time but for posterity. Among those convinced
+that there was more scope for men of talent
+in France than in Burgundy was that clever
+observer of humanity who had been at Charles's
+side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip
+de Commines took French leave of his master
+and betook himself to Louis, who evidently was
+not surprised at his advent.</p>
+<p>
+The historian's own words in regard to this
+change of base are laconic: "About this time I
+entered the king's service (and it was the year
+1472), who had received the majority of the servitors
+of his brother the Duke of Guienne. And he
+was then at Pont de Cé."<a href="#XV33"><sup>33</sup></a> This passing from one
+lord to another happened on the night between
+the 7th and 8th of August, when the Burgundian
+army lay near Eu.</p>
+<p>
+The suddenness of the departure was probably
+due to the duke's discovery of his servant's intentions
+not yet wholly ripe, and those intentions
+had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in
+1471, when Commines made a secret journey
+to the king. On his way back to Burgundy,
+he deposited a large sum of money at Tours.
+Evidently he did not dare put this under his own
+name, or claim it when it was confiscated as the
+property of a notorious adherent of Louis's foe.<a href="#XV34"><sup>34</sup></a></p>
+<span class="page"><a name="317">[page 317]</a></span>
+<p>
+When the fugitive reached the French court,
+however, he was amply recompensed for all his
+losses.<a href="#XV35"><sup>35</sup></a> For, naturally, at his flight, all his
+Burgundian estates were abandoned.<a href="#XV36"><sup>36</sup></a> It was at
+six o'clock on the morning of August 8th that the
+deed was signed whereby the duke transferred
+to the Seigneur de Quiévrain all the rights appertaining
+to Philip de Commines, "which rights
+together with all the property of whatever kind
+have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation
+because he has to-day, the date of this document,
+departed from our obedience and gone as a fugitive
+to the party opposed to us."<a href="#XV37"><sup>37</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+There are various surmises as to the cause of this
+precipitate departure. Not improbable is the suggestion
+that Charles often overstepped the bounds
+of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so runs
+one story, he found the historian sleeping on his
+bed where he had flung himself while awaiting
+his master. Charles pulled off one of his boots<span class="page"><a name="318">[page 318]</a></span>
+"to give him more ease" and struck him in the
+face with it. In derision the courtiers called
+Commines <i>tête bottée</i>, and their mocking sank
+deep into his soul.</p>
+<p>
+Contemporary writers make little of the chronicler's
+defection. These crossings from the peer's
+to the king's camp were accepted occurrences.
+But by Charles they were not accepted. There
+is a vindictive look about the hour when he disposes
+of his late confidant's possessions, only
+explicable by intense indignation not itemised
+in the deed approved by the court of Mons.<a href="#XV38"><sup>38</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier
+de la Marche, though to him, also, came intimations
+that he would find a pleasant welcome at the
+French court. He, too, had opportunities galore
+to make links with Louis. The accounts teem
+with references to his secret missions here and
+there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all
+carefully itemised. So zealous was this messenger
+on his master's commissions, that his hackneys
+were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold
+for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XI. was
+not blind to the quality of La Marche's services,
+and he thought that they, too, might be diverted
+to his use.<a href="#XV39"><sup>39</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has<span class="page"><a name="319"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 319]</span></a></span>
+told me that Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to
+enter my service and I am afraid that there may be
+some deception. However, there is nothing that I
+would like better than to have the said Sieur de Cimay,
+as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the
+matter stands, and if you see that it is in good
+earnest work for it with all diligence. Whatever you
+pledge I will hold to. Advise me of everything.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written at Cléry, October 16th [1472].</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sire du Bouchage."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XV40"><sup>40</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+But La Marche was not tempted, and was
+rewarded for his fidelity by high office in a duchy
+which, shortly after these events, was "annexed"
+to his master's domain.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#293">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XV1">Journal</a> de Jean de Roye</i>, i., 258.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#293">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XV2">Commynes</a>-Dupont, iii., 202.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#293">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XV3">Plancher</a>, iv., cccvi., May 28th.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#294">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XV4">Rymer</a>, <i>F&oelig;dera</i>, xi., 735. <i>Pro Ducissa Burgundiæ super
+Lana claccanda</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#294">[Footnote 5:</a> <i><a name="XV5">Lettres</a> de Louis XI.</i>, iv., 256.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XV6">One</a> of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's
+service.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XV7">Louis's</a> sister Yolande.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XV8">The</a> Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of
+the Count de Foix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#295">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XV9">This</a> was an allusion to a proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile.
+Vaesen cannot explain the use of Aragon.  Various documents
+relating to this negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet,
+iii., 156.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#296">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XV10">Vaesen</a> gives <i>femmes</i>, Duclos <i>filles</i>. The king was above
+all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#298">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="XV11">Lettres</a> de Louis XI.</i>., iv., 286.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#298">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XV12">There</a> was a pestilence raging at Amboise.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#298">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XV13">At</a> Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of
+November, there was a conference wherein the king apparently
+promised to restore St. Quentin and Amiens to Charles,
+if he would renounce his alliance with the dukes of Brittany
+and Guienne and would betroth his daughter to the dauphin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#299">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XV14">Ythier</a> Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage
+between Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received
+"signed and sealed blanks" from the two princes in order to
+enable him to hasten matters. (<i>Lettres de Louis XI.</i>, iv., 289.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#300">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XV15">III</a>., ch. viii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#301">[Footnote 16:</a> "<a name="XV16">Cette</a> paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois présent."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#301">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="XV17">The</a> king's envoys who had spent the winter in the Burgundian
+court. <i>See</i> letter to them in December.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#302">[Footnote 18:</a> <i><a name="XV18">See</a></i> Kervyn, <i>Bulletin de l'Academie royale de Belgique</i>, p.
+256. <i>Also</i> Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#304">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="XV19">Louis</a> to the Vicomte de la Belliére, <i>Lettres</i>, etc., iv., 319.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#304">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="XV20">Louis</a> to Dammartin, <i>Ibid</i>., 325. <i>Mars</i> was written first
+and then replaced by <i>Mai</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#305">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XV21">Odet</a> d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de Lescun.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#305">[Footnote 22:</a> <i><a name="XV22">Lettres</a>, XI</i>., iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#306">[Footnote 23:</a> <i><a name="XV23">Lettres</a></i>, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#307">[Footnote 24:</a> <i><a name="XV24">Lettres</a></i>, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. <i>See also</i> Duclos,
+v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two
+texts, but the differences do not affect the narrative.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#308">[Footnote 25:</a> <a name="XV25">Odet</a> d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted
+to his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis
+broadcast over the land. The truth of the death is not proven.
+Frequent mentions of Guienne's condition occur through the
+letters of the winter '71-72. The story was that the poison,
+administered subtly by the king's orders, caused the illness
+of both the prince and his mistress, Mme. de Thouan. She
+died after two months of suffering, December 14th, while
+he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely
+shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably
+wretched and painful, a constant torture until death mercifully
+released him in May. Accusations of poisoning are
+often repeated in history. In this case, there was certainly
+a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In his manifestos,
+(Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's tools in
+compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre,
+and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+The story told by Brantôme <i>(&OElig;uvres Complètes</i> de Pierre
+de Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantôme, ii., 329. "Grands
+Capitaines Francois." There is nothing too severe for Brantôme
+to say about Louis XI.) is very detailed. A fool
+passed to Louis's service from that of the dead prince.
+While this man was attending his new master in the church
+of Notre Dame de Cléry, he heard him make this prayer to
+the Virgin: "Ah! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great
+friend in whom I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a
+suppliant to God in my behalf, be my advocate with Him so
+that He may pardon me for the death of my brother whom I
+had poisoned by this wicked Abbé of St. John. I confess it
+to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was
+to be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me
+pardoned and I know well what I will give thee."</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Brantôme tells further that the fool, using the privilege of
+free speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death
+at dinner in public and after that day was never seen again.
+On the other hand, the young duke's will was all to his
+brother's favour. Louis was made executor and legatee,
+"and if we have ever offended our beloved brother," dictated
+the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we with <i>débonnaire</i>
+affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Commynes
+(1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious
+fabrication of Odet d'Aydie, and other authorities refer the
+cause to disease. The very date of the death varies from
+May 12th to May 24th.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#310">[Footnote 26:</a> <a name="XV26">Commines</a>, iii., ch. ix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#310">[Footnote 27:</a> <a name="XV27">There</a> is a curious document in existence (see <i>Bulletins
+de L'Hist. de France</i>, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the
+event. It is the deposition of several old people who had
+been just old enough to remember that awful experience of
+their youth. Fifty years of repetition gave time for the
+growth of the story.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#311">[Footnote 28:</a> <a name="XV28">Commines</a>, iii., ch. x.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#313">[Footnote 29:</a> <a name="XV29">Legend</a> makes it that Jeanne Laisné, called <i>Fouquet</i>,
+chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet.
+Hence her name was changed to <i>La Hachette</i>, and she is represented
+with a hatchet.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#314">[Footnote 30:</a> <a name="XV30">Barante</a>, vii., 333.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#314">[Footnote 31:</a> <i><a name="XV31">See</a></i> Lavisse, iv<span class="super">ii</span>., 368.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#315">[Footnote 32:</a><span style="color:#ffffff"><a name="XV32">.</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="footnote1">
+"Berri est mort,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Bretagne dort,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Bourgogne hongne,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;Le Roy besogne."</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Le Roux de Lincy, <i>Chants historiques et populaires du temps
+de Louis XI</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#316">[Footnote 33:</a> <a name="XV33">Commines</a> also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke
+of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the
+Duke of Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#316">[Footnote 34:</a> <a name="XV34">Kirk</a> (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only Louis's
+way of prodding him up to act.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#317">[Footnote 35:</a> <a name="XV35">Dupont</a> (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not
+enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift
+of the principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not
+registered in <i>Parlement</i> until December 13, 1473, and in the
+court of records May 2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Commines
+become at last, and as such he married Helen de
+Chambes, January 27, 1473.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#317">[Footnote 36:</a> <a name="XV36">It</a> is strange that La Marche does not mention this
+defection.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#317">[Footnote 37:</a> <a name="XV37">See</a> document quoted by Gachard, <i>Études et Notices</i>, etc.
+ii., 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preserved
+in the château of Beaumont.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#318">[Footnote 38:</a> <i><a name="XV38">See</a> also</i> Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of this
+event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too
+corrupt for honest men to endure it.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#318">[Footnote 39:</a> <i><a name="XV39">See</a></i> Stein. <i>Étude</i>, etc., <i>sur Olivier de la Marche</i>. (Mém.
+Couronnés) xlix.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#319">[Footnote 40:</a> <a name="XV40">Letter</a> of Louis XI. in Bibl. Nat.: <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 179.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="320">[page 320]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XVI">XVI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>GUELDERS</h3>
+
+<h4>1473</h4>
+<p>
+The affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were
+among the matters urgently demanding
+the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close
+of his campaign in France. The circumstances of
+the long-standing quarrel between Duke Arnold
+and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a scandal
+throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming reconciliation
+of the parties had not only been effected
+but celebrated in the town of Grave by a pleasant
+family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke,
+fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was
+he in bed, when he was aroused rudely, and carried
+off half clad to a dungeon in the castle of
+Buren, by the order of his son, who superintended
+the abduction in person and then became
+duke regnant. For over six years the old man
+languished in prison, actually taunted, from time
+to time, it is said, by Duke Adolf himself.</p>
+<p>
+Indignant remonstrances against this conduct
+were heard from various quarters, and were all
+alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles
+of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring
+his father to his presence, and to submit the dispute
+to his arbitration. Charles was too near<span class="page"><a name="321">[page 321]</a></span>
+and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded,
+and his peremptory invitation was accepted.
+Pending the decision, the two dukes were forced
+to be guests in his court, under a strict surveillance
+which amounted to an arrest.</p>
+<p>
+The first suggestion made by Charles was for
+a compromise between father and son. "Let
+Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in
+Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair
+income, while to Adolf be ceded the full power of
+administration." The latter was emphatic in
+his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather
+would I prefer to see my father thrown into a well
+and to follow him thither than to agree to such
+terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty-four
+years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold
+thought it would be a simple feat to fight out the
+dispute. "I saw them both several times in the
+duke's apartment and in the council chamber
+when they pleaded, each his own cause. I saw the
+old man offer a gage of battle to his son."<a href="#XVI1"><sup>1</sup></a> The
+senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry.
+A trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly
+fashion of ending his differences with his importunate
+heir.</p>
+<p>
+No settlement was effected before the French
+expedition, but Charles was not disposed to let
+the matter slip from his control, and when he
+proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under
+restraint, were obliged to follow in his train. At<span class="page"><a name="322">[page 322]</a></span>
+a leisure moment Charles intended to force them
+to accept his arbitration as final. Before that
+moment arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs,
+Adolf, succeeded in eluding surveillance
+and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made
+his way successfully to Namur disguised as a
+Franciscan monk. Then, at the ferry, he gave
+a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The
+liberality, inconsistent with his assumed rôle,
+aroused suspicion and led to the detection of his
+rank and identity. He was stayed in his flight
+and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a
+decision on his case by his self-constituted judge.
+This was not pronounced until the summer of
+1473.</p>
+<p>
+By that time, Charles was resolved on another
+course of action than that of adjusting a family
+dispute in the capacity of puissant, impartial,
+and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour towards
+his father had been extraordinarily brutal
+and outrageous. Public comment had been excited
+to a wide degree. It was not an affair to
+be dealt with lightly by Duke Charles. The
+young Duchess of Guelders was Catharine of
+Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy,
+and Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden
+Fleece. In consideration of these links of family
+and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that
+the case should be tried with all formality.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="arnold">[plate 21]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image21arnold.jpg" width="400" height="631" alt="ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was
+held at Valenciennes,<a href="#XVI2"><sup>2</sup></a> and the knights were asked<span class="page"><a name="323">[page 323]</a></span>
+to pass upon the conduct of their delinquent
+fellow, who was permitted to present his own
+brief through an attorney, but was detained in
+his own person at Namur. The innocence or
+guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point
+of interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was
+concerned. The latter had made an excellent
+bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke
+of Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a
+document wherein he sold to Charles all his
+administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for
+ninety-two thousand florins,<a href="#XVI3"><sup>3</sup></a> in consideration of<span class="page"><a name="324">[page 324]</a></span>
+Arnold's enjoying a life interest in half of the
+revenue of his ancient duchy. That clause soon
+lost its significance. The old man's life ceased
+in March, 1473, and, by virtue of the contract,
+Charles proposed to enter into full possession of
+his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he
+was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal,
+quite beyond the pale of society, but that
+Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose
+hereditary claims had also been ignored by his
+grandfather.</p>
+<p>
+Before the knights of the Order as a final court,
+were rehearsed all the circumstances of the old
+family quarrel and of the late commercial transaction.
+Their verdict was the one desired by their
+chief. It was proven to their entire satisfaction
+that Arnold's sale of the duchy of Guelders and
+Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the
+deed executed by him was a perfect and valid
+instrument, whereby Charles of Burgundy was
+duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of,
+and to exert authority in, his new duchy at his
+pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he was condemned
+by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment
+as punishment for his unfilial and unjustifiable<span class="page"><a name="325">[page 325]</a></span>
+cruelty towards Arnold, late Duke of Guelders.</p>
+<p>
+Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars,
+but the people of Guelders were by no means disposed
+to accept unquestioned this deed of transfer,
+made when the two parties to the conveyance
+were in very unequal conditions of freedom.
+In order to convince them of the justice of his
+pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as efficient
+as his army of the preceding summer, and
+fell upon Guelders. A truce, a triple compact
+with France and England, had recently been
+renewed, so that for the moment his hands were
+free from complications, an event commented
+upon by Sir John Paston, as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"April 16, 1473, CANTERBURY.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys
+about the xxvi day off March last, betwyn the Duke of
+Burgoyn and the Frense Kings inbassators and Master
+William Atclyff ffor the king heer, whiche is a pese
+be londe and be water tyll the ffyrst daye off Apryll
+nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland,
+and also the Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever."</p>
+
+<p>
+The writer had recently been in Charles's court.
+Writing from Calais in February, he says:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that
+the Duke of Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth
+well. I was with them on Thorysdaye last past at
+Gaunt."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVI4"><sup>4</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pretender<span class="page"><a name="326">[page 326]</a></span>
+to the vacated sovereignty of Guelders.
+The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to urge his
+cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At
+the sight of Burgundian puissance, however, he
+was ready to be convinced, and accepted 24,000
+florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness
+of the accession. Several of the cities manifested
+opposition to Charles, but yielded one after
+another. In Nimwegen&mdash;long hostile to Duke
+Arnold&mdash;there was a determined effort to support
+little Charles of Guelders who, with his sister, was
+in that city. The child made a pretty show on
+his little pony, and there were many declarations
+of devotion to his cause as he was put forward to
+excite sympathy. For three weeks, the town
+held out in his name. The resistance to the Burgundian
+troops was sturdy. When the gates
+gave way before their attacks the burghers defended
+the broken walls. Six hundred English
+archers were repulsed from an assault with such
+sudden energy that they left their banners sticking
+in the very breaches they thought they had won,
+fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But
+the game was unequal, and the combatants, convinced
+that discretion was the better part of
+valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a
+mediator with their would-be sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+On July 19th, a long civic procession headed
+by the burgomasters, wearing neither hats nor
+shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a
+prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the<span class="page"><a name="327">[page 327]</a></span>
+opposition to his accession were delivered over to
+the mercy of the victor. The garrison were accorded
+their lives and a tax was imposed on the
+city to indemnify the duke for his needless
+trouble, and Guelders was added <i>de facto</i> to the
+list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various
+state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the
+mention of the circumstance of his accession to
+the sovereignty was simple and straightforward,
+as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la
+Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the
+date of August 18th and was one of the earliest
+issued by Charles in this new capacity.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his
+life Duke of Guelderland, these counties and duchy
+have lapsed to me, and by the same token the offices
+of the land have escheated to our disposition, and
+among others the office of master of the moneys of
+those countships ... using the rights, etc., escheated
+to me, and in consideration of the good and
+agreeable services already rendered and continually
+rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de la Marche,
+having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity,
+and good diligence&mdash;for these causes and others we
+entrust the office of master and overseer of moneys of
+the land of Guelders to him, with all the rights, duties,
+and privileges thereto pertaining. In testimony of
+this we have set our seal to these papers. Done in
+our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 1473. Thus
+signed by M. le duc."</p>
+
+<p>
+On the back of this document was written:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la<span class="page"><a name="328"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 328]</span></a></span>
+Marche ... took the oath of office of
+master and overseer of the land and duchy of
+Guelders."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVI5"><sup>5</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The charge of the ducal children, Charles and
+Philippa, was entrusted to the duke who, in his
+turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise
+their education. In a comparatively brief time
+agitation in behalf of the disinherited heir ceased,
+and imperial ratification alone was required to
+stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the
+Burgundian domains. Under the circumstances
+the minor heirs were the emperor's wards, and it
+was his express duty to look to their interests,
+but Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert
+himself as their champion. On the contrary,
+the embassy that arrived from his court on August
+14th was charged with felicitations to his dear
+friend, Charles of Burgundy, for his acquisition,
+and with assurances that the requisite investiture
+into his dignities should be given by his imperial
+hand at the duke's pleasure.<a href="#XVI6"><sup>6</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Communication between Frederic and Charles
+had been intermittently frequent during the past
+three years, and one subject of their letters was
+probably a reason why Charles had been willing to
+abandon a losing game in France to give another
+bias to his thoughts. He was lured on by the
+bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite<span class="page"><a name="329">[page 329]</a></span>
+form indeed, but full of promise that he might be
+enabled, eventually, to confer with Louis XI. from
+a better vantage ground than his position as first
+peer of France. The story of these hopes now
+becomes the story of Charles of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+When Sigismund of Austria completed his
+mortgage, in 1469, at St. Omer, and returned
+home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to
+divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth
+into the empty imperial coffers. An alliance
+between Mary of Burgundy and the young Archduke
+Maximilian seemed to him the most advantageous
+matrimonial bargain possible for the
+emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with
+all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish
+in his offers to be mediator between him and
+his new friend Charles.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic was impressed by Sigismund's enthusiastic
+exposition of the advantages of the match,
+and little time elapsed before his ambassador
+brought formal proposals to Charles for the alliance.
+The duke received the advances complacently
+and returned propositions significant of his
+personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his
+instructions to certain envoys sent to the intermediary,
+Sigismund, are plain. In unequivocal
+terms, his daughter's hand is made contingent on
+his own election as King of the Romans, that
+shadowy royalty which veiled the approach to the
+imperial throne.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item</i>&mdash;And in regard to the said marriage, the<span class="page"><a name="330"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 330]</span></a></span>
+ambassadors shall inform Monseigneur of Austria
+that, since his departure from Hesdin, certain people
+have talked to Monseigneur about this marriage and
+mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be willing
+to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the
+government of the Kingdom of the Romans, with the
+stipulation that Monseigneur, <i>arrived at the empire by
+the good pleasure of the emperor</i> or by his death, would,
+in his turn, procure the said crown of the Romans for
+his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire
+will be continued in the person of the emperor's son
+and his descendants.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"<i>Item</i>&mdash;They shall tell him about a meeting between
+the imperial and ducal ambassadors, at which
+meeting there was some talk of making a kingdom
+out of certain lands of Monseigneur and joining these
+to an <i>imperial</i> vicariate of all the lands and principalities
+lying along the Rhine."</p>
+
+<p>
+In the following paragraphs of this instruction,<a href="#XVI7"><sup>7</sup></a>
+Charles directs his envoys to make it clear to
+Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund) that the
+duke's interest in the plan does not spring from
+avarice or ambition. He is purely actuated by a
+yearning to employ his time and his strength for
+God's service and for the defence of the Faith,
+while still in his prime.</p>
+<p>
+Should the emperor refuse to approve the<span class="page"><a name="331">[page 331]</a></span>
+duke's nomination as King of the Romans, the
+ambassadors are instructed to say that they are
+not empowered to proceed with the marriage
+negotiations without first referring to their chief.
+They must ask leave to return with their report.
+If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound
+the emperor again about his sentiments, the
+envoys might await the result of his investigations.
+He was to be assured that while Charles was
+resolved to hold back until he was fully satisfied
+on this point, if it were once ceded, he would
+interpose no further delay in the celebration of the
+nuptials. He must know, however, just what
+power and revenue the emperor would attach
+to the proposed title. He was not willing to
+accept it without emoluments. His present
+financial burdens were already heavy, etc. The
+concluding items of the instructions had reference
+to the marriage settlements.</p>
+<p>
+A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream
+at this stage of Burgundo-Austrian negotiations.
+The title that Charles desired primarily was King
+of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign
+power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing
+imperial dignity. Significant is the intimation
+that after this preliminary title was conferred, its
+wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside
+voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient
+as death in making room for his appointed
+successor.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally<span class="page"><a name="332">[page 332]</a></span>
+that a life of meditation would suit his tastes
+better than the imperial throne, but he seems
+in no wise to have been tempted by the offer
+made by Charles to relieve him of his onerous
+duties, and then to pass on the office to his
+son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the
+opportunity to enjoy an irresponsible ease. His
+answer to the duke was that he did not exercise
+sufficient influence over his electors to ensure
+their accepting his nominee as successor to the
+<i>imperium</i>.</p>
+<p>
+There was, however, one honour that lay wholly
+within his gift. If Charles desired higher rank,
+the emperor would be quite willing to erect his
+territories into a realm and to create him monarch
+of his own agglomerated possessions, welded into
+a new unity. This proposition wounded Charles
+keenly. He assured Sigismund<a href="#XVI8"><sup>8</sup></a> (January 15,
+1471) that his nomination as King of the Romans
+would never have occurred to him spontaneously.
+He had been assured that it was a darling project
+of the emperor, and he had simply been willing
+to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own,
+he refused the proposition with actual disdain.</p>
+<p>
+Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of
+Burgundy appeared on the scene successively.
+To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine, grandson
+of old King René of Anjou, she was formally
+betrothed.<a href="#XVI9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+"My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very<span class="page"><a name="333">[page 333]</a></span>
+redoubtable seigneur and father, I promise you
+that, you being alive, I will take none other than
+you and I promise to take you when God
+permits it." So wrote Mary with her own hand
+on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December 3d,
+she declared all such pledges revoked as though
+they never had been made, and Nicholas, too,
+formally renounced his pretensions to her hand.</p>
+<p>
+There were several moments when Charles of
+France had appeared to be very near acceptance
+as Mary's husband, and several other princes
+seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father
+found his daughter very valuable as a means of
+attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as Commines
+says, he was not anxious to introduce any
+son-in-law into his family. His fortieth year
+was only completed in 1473, and he was by no
+means ready to range himself as an ancestor.</p>
+<p>
+At successive times the negotiations between
+Charles and Frederic were ruptured only to
+be renewed on some slightly different basis.
+Threaded together they made a story fraught
+with interest for Louis XI., and one that, very
+probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up
+to August, 1472, it is a safe inference that Philip
+de Commines was fully cognisant of the propositions
+and counter-propositions, the understandings
+and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as
+well as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian
+envoys that appeared at one Burgundian camp
+after another. Probably there was nothing more<span class="page"><a name="334">[page 334]</a></span>
+valuable in the store of learning carried by the
+astute historian from his first patron to his second
+than all this fund of confidential miscellany.</p>
+<p>
+It seems a fair surmise that Louis XI. enjoyed
+immensely the delightful private view into his
+rival's dreams, the disappointments and rehabilitation
+of his shattered visions. The relation
+would have made him not only fully aware of the
+reasons why Charles was diverted from his hot
+pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly informed
+as to the great obstacles lying in the path
+which the duke hoped to travel. Naturally, the
+king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin
+was inevitable. If his rival were disposed to
+wreck himself rashly on German shoals, the king
+was equally disposed to be an acquiescent onlooker
+and to spare his own powder.</p>
+<p>
+On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of
+the extent of his loss of prestige within the French
+realm in 1472. There had been other periods
+when the king had appeared triumphant over
+his aspiring nobles only to be again checked by
+their alliance. In the radical change undergone
+by the feudatories after Guienne's death and
+Brittany's reconciliation, there was, however, no
+opening left for the Duke of Burgundy's re-entry
+as a French political leader. It was this definitive
+cessation of his importance that Charles failed
+to recognise. Confident that his star was rising
+in the east he did not note the significance of its
+setting in the west. Thereupon the situation<span class="page"><a name="335">[page 335]</a></span>
+was,&mdash;Charles, believing that his plans were his
+own secret, <i>versus</i> Louis, fully advised of those
+plans and alert to all incidents of the past, present,
+and future in a fashion impossible to the duke
+in his absorbed contemplation of his own prospects,
+blocking the scope of his view.</p>
+<p>
+With the emperor's congratulations at the
+duke's accession to Guelders, and his offers to
+invest him with the title, were coupled intimations
+that it was an opportune moment to resume
+consideration of an alliance between the Archduke
+Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The
+duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf
+de Soulz and Peter von Hagenbach proceeded
+to the Burgundian and Austrian courts respectively,
+as confidential envoys to discuss the
+marriage.<a href="#XVI10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than
+he had been to the last imperial messenger, the
+Abbé de Casanova, who had restricted his proposals
+to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's.
+The duke had no intention of permitting any conference
+to proceed on that line. He was explicit
+as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised
+by a gift of ten thousand florins, explained by the
+phrase, "because Monseigneur recognised the
+love and affection borne him by the said count."
+That was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices,
+and estates were conferred, to take effect on the
+day when Monseigneur was named King of the<span class="page"><a name="336">[page 336]</a></span>
+Romans.</p>
+<p>
+The instructions to Hagenbach were definite,
+covering the ground of those previously mentioned,
+issued in 1470. He was, however,
+especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the
+duke did not require his abdication. He would
+be content to step into the shoes naturally
+vacated by his death.</p>
+<p>
+The final suggestion resulting from these parleyings
+was that an interview between the two principals
+would be far more satisfactory than any
+further interchange of messages. It was not only
+a propitious time for a conference, but it was
+necessary. The ceremony of investiture of the
+duke into his latest acquired fief made it evidently
+imperative that he should visit the emperor.
+And to preparations for that event, Charles
+turned his attention, now absolutely confident
+that the outcome must be to his satisfaction.
+He had as little comprehension of the character of
+the man with whom he was to deal as he had of
+Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some
+difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near
+his own frontier. Metz was selected and abandoned
+on account of an epidemic. Finally Trèves
+was appointed for the important occasion, and
+Frederic sent official invitations to the princes of
+the empire to follow him thither in October.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="mary2">[plate 22]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image22mary2.jpg" width="400" height="747" alt="MARY OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous,
+another event had occurred that had an important
+bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of<span class="page"><a name="337">[page 337]</a></span>
+Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir.
+He had been relinquished as a son-in-law, but the
+geographical position of his duchy made the question
+of its sovereignty all important to Charles of
+Burgundy. If it could be under his own control,
+how convenient for the passage of his troops
+from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for
+duchies like many another can grow by what it
+feeds upon.</p>
+<p>
+Prepared to set out for his journey to Trèves,
+Charles hastened his movements and proceeded to
+Metz with an escort so large that it had a formidable
+aspect to the city fathers. Whether they
+feared that their free city was too tempting a
+base for attack on Lorraine or not, the magistrates
+yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian
+thousands without their walls. The emperor,
+too, was on his way to Trèves. Many of his suite
+were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might
+be found for Charles and his immediate retainers,
+indeed, but the troops must make themselves
+as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So
+said the burgomaster, and Charles was forced to
+yield and he made a splendid entry into the town
+under the prescribed conditions.</p>
+<p>
+His own paraphernalia had been forwarded
+from Antwerp, so that there should be an abundance
+of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his temporary
+quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had
+been scoured to secure game for the banquets.</p>
+<p>
+It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a<span class="page"><a name="338">[page 338]</a></span>
+humour to be pleased. He was annoyed about
+his troops; very probably he had intended leaving
+a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine
+if occasion offered. He cut short his stay in the
+town and marched on with his imposing escort to
+Trèves, whence he hoped to march out again a
+greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy
+had ever been.<a href="#XVI11"><sup>[11]</sup></a></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#321">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XVI1">Commines</a>, iv., ch. i.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#323">[Footnote 2:</a> <i>Hist. <a name="XVI2">de</a> l'Ordre,</i> etc., p. 64. One of the places to be filled at
+this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower
+of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace
+of the ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated
+in the minutes of the session that Adolf of Guelders was
+asked to nominate candidates from his prison, but he would
+not do it. Striking is Charles's remark on the nomination
+of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that the Order
+was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very excellent,
+he judged it more <i>à propos</i> to distribute the five empty
+collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was
+elected, as was also Engelbert of Nassau.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules
+of the Order. There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard
+for taking a gift of 20,000 crowns from Louis XI. Payable
+as it was in terms, it savoured of a pension. Had Henry van
+Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's landing in
+England? etc.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the
+disposition of the scarlet mantles now discarded by the
+chevaliers. It was decided after deliberation that they
+should be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase of
+tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the treasurer was
+deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this connection
+that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or rather
+abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order
+and the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best
+to defer this point until his return from his proposed journey
+to Guelders. Lengthy, too, were the discussions upon the
+exact usage in respect to wearing the collar and insignia of the
+Order.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#323">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XVI3">The</a> first sum named was three hundred thousand.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#325">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="XVI4">The</a> Paston Letters, iii., 79.</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#328">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XVI5">See</a> <i>Mémoires Couronnés</i>, xlix., 180.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#328">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XVI6">Toutey</a>, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the
+Duke of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to
+Nimwegen where the ambassador of the emperor visited him.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#330">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XVI7">This</a> instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the
+Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been
+referred to 1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to
+conclude that it belongs rather to 1470. The question of the
+marriage comes in at the end of the paper, the first part
+being devoted to Swiss affairs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#332">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XVI8">Toutey</a>, p. 36.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#332">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XVI9">Lenglet</a>, iii., 192.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#336">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XVI10">Toutey</a>, p. 44; Chmel, <i>Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3.</i>]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#338">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XVI11">Toutey</a>, p. 46.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="339">[page 339]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XVII">XVII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE MEETING AT TRÈVES</h3>
+
+<h4>1473</h4>
+<p>
+On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor
+Frederic made his entry into the old
+Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days
+later, the Duke of Burgundy arrived and was welcomed
+most pompously outside of Trèves, by his
+suzerain.</p>
+<p>
+After the first greetings, ensued an argument
+about the etiquette proper for the occasion, an
+argument similar to those which had absorbed
+the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when
+the dauphin made his famous visit to Duke Philip.
+For thirty minutes, the emperor argued with his
+guest before feudal scruples were overcome and
+the vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side
+into the city.</p>
+<p>
+The entry was a grand sight, and crowds
+thronged the streets, more curious about the
+duke than about the emperor. Charles was then
+in the very prime of life. His personality commanded
+attention, but there were some among
+the onlookers who found it more striking than
+attractive. One bystander thought that the very
+splendour of his dress, wherein cloth of gold
+and pearls played a part, only brought into high<span class="page"><a name="340">[page 340]</a></span>
+relief the severity of his features. His great
+black eyes, his proud and determined air failed
+to cast into oblivion a certain effect of insignificance
+given by his square figure, broad shoulders,
+excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed
+from continuous riding.<a href="#XVII1"><sup>l</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+There is, however, another word portrait of the
+duke as he looked in the year 1473, whose trend
+is more sympathetic.<a href="#XVII2"><sup>2</sup></a> "His stature was small
+and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark
+chestnut, eyes black and brilliant, his presence
+majestic but stern. He was high-spirited, magnanimous,
+courageous, intrepid, and impetuous.
+Capable of action, he lacked nothing but prudence
+to attain success."</p>
+<p>
+From the two descriptions emerges a fairly
+clear picture of an energetic man, somewhat
+undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert
+his dignity in a fashion that did not quite comport
+with his physical characteristics. The conviction
+that he was a very important personage
+with greater importance awaiting him, and his
+total lack of a sense of humour, combined with his
+inability to feel the pulse of a situation, undoubtedly
+affected his bearing and made it seem more pompous.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charles2">[plate 23]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image23charles2.jpg" width="400" height="527" alt="CHARLES THE BOLD" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="341">[page 341]</a></span>
+<p>
+The emperor was not an heroic figure in appearance
+any more than he was in the records of his
+reign, distinguished for being the feeblest as well
+as the longest in the annals of the empire. He
+was indolent, timid, irresolute, and incapable. His
+features and manners were vulgar, his intellect
+sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies,
+he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding
+his imperial sceptre. At Trèves he was accompanied
+by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a
+fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready
+to be fascinated by his proposed father-in-law,
+who was a striking contrast to his own languid
+and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous
+love of action.</p>
+<p>
+As the two princes rode together into the city,
+Charles's accoutrements attracted all eyes. The
+polished steel of his armour shone like silver. Over
+it hung a short mantle actually embroidered with
+diamonds and other precious stones to the value
+of two hundred thousand gold crowns. His
+velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out of
+compliment to the emperor, was ornamented
+with a diamond whose price no man could tell.
+Before him walked a page carrying his helmet
+studded with gems, while his magnificent black
+steed was heavily weighted down with its rich
+caparisons.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic III., very simple in his ordinary dress,
+had exerted himself to appear well to his great<span class="page"><a name="342">[page 342]</a></span>
+vassal. His robe of cloth of gold was fine, though
+it may have looked something like a luxurious
+dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish
+fashion and bordered with pearls. The emperor
+was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the tradition,
+by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but innocent
+doors that chanced to impede his way.</p>
+<p>
+The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and
+silver, walked by the side of an Ottoman prince,
+prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity by
+the pope himself. And then there was a host
+of nobles, great and small. Among them were
+Engelbert of Nassau<a href="#XVII3"><sup>3</sup></a> and the representative
+of the House of Orange-Châlons, whose titles were
+destined to be united in one person within the
+next half-century.</p>
+<p>
+The magnificence remained unrivalled in the
+history of royal conferences. The very troopers
+wore habits of cloth of gold over their steel, while
+their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed
+with silver bells. Surpassing all others, were
+the heralds-at-arms of the various individual
+states which acknowledged Charles as their sovereign,
+seigneur, count, or duke as the case might
+be. They preceded their liege lord, clad in their
+distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with colour.
+Before them were the trumpeters in white and
+blue, their very instruments silvered, while first<span class="page"><a name="343">[page 343]</a></span>
+of all rode one hundred golden haired boys, "an
+angel throng."</p>
+<p>
+It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite
+etiquette of escort, that the emperor and duke
+agreed to separate on the fairly neutral ground
+of the market-place. Each proceeded with his
+own suite to his lodgings, Frederic to the archbishop's
+palace, and Charles to the abbey of St.
+Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years
+previously, the honorary title of "Protector."
+His army was quartered within and without the
+city. Two days for repose and then the first
+official interview took place, which is described
+as follows, by an unknown correspondent, evidently
+in the ducal suite:<a href="#XVII4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur
+waited upon the emperor and escorted him to his own
+lodging which is in the abbey of St. Maximin. My said
+lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat. The
+emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy,
+and his son was in a robe of green damask. As to
+their people, both suites were very brave, jewelry
+and cloth of gold being as common as satin or taffeta.
+Monseigneur received the emperor in a little chamber
+decorated with hangings from Holland that many
+recognised.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his
+mouthpiece to describe the stress of Christianity and
+to urge Charles to lend his assistance. Having listened
+to this address, Monseigneur requested the<span class="page"><a name="344"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 344]</span></a></span>
+emperor to please come into a larger place where
+more people could hear his answer. Accordingly
+they entered a hall decorated with the tapestry of
+Alexander, while the very ceiling was covered with
+cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a
+double row of seats. Benches and steps were spread
+over with tapestry wrought with my lord's arms.
+Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais with
+difficulty.... Mons., the chancellor, clad
+in velvet over velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a
+discourse in beautiful Latin as a response to what
+had been said by the seigneur of Mayence. Then,
+showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected
+by the king, he began with an account of the king's
+reception by Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evidently
+the late duke], in his own residence, and he
+continued down to the present day, dilating upon
+the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis]
+received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extortions
+he had made since and desires to make. Never a
+word was forgotten, but all was well stated, especially
+the case of M. de Guienne.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII5"><sup>5</sup></a></span> Finally, Monseigneur
+declared that if his lands were in security, there was
+nothing he would like better than to give aid to
+Christianity.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"After this statement, which was marvellously
+honest, the emperor arose from the throne, wine
+and spices were brought, and then Monseigneur
+escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand
+display of torches. This is the outline of what happened
+on October 4th, in the said year lxxiii. And<span class="page"><a name="345"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 345]</span></a></span>
+as to the future, next Thursday the emperor will dine
+where Monseigneur lodges, <i>et là fera les grants du
+roy</i>,<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII6"><sup>6</sup></a></span> and there will be novelties. In regard to the
+fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very
+fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human,
+and benign. I do not know with whom to compare
+his figure better than Monseigneur de Croy, as
+he was eight or ten years ago, except that his flesh
+is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor
+has seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the
+major part of the nobles present come from this locality.
+In regard to Monseigneur's departure, there is no
+news, and they make great cheer&mdash;this is all for this
+time."</p>
+
+<p>
+The German scholars in the imperial party
+listened most attentively to the style of the
+Netherlander's speech as well as to his subject-matter.
+"More abundant in vocabulary than
+elegant in Latinity," was their comment, a fault
+they considered marking all French Latin. The
+audience found time to note the style for the
+subject of the address did not interest them
+greatly. The least observant onlooker knew that
+the main purpose of this interview was not the
+plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic
+appointed a committee to discuss that, whose
+members, Burgundian and German in equal
+numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern
+question while emperor and duke were absorbed<span class="page"><a name="346">[page 346]</a></span>
+in other matters.<a href="#XVII7"><sup>7</sup></a> In their very first session,
+this committee decided that the chief obstacle
+to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgundian
+quarrel. This point was also raised by
+Charles in his first conference with Frederic.
+No campaign was feasible until the European
+powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI.
+was aiding and abetting the heathen by being a
+disturbing element which rendered this desired
+unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a fresh
+commission to discuss European peace. And
+this insolvable problem was a convenient blind
+for other discussions.</p>
+<p>
+On October 5th, a Burgundian fête gave new
+occasion for a display of wealth; "vulgar ostentation,"
+sneered the less opulent German nobles
+who tried to show that their pride was not
+wounded by the sharp contrasts between imperial
+habits and those of a mere duke. On their side,
+the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to
+waste good things on boors so little accustomed
+to elegantly equipped apartments that they used
+silken bedspreads to polish up their boots!</p>
+<p>
+A running commentary of international criticism,
+fine feasts, ostensible negotiations about
+projects that probably no one expected would
+come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent
+and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on
+one side, feebly accepted by the other while the
+two principals were together, and petulantly disliked<span class="page"><a name="347">[page 347]</a></span>
+by the emperor as soon as he was alone again
+&mdash;such was the course of the conference.</p>
+<p>
+Frederic III. had one simple desire&mdash;to marry
+his son to the Burgundian heiress. Charles
+desired many things, some of which are clear
+and others obscure. The very fact that the
+emperor did not at once refuse his demands,
+gave him confidence that all were obtainable.
+Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal
+chief by a display of his resources, and by showing
+the high esteem in which he was held by all nations.
+There at Trèves, embassies came to him from
+England, from various Italian and German states,
+and from Hungary.</p>
+<p>
+On October 15th, a treaty was signed that
+made the new Duke of Lorraine virtually a vassal
+to Charles, an important step towards Burgundian
+expansion. There was time and to spare for
+these many comings and goings during the eight
+weeks of the sojourn at Trèves, and the duke was
+not idle. That his own business hung fire, he
+thought was due to the machinations of Louis XI.
+He had no desire to prolong his visit, for he was
+well aware of the risk involved in keeping his
+troops in Trèves.<a href="#XVII8"><sup>8</sup></a> At first the magnificence of
+his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but
+little by little, in spite of the duke's strict discipline,
+the presence of idle soldiers became very
+onerous. Charles did not hesitate to hang on the
+nearest tree a man caught in an illicit act, but<span class="page"><a name="348">[page 348]</a></span>
+much lawlessness passed without his knowledge.
+Provisions became very dear; there was some
+danger of an epidemic due to the unsanitary
+conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so
+many strangers. The precautions instituted by
+the Roman founders in regard to their water
+supply had long since fallen into disuse.</p>
+<p>
+Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite
+answer from the emperor as to the proposed kingdom,
+the matrimonial alliance, and his own status.
+Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then
+substituted vague promises for present assent
+to the demands. But when Charles, indignant,
+broke off negotiations on October 31st, and
+began to prepare for immediate departure, Frederic
+became anxious, renewed his overtures, and
+a new conference took place, in which he consented
+to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the proviso
+the sanction of his election should be obtained.</p>
+<p>
+Charles promised to go against the Turk in
+person, and to place a thousand men at Frederic's
+disposal, so soon as all points at issue between
+him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that
+his estates were erected into a kingdom, which
+should also comprise the bishoprics of Liege,
+Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the duchies of Lorraine,
+Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be
+a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and
+Poland, and transmissible by heredity in the male
+and female line&mdash;a necessary recognition of a
+woman's right, approved by both parties, for<span class="page"><a name="349">[page 349]</a></span>
+Mary of Burgundy was to marry Maximilian.</p>
+<p>
+Electoral confirmation alone was wanting,
+and in regard to that there was much voluminous
+correspondence and much shuffling of responsibility.
+The electors of Mayence and of
+Trèves were the only ones present to speak for
+themselves, and they declared that the matter
+ought to be referred to a full conclave of the
+electoral college.<a href="#XVII9"><sup>9</sup></a> Let the candidate for royalty
+await the decision of the next diet, appointed for
+November at Augsburg.</p>
+<p>
+Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed
+this solution to Charles, who replied haughtily
+that if his request were not complied with he
+would join Louis XI. in a league hostile to the
+empire. This was on November 6th. The Archbishop
+of Trèves then suggested that if the question
+could not wait for a diet, at least the electors
+should be summoned, especially the elector of
+Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential
+with the emperor, and who was a leader in the
+anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German
+party. This seemed fair, but the emperor suddenly
+put on a show of authority and declared, with
+an injured air, that he was perfectly free to act
+on his own initiative without confirmation. In
+the interests of Christianity and of the empire he
+would appoint Charles of Burgundy chief of the<span class="page"><a name="350">[page 350]</a></span>
+crusade, and he would crown him king.</p>
+<p>
+The organised opposition to his plan came to the
+duke's ears and made him very angry. Yet, at
+the same time, he had no desire to dispense with
+electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the
+imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure
+his kingdom into permanent existence. It was
+finally decided that Frederic III. should display
+his power to the extent of investing Charles at
+once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more
+important investiture should be postponed.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="max">[plate 24]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image24max.jpg" width="400" height="717" alt="MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the
+market-place. Frederic was exalted upon a
+high platform ascended by a flight of steps.
+Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded
+and unattended, rode slowly around the platform
+three times, "which they say was the custom in
+such solemnities of investiture," adds an eyewitness,<a href="#XVII10"><sup>10</sup></a>
+as though he considered the ceremony
+somewhat archaic. Then the candidate dismounted,
+received the mantle of the empire from
+an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the
+emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying
+the insignia of the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered
+on the Burgundian arms, was carried before him.
+Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid
+two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the<span class="page"><a name="351">[page 351]</a></span>
+oath of fealty and service in low but distinct tones.
+Other rites followed, and then Charles was proclaimed
+Duke of Guelders.</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus one object of the conference was attained,
+and all the world thought it was only a question
+of time when the greater investiture would be
+celebrated. Charles's star was in the ascendant.
+There seemed no limit to the power he had acquired
+over his suzerain, who apparently graciously
+nodded assent to his requests, while the
+duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with the
+King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory
+in all doubtful issues. At the same time, his
+confidence in Frederic was by no means perfect.</p>
+<p>
+"The emperor is acting with perfect imperial
+authority and thinks that no one has a right to
+dispute it, nevertheless the duke yearns for the
+sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining
+it."<a href="#XVII11"><sup>11</sup></a> The tone taken by Charles was that of humble
+ignorance. "Little instructed as I am in imperial
+German law, I am anxious to have your
+opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to
+erect a kingdom." On November 8th, in the
+evening, the electors present in Trèves declared
+that they were not exactly sure about the imperial
+authority, but they were sure that it was
+not their duty to discuss the legal attributes of
+imperial puissance.</p>
+<p>
+Under these circumstances what remained to<span class="page"><a name="352">[page 352]</a></span>
+hinder the attainment of Charles's desire? The
+emperor consented, and the only people who
+could have stayed his consent expressly stated
+that his was the final word, not theirs. It was easy
+for onlookers to conclude not only that the coronation
+was certain but that it was done.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Know that our lord the emperor has made the
+Duke of Burgundy a king of the lands hereafter mentioned
+and has assured the royal title to him and his
+heirs, male and female; all the territories that he holds
+from the empire together with Guelderland lately
+conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to
+the empire in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy
+that formerly was held from the crown of France;
+also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen, and others
+belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories, also
+imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he
+receives from a Roman emperor."</p>
+
+<p>
+So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November
+13th, trusting to the word of an envoy who had
+left matters in so advanced a state when he departed
+from Trèves that he felt safe in concluding
+that achievement had been reached.<a href="#XVII12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too,
+were filled with rumours from Trèves. Most
+extraordinary is one of November 29th, intended
+to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, containing
+<i>exact details of the coronation of Charles
+as it had taken place five days previously</i>. The<span class="page"><a name="353">[page 353]</a></span>
+boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.<a href="#XVII13"><sup>13</sup></a>
+Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had instantly
+shown exceptional honour to the Burgundian
+resident. How exact it all sounded! Yet
+there was no truth in it.</p>
+<p>
+The vacillating emperor was affected by the
+attitude of his suite, and by their varying representations.
+There is no actual proof of French
+interference, but French agents had been seen
+in the city, and might have had private audiences
+with the emperor. Gradually, relations changed
+between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud,
+not dissipated by a three days' fête given by the
+duke (November 19th-22d), evidently in farewell.
+Was Charles too exigeant with his demands, too
+chary of his daughter? Probably.</p>
+<p>
+On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty
+a simple convention was signed, postponing the
+coronation until February. Emperor and regal
+candidate were to meet again at Besançon,
+Cologne, or Basel. In the interval, Charles was
+to come to a satisfactory understanding with the
+electors and obtain their official endorsement for
+the imperial grant.</p>
+<p>
+November 25th was appointed, <i>not</i> for the
+regal investiture, but for Frederic's departure.
+On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to
+his councillors and princes. The electors present
+were urged by the Burgundians to give their own
+conditional approval at least, and to consent to a<span class="page"><a name="354">[page 354]</a></span>
+reduction of the military obligations to be incurred
+by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where
+nobody wished to pledge anything definitely.
+There was an evident disposition to await some
+further issue before final action.</p>
+<p>
+The leave-taking between the bargain makers
+was expected to be as pompous as had been the
+entry into Trèves. It was far into the night of
+November 24th when the audience broke up.
+Little rest was there for the imperial suite, for when
+the tardy November sun arose above the eastern
+horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the
+Moselle. Not only had no imperial adieux been
+uttered, but no imperial debts had been settled.
+This was the news that was awaiting Charles when
+he awoke. Baffled he was, but not in his hope
+of being a king that day. No, only in his expectation
+of a stately pageant.<a href="#XVII14"><sup>14</sup></a> In all haste he
+sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly
+along the bank than the boat could sail, so as to
+overtake the traveller and urge him to wait for
+a few more words on divers topics. In one account
+it is reported that Frederic, though annoyed
+at the interruption, still assented to Hagenbach's
+request. No sooner was the latter away, however,
+than he changed his mind and continued his
+course.</p>
+<p>
+Rumour was busy, in regard to this strange<span class="page"><a name="355">[page 355]</a></span>
+exit of the emperor from the scene. The general
+belief among contemporaries was that it was on
+the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic
+turned his back on the scene. Take first the
+words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that he
+was in the very midst of the events can hardly
+be doubted:<a href="#XVII15"><sup>15</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"But alas how easily and instantly human desires
+change, and how fragile are the alliances and friendships
+of men, especially of princes, which are not joined
+and confirmed by the glue of Christ ... as the
+sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes
+nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.'
+Suddenly, forsooth, when they were thought to be
+harmonious in charity, benevolence, and friendship,
+when they offered each other such splendid entertainment,
+when they feasted together in regal luxury
+in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has
+been said, needed for the magnificence of such a great
+honour were made ready and prepared, so that on
+the third day should occur the celebration of that
+regal dignity <i>[fastigii],</i> and the <i>[provectio]</i> promotion
+of a new king and the erection of a new kingdom
+or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one,
+now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with
+great attention;&mdash;something occurred. I do not know
+what; hesitation or suspicion, fancied or justified, unexpectedly
+affected the emperor ... and embarking on
+his ship in the very early morning he sailed down the
+river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated
+the hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who<span class="page"><a name="356"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 356]</span></a></span>
+believed that he was to be elevated to a king. In a
+moment this hope was extinguished like a candle.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"We were present there in the city of Trèves, attached
+to the suite of neither prince, not serving
+or pretending to serve either of them. But we ascertained
+nothing either then or later, although we made
+many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure
+and we are still ignorant of the truth. When
+the day broke after the emperor's departure, and the
+duke was informed of the fact, he was also assured
+that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was opposite
+the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs.
+So he sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to
+stay for a very brief interview with the duke, assuring
+him that the very least delay possible should occur if
+he did the favour. But no attention was paid to the
+signals from the shore and the course was continued."</p>
+
+<p>
+The bishop wrote these words some time after
+the event. There are other accounts preserved,
+actual letters written within a few days or weeks
+of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar
+ignorance of what had actually passed. The
+following gives several suggestions of difficulties
+not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar
+Cesner, secretary, writes to Master Johannes
+Gelthauss and others in Frankfort, from Cologne,
+on December 6th.<a href="#XVII16"><sup>16</sup></a> He was attached to the imperial
+service, and possibly was one of the few<span class="page"><a name="357">[page 357]</a></span>
+attendants on Frederic in the hasty journey from
+Trèves. After touching on Cologne affairs he
+proceeds:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of
+Burgundy came with all pomp for his coronation as
+king of the kingdom of Burgundy and Friesland with
+twenty-six standards besides a magnificent sceptre
+and crown. He also wished to take his duchy and
+territories in Savoy<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII17"><sup>17</sup></a></span> and Guelders and others in fief
+from him [the emperor] and not from the empire.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII18"><sup>18</sup></a></span>
+This and other extraordinary demands his imperial
+grace did not wish to grant, and on that account he has
+broken off the interview and gone away. Everything
+was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the
+taking.<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XVII19"><sup>19</sup></a></span> It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix.
+It may be hoped not [<i>non speratur</i>]. You can
+understand me as well as your faithful servant.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh
+at me. I can please my gracious lord and be worthy
+of praise if you will only trust me.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss,
+Distinguished advocate, master, preceptor of the city
+of Frankfort."</p>
+
+<p>
+The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the<span class="page"><a name="358"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 358]</span></a></span>
+second, Holland, Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg,
+Namur, Hainaut, and the dioceses of Liege,
+Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy, Luxemburg,
+Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."</p>
+
+<p>
+The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed
+in secret conference.<a href="#XVII20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Again the rumour that the final straw that
+broke the emperor's resolution was the duke's
+desire to take Savoy and Guelders from his hand
+alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this
+wish might indicate an attempt to separate a
+portion of territory from the empire in a way
+to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that
+his kingdom was an imperial fief, while, in
+reality, it was an independent realm, as he or his
+successors could declare at a convenient moment.
+But this seems at variance with his attested
+desire for electoral support.</p>
+<p>
+It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled.
+Yet, considering the emperor's personal<span class="page"><a name="359">[page 359]</a></span>
+characteristics, his last action does not seem
+inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity
+of his will, Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic,
+obstinate, yet conscious of his own weakness,
+personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate
+and much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant.
+The collision made him writhe uneasily
+and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as
+quietly as he could.</p>
+<p>
+The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent,
+and the magnificence again was significant
+of Burgundian wealth. Whether the duke
+would surely keep his pledge of sharing that
+wealth with the archduke if the emperor went so
+far that he could not draw back, was a consideration
+that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic.
+Had Mary of Burgundy accompanied her father,
+had the wedding of the daughter and investiture
+of the new king been planned for the same day,
+had the promises been exchanged simultaneously,
+the leave-taking might have passed, indeed, as a
+third ceremonial in all stateliness.</p>
+<p>
+If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain,
+it is not surprising. It was notorious how the
+duke had played fast and loose with his daughter's
+hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor
+as the greater advantages of another alliance
+were presented to him, or as the mere disadvantage
+of any marriage at all became unpleasantly
+near. Vigorous man of forty that he was,
+Charles had no personal desire to see a son-in-law,<span class="page"><a name="360">[page 360]</a></span>
+<i>in propria persona</i>, waiting for his shoes&mdash;a fact
+perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the
+rest of the world.</p>
+<p>
+The task of making the imperial adieux was
+entrusted to the imperial chamberlain, Ulrich
+von Montfort, who duly presented his master's
+formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of
+November 25th. "Important and urgent affairs
+had necessitated his presence elsewhere. The
+arrangement discussed between them was not
+broken but simply postponed until a more convenient
+occasion rendered its execution possible,"
+etc.</p>
+<p>
+The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles
+was in a towering rage on receiving this communication.
+He clinched his fists, ground his teeth,
+and kicked the furniture about the room in which
+he had locked himself up.<a href="#XVII21"><sup>21</sup></a> But by the time
+these words were penned, these authors were
+better informed than Charles about the ultimate
+result of the emperor's intentions. The duke
+may have been angry, but he certainly controlled
+himself sufficiently to give several audiences in
+the course of the day&mdash;to envoys from Lorraine
+among others&mdash;and was ready to take his own
+departure by evening, not doubting that the
+crown and sceptre, carefully packed with the
+mountain of his valuable treasure, would assuredly
+fulfil their destiny in the near future. Trèves was
+left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last<span class="page"><a name="361">[page 361]</a></span>
+man to realise that in its silence were entombed
+for ever his chances of wearing the prematurely
+prepared insignia.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#340">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XVII1">This</a> comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is
+quoted by De Bussière in his <i>Histoire de la Ligue contre
+Charles le Téméraire</i>, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that
+this contemporary had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#340">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XVII2">Guillaume</a> Faret or Farrel. His <i>Hist. de René II.</i> is lost.
+This citation from it is found in <i>La Guerre de René II. contre
+Charles le Hardi</i>, by P. Aubert Roland.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#342">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XVII3">He</a> had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the
+May meeting. From this time on some member of the
+Nassau family was prominent in Burgundian affairs.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#343">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XVII4">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inédits</i>, i., 232. Letter from Trèves, October
+4, 1473.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#344">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XVII5">About</a> this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to unravel
+the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the
+chancellor of Brittany, <i>Lettres de Louis XI</i>., v., 190.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#345">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XVII6">Gachard</a> could not explain this phrase. It might easily
+refer to the desired investiture.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#346">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XVII7">Chmel</a>, <i>Mon. Habs</i>., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#347">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XVII8">Toutey</a>, p. 53.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#349">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XVII9">Toutey</a> bases this statement on three letters (October 30,
+31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector
+of Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#350">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XVII10">Basin</a>, <i>Histoire des règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XI.</i>,
+ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had
+been new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many
+times between the chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#351">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XVII11">Albert</a> of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller,
+<i>Reichstag Theatrum</i>, p. 598.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#352">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XVII12">Toutey</a>, p. 57.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#353">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XVII13">Toutey</a>, p. 60, note.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#354">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XVII14">In</a> this account, differing from the current tradition,
+Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (<i>Deutsche
+Reichsgeschichte,</i> ii., 435).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#355">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XVII15">Basin</a>, ii., 325.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#356">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XVII16">Preserved</a> in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr.
+5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published
+by Karl Schellhass in <i>Deutsche Zeitschrift für
+Geschichtewissenschaft,</i>
+(1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture
+of German and Latin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#357">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="XVII17">Charles</a> asked on October 23d, through his chancellor, for
+investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#357">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="XVII18">Under</a> this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had
+lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#357">[Footnote 19:</a> <a name="XVII19">This</a> means the throne from which Charles was to step
+down to receive the fief.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#358">[Footnote 20:</a> "<a name="XVII20">Loquitur</a> etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiæ et Burgundiæ sibi
+constituendes quæ audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam
+negare imperator quam dissimulare.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones
+suas velle in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiæ et Frisiæ: in
+hoc Hollandia, Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum,
+Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses Leodiensis, Cameracensis
+et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum, Arthesia,
+Flandria, ecclesæque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis Verdunensis
+essent." (P. 1131.)</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that
+his statement is tradition but founded on what he might
+have heard from eye-witnesses.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#359">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XVII21">Chmel</a>, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]</p>
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="362">[page 362]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XVIII">XVIII</a></h2>
+
+<h3>COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE</h3>
+
+<h4>1473-1474</h4>
+<p>
+Late as it was in November, the weather was
+still very mild, and as the emperor and
+duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the
+former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter
+as he passed up the valley of the Moselle to that of
+the Ell, was hindered by autumn storms. The
+summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented
+heat and a prolonged drouth.<a href="#XVIII1"><sup>1</sup></a> Forest
+fires raged unchecked on account of the dearth of
+water and, for the same reason, the mills stood
+still. The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious,
+but the vintage was not profitable because the
+wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains in
+September prepared the ground for an untimely
+fertility. Trees blossomed and, though some fruits
+withered prematurely, cherries actually ripened.
+Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance
+as Charles rode to Lorraine.</p>
+<p>
+His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg,
+where he stayed about a fortnight and received
+ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice,<span class="page"><a name="363">[page 363]</a></span>
+England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate,
+and Cologne.<a href="#XVIII2"><sup>2</sup></a> The result of his conference
+with the last named was a declaration on the
+duke's part which seriously affected his later
+career. The condition of Cologne must be touched
+on as an essential part of this narrative.</p>
+<p>
+The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to
+pursue a line of policy in regard to the ecclesiastical
+elections in the diocese of Cologne that had
+succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463,
+he had tried to force the chapter to elect his candidate.
+They had refused to follow his leading,
+but their own choice, Robert, brother of the elector-palatine,
+did not prove a congenial chief, and
+the new prelate turned to Philip for aid when he
+found his chapter disposed to restrict both his
+revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in
+1467, as the audacity of his opponents increased,
+the archbishop appealed to his brother, the elector,
+and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter was busy
+in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to
+Cologne, exhorting both chapter and city to be
+obedient to their chosen spiritual and lay lord.
+This intervention was resented. The breach widened
+between Robert and his people, culminating<span class="page"><a name="364">[page 364]</a></span>
+in actual hostilities. The chapter took possession
+of the town of Neuss, accepted Hermann of Hesse
+as their protector, and sent an embassy to Rome
+to state their grievances. The elector aided his
+brother and the belligerent parties grew in strength.</p>
+<p>
+The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided
+which cause to espouse, and finally chose the
+chapter's side, signing a five years' alliance with
+that body, which had officially renounced allegiance
+to Robert, pending the judgment of pope
+and emperor on the dissension. Such was the
+state of affairs when Charles entered into possession
+of Guelders and manifested a disposition to
+interest himself in Cologne. He informed the
+chapter that he was greatly displeased with their
+contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral,"
+but the burghers showed so little inclination to
+heed his neighbourly advice that he tried harsher
+measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be
+molested in his domains.</p>
+<p>
+In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the
+hopes of imperial intervention.<a href="#XVIII3"><sup>3</sup></a> While Charles
+was still in Guelders, Robert paid him a visit, held
+long conferences with him, and probably received
+promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance
+when he returned from the interview.
+During the sojourn of duke and emperor at
+Trèves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone,
+arrived from Rome with plenary powers<span class="page"><a name="365">[page 365]</a></span>
+to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were
+endorsed by Charles in a letter from Trèves.</p>
+<p>
+For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to
+refrain from interference, then something influenced
+him in another direction. When he arrived
+at Cologne in November, he received a
+warm welcome and costly gifts, which he repaid
+by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good
+city,"&mdash;cheap and easy benefits,&mdash;but he did not
+prove an efficient arbitrator, simply postponing
+any decision from day to day, though he was
+begged to settle all difficulties before Charles
+should attempt to relieve him of the trouble.</p>
+<p>
+True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he
+no longer felt the need of conciliating the emperor,
+and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473, he
+issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert
+was entirely in the right, his opponents in the
+wrong.<a href="#XVIII4"><sup>4</sup></a> As these latter defied papal legate and
+arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of
+dispute, he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute
+himself defender of the insulted archbishop. At
+the same time, he despatched Ètienne de Lavin
+to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels.
+The declaration emboldened Robert to defy the
+emperor's summons to meet him and the papal
+legate. They both declared that they would take
+measures to bring him to obedience, but Frederic
+did not wish to tarry longer at Cologne. In
+January he took his departure, having directed<span class="page"><a name="366">[page 366]</a></span>
+Hermann of Hesse to protect that see against all
+aggression.</p>
+<p>
+Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto,
+there was no formal treaty between Charles
+and Robert, but there are two drafts for such a
+treaty in existence,<a href="#XVIII5"><sup>5</sup></a> wherein the former pledged
+himself to force chapter, nobles, and city to submission,
+in consideration of the sum of 200,000
+florins, while the archbishop gave permission to
+his ally to garrison all strongholds, including
+Cologne. Pending his autumn sojourn in the
+upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans
+regarding Cologne definitely in mind.</p>
+
+<h4><i>Lorraine</i></h4>
+<p>
+This duchy was even more interesting to Charles
+than Cologne, and there were many matters in its
+regard which demanded his urgent attention in
+1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and
+conveniently adjacent to Burgundian lands. A
+natural means of annexation had been considered
+by Charles in the proposed marriage between
+Nicholas, Duke of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy.
+When that project was abandoned to suit Charles's
+pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
+son-in-law until the latter's death in the
+spring of 1473. So unexpected was this event, that
+there was the usual suspicion of poisoning, and this<span class="page"><a name="367">[page 367]</a></span>
+crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
+XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly
+that monarch reaped no immediate advantage
+from the death, for the family to whom the succession
+passed was more friendly to Burgundy
+than to France.</p>
+<p>
+The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt
+Yolande of Anjou, daughter of old King René
+of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate Margaret, late
+Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of
+Vaudemont. The council of Lorraine lost no
+time in acknowledging Yolande as their duchess.
+She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her
+son René, aged twenty-two, where they were
+received hospitably, and then Yolande formally
+abdicated in favour of the young man, who was
+duly accepted as Duke of Lorraine.</p>
+<p>
+Now there was a large party of Burgundian
+sympathisers in Nancy, and it was probably owing
+to their pressure that very strong links were at
+once forged between Charles and the new sovereign
+of the duchy. The apprehension lest the former
+should protect the land as he had the heritage of
+his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was
+expressed by the timorous, but their counsels
+were overweighted, and, on October 15th, René
+accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable
+to Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"&mdash;an
+office that the emperor had already
+been asked to change into suzerainty,&mdash;René
+cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive,<span class="page"><a name="368">[page 368]</a></span>
+with Charles, giving the latter full permission to
+march his forces across Lorraine. Further, he
+pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
+places on the route "men bound by oath
+to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes, more, these
+were discharged from fidelity to Renè in case he
+abandoned Burgundian interests.</p>
+<p>
+Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles
+by adding her signature to that of her son.
+Charles feared, however, that the provisions might
+not be adhered to by the Lorrainers&mdash;so humiliating
+were the terms&mdash;and exacted in addition the
+signatures of the chief nobles. On November
+18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested
+their approval of an act that practically delivered
+their land to a stranger,&mdash;evidence that they
+doubted the ability of their hereditary chief, and
+preferred Burgundy to France.</p>
+<p>
+There is a story that Charles tried other methods
+than diplomacy, before he got the better of the
+young duke in this bargain, that he actually had
+him stolen away from the castle of Joinville
+where he was staying with his mother.<a href="#XVIII6"><sup>6</sup></a> Louis
+promptly came forward and arrested a nephew of
+the emperor, a student in the University of Paris,
+and kept him as a hostage until the release of
+René. Rumour, too, asserts that there was a
+treaty of Joinville, wherein René asserted his<span class="page"><a name="369">[page 369]</a></span>
+friendship with Louis, which was intermitted by
+his relations with Charles, to be resumed later.
+That also seems to be improbable. The formal
+alliance with Louis did not come then, though
+the king took immediate care to build up a party
+in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself informed
+of the progress of the new regime.</p>
+<p>
+From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to
+Nancy, where he was welcomed by his protégé,
+outside the city walls, and the two rode in together
+as the duke and the emperor had entered
+Trèves. Charles had been so long keeping up a
+show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that,
+undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first
+personage.<a href="#XVIII7"><sup>7</sup></a> He refused, however, to accept the
+young man's hospitality, and spent the two
+days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie,
+where he felt more at ease in his conferences
+with Lorrainers willing to proceed further
+to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.</p>
+<p>
+The ally certainly became more exigeant. In
+various towns on the Moselle, Épinal, Charmes,
+Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were replaced
+by Burgundians. This immediate and
+arrogant use of the rights he had wrested from
+the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had
+been warm for Burgundy. René himself admired
+Charles as Maximilian had done. The strong
+man exercised a fascination over both youths,
+but the duke did not turn this admiration into real<span class="page"><a name="370">[page 370]</a></span>
+friendship, underestimating the character of his
+protégé. His measures, too, were taken without
+the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison
+after garrison was installed and commanded
+to obey his officers alone, while the soldiers were
+allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent to
+raids on a friendly country. As always, the
+agglomeration of mercenary companies was
+difficult to control. The duke did not succeed in
+having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in
+due restraint. Complaints began to pour into
+his headquarters. Public sentiment shifted day
+by day. The Burgundian became the personification
+of a public foe. Before Charles proceeded on
+his way to Alsace, René had begun to lose his
+admiration and it was not long before he impatiently
+awaited an opportunity to break with
+his too doughty protector.</p>
+
+<h4><i>Alsace</i></h4>
+<p>
+During the four years that Charles had delayed
+in coming to look at the result of the bargain
+of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant, Peter
+von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason
+to regret the easy-going absentee Austrian
+seigneurs. Much had been done, undoubtedly, in
+restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons.
+The roads were well policed, and safety was
+assured to travellers. "I spy," was the motto
+blazoned on the livery of the forces led by Hagenbach<span class="page"><a name="371">[page 371]</a></span>
+up and down the land, until he had unearthed
+lurking vagabonds. It was acknowledged that
+gold and silver could be carried openly from place
+to place, and that night journeys were as safe as
+day. Still, this advantageous change had not
+won popularity for the man who wrought it.
+Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to
+make their own little bargains with highwaymen
+or petty nobles,<a href="#XVIII8"><sup>8</sup></a> a law unto themselves, than to
+meet the rigorous requisitions of the Burgundian
+tax collector.</p>
+<p>
+It was the country that had profited most by
+the new administration. The small towns had
+long enjoyed great independence, and had shown
+ability in managing their own affairs. They
+wanted no interference. Not liked by those
+whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was
+absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron
+hand, without acknowledging that its pressure
+had more good than evil in it.</p>
+<p>
+Then there were the neighbours to be considered.
+The Swiss had hated Sigismund and all Austrians,
+and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy as a
+power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took
+no pains to win their friendship. His insolent
+fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or
+"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked
+if not condoned by him, aroused bitter dislike
+to him in the confederated cantons,<a href="#XVIII9"><sup>9</sup></a> and in their<span class="page"><a name="372">[page 372]</a></span>
+allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there
+was a growing sentiment in Helvetia that they
+would be happier if Austria had her own again,
+while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone
+had greatly increased.</p>
+<p>
+Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the
+opposition to his measures took a definite form
+long before the duke's arrival there. The various
+commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the
+quality of his bargain had all agreed in an urgent
+recommendation to the duke to redeem, at the
+earliest possible moment, all the troublesome
+mortgages honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach,
+too, was fully convinced of the necessity
+for this measure, but he was not provided with
+sufficient money to accomplish it.</p>
+<p>
+In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to
+lay a new tax on wine. This impost, called the
+"Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for two reasons.
+The burden was oppressive to the vintners and
+it was an illegal measure, as no sanction had been
+given by the local estates. Three towns, Thann,
+Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were
+determined to refuse payment.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg,
+a stronghold dominating Thann, bombarded the
+town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were
+condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous<span class="page"><a name="373">[page 373]</a></span>
+rebellion against the just orders of their lawful
+governor. Some of these, indeed, were pardoned,
+though their estates were confiscated, but five
+or six were publicly executed, and their bodies
+hung exposed to view on the market-place, as a
+hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting
+Burgundian orders.</p>
+<p>
+One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim
+submissive, but Brisac proved more obstinate.
+The magistrates there did not resort to force.
+They declared there was no need, for they were
+fully protected by the article in the treaty of St.
+Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition of any
+tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined
+refusal made the lieutenant consent to refer
+the question to the Duke of Burgundy, and
+messengers were despatched to Trèves to represent
+the respective grievances of governor and
+governed. The collection of the tax was postponed
+until Charles could examine the situation.</p>
+<p>
+A determined effort to bring the independent
+town of Mulhouse under Burgundian sway was
+another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white
+heat that forged organised resistance to any
+extension of Burgundian authority. For three
+years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince
+the burghers of that imperial city that they would
+be wise to accept the duke's protection and have
+their debts paid. The latter were, indeed, oppressive,
+but there was fear lest "protection"
+might be more so, and conference after conference<span class="page"><a name="374">[page 374]</a></span>
+failed to produce the acquiescence desired by
+Hagenbach.</p>
+<p>
+In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared
+that if the burghers persisted in their refusal
+he would resort to force. Their reply was that
+Mulhouse could not take such an important
+step without consulting her friends, the Swiss.
+"Are the cantons going to help you pay your
+debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach.
+"Mulhouse is a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant
+that must be extirpated. Its submission would
+make a charming pleasure ground out of the
+Sundgau, Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew
+no city which he would prefer to Mulhouse for
+a sojourn," were his further statements.<a href="#XVIII10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Two days were given to the town council for an
+answer. Hagenbach remarked that it was useless
+to think that time could be gained until the
+mortgaged territories should return to Austria.
+"Far from planning redemption, Duke Sigismund
+is now preparing to cede to <i>Charles le téméraire</i> as
+much again of his domain and vassals." Still
+Mulhouse was not convinced that the only course
+open to her was to let Charles pay her debts and
+receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming
+in the two days, but ready scribes had prepared
+many copies of Hagenbach's letter, which were
+sent to all who might be interested in checking<span class="page"><a name="375">[page 375]</a></span>
+these proposals of Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne
+and there the matter was weighed. Hagenbach's
+letter was shown to those who had not
+seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from
+her dilemma were carefully considered. Years
+ago a union had existed between the forest cantons
+and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions
+to renew this alliance so as to present a strong front
+to their Burgundian neighbour. The cantons
+had enough to do with their own affairs, but the
+result of the discussion was that, on March 14th,
+a ten-year Alsatian confederation was formed in
+imitation of the Swiss.</p>
+<p>
+The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse,
+Schlestadt, and two dioceses, and it is referred
+to as the <i>Basse-Union</i> or the Lower Union,
+the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights
+of the contracting parties, to meet for discussion
+on various questions, and, specifically, to help
+Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later,
+March 19th, there was a fresh proposition to
+make an alliance between this <i>Basse-Union</i> and
+the Swiss confederation. This required a <i>referendum</i>.
+Each Swiss delegate received a copy
+of the articles to take back to his constituents for
+their consideration. No bond between the confederation
+and the union was, however, in existence
+at the time when Charles was approaching
+Alsace. Various conciliatory measures on his
+part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition<span class="page"><a name="376">[page 376]</a></span>
+to him, but, nevertheless, there were frequent
+conferences about affairs. Diets were almost
+continuous and there were strenuous efforts to
+raise money to free Mulhouse from her hampering
+financial embarrassments.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach had not followed up his threats
+of immediate war measures, but it was known
+that he had obtained imperial authorisation to
+assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step
+which her allies hoped to forestall by settling her
+debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six hundred
+florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred,
+Basel four hundred, while Colmar, Schlestadt,
+Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to raise
+another four hundred. A diet was called at
+Basel for December 11th, and Zürich and Lucerne
+were expected to enter into the union. The tidings
+of the duke's approach were undoubtedly
+a stimulus to these renewed efforts to make the
+league strong enough to withstand him. The
+sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May
+God protect us from his mighty hand," voiced
+probably a wide-spread dread.</p>
+<p>
+When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was
+large enough to inspire fear, but there was no
+opposition to his advance, though consultations,
+now at one city, now at another, were frequent.
+The duke paid little heed to their deliberations,
+under-estimating their importance, while he was
+gracious to any words of welcome offered to him.
+Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at<span class="page"><a name="377">[page 377]</a></span>
+Châtenois, and so did Colmar. The latter town
+expressed her willingness to receive him and an
+escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her
+refusal to admit a larger force within her walls.
+By this precaution, Charles was baffled in his plot
+to gain possession of the town, and so passed on
+his way.</p>
+<p>
+On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal
+entry into Brisac, where a temporary court was
+established, and where audience was given to
+various embassies with the customary Burgundian
+pomp. Meanwhile the troops, forced to camp
+without the walls, were a burden to the land,
+and seem to have been more odious than usual
+to their unwilling hosts.</p>
+<p>
+The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their
+knees and had their hopes raised high by their
+suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they failed to
+obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty
+of St. Omer should be observed in all respects.
+Among the envoys were many who undertook to
+remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition
+of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and
+the over-severity of Hagenbach's administration.
+The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged, notably by
+Berne. The representations of these last envoys
+were received most courteously. The duke rather
+thought that the city could be detached from the
+league, and therefore gave himself some trouble
+to establish friendly relations.</p>
+<p>
+To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory.<span class="page"><a name="378">[page 378]</a></span>
+He wrote a pleasant letter to the town and despatched
+a councillor thither, who would, he
+assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction.
+But an abortive <i>coup d'état</i> on the part of the
+Burgundians, which would have given them possession
+of Basel, destroyed the effect of these
+reassuring phrases. The burghers were warned in
+time, looked to their defences, and banished from
+their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian
+sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully
+scrutinised before he was admitted within the
+walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The
+propriety of these precautions was soon proven.</p>
+<p>
+Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the
+official capital of the landgraviate. Thither
+marched his troops from every quarter. Those
+from Säckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found
+their shortest route over the bridge at Basel, and
+there they appeared and begged to be allowed
+to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the
+least foothold on the city's territory was sternly
+refused then and a week later, when the request
+was renewed. The method of introducing friendly
+troops into a town and then seizing it by a sudden
+<i>coup de main</i> was what Charles had been suspected
+of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and
+there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of
+this rather stupid stratagem was planned, only to
+fail again, and this time to be peculiarly disastrous
+in its reflex action.</p>
+<p>
+The review took place and the strength of the<span class="page"><a name="379">[page 379]</a></span>
+Burgundian mercenaries was duly displayed to
+the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances were
+given to Brisac and the other towns that their
+suzerain would restrict his measures of taxation
+and administration to the stipulations of the
+contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when
+Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all
+that he had <i>not</i> restricted the powers of his lieutenant
+in any respect, but rather had endorsed his
+general method of procedure.</p>
+<p>
+One night was spent at Thann<a href="#XVIII11"><sup>11</sup></a> and then the
+duke took his leave of the annexed region whose
+people had hoped so much from his visit to them.<span class="page"><a name="380">[page 380]</a></span>
+In mid-January he arrived at Besançon, his winter
+journeying being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly
+mild weather.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the
+levying of the impost now approved by the duke,
+who had at the same time expressly ordered that
+the people were to be treated mildly, and that
+summary punishment was to check all excesses
+on the part of the eight hundred Picards employed
+by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector.
+The governor, however, saw no further need for
+gentle treatment or for respect to privileges. In
+Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set
+aside, and officers appointed by the governor.
+The corporation was curtailed of power, and the
+burghers were forced to prepare to march against
+Mulhouse.</p>
+<p>
+Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction,
+Hagenbach proceeded to give himself
+some relaxation. His own marriage took place
+on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion
+with great fêtes. It is of this period in Hagenbach's
+life that the stories of gross excess are told.<a href="#XVIII12"><sup>12</sup></a>
+It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint
+towards the city, his personal passions,
+too, were permitted to run riot, and he spared
+no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.</p>
+<p>
+As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad
+Penny" on the little independent landowners, he<span class="page"><a name="381">[page 381]</a></span>
+tried to extend it to the territory of the Bishop
+of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which
+was reported to the duke, who promptly ordered
+his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he had taken
+and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not
+ready to meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer
+an issue, but he was wholly ignorant of the real
+strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then
+proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and
+waited for further action.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#362">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XVIII1">De</a> Roye, p. 105.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#363">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XVIII2">He</a> also issued administrative orders. It was at this time
+that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of
+accounts at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland
+provinces. This measure was bitterly resented by the
+local authorities. (Fredericq. <i>Le rôle politique et social des
+ducs de Bourgogne</i>, p. 183.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#364">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XVIII3">Letters</a> are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey,
+p. 64.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#365">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XVIII4">Toutey</a>, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#366">[Footnote 5:</a> <i><a name="XVIII5">See</a></i> Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet,
+<i>Urkunden</i>, iv., 468, 470.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#368">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XVIII6">Jean</a> de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
+Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (<i>See</i> Toutey, p. 76; Kirk,
+ii., 271.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#369">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XVIII7">Toutey's</a> suggestion.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#371">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XVIII8">All</a> sons inherited their father's title, so that there were
+many landless lords.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#372">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XVIII9">At</a> this period there were eight in the confederation, which
+was a loose structure in which each member preserved her
+individuality.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#374">[Footnote 10:</a> <i><a name="XVIII10">See</a></i> Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the <i>Cartulaire de Mulhouse</i>,
+iv., <i>et passim</i>. This last furnishes the details for these
+passages.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#379">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XVIII11">In</a> this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There
+are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers.
+The duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211)
+does not agree with that of Knebel and others. But the
+facts of the narrative are little affected by the variations.
+The following is the itinerary accepted by Toutey:</p>
+<table width="80%" align="center" summary=" The Duke's Itinerary">
+<tr>
+       <td class="note" width="60%">
+Dep. from Ensisheim <br />
+Stay at Thann <br />
+Dep. from Belfort <br />
+Besançon<br />
+Auxonne, slept<br />
+Dijon, a<br />
+Dijon, d<br />
+Auxonne, slept <br />
+Dôle<br />
+(Invested with the Franche Comté of Burgundy.)<br />
+Besançon<br />
+Vesoul and Luxeuil<br />
+Lorraine<br />
+Luxemburg<br />
+Easter fêtes<br />
+Fête of the Order of the Garter<br />
+Brussels <br />
+</td>
+       <td class="note">
+Jan.  8<br />
+"    9-10<br />
+"   11<br />
+"   17<br />
+ "   18<br />
+ "   23<br />
+ Feb.  19, 1474<br />
+ "   20<br />
+  "  21-March 8<br />
+ <br />
+  March 12 or 15 <br />
+March   23-28<br />
+ "     28<br />
+ Apr.  4-June 9<br />
+  "   10<br />
+   "   23<br />
+  June 27] <br />
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#380">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XVIII12">Kirk</a> considers that they are well founded and too indecent
+to repeat.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="382">[page 382]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XIX">XIX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE FIRST REVERSES</h3>
+
+<h4>1474-1475</h4>
+<p>
+"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious
+in his apparel, travelling in the
+greatness of his strength?" These words in
+Latin, on scrolls fluttering from the hands of
+living angels, met the eyes of Charles of Burgundy
+at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the
+confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle
+flattery of the implied comparison between him
+and the subject of the words of the prophet.<a href="#XIX1"><sup>1</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The traveller had slept at Périgny, about a
+league from the capital of Burgundy, so as to
+make the last stage of his journey thither in leisurely
+state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday,
+January 22d, the appointed day, made postponement
+of the ducal parade necessary, out of consideration
+for the precious hangings and costly
+ecclesiastical robes that were to grace the ceremonies
+of reception and investiture. Fortunately,
+Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds
+rode through the city streets at an early hour,<span class="page"><a name="383">[page 383]</a></span>
+proclaiming the duke's gracious intention to
+make his entry on that day. Immediately, tapestries
+were spread and every one was alert with the
+last preparations.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="church">[plate 25]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image25church.jpg" width="400" height="284" alt="A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like
+that cited, which were planted along the ducal
+way and on a succession of stagings erected for
+various exhibits. On the great city square, the
+platform was capacious and many actors played
+out divers roles. Here stood the scroll-bearing
+angels on either side of a living representation of
+Christ. In the background clustered three separate
+groups of people representing, respectively,
+the three Estates. Above their heads more inscriptions
+were to be read.<a href="#XIX2"><sup>2</sup></a> "All the nations
+desire to see the face of Solomon," "Behold him
+desired by all races," "Master, look on us, thy
+people," were among the legends.</p>
+<p>
+The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay
+and ecclesiastical, from other parts of the duke's
+domains participated, proceeded past all these
+soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy
+resembled Solomon in more ways than one, to
+the church of St. Benigne. Here pledges of mutual
+fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians<span class="page"><a name="384">[page 384]</a></span>
+and their ruler. The Abbé of Citeaux
+placed the ducal ring solemnly upon Charles's
+finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all
+the prerogatives of his predecessors.</p>
+<p>
+From the church, the train wound its way to
+the Ste. Chapelle, past more stages decorated
+with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as "A
+lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth
+not away for any," "The lion hath roared, who
+will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold as a
+lion," etc.</p>
+<p>
+Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of
+investiture were performed, and followed by a
+banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal robes,
+and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with
+gold, pearls, and precious stones. After a repast,
+prelates, nobles, and civic deputies were convened
+in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where first
+they listened to a speech from the chancellor.
+When he had finished, the duke himself delivered
+an harangue wherein he expatiated on the splendours
+of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy.
+Wrongfully usurped by the French kings, it had
+been belittled into a duchy, a measure much to
+be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the
+speaker broke off abruptly with an ambiguous
+intimation "that he had in reserve certain things
+that none might know but himself."<a href="#XIX3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+What was the significance of these veiled allusions?<span class="page"><a name="385">[page 385]</a></span>
+It could not have been the simple scheme
+to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly
+known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an
+ostrich-like quality of mind which made him oblivious
+to the world's vision but even he could
+hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours
+regarding the interview of Trèves, rumours flying
+north, east, south, and west. Might not this suggestion
+of secrets yet untold have had reference
+to the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and
+himself to divide France between them?</p>
+<p>
+When his own induction into his heritage was
+accomplished, Charles was ready to pay the last
+earthly tribute to his parents. A cortège had
+been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the
+bodies of Philip and Isabella to their final resting-place
+in the tomb at Dijon, to which they were at
+last consigned.<a href="#XIX4"><sup>4</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city
+of his birth, and then went to Dôle where he was
+invested with the sovereignty of the Franche-Comté
+and confirmed the privileges. Thus after
+seven years of possession <i>de facto</i>, he first actually
+completed the formalities needful for the legal
+acquisition of his paternal heritage. The expansion
+of that heritage had been steady for over
+half a century. Every inch of territory that had
+come under the shadow of the family's administration<span class="page"><a name="386">[page 386]</a></span>
+had remained there, quickly losing its
+ephemeral character, so that temporary holdings
+were regarded in the same light as the estates actually
+inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke,
+count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction
+in the natures of his tenures. But just as the last
+link was legally riveted in his own chain of lands, he
+was to learn that there were other points of view.</p>
+<p>
+The statement is made and repeated, that the
+report of the duke's after-dinner speech at Dijon
+was a fresh factor in alarming the people in Alsace
+and Switzerland about his intentions, and making
+them hasten to shake off every tie that connected
+them with Charles and his ambitious projects of
+territorial expansion.<a href="#XIX5"><sup>5</sup></a> As a matter of fact, there
+had been for months constant agitation in the
+councils of the Swiss Confederation and the Lower
+Union as to the next action.</p>
+<p>
+Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent,
+antipathy to Austria was so deeply rooted
+that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the
+Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably
+the arguments that came from France were
+what carried conviction. It was a time when
+Louis spared no expense to attain the end he
+desired, while he posed as a benevolent neutral.<a href="#XIX6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+His servants worked underground. Their open
+work was very cautious. It was French envoys,<span class="page"><a name="387">[page 387]</a></span>
+however, who announced to the Swiss Diet, convened
+at Lucerne, that Sigismund was quite ready
+to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance
+and the redemption of his mortgaged lands.</p>
+<p>
+That was on January 21, 1474, the very day
+when the mortgagee was preparing to ride into
+Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his
+wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month
+and Sigismund's envoys were seated on the official
+benches at the Basel diet, ranking with the delegates
+from the cantons and the emissaries from
+France. On March 27th, the diet met at Constance,
+and for three days a debate went on
+which resulted in the drafting of the <i>Ewige Richtung</i>,
+the <i>Réglement définitif</i>, a document which
+contained a definite resolution that the mortgaged
+lands were to be completely withdrawn from
+Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This
+resolution was subscribed to by Sigismund and
+the Swiss cantons. Further, it was decided to
+ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St.
+Omer and to offer payment to Charles at Basel
+instead of Besançon.</p>
+<p>
+Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in
+his own mind that the legends of his birthplace
+were correct in their rating of his character and
+his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered
+Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was
+shortly after that festival, on April 17th, that
+a letter from Sigismund was delivered to him announcing
+in rather casual and off-hand terms<span class="page"><a name="388">[page 388]</a></span>
+that he was now in a position to repay the loan of
+1469, made on the security of those Rhinelands.
+Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel
+80,000 florins, 40,000 the sum received by him,
+10,000 paid in his behalf to the Swiss, and 30,000
+which he understood that Charles had expended
+during his temporary incumbency,<a href="#XIX7"><sup>7</sup></a> and he, Sigismund,
+would resume the sovereignty in Alsace.</p>
+<p>
+It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish
+was. The expressions employed in the paper
+were, however, so ambiguous, the language so
+involved, that Charles expended severe criticism
+on his cousin's style before he proceeded to answer
+his subject-matter. To that he replied that the
+bargain between him and Sigismund was none of
+his seeking. The latter had implored his protection
+from the Swiss, had begged relief in his
+financial straits. Touched by his petitions,
+Charles had acceded to his prayers and the lands
+had enjoyed security under Burgundian protection
+as they never had under Austrian. Charles
+had duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he
+had done nothing to forfeit his title. The conditions
+of redemption offered by Sigismund were
+not those expressly stipulated. If a commission
+were sent to Besançon, the duke would see to
+it that the merits of the case were properly
+examined.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose
+you have declared, in violation of the terms of the<span class="page"><a name="389"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 389]</span></a></span>
+contract and of your princely word, we shall make
+resistance, trusting with God's help that our ability
+in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have
+used to repulse the attacks of the Swiss&mdash;those attacks
+from which you sought and received our protection."</p>
+
+<p>
+Before this letter reached its destination, the
+duke's deputy in the mortgaged lands had already
+found his resources wholly inadequate to maintain
+his master's authority. After Charles departed
+from Alsace, Hagenbach's increased insolence and
+abandonment of all the restraint that he had shown
+while awaiting the duke's visit soon became unbearable.
+The deliberations in Switzerland concerning
+their return to Austrian domination also
+naturally affected the Alsatians and made them
+bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.</p>
+<p>
+Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing
+admission to his garrisons. Brisac was in his
+hands already, and her fortifications held by mercenaries,
+but an order to the citizens to work, one
+and all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance
+with very serious results. It was at
+Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a
+hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the
+Rhinelands, proved the final provocation to
+rebellion.</p>
+<p>
+There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle,
+moreover, that this misuse of Easter Day was not
+Hagenbach's real crime. He simply wished to get
+all combatants out of the city before butchering
+the inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in<span class="page"><a name="390">[page 390]</a></span>
+time. That charge does not, however, seem substantiated
+by other evidence. But there is no
+doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a
+state of fury, fell upon the mercenaries, and killed
+many of them in spite of their own unarmed
+condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings,
+appeared at the window and offered various
+concessions, being actually humbled and intimidated
+by the unexpected turning of the submissive
+folk against him.</p>
+<p>
+But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the
+reach of conciliatory words. Some of the more
+intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a show of
+propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing
+their own ancient council, arbitrarily abolished
+by Hagenbach, while taking a new oath to the
+Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of
+1469. They also despatched envoys to the duke
+with explanations of their proceedings, stating
+further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone
+to which protest was made; that they were not
+in revolt against Charles. The latter answered,
+"Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional
+government, by the time they received this order,
+felt strong enough to disregard it and to continue
+to act on their own initiative.</p>
+<p>
+Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but
+into irons. All fear of and respect for his authority
+was thrown to the winds, his offer of fourteen
+thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.</p>
+<p>
+Deputations came from the confederation to<span class="page"><a name="391">[page 391]</a></span>
+congratulate the officials <i>de facto</i> and to promise
+aid. The next step gave the lie direct to the
+message sent to Charles upholding his authority
+while protesting against his lieutenant. Sigismund
+was urged to return to his own without further
+delay for legal formalities with his creditor.
+He assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the
+Austrian duke arrived in Brisac and picked up the
+reins of authority which he had joyfully dropped
+four years previously.</p>
+<p>
+The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion,
+singing a ready parody of an Easter hymn:<a href="#XIX8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Christ is arisen, the <i>landvogt</i> is in prison,<br />
+Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyrie Eleison!<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.<br />
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Kyrie Eleison!"<br />
+</blockquote>
+<p>
+Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the
+late governor was brought to trial. Instruments
+of torture sent from Basel were employed
+to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But
+there was nothing to confess. As a matter of
+fact the charges against him were for well-known
+deeds the character of which depended on the
+point of view. What the Alsatians declared
+were infringements of their rights, the duke's
+deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the
+terms of the treaty. In regard to his private<span class="page"><a name="392">[page 392]</a></span>
+career the prisoner persisted in his statement that
+he was no worse than other men and that all
+his so-called victims had been willing and well
+rewarded for their submission to him.</p>
+<p>
+On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared
+over and the trial began before a tribunal whose
+composition is not perfectly well known, but
+which certainly included delegates from the
+chief cities of the landgraviate, and from Strasburg,
+Basel, and Berne.<a href="#XIX9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The trial was practically lynch law in spite of
+the cloak of legality thrown over it. Charles alone
+was Hagenbach's principal and he alone was
+responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic
+incompetence of the court was hotly urged by
+Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's self-appointed
+advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public
+opinion insisted upon extreme measures, and the
+sentence of capital punishment was promptly followed
+by execution.</p>
+<p>
+Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by
+the sword and be permitted to bequeath a portion
+of his property to the church of St. Étienne at
+Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth
+was confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn
+to Fribourg during the progress of the trial. Even
+Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged that the
+late governor made a dignified and Christian exit
+from the life he had not graced.</p>
+<p>
+Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger<span class="page"><a name="393">[page 393]</a></span>
+who brought him the news of this trial and execution,
+in the very presence of Sigismund who
+had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate,
+where he had appointed Oswald von
+Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus
+presuming to use sovereign power. This was not
+sufficient, however, to make the duke change his
+own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was entrusted
+with the commission of punishing the
+Alsatians for his brother's ignominious deposition,
+and he did his task grimly. According to the
+Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north,
+and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the
+south, did not have more than six or eight thousand
+men apiece, but they left Hun-like reputations
+behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in
+houses and churches, all in the name of the duke,
+contributed to the zeal with which the Austrian's
+return was ratified by popular acclamation, and
+with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the
+confederates were received.</p>
+<p>
+Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone
+and obscure in phraseology. A statement presented
+somewhat later to the emperor by the
+<i>Basse Union</i> is more precise in the justification
+offered for the events and in the grievances rehearsed.<a href="#XIX10"><sup>10</sup></a>
+That is, Sigismund treats the transaction
+as a purely financial one, naturally completed
+between him and his creditor by the offer to
+liquidate his debt. The plea made by the Alsatians<span class="page"><a name="394">[page 394]</a></span>
+and their friends is, that Charles had failed
+to keep his solemn engagements and that his appointed
+lieutenant had been peculiarly odious
+and had broken the laws of God and man, and
+that the mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians,
+Lombardians, and their fellows, had
+pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the
+Sundgau, and the diocese of Basel. The charges
+are itemised.<a href="#XIX11"><sup>11</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy,
+has neither been checked nor punished by him.
+In consequence, our gracious Seigneur of Austria has
+been obliged to restore the land and people to his
+sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he
+has done with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation
+and total destruction of land and people."</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle
+matters in person, but pursued his intention of
+reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control,
+undoubtedly thinking that the base which would
+then be open to the archbishop's protector on the
+lower Rhine would facilitate his operations in the
+upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic
+had emphatically declared that he alone was the
+Defender of the Diocese, and that the unholy
+alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace
+to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted
+him to abandon the enterprise and to accept
+mediation; those to the electors, princes, and cities<span class="page"><a name="395">[page 395]</a></span>
+of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against
+Burgundy until he himself arrived on the scene.
+There was a hot correspondence between all
+parties concerned, from which nothing resulted.
+Charles had various reasons for delay. There
+was trouble in other quarters of his domain.
+Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions
+for money, and the Franche-Comté was on the
+point of making active resistance to the imposition
+of the <i>gabelle</i>.</p>
+<p>
+In view of all these complications, Charles decided
+to prolong his truce with Louis XI., to May
+1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased to continue
+to pursue his own plans under cover of
+neutrality. The determination of the anti-Burgundian
+coalition in Germany to keep Charles
+within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant
+sight to the French king, and he felt that he could
+afford to wait.</p>
+<p>
+In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg,
+forbidding all owing allegiance to the Duke
+of Burgundy to have any commercial relations
+with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with
+the cities of the <i>Basse Union</i>, and declaring the
+duke's intention to take the field at once, to reinstate
+the archbishop in his rightful see. This was
+a declaration of war and was speedily followed
+by the duke's advance to Maestricht, where he
+spent a few days in July, collecting a force which
+finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.</p>
+<p>
+On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which<span class="page"><a name="396">[page 396]</a></span>
+had again emphatically refused entry to him and
+his troops. Three days the duke gave himself for
+the reduction of the town, but there he remained
+encamped for nearly a whole year! Neuss was
+resolved to resist to the last extremity, while
+Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their
+assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers
+to the best of their ability. It was a period when
+Charles seemed to have only one sure ally, and
+that was Edward of England, whose own plans
+were forming for a mighty enterprise&mdash;no less
+than a new invasion of France.</p>
+<p>
+On July 25th, the very day that Charles was
+on his march up to Neuss, his envoys signed at
+London a treaty wherein the duke promised
+Edward six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer
+his realm of France." Nothing loth to dispose
+of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn,
+pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs,
+without any lien of vassalage, the duchy of Bar,
+the countships of Champagne, Nevers, Rethel, Eu,
+and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the
+estates of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories
+of Charles were to be exempt from homage. Yes,
+and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in France
+and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial
+interests forgotten; "to the duchess his sister
+(to the Flemings) is accorded permission, to take
+from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead,
+and to carry thither foreign merchandise."</p>
+<p>
+The year when Charles was waiting before the<span class="page"><a name="397">[page 397]</a></span>
+gates of Neuss was full of many abortive diplomatic
+efforts on the part of both the duke and
+Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to
+save something even from broken bargains. The
+Swiss not only counted on his friendship, but
+were constantly encouraged by his money, which
+emboldened them to send a letter of open defiance
+to Charles: "We declare to your most serene
+highness and to all of your people, in behalf of
+ourselves and our friends, an honourable and an
+open war." To the herald who delivered this
+document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"<a href="#XIX12"><sup>12</sup></a>
+He felt that he had been betrayed.</p>
+<p>
+This was on October 26th. The defiance was
+followed by a descent of the mountaineers upon
+Alsace, which Charles had not yet released from
+his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared
+to defend Burgundian interests at Héricourt, a
+good strategic position on the tiny Luzine. Here,
+the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the
+Count of Blamont arrived with two bodies of
+Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than twelve
+thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging
+force. His plan failed&mdash;the tables were
+turned. It was the Burgundians who were fiercely
+attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach
+was forced to surrender, obtaining honourable
+terms, however, and Sigismund put a garrison into
+Héricourt on November 16th.</p>
+<p>
+This was a tremendous surprise to Charles.<span class="page"><a name="398">[page 398]</a></span>
+That cowherds could repulse his well-trained
+troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.
+But he put aside all idea of punishing
+them for the moment, and continued to "reduce
+Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,"
+and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town
+in its determined resistance.</p>
+<p>
+The opprobrious names applied to the would-be
+and baffled conqueror at this time are curiously
+similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon a
+few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ
+himself, with demoniac attributes added,
+when Alexander was felt to be too mild a comparison.
+There was still a terrible fear of the
+duke's ambition, even though, in the face of all
+Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his men, and
+Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates,
+while the world wondered at the duke's obstinacy
+displayed in the wrong place. The belief expressed
+several times by Commines that God troubled
+Charles's understanding out of very pity for
+France, was a current rumour.</p>
+<p>
+At the end of April an English embassy arrived
+at the camp, which was kept in a marvellous state
+of luxury, even though disease was not successfully
+curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the
+embassy was that Charles should raise this useless
+siege, fruitless as it promised to be, owing to the
+difficulty of cutting off the town's supplies.
+Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading
+army. He implored his dear brother to<span class="page"><a name="399">[page 399]</a></span>
+send him transports and to prepare to receive him
+when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a
+glimpse into the situation:<a href="#XIX13"><sup>13</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that
+the assege lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn
+affoor Nuse, and the Emperor hath besyged also not
+fferr from there a castill and another town in lykewyse
+wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the
+Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water
+off Somme with 4000 spers; and sum men have that
+he woll, at the daye off brekyng off trewse, or else
+beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys heer. When
+I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere
+and the Master off the Rolls be comyng homwards
+ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke I sholde be sek
+but iff I see it....</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde
+in to Flaundyrs to purveye me off horse and herneys
+and percase I shall see the essege at Nwse er I come
+ageyn."</p>
+
+<p>
+There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick
+at the sight than for John Paston, and he did
+grow weary of the further waiting and anxious, for
+his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On
+May 22d, there was a skirmish between his troops
+and the imperial forces, wherein Charles claimed
+the victory. In reality, there was none on either
+side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe
+his <i>amour propre</i>, and to convince him that an<span class="page"><a name="400">[page 400]</a></span>
+accommodation with Frederic would not detract
+from his dignity.</p>
+<p>
+A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched
+to help convey the English army, thirsting
+for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand
+men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to
+meet Edward IV., and swell his escort as he
+marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other
+matters also demanded Charles's personal attention.
+Months had elapsed and Héricourt was unpunished&mdash;Berne
+had not been reproved.</p>
+<p>
+René of Lorraine was formally admitted to the
+League of Constance on April 18, 1475, and was
+now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he
+had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a
+touch of old King René's theatrical taste in his
+grandson's method of despatching the herald who
+rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet
+on May 10th. The man was, however, so overcome
+at the first view of <i>le Téméraire</i> that he hastily
+delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained
+gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of
+war, without uttering a word. Then he fell on
+his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.<a href="#XIX14"><sup>14</sup></a> Charles
+was so little displeased at the signs of the impression
+his presence made that, instead of being
+angry with the man, he gave him twelve florins
+for his good news. The terms of the declaration
+of war carried by the herald were as follows:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the<span class="page"><a name="401"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 401]</span></a></span>
+very high, etc., Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce
+defiance with fire and blood against thee, thy
+countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and other charge
+further have I not."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XIX15"><sup>15</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+The reply was straightforward:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge,
+whereby thou hast given me subject for joy, and, to
+show you how matters are, thou shalt wear my robe
+with this gift, and shalt tell thy master that I will
+find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear
+is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst
+not be afraid to return, I desire my marshal and the
+king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or to convoy thee in
+perfect safety, for I should be sorry if thou didst not
+make thy report to thy master as befits a good and
+loyal officer."</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus was Charles pressed from the south and
+lured to the north. Excellent reason for obeying
+the order of the pope's legate that duke and emperor
+must lay down arms under pain of excommunication
+did either belligerent refuse! The
+armistice accepted on May 28th was followed
+by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It
+was a truce strictly to the advantage of Frederic
+and Charles. The Rhine cities, Louis XI., René
+of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed
+in the expectations they had based on Frederic.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#382">[Footnote 1:</a> <a name="XIX1">Plancher</a>, <i>Histoire générale et particulière de Bourgogne,
+avec des notes et des preuves justificatives</i>, iv., cccxxviii.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#383">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XIX2">Preparations</a> for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set on
+foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One
+Frère Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures
+for appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every
+phrase indicating leonine strength was noted down. The
+good brother died before the anticipated event came to pass
+but the result of his patient labour was preserved.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#384">[Footnote 3:</a> <i><a name="XIX3">Dit </a>qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de scavoir
+à nuls que à lui</i> (Plancher, <i>Preuves</i>, iv., cccxxxiii.).]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#385">[Footnote 4:</a> <a name="XIX4">Plancher</a>, <i>Preuves</i>, iv., cccxxxiii. The document describing
+this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is
+evidently an error and not accepted.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#386">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XIX5">Toutey</a>, p. 117.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#386">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XIX6">There</a> are many records in the<i>Bibl. nat.</i>. of the sums paid
+out to the Swiss at this time.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#388">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XIX7">Chmel</a>, i., 92 et seq.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#391">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XIX8">Kirk</a>, ii., 488.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#392">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XIX9">Toutey</a>, p. 141.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#393">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XIX10">Text</a> given by Toutey, <i>Pièces justificatives</i>, p. 442.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#394">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XIX11">The</a> details are very brutal and untranslatable.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#397">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XIX12">Toutey</a>, p. 182.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#399">[Footnote 13:</a> <i><a name="XIX13">Paston</a> Letters</i>, iii., 122.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#400">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XIX14">Toutey</a>, p. 244.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#401">[Footnote 15:</a> <i><a name="XIX15">Bulletin</a> de l'acad. royale de Belgique</i>, 1887.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="402">[page 402]</a></span>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XX">XX</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475</h3>
+
+
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what
+to write to you of the English, for thus far they have
+done nothing but dance at St. Omer and we are not
+sure whether the King of England has landed. If he
+has, it must be with so small a force that it makes
+no noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville
+know anything, nor do they believe that there will be
+any English here in XL days. Tell the news to Monsg.
+de Comminge, and recommend my interests to him
+as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de Thierry
+and Mons. the vice-admiral."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX1"><sup>1</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later
+and he has heard of the truce. He seizes the
+occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne
+his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frederic
+has deserted us all!"<a href="#XX2"><sup>2</sup></a> Well, it was not
+the first time! Thirty years previous, when
+Louis was dauphin, the emperor had tried
+to turn the Swiss against him. Had not God,
+knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave
+mountaineers, Louis would have been a victim of
+execrable treachery. The outcome had been wonderful,
+for an eternal friendship had sprung<span class="page"><a name="403">[page 403]</a></span>
+up between him and the Swiss which must be
+preserved.</p>
+<p>
+Meantime, Charles has made his own definite
+plan of the campaign which was to introduce
+Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The
+following letter from him to Edward IV. bears
+no date, but it was evidently written at about the
+time of the truce:<a href="#XX3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself
+to you. I have listened carefully to your declaration
+through the pronotary, and understand that
+you do not wish to land without my advice, for which
+I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors
+think you had better land in Guienne, others
+in Normandy, others again at Calais. If you choose
+Guienne you will be far from my assistance but my
+brother of Brittany could help you. Still it would be
+a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to
+Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your
+people nor I for mine. Nor could the two forces make
+juncture without attack, and my brother of Brittany
+would be very far from both. To my mind, your best
+landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the
+Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will
+soon gain possession of cities and places, and you will
+be at the right hand of my brother of Brittany and
+of me. Tell me how many ships you want and where
+you wish me to send them and I will do it."</p>
+
+<p>
+On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival
+of the English, Louis hastened to Normandy to<span class="page"><a name="404">[page 404]</a></span>
+inspect the situation for himself. There he
+learned that his own naval forces stationed in the
+Channel to ward off the invaders had landed on
+the very day before his arrival, abandoning the
+task.</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"When I heard that we took no action, I decided
+that my best plan would be to turn my people loose
+in Picardy and let them lay waste the country whence
+they [the English] expected to get their supplies."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX4"><sup>4</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+At the same time, the rumour that was permitted
+to be current in France was, that Charles
+of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at Neuss,
+and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend
+from him. He, meanwhile, was continuing
+his own preparations by strenuous endeavours
+to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies.
+After the signing of the convention with the emperor,
+the duke proceeded to Bruges to meet the
+Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand
+for subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish
+funds, on the plea that his expansion policy was
+ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst
+from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving
+him in the lurch and thus causing his failure at
+Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor soldiers
+had they sent him as loyal subjects should.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="ruhmreich">[plate 26]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image26ruhmreich.jpg" width="400" height="521" alt="KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH - CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK.  POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I." border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p class="quote">
+"For whom does your prince labour? Is it for
+himself or for you, for your defence? You slumber,
+he watches. You nestle in warmth, he is cold. You<span class="page"><a name="405"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 405]</span></a></span>
+are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the wind
+and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease....
+Henceforth you shall be nothing more than subjects
+under a sovereign. I am and I will be master, bearding
+those who oppose me."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX5"><sup>5</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+Then turning to the prelates he continued:
+"Do you obey diligently and without poor excuses
+or your temporal goods shall be confiscated."
+To the nobles: "Obey or you shall lose your heads
+and your fiefs." Finally, he addressed the deputies
+of the third estate in a tone full of bitterness:
+"And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not
+obey my orders literally as my chancellor will
+explain them to you, you shall forfeit privileges,
+property, and life."</p>
+<p>
+All the fervency of this adjuration failed to
+convince the deputies of their duty, as conceived
+by the orator. They declared that they had levied
+troops and would levy more, for defence, but that
+the four members of Flanders were agreed that
+they would contribute nothing to offensive measures.
+Charles must accept their decision as his
+sainted father had done. The details of all the
+aid they had given him, 2500 men for Neuss and
+many other contributions, were recapitulated.
+Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding
+phrases of their answer were as follows:</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen
+days every man capable of bearing arms report at Ath,<span class="page"><a name="406"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 406]</span></a></span>
+these were orders impossible of execution, and unprofitable
+for you yourself. Your subjects are
+merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
+Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which
+your noble ancestors have for four hundred years
+maintained the land, commerce, most redoubtable
+seigneur, is irreconcilable with war."</p>
+
+<p>
+This answer gave the true key to the situation.
+The Estates of Flanders were determined to be
+bled no further for schemes in which they did not
+sympathise. When this memorial was presented
+to Charles he broke out into fresh invective about
+the base ingratitude of the Flemish: "Take back
+your paper," were his last words. "Make your
+own answer. <i>Talk</i> as you wish, but <i>do</i> your duty."
+This was on July 12th. Charles had no further
+time to waste in argument. He was still convinced
+that the burghers would, in the end, yield
+to his demands.</p>
+<p>
+With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and
+reached Calais on July 14th, where he had been
+preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her brother,
+who had actually landed on July 4th, with the
+best equipped army&mdash;about twenty-four thousand
+men&mdash;that had ever left the shores of England,
+and the latest inventions in besieging engines.</p>
+<p>
+The expedition proved a wretched failure&mdash;a
+miserable disappointment to the English at home,
+who had been lavish in their contributions.
+Charles seems to have been put out by the place
+of landing. His own plan is clear from the letter<span class="page"><a name="407">[page 407]</a></span>
+quoted. He wished the two armies of Edward
+and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory
+as they marched toward each other. The one
+thing that he objected to was a consolidation of the
+two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or
+an unwelcome situation to account was one of the
+duke's most deeply ingrained characteristics. He
+showed no inventiveness or resourcefulness. He
+held his own army at a distance from the English,
+much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to
+march unaided over regions rendered inhospitable
+by Louis's stern orders, and outside of cities ready
+to hold him at bay. "If you do not put yourself
+in a state of security, it will be necessary to destroy
+the city, to our regret," was the king's message to
+Rheims, and the most skilful of French engineers
+was fully prepared to make good the words.</p>
+<p>
+Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped
+on the field of Agincourt, where perhaps he
+dreamed of his ancestor's success, but no fresh
+blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He
+did not proceed to Paris, there was no coronation
+at Rheims, no comfortable reception within any
+gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis himself
+of giving the English a foothold, though he
+advised Edward to accept an invitation from St.
+Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however, proved
+another disappointment. Just as Edward was
+ready to enter, the gates opened to let out a
+troop which effectually repulsed the advancing
+foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his<span class="page"><a name="408">[page 408]</a></span>
+mind.</p>
+<p>
+"It is a miserable existence this of ours when
+we take toil and trouble enough to shorten our
+life, writing and saying things exactly opposite
+to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer
+of this elaborate network of pompous falsehoods<a href="#XX6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+wherein every action was entangled. Louis XI
+trusted no one but himself, while he played with
+the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His
+fear of the invaders was soon allayed. "These
+English are of different metal from those whom
+you used to know. They keep close, they attempt
+nothing," he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.</p>
+<p>
+It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was
+not a foe to be feared. Baffled and discouraged, he
+readily opened his ears to his French brother,
+and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every
+Englishman who helped incline his sovereign
+to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and coin did
+their work. Edward was easily led into the path
+of least resistance, and an interview between
+the rival kings was appointed for August 29th.
+Great preparations were made for their meeting
+on a bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating
+was erected. Like Pyramus and Thisbe, the two
+princes kissed each other through the barriers,
+and exchanged assurances of friendship. Edward
+was, indeed, so easy to convince that Louis
+was in absolute terror lest his English brother
+would accept his invitation to show him Paris<span class="page"><a name="409">[page 409]</a></span>
+before his return. No wonder Edward was deceived,
+for Louis was definite in his hospitable
+offers, suggesting that he would provide a confessor
+willing to give absolution for pleasant sins.</p>
+<p>
+The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy.
+On August 18th, he was staying at Peronne,
+whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It
+was ended without any intimation of Edward's
+change of heart towards the French king whom
+he had come to depose, though his plan was then
+ripe. On the 20th, Charles received a written
+communication with the news which Edward
+had disliked broaching orally, and was officially
+informed that the king had yielded to the wishes
+of his army, and was considering a treaty with
+Louis XI., wherein Edward's dear brother of
+Burgundy should receive honourable mention did
+he desire it.</p>
+<p>
+On hearing these most unwelcome tidings,
+Charles set off for the English camp in hot haste,
+attended by a small escort, and nursing his wrath
+as he rode.<a href="#XX7"><sup>7</sup></a> King Edward was rather alarmed
+at the duke's aspect when the latter appeared,
+and asked whether he would not like a private
+interview. Charles disregarded his question. "Is
+it true? Have you made peace?" he demanded.
+Edward's attempt at smooth explanations was
+blocked by a flood of invectives poured out
+by Charles, who remembered himself sufficiently
+to speak in English so that the bystanders might<span class="page"><a name="410">[page 410]</a></span>
+have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches.
+He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual,
+pleasure-loving monarch, whose easeful ways were
+rapidly increasing his weight of flesh, with the
+heroism of other English Edwards with whom
+he was proud to claim kin. As to the offers to
+remember his interests in the perfidious peace
+that perfidious Albion was about to swear with
+equally perfidious France, his rejection was scornful
+indeed. "Negotiate for <i>me</i>! Arbitrate for
+<i>me</i>! Is it I who wanted the French crown?
+Leave <i>me</i> to make my own truce. I will wait
+until you have been three months over sea."
+Among those who witnessed the scene were several
+Englishmen who sympathised with Charles&mdash;if
+we may believe Commines. "The Duke of Burgundy
+has said the truth," declared the Duke of
+Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Having
+given vent to his sentiments, Charles
+hurried away from his disappointing ally and
+reached Namur on the 22d, where he spent the
+night.</p>
+<p>
+Edward troubled himself little about his brother-in-law's
+summary of his character. He was tired
+of camp hardships, and both he and his men
+found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her
+gates to them at the order of Louis XI. Food and
+wine were lavished upon all alike. It was a delightful
+experience for the English soldiers to see
+tables groaning with good things spread in the
+very streets, and to be bidden to order what they<span class="page"><a name="411">[page 411]</a></span>
+would at the taverns with no consideration for the
+reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free
+of charge, until their host intimated to King Edward
+that his men were very intoxicated and that
+there were limits in all things. But Louis did not
+spare his money or his pains until he was sure that
+a bloodless victory had been won. He fully realised
+the importance of extravagant expenditure
+in order to reach the goal he had set himself.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"We must have the whole sum at Amiens before
+Friday evening, besides what will be wanted for private
+gratifications to my Lord Howard, and others
+who have had part in the arrangement.... Do
+not fail in this that there may be no pretext for a
+rupture of what has been already settled."</p>
+<p>
+Though they had now no rood of land, the
+English returned richer than they came, and they
+eased their <i>amour propre</i> by calling the sums that
+had changed hands, "tribute money."<a href="#XX8"><sup>8</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd
+Moodre, I recommende me to youw. Pleas it yow
+to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage of the kynges
+is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost is
+comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to
+seye the iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many
+of hys host be passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and<span class="page"><a name="412"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 412]</span></a></span>
+in especiall my Lorde off Norfolk, and my bretheryn
+....I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr heer;
+for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come
+hyddre and all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never
+a better stomake in my lyffe and now in viij dayes I
+am crasyd ageyn."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX9"><sup>9</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and
+doubtless many others found the air more wholesome
+at home.</p>
+<p>
+Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider
+the affairs of Lorraine. He advised René of his
+intentions, in a manifesto which reached him on
+September 5th. The preamble contained a long
+list of the manifold benefits conferred upon Lorraine
+by the House of Burgundy. Then René was
+admonished to observe in every particular the
+terms of his own treaty with Charles, which he,
+René, had signed voluntarily, or the former would
+"make him know the difference between his
+friendship and his enmity."</p>
+<p>
+This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of
+Lorraine. For on September 13th, his friend
+Louis XI. had signed a fresh treaty with Charles
+of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was
+marching mercenaries in Burgundian pay towards
+the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the
+French king abandoned the young protégé whom
+he had spared no pains to alienate from Burgundian
+protection. It was a moment when his one<span class="page"><a name="413">[page 413]</a></span>
+interest apparently was to settle accounts with
+the Count of St. Pol, who had been equally treacherous
+in his dealings with England, Burgundy, and
+France.<a href="#XX10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Having rested during the summer, the Burgundian
+troops were in fine trim when Charles marched
+to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat down
+before the capital in the last week of October.
+From his camp he wrote to the Duke of Milan:</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you.
+I have just accepted a truce with the king for nine
+years to come, in the form and manner contained at
+length in the copy of the articles which I have given to
+your ambassador, resident with me . . . . And
+be sure, <i>fratello mio</i>, that nothing would have induced
+me to accept the truce, had you not been comprised
+therein. And, similarly, you must be satisfied
+in all the pacts between the king and myself, just as
+you were comprised in the convention lately made at
+Neuss.</p>
+<p class="quote1">
+"For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador
+about the troops that can be furnished me, for which
+I am well content, praying you to continue to serve me
+in accordance with the promises of your ambassador.
+As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Duc
+de Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now
+for delay as he can travel in Lorraine as safely as in
+Lombardy, as I have said to your ambassador. Pray
+the Lord to give you the desires of your heart.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day<span class="page"><a name="414"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 414]</span></a></span>
+of October, 1475.</p>
+<p class="rindent">"CHARLES."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX11"><sup>11</sup></a></span>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<p>
+Some trifling assistance was offered to René
+by Strasburg and other foes to Burgundy, but it
+was wholly insufficient to rescue him from his
+difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the
+capitulation of Nancy on November 19th. The
+magistrates desired to hold out, but were forced
+by the populace to submit, and on November 30,
+1475, Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly
+through the gate of Craffe into the capital of
+Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign
+duke.<a href="#XX12"><sup>12</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+This time Charles acted the role of a merciful
+and diplomatic conqueror. There was no cruelty
+permitted, and every evidence of conciliation was
+shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted
+the new order of things without further protest.
+At the end of December, Charles convened the
+Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace, addressed
+them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to
+be a good prince, demanded their attachment,
+confided his plans of expansion, and announced his
+intention of making Nancy the capital of his
+states. Again the duke's star rose. This acquisition
+seemed a sign of the reality of his dreams.
+Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching
+success bore fruit, inasmuch as the emperor<span class="page"><a name="415">[page 415]</a></span>
+changed the late convention into a firmer treaty
+signed on November 17th. Indeed had Charles
+died at that moment, there would have been little
+doubt that his dreamed-of kingdom had been
+simply prevented by a mere accident.</p>
+<p>
+The detailed story of all that had happened in
+the Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union,
+since their formal declaration of war against
+Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begining
+of 1476, the situation was, briefly, that Sigismund
+held the debated mortgaged lands, while
+the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant
+member of the league, had continued to carry
+on offensive operations against the duke and his
+allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The conquest
+of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the
+face of the fresh agreements between the duke and
+the emperor and the king.</p>
+<p>
+There was a short period of hesitation, marked
+by a truce till January 1, 1476, between Charles
+and the confederates, a period when the timid
+among the allies urged their counsel of reconciliation
+at all hazards. Charles, too, seems to have
+desired an accord rather than hostilities, even
+though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for
+Héricourt. It was probably appeals from Yolande
+of Savoy that decided him to open a campaign in
+midwinter.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote
+the Milanese ambassador] in the reorganisation of his<span class="page"><a name="416"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 416]</span></a></span>
+army according to new ordinances, and in the regulation
+of his receipts and outlays that he has scarcely
+given himself time to eat once in twenty-four hours.
+He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the
+Count of Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect
+no treaty, and do not cease increasing their forces.
+In consequence, Duke Charles intends leaving Nancy
+in six days to go towards the Jura. He expects to
+take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which,
+joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy,
+will swell his army to the number of 25,000 combatants.
+His operations are so planned that he will
+have more to gain than to lose."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX13"><sup>13</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+When Charles left Nancy on January 11th, he
+issued one of his grandiloquent manifestoes declaring
+that he was acting in behalf of all princes and
+seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of
+the Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who
+had provoked his just wrath by ravaging his
+province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious
+act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain
+go off to make a pilgrimage just as he was on the
+eve of a campaign, but so he did, granting Campobasso
+leave of absence to visit the shrine of St.
+James at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised
+by the Italian to further the understanding with
+Louis XI., at which he arrived later.</p>
+<p>
+On across the Jura marched the Burgundian
+army, while the Swiss diet came to a slow and
+confused decision to prepare to meet him. He<span class="page"><a name="417">[page 417]</a></span>
+did not take the route generally expected, directly
+towards Berne, his chief antagonist, but turned
+aside and attacked the little fortress of Granson.
+The castle was not over strong. Efforts to provision
+it by water failed, and, finally, on February
+28th, after a brief siege, the captain of the garrison,
+Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German
+forces, who represented to them that Charles was
+as generous as he was magnificent.</p>
+<p>
+If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the surrender
+was unconditional. Charles was soon on
+the spot. The four hundred and twelve soldiers,
+who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian
+army at bay for ten whole days, were made to
+march past his tent with bowed heads. Then he
+ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two
+to help in the executions. Four hours were occupied
+in fulfilling these pitiless orders. Panigarola
+arrived at the camp on the 29th,&mdash;it was leap
+year, 1476,&mdash;and found this accomplished and saw
+the bodies hanging on the trees, but he asserts that
+no word was broken.<a href="#XX14"><sup>14</sup></a> Charles was now absolutely
+confident of complete success. "<i>Bellorum eventus
+dubii sunt</i>," remarked the prudent Milanese,
+however, and he was proved right.</p>
+<p>
+When the allied forces of the mountaineers
+finally arrived in the duke's neighbourhood a hot
+pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians, led by
+the duke in person, were thrown into utter confusion.
+The mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth<span class="page"><a name="418">[page 418]</a></span>
+yells and battle-cries of Uri and Unterwalden,
+simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles
+was pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only
+a defeat, but a complete rout. When the Swiss
+came in sight of the late garrison hanged to the
+trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn
+they massacred, hanged, and drowned every
+one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay
+hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives
+when they could, but their valuable artillery and
+their baggage, the mass of riches that Charles
+carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and
+gathered up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss,
+who cared little for the tapestries and jewels
+though they prized the gold. Such was the battle
+of Granson, on the 2nd of March.</p>
+<p>
+The fatal mistake committed by Charles was
+that he despised his enemy and underestimated
+his quality as well as his strength. Just before
+engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell
+upon their knees in prayer that the issue might be
+successful. This action deceived Charles into
+thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion
+was shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh
+broke out from the Burgundian ranks.<a href="#XX15"><sup>15</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of<span class="page"><a name="419">[page 419]</a></span>
+Granson with the following rather barren words:<a href="#XX16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"In short the Duke of Burgundy lost the day and
+was pushed back as far as Jougne, where he stopped,
+and it is meet that I tell how the duke's bodyguard
+saved themselves ... and reached Salins where I
+saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle
+on account of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the
+duke went to Noseret, and you can understand that
+he was very sad and melancholy at having lost the
+battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his
+army shattered."</p>
+<p>
+On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to
+Margaret Paston from Calais:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde.
+ ... Item, the Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd
+Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall nott nowe be lykelyhod
+have it; wherffer the Frenshe kynge cheryssheth
+hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn
+the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off
+the Swechys [Swiss] to conquer them butt the berded
+hym att an onsett place and hathe dystrussyd hym
+and hathe slayne the most part of his vanwarde and
+wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr
+all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym; exceppte
+men and horse ffledde nott but they roode that
+nyght xx myle; and so the ryche saletts, heulmetts
+garters, nowchys<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX17"><sup>17</sup></a></span> gelt and all is goone with tente
+pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is
+abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde<span class="page"><a name="420"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 420]</span></a></span>
+karlys butte he wolde nott beleve it and yitt men
+seye that he woll to them ageyn. Gode spede them
+bothe."</p>
+<p>
+Many of the rumours that were current represented
+Charles as completely prostrated by his
+disaster. This was only half true. His efforts
+to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically,
+he certainly showed the effects of this campaign.
+He was attacked by a low fever, his stomach
+rejected food, insomnia afflicted his nights, and
+dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This condition
+was attributed to his fatigues and exposure
+in a hard climate, and to his habit of drinking
+warm barley-water in the morning. He was
+urged to use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard
+couch, while Yolande's own physician and one
+Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The
+latter claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles
+was not, however, fully recovered when he resumed
+his activities and held a review on May 9th.
+With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely
+to yield results, the whole number of troops was
+but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker felt
+that the duke was now trying to accomplish
+something quite beyond his resources.</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX18"><sup>18</sup></a></span>],
+we cannot sufficiently wonder that you should have
+been so gravely deceived and that, after having once
+found that you were lured into loss and disgrace,<span class="page"><a name="421"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 421]</span></a></span>
+again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth
+from which you will either never escape, or escape
+only with damage and shame.... Without risk to
+himself [your foe] has precipitated you into an abyss
+and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of your
+possessions and your life.... We exhort you to
+pause before incurring heavier losses and greater
+dangers. If fortune smiles upon you in your attack
+on that people, you will have the whole empire against
+you. In the opposite event&mdash;which God avert&mdash;it
+will be turned into a common tale how a mighty
+prince was overcome by rustics whom there would
+have been no honour in conquering, while to be
+conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace."</p>
+<p>
+This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its destination
+until after the prophecy had been fulfilled.
+Its warning would probably have been futile had
+Charles read it before he marched on towards
+Berne, on June 8th. On the road that he chose
+lay the town of Morat, which had made ready for
+his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then
+on to Berne was his plan. His force succeeded
+in holding the ground and cutting off communication
+with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a
+messenger made his way through from the beleaguered
+city to Berne, and all the allies were
+then urged to do their best. The result was encouraging.
+"There are three times as many as at
+Granson, but let no one be dismayed, with God's
+help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of Berne.</p>
+<p>
+The encounter came on June 23d. The force
+was really a formidable one. René of Lorraine<span class="page"><a name="422">[page 422]</a></span>
+was among the commanders on the side of the
+Swiss. It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was
+savage; at two o'clock the assault was made and
+within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost
+all the infantry perished. The slain is estimated
+variously from ten to twenty-two thousand.
+Charles did not keep his vow to perish if defeated.
+To his assured allies he clung closely, and none
+had more reason to be faithful to him than Yolande
+of Savoy. After Granson he hastened to give
+the duchess his own view of the disaster:</p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of
+your calmness and constancy of soul; for the
+thought of your affliction weighed more heavily
+upon me than what has befallen me ... every day
+diminishes the inconvenience and proves that the loss
+in men is less than we thought. <i>Such as it is it came
+from a mere skirmish</i>. The bulk of the armies did
+not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they
+fought the victory would have been mine. There
+has been none on either side. God, I trust, reserves
+it for you and for me ... the hope you have placed
+in me shall not be vain."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+<p>
+Thus he wrote on March 7th to encourage his anxious
+protégée.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlemorat">[plate 27]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image27largebattlemorat.jpg" width="600" height="409" alt="A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+After the second defeat it was to her that the
+duke turned again. In the very early morning
+after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at Morges
+on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard
+through the night. There he heard mass, breakfasted,<span class="page"><a name="423">[page 423]</a></span>
+rested awhile, and then rode on, reaching
+the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening,
+where Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming
+in full knowledge of the second disaster he had
+suffered.</p>
+<p>
+At the foot of the staircase, attended by her
+ladies, Yolande was waiting to greet her disappointed
+friend. Charles dismounted and kissed each
+member of the family in order of precedence, the
+little duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter,
+and the ladies in waiting. Yolande had had time
+to move out of her own suite of apartments and
+have them prepared for her guest's use, and there
+the two talked together confidentially, while their
+attendants waited patiently just out of earshot.</p>
+<p>
+Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to
+her son's room, returning to his own, showing
+signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola was absent,
+but another Milanese was among her suite, and
+he pressed forward as the duke re-entered the
+apartment, offering to carry any message to the
+Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, "It is well.
+That is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de
+la Marche and the Sire de Givry, commander of
+the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service,
+were summoned and had a long conference with
+Charles.</p>
+<p>
+Yolande was, apparently, more communicative
+to the Milanese Appiano than to Charles, but he
+saw that she was not frank with him. "She
+must throw herself on the protection of France<span class="page"><a name="424">[page 424]</a></span>
+or of Milan," he wrote to his master.<a href="#XX20"><sup>20</sup></a> She was,
+however, clear in her own mind that she would
+not accept Sforza's protection any more than
+that of Charles. She absolutely refused to
+identify her fortunes with the latter. She was
+determined to go to Geneva, but no farther.
+The duke remained at Gex until the 27th, and
+renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross
+the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering
+to her own plan. The two parties set out from
+the castle together, their roads lying in opposite
+directions, but Charles escorted his hostess
+about half-way to Geneva, riding beside her carriage,
+and continuing his persuasions in a low
+voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a
+farewell kiss, and rode off. He was much displeased
+at her determination, and he speedily
+resolved upon other methods of making sure of her
+fidelity to him. La Marche thus relates the story:<a href="#XX21"><sup>21</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"After the duke had been discomfited the second
+time by the Swiss before Morat, believing that he
+could do the thing secretly, he made a plan to kidnap
+Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them
+to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva,
+on my head to capture Mme. of Savoy and her children
+and bring them to him. In order to obey my prince
+and master I did his behest quite against my heart, and
+I took madame and her children near the gate of
+Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away
+from me (for it was two o'clock in the night) by the<span class="page"><a name="425"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 425]</span></a></span>
+means of some of our own company who were subjects
+of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did no more
+than their duty. What I did was simply to save my
+life, for the duke, my master, was the kind that insisted
+on having his will done under penalty of losing
+one's head. So I took my way, and carried Mme. of
+Savoy behind me, and her two daughters followed and
+two or three of her maids, and we took the road over
+the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured
+of the second son, and had him carried by a gentleman.
+I thought I was assured of the Duke of Savoy,
+but he was stolen from me as I said. As soon as we
+were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and especially
+the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought
+and took the duke back to Geneva, in which they had
+great joy. And I with Mme. of Savoy and the little
+boy (who was not the duke), crossed the mountain in
+the black night and came to a place called Mijoux, and
+thence to St. Claude.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer
+to the company, and chiefly to me. I was in danger
+of my life because I had not brought the Duke of Savoy.
+Then the duke went on to Salins without speaking to
+me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted
+Mme. of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take
+her to the castle of Rochefort. Thence she was taken
+to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that I had nothing
+more to do with her or her affairs."</p>
+
+<p>
+This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the
+tone in which La Marche relates it indicates that
+he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner, and
+might have been more willing to lend an ear to
+Louis's suggestions than he had been five years<span class="page"><a name="426">[page 426]</a></span>
+previously.</p>
+<p>
+It is not evident that he played his master false
+or that he was cognisant of the recapture of the
+little duke, but he says himself that he thought
+the attendants were absolutely justified in it.</p>
+<p>
+It is after this incident that the astute Panigarola
+returns and joins the duke's suite at Salins.
+He finds Charles a changed man, indulging in
+strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a
+couple of thousand more of his troops had been
+killed, "French at heart" as they were. He
+refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtaining
+the means of so doing, and sent her to the castle
+of the Sire of Rochefort for safe-keeping. Abstemious
+as he had been all his life, never taking
+wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which
+he now suddenly indulged went to his head.</p>
+<p>
+Rumours went abroad that his mental balance
+was shaken. That does not seem to have been
+true to the extent of insanity. He was only infinitely
+chagrined but he certainly put on a brave
+front and retained his self-confidence and declared</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"They are wrong if they believe me defeated.
+Providence has provided me with so many people
+and estates with such abundant resources, that
+many such defeats would be needed to ruin them.
+At the moment when the world imagines that I am
+annihilated, I will reopen the campaign with an army
+of 150,000 men."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XX22"><sup>22</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#402">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XX1">Lettres</a> de Louis XI</i>., v., 368.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#402">[Footnote 2:</a> <i><a name="XX2">Nos</a> omnes relinquens, Ibid</i>., 371.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#403">[Footnote 3:</a> <a name="XX3">Commynes</a>-Dupont, i., 336.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#404">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="XX4">Lettres</a></i>, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#405">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XX5">Gachard</a>, <i>Doc. inéd</i>., i., 249.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#408">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XX6">Commines</a>, iv., ch. vi.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#409">[Footnote 7:</a> <a name="XX7">Commines</a>, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#411">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XX8">The</a> terms of the treaty provided for a seven years' truce,
+with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil
+or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance
+went so far that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing
+the title of King of England and France.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#412">[Footnote 9:</a> <i><a name="XX9">The</a> Paston Letters</i>. Sir John Paston to his mother, Sept.
+11, 1475.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#413">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XX10">The</a> story must be omitted here. The constable was
+finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#414">[Footnote 11:</a> <i><a name="XX11">Dépêches</a> Milanaises</i>, i., 253. The copy only is at Milan
+and there is no seal.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#414">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XX12">Toutey</a>, p. 380.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#416">[Footnote 13:</a> <i><a name="XX13">Dép</a>. Milan</i>., i., 266.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#417">[Footnote 14:</a> <i><a name="XX14">Dép</a>. Milan</i>., i., 300.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#418">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XX15">Jomini</a> lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had
+committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army
+resting on the lake, the other ill-secured at the foot of a wooded
+mountain. Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to
+have one of its wings resting on an unbridged stream, on a lake, or on
+the sea." Charles explained to Europe that he had
+been surprised, and his defeat was a mere bagatelle.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#419">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XX16">III</a>., 216.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#419">[Footnote 17:</a> <a name="XX17"></a> ornaments.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#420">[Footnote l8:</a> <i><a name="XX18">Dép</a>. Milan.</i>, ii., 126.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#422">[Footnote 19:</a> <i><a name="XX19">Dép</a>. Milan.</i>, ii., 335.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#424">[Footnote 20:</a> <i><a name="XX20">Dep</a>. Milan</i>., ii., 295.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#424">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XX21">III</a>., 234.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#426">[Footnote 22:</a> <i><a name="XX22">Dep</a>. Milan</i>, ii., 339.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="427">[page 427]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CHAPTER <a name="XXI">XXI</a></h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF NANCY</h3>
+
+<h4>1477</h4>
+<p>
+It was manifestly impossible for Charles to
+attempt to retrieve his fortunes without
+having large sums of ready money at his command.
+He therefore proceeded to appeal to the
+guardians of each and every treasury in his various
+states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however,
+the only quarters whence succour was in the least
+probable. The Estates of the latter duchy met,
+deliberated, and resolved to make no pretence nor
+to "yield anything contrary to the duty which
+every one owes to his country."<a href="#XXI1"><sup>1</sup></a> A certain Sieur
+de Jarville, accompanied by other true Burgundians,
+undertook to report the proceedings to
+Charles,&mdash;a duty usually falling to the share of the
+presiding officer of the ecclesiastical chamber.
+The message which he carried was laconic but
+sturdy:</p>
+<p>
+"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave
+subjects and servitors, but as to what is asked in
+his behalf, it never has been done, it cannot be
+done, it never will be done."</p>
+<p>
+"Small people would never dare use such language,"
+is the comment of the Burgundian chronicler,<span class="page"><a name="428">[page 428]</a></span>
+proud of the temerity of his fellow countrymen.</p>
+<p>
+In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were
+equally emphatic in their refusal to meet the
+duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved to call
+together a general assembly of deputies in the hope
+of finding them, collectively, more amenable.
+Writs of summons were issued very widely and
+a "States-general" was formally convened at
+Ghent on Friday, April 26, 1476.<a href="#XXI2"><sup>2</sup></a> At the last
+assembly of this nature, in 1473, the duke had expressly
+promised, in consideration of an annual
+grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded
+to him, to refrain from further demands, and there
+was a spirit of sullen resentment in the air when
+this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened
+by Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points
+for consideration. Monseigneur wished his daughter
+Mary, "that most precious jewel," to join him
+in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to
+ensure her safe journey and that the duke requested
+the States to provide. Secondly he desired
+the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to<span class="page"><a name="429">[page 429]</a></span>
+meet his immediate requirements. Further, he
+requested each town to equip a specified number
+of horses at its own expense; he demanded the
+service of his tenants, fief and arrière-fief; and, in
+addition, he required that all other men, no matter
+what their condition, able to bear arms, should
+enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the
+troops should be set to guard the frontier, and
+the rest should be sent to the duke in Burgundy.</p>
+<p>
+It was a demand pure and simple for a universal
+call to arms, a national levy. The duke's paternal
+desire to see his daughter was the flimsiest of excuses
+that deceived no one for a moment.</p>
+<p>
+After the chancellor's exposition there was
+probably adjournment for discussion. The pensionary
+of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as
+spokesman to present the following report, as the
+result of their deliberations, to the duchess-regent.</p>
+<p>
+As for Mlle. of Burgundy, the deputies would
+ascertain the wishes of their principals, but the
+second request did not call for a referendum.
+The representatives were fully capable of settling
+the matter at once. Considering the heavy burdens
+laid on the people, and taking into account the
+promises made to them in 1473, that no further
+demands should be made on the public purse, the
+three Estates concurred in humbly petitioning
+Monseigneur to excuse them from granting his<span class="page"><a name="430">[page 430]</a></span>
+request.</p>
+<p>
+It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th)
+when this decision was communicated to the
+duchess in her own hotel. After a private colloquy
+between her and Hugonet, the chancellor
+told the messenger that it was quite right for the
+deputies to consult their principals before the
+heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship
+of her faithful subjects. That was a grave matter,
+but surely there was no reason why her "escort"
+could not be determined upon at once. In regard
+to the levies, Madame was not empowered to
+take any excuse. It was beyond her province.
+Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters
+had arrived from the duke urging the speedy execution
+of his previous instructions. The chancellor
+then appointed a committee to meet a committee
+from the States at 8 A.M. on the morrow at the
+convent of the Augustines.</p>
+<p>
+This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speedily
+notified that the States did not feel empowered
+to appoint a committee. The most they
+could do was to resolve themselves into a committee
+of the whole. The objection to this was
+that a small conference was far better suited to
+free discussion. It was easy for unqualified persons
+to enter the session of a large body. The
+States, however, were tenacious in their opinion
+that their writs did not qualify them to appoint
+committees. Every point must be threshed out
+in the presence of every deputy. <i>Potestas delegata
+non deleganda est</i>.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="philibert">[plate 28]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image28philibert.jpg" width="400" height="604" alt="PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page"><a name="431">[page 431]</a></span>
+<p>
+There was further negotiation, and it was not
+until Monday afternoon that Hugonet's commissioner
+brought a conciliatory message that if
+the gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in
+spite of the difficulty of discussion in an open
+meeting, talk over both points with them in full
+assembly. Again the States objected. They had
+no instructions whatsoever in regard to Mademoiselle,
+and could not discuss her movements either
+in public or in private session. As to levies, they
+repeated in detail all previous arguments, and expressed
+a fervent hope that Monseigneur would
+withdraw the request. It would, in the end, be
+more to Monseigneur's advantage, etc. Back and
+forth travelled the commissioner between States
+and duchess. The latter simply reiterated her
+dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit
+her father in May, with an adequate escort, in
+whose ranks must appear three prelates, three or
+four barons, fifty knights, and notable men from
+the "good towns," well armed.</p>
+<p>
+The States were then resolved into a committee
+of the whole, for a private deliberation, an action
+that probably enabled them to exclude the embarrassing
+spectators. In preparation for this,
+the diligent commissioner called apart one deputy
+from each contingent, and expatiated on the
+duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to
+eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's
+escort and the fiefs and arrière-fiefs, Monseigneur<span class="page"><a name="432">[page 432]</a></span>
+could manage to make suffice for the present, and
+these must be provided. These confidences were
+at once reported to the assembly, which then adjourned
+to think over the matter during the
+night.<a href="#XXI3"><sup>3</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+When they met again on April 30th, the chancellor
+was ready with a new message from Madame:
+"Go home now, consult your principals, and return
+on May 15th." On the motion of some deputy,
+this date was changed to May 24th. Precautions
+were taken to prevent any binding action in the
+interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the
+reports to the separate groups of constituents was
+also agreed upon by the majority of the deputies.
+In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that
+province there was a reluctance to deny the
+obligations of the fiefs.</p>
+<p>
+When the deputies reassembled a month later,
+Hugonet tried to weaken the effect of their answer
+by a suggestion that it had better not be considered
+the final decision, but a mere informal
+expression of opinion. "There were so many
+strangers present," etc. The States determinedly
+refused to be trifled with. "Madame must not be
+displeased if they gave the result of their deliberations
+in the presence of the whole assembly, not
+by way of opinion, but as a formal and conclusive
+report." Their charge was restricted to this manner
+of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting
+them, asked, since their charge was thus restricted,<span class="page"><a name="433">[page 433]</a></span>
+whether they had also been limited in the number
+of times they might drink on their way.<a href="#XXI4"><sup>4</sup></a> The
+answer was: "Chancellor, come now, say what
+you wish. The answer shall be given as it was
+meant to be given."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlenancy">[plate 29]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image29battlenancy.jpg" width="400" height="692" alt="PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+The communication was so long that its delivery
+took from 3 to 8 P.M. It was nothing more than
+a detailed apology for refusing the sovereign's
+demands. Several days more were consumed in
+unsuccessful efforts to cajole or browbeat the
+deputies into a more genial mood. The only
+concessions offered were insignificant, and to their
+resolution the deputies held firmly. "According
+to current rumour [concludes Gort Roelants's
+story] the ducal council would gladly have accepted
+a notable sum in lieu of the service of
+towns and of the fiefholders, but the States made
+no such offer."</p>
+<p>
+There was evidently a hope that better results
+might be obtained from a new assembly,<a href="#XXI5"><sup>5</sup></a> but
+none was held and the most earnest endeavours
+of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse
+enthusiasm for his plans. Moreover, when there
+seemed a prospect that the Netherlands might be
+attacked from France, the sympathy of even the
+duchess and council for offensive operations was
+chilled. Not only did Margaret fail to send her<span class="page"><a name="434">[page 434]</a></span>
+husband the extra supplies demanded, but she
+decided to appropriate the three months' subsidy,
+the chief item of regular ducal revenue, for protection
+of the Flemish frontier&mdash;an action that made
+Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes,
+indeed, they were necessary, but the people must
+provide them. The subsidy was lawfully his and
+he needed every penny of it. His army had not
+been destroyed. He was simply obliged to
+strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him. Flanders
+must do her part. They were deaf to this
+appeal, although a generous message was sent
+saying that if he were hard pressed they would
+go in person to rescue him from danger.</p>
+<p>
+The story of the assembly of the Estates of the
+two Burgundies is equally interesting as a picture
+of the clash between sovereign will and popular
+unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money-boxes.<a href="#XXI6"><sup>6</sup></a>
+The deputies convened at Salins on July
+8th, in the presence of the duke himself. The session
+was opened by Jean de Grey, the president
+of the <i>parlement</i> of the duchy, with a brief statement
+of the sovereign's needs. Then Charles took
+the floor, and delivered a tremendous harangue
+with a marvellous command of language. Panigarola
+declared that his allusions to parallel
+crises in ancient times were so apt and so fluent
+that it seemed as though the book of history lay
+opened before him and that he read from its
+pages.<a href="#XXI7"><sup>7</sup></a> The impression he made was plain to<span class="page"><a name="435">[page 435]</a></span>
+see.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="battlenancy2">[plate 30]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image30battlenancy2.jpg" width="400" height="499" alt="PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p>
+His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disasters
+were open and aboveboard this time. There
+was no such pretence put forward as the escort
+of Mary. The argument was that any ruler,
+backed by his people unanimous in their willingness
+to give their last jewel for public purposes,
+must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc.</p>
+<p>
+His learned and able discourse was well received,
+according to other reporters besides the Milanese,
+but there was no hearty yielding to sentiment in
+the reply. Four days were consumed in deliberation
+before that was ready on July 12th. They
+had certainly considered that the grant of 100,000
+florins annually for six years, accorded two years
+previously, was their share. But in view of the
+duke's appeal, they would endeavour to aid him.
+Let him stipulate which cities he wished fortified
+and they would assume charge of the work. Two
+favours they begged&mdash;that Charles should not
+rashly expose his person "for he was the sole prince
+of his glorious House," and that he should be
+ready to receive overtures of peace. "We will
+give life and property for defence, but we implore
+you to take no offensive step." Charles did not,
+perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and
+of his judgment that these words implied.</p>
+<p>
+Financial stress was not the duke's only difficulty
+in 1476. The defection of his allies continued,<span class="page"><a name="436">[page 436]</a></span>
+Yolande&mdash;that former good friend of his&mdash;was now
+a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to
+restore her to freedom and to her son's estates.
+Not that her restraint was in itself hard to bear.
+At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from
+Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished,
+except to depart. Couriers, too, were at her service
+apparently, who carried uninspected letters
+to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XI.
+Commines says that she hesitated to take refuge
+with the last lest he should promptly return
+her to Burgundian "protection." Yet her
+brother's hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong
+assurance against such action. Louis XI. was
+never so genial as when hearing some ill of Charles.
+"From what I have learned, I believe his Turk,
+his devil in this world, the person he loathes most
+intensely, is the Duke of Burgundy, with whom he
+can never live in amity." These words were sent
+by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan,<a href="#XXI8"><sup>8</sup></a> who was
+also turning slowly, with some periods of hesitation,
+to an alliance with Louis, now engaged in "following
+the hare with a cart."<a href="#XXI9"><sup>9</sup></a></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="monumentnancy">[plate 31]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image31monumentnancy.jpg" width="400" height="509" alt="A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+On his side the king declared that he had no
+intention of troubling further about his obligations
+to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has himself
+broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a
+war when I please. But I have thought it best<span class="page"><a name="437">[page 437]</a></span>
+to temporise."</p>
+
+<p>
+In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper
+and deeper into negotiations with any and every
+one whom he could turn against Charles. In
+October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne,
+&mdash;the territory that Edward IV. had failed to
+consign to the duke's sovereignty,&mdash;made a descent
+on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy.
+There was no attempt to stay her departure, and
+she was scrupulous, so it is said, in leaving money
+behind to pay for the Burgundian property carried
+off in her train&mdash;though it were nothing but
+an old crossbow. "Welcome, Madame the Burgundian,"
+was the fraternal salutation which she
+received on her arrival at her brother's court.
+She replied that she was a good French woman
+and quite ready to obey his majesty's commands.<a href="#XXI10"><sup>10</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+During the summer, Charles remained at La
+Rivière exerting every effort to levy an army. It
+was no easy task, and the review held on July 27th
+showed a meagre return for his exertions. But
+he did not slacken his efforts. Lists were immediately
+drawn up showing the vacancies in each
+company, and his money stress did not prevent his
+offering increased pay as an extra inducement to
+recruits. "An excellent means of encouragement,"
+comments Panigarola.</p>
+<p>
+The necessity for his preparations was evident.
+An opportune legacy inherited by René of Lorraine
+enabled that dispossessed prince to work<span class="page"><a name="438">[page 438]</a></span>
+to better advantage than he had been able to do
+since Charles had convened the Estates of Lorraine
+at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day of
+the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a
+Swiss diet at Fribourg adopted resolutions regarding,
+a closer alliance with René.<a href="#XXI11"><sup>11</sup></a> Louis XI. ostensibly
+maintained his truce with Charles but
+he had intimated that a French army would wait
+in Dauphiné ready "to help adjust the affairs of
+Savoy," and, at about the same time when Yolande
+was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss
+embassy, so that René did not feel himself without
+support as he advanced to recover his city.</p>
+<p>
+The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were
+weak and indifferent&mdash;a brief siege, and the capital
+of Lorraine capitulated to Duke René. Charles
+was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His
+forces, too, were a mere shadow. Three to four
+thousand men rallied round him in the Franche-Comté,
+a few hundred joined him in Burgundy,
+and as he skirted the frontier of Champagne he
+received slight reinforcements from Luxemburg.
+Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops,
+and the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs
+as had, individually, respected the duke's appeal.
+In all, the forces at Charles's disposition amounted
+to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at
+Neuss or at Granson.</p>
+<p>
+At a diet of October 17th, the compact between<span class="page"><a name="439">[page 439]</a></span>
+René and the Swiss was confirmed, and the former
+was assured of efficient aid to help him repulse
+Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was
+need. The city of Toul refused admission to both
+dukes, but furnished provision for Charles's troops,
+so that for the moment he was the better off of
+the two. René then proceeded to provision
+Nancy and to prepare it for a siege, while he himself
+proceeded to Pont-à-Mousson, and for several
+days the two adversaries were only separated by
+the Moselle. Charles's army was augmented
+daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and England,
+and by fragments of the garrisons of the
+towns in Lorraine that had yielded to
+René and the latter fell back, little by little.
+Charles in his turn held Pont-à-Mousson, and
+proceeded along the road to Nancy, not deterred
+by the Lorrainers.</p>
+<p>
+It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Burgundy
+laid siege for the second time to Nancy.
+In thus entering into active hostilities, he was
+ignoring the advice of his councillors who were
+unanimous in begging him to devote the winter
+months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or
+Flanders. His position was really very dangerous.
+He had no base on which to rest as he had recovered
+no towns except Pont-à-Mousson. But he
+ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault
+after assault upon Nancy&mdash;all most valiantly
+repulsed. Within the walls, there was an amazing<span class="page"><a name="440">[page 440]</a></span>
+display of courage, energy, and good humour. As
+a matter of fact, the duke's reputation had waned,
+while the fear of his cruelty emboldened the
+burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate
+would be better than falling into his hands, was
+the general opinion.</p>
+<p>
+Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the garrisons
+seized every occasion to harry the Burgundians.
+Familiar with the lay of the land, with
+every cross-road and by-path, they were able to
+lie in wait for the foragers and to do much damage.
+Four hundred cavaliers, coming up from Burgundy,
+were attacked by one Malhortie de Rozière, and
+literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed
+sides with ease. Only a few escaped to report the
+fate of the others to Charles. Not long after, Malhortie,
+encouraged by this success, crept up to
+the Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and
+captured a goodly number of horses.</p>
+<p>
+The troops on which Charles counted most confidently
+were Campobasso's. Several attempts
+were made to warn him that treachery was possible
+in that quarter if the commander were too
+much exasperated by delays in payment, too
+much tried by the ill-temper of his employer.
+But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what
+was passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting
+the moment for his final defection, the Italian
+found it possible to enter into communication with
+René and to retard the operations of the siege so
+as to give time for the advance of the army of<span class="page"><a name="441">[page 441]</a></span>
+relief.</p>
+<p>
+The weather of this year was a marked contrast
+to the mild season of 1473. The winter set in
+early and the cold became very severe, almost at
+once. Their sufferings made the burghers very
+impatient for the relief of whose coming they
+could get no certain assurance. The Burgundian
+lines were held so rigidly that the interchange
+of messages between the city and her friends was
+rendered very difficult.<a href="#XXI12"><sup>12</sup></a> One Suffren de Baschi
+tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged
+that René was levying troops in Switzerland and
+would soon be with them. Baschi fell into the
+duke's hands and was immediately hanged. One
+story says that Campobasso was among the interceders
+for his life and received a box on the ear for
+his pains, an insult that proved the last straw in
+his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however,
+declares that the Italian urged the death of the
+captive, fearful of the premature betrayal of his
+own intended treachery.</p>
+<p>
+This execution was one of those arbitrary acts
+condemned by public opinion as contrary to the
+code of warfare. Intense indignation among the
+Lorrainers and the Swiss forced René to retaliatory
+measures, and he ordered the execution of
+all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred and
+twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing
+an inscription to the effect that their death was
+the work of <i>le téméraire</i>. The rancour of the<span class="page"><a name="442">[page 442]</a></span>
+proceedings became terrible. No quarter was
+given in any engagements. Slaughter was the
+only thought on either side.</p>
+<p>
+Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a
+draper of Mirecourt, proved more successful than
+Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information, that
+René's army would leave Basel on December 26th,
+put heart into the beseiged and the bells rang out
+joyfully.</p>
+<p>
+Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at
+mediation between the combatants. The King of
+Portugal,<a href="#XXI13"><sup>13</sup></a> nephew of Isabella, appeared at his
+cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to
+the carnage, and in the name of humanity to stop
+a war that was horrible to all the world. In spite
+of his own stress, Charles managed to give his
+kinsman a splendid reception, but he waved
+aside his petition, and simply invited him to join
+him in his campaign.</p>
+<p>
+A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to
+march from Basel to Nancy, across the plains of
+Alsace. Meantime René had rallied about four
+thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to
+this was added an Alsatian force which had joined
+him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port. They were
+a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by<span class="page"><a name="443">[page 443]</a></span>
+routing a few Burgundians out of the houses
+where they had hidden, and massacring them
+publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles,
+was easily put to flight.</p>
+<p>
+On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh
+troops had reached St. Nicolas. He showed assurance,
+arrogance, and negligence. His belief
+in his star was fully restored. He actually did
+not take the trouble to try once more to ascertain
+the exact strength of the enemy. He had commissioned
+the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him
+at Basel, and refused to credit the statement that
+the Swiss were throwing in their fortunes with
+René. He thought that "the Child," as he contemptuously
+termed his adversary, had simply
+gone right and left to hire mercenaries, and he
+rather ridiculed the idea of taking such <i>canaille</i>
+seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of
+a gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish
+them once for all.<a href="#XXI14"><sup>14</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were
+a different and far less efficient body than the
+volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
+French gold, scattered freely, had done its work
+in exciting the cupidity of every man who could
+bear arms. There were some staunch leaders,
+like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein,
+but their kind was in the minority. Berne aided
+with money rather than with men, but she was not
+a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages<span class="page"><a name="444">[page 444]</a></span>
+to ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was
+evident in every quarter. As the troops made
+their way over the Jura their behaviour showed
+that the late splendid booty had affected them.
+Plunder was their aim. When René reviewed
+these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending
+officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor
+of Alsace.<a href="#XXI15"><sup>15</sup></a> Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed
+over to the Duke of Lorraine, who appointed him
+marshal.</p>
+<p>
+On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held
+a council meeting. The opinion of the wisest,
+already given on previous occasions, was urged
+again:</p>
+
+<p class="quote">
+"Do not risk battle. René is poor. If there are
+no immediate engagements, his mercenaries will abandon
+him for lack of pay. Raise the siege and depart
+for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army can rest and
+be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will
+be easy to fall upon René deprived of his troops."</p>
+
+<p>
+Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments.
+He was determined on facing the issue at once.
+Leaving a small force to sustain the siege, he
+ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of
+the 4th and a movement made towards St.-Nicolas.
+He selected a ground favourable for the
+manipulation of a large body, and placed his
+artillery on a plateau situated between Jarville<span class="page"><a name="445">[page 445]</a></span>
+and Neuville. It was not a good position, being
+hedged in on the right and in front by woods which
+could conceal the movements of a foe without
+impeding them. Only one way of retreat was
+open&mdash;towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's
+last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to
+cross several small streams and deceptive marshes,
+half frozen as they were, besides the river Meurthe,
+a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the
+flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread
+surprise, while in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe
+was more than possible. Curiously, the
+precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of
+Morat were repeated here&mdash;proof that Charles had
+not the qualities of a general who could learn by
+experience.<a href="#XXI16"><sup>16</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The exact force at his disposal on this occasion
+has been variously estimated. Considering the
+ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during the
+siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual
+combatants did not number more than ten thousand,
+all told. And only half of these were of any
+value&mdash;two thousand men under Galeotto, and
+three thousand Burgundians commanded by
+Charles and his immediate lieutenants. The remainder
+were unreliable mercenaries and the still
+more unreliable troops of Campobasso already
+pledged to the foe. La Marche estimates René's
+force at twelve thousand and adds: "The Duke of
+Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience,<span class="page"><a name="446">[page 446]</a></span>
+he had not two thousand fighting men."<a href="#XXI17"><sup>17</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by
+a Lorrainer, Vautrin Wuisse. The first manoeuvre
+was to divert the foe and turn him towards the
+woods, and then to attack his centre, which would
+at the same time be pressed at the front by the
+Lorraine forces, headed by René himself. The
+plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that
+they dared take the offensive, Charles was alert
+to the harsh cries of the "bull" of Uri and the
+"cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across
+the woods. A sudden presentiment saddened
+him. Putting on his helmet, he accidentally
+knocked off the lion bearing the legend <i>Hoc est
+signum Dei</i>. He replaced it and plunged into the
+mêlée.</p>
+<p>
+The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops
+and the duke's were the only ones to make sturdy
+resistance. The right wing of the army gave way
+under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry,
+"<i>Sauve qui pent</i>!" raised possibly by Campobasso's
+traitors, produced a terrible rout. Three quarters
+of the troops were in flight, while the duke still
+fought on with superhuman ferocity.</p>
+<p>
+Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected
+his own mercenaries as best he could, while Campobasso
+completed the treason that he had plotted
+with René, which had been partially accomplished
+four days previously, and calmly took up his position
+on the bridge of Bouxières on the Meurthe,<span class="page"><a name="447">[page 447]</a></span>
+to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then
+the besieged made a sudden sortie which increased
+the disorder. The battle proper was of short duration,
+with little bloodshed, but the pursuit was
+sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian
+army had left no loophole open for retreat.</p>
+<p>
+The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as
+Bouxières and inflicted carnage right and left on
+the route. It was easy work. The morasses were
+traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their
+arms, found it impossible to free themselves, when
+they once were entangled. They fell like flies
+before the fury of the mountaineers. The Lorrainers
+and Alsatians were more humane or more
+mercenary, for they took prisoners instead of killing
+indiscriminately. Charles fought desperately to
+the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged
+into the thick of the fight and risked his life in a
+reckless manner, but there is absolute uncertainty
+as to how he met his death. It is generally accepted
+that the last person to see him alive was one
+Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan
+captain. This lad, with an extra helmet
+swung over his shoulder, found himself close to
+the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops,
+noticed his horse stumble, was sure that the rider
+fell. The next moment, Colonna's attention was
+diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and
+knew no more of the day's events. The figure of
+Charles of Burgundy disappears from the view of
+man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the<span class="page"><a name="448">[page 448]</a></span>
+closing scenes of his life.</p>
+<p>
+At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine
+rode into the rescued city and re-entered his palace.
+At the gates was heaped up a ghastly memorial
+of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion
+to his cause. This was a pile of the bones
+of the foul animals they had consumed when other
+food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to
+their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe
+now became René's chief anxiety, and he despatched
+messengers to Metz and elsewhere to
+find out where Charles had taken refuge. The
+reports were all negative. The first positive assurance
+that the duke was dead came from young
+Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself
+introduced into René's presence on Monday
+evening. The page told his tale and declared that
+he could point out the precise place where he had
+seen the Duke of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on
+Tuesday morning, January 7th, a party went
+forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and
+were guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool
+which he asserted confidently was the very spot
+where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evidence
+went to give corroboration to his word, for
+the dozen or more bodies that lay strewn along
+the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool
+were close friends and followers of the duke, men
+who would, in all probability, have stayed faithfully
+by their master's person, a volunteer bodyguard
+as long as they drew breath. These bodies<span class="page"><a name="449">[page 449]</a></span>
+were all stripped naked. Harpies had already
+gathered what plunder they could find, and no
+apparel or accoutrements were left to show the
+difference in rank between noble and page. But
+the faces were recognisable and they were identified
+as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court.
+Separated from this group by a little space at the
+very edge of the pool, was another naked body in
+still more doleful plight. The face was disfigured
+beyond all semblance of what it might have been
+in life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one
+was imbedded in the frozen slime. Yet there was
+evidence on the poor forsaken remains that
+convinced the searchers that this was indeed the
+mortal part of the great duke. Two wounds from
+a pick and a blow above the ear&mdash;inflicted by "one
+named Humbert"&mdash;showed how death had been
+caused. The missing teeth corresponded to those
+lost by Charles, there was a scar just where he had
+received his wound at Montl'héry, the finger nails
+were long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula
+on the groin, and an ingrowing nail were additional
+marks of identification,&mdash;six definite
+proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this
+wretched sight, on that January morning, were
+men intimately acquainted with the duke's person.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+"There were his physician, a Portuguese named
+Mathieu, and his valets, besides Olivier de la
+Marche<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XXI18"><sup>18</sup></a></span> and Denys his chaplain who were taken
+thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It<span class="page"><a name="450"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 450]</span></a></span>
+has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and
+to know it better it [the body] has been bathed in
+warm water and good wine and cleansed. In that
+state it was recognisable by all who had previously
+seen and known him. The page who had given the
+information was taken to the king. Had it not been
+for him it would never have been known what had
+become of him considering the state and the place
+where he was found."<span style="font-size:1.1em"><a href="#XXI19"><sup>19</sup></a></span></p>
+
+<p>
+Before the body could be freed from the ice in
+which it was imbedded, implements had to be
+brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles
+hastened to the spot, when they heard the tidings,
+to show honour to the man who had been their
+accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted as
+escort as the burden was carried into the town and
+placed in a suitable chamber in the home of one
+George Marquiez. There seems to have been no
+insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference
+in the proceedings. The very spot where the
+bier rested for a moment was marked with a little
+black cross.</p>
+<p>
+As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became<span class="page"><a name="451">[page 451]</a></span>
+evident&mdash;a deep cut from a halberd in the
+head, spear thrusts through the thighs and abdomen&mdash;proofs
+of the closeness of the last struggle.
+When all the dignity possible had been given
+to the miserable human fragment and the chamber
+hung with conventional mourning, René came
+thither clad in black garments. Kneeling by the
+bier, he said: "Would to God, fair cousin, that
+your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you
+to the condition in which I see you."</p>
+<p>
+For five days the body lay in state before the
+high altar of the church of St. George, and the
+obsequies that followed were attended by René
+and his nobles, and the coffin was honourably
+placed among the ducal dead.</p>
+<p>
+Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried
+with the bones to which his name was given.
+When the Swiss turned their way homeward,
+their farewell words to René were: "If the Duke
+of Burgundy has escaped and should reopen war,
+tell us." "If he has assured his safety," René
+answered, "we will fight again when summer
+comes." There was no delay, however, in the
+division of the spoils. The Burgundian treasure
+was distributed among René's allies, and the ignorant
+soldiers received articles worth many times
+their pay, which they, in many cases, disposed of
+for an infinitesimal part of their value.</p>
+<p>
+As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and
+Mary of Burgundy wrote to Louis XI. from Ghent:</p>
+<p>
+"We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in<span class="page"><a name="452">[page 452]</a></span>
+the hands of his enemies." Other rumours continued
+to be current, not only for weeks but for
+years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that
+the vanished duke had retired to Brucsal in
+Swabia, where he led an austere life, <i>genus vitae
+horridum atque asperum</i>. Bets were made, too,
+on the chances of his return.<a href="#XXI20"><sup>20</sup></a></p>
+<p>
+Louis XI. was a very pleasant person when
+news was brought him that he liked to hear.
+Commines and Bouchage together had told him
+about the defeat of Morat and had each received
+two hundred silver marks. It was a Seigneur de
+Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters
+from Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It
+was "really difficult for the king to keep his countenance
+so surprised was he with joy."<a href="#XXI21"><sup>21</sup></a> His
+letter to Craon was written on January 9th and
+ran as follows.<a href="#XXI22"><sup>22</sup></a></p>
+
+<p class="quote1">
+"M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter
+and heard the good news that you impart to me, for
+which I thank you as much as I can. Now is the time
+to use all your five natural senses to deliver the duchy
+and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the
+duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne
+take your troops and put yourselves within the land,
+and, if you love me, keep as good order among your
+men as if you were in Paris, and prove that I mean to
+treat them [the Burgundians] better than any one in<span class="page"><a name="453"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 453]</span></a></span>
+my realm."</p>
+
+<p>
+The "five natural senses" of the king's lieutenant
+were employed most loyally to his master's service.
+The duchy of Burgundy returned to the
+French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were
+convened by Louis XI, and there was no longer
+any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful
+peer in France.</p>
+<p>
+With the exception of Guelders the lands acquired
+by Charles fell away, but the remainder as
+inherited by him passed under the rule of his
+daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the
+House of Austria, through which it passed finally
+to the King of Spain.</p>
+<p>
+On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Burgundy
+had only just passed middle life. He was
+forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six days
+old, an age when a man has the right to look forward
+to new achievements. Every circumstance
+of the dreary and premature death was in glaring
+contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in
+insolent contradiction to his own estimation of the
+obligations assumed by Fate in his behalf. In
+certain details of the catastrophe there are, of
+course, accidents. No one could have predicted
+that the duke whose chief title was a synonym for
+magnificence, that this cherished heir to his House,
+who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his
+epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours
+long, unattended and uncared-for, naked and<span class="page"><a name="454">[page 454]</a></span>
+frozen on a bed of congealed mud, with a winter
+sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it overwhelmed
+him was too appalling for any foresight.
+But the great dream of the man's life that vanished
+with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere
+chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended
+by the battle of Nancy, other means of destruction,
+inevitable and sure, would have appeared.
+The projected erection of a solidified kingdom
+stretching from the North Sea to Switzerland and
+possibly to the Mediterranean, one that could hold
+the balance of power between France and Germany,
+contained elements of disintegration, latent
+at its foundation. It is clear, from a consideration
+of the Duke of Burgundy and his position
+in the Europe of his time, that the materials
+which he expected to mould into a realm were a
+collection of sentient units. Each separate one
+was instinct with individual life, individual desires,
+conscious of its own minute past, capable of
+directing its own contracted future. That the
+hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
+had lodged upon a head already dignified by a
+plurality of similar titles, was a mere chance and
+viewed by the burghers in a wholly different light
+from that in which this same overlord regarded it.
+The fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant,
+the merchants in Flanders, the vintners in
+Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings of an
+imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds,
+unmolested highways of commerce, vineyards free<span class="page"><a name="455">[page 455]</a></span>
+from the tramp of armies. And with their desires
+fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
+the political centralisation planned by their
+common ruler, often betrayed both ignorance and
+inconsistency. At various epochs some degree of
+imperialism for the Netherland group had been
+quite to popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and
+Hainaut, it had been conceded that Jacqueline of
+Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
+conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the
+exchange of sovereigns had been effected in spite
+of the manifest injustice involved in the transaction.
+But while there was willingness to accept
+any advantages that might accrue to a people from
+the reputation of a local overlord, it was never forgotten
+for an instant that his relation to his subjects
+was as their own count and strictly limited
+by conditions that had long existed within each
+petty territory. While Charles seemed to be on
+the straight road towards his goal, the people
+within each body politic of his inherited states
+were profoundly preoccupied with their own local
+concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
+feared demands upon their internal revenues for
+external purposes.</p>
+<p>
+It does not seem probable, however, that the
+abstract question of the projected kingdom was
+ever taken very seriously among those to be
+directly affected by the proposed change. The
+bars interposed by his own subjects in the duke's
+progress towards royalty were obstructions to his<span class="page"><a name="456">[page 456]</a></span>
+successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed,
+strenuous opposition to details was allied
+to a vague and passive acceptance of the whole.
+Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly
+as a revival, not as a novelty. The previous
+existence of a kingdom of Burgundy was undoubtedly
+a potent factor in the degree of progress
+made by Charles towards conjuring into new life
+a reincarnation of that ancient realm. Yet it
+was a factor clothed with a shadow rather than
+with the substance of truth. Geographically
+there was very little in common between the
+dominion projected more or less definitely in 1473
+and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they
+had successively existed. That of Charles corresponded
+very nearly to the ancient kingdom of
+Lorraine. Franche-Comté was the only ground
+common to the territories actually held by the
+duke and to the latest kingdom of Burgundy. His
+possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly beyond
+the limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine.
+But the old name survived in his ducal title, and
+it was that name that lent a semblance of reality
+to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle kingdom
+as outlined in the duke's mind more or less
+definitely or as bounded by his ambition.</p>
+<p>
+In retrospect it is clear that more was requisite
+for the realisation of the vision of the
+wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of
+a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group
+of lands. A modern writer has pointed out how<span class="page"><a name="457">[page 457]</a></span>
+infinitely subtle is the vital principle of a nation,
+one not even to be created by common interests.
+A <i>Zollverein</i> is no <i>patria</i>. An element of sentiment
+is needful, and an element of growth.<a href="#XXI23"><sup>23</sup></a> The nation
+like the individual is the result of what has gone
+before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can
+command respect at home and abroad&mdash;that is
+the capital on which is based a national idea.
+To have wrought in common, to wish to accomplish
+more in the future, are essential conditions
+to be a people. "The existence of a nation is a
+plebiscite of every day, just as the existence of
+the individual is a perpetual affirmation of
+life."</p>
+<p>
+Now it is evident, in summing up the salient
+features of this failure, that a vital principle was
+not germinating in the inchoate mass. Charles
+himself never attained the rank of a national hero.
+More than that, with all his individual states, he
+never had any nation, great or small, at his back.
+Personally he was a man without a country. His
+father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite
+as French as his grandfather, Philip the Hardy,
+the first Duke of Burgundy out of the House of
+Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended
+his sway to many non-French-speaking peoples and
+was able to use the Flemish speech if it suited his
+whim. But that was as a condescension and as
+something extraneous. The chief of French peers
+remained his proudest title; his ability to influence<span class="page"><a name="458">[page 458]</a></span>
+French affairs, the task he liked best.</p>
+<p>
+His son was quite different in his attitude
+towards France. He minimised his degree of
+French blood royal. More than once he boasted
+of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock.
+He had certain characteristics of an immigrant,
+who has abandoned family traditions and is
+proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is
+to outshine what he has inherited. Charles was
+not exactly a stupid man, but he certainly was
+dazzled by his early surroundings into an overestimate
+of himself, into a conceit that was a tremendous
+stumbling-block in his path. He had
+not the kind of intelligence that would have enabled
+him to take at their worth the rhetorical
+phrases of adulation heaped upon him on festal
+occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very self-confidence,
+gave him a high conception of his
+duties. At his accession, he showed a sense of his
+responsibilities, a definite theory of conduct which
+he fully intended to act upon. His very belief
+in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of
+purpose. He was convinced that he could maintain
+law, order, justice in his domain, and he
+fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he
+left out of consideration the rights of the people,
+rights older than his dynasty. In his military career,
+too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest bent
+towards preserving the best conditions possible
+amid the brutalities of warfare. He curbed the
+soldiers' passions, he protected women, and was as<span class="page"><a name="459">[page 459]</a></span>
+relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as
+towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted himself
+to secure impartial equity for all alike. When
+he gave a promise, he fully intended to make his
+words good. It was only in the face of repeated
+deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous
+Louis XI. that Charles changed for the worse.
+Exasperated by the knowledge that the king's
+solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no intention
+of fulfilment, he attempted to adopt
+a similar policy and was singularly infelicitous in
+his imitation. His political methods degenerated
+into mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces,
+illumined by no clever intuition of where to draw
+the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was
+worth no more than the king's, and words were
+assuredly at a discount just then. A perusal of
+the international correspondence of the period
+leaves the reader marvelling why time was
+wasted in covering paper, with flimsy, insincere
+phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no
+true indication of the road to be travelled. There
+are, however, differences in the art of dissimulation
+and Charles never attained a mastery of the science.</p>
+<p>
+The adjective which has attached itself to his
+name in English in an inaccurate rendering of <i>le
+téméraire</i> which belongs to him in French. There
+were other terms too applied to Charles at different
+periods of his career. He was Charles the Hardy
+in his early youth, Charles the Terrible in those
+last months when he tried to fortify himself with<span class="page"><a name="460">[page 460]</a></span>
+wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all
+times he might have been called Charles the self-absorbed,
+Charles the solitary. There have been
+many men more passionate, more uncontrolled,
+than Charles of Burgundy, whose personal magnetism
+yet enabled them to win friends and to keep
+them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure
+to command personal devotion, unquestioning
+loyalty, was one of his chief personal misfortunes.
+Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found many
+lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son received
+criticism for his faults even from the faithful
+among his servitors. How a reflection of his
+bearing glows out from the mirror turned casually
+upon him by Commines' skilful hand! Take the
+glimpse of Louis XI. as he lures on St. Pol's messenger
+to imitate Charles. The Sire de Créville
+inspired by the royal interest in his narration about
+an incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his
+cheeks, stamps his feet in a dictatorial manner,
+and swears by St. George as he quotes the duke's
+words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines,
+and a Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his
+liege lord so mocked. It is a time when St. Pol is
+trying to ride three horses at once and the French
+king takes this method to have Charles informed
+of his duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I
+grow a little deaf," and the flattered envoy repeats
+his dramatic performance in a way to engrave it
+on the memory of the duke's retainer.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="charlestomb">[plate 32]</a></span>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image32charlestomb.jpg" width="600" height="452" alt="THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY" border="0" /></p>
+<br /><br />
+<p>
+In thus touching on the traits of his former<span class="page"><a name="461">[page 461]</a></span>
+master, Commines does not show malice or even
+a dislike for the duke. He is much more severe
+about Louis&mdash;only he found the latter easier to
+serve.</p>
+<p>
+In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to
+have found any companionship that affected his
+life. He is lauded as a faithful husband to Isabella
+of Bourbon but her death seemed to make
+little difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York
+had the actual significance enjoyed by Isabella
+of Portugal as consort to Philip the Good with
+his notoriously roving fancy.</p>
+<p>
+Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of
+Burgundy tried to stand alone. Perhaps his chief
+happiness in life was that he never knew how
+insufficient for his desired task he was and how
+the new art of printing, the birth of Erasmus of
+Rotterdam, were the really great events of his
+brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good fortune
+that he never knew that no splendid
+achievement gave significance to his device:
+"I have undertaken it"&mdash;<i>Je lay emprins</i>.</p>
+
+<hr />
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#427">[Footnote 1:</a> <i><a name="XXI1">Mém</a>. de la soc. bourg. de géog. et d' hist</i>. Article by A.
+Cornereau, vi., 229.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#428">[Footnote 2:</a> <a name="XXI2">Les</a> états de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, <i>Études et notices
+hist,. des Pays-Bas</i>, i., I.)</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pensionary
+of Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of
+1476. This so-called "States-general" was by no means a
+legislative assembly. When Philip the Good convened deputies
+from the various states at Bruges in 1463, it was to save
+himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals to ask
+for <i>aides</i>. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several times
+before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of
+self-convention and when a constitutional rôle was assured
+to the body; though not used for many years (<i>See</i> Pirenne,
+ii., 379.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#432">[Footnote 3:</a> <i><a name="XXI3">Pour</a> y penser la nuit jusques aw lendemain</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#433">[Footnote 4:</a> <i><a name="XXI4">S'ils n'avaient point</a> charge limitée quantefois ils devaient
+boire en chemin</i>.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#433">[Footnote 5:</a> <a name="XXI5">Compte</a>-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. 1,
+1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are
+proofs that another assembly was confidently expected.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#434">[Footnote 6:</a> <a name="XXI6">Gingins</a> la Sarra, ii., 354.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#435">[Footnote 7:</a> <i><a name="XXI7">Ibid</a></i>., 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro
+avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#436">[Footnote 8:</a> <a name="XXI8">Petrasanta</a> to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in
+Kirk, iii., 487.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#436">[Footnote 9:</a> <a name="XXI9">An</a> Italian phrase signifying to run down his game slowly.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#437">[Footnote 10:</a> <a name="XXI10">Commines</a>, v., ch. iv.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#438">[Footnote 11:</a> <a name="XXI11">Toutey</a> calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress of
+central Europe, the first of international congresses.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#441">[Footnote 12:</a> <a name="XXI12">Huguénin</a> Jeune, <i>Hist. de la guerre de Lorraine</i>, p. 217.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#442">[Footnote 13:</a> <a name="XXI13">This</a> monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking
+Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was
+refused on the score that Charles the Bold was menacing
+the safety of the French frontier. Alphonse's prayer for
+peace might have been instigated by thoughts of his own
+needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p. 386.)]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#443">[Footnote 14:</a> <a name="XXI14">Toutey</a>, p. 387.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#444">[Footnote 15:</a> <a name="XXI15">See</a> Scott's <i>Anne of Geierstein</i>. This is the man whom
+the author makes the appointed instrument of the <i>Vehmgericht</i>
+to slay Charles.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#445">[Footnote 16:</a> <a name="XXI16">Toutey</a>, p. 388.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#446">[Footnote 17:</a> <i><a name="XXI17">Mémoires</a></i>, iii., 239.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#449">[Footnote 18:</a> <a name="XXI18">It</a> is strange that La Marche does not make more of this
+scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The
+duke remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like
+the poorest man in the world and I was taken and others."
+iii., 240.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#450">[Footnote 19:</a> <i><a name="XXI19">La</a> déconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par
+Monseigneur de Lorraine</i>. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493.</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+This brief account was drawn up evidently before the
+duke's burial was known by the writer. It may have been
+written solely to please Louis XI. Still there is a simplicity
+about it that holds the attention, in spite of the fact that
+the story is not accepted by critical historians.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#452">[Footnote 20:</a> <a name="XXI20">La</a> Marche, iii., 240.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#452">[Footnote 21:</a> <a name="XXI21">Comines</a> v., ch. x.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#452">[Footnote 22:</a> <i><a name="XXI22">Lettres</a></i> vi., p. 111.]</p>
+<p class="footnote">
+<a href="#457">[Footnote 23:</a> <a name="XXI23">Renan</a>, <i>Qu'est ce qu'une nation</i>.]</p>
+
+<hr />
+<span class="page"><a name="462">[page 462]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="463">[page 463]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2><a name="BIBLIO">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a></h2>
+<p class="quote">
+There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the
+later years of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of
+Charles the Bold. Fairly adequate bibliographies can be
+found in Pirenne and Molinier (see list). The following list
+contains the full titles of the chief works to which direct reference
+is made in the text but falls far short of a complete
+description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which
+has coloured the treatment of the subject.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by
+other writers the reference is to the later books only.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France</i>. Vol. i. (Paris,
+1834.) Contains <i>Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du
+siège de Beauvais, en</i> 1472, etc.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BARANTE, M. DE. <i>Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne de
+la maison de Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de
+Reiffenberg.</i> 6th ed. 10 vols. (Brussels, 1835.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BASIN, THOMAS, 1412-1491. <i>Histoire des règnes de Charles
+VII. et de Louis XI.</i> (Latin text). Ed. J.E.J. Quicherat.
+2 vols. (Paris, 1855.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BEAUCOURT, G. DU FRESNE, MARQUIS DE. <i>Histoire de
+Charles VII</i> . 6 vols. (Paris, 1890.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BLOK, P.J. <i>Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourgondisch-Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij.</i> (The Hague, 1884.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BRANTÔME, PIERRE DE BOURDEILLE, SEIGNEUR DE. <i>&OElig;uvres
+complètes de</i>. Ed. Ludovic Lalanne. (Paris, 1876.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BUDT, ADRIAN DE. <i>Chronicon Flandriæ. De Smet
+Corpus chron. Flandr. I</i>. (Brussels, 1837-65.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+BUSSIÈRE, BARON MARIE-THÉODORE DE. <i>Histoire de
+la ligue formée contre Charles le téméraire</i>. (Paris, 1846.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Cent nouvelles nouvelles, Les</i>. Édition revue sur les
+textes originaux, etc., par A.J.V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris,
+1841.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHABEUF, H. <i>Deux portraits bourguignons du XV<span class="super">e</span>
+siècle</i>. (Dijon, 1893.) (Mémoires de la société bourguignonne
+de géographie et d'histoire. Vol. ix.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES, 1404-1475. <i>&OElig;uvres.</i> (Ed. Kervyn<span class="page"><a name="464"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 464]</span></a></span>
+de Lettenhove.) 8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. <i>Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV.</i> 2 vols.
+(Hamburg, 1843.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. <i>Urkunden zur Geschichte von Österreich,
+Steiermark,</i> etc. [Monumenta Habsburgica.] 2 vols. (Vienna,
+1849.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CLÉMART, PIERRE. <i>Jacques C&oelig;ur et Charles VII</i>. (Paris,
+1873.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Collection de documents inédits sur l'histoire de France</i>.
+"Mélanges." (Ed. M. Champollion-Figeac.) (Paris, 1843.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+COMMINES, PHILIP DE.  <i>The Historie of</i>, Englished by
+Thomas Dannett. Anno 1596. With an introduction by
+Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires de Philippe de Comines,</i> 1447-1511. Nouvelle
+édition par Messieurs Godefroy, augmentée par M.
+l'Abbé Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4 vols. Ref. (Comines-Lenglet.)
+(Paris, 1747.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+This edition contains many letters, documents, etc.,
+collected by M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy
+has been impugned in many instances. Those cited
+have been taken with a view to the later criticism upon
+them.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes</i>. Nouvelle édition
+publiée avec une introduction et des notes par Bernard
+de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref. (Commynes-Mandrot.)
+(Paris, 1901.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires de Philippe de Commynes</i>. Nouvelle édition,
+revue sur les manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale,
+etc., par Mlle. Dupont. 3 vols. Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.)
+(Paris, 1840.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+CORNEREAU, A.  <i>Le palais des états de Bourgogne à
+Dijon</i>. (Dijon, 1890.) (Mémoires de la soc. bourguignonne
+de géog. et d'hist., v.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+COURTÉPÉE, M. <i>Description, générale et particulière du
+duché de Bourgogne</i>. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE. <i>&OElig;uvres complètes</i>. (Paris, 1878-
+1904.) (Soc. des anciens textes français.) 11 vols.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DES MAREZ, G. <i>L'organisation du travail à Bruxelles
+au XV<span class="super">e</span> siècle</i>. (Bruxelles, 1903-04.) (Mémoires couronnés
+de l'acad. royale de Belgique. Vol. lxv.-lxvi.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DEWEZ, M. <i>Histoire particulière des provinces belgiques</i><span class="page"><a name="465"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 465]</span></a></span>
+<i>sous le gouvernement des ducs et des comtes, pour servir de
+complément à l'histoire générale</i>. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1834.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DU CLERCQ, JACQUES, 1420-1501. <i>Mémoires</i>. (Ed. Baron
+F. de Reiffenberg.) 4 vols. (Brussels, 1823.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+DUCLOS, CHARLES P. <i>(&OElig;uvres complètes de</i>. Nouvelle
+édition. 9 vols. (Paris, 1820.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+ESCOUCHY, MATHIEU D'(DE COUCY). <i>Chronique</i>. (1420?-1482
++.) (Ed. G. du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris,
+1863.) (Soc. de l'hist. de France.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+FREDERICQ, PAUL. <i>Le rôle politique et social des ducs
+de Bourgogne</i>. (Brussels, 1875.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+FREEMAN, EDWARD A. <i>The Historical Geography of
+Europe.</i> 2 vols. 3d edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 1903.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P. <i>Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pièces
+inédites,</i> etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. <i>Collection des voyages des souverains
+des Pays-Bas.</i> 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. <i>Documents inédits concernant
+l'histoire de la Belgique</i>. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GACHARD, L. P. <i>Études et notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas.</i> 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium</i>. (Marténe Coll. Vol. iv.)
+(Paris, 1729.).</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GINGINS LA SARRA, LE BARON DE FRÉDERIC DE, Ed.
+<i>Dépêches des ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de
+Charles le Hardi</i>, 1474-1477. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+GOLLUT, M. LOYS. <i>Les mémoires historiques de la république
+séquanoise et des princes de la Franche-Comté de
+Bourgogne.</i> (Arbois, 1846.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+JEUNE, HUGUÉNIN. <i>Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine
+et du siège de Nancy, par Charles le Téméraire, duc de
+Bourgogne,</i> 1473-1477. (Metz, 1837.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, LE BARON. [Ed. of works of
+Chastellain, Budt, etc.]; see article in <i>Bullétin de l'académie
+royale de Belgique</i>, 1887, etc.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE. <i>Histoire de Flandre</i>. 5 vols.
+(Brussels, 1853-54.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+KIRK, JOHN FOSTER. <i>History of Charles the Bold, Duke
+of Burgundy</i>. 3 vols. (Philadelphia, 1864-1868.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LABORDE (L.E.S.J.), COMTE DE. <i>Les ducs de Bourgogne:</i><span class="page"><a name="466"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 466]</span></a></span>
+<i>Études sur les lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le
+XV<span class="super">e</span> siècle</i>, etc. "Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LACOMBLET, TH. J. <i>Urkundenbuch für die Geschichte des
+Niederrheins.</i> 4 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1848.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE, 1422-1502. <i>Mémoires.</i> (1435-1488.)
+Paris, 1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 vols.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LAVISSE, ERNEST. <i>Histoire de France depuis les origines
+jusqu'à la révolution</i>. Publiée avec la collaboration de MM.
+Bayet, Block, Carré, Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Luchaire,
+Mariéjol, Petit-Dutaillis, etc. (Paris, 1893-.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI.
+is written by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University
+of Lille. (Reference used, Lavisse, IV<span class="super">II</span>.) (Paris, 1902.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LE FÉVRE, JEAN, SEIGNEUR DE ST. RÉMY. (<i>Toison d'or.</i>)
+(1395-1463.) <i>Chronique.</i> 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LE ROUX DE LINCY, A.J.V. <i>Chants historiques sur les
+règnes de Charles VII. et de Louis XI</i>.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Lettres de Louis XI</i>. (Paris, 1883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen,
+et Étienne Charavay.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+LOOMIS, LOUISE ROPES. <i>Medieval Hellenism</i>. (Columbia
+University, 1906.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MARTÉNE, EDMUND. <i>Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum,
+Historicorum, Dogmaticorum, Moralium, Amplissium
+Collectio</i>. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Mémoires et documents publiés par la société d'histoire
+de la suisse romande</i>. Vol. viii. "Mélanges." (Lausanne,
+1849.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MEYER, J. <i>Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandricarum</i>.
+(Antwerp, 1561.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MOLINET, JEAN. <i>Chronique</i> (1474-1506.) (Paris, 1824-29.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting
+especially for the siege of Neuss.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MONSTRELET, ENGUERRAND DE (d. 1453). <i>La Chronique</i>.
+(Paris, 1861.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+MOLINIER, AUGUSTE. <i>Les sources de l'histoire de France
+des origines aux guerres d'Italie</i>. Vols. iv., v., 1461-1494.
+(Paris, 1904.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+<i>Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde</i>.
+Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+OMAN, CHARLES W.C. <i>Warwick the Kingmaker</i>. 1890.<span class="page"><a name="467"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 467]</span></a></span>
+ONUFRIUS DE SANCTA CROCE, Bishop of Tricaria. <i>Mémoire
+sur les affaires de Liege</i> (1468). (Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brussels,
+1885.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+OUDENBOSCH. <i>Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, historicorum</i>,
+etc. <i>Rerum Leodiensius. Opus Adriani de vetere
+Buseo</i>, 1343. See Marténe.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PICQUÉ, CAMILLE. <i>Mémoire sur Philippe de Commines</i>.
+(Brussels, 1864.) Mém. couronnés par 1'acad. royale de
+Belgique, vol. xvi.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PIOT, G.J.C., Ed. <i>Chronycke van Nederlandt</i>&mdash;1565.
+<i>Vlaamsche Kronijk</i>&mdash;1598. <i>Collection des chroniques belges</i>.
+(Brussels, 1836-.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PIRENNE, HENRI. <i>Histoire de Belgique</i>. 2 vols. (Brussels,
+1903.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PIRENNE, HENRI. <i>Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique:
+catalogue méthodique et chronologique des sources et des ouvrages
+principaux relatifs à l'histoire de tous les Pays-Bas jusqu'
+en 1598</i>. (Brussels, 1902.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PLANCHER, URBAIN. <i>Histoire générale et particulière de
+Bourgogne avec des notes et les preuves justificatives</i>, etc. 4 vols.
+(Dijon, 1739.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+POICTIERS, ALIENOR DE. <i>Les honneurs de la cour</i>. (In
+Sainte-Palaye, <i>Mémoires sur l'ancienne chevalerie</i>, vol. 2,
+pp. 171-267.) (Paris, 1781.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+POLAIN, M.L. <i>Récits historiques sur l'ancien pays de
+Liège.</i> 4th ed. (Brussels, 1866.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+PUTNAM, RUTH. <i>A Medieval Princess</i>. (New York, 1904.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RAM, P.F.X. DE. <i>Documents relatifs aux troubles du
+pays de Liège sous les princes-évêques Louis de Bourbon et
+Jean de Horne</i>,  I vol. (Brussels, 1844.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RAMSAY, SIR JAMES H. <i>Lancaster and York, a Century
+of English History</i> (A.D., 1399-1485). 2 vols. (Oxford, 1892.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>Essai sur les enfants
+naturels de Philippe de Bourgogne</i>.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>Histoire de l'Ordre de la
+Toison d'Or</i>. (Brussels, 1830.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>Mémoire sur le sejour de
+Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas</i>. Nouveaux mém. de l'acad.
+royale. 1829.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. <i>De l'état de la population</i>,
+etc., <i>dans les Pays-Bas pendant le XV<span class="super">e</span> et le XVI<span class="super">e</span> siècle</i>.<span class="page"><a name="468"><span style="font-size:1.1em">[page 468]</span></a></span>
+Mem. de l'acad. royale in 4°. (Brussels, 1822.)
+[Also editor of various works.]</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RODT, EMANUEL VON. <i>Die Feldzüge Karls des Kühnen</i>.
+2 vols. (Schaffhausen, 1843.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+ROLAND, P. AUBERT. <i>La guerre de René II. contre Charles
+le Hardi</i>. (Luxembourg, 1742.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+ROYE, JEAN DE. <i>Chronique scandaleuse</i>. [A journal of
+the years 1460-1483.] (Ed. Bernard de Mandrot.) 2 vols.
+(Paris, 1894-96.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RUHL, GUSTAVE. <i>L'expedition des Franchimontoir en
+1468</i>. Soc. d'art et d'histoire de Liège, ix. (Liege, 1895.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+RYMER, THOMAS. <i>F&oelig;dera, conventiones, litteræ et cujuscumque
+generis acta publica inter reges Angliæ et alios quosvis
+reges</i>, etc. 20 vols. Vol. xi. (London, 1704-1716.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+SCHELLHASE, K. "Zur Trierer Zusammenkunft im Jahre
+1473." In <i>Deutsche Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft</i>.
+Band VI. (Freiburg, 1891.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+SELDEN, JOHN. <i>Titles of Honor</i>. 3d ed. (London, 1672.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+SNOY, RENIER (Snoyus Reinerus). <i>De rebus Batavicis</i>.
+(Frankfurt, 1620.) In fol.</p>
+<p class="quote">
+STEIN, H. "<i>Olivier de la Marche historien, poete et diplomate
+Bourgogne</i>." In mén couronné etc., par l'acad. royale vol.
+xlix. (Brussels, 1888.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+STOUFF, Louis. <i>Les comtes de Bourgogne et leurs villes
+domaniales</i>. (Paris, 1899.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+STOUFF, LOUIS. "Les possessions bourguignonnes dans
+la vallée du Rhin sous Charles le téméraire." <i>Annales de
+l'est</i>. Vols. xvii.-xviii. (Paris, 1903.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+TOUTEY, E. <i>Charles le téméraire et la ligue de Constance.</i>
+(Paris, 1902.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+VANDER MAELEN, PH. <i>Dictionnaire géographique de la
+province de Liège</i>. (Brussels, 1831.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+WAGENAAR, JAN. <i>Vaderlandsche Historie</i>. 21 vols. (Amsterdam,
+1749-1759.)</p>
+<p class="quote">
+WAVRIN, JEHAN DE (living 1465-1471). <i>Anchiennes
+croniques de Engleterre</i>. (Ed. Mlle. Dupont.) 3 vols. (Paris,
+1858-63.)</p>
+
+
+
+<hr />
+
+<span class="page"><a name="469">[page 469]</a></span>
+<br /><br /><br />
+<h2><a name="INDEX">INDEX</a></h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#A">A</a> | <a href="#B">B</a> | <a href="#C">C</a> | <a href="#D">D</a> |
+<a href="#E">E</a> | <a href="#F">F</a> | <a href="#G">G</a> | <a href="#H">H</a> |
+<a href="#In">I</a> | <a href="#J">J</a> | <a href="#K">K</a> | <a href="#L">L</a> |
+<a href="#M">M</a> | <a href="#N">N</a> | <a href="#O">O</a> | <a href="#P">P</a> |
+<a href="#Q">Q</a> | <a href="#R">R</a> | <a href="#S">S</a> | <a href="#T">T</a> |
+<a href="#U">U</a> | <a href="#Va">V</a> | <a href="#W">W</a> | <a href="#Xa">X</a> |
+<a href="#Y">Y</a> | <a href="#Z">Z</a><br /><br />
+
+(Note: The Page number is the link to the reference.<br />
+Page<sup>x</sup> indicates that the reference is in <span class="note">[Footnote x:]</span> at the end of the chapter.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+	<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="A">A</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Abbeville, <a href="#106">106</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#143">143</a></li>
+<li>Agincourt, battle of, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#407">407</a></li>
+<li>Aire, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#271">271</a></li>
+<li>Aix, <a href="#357">357</a></li>
+<li>Alkmaar, <a href="#71">71</a>, <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Alsace, <a href="#239">239</a><sup>15</sup>, <a href="#260">260</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>,
+ <a href="#374">374</a>-376, <a href="#386">386</a>-391, <a href="#393">393</a>-395, <a href="#397">397</a>,
+ <a href="#442">442</a>, <a href="#444">444</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Alsace, Upper, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>Amboise, <a href="#106">106</a>, <a href="#274">274</a><sup>14</sup>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#306">306</a></li>
+<li>Amiens, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#121">121</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>,
+ <a href="#298">298</a><sup>13</sup>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#311">311</a>, <a href="#321">321</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>-411</li>
+<li>Amont, <a href="#43">43</a>, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#259">259</a></li>
+<li>Andernach, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Angers, <a href="#280">280</a>, <a href="#305">305</a>, <a href="#307">307</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, duchy of, <a href="#118">118</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, Margaret of, Queen of England, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>,
+ <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#274">274</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>-80, <a href="#284">284</a>, <a href="#290">290</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, René, King of, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#332">332</a>, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#400">400</a></li>
+<li>Anjou, Yolande of, <i>see</i> Vaudemont</li>
+<li>Antwerp, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#337">337</a></li>
+<li>Appiano, Antoine d' (Antonius de Aplano), Milanese ambassador, <a href="#423">423</a></li>
+<li>Aragon, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>-296</li>
+<li>Argau, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Armagnac, <a href="#223">223</a></li>
+<li>Arras, Bishop of, <a href="#70">70</a></li>
+<li>Arras, treaty of, <a href="#11">11</a>-13, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#36">36</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#110">110</a>,
+ <a href="#221">221</a></li>
+<li>Arson, Jehan d', <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#284">284</a></li>
+<li>Arthur, King, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Artois, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Artois, Bonne of, Duchess of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Atclyff, William, <a href="#325">325</a></li>
+<li>Ath, <a href="#406">406</a></li>
+<li>Augsburg, Diet of, <a href="#349">349</a></li>
+<li>Austria, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>-257,
+ <a href="#259">259</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>, <a href="#288">388</a></li>
+<li>Austria, House of, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li>
+<li>Austria, Maximilian, Archduke of, <i>see</i> Maximilian</li>
+<li>Austria, Sigismund of (Count of Tyrol), <a href="#248">248</a>;
+<ul class="index1">
+<li>mortgages lands to Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#250">250</a>-256, <a href="#329">329</a>-331,
+ <a href="#371">371</a>, <a href="#374">374</a>;</li>
+<li>resumes sovereignty of mortgaged lands, <a href="#387">387</a>-394, <a href="#415">415</a>,
+ <a href="#444">444</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Auvergne, Marshal d', <a href="#108">108</a></li>
+<li>Auxonne, <a href="#379">379</a></li>
+<li>Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d', <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>-18, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#29">29</a></li>
+<li>Avesnes, <a href="#102">102</a>, <a href="#103">103</a></li>
+<li>Avranches, Bishop of, <a href="#206">206</a></li>
+<li>Aydie, Odet d', <a href="#98">98</a>, <a href="#305">305</a><sup>21</sup>, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup>, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="B">B</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>"Bad Penny," the, tax, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#380">380</a>, <a href="#381">381</a></li>
+<li>Balue, Cardinal, <a href="#206">206</a>, <a href="#207">207</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#283">283</a></li>
+<li>Bar, duchy of, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Barante, cited, <a href="#10">10</a><sup>15</sup>, <a href="#10">10</a><sup>17</sup>, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#68">68</a><sup>3</sup>, <a href="#314">314</a><sup>30</sup></li>
+<li>Bari, Duc de (Sforza), <a href="#413">413</a></li>
+<li>Barnet, battle of, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>Barre, Corneille de la, <a href="#103">103</a></li>
+<li>Barrois, <a href="#156">156</a></li>
+<li>Baschi, Suffren de, <a href="#441">441</a>, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Basel, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#248">248</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#375">375</a>,
+  <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>-388, <a href="#391">391</a>-392, <a href="#394">394</a>, <a href="#442">442</a>-444</li>
+<li>Basel, Bishop of, <a href="#381">381</a></li>
+<li>Basin, Thomas, cited, <a href="#355">355</a></li>
+<li><i>Basse-Union</i>, the, <a href="#375">375</a>, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#381">381</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>,
+  <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#415">415</a></li>
+<li>Baume-les-Dames, <a href="#43">43</a></li>
+<li>Bavaria, elector of, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Bavaria, Stephen of, <a href="#69">69</a></li>
+<li>Beaujeu, Lord of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Beaumont, château of, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#317">317</a><sup>37</sup></li>
+<li>Beauvais, siege of, <a href="#311">311</a>-313</li>
+<li>Bedford, John, Duke of, death of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#72">72</a></li>
+<li>Begars, Abbé de, <a href="#299">299</a></li>
+<li>Belfort, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Bellière, Vicomte de la, <a href="#304">304</a><sup>19</sup></li>
+<li>Berne, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#249">249</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#376">376</a>,
+  <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#392">392</a>, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>,
+  <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#417">417</a>, <a href="#442">442</a>, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Berry, Bailiff of, <a href="#61">61</a>-64</li>
+<li>Berry, Charles of France, Duke of (Normandy and Guienne), heads League of Public Weal, <a href="#121">121</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>character of, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#126">126</a>;</li>
+  <li>Normandy given to, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#197">197</a>-200,
+  <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#217">217</a>;</li>
+<li>won over by Louis, <a href="#205">205</a>, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#220">220</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>;</li>
+  <li>Guienne given to, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>;</li>
+  <li>proposed marriage of, <a href="#294">294</a>-298, <a href="#333">333</a>;</li>
+  <li>suspicious death of, <a href="#302">302</a>-304, <a href="#307">307</a>-310, <a href="#314">314</a>-316,
+  <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#344">344</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Besançon, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#252">252</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#380">380</a>,
+  <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#388">388</a></li>
+<li>Biche, Guillaume de, <a href="#89">89</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#206">206</a>, <a href="#211">211</a></li>
+<li>Biscay, Bay of, <a href="#282">282</a></li>
+<li>Black Forest, the, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>Bladet, <a href="#291">291</a></li>
+<li>Blamont, Count of, <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#397">397</a></li>
+<li>Blaumont, Seigneur de, Marshal of Burgundy, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Boccaccio, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Bohemia, <a href="#245">245</a>-247, <a href="#348">348</a></li>
+<li>Bonn, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Borselen, Adrian van, Seigneur of Breda, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Borselen, Frank van (Count of Ostrevant), <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>Borselen, Henry van, <a href="#323">323</a></li>
+<li>Boscise, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+<li>Bouchage, Monseigneur du, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>-297, <a href="#319">319</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Boudault, Jehan, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#60">60</a></li>
+<li>Boulogne, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#286">286</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, Catharine of, <i>see</i> Guelders</li>
+<li>Bourbon, Duchess of, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#61">61</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, duchy of, <a href="#118">118</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, Duke of, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#61">61</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>, <a href="#206">206</a>,
+  <a href="#217">217</a></li>
+<li>Bourbon, Isabella of (Countess of Charolais), <i>see</i> Charolais</li>
+<li>Bourbon, Louis of, Bishop of Liege, <a href="#137">137</a>-140, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#146">146</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>-214,
+  <a href="#218">218</a>-221</li>
+<li>Bourges, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#98">98</a></li>
+<li>Bouvignes, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#154">154</a></li>
+<li>Bouxières, <a href="#447">447</a></li>
+<li>Brabant, Anthony, Duke of, <a href="#14">14</a></li>
+<li>Brabant, duchy of, <a href="#13">13</a>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#253">253</a>,
+  <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#454">454</a></li>
+<li>Brabant, Duke of, <a href="#181">181</a></li>
+<li>Brandenburg, Albert, elector of, <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#351">351</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#352">352</a></li>
+<li>Brandenburg, Margrave of, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Brantôme, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de, cited, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Breda, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Brederode, Gijsbrecht of, <a href="#69">69</a>-71</li>
+<li>Breisgau, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#374">374</a></li>
+<li>Bresse, Philip de, <a href="#208">208</a>, <a href="#209">209</a></li>
+<li>Brie, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#281">281</a></li>
+<li>Brisac (Breisach), <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>,
+  <a href="#379">379</a>-381, <a href="#389">389</a>, <a href="#391">391</a></li>
+<li>Brittany, Duchess of, <a href="#295">295</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Brittany, duchy of, <a href="#160">160</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Brittany, Francis, Duke of, joins League of Public Weal, <a href="#114">114</a>, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#118">118</a>-120,
+  <a href="#124">124</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>ally of Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#197">197</a>, <a href="#295">295</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#296">296</a>,
+    <a href="#298">298</a><sup>13</sup>, <a href="#312">312</a>-314;</li>
+  <li>is reconciled to Louis XI., <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#210">210</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>,
+    <a href="#315">315</a>, <a href="#334">334</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Broeck, M. van der, <a href="#198">198</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Bruchsal, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Bruges, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#18">18</a>-23, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>, <a href="#154">154</a>,
+  <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#179">179</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#190">190</a>-196,
+  <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>, <a href="#404">404</a>,
+  <a href="#406">406</a>, <a href="#428">428</a></li>
+<li><i>Brunette</i>, the, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#272">272</a></li>
+<li>Brussels, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#29">29</a>, <a href="#39">39</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>,
+  <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#186">186</a><sup>4</sup>, <a href="#243">243</a>-245, <a href="#325">325</a>,
+  <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#429">429</a></li>
+<li>Bureau, Jehan, <a href="#98">98</a></li>
+<li>Buren, castle of, <a href="#320">320</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, duchy of, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#257">257</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>,
+  <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#384">384</a>, <a href="#453">453</a>, <a href="#454">454</a>, <a href="#456">456</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>Estates of, <a href="#427">427</a>, <a href="#434">434</a>, <a href="#435">435</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Franche-Comté of, <a href="#14">14</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Anthony, Grand Bastard of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#123">123</a>, <a href="#150">150</a>,
+  <a href="#159">159</a>-161, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#195">195</a>, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard of, <a href="#282">282</a>-284</li>
+<li>Burgundy, Charles the Bold, (Count of Charolais), Duke of;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>birth of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#7">7</a>;</li>
+  <li>elected knight of the Golden Fleece, <a href="#5">5</a>-7;</li>
+  <li>description of, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#165">165</a>, <a href="#166">166</a>,
+    <a href="#339">339</a>-341;</li>
+  <li>ancestry of, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#269">269</a>, <a href="#270">270</a>,
+    <a href="#277">277</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#292">292</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>,
+    <a href="#457">457</a>, <a href="#458">458</a>;</li>
+  <li>imperial ambitions of, <a href="#10">10</a>, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>,
+    <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#328">328</a>-337, <a href="#347">347</a>-361,
+    <a href="#384">384</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>,
+    <a href="#454">454</a>-457;</li>
+  <li>education of, <a href="#9">9</a>-11, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#28">28</a>-30;</li>
+  <li>weds Catherine of France, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>;</li>
+  <li>takes official part in public affairs, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>,
+    <a href="#26">26</a>;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#67">67</a>, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#166">166</a>-168,
+    <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#277">277</a>, <a href="#301">301</a>-303, <a href="#310">310</a>,
+    <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#340">340</a>, <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#407">407</a>,
+    <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#440">440</a>, <a href="#443">443</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#458">458</a>-460;</li>
+  <li>first campaign of, <a href="#37">37</a>-42;</li>
+  <li>entrusted with regency of Holland, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#67">67</a>,
+    <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#87">87</a>;</li>
+  <li>English sympathies of, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#167">167</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>,
+    <a href="#264">264</a>-267, <a href="#271">271</a>-274, <a href="#277">277</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>,
+    <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>;</li>
+  <li>weds Isabella of Bourbon, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>-65;</li>
+  <li>judicial methods of, <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>-263;</li>
+  <li>rejoices over birth of daughter, <a href="#83">83</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>;</li>
+  <li>strained relations with his father, <a href="#86">86</a>-89, <a href="#96">96</a>-99, <a href="#111">111</a>,
+    <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>;</li>
+  <li>enmity between Louis and, <a href="#86">86</a>-93, <a href="#96">96</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>-117,
+    <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>, <a href="#271">271</a>-274, <a href="#282">282</a>-284, <a href="#303">303</a>,
+    <a href="#308">308</a>, <a href="#309">309</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>, <a href="#320">320</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <i>et passim;</i></li>
+  <li>at coronation of Louis XI., <a href="#104">104</a>, <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#109">109</a>;</li>
+  <li>fears plots against his life, <a href="#112">112</a>-117, <a href="#282">282</a>-284;</li>
+  <li>joins League of Public Weal, <a href="#114">114</a>-119, <a href="#121">121</a>;</li>
+  <li>allies of, <a href="#114">114</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>-126, <a href="#188">188</a>,
+    <a href="#197">197</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>,
+    <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#292">292</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>,
+    <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>-415,
+    <a href="#422">422</a>, <a href="#423">423</a>;</li>
+  <li>letters of, to cities, <a href="#121">121</a>, <a href="#220">220</a>, <a href="#242">242</a>,
+    <a href="#243">243</a>, <a href="#272">272</a>-274, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#363">363</a>,
+    <a href="#364">364</a>;
+    <ul class="index2"><li>to Louis, <a href="#143">143</a>-144, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duchess Isabella, <a href="#271">271</a>-272;</li>
+    <li>to French council, <a href="#274">274</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duke of Brittany, <a href="#313">313</a>-314;</li>
+    <li>to Sigismund, <a href="#388">388</a>-389;</li>
+    <li>to Edward IV., <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#407">407</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duke of Milan, <a href="#413">413</a>-414;</li>
+    <li>at battle of Montl'héry, <a href="#122">122</a>-124, <a href="#449">449</a>;</li></ul></li>
+  <li>armies of, <a href="#122">122</a>, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#404">404</a>,
+    <a href="#405">405</a>, <a href="#420">420</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>-439, <a href="#445">445</a>;</li>
+  <li>dictates terms of treaty of Conflans, <a href="#127">127</a>-129;</li>
+  <li>marches against Liege, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#130">130</a>, <a href="#140">140</a>-142,
+    <a href="#182">182</a>;</li>
+  <li>destroys Dinant, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>-153;</li>
+  <li>underestimates character and strength of enemies, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#226">226</a>,
+    <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#418">418</a>,
+    <a href="#443">443</a>;</li>
+  <li>accedes to the dukedom, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#170">170</a>;</li>
+  <li>invested with titles, <a href="#170">170</a>-172, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>,
+    <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#244">244</a>, <a href="#263">263</a>, <a href="#382">382</a>-387;</li>
+  <li>unpopularity of, <a href="#169">169</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>,
+    <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#243">243</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#269">269</a>-271, <a href="#278">278</a>,
+    <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#316">316</a>-318, <a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>;</li>
+  <li>punishes Ghent, <a href="#170">170</a>-180, <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>-187,
+    <a href="#244">244</a>-246;</li>
+  <li>reforms of, <a href="#183">183</a>-185, <a href="#258">258</a>;</li>
+  <li>weds Margaret of York, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>-194, <a href="#201">201</a>,
+    <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>;</li>
+  <li>ducal state of, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>, <a href="#276">276</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>,
+    <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>-344, <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>;</li>
+  <li>demands <i>aides</i>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>-271,
+    <a href="#404">404</a>-406, <a href="#427">427</a>-434;</li>
+  <li>receives Louis at Peronne, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>-221;</li>
+  <li>crushes revolt of Liege, <a href="#213">213</a>-219, <a href="#227">227</a>-234, <a href="#238">238</a>,
+    <a href="#241">241</a>-244;</li>
+  <li>makes treaty of Peronne, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>,
+    <a href="#236">236</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>;</li>
+  <li>proposed sons-in-law for, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>-333,
+    <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#360">360</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty of St. Omer, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>;</li>
+  <li>takes lands from Sigismund, <a href="#251">251</a>-261, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#388">388</a>,
+    <a href="#393">393</a>;</li>
+  <li>relations of, with Swiss, <a href="#253">253</a>;</li>
+  <li>invested with Order of the Garter, <a href="#267">267</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>;</li>
+  <li><i>Remonstrance</i> presented to, <a href="#269">269</a>;</li>
+  <li>embassies to, <a href="#276">276</a>-279, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#360">360</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>-363,
+    <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>;</li>
+  <li>truces of, with Louis XI., <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>-300,
+    <a href="#301">301</a>, <a href="#306">306</a>,<a href="#307"> 307</a>, <a href="#315">315</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>,
+    <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;</li>
+  <li>besieges Beauvais, <a href="#311">311</a>, <a href="#312">312</a>;</li>
+  <li>reverses of, <a href="#312">312</a>-315, <a href="#427">427</a>;</li>
+  <li>acquires duchy of Guelders, <a href="#320">320</a>-328, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>,
+    <a href="#350">350</a>, <a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#364">364</a>;</li>
+  <li>negotiations between Emperor Frederic and, <a href="#328">328</a>-334;</li>
+  <li>interview of, with emperor at Trèves, <a href="#337">337</a>-353, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>;</li>
+  <li>becomes "protector" of Lorraine, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#360">360</a>, <a href="#367">367</a>-370,
+    <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>;</li>
+  <li>interferes in Cologne affairs, <a href="#365">365</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>,
+    <a href="#395">395</a>;</li>
+  <li>visits Alsace, <a href="#375">375</a>-380;</li>
+  <li>troubles with Alsace, <a href="#389">389</a>-394;</li>
+  <li>besieges Neuss, <a href="#396">396</a>-399;</li>
+  <li>war declared against, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>,
+    <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes truce with Frederic, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>;</li>
+  <li>defeated at Héricourt, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>;</li>
+  <li>besieges Nancy, <a href="#413">413</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#439">439</a>-444;</li>
+  <li>allies desert, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>;</li>
+  <li>defeated at Granson, <a href="#417">417</a>-420;</li>
+  <li>at Morat, <a href="#421">421</a>-423, <a href="#435">435</a>;</li>
+  <li>convenes states-general, <a href="#429">429</a>-435;</li>
+  <li>last battle of, <a href="#444">444</a>-448;</li>
+  <li>death and burial of, <a href="#448">448</a>-454.</li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Cornelius, Bastard of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#38">38</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, David of, Bishop of Utrecht, <a href="#69">69</a>-71</li>
+<li>Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#4">4</a>, <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>,
+  <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#21">21</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#81">81</a>-83,
+  <a href="#88">88</a>-90, <a href="#189">189</a>, <a href="#190">190</a>, <a href="#193">193</a>, <a href="#271">271</a>,
+  <a href="#322">322</a>, <a href="#442">442</a>, <a href="#461">461</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>ancestry of, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>;</li>
+  <li>English sympathies of, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#62">62</a>;</li>
+  <li>retires to convent, <a href="#90">90</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#139">139</a>,
+    <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#147">147</a>;</li>
+  <li>burial of, <a href="#385">385</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, John the Fearless, Duke of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#156">156</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard of, <a href="#56">56</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Margaret of York, Duchess of, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>-195, <a href="#224">224</a>,
+  <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>,
+  <a href="#328">328</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#406">406</a>, <a href="#430">430</a>-434, <a href="#451">451</a>,
+  <a href="#461">461</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Mary of (Duchess of Austria),
+  <ul class="index1"><li>birth of, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#83">83</a>;</li>
+<li>godfather of, <a href="#83">83</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#90">90</a>,
+    <a href="#298">298</a>; <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>, <a href="#428">428</a>, <a href="#429">429</a>,
+    <a href="#431">431</a>, <a href="#435">435</a>, <a href="#451">451</a>;</li>
+  <li>proposed marriages for, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#296">296</a>,
+    <a href="#297">297</a>, <a href="#299">299</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>-333, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>,
+    <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, marriages of, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#8">8</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>institutes Order of Golden Fleece, <a href="#2">2</a>-4;</li>
+  <li>children of, <a href="#5">5</a>, <a href="#8">8</a>, <a href="#18">18</a>, <a href="#38">38</a>,
+    <a href="#51">51</a>, <a href="#56">56</a>, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#69">69</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>;</li>
+  <li>alliance of, with England, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>,
+    <a href="#265">265</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty of Arras, <a href="#11">11</a>-13, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>;</li>
+  <li>territories acquired by, <a href="#13">13</a>-15, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>;</li>
+  <li>suppresses revolt in Bruges, <a href="#18">18</a>-23;</li>
+  <li>wealth and magnificence of, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#31">31</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>,
+    <a href="#104">104</a>-106, <a href="#108">108</a>, <a href="#158">158</a>, <a href="#160">160</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>,
+    <a href="#166">166</a>, <a href="#179">179</a>, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#184">184</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>;</li>
+  <li>crushes rebellion of Ghent, <a href="#33">33</a>-44, <a href="#67">67</a>, <a href="#94">94</a>-96;</li>
+  <li>gives Feast of the Pheasant, <a href="#46">46</a>-56;</li>
+  <li>plans crusade, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#51">51</a>-60, <a href="#65">65</a>,
+    <a href="#66">66</a>, <a href="#68">68</a>-70;</li>
+  <li>chooses second wife for Charles, <a href="#57">57</a>, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>-65;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#88">88</a>, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#163">163</a>-165,
+    <a href="#171">171</a>, <a href="#405">405</a>, <a href="#428">428</a>, <a href="#457">457</a>;</li>
+  <li>interferes in affairs of Utrecht, of Liege, and of Cologne, <a href="#69">69</a>-71, <a href="#81">81</a>,
+    <a href="#136">136</a>-138;</li>
+  <li>hospitality of, to dauphin, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#80">80</a>, <a href="#82">82</a>-85,
+    <a href="#87">87</a>-94, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#102">102</a>, <a href="#104">104</a>,
+    <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#339">339</a>, <a href="#344">344</a>;</li>
+  <li>influenced by the Croys, <a href="#87">87</a>, <a href="#97">97</a>, <a href="#98">98</a>,
+    <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>;</li>
+  <li>attends coronation of Louis XI., <a href="#103">103</a>-106;</li>
+  <li>illnesses of, <a href="#109">109</a>-111, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>,
+    <a href="#154">154</a>;</li>
+  <li>witnesses punishment of Dinant, <a href="#148">148</a>-152, <a href="#154">154</a>;</li>
+  <li>death and burial of, <a href="#154">154</a>, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>-161,
+    <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#381">381</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>;</li>
+  <li>epitaph of, <a href="#156">156</a>-157;</li>
+  <li>description of, <a href="#162">162-163</a>;</li>
+  <li>popularity of, <a href="#163">163</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#243">243</a>, <a href="#460">460</a>,
+  <a href="#461">461</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, Duke of, <a href="#457">457</a></li>
+<li>Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard of, <a href="#51">51</a></li>
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="C">C</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Cagnola, <a href="#107">107</a></li>
+<li>Calabria, Duke of, <i>see</i> Lorraine</li>
+<li>Calais, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#266">266</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>,
+  <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#287">287</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#406">406</a>,
+  <a href="#411">411</a>, <a href="#412">412</a></li>
+<li>Calixtus III., Pope, <a href="#70">70</a></li>
+<li>Cambray, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Campobasso, Antonello de, mercenary captain, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>treachery of, <a href="#440">440</a>-447</li></ul></li>
+<li>Canterbury, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#325">325</a></li>
+<li>Casanova, Abbé de, <a href="#335">335</a></li>
+<li>Castile, Ferdinand, King of, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Castile, Henry IV., King of, <a href="#295">295</a></li>
+<li>Castile, Jeanne of, <a href="#295">295</a></li>
+<li>Cat, Gilles le, <a href="#49">49</a></li>
+<li>Catto, Angelo, <a href="#420">420</a></li>
+<li>Caux, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>Bailiff of, <a href="#160">160</a></li></ul></li>
+<li><i>Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les</i>, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li><i>Cento Novelle</i>, by Boccaccio, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Cesner, Balthasar, <a href="#356">356</a></li>
+<li>Chambéry, <a href="#74">74</a></li>
+<li>Chambes, Helen de, <a href="#317">317</a></li>
+<li>Chamont, Sire de, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>Champagne, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#313">313</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>,
+  <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Channel, the, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#266">266</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#404">404</a></li>
+<li>Charenton, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#127">127</a></li>
+<li>Charlemagne, <a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Charles IV., Emperor, <a href="#248">248</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Charles (V.) the Wise, King of France, <a href="#199">199</a></li>
+<li>Charles VII., King of France,
+<ul class="index1"><li>reconciliation of, with Philip of Burgundy, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#15">15</a>-17,
+    <a href="#36">36</a>, <a href="#110">110</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#77">77</a>, <a href="#78">78</a>;</li>
+  <li>letters of, <a href="#61">61</a>-62, <a href="#96">96</a>;</li>
+  <li>refuses to join crusade, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#66">66</a>;</li>
+  <li>breach between dauphin and, <a href="#73">73</a>-79, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>-86,
+    <a href="#89">89</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#102">102</a>;</li>
+  <li>illness and death of, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#102">102</a></li>
+  <li>institutes standing army, <a href="#117">117</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Charles VIII., King of France, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#297">297</a>, <a href="#298">298</a></li>
+<li>Charles the Simple, King of France, <a href="#210">210</a></li>
+<li>Charmes, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Charny, Count de, <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Charny, Countess de, <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Charolais, Catherine of France, Countess of, <a href="#2">2</a><sup>1</sup>, <a href="#16">16</a>-18, <a href="#23">23</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death and burial of, <a href="#17">17</a>, <a href="#26">26</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Charolais, Count of, <i>see</i> Charles of Burgundy</li>
+<li>Charolais, Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of, <a href="#58">58</a>, <a href="#60">60</a>-65, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#83">83</a>,
+  <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#88">88</a>, <a href="#89">89</a>, <a href="#103">103</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#461">461</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Chassa, Jehan de, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#284">284</a></li>
+<li>Chastellain, cited, <a href="#38">38</a><sup>15</sup>, <a href="#39">39</a><sup>16</sup>
+  <a href="#40">40</a><sup>18</sup>, <a href="#42">42</a><sup>19</sup>
+  <a href="#102">102</a>, <a href="#103">103</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#119">119</a><sup>8</sup>
+  <a href="#162">162</a>-169, <a href="#174">174</a>-178, <a href="#184">184</a>-186, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>,
+  <a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup>, <a href="#277">277</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#169">169</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Château-Chinon, <a href="#61">61</a></li>
+<li>Châtenois, <a href="#377">377</a></li>
+<li>Chauny, <a href="#205">205</a></li>
+<li>Chesny, Guiot du, <a href="#295">295</a></li>
+<li>Chevelast, Louis de, <a href="#53">53</a></li>
+<li>Chimay, Count of, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Citeaux, Abbé of, <a href="#384">384</a></li>
+<li>Clarence, Duke of, <a href="#265">265</a>, <a href="#267">267</a>, <a href="#272">272</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>,
+  <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Cléry, <a href="#319">319</a></li>
+<li>Cleves, Adolph, Duke of, <a href="#45">45</a>, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#151">151</a>, <a href="#191">191</a>, <a href="#326">326</a></li>
+<li>Cleves, duchy of, <a href="#348">348</a></li>
+<li>Cleves, Marie of, Duchess of Orleans, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#21">21</a>, <a href="#23">23</a></li>
+<li>Cods, the (party name), <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup></li>
+<li>Colmar, <a href="#375">375</a>-378</li>
+<li>Cologne, <a href="#138">138</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#356">356</a>, <a href="#357">357</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>,
+  <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Cologne, Robert, Archbishop of, <a href="#362">362</a>-366, <a href="#394">394</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#398">398</a></li>
+<li>Colonna, Baptista, <a href="#447">447</a>, <a href="#448">448</a></li>
+<li>Commines (Commynes, Comines), Philip de,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>enters service of Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>, <a href="#229">229</a>,
+    <a href="#230">230</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#286">286</a><sup>28</sup></li>
+  <li>defection of, <a href="#302">302</a>, <a href="#316">316</a>-319, <a href="#333">333</a>,
+    <a href="#334">334</a>, <a href="#461">461</a>;</li>
+  <li>cited, <a href="#115">115</a><sup>6</sup>, <a href="#117">117</a>, <a href="#120">120</a>, <a href="#126">126</a>,
+    <a href="#127">127</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#214">214</a>-219, <a href="#231">231</a>, <a href="#232">232</a>,
+    <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#284">284</a>, <a href="#286">286</a><sup>28</sup>-288,
+    <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>-303, <a href="#307">307</a>, <a href="#308">308</a>,
+    <a href="#333">333</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>, <a href="#408">408</a><sup>6</sup>
+    <a href="#409">409</a><sup>7</sup>, <a href="#436">436</a>,
+    <a href="#441">441</a>, <a href="#452">452</a>, <a href="#460">460</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Compiègne, <a href="#80">80</a>, <a href="#96">96</a>, <a href="#218">218</a>, <a href="#311">311</a></li>
+<li>Compostella, <a href="#416">416</a></li>
+<li>Conflans, treaty of, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#129">129</a>, <a href="#138">138</a>, <a href="#139">139</a>,
+  <a href="#197">197</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#204">204</a>, <a href="#219">219</a></li>
+<li>Constance, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>League of, <a href="#400">400</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Constantinople, <a href="#46">46</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#52">52</a>, <a href="#55">55</a></li>
+<li>Cordes, Monsieur de, <a href="#235">235</a></li>
+<li>Corguilleray, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Cornwallis, Lord, <a href="#20">20</a></li>
+<li>Corvinus, Matthias, King of Hungary, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Cosmo, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Court, Jehan de la, <a href="#27">27</a></li>
+<li>Coutault, Monsieur, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#259">259</a></li>
+<li>Craon, Seigneur de, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#301">301</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Cret, Dion du, <a href="#48">48</a></li>
+<li>Crèvec&oelig;ur, Philip of, <a href="#206">206</a></li>
+<li>Crèvec&oelig;ur, Seigneur of, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#271">271</a></li>
+<li>Créville, Sire de, <a href="#460">460</a></li>
+<li>Croy, A. de, <a href="#159">159</a></li>
+<li>Croy, J. de, <a href="#159">159</a></li>
+<li>Croy, Philip de, <a href="#17">17</a>, <a href="#87">87</a>, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#100">100</a></li>
+<li>Croy family, the, <a href="#7">7</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>,
+  <a href="#317">317</a><sup>37</sup>, <a href="#345">345</a></li>
+<li><i>Cueillotte</i>, the (tax), <a href="#172">172</a>, <a href="#177">177</a>, <a href="#178">178</a></li>
+<li>Cyprus, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+ </ul>
+
+<br />
+<ul class="index">
+	  <li><b><a name="D">D</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Damian, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Dammartin, Count of, <a href="#76">76</a>,<a href="#77">77</a>, <a href="#98">98</a>, <a href="#227">227</a>, <a href="#311">311</a>;
+<ul class="index1"><li>letters of Louis to, <a href="#221">221</a><sup>18</sup>-224,
+  <a href="#304">304</a><sup>20</sup>-307, <a href="#404">404</a><sup>4</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>Damme, <a href="#191">191</a>, <a href="#194">194</a></li>
+<li>Dauphiné, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Dauxonne, Jacquemin, <a href="#6">6</a><sup>7</sup></li>
+<li>De Bussière, cited, <a href="#340">340</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Décapole, Alsatian, the, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>De la Loere, secretary, <a href="#234">234</a></li>
+<li>Dendermonde, <a href="#89">89</a></li>
+<li>Denmark, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Denys, Chaplain, <a href="#449">449</a></li>
+<li>Deschamps, Eustache, <i>Lay de Vaillance</i> by, <a href="#7">7</a></li>
+<li>Deventer, <a href="#71">71</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#79">79</a></li>
+<li>Dieppe, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+<li>Diesbach, Ludwig von, <a href="#209">209</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#236">236</a></li>
+<li>Dijon, <a href="#1">1</a>-7, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#215">215</a>, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#260">260</a>,
+  <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#382">382</a>-387</li>
+<li>Dinant, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>-147;
+<ul class="index1"><li>destruction of, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>-153, <a href="#241">241</a>, <a href="#312">312</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Dôle, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#385">385</a></li>
+<li>Dombourc, Jehan de, <a href="#25">25</a></li>
+<li>Dompaire, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Dordrecht, <a href="#202">202</a><sup>4</sup></li>
+<li>Du Clercq, cited, <a href="#40">40</a><sup>17</sup>, <a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#77">77</a>,
+  <a href="#149">149</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>, <a href="#153">153</a></li>
+<li>Duclos, cited, <a href="#296">296</a><sup>10</sup></li>
+<li>Dunois, Count, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Dunois, François, <a href="#223">223</a></li>
+<li>Du Plessis, Seigneur, <a href="#275">275</a>, <a href="#280">280</a></li>
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="E">E</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Easterlings, the, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>l'Écluse, <a href="#95">95</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>-191</li>
+<li>Edward IV., King of England, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>, <a href="#159">159</a>,
+<a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>-267, <a href="#273">273</a>-275, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>,
+<a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>aided by Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#285">285</a>-291, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>;</li>
+  <li>plans conquest of France, <a href="#385">385</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>-400, <a href="#402">402</a>-404,
+  <a href="#406">406</a>-408;</li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#408">408</a>, <a href="#410">410</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes peace with Louis XI., <a href="#408">408</a>-411</li></ul></li>
+<li>Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#290">290</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Émeries, Antoine Raulin, Sire d' (Aymeries), <a href="#87">87</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>, <a href="#433">433</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Engelburg, the, <a href="#372">372</a></li>
+<li>England alliance of,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>with Burgundy, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#363">363</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>;</li>
+  <li>with France, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#408">408</a>-411;</li>
+  <li>French possessions of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>,
+  <a href="#198">198</a>, <a href="#287">287</a>;</li>
+  <li>commercial relations of, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>;</li>
+  <li>wars of the Roses in, <a href="#263">263</a>-267, <a href="#272">272</a>-274, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>,
+  <a href="#284">284</a>-292</li></ul></li>
+<li>Ensisheim, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#378">379</a>, <a href="#389">389</a></li>
+<li>Épinal, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Erasmus, <a href="#461">461</a></li>
+<li>Escalles, Seigneur d', <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Escouchy, Mathieu d,'
+  <ul class="index1"><li>cited, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#54">54</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#56">56</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>,
+  <a href="#84">84</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Estampes, Count d', <a href="#29">29</a>, <a href="#80">80</a>, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Étampes, <a href="#124">124</a></li>
+<li>Eu, <a href="#316">316</a>, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Eu, Count d', <a href="#115">115</a></li>
+<li><i>Ewige Richtung</i>, the, <a href="#387">387</a></li>
+<li>Exeter, Duke of, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#288">288</a></li>
+<li>Eyb, Ludwig von, <a href="#349">349</a><sup>9</sup></li>
+  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="F">F</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+<li>Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume <a href="#340">340</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Favre, Jourdain, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Ferrara, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Ferrette, county of, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#394">394</a> <i>et passim</i></li>
+<li>Flanders, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#33">33</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>,
+  <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#427">427</a>, <a href="#434">434</a>, <a href="#439">439</a>,
+  <a href="#444">444</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Estates of, <a href="#268">268</a>-271, <a href="#404">404</a>-406, <a href="#428">428</a>,
+  <a href="#429">429</a>;</li>
+  <li>commerce of, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#454">454</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Flanders, Count of, <a href="#170">170</a>, <a href="#171">171</a>, <a href="#176">176</a></li>
+<li>Florence <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Foix, Count de, <a href="#234">234</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Foix, Eleanor de, <a href="#296">296</a></li>
+<li>Foix, Gaston de, <a href="#121">121</a></li>
+<li>Forli, Bishop of, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Fossombrone, Bishop of, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#365">365</a></li>
+<li>Fou, Ivon du, <a href="#280">280</a></li>
+<li>France, alliance of, with Burgundy, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>,
+<a href="#325">325</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>waning power of England in, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>,
+  <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>;</li>
+  <li>changed conditions in, <a href="#13">13</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#73">73</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>,
+  <a href="#269">269</a>;</li>
+  <li>assembly of states-general of, <a href="#198">198</a>-200, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>;</li>
+  <li>invasion of, <a href="#294">294</a>, etc.</li></ul></li>
+<li>France, Admiral of, the, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#273">273</a></li>
+<li>France, Catherine, Daughter of, <i>see</i> Charolais</li>
+<li>France, Charles of, Duke of Berry, <i>see</i> Berry</li>
+<li>France, Jeanne of, <a href="#61">61</a></li>
+<li>France, Michelle of, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Franche-Comté, the, <a href="#43">43</a>, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#385">385</a>,
+<a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Franchimont, <a href="#229">229</a>, <a href="#242">242</a></li>
+<li>Frankfort, <a href="#60">60</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#356">356</a>, <a href="#357">357</a></li>
+<li>Frederic, elector palatine, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Frederic III., Emperor, <a href="#15">15</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>-248, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#393">393</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>character of, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>, <a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>,
+  <a href="#359">359</a>, <a href="#365">365</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>;</li>
+  <li>negotiations of, with Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#328">328</a>-336, <a href="#345">345</a>-349, <a href="#394">394</a>,
+  <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>;</li>
+  <li>meets Charles at Trèves, <a href="#336">336</a>-357, <a href="#360">360</a>, <a href="#364">364</a>;</li>
+  <li>description of, <a href="#341">341</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>, <a href="#345">345</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty with Charles, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#415">415</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Fribourg, <a href="#392">392</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Friesland, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#69">69</a><sup>4</sup>, <a href="#358">358</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>title of Lord of, <a href="#263">263</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Friesland, West, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="G">G</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li><i>Gabelle</i>, the, <a href="#33">33</a>, <a href="#34">34</a>, <a href="#44">44</a>, <a href="#243">243</a>,
+<a href="#395">395</a></li>
+<li>Gachard, cited, <a href="#36">36</a><i>et passim</i></li>
+<li>Galeotto, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Garter, Order of the, <a href="#2">2</a>, <a href="#159">159</a>, <a href="#267">267</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>,
+<a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Gauthier, Dan, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Gautier, cited, <a href="#7">7</a><sup>12</sup></li>
+<li>Gaveren, <a href="#37">37</a>, <a href="#41">41</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>battle of, <a href="#39">39</a>, <a href="#42">42</a>, <a href="#43">43</a>;</li>
+  <li>treaty of, <a href="#179">179</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Gelthauss, Johannes, <a href="#356">356</a></li>
+<li>Genappe, <a href="#88">88</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>-94, <a href="#99">99</a></li>
+<li>Geneva, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Geneva, Lake of, <a href="#422">422</a></li>
+<li>Genoa, <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Gex, <a href="#423">423</a>, <a href="#424">424</a></li>
+<li>Ghent, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#31">31</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#267">267</a>,
+<a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#428">428</a>, <a href="#451">451</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>rebellion of, <a href="#33">33</a>-39, <a href="#55">55</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>;</li>
+  <li>submission of, <a href="#40">40</a>-44, <a href="#46">46</a>, <a href="#94">94</a>-96;</li>
+  <li>insurrection in, <a href="#170">170</a>, <a href="#172">172</a>-182;</li>
+  <li>humiliation of, <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#185">185</a>, <a href="#186">186</a>, <a href="#244">244</a>-246</li></ul></li>
+<li>Gilles, Frère, <a href="#383">383</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Givry, Sire de, <a href="#423">423</a></li>
+<li>Gloucester, Duke of, <a href="#410">410</a></li>
+<li>Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of, <a href="#19">19</a></li>
+<li>Golden Fleece, Order of the, instituted, <a href="#2">2</a>-4, <a href="#157">157</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>assemblies of, <a href="#2">2</a>-7, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#31">31</a>, <a href="#55">55</a>,
+  <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#187">187</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#190">190</a>, <a href="#193">193</a>,
+  <a href="#322">322</a>-324;</li>
+  <li>knights of, <a href="#5">5</a>-7, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>,
+  <a href="#322">322</a>, <a href="#323">323</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>, <a href="#401">401</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Gorcum, <a href="#113">113</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Görlitz, Elizabeth of, <a href="#14">14</a></li>
+<li>Granson, battle of, <a href="#417">417</a>-419, <a href="#421">421</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Grave, <a href="#320">320</a></li>
+<li>Grenoble, <a href="#101">101</a></li>
+<li>Grey, Jean de, <a href="#434">434</a></li>
+<li>Groothuse, Louis de la, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#272">272</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#286">286</a></li>
+<li>Groothuse, Mathys de la, <a href="#171">171</a>, <a href="#174">174</a>-179</li>
+<li>Guelders, Adolf, Duke of, <a href="#320">320</a>, <a href="#323">323</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>imprisonment of, <a href="#322">322</a>-325</li></ul></li>
+<li>Guelders, Arnold, Duke of, <a href="#69">69</a>, <a href="#320">320</a>-324;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#324">324</a>, <a href="#327">327</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Guelders, Catharine of Bourbon, Duchess of, <a href="#322">322</a></li>
+<li>Guelders, Charles of, <a href="#324">324</a>, <a href="#326">326</a>, <a href="#328">328</a>, <a href="#367">367</a></li>
+<li>Guelders, duchy of, <a href="#320">320</a>-326, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>, <a href="#350">350</a>,
+<a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li>
+<li>Guelders, Philippa of, <a href="#326">326</a>, <a href="#328">328</a></li>
+<li>Guérin, Jean de, <a href="#150">150</a></li>
+<li>Guienne, Charles of France,  Duke of, <i>see</i> Berry</li>
+<li>Guienne, duchy of, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>,
+<a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#403">403</a></li>
+<li>Guise, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Guisnes, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#287">287</a></li>
+
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="H">H</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Haarlem, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Hagenbach, Peter von, <a href="#110">110</a><sup>1</sup>, <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#336">336</a>,
+<a href="#354">354</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Governor of  Alsace, <a href="#239">239</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#257">257</a>,
+  <a href="#260">260</a>, <a href="#370">370</a>-381, <a href="#389">389</a>, <a href="#390">390</a>, <a href="#394">394</a>;</li>
+  <li>trial and execution of, <a href="#390">390</a>-392</li></ul></li>
+<li>Hagenbach, Stephen von, <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#397">397</a></li>
+<li>Hague, The, <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#113">113</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#263">263</a></li>
+<li>Hainaut, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>,
+<a href="#239">239</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#433">433</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#455">455</a></li>
+<li>Ham, <a href="#206">206</a></li>
+<li>Hanseatic League, the, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Heers, Raes de la Rivière, Lord of, <a href="#138">138</a></li>
+<li>Heinsberg, John of, Bishop of Liege, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#139">139</a></li>
+<li>Henry IV., of Castile, <a href="#295">295</a><sup>9</sup></li>
+<li>Henry V., King of England, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#155">155</a></li>
+<li>Henry VI., King of England, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#99">99</a>,
+<a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#288">288</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>character of, <a href="#155">155</a>, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>;</li>
+  <li>death of, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#291">291</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Henry VII., King of England, <a href="#264">264</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Héricourt, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#415">415</a></li>
+<li>Hermite, Tristan l', <a href="#79">79</a></li>
+<li>Hesdin, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>-284, <a href="#330">330</a></li>
+<li>Hesse, Hermann of, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#398">398</a></li>
+<li>Holland, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>, <a href="#69">69</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>,
+<a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#263">263</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#454">454</a>,
+<a href="#455">455</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>title of Count of, <a href="#201">201</a>-203, <a href="#263">263</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Holland, Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of, <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>,
+<a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#455">455</a></li>
+<li>Holland, South, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#203">203</a></li>
+<li>Holland, William VI., Count of, <a href="#8">8</a></li>
+<li>Honfleur, <a href="#273">273</a></li>
+<li>Hooks, the (party name), <a href="#9">9</a><sup>14</sup></li>
+<li>Houthem, <a href="#170">170</a></li>
+<li>Howard, Lord, <a href="#411">411</a></li>
+<li>Hugonet, Chancellor, <a href="#276">276</a>, <a href="#291">291</a>, <a href="#350">350</a><sup>10</sup>, <a href="#428">428</a>-433</li>
+<li>Humbercourt, Seigneur de, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>, <a href="#214">214</a>, <a href="#291">291</a></li>
+<li>Hungary, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#363">363</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>King of, <a href="#351">351</a>, <a href="#420">420</a>-421</li></ul></li>
+<li>Huy, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#243">243</a></li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="In">I</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Innsbruck, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Irma, Jean, <a href="#392">392</a></li>
+<li>Isabella of Portugal, Duchess  of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="J">J</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Jarville, <a href="#445">445</a></li>
+<li>Jarville, Sieur de, <a href="#427">427</a></li>
+<li>Jerusalem, <a href="#161">161</a></li>
+<li>Joan of Arc, <a href="#11">11</a></li>
+<li>Joinville, castle  of, <a href="#368">368</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>treaty of, <a href="#369">369</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Jomini, <a href="#418">418</a><sup>15</sup></li>
+<li>Jougne, <a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#419">419</a></li>
+<li>Jouvençal, Chancellor, <a href="#198">198</a></li>
+<li>Juliers, Duke of, <a href="#326">326</a></li>
+<li>Jura, the, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#444">444</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	  <li><b><a name="K">K</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Kaisersberg, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Kennemerland, <a href="#71">71</a></li>
+<li>Kervyn de Lettenhove, Baron, cited, <a href="#218">218</a><sup>15</sup>,
+<a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Knebel, Johannes R., <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="L">L</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>La Hogue, <a href="#403">403</a></li>
+<li>Laisné, Jeanne (Fouquet), <i>La Hachette</i>, <a href="#313">313</a></li>
+<li>Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess of, <a href="#27">27</a>-29;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#39">39</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>La Marche, Olivier de, cited, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#17">17</a>, <a href="#25">25</a>, <a href="#26">26</a>,
+<a href="#29">29</a>, <a href="#30">30</a>, <a href="#40">40</a><sup>17</sup>, <a href="#42">42</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>-50, <a href="#54">54</a>-56,
+<a href="#68">68</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>-116, <a href="#120">120</a>,
+<a href="#159">159</a>-162, <a href="#189">189</a>-194, <a href="#232">232</a>, <a href="#419">419</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>,
+<a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#449">449</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>knighted, <a href="#120">120</a>, <a href="#123">123</a>;</li>
+  <li>loyalty and zeal  of, <a href="#159">159</a>-161, <a href="#183">183</a>, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#318">318</a>,
+  <a href="#319">319</a>, <a href="#327">327</a>, <a href="#328">328</a>, <a href="#423">423</a>, <a href="#425">425</a>,
+  <a href="#426">426</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Lambert, Bishop of Tongres, <a href="#131">131</a>, <a href="#132">132</a>, <a href="#134">134</a></li>
+<li>Lancaster, House of, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#278">278</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>,
+<a href="#291">291</a></li>
+<li>Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de, <a href="#47">47</a></li>
+<li>Lanternier, Jehan, <a href="#4">4</a><sup>5</sup></li>
+<li>Laon, <a href="#223">223</a></li>
+<li>La Rivière, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>La Rochelle, <a href="#281">281</a><sup>22</sup></li>
+<li>Lauffen, <a href="#378">378</a></li>
+<li>Lauffenberg, <a href="#251">251</a></li>
+<li>Laurentian Library, the, <a href="#224">224</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Lausanne, <a href="#375">375</a></li>
+<li>Lavin, Étienne de, <a href="#365">365</a></li>
+<li>Lavisse, Ernest, <a href="#466">466</a></li>
+<li>League of Constance, <a href="#400">400</a></li>
+<li>League of Public Weal, <a href="#118">118</a>-129, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#188">188</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>,
+<a href="#204">204</a></li>
+<li>Le Grand, Abbé, <a href="#238">238</a></li>
+<li>Le Gros, Jehan, <a href="#283">283</a>, <a href="#284">284</a></li>
+<li>Le Quesnoy, <a href="#96">96</a>-98</li>
+<li>Lescun, Seigneur de, <a href="#295">295</a>, <a href="#296">296</a>, <a href="#305">305</a><sup>21</sup></li>
+<li>Liege, description of, <a href="#130">130</a>-132, <a href="#136">136</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>, <a href="#227">227</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>government of, <a href="#131">131</a>-135;</li>
+  <li>bishop-princes of, <a href="#131">131</a>-133, <a href="#135">135</a>, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>-214,
+  <a href="#218">218</a>-221;</li>
+  <li>rebellion of, <a href="#138">138</a>-140, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>,
+  <a href="#214">214</a>, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#363">363</a>;</li>
+  <li>aided by Louis XI., <a href="#138">138</a>, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>-213;</li>
+  <li>punishment of, <a href="#141">141</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>,
+  <a href="#182">182</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#228">228</a>-234,
+  <a href="#237">237</a>-241, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#312">312</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Liege, bishopric of, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Lille, <a href="#45">45</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>-56, <a href="#63">63</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>,
+<a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#268">268</a>, <a href="#270">270</a></li>
+<li>Limbourg, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Livornia, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Loches, <a href="#208">208</a></li>
+<li>Loisey, Anthony de, <a href="#238">238</a></li>
+<li>Lombardy, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#413">413</a></li>
+<li>London, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Longjumeau, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>Longueval, Hugues de, <a href="#53">53</a></li>
+<li>Loreille, Thomas de, <a href="#160">160</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, duchy of, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>-239, <a href="#337">337</a>, <a href="#338">338</a>,
+<a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#357">357</a><sup>18</sup>,
+<a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>,
+<a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#419">419</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, Estates of, the, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, Duke of, <a href="#124">124</a></li>
+<li>Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou,  Duke of (Calabria), <a href="#126">126</a>, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#332">332</a>,
+<a href="#333">333</a>, <a href="#366">366</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death  of, <a href="#337">337</a>, <a href="#357">357</a><sup>18</sup>, <a href="#366">366</a>, <a href="#367">367</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Lorraine, René, Duke of,  accepts Burgundian protection, <a href="#367">367</a>-370, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>,
+<a href="#444">444</a>, <a href="#446">446</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>joins league  against Charles, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#401">401</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>-414,
+  <a href="#422">422</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>-443, <a href="#451">451</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Louis XI., King of France, <a href="#17">17</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>rebels against Charles  VII., <a href="#73">73</a>-76;</li>
+  <li>marries Charlotte of Savoy, <a href="#74">74</a>, <a href="#75">75</a>;</li>
+  <li>letters of, to Charles VII., <a href="#78">78</a>, <a href="#79">79</a>;
+    <ul class="index2"><li>to Dammartin, <a href="#221">221</a>-224, <a href="#304">304</a>-307, <a href="#408">408</a>;</li>
+    <li>to envoys, <a href="#295">295</a>-301, <a href="#452">452</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Count de Foix, <a href="#234">234</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Lorenzo de' Medici, <a href="#297">297</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Duke of Milan, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#306">306</a>;</li>
+    <li>to Amiens, <a href="#300">300</a>;</li>
+    <li>to chancellor, <a href="#402">402</a>;</li></ul></li>
+  <li>flees to Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#76">76</a>-79;</li>
+  <li>generosity of Duke Philip to, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#82">82</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>-94,
+  <a href="#96">96</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#157">157</a>, <a href="#161">161</a>, <a href="#339">339</a>;</li>
+  <li>is godfather of Mary of Burgundy, <a href="#83">83</a>, <a href="#84">84</a>, <a href="#86">86</a>, <a href="#90">90</a>,
+  <a href="#298">298</a>;</li>
+  <li>tastes of, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#92">92</a>, <a href="#107">107</a>, <a href="#108">108</a>;</li>
+  <li>duplicity of, <a href="#92">92</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#101">101</a>, <a href="#105">105</a>,
+  <a href="#138">138</a>-140, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#208">208</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#228">228</a>,
+  <a href="#231">231</a>, <a href="#233">233</a>-236, <a href="#271">271</a>-279, <a href="#281">281</a>-283,
+  <a href="#298">298</a>-300, <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#459">459</a>, <a href="#460">460</a>;</li>
+  <li>accession of, <a href="#102">102</a>-104, <a href="#170">170</a>;</li>
+  <li>ingratitude of, <a href="#102">102</a>-105, <a href="#109">109</a>, <a href="#116">116</a>; </li>
+  <li>character of, <a href="#106">106</a>-109, <a href="#115">115</a>, <a href="#408">408</a>;</li>
+  <li>enmity between Charles and, <a href="#114">114</a>-117, <a href="#333">333</a>-335, <a href="#344">344</a>,
+  <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#436">436</a>;</li>
+  <li>nobles in league against, <a href="#114">114</a>-125, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#312">312</a>-315;</li>
+  <li>policy of, <a href="#118">118</a>-121, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>-201,<a href="#203">203</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty of Conflans, <a href="#127">127</a>-129;</li>
+  <li>incites opposition to Charles of Burgundy, <a href="#146">146</a>-148, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#189">189</a>,
+  <a href="#204">204</a>, <a href="#205">205</a>, <a href="#211">211</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>, <a href="#215">215</a>,
+  <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>,
+  <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#437">437</a>, <a href="#443">443</a>;</li>
+  <li>breaks treaties, <a href="#197">197</a>-201, <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>-284;</li>
+  <li>makes visit to Peronne, <a href="#204">204</a>-210, <a href="#213">213</a>-219, <a href="#244">244</a>;</li>
+  <li>signs treaty at Peronne, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#235">235</a>, <a href="#236">236</a>,
+  <a href="#283">283</a>;</li>
+  <li>ally of the Swiss, <a href="#249">249</a>, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>,
+  <a href="#402">402</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes nucleus of standing army, <a href="#268">268</a>;</li>
+  <li>aids Earl of Warwick and Margaret of Anjou, <a href="#274">274</a>-276, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>;</li>
+  <li>birth of son of, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>;</li>
+  <li>makes truce with Charles, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#305">305</a>,
+  <a href="#306">306</a>, <a href="#315">315</a>, <a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#412">412</a>,
+  <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>;</li>
+  <li>suspected of death of brother, <a href="#307">307</a>-310, <a href="#314">314</a>, <a href="#344">344</a>;</li>
+  <li>rewards Beauvais, <a href="#313">313</a>;</li>
+  <li>wins over Edward IV., <a href="#408">408</a>-411;</li>
+  <li>rejoices in death of Charles, <a href="#452">452</a>, <a href="#453">453</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Louvain, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#91">91</a>, <a href="#92">92</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>,
+ <a href="#243">243</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>University of, <a href="#137">137</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Lower Union, the, <i>see</i> Basse-Union</li>
+<li>Lucerne, <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#387">387</a></li>
+<li>Lude, Seigneur de, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Luxemburg, duchy of, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#156">156</a>,
+<a href="#337">337</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#387">387</a>,
+<a href="#395">395</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>, <a href="#439">439</a>, <a href="#444">444</a></li>
+<li>Luxemburg, John of, <a href="#191">191</a></li>
+<li>Luxeuil, <a href="#379">379</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Luzine River, the, <a href="#397">397</a></li>
+<li>Lyme, <a href="#285">285</a></li>
+<li>Lyons, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#80">80</a></li>
+
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+<li><b><a name="M">M</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Maestricht, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#395">395</a></li>
+<li>Maine, <a href="#12">12</a></li>
+<li>Malhortie, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Mandrot, Bernard Édouard,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>editor of Commynes' <i>Mémoires, Jean de Roye</i>, etc.,</li>
+  <li>cited, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>Manton, Seigneur de, <a href="#425">425</a></li>
+<li>Marchant, Ythier, <a href="#299">299</a></li>
+<li>Marck, Adolph de la, <a href="#86">86</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Marne River, the, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>Marquiez, George, <a href="#450">450</a></li>
+<li>Mas, Gilles du, <a href="#189">189</a></li>
+<li>Mathieu, <a href="#449">449</a></li>
+<li>Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, <a href="#247">247</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>proposed marriage of, <a href="#250">250</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>-331,
+  <a href="#335">335</a>, <a href="#341">341</a>, <a href="#342">342</a>, <a href="#347">347</a>, <a href="#349">349</a>,
+  <a href="#369">369</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Mayence, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#349">349</a></li>
+<li>Mayence, Archbishop of, <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#343">343</a>, <a href="#344">344</a></li>
+<li>Mazilles, Jehan de, <a href="#239">239</a>-242</li>
+<li>Mechlin, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#180">180</a>, <a href="#181">181</a>, <a href="#363">363</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Medici, Lorenzo de', <a href="#297">297</a></li>
+<li>Metz, <a href="#336">336</a>-338, <a href="#378">378</a>, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#448">448</a></li>
+<li>Metz, Bishop of, <a href="#445">445</a></li>
+<li>Meurin, secretary to Louis XI., <a href="#222">222</a></li>
+<li>Meurthe River, the, <a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#447">447</a></li>
+<li>Meuse River, the, <a href="#148">148</a>, <a href="#151">151</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>, <a href="#227">227</a>,
+<a href="#228">228</a>, <a href="#238">238</a></li>
+<li>Meyer, J., cited, <a href="#34">34</a>, <a href="#218">218</a><sup>15</sup>,
+<a href="#261">261</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Michel, the Rhetorician, cited, <a href="#58">58</a></li>
+<li>Middelburg, <a href="#25">25</a>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>, <a href="#272">272</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#274">274</a></li>
+<li>Milan, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#414">414</a><sup>11</sup>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Milan, Duke of, <a href="#99">99</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#305">305</a>, <a href="#306">306</a><sup>23</sup>,
+<a href="#413">413</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Mirecourt, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Mongleive, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Mons, <a href="#55">55</a>, <a href="#318">318</a>, <a href="#333">333</a></li>
+<li>Montbazon, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#300">300</a></li>
+<li>Montereau, bridge of, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#155">155</a></li>
+<li>Montfort, Ulrich von, <a href="#360">360</a></li>
+<li>Montgomery, Sir Thomas  (Mongomere), <a href="#399">399</a></li>
+<li>Montl'héry, battle of, <a href="#120">120</a>, <a href="#122">122</a>-124, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#149">149</a>,
+<a href="#449">449</a></li>
+<li>Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres,  <a href="#130">130</a>, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Morat, battle of, <a href="#421">421</a>, <a href="#422">422</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#443">443</a>,
+<a href="#445">445</a>, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Morges, <a href="#422">422</a></li>
+<li>Morvilliers, Chancellor, <a href="#112">112</a>-117</li>
+<li>Moselle River, the, <a href="#339">339</a>, <a href="#354">354</a>, <a href="#355">355</a>, <a href="#362">362</a>,
+<a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#439">439</a></li>
+<li>Moutils-lès-Tours, <a href="#304">304</a></li>
+<li>Mulhouse, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#254">254</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>-380</li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	  <li><b><a name="N">N</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Namur, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#144">144</a>, <a href="#152">152</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>, <a href="#224">224</a>,
+<a href="#227">227</a>, <a href="#322">322</a>, <a href="#323">323</a>, <a href="#410">410</a></li>
+<li>Namur, county of, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>, <a href="#139">139</a>, <a href="#145">145</a>,
+<a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Nancy, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#448">448</a>, <a href="#450">450</a>, <a href="#452">452</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>sieges of, <a href="#413">413</a>, <a href="#414">414</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>-444;</li>
+  <li>battle of, <a href="#448">448</a>-452, <a href="#454">454</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Naples, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Naples, King of, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Napoleon, <a href="#398">398</a></li>
+<li>Narbonne, Archbishop of, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#117">117</a>-128</li>
+<li>Nassau, Engelbert of, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#342">342</a></li>
+<li>Nassau, John of, <a href="#191">191</a></li>
+<li><i>Nations</i>, the, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#113">113</a>, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Nesle, <a href="#306">306</a>, <a href="#308">308</a>-311</li>
+<li>Netherlands, the, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#132">132</a>, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#269">269</a>,
+<a href="#314">314</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>states-general  of, <a href="#428">428</a>-434</li></ul></li>
+<li>Neufchâtel, <a href="#313">313</a></li>
+<li>Neufchâtel, Isabelle of, <a href="#51">51</a></li>
+<li>Neuss, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>-399, <a href="#404">404</a>, <a href="#405">405</a>, <a href="#413">413</a>,
+<a href="#438">438</a></li>
+<li>Neuville, <a href="#445">445</a></li>
+<li>Nevers, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Nevers, Charles, Count of, <a href="#7">7</a>, <a href="#112">112</a>, <a href="#181">181</a></li>
+<li>Neville, Anne, <a href="#280">280</a></li>
+<li>Nice, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Nimwegen, <a href="#326">326</a>-328</li>
+<li>Norfolk, Duchess of, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#194">194</a>, <a href="#412">412</a></li>
+<li>Normandy, Charles of France, Duke of, <i>see</i> Berry</li>
+<li>Normandy, duchy of, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#72">72</a>, <a href="#109">109</a>, <a href="#125">125</a>,
+<a href="#198">198</a>, <a href="#200">200</a>, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#275">275</a>,
+<a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#311">311</a>, <a href="#312">312</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>, <a href="#404">404</a></li>
+<li>Norway, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Noseret, <a href="#419">419</a></li>
+<li>Noyon, <a href="#205">205</a></li>
+<li>Nuremberg, <a href="#86">86</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="O">O</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Obernai, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Oise River, the, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>Onofrio de Santa Croce, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#213">213</a></li>
+<li>Orange, Prince of, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#79">79</a>, <a href="#228">228</a></li>
+<li>Oriole, Pierre d,' <a href="#298">298</a></li>
+<li>Orleans, <a href="#298">298</a>, <a href="#316">316</a></li>
+<li>Orleans, duchy of, <a href="#118">118</a></li>
+<li>Orleans, Duke of, <a href="#19">19</a>-23</li>
+<li>Osterlings, the, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Ostrevant, Count of, <i>see</i> Borselen</li>
+<li>Oudenarde, <a href="#38">38</a></li>
+<li>Ourré, Gerard, <a href="#97">97</a></li>
+<li>Oxford, <a href="#266">266</a></li>
+
+	</ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	 <li><b><a name="P">P</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Palatinate, the, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Palatine, Count, the, <a href="#254">254</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>the elector, <a href="#363">363</a>, <a href="#364">364</a>;</li>
+  <li>Frederic, elector, <a href="#247">247</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Panigarola, Johannes Petrus, Milanese ambassador, cited, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#417">417</a>, <a href="#423">423</a>,
+<a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#434">434</a>, <a href="#435">435</a>, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>Paris, <a href="#11">11</a>, <a href="#105">105</a>, <a href="#110">110</a>, <a href="#124">124</a>-128, <a href="#197">197</a>,
+<a href="#219">219</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#293">293</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>,
+<a href="#407">407</a>, <a href="#409">409</a></li>
+<li>Paris, University of, <a href="#103">103</a>, <a href="#125">125</a>, <a href="#368">368</a></li>
+<li>Paston, Sir John, letters of, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#325">325</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>, <a href="#411">411</a>,
+<a href="#412">412</a>, <a href="#419">419</a>-420</li>
+<li>Paston, John, the younger (brother of above), letter of, <a href="#194">194</a>-196</li>
+<li>Paston, Margaret, <a href="#194">194</a>, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#411">411</a>-412,
+<a href="#419">419</a></li>
+<li>Pavia, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Pellet, Jean, <a href="#254">254</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#258">258</a></li>
+<li>Pepin, <a href="#131">131</a></li>
+<li>Perdriel, Henry, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Périgny, <a href="#382">382</a></li>
+<li>Périgord, <a href="#281">281</a><sup>22</sup></li>
+<li>Peronne, interview of Louis XI. and Charles at, <a href="#203">203</a>-226, <a href="#283">283</a>, <a href="#409">409</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>treaty of, <a href="#219">219</a>-221, <a href="#223">223</a>, <a href="#237">237</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>-283</li></ul></li>
+<li>"Peronne, the Peace of," <a href="#224">224</a>-226</li>
+<li>Perrenet, <a href="#80">80</a></li>
+<li>Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author of Vol. IV<span class="super">II</span>, Lavisse, <i>Hist. de France, see</i> Lavisse.</li>
+<li>Petitpas, Jean, <a href="#178">178</a></li>
+<li>Petrasanta, Franciscus, Milanese ambassador, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Pheasant, Feast of the, <a href="#46">46</a>-56</li>
+<li>Picardy, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#284">284</a>, <a href="#314">314</a>, <a href="#404">404</a>, <a href="#456">456</a></li>
+<li>Picquigny, <a href="#408">408</a></li>
+<li>Plessis-les-Tours, <a href="#106">106</a></li>
+<li>Pleume, <a href="#160">160</a></li>
+<li>Podiebrad, George, ex-king of Bohemia, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#251">251</a></li>
+<li>Poictiers, Alienor de, cited, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#84">84</a></li>
+<li>Poinsot, Jean, <a href="#254">254</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#258">258</a></li>
+<li>Poitiers, <a href="#293">293</a></li>
+<li>Poland, <a href="#245">245</a>, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Pont-à-Mousson, <a href="#439">439</a></li>
+<li>Pont de Cé, <a href="#316">316</a></li>
+<li>Porcupine, Order of the, <a href="#20">20</a>, <a href="#22">22</a></li>
+<li>Portinari, Thomas, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Portugal, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#270">270</a>, <a href="#277">277</a></li>
+<li>Portugal, Alphonse V., King of, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Pot, Philip de, <a href="#53">53</a>, <a href="#63">63</a>, <a href="#64">64</a></li>
+<li>Poucque, castle of, <a href="#37">37</a></li>
+<li>Prussia, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Public Weal, War of, <i>see</i> League</li>
+
+	 </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="Q">Q</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Quaux River, the, <a href="#42">42</a></li>
+<li>Quercy, <a href="#281">281</a><sup>22</sup></li>
+<li>Quiévrain, Seigneur de, <a href="#317">317</a></li>
+<li>Quingey, Simon de, <a href="#301">301</a>, <a href="#302">302</a>, <a href="#307">307</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="R">R</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Rampart, Jean, <a href="#9">9</a></li>
+<li>Ratellois, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Ratisbon, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#60">60</a></li>
+<li>Ravestein, Madame de, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Ravestein, Monseigneur de, <a href="#89">89</a><sup>4</sup></li>
+<li>Renty, Monseigneur de, <a href="#240">240</a></li>
+<li>Rethel, <a href="#396">396</a></li>
+<li>Rheims, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#104">104</a>, <a href="#170">170</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#403">403</a>,
+<a href="#407">407</a></li>
+<li>Rheims, Archbishop of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Rheinfelden, <a href="#251">251</a></li>
+<li>Rhine, the, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#355">355</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>Valley, <a href="#257">257</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Rhinelands, the, <a href="#388">388</a>, <a href="#389">389</a></li>
+<li>Rhodes, <a href="#161">161</a></li>
+<li>Rivers, Earl, <a href="#266">266</a></li>
+<li>Roche, Henri de la, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Rochefort, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Rochefort, Sire of, <a href="#426">426</a></li>
+<li>Rochefoucauld, <a href="#224">224</a></li>
+<li>Roelants, Gort, <a href="#428">428</a><sup>2</sup>, <a href="#429">429</a>, <a href="#433">433</a></li>
+<li>Romans, King of the, <a href="#329">329</a>-332</li>
+<li>Rome, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#364">364</a></li>
+<li>Romont, Count of, <a href="#416">416</a></li>
+<li>Romorantin, <a href="#62">62</a></li>
+<li>Roses, Wars of the, <a href="#263">263</a>-267, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>, <a href="#285">285</a>-292</li>
+<li>Rossillon, <a href="#225">225</a></li>
+<li>Rottelin, Marquise Hugues de, <a href="#18">18</a></li>
+<li>Rotterdam, <a href="#461">461</a></li>
+<li>Rouen, <a href="#143">143</a>, <a href="#273">273</a>, <a href="#275">275</a><sup>16</sup>, <a href="#313">313</a>, <a href="#314">314</a></li>
+<li>Rousillon, <a href="#304">304</a></li>
+<li>Rouvre, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#436">436</a>, <a href="#437">437</a></li>
+<li>Roye, <a href="#311">311</a></li>
+<li>Rozière, Malhortie de, <a href="#440">440</a></li>
+<li>Rubempré, the bastard of, <a href="#113">113</a>-116</li>
+<li>Rubempré, Jehan de, <a href="#190">190</a></li>
+<li>Ruple, G., <a href="#220">220</a></li>
+<li>Russia, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="S">S</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Saeckingen, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#378">378</a></li>
+<li>St. Bavon, Abbot of, <a href="#41">41</a></li>
+<li>Ste. Beuve, cited, <a href="#218">218</a><sup>15</sup></li>
+<li>St. Blaise, Abbé of, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>St. Claude, <a href="#76">76</a>, <a href="#78">78</a>, <a href="#425">425</a></li>
+<li>St. Cloud, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>St. Denis, <a href="#122">122</a></li>
+<li>St. Lievin, feast of, <a href="#170">170</a>-179</li>
+<li>St. Michel-sur-Loire, <a href="#297">297</a></li>
+<li>St. Nicolas-du-Port, <a href="#442">442</a>-444</li>
+<li>St. Omer, <a href="#16">16</a>, <a href="#19">19</a>, <a href="#21">21</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>,
+<a href="#270">270</a>, <a href="#276">276</a>, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#282">282</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>treaty of, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#253">253</a>, <a href="#329">329</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>,
+  <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#387">387</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>St. Pol, Count of, <a href="#54">54</a><sup>8</sup>, <a href="#97">97</a>-99, <a href="#122">122</a>, <a href="#127">127</a>,
+  <ul class="index1"><li>made constable of France, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#151">151</a>, <a href="#153">153</a>,
+  <a href="#203">203</a>, <a href="#204">204</a>, <a href="#206">206</a>, <a href="#218">218</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>;</li>
+  <li>treachery of, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#407">407</a>, <a href="#408">408</a>, <a href="#413">413</a>,
+  <a href="#460">460</a>;</li>
+  <li>execution of, <a href="#413">413</a><sup>10</sup></li></ul></li>
+<li>St. Quentin, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#298">298</a><sup>13</sup>, <a href="#407">407</a></li>
+<li>St. Remy, Jean le Févre, Seigneur de, <a href="#6">6</a></li>
+<li>St. Thierry, <a href="#104">104</a></li>
+<li>St. Trond, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#142">142</a>, <a href="#153">153</a></li>
+<li>Sale, Anthony de la, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Salesart, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Salins, <a href="#419">419</a>, <a href="#425">425</a>, <a href="#426">426</a>, <a href="#434">434</a></li>
+<li>Salisbury, Bishop of, <a href="#190">190</a>, <a href="#191">191</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, Charlotte of, marries the dauphin, <a href="#74">74</a>, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#91">91</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, duchy of, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#357">357</a>, <a href="#358">358</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, dukes of, <a href="#74">74</a>, <a href="#75">75</a>, <a href="#100">100</a>, <a href="#424">424</a>, <a href="#425">425</a></li>
+<li>Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of, <a href="#208">208</a>, <a href="#295">295</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>ally of Charles the Bold, <a href="#415">415</a>, <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#420">420</a>,
+  <a href="#423">423</a>;</li>
+  <li>kidnapped, <a href="#424">424</a>-426, <a href="#436">436</a>;</li>
+  <li>rescued, <a href="#437">437</a>, <a href="#438">438</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Saxony, Duke of, <a href="#351">351</a><sup>11</sup></li>
+<li>Saxony, elector of, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#247">247</a></li>
+<li>Schellhass, Karl, <a href="#357">357</a><sup>16</sup></li>
+<li>Schiedam, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Schlestadt, <a href="#375">375</a>, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Scotland, Eleanor of, wife of Sigismund of Austria, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Scotland, Margaret of, wife of Louis, the dauphin, <a href="#74">74</a></li>
+<li>Seine River, the, <a href="#122">122</a>, <a href="#127">127</a>, <a href="#403">403</a></li>
+<li>Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke of Milan, <a href="#423">423</a>, <a href="#424">424</a></li>
+<li>Sicily, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#245">245</a></li>
+<li>Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, <i>see</i> Austria</li>
+<li>Sigismund, Emperor, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#15">15</a></li>
+<li>Sluis, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Snoy, Renier, cited, <a href="#357">357</a>, <a href="#358">358</a><sup>20</sup></li>
+<li>Soleure, <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#412">412</a></li>
+<li>Somerset, Duke of, <a href="#196">196</a>, <a href="#286">286</a>, <a href="#288">288</a></li>
+<li>Somme, towns on the river, ceded to Duke of Burgundy, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#128">128</a>, <a href="#143">143</a>,
+<a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#281">281</a>, <a href="#396">396</a>, <a href="#399">399</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>redemption of towns on the, <a href="#110">110</a>, <a href="#111">111</a>, <a href="#117">117</a>,
+  <a href="#119">119</a>, <a href="#294">294</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#303">303</a>, <a href="#309">309</a>,
+  <a href="#334">334</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Sorel, Agnes, <a href="#76">76</a>-78, <a href="#81">81</a></li>
+<li>Soulz, Rudolf de, <a href="#335">335</a></li>
+<li>Spain, <a href="#38">38</a>, <a href="#192">192</a></li>
+<li>Spain, King of, <a href="#453">453</a></li>
+<li>Stein, Hertnid von, <a href="#247">247</a>, <a href="#349">349</a><sup>9</sup></li>
+<li>Stein, Rudolph de, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Stephen, Martin, <a href="#239">239</a></li>
+<li>Strasburg, <a href="#248">248</a><sup>5</sup>, <a href="#376">376</a>, <a href="#377">377</a>, <a href="#392">392</a>, <a href="#393">393</a>,
+<a href="#414">414</a></li>
+<li>Strasburg, Bishop of, <a href="#254">254</a></li>
+<li>Stuttgart, <a href="#60">60</a></li>
+<li>Sundgau, the, <a href="#374">374</a>, <a href="#394">394</a></li>
+<li>Swabia, <a href="#452">452</a></li>
+<li>Swiss, the, valour of, <a href="#249">249</a>-251, <a href="#256">256</a>, <a href="#381">381</a>, <a href="#398">398</a>,
+<a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#421">421</a>, <a href="#422">422</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>victories of, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#417">417</a>-422, <a href="#435">435</a>;</li>
+  <li>allies of Louis XI., <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#402">402</a>, <a href="#403">403</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Swiss Cantons, the, <a href="#248">248</a>, <a href="#352">352</a>, <a href="#371">371</a>, <a href="#372">372</a>,
+<a href="#375">375</a>, <a href="#386">386</a>, <a href="#387">387</a>, <a href="#389">389</a>
+  <ul class="index1"><li>declare war against Charles the Bold, <a href="#397">397</a>, <a href="#400">400</a>, <a href="#415">415</a>,
+  <a href="#416">416</a>, <a href="#438">438</a>-448, <a href="#451">451</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Swynaerde, <a href="#170">170</a></li>
+<li>Sylvius, Æneas, <a href="#59">59</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>         <!--Checked to Here-->
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="T">T</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Talmont, Prince of, <a href="#317">317</a><sup>35</sup></li>
+<li>Tewkesbury, battle of, <a href="#290">290</a>, <a href="#293">293</a></li>
+<li>Texel, island of, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Thann, <a href="#252">252</a>, <a href="#372">372</a>, <a href="#379">379</a>, <a href="#389">389</a></li>
+<li>Thérain, the, <a href="#311">311</a></li>
+<li>Thérouanne, Bishop of, <a href="#69">69</a></li>
+<li>Thierry, <a href="#442">442</a></li>
+<li>Thierry, Monsieur de, <a href="#402">402</a></li>
+<li>Thierstein, Oswald von, <a href="#393">393</a>, <a href="#444">444</a></li>
+<li>Thionville, <a href="#362">362</a>, <a href="#365">365</a>, <a href="#369">369</a></li>
+<li>Thouan, Mme. de, <a href="#308">308</a><sup>25</sup></li>
+<li>Thouars, Guillaume de, <a href="#319">319</a></li>
+<li>Thurgau, <a href="#248">248</a></li>
+<li>Tilhart, secretary to Louis XI., <a href="#297">297</a></li>
+<li>Tongres, <a href="#140">140</a>, <a href="#213">213</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>bishops of, <a href="#130">130</a>, <a href="#131">131</a>, <a href="#213">213</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Tonnerre, Count of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Toul, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#439">439</a></li>
+<li>Touraine, <a href="#106">106</a></li>
+<li>Tournay, <a href="#198">198</a><sup>2</sup></li>
+<li>Tournay, Bishop of, <a href="#104">104</a></li>
+<li>Tournehem, <a href="#287">287</a></li>
+<li>Tours, <a href="#114">114</a>, <a href="#198">198</a>, <a href="#212">212</a>, <a href="#283">283</a>, <a href="#284">284</a>,
+<a href="#316">316</a></li>
+<li>Toustain, Aloysius (Toussaint), <a href="#224">224</a>, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Toustain, Guillaume, <a href="#237">237</a></li>
+<li>Toutey, E., cited, <a href="#438">438</a><sup>11</sup>, <i>et passim</i></li>
+<li>Trausch, cited, <a href="#340">340</a><sup>1</sup></li>
+<li>Tree of Gold, jousts of the, <a href="#193">193</a></li>
+<li>Trémoille, Jehan de la, <a href="#17">17</a></li>
+<li>Trèves, <a href="#336">336</a>-354, <a href="#364">364</a>, <a href="#369">369</a>, <a href="#373">373</a>, <a href="#385">385</a></li>
+<li>Trèves, Archbishop of, <a href="#246">246</a>, <a href="#349">349</a>, <a href="#351">351</a></li>
+<li>Tuin, <a href="#153">153</a></li>
+<li>Turin, <a href="#436">436</a></li>
+<li>Turks, the, capture Constantinople, <a href="#46">46</a>, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#55">55</a>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>proposed  crusade against, <a href="#47">47</a>, <a href="#48">48</a>, <a href="#51">51</a>-53,
+  <a href="#56">56</a>, <a href="#65">65</a>, <a href="#66">66</a>, <a href="#70">70</a>, <a href="#78">78</a>, <a href="#79">79</a>,
+  <a href="#345">345</a>, <a href="#346">346</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>, <a href="#350">350</a></li></ul></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="U">U</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Unterwalden, <a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Uri, <a href="#418">418</a>, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Ursé, Seigneur d', <a href="#295">295</a>, <a href="#300">300</a>, <a href="#301">301</a></li>
+<li>Utenhove, Richard, <a href="#178">178</a></li>
+<li>Utrecht, <a href="#69">69</a>-71, <a href="#81">81</a>, <a href="#137">137</a>, <a href="#263">263</a>, <a href="#348">348</a>,
+<a href="#352">352</a>-358, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+  <li><b><a name="Va">V</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis (editor of <i>Lettres de Louis XI</i>.), <a href="#295">295</a><sup>9</sup>,
+<a href="#296">296</a><sup>10</sup></li>
+<li>Valenciennes, <a href="#323">323</a></li>
+<li>Valois, House of, <a href="#9">9</a>, <a href="#12">12</a>, <a href="#457">457</a></li>
+<li>Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou,  Duchess of, <a href="#367">367</a>, <a href="#368">368</a></li>
+<li>Vendôme, Count of, <a href="#16">16</a></li>
+<li>Venice, <a href="#23">23</a>, <a href="#192">192</a>, <a href="#353">353</a>, <a href="#363">363</a></li>
+<li>Verard, Antoine, <a href="#93">93</a></li>
+<li>Verdun, <a href="#348">348</a></li>
+<li>Vere, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>Vermandois, <a href="#308">308</a></li>
+<li>Vermandois, Count de, <a href="#214">214</a></li>
+<li>Vesoul, <a href="#258">258</a>, <a href="#259">259</a>, <a href="#379">379</a></li>
+<li>Villeclerc, Demoiselle de, <a href="#77">77</a></li>
+<li>Virnenbourg, Count of, <a href="#6">6</a></li>
+<li>Visen, Charles de, <a href="#215">215</a></li>
+<li>Vosges, the, <a href="#252">252</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="W">W</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Wailly, <a href="#322">322</a></li>
+<li>Waldemar of Zürich, <a href="#443">443</a></li>
+<li>Waldshut, <a href="#249">249</a>, <a href="#251">251</a>, <a href="#252">252</a>, <a href="#378">378</a></li>
+<li>Walloon language, the, <a href="#136">136</a></li>
+<li>Warwick, Earl of, <a href="#265">265</a>-267, <a href="#271">271</a>-276, <a href="#279">279</a>, <a href="#280">280</a>,
+<a href="#284">284</a>-290, <a href="#323">323</a><sup>2</sup>;
+  <ul class="index1"><li>death of, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#290">290</a></li></ul></li>
+<li>Wavrin, Philip de, <a href="#17">17</a></li>
+<li>Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#210">210</a><sup>10</sup></li>
+<li>Wenlock, governor of Calais, <a href="#275">275</a></li>
+<li>Weymouth, <a href="#290">290</a></li>
+<li>Wieringen, island of, <a href="#202">202</a></li>
+<li>Woodville, Elizabeth, <a href="#266">266</a></li>
+<li>Wuisse, Vautrin, <a href="#446">446</a></li>
+<li>Wyler, Hans, <a href="#417">417</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+  <li><b><a name="Xa">X</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Xaintes, <a href="#305">305</a></li>
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+	<li><b><a name="Y">Y</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>York, House of, <a href="#264">264</a>, <a href="#289">289</a></li>
+<li>York, Margaret of, Duchess of Burgundy, <i>see</i> Burgundy</li>
+<li>Ypres, <a href="#207">207</a><sup>7</sup>, <a href="#220">220</a>, <a href="#269">269</a><sup>9</sup>, <a href="#271">271</a>, <a href="#272">272</a></li>
+
+	  </ul>
+<br />
+
+<ul class="index">
+   <li><b><a name="Z">Z</a></b><br /><br /></li>
+
+<li>Zealand, <a href="#13">13</a><sup>20</sup>, <a href="#14">14</a>, <a href="#24">24</a>, <a href="#32">32</a>,
+<a href="#69">69</a><sup>4</sup>, <a href="#156">156</a>, <a href="#201">201</a>, <a href="#202">202</a>, <a href="#261">261</a>,
+<a href="#262">262</a>, <a href="#274">274</a>, <a href="#289">289</a>, <a href="#358">358</a>, <a href="#455">455</a></li>
+<li>Zürich, <a href="#59">59</a>, <a href="#376">376</a></li>
+<li>Zutphen, <a href="#323">323</a>, <a href="#324">324</a></li>
+
+	   </ul>
+
+	   <hr />
+<br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<span class="page1"><a name="largemap">[plate 33]</a></span>
+<p class="center">Click <a href="#map"><b>HERE</b></a> to Return<br /><br /></p>
+<p class="center"><img src="cbimages/image18largemap2.jpg" width="525" height="861" alt="MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES" border="0" /></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+
+
+
+<!--
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+
+
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+</body>
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@@ -0,0 +1,14805 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Charles the Bold
+       Last Duke Of Burgundy, 1433-1477
+
+Author: Ruth Putnam
+
+Release Date: December 28, 2004 [EBook #14496]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHARLES THE BOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Lesley Halamek and the PG Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD OF BURGUNDY (1433-1477) (FROM MS.
+STATUTE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, VIENNA) PAINTED
+BETWEEN 1518-1531]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+LAST DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+1433-1477
+
+
+BY
+
+
+RUTH PUTNAM
+
+AUTHOR OF "WILLIAM THE SILENT," "A MEDIAEVAL PRINCESS," ETC.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+NEW YORK AND LONDON
+
+The Knickerbocker Press
+
+1908
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+COPYRIGHT 1908,
+
+BY
+
+G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
+
+The Knickerbocker Press, New York
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+The admission of Charles, Duke of Burgundy into the series of Heroes
+of the Nations, is justified by his relation to events rather than by
+his national or his heroic qualities. _"Il n'avait pas assez de sens
+ni de malice pour conduire ses entreprises,"_ is one phrase of Philip
+de Commines in regard to the master he had once served. Render _sens_
+by _genius_ and _malice_ by _diplomacy_ and the words are not far
+wrong. Yet in spite of the failure to obtain either a kingly or an
+imperial crown, the story of those same unaccomplished enterprises
+contains the germs of much that has happened later in the borderlands
+of France and Germany where the projected "middle kingdom" might have
+been erected. A sketch of the duke's character with its traits of
+ambition and shortcomings may therefore be placed, not unfitly, among
+the pen portraits of individuals who have attempted to change the map
+of Europe.
+
+The materials for an exhaustive study of the times, and of the
+participants in the scenes thereof, are almost overwhelming
+in quantity. Into this narrative, I have woven the words of
+contemporaries when these related what they saw and thought, or at
+least what they said they saw or thought, about events passing within
+their sight or their ken. The veracity attained is only that of a
+mosaic of bits, each with its morsel of truth. And the rim in which
+these bits are set is too slender to contain all the illumination
+necessary. The narrative is, of necessity, partial and fragmentary,
+for a complete story would require a series of biographies presented
+in parallel columns. My own preliminary chapter to this book--a
+mere explanation of the presence of the dukes of Burgundy in the
+Netherlands--grew into an account of a sovereign whom they deposed and
+was published under the title of _A Mediaeval Princess._
+
+John Foster Kirk gave 1713 pages to his record of Charles the Bold,
+Duke of Burgundy. Forty years have elapsed since that publication
+appeared and a mass of interesting material pertinent to the subject
+has been given out to the public, while separate phases of it have
+been minutely discussed by competent critics, so that at every point
+there is new temptation for the biographer to expand the theme where
+the scope of his work demands brevity.
+
+In using the later fruit of historical investigation, it is delightful
+for an American to find that scholars of all nations do justice to
+Mr. Kirk's accuracy and industry even when they may differ from his
+conclusions. It has been my privilege to be permitted free access to
+this scholar's collection of books, and I would here express my deep
+gratitude to the Kirk family for their generosity and courtesy towards
+me.
+
+After some preliminary reading at Brussels and Paris and in England,
+the work for this volume has been completed in America, where the
+opportunity of securing the latest results of research and criticism
+is constantly increasing, although these results are still lodged
+under many roofs. I have had many reasons to thank the librarians of
+New York, Boston, and Washington, and also those of Harvard, Columbia,
+and Cornell universities for courtesies and for serviceable aid; and
+just as many reasons to regret the meagreness of what can be put
+between two covers as the gleanings from so rich a harvest.
+
+One word further in explanation of the use of _Bold_. The adjective
+has been retained simply because it has been so long identified with
+Charles in English usage. I should have preferred the word _Rash_ as
+a better equivalent for the contemporary term, applied to the duke in
+his lifetime,--_le temeraire_.
+
+R.P.
+
+WASHINGTON, D.C., 1908.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHAPTER I
+CHILDHOOD
+
+CHAPTER II
+YOUTH
+
+CHAPTER III
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+CHAPTER IV
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+CHAPTER V
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+CHAPTER VI
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+CHAPTER VII
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+CHAPTER IX
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+CHAPTER X
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+CHAPTER XI
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+CHAPTER XII
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+CHAPTER XV
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+GUELDERS
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+THE MEETING AT TREVES
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+CHAPTER XX
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475 AND 1476
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+INDEX
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+*  *  *
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY          _Frontispiece_
+From MS. statute book of the Order of the Golden
+Fleece at Vienna. The artist is unknown. Date
+of the codex is between 1518 and 1565. This
+portrait is possibly redrawn from that attributed
+to Roger van der Weyden. That, however,
+shows a much stronger face.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From a reproduction of a miniature in MS. at Brussels.
+
+A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+PHILIP THE GOOD, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, AS PATRON
+OF LETTERS
+From a reproduction of part of a miniature in a
+beautiful MS. copy in Brussels Library of Jacques
+de Guise's _Annales_. The author is depicted
+presenting his book to the duke, who is attended
+by his son and his courtiers. The miniature is
+attributed by turns to Roger van der Weyden, to
+Guillaume Wijelant or Vrelant, and to Hans
+Memling.
+
+A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_.
+
+FRONTISPIECE OF A XVTH CENTURY ACCOUNT BOOK
+
+COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER
+From reproduction of a miniature in Barante, _Les
+ducs de Bourgogne_,
+
+THE STATUE OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY AT INNSBRUeCK
+
+LOUIS XI
+From an engraving by A. Boilly after a drawing by
+G. Boilly.
+
+PHILIP AND CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+From a drawing in a MS. at Arras.
+
+BATTLE OF MONTL'HERY (JULY 16, 1465)
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+LOUIS XI, WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE
+WAR OF THE PUBLIC WEAL
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY
+After Hans Memling, Dresden Gallery.
+
+CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A
+CHAPTER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+From reproduction of a miniature in MS. at
+Brussels.
+
+PHILIP DE COMMINES
+
+OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+From sketch in MS. at Arras reproduced in
+_Memoires couronnes de l'acad. royale de Belgique,_
+xlix.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+From a contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Barante, _Les ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+MAP OF ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORIES
+From Toutey, _Charles le temeraire_.
+
+MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY
+
+BURGUNDIAN STANDARD CAPTURED AT BEAUVAIS
+
+ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS
+From engraving by G. Robert in Comines-Lenglet.
+
+MARY OF BURGUNDY
+After design by C. Laplante.
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+Idealised by P. P. Rubens, Vienna Gallery. (By
+permission of J. J. Loewy, Vienna.)
+
+MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA
+Medal.
+
+A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY
+From Petit's _Hist. de Bourgogne_,
+
+KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+(These characters in Maximilian's poem of _Theuerdank_
+represent Charles and Mary of Burgundy.)
+From a reproduction of a wood engraving by
+Schaeufelein in edition of 1517.
+
+A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY
+After a design by Matthey reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+Used by kind permission of Miss Sophia Kirk and
+the J. B. Lippincott Company.
+
+PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+From contemporary miniature reproduced in
+Comines-Lenglet.
+
+A MONUMENT ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT NANCY
+From Barante, _Let ducs de Bourgogne_.
+
+THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY
+Church of Notre Dame, Bruges
+
+
+
+
+
+CHARLES THE BOLD
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+CHILDHOOD
+
+1433-1440
+
+
+On St. Andrew's Eve, in the year 1433, the good people of Dijon were
+abroad, eager to catch what glimpses they might of certain stately
+functions to be formally celebrated by the Duke of Burgundy. The mere
+presence of the sovereign in the capital of his duchy was in itself
+a gala event from its rarity. Various cities of the dominions
+agglomerated under his sway claimed his attentions successively. His
+residence was now here and now there, without long tarrying anywhere.
+His coming was usually very welcome. In times of peaceful submission
+to his behest, the city of his sojourn reaped many advantages besides
+the amusement of seeing her streets alive beyond their wont. In the
+outlay for the necessities and the luxuries of the peripatetic ducal
+court, the expenditures were lavish, and in the temporary commercial
+activity enjoyed by the merchants, the fact that the burghers' own
+contributions to this luxury were heavy, passed into temporary
+oblivion.[1]
+
+This autumn visit of Philip the Good to Dijon was more significant
+than usual. It had lasted several weeks, and among its notable
+occasions was an assembly of the Knights of the Golden Fleece for the
+third anniversary of their Order. On this November 30th, Burgundy was
+to witness for the first time the pompous ceremonials inaugurated at
+Bruges in January, 1430. Three years had sufficed to render the new
+institution almost as well known as its senior English rival, the
+Order of the Garter, which it was destined to outshine for a brief
+period at least. Its foundation had formed part of the elaborate
+festivities accompanying the celebration of the marriage of Philip,
+Duke of Burgundy, to Isabella of Portugal. As a signal honour to his
+bride, Philip published his intention of creating a new order of
+knighthood which would evince "his great and perfect love for the
+noble state of chivalry."
+
+Rumour, indeed, told various tales about the duke's real motives. It
+was whispered that a certain lady of Bruges, whom he had distinguished
+by his attentions, was ridiculed for her red hair by a few merry
+courtiers, whereupon Philip declared that her tresses should be
+immortally honoured in the golden emblem of a new society.[2] But that
+may be set down as gossip. Philip's own assertion, when he instituted
+the Order of the Golden Fleece, was that he intended to create a
+bulwark
+
+    "for the reverence of God and the sustenance of our Christian
+    faith, and to honour and enhance the noble order of chivalry, and
+    also for three reasons hereafter declared; first, to honour the
+    ancient knights ...; second, to the end that these present.... may
+    exercise the deeds of chivalry and constantly improve; third, that
+    all gentlemen marking the honour paid to the knights will exert
+    themselves to attain the dignity." [2]
+
+The special homage to the new duchess was expressed in the device
+
+  _Aultre n'aray
+   Dame Isabeau tant que vivray[4]_
+
+This pledge of absolute fidelity to Dame Isabella was, indeed, utterly
+disregarded by the bridegroom, but in outward and formal honour to her
+he never failed.
+
+The new institution was, from the beginning, pre-eminently significant
+of the duke's magnificent state existence, wherein his Portuguese
+consort proved herself an efficient and able helpmeet. Again and again
+during a period of thirty years, rich in diplomatic parleying, did
+Isabella act as confidential ambassador for her husband, and many were
+the negotiations conducted by her to his satisfaction.[5]
+
+But it must be noted that whatever lay at the exact root of Philip's
+motives when he conceived the plan of his Order, the actual result of
+his foundation was not affected. He failed, indeed, to bring back into
+the world the ancient system of knighthood in its ideal purity and
+strength. Rather did he make a notable contribution to its decadence
+and speed its parting. What was brought into existence was a house
+of peers for the head of the Burgundian family, a body of faithful
+satellites who did not hamper their chief overmuch with the criticism
+permitted by the rules of their society, while their own glory added
+shining rays to the brilliant centre of the Burgundian court.
+
+Twenty-five, inclusive of the duke, was the original number appointed
+to form the chosen circle of knights. This was speedily increased to
+thirty-one, and a duty to be performed in the session of 1433, was
+the election of new members to fill vacancies and to round out the
+allotted tale.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF THE GOLDEN
+FLEECE]
+
+In their manner of accomplishing the appointed task, the new
+chevaliers had, from the outset, evinced a readiness to cast their
+votes to the satisfaction of their chief, even if his pleasure
+directly conflicted with the regulations they had sworn to obey. No
+candidate was to be eligible whose birth was not legitimate,[6] a
+regulation quite ignored when the duke proposed the names of his sons
+Cornelius and Anthony. For his obedient knights did not refuse to open
+their ranks to these great bastards of Burgundy, who carried a bar
+sinister proudly on their escutcheon. So, too, others of Philip's many
+illegitimate descendants were not rejected when their father proposed
+their names.
+
+Again, it was plainly stipulated that the new member should have
+proven himself a knight of renown. Yet, in this session of 1433, one
+of the candidates proposed for election, though nominally a knight,
+had assuredly had no time to show his mettle. The dignity was his only
+because his spurs had been thrown right royally into his cradle before
+his tiny hands had sufficient baby strength to grasp a rattle, and
+before he was even old enough to use the pleasant gold to cut his
+teeth upon.[7]
+
+Among the eight elected at Dijon in 1433, was Charles of Burgundy,
+Count of Charolais, son of the sovereign duke, born at Dijon on the
+previous St. Martin's Eve, November 10th.[8]
+
+    "The new chevaliers, with the exception of the Count of
+    Virnenbourg who was absent, took the accustomed oath at the hands
+    of the sovereign in a room of his palace."
+
+
+So runs the record. Jean le Fevre, Seigneur de St. Remy, present on
+the occasion in his capacity of king-at-arms of the Order, is a trifle
+more communicative.[9] According to him, all the gentlemen were very
+joyous at their election as they received their collars and made their
+vows as stated. He excepted no member in the phrase about the joy
+displayed, though, as a matter of inference, the pleasure experienced
+by the Count of Charolais may be reckoned as somewhat problematical.
+
+The heir of Burgundy had attained the ripe age of just twenty days
+when thus officially listed among the chevaliers present at the
+festival. Born on November 10th of this same year, 1433,[10] he had
+been knighted on the very day of his baptism, when Charles, Count of
+Nevers, and the Seigneur of Croy were his sponsors. The former gave
+his name to the infant while the latter's name was destined to be
+identified with many unpleasant incidents in the career of the future
+man. This brief span of life is sufficient reason for the further item
+in the archives of the Golden Fleece:
+
+    "As to the Count of Charolais, he was carried into the same room.
+    There the sovereign, his father, and the duchess, his mother, took
+    the oath on his behalf. Afterwards the duke put the collars upon
+    all." [11]
+
+
+Thus was emphasised at birth the parental conviction that Charles of
+Burgundy was of different metal than the rest of the world. The great
+duke of the Occident made a distinct epoch in the history of chivalry
+when he conferred its dignities upon a speechless, unconscious infant.
+The theory that knighthood was a personal acquisition had been
+maintained up to this period, the Children of France[12] alone being
+excepted from the rule, though in his _Lay de Vaillance_ Eustache
+Deschamps complains that the degree of knighthood is actually
+conferred on those who are only ten or twelve years old, and who do
+not know what to do with the honour.[13] That plaint was written not
+later than the first years of the fifteenth century, and the poet's
+prediction that ruin of the institution was imminent when affected by
+such disorders seemed justified if, in 1433, even the years of the
+eligible age had shrunk to days. Philip himself had not received the
+accolade until he was twenty-five.
+
+How his predecessor in Holland, Count William VI., had acquitted
+himself valiantly the moment that he was dubbed knight is told by
+Froissart, and the tales of other accolades of the period are too well
+known to need reference.
+
+It is said that the baby cavalier was nourished by his own mother.
+Having lost her first two infants, Isabella was solicitous for the
+welfare of this third child, who also proved her last. He was,
+moreover, Philip's sole legal heir, as Michelle of France and Bonne of
+Artois, his first wives, had left no offspring. The care and devotion
+expended on the boy were repaid. Charles became a sturdy child who
+developed into youthful vigour. In person, he strangely resembled
+his mother and her Portuguese ancestors, rather than the English
+Lancastrians, from whom she was equally descended.
+
+His dark hair and his features were very different from the fair type
+of his paternal ancestors, the vigorous branch of the Valois family.
+Possibly other characteristics suggesting his Portuguese origin were
+intensified by close association with his mother, who supervised the
+education directed by the Seigneur d' Auxy. They often lived at The
+Hague, where Isabella acted as chief and official adviser to the
+duke's stadtholder in the administration. [14]
+
+Charles was a diligent pupil, if we may believe his contemporaries,
+surprisingly so, considering his early taste for all martial pursuits
+and his intense interest in military operations.
+
+At two years of age he received his first lesson in horsemanship, on
+a wooden steed constructed for his especial use by Jean Rampart, a
+saddler of Brussels.
+
+His biographers repeat from each other statements of his proficiency
+in Latin. This must be balanced by noting that the only texts which
+he could have read were probably not classic. In the inventory of the
+various Burgundian libraries of the period, there are not six Greek
+and Latin classical texts all told, and excepting Sallust, not a
+single Roman historian in the original.[15] There was a translation
+of Livy by the Prior of St. Eloi and late abridgments of Sallust,
+Suetonius, Lucan, and Caesar,[16] with a French version of Valerius
+Maximus, but nothing of Tacitus. Doubtless these versions and a volume
+called _Les faits des Romains_ were used as text-books to teach the
+young count about the world's conquerors. The last mentioned book
+shows what travesties of Roman history were gravely read in the
+fifteenth century.
+
+There are stories[17] that the bit of history most enjoyed by the
+pupil was the narrative of Alexander. Books about that hero were easy
+to come by long before the invention of printing, though Alexander
+would have had difficulty in recognising his identity under the
+strange mediaeval motley in which his namesake wandered over the land.
+No single man, with the possible exception of Charlemagne, was so
+much written about or played so brilliantly the part of a hero to
+the Middle Ages and after.[18] The simplicity and universality of his
+success were of a type to appeal to the boy Charles, himself built on
+simple lines. The fact, too, that Alexander was the son of a Philip
+stimulated his imagination and instilled in his breast hopes of
+conquering, not the whole world perhaps, but a good slice of territory
+which should enable him to hold his own between the emperor and the
+French king. Tales of definite schemes of early ambition are often
+fabricated in the later life of a conqueror, but in this case they may
+be believed, as all threads of testimony lead to the same conclusion.
+
+The air breathed by the boy when he first became conscious of his
+own individuality was certainly heavy with the aroma of satisfied
+ambition. The period of his childhood was a time when his father stood
+at the very zenith of his power. In 1435, was signed the Treaty of
+Arras, the death-blow to the long coalition existing between Burgundy
+and England to the continual detriment of France. Philip was
+reconciled with great solemnity to the king, responsible in his
+dauphin days for the murder of the late Duke of Burgundy. After
+ostentatiously parading his filial resentment sixteen long years,
+Philip forgave Charles VII. his share in the death of John the
+Fearless, on the bridge at Montereau, and swore to lend his support to
+keep the French monarch on the throne whither the efforts of Joan of
+Arc had carried him from Bourges, the forlorn court of his exile.
+
+England's pretensions were repudiated. To be sure, the recent
+coronation of Henry VI. at Paris was not immediately forgotten, but
+while the Duke of Bedford had actually administered the government as
+regent, in behalf of his infant nephew, it was a mere shadow of his
+office that passed to his successor. Bedford's death, in 1435, was
+almost coincident with the compact at Arras when the English Henry's
+realms across the Channel shrank to Normandy and the outlying
+fortresses of Picardy and Maine. Later events on English soil were to
+prove how little fitted was the son of Henry V. for sovereignty of any
+kind.
+
+Out of the negotiations at Arras, Philip of Burgundy rose triumphant
+with a seal set upon his personal importance.[19] His recognition of
+Charles VII. as lawful sovereign of France, and his reconciliation did
+not pass without signal gain to himself.
+
+The king declared his own hands unstained by the blood of John of
+Burgundy, agreed to punish all those designated by Philip as actually
+responsible for that treacherous murder, and pledged himself to erect
+a cross on the bridge at Montereau, the scene of the crime. Further,
+he relinquished various revenues in Burgundy, hitherto retained by the
+crown from the moment when the junior branch of the Valois had been
+invested with the duchy (1364); and he ceded the counties of Boulogne,
+Artois, and all the seigniories belonging to the French sovereign on
+both banks of the Somme. To this last cession, however, was appended
+the condition that the towns included in this clause could be redeemed
+at the king's pleasure, for the sum of four hundred thousand gold
+crowns. Further, Charles exempted Philip from acts of homage to
+himself, promised to demand no _aides_ from the duke's subjects
+in case of war, and to assist his cousin if he were attacked from
+England. Lastly, he renounced an alliance lately contracted with the
+emperor to Philip's disadvantage.[20]
+
+One clause in the treaty crowned the royal submissiveness towards the
+powerful vassal. It provided that in case of Charles's failure to
+observe all the stipulated conditions, his own subjects would be
+justified in taking arms against him at the duke's orders. A similar
+clause occurs in certain treaties between an earlier French king and
+his Flemish vassals, but always to the advantage of the suzerain, not
+to that of the lesser lords.
+
+The duke was left in a position infinitely superior to that of the
+king, whose realm was terribly exhausted by the long contest with
+England, a contest wherein one nation alone had felt the invader's
+foot. French prosperity had been nibbled off like green foliage before
+a swarm of locusts, and the whole north-eastern portion of France
+was in a sorry state of desolation by 1435. On the other hand, the
+territories covered by Burgundy as an overlord had greatly increased
+during the sixteen years that Philip had worn the title. An
+aggregation of duchies, counties, and lordships formed his domain,
+loosely hung together by reason of their several titles being vested
+in one person--titles which the bearer had inherited or assumed under
+various pretexts.
+
+Flanders and Artois, together with the duchy and county of Burgundy,
+came to him from his father, John the Fearless, in 1419. In 1421, he
+bought Namur. In 1430, he declared himself heir to his cousins in
+Brabant and Limbourg when Duke Anthony's second son followed his
+equally childless brother into a premature grave, and the claims were
+made good in spite of all opposition. Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut
+became his through the unwilling abdication of his other cousin,
+Jacqueline, in 1433. To save the life of her husband, Frank van
+Borselen, the last representative of the Bavarian House then
+formally resigned her titles, which she had already divested of all
+significance five years previously, when Philip of Burgundy had become
+her _ruward_, to relieve a "poor feminine person" of a weight of
+responsibility too heavy for her shoulders.[21]
+
+Divers items in the accounts show what Philip expended in having
+the titles of Holland, Zealand, and Hainaut added to his other
+designations. Also there were various places where his predecessor's
+name had to be effaced to make room for his. (Laborde, i., 345).]
+
+Antwerp and Mechlin were included in Brabant. Luxemburg was a later
+acquisition obtained through Elizabeth of Goerlitz.
+
+There were very shady bits in the chapters about Philip's entry into
+many of his possessions, but it is interesting to note how cleverly
+the best colour is given to his actions by Olivier de la Marche and
+other writers who enjoyed Burgundian patronage. Very gentle are the
+adjectives employed, and a nice cloak of legality is thrown over the
+naked facts as they are ushered into history. Contemporary criticism
+did occasionally make itself heard, especially from the emperor, who
+declared that the Netherland provinces must come to him as a lapsed
+imperial fief. For a time Philip denied that any links existed between
+his domain and the empire, but in 1449 he finally found it convenient
+to discuss the question with Frederic III. at Besancon; still he never
+came to the point of paying homage.
+
+All these territories made a goodly realm for a mere duke. But
+they were individual entities centred around one head with little
+interconnection.
+
+Philip thought that the one thing needed to bring his possessions into
+a national life, as coherent as that of France, was a unity of legal
+existence among the dissimilar parts, and the effort to attain this
+unity was the one thought dominating the career of his successor,
+whose pompous introduction to life naturally inspired him with a high
+idea of his own rank, and led him to dream of greater dignities for
+himself and his successor than a bundle of titles,--a splendid, vain,
+fatal dream as it proved.
+
+As a final cement to the new friendship between Burgundy and France,
+it was also agreed at Arras that the heir of the former should wed a
+daughter of Charles VII. When the Count of Charolais was five years
+old, the Seigneur of Crevecoeur,[22] "a wise and prudent gentleman"
+was despatched to the French court on divers missions, among which
+was the business of negotiating the projected alliance. A very joyous
+reception was accorded the envoy by the king and the queen, and his
+proposal was accepted in behalf of the second daughter, Catherine,
+easily substituted for an older sister, deceased between the first and
+second stages of negotiation.
+
+A year later, a formal betrothal took place at St Omer, whither
+the young bride was conducted, most honourably accompanied by the
+archbishops of Rheims and of Narbonne, by the counts of Vendome,
+Tonnerre, and Dunois, the young son of the Duke of Bourbon, named the
+Lord of Beaujeu, and various other distinguished nobles, besides a
+train of noble dames and demoiselles in special attendance on the
+princess, and an escort of three hundred horse.
+
+At the various cities where the party made halt they were graciously
+received, and all honour was paid to the ten-year-old Daughter of
+France. At Cambray, she was met by the duke's envoys and as she
+travelled on towards her destination, all the towns of Philip's
+obedience contributed their quota of welcome.
+
+At St. Omer, the duke was awaiting her coming. When her approach was
+announced he rode out in person to greet her, attended by a brilliant
+escort.
+
+[Illustration: A DUKE OF BURGUNDY AND THE POPE AT AVIGNON]
+
+Within the city, "melodious festivals" were ready to burst into tune;
+the betrothal was confirmed amid joyousness and the ceremony was
+followed by tourneys and jousts, all at the expense of the duke.
+
+What a series of pompous betrothals between infant parties the
+fifteenth and sixteenth centuries can show! Poor little puppets, in
+whose persons national interests were supposed to be centred, were
+made to lisp out their roles in international dramas whose final acts
+rarely were consistent with the promise of the prologue.
+
+Catherine did not live to become Duchess of Burgundy nor to temper the
+duel between her husband and her brother Louis. The remainder of
+her short existence was passed under the care of Duchess Isabella,
+sometimes in one city of the Netherlands, sometimes in another.
+
+La Marche[23] records one return of Philip to Brussels when his
+arrival was greeted by Charles of Burgundy, honourably accompanied
+by children of high birth about his age or less, some only eleven or
+twelve years old. There were with him Jehan de la Tremoille, Philip
+de Croy, Philip de Crevecoeur, Philip de Wavrin, and many others. All
+were mounted on little horses harnessed like that of their governor, a
+very honest and wise gentleman, named Messire Jehan, Seigneur et Ber
+d'Auxy. This gentleman was a fine man, well known, of good lineage,
+ready of speech and able to discuss matters of honour and of state.
+
+He was both hunter and falconer, skilled in all exercise and sport.
+
+    "Never [asserts La Marche] have I met a gentleman better adapted
+    to supervise the education of a young prince than he.... Among his
+    pupils were also Anthony, Bastard of Burgundy,[24] son of Philip,
+    and the Marquis Hugues de Rottelin. These lads were older than the
+    first mentioned."
+
+La Marche dilates on the pleasure the duke felt in this youthful band
+of horse, and then tells how, within Brussels,
+
+    "he was received by the magistrates and conducted to his palace,
+    where the Duchess of Burgundy awaited him holding by the hand
+    Madame Catherine of France, Countess of Charolais. She was about
+    twelve and seemed a lady grown, for she was good and wise, and
+    well conditioned for her age."
+
+At various state functions the Count and Countess of Charolais
+appeared together in public, and witnessed certain of the gorgeous
+and costly entertainments which were almost the daily food of the gay
+Burgundian court. One of these occasions was calculated to make a deep
+impression on the boy and to arouse his pride at the spectacle of a
+proud city wooing his father's favour, in deep humiliation.
+
+In 1436, an insurrection had occurred in Bruges, when the animosity of
+the burghers had caused the duchess to flee from their midst, holding
+her little son in her arms, alarmed for his personal safety. Philip
+suppressed the revolt, but, in his anger at its insolence, declared
+that never again would he set foot within the gates unless in company
+with his superior.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AS PATRON OF LETTERS
+
+THE YOUNG COUNT OF CHAROLAIS IS IN THE BACKGROUND WITH ONE OF PHILIP'S
+SONS FROM MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "HIST. DES DUCS DE
+BOURGOGNE"]
+
+Among the many negotiations wherein Isabella played a prominent part
+as her husband's representative, were those concerning the liberation
+of the Duke of Orleans, who had remained in England, a prisoner, after
+the battle of Agincourt in 1415. The last advice given by Henry V.
+to his brothers was that they should make this captivity perpetual.
+Therefore, whenever overtures were made for his redemption, a strong
+party, headed by Humphrey of Gloucester, rejected them vehemently.
+
+In 1440, however, there was a turn in the tide of sentiment. Possibly
+the low state of the English exchequer made the duke's ransom more
+attractive than his person. At any rate, 120,000 golden crowns were
+accepted as his equivalent, and the exile of twenty-five years
+returned to France, having pledged himself never to bear arms against
+England.
+
+Isabella of Burgundy was at Calais to welcome him, and to escort him
+to St. Omer, where high revels were held in his honour and in that of
+his alliance with Marie of Cleves, Philip's niece.
+
+The week intervening between the betrothal and the nuptials was
+passed in a succession of banquets and tourneys, gorgeous in their
+elaboration. Moreover, St. Andrew's Day chancing to fall just then,
+the new Burgundian Order was convened and the Duke of Orleans was
+elected a Knight of the Golden Fleece, while in his turn he presented
+his cousin with the collar of his own Order of the Porcupine. Lord
+Cornwallis and other English gentlemen who had accompanied Orleans
+across the Channel participated in these gaieties, nor were they among
+the least favoured guests, adds Barante.
+
+Amity was triumphant, and there was a general feeling abroad that the
+returned exile was henceforth to be the ruling power in France. People
+began to look to him to act as the go-between in their behalf, to be
+their mediator with Charles VII., still little known at his best. Many
+towns turned towards him in hopes of finding a friend, and among them
+was Bruges. But it was not royal favours that Bruges sought. Her
+burghers felt great inconvenience from the breach with their sovereign
+duke. Anxious to be reinstated in his grace, they seized the
+opportunity of reminding Philip of his assertion, and they besought
+him to enter their gates in company with the Duke of Orleans, a
+prince of the blood, closer to the French sovereign than the Duke of
+Burgundy.
+
+After some demur, Philip consented to grant their petition. Possibly
+he was not loth to be persuaded. The deputies hastened back to Bruges
+to rejoice their fellow-citizens with the news, and to prepare a
+reception for their appeased sovereign, calculated to make him content
+with the late rebels.
+
+Before the grand cortege, composed of the two dukes, their consorts,
+and the dignitaries who had assisted in the feasts of marriage and of
+chivalry, reached the gates of Bruges, the citizens were ready with a
+touching spectacle of humility and repentance.[25]
+
+A league from the gates, the magistrates and burghers stood in the
+road awaiting the travellers from St. Omer. All were barefooted and
+bareheaded. Under the December sky they waited the approach of the
+stately procession. When the duke arrived, they all fell upon their
+knees and implored him to forgive the late troubles and to reinstate
+their city in his favour. Philip did not answer immediately--delay was
+always a feature of these episodes. Thereupon, the Duke of Orleans,
+both duchesses, and all the gentlemen joined their entreaties to the
+citizens' prayers. Again a pause, and then, as if generously yielding
+to pressure, Philip bade the burghers put on their shoes and their
+hats while he accepted at their hands the keys of all the gates. Then
+the long procession moved on towards Bruges. At the gate were the
+clergy, followed by the monks, nuns, and beguins of the various
+convents and foundations, bearing crosses, banners, reliquaries, and
+many precious ecclesiastical treasures. There, too, were the gilds
+and merchants, on horseback, with magnificent accoutrements freshly
+burnished to do honour to the welcome they offered their forgiving
+overlord.
+
+Throughout Bruges, at convenient places, platforms and stages
+were erected, whereon were enacted dramatic performances, given
+continuously, to provide amusement for the collected crowds. Sometimes
+the presentation carried significance beyond mere entertainment. Here
+a maid, garbed as a wood nymph, appeared leading a swan which wore the
+collar of the Golden Fleece and a porcupine. This last beast was to
+symbolise the Orleans device, _Near and Far_, as the creature was
+supposed to project his spines to a distance.
+
+One enthusiastic citizen covered his whole house with gold and the
+roof with silver leaves to betoken his satisfaction. Indeed, if we
+may believe the chroniclers, never in the memory of man had any city
+incurred so much expense to honour its lord. The duke permitted his
+heart to be touched by these proofs of devotion, and on the very
+evening of his arrival he evinced that his confidence was restored by
+sending the civic keys and a gracious message to the magistrates. At
+the news of this condescension the cries of "_Noel_" re-echoed afresh
+through the illuminated streets.
+
+Charles was not present at this entry, which took place on Saturday,
+December 11th, but Philip was so much entertained with the performance
+that he sent for his son, and on the following Saturday he and the
+Countess of Charolais came from Ghent to join the party. The Duke of
+Orleans and many nobles rode out of the city to meet the young couple,
+who were formally escorted to the palace by magistrates and citizens
+in a body. On the Sunday there were repetitions of some of the plays
+and every attention was offered by the Bruges burghers to their young
+guests. When Orleans departed with his bride on Tuesday, December
+14th, what wonder that the lady wept in sorrow at leaving these gay
+Burgundian doings!
+
+While Charles did not actually witness the humiliation of the
+citizens, the seven-year-old boy would, undoubtedly, have heard and
+known sufficient of the cause of the festivals to be fully aware that
+the citizens who had dared defy his father were glad to buy back his
+smiles at any cost to their pride and purse. He would have known, too,
+that merchants from Venice, Genoa, Florence, and elsewhere joined the
+Bruges burghers in the welcome to the mollified overlord. It was a
+spectacle of the relations between a city and the ducal father not to
+be easily forgotten by the son.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The indefatigable Gachard has published an itinerary of
+Philip the Good, so far as he could make it. _(Collection des voyages
+des souverains des Pays Bas_, i., 71.) Unfortunately, owing to
+the destruction of papers, only a few years are complete. Between
+1428-1441, there is nothing. But the itinerary for 1441 and for other
+years shows how often the duke changed his residences. Sometimes he
+is accompanied by Madame de Bourgogne, sometimes by M. and Madame de
+Charolais.]
+
+[Footnote 2: It was also said that the woollen manufactures of
+Flanders were denoted by the emblem of the golden fleece.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Reiffenberg, _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or,_ p.
+xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _ Hist. de I'Ordre,_ etc., p. i.]
+
+[Footnote 5: All the Burgundian embassies were not as patent to
+the public as were Isabella's. An item like the following from the
+accounts of 1448-49 whets the reader's curiosity:
+
+"To Jehan Lanternier, barber and varlet of the chamber, for delivering
+to a certain person for certain causes and for secret matters of which
+Monseigneur does not wish further declaration to be made, 53 pounds 17
+sous."
+
+(Laborde _Les Ducs de Bourgogne_, etc., "Preuves," i. xiii.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: "Vingt-quatre chevaliers gentilshommes de nom et d'armes
+et sans reproches nes et procrees en leal mariage" _(see_ description
+of the first list).--_Hist. de l'Ordre,_ p. xxi.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Jacquemin Dauxonne, a merchant of Lombardy living at
+Dijon, received twenty-two francs and a half for a rich cloth of black
+silk draped about the baptismal font. Why mourning was used on this
+joyful occasion does not appear. (Laborde, i., 321.)]
+
+[Footnote 8: Summary of a register containing the acts of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece quoted in _Histoire de l'Ordre,_ pp. 12, 13.]
+
+[Footnote 9: St. Remy, _Chronique_, ii., 284. St. Remy is usually
+called _Toison d'Or._]
+
+[Footnote 10: His full name was Charles Martin. One tower alone
+remains of the palace where he was born.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Hist, de l'Ordre,_ p. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Selden _(Titles of Honor_, p. 457), however, says he
+knows not by what authority this statement is made and that he knows
+nothing of it. Seven is the earliest age mentioned by Gautier for
+receiving knighthood.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Deschamps, _OEuvres Completes_, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The ancient quarrel between the old Holland parties of
+Hooks and Cods continually blazed out anew. On one notable occasion,
+to show her impartiality, the duchess appeared in public accompanied
+by the stadtholder, Lelaing, a partisan of the Hooks, and by Frank van
+Borselen, himself a Cod, the widower of Jacqueline, the late Countess
+of Holland.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Barante, _Histoire des Dues de Bourgogne_, vi., 2, note
+by Reiffenberg.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See _Catalogue des manuscrits des Ducs de Bourgogne,_
+"Resume historique," i., lxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Barante, vi., 2, note.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Loomis, _Medieval Hellenism_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Pirenne, _Histoire de Belgique_, ii., 231.]
+
+[Footnote 20: It was in June, 1434, that this alliance had been made.
+Sigismund claimed that Philip had no right in Brabant, Holland,
+Zealand, and Hainaut, which in his opinion were lapsed fiefs, of the
+empire.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Putnam, _A Medieval Princess_.
+
+[Footnote 22: Monstrelet, _La Chronique_, v., 344.]
+
+[Footnote 23: La Marche, _Memoires_, ii., 50.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Reiffenberg, _Essai sur les enfants naturels de Philippe
+de Bourgogne._]
+
+[Footnote 25: Meyer, _Commentarii sive Annales rerum Flandricarum, _
+p. 296.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+YOUTH
+
+1440-1453
+
+
+The heir of Burgundy was still in very tender years when he began to
+take official part in public affairs, sometimes associated with one
+parent, sometimes with the other.
+
+There was a practical advantage in bringing the boy to the fore by
+which the duke was glad to profit. With his own manifold interests, it
+was impossible for him to be present in his various capitals as often
+as was demanded by the usage of the diverse individual seigniories. It
+was politic, therefore, to magnify the representative capacity of his
+son and of his consort in order to obtain the grants and _aides_ which
+certain of his subjects declared could be given only when requested
+orally by their sovereign lord. Thus, in 1444, it was Count Charles
+and the duchess who appeared in Holland to ask an _aide_.[1] In the
+following year, Charles accompanied his father when Philip made one
+of his rare visits--there were only three between 1428 and 1466--to
+Holland and Zealand.
+
+[Illustration: A CASTLE IN BURGUNDY]
+
+Olivier de la Marche was among the attendants on this occasion, and he
+describes with great detail how rejoiced were the inhabitants to have
+their absentee count in their land.[2] Many matters could only be
+set aright by his authority. Among the complaints brought to him at
+Middelburg were accusations against a certain knight of high birth,
+Jehan de Dombourc. Philip ordered that the man be arrested at once and
+brought before him for trial. This was easier said than done. Warned
+of his danger, Dombourc, with four or five comrades, took refuge in
+the clock tower of the church of the Cordeliers, a sanctuary that
+could not be taken by storm.[2] He was provided with a good store of
+food, this audacious criminal, and prepared to stand a siege. There he
+remained three days, because, for the honour of the Church, they could
+not fire upon him.
+
+"And I remember [adds La Marche] seeing a nun come out and call to
+Jehan Dombourc, her brother, advising him to perish defending himself
+rather than to dishonour their lineage by falling into the hands of
+the executioner. Nevertheless, finally he was forced to surrender to
+his prince, and he was beheaded in the market-place at Middelburg,
+but, at the plea of his sister, the said nun, his body was delivered
+to her to be buried in consecrated ground."
+
+In this same visit Philip presided over the Zealand estates and the
+young count sat by his side, not as an idle spectator, but because
+usage required the presence of the heir as well as that of the Count
+of Zealand.
+
+When Charles was twelve he was present at an assembly of the Order of
+the Golden Fleece held in Ghent. It was the first occasion of the kind
+witnessed by La Marche, and very minute is his description of the
+lavish magnificence of the affair, undoubtedly intended to awe the
+citizens into complying with the requests of their Count of Flanders.
+
+Charles played a prominent part in all the functions, and assisted in
+the election of his tutor, Seigneur et Ber d'Auxy. Another candidate
+of that year was Frank van Borselen, Count of Ostrevant, widower of
+Jacqueline, late Countess of Holland.
+
+In 1446, the little Countess of Charolais died at Brussels.
+"Honourably as befitted a king's daughter" was she buried at Ste.
+Gudule.[4]
+
+    "Tireless in their devotion were the duke and duchess in her last
+    illness, and Charles VII. despatched two skilled doctors to her
+    aid but all efforts were vain.
+
+    "Much bemourned was the princess for she was virtuous. God have
+    pity on her soul"
+
+piously ejaculates La Marche.
+
+A little item[5] in the accounts suggests that a pleasant friendship
+had existed between the two young people:
+
+    "To Jehan de la Court, harper of Mme. the Countess of Charolais,
+    for a harp which she had bought from him and given to Ms. the
+    Count of Charolais for him to play and take his amusement, xii
+    francs."[6]
+
+It is easy to surmise that music was not, however, the young count's
+favourite amusement. In Philip's court, tournaments were still held
+and afforded a fascinating entertainment for a lad whose bent was
+undoubtedly towards a military career.
+
+One valiant actor in these tourneys where were revived the ancient
+traditions of knighthood, was Jacques de Lalaing, a chevalier with all
+the characteristics of times past, fighting for fame in the present.
+In his youth, this aspirant for reputation swore a vow to meet thirty
+knights in combat before he attained his thirtieth year. Dominated by
+a desire to fulfil his vow, Lalaing haunted the court of Burgundy,
+because the Netherlands were on the highroad between England and many
+points in Germany, Italy, and the East, and there he had the best
+chance of falling in with all the prowess that might be abroad. For
+stay-at-home prowess he cared naught. A delightful personage is
+Messire Jacques and a brave role does he play in the series of jousts,
+sporting gaily on the pages of the various Burgundian chroniclers,
+who recorded in their old age what they had seen in their youth. One
+description, however, of these encounters reads much like another and
+they need not be repeated.
+
+During his childhood Charles was a spectator only on the days of mimic
+battle. In his seventeenth year he was permitted to enter the lists
+as a regular combatant, a permission shared by his fellow pupils all
+eager to flesh their maiden spears. The duke arranged that his son
+should have a preliminary tilt a few days before the public affair in
+order to test his ability. All the courtiers--and apparently ladies
+were not excluded from the discussion on the matter--agreed that no
+better knight could be found for this purpose than Jacques de Lalaing,
+who, on his part, was highly honoured by being selected to gauge the
+untried capabilities of the prince.[7]
+
+In the park at Brussels with the duke and duchess as onlookers, the
+preliminary encounter took place. At the very first attack, Charles
+struck Messire Jacques on the shield and shattered his lance into many
+pieces. The duke was displeased because he thought that the knight
+had not exerted his full strength and was favouring his son. He
+accordingly sent word to Jacques that he must play in earnest and not
+hold his force in leash. Fresh lances were brought; again did
+the count withstand the attack so sturdily that both lances were
+shattered. This time the boy's mother was the dissatisfied one,
+thinking that the knight was too hard with his junior, but the duke
+only laughed.
+
+    "Thus differed the parents. The one desired him to prove his
+    manhood, the other was preoccupied with his safety. With these
+    two courses the trial ended amid rounds of applause for the
+    prince."[8]
+
+The actual tourney was held on the market-place in Brussels before a
+distinguished assembly. Count Charles was escorted into the arena by
+his cousin, the Count d'Estampes, and other nobles. Seigneur d'Auxy,
+his tutor, stood near to watch the maiden efforts of the prince and
+his mates. He had reason to be proud of Charles, both for his bearing
+and his skill. He gave and received excellent thrusts, broke more
+than ten lances, and did his duty so valiantly that in the evening he
+received the prize from two princesses, and "Montjoye" was cried
+by the heralds in his honour. From that time forth, the count was
+considered a puissant and rude jouster and gained great renown.
+
+    "And that is the reason why I commence my memoirs about him and
+    his deeds[9] [continues La Marche, on concluding his description
+    of the tournament], and I do not speak from hearsay and rumour.
+    As one who has been brought up with him from his youth in his
+    father's service and in his own, I will touch upon his education,
+    his morals, his character, and his habits from the moment when I
+    first saw him as appears above in my memoirs.
+
+    "As to his character, I will commence at the worst features. He
+    was hot, active, and impetuous: as a child he was very eager to
+    have his own way. Nevertheless, he had so much understanding and
+    good sense that he resisted his inclinations and in his youth no
+    one could be found sweeter or more courteous than he. He did not
+    take the name of God or the saints in vain, and held God in great
+    fear and reverence. He learned well and had a retentive memory. He
+    was fond of reading and of hearing read the stories of Lancelot
+    and Gawain, but to both he preferred the sea and boats. Falconry,
+    too, he loved and he hunted whenever he had leave. In archery he
+    early excelled his comrades and was good at other sports. Thus was
+    the count educated, trained, and taught, and thus did he devote
+    himself to good and excellent exercise."
+
+That the report of the lavishness and extravagance of the Burgundian
+court was no idle rumour, exaggerated by frequent repetitions, is
+attested to by every bit of contemporary evidence. Enthusiastic and
+loyal chroniclers dwell on the magnificence, and the arid details of
+bills paid show what it cost to attain the vaunted perfection, while
+the protests from taxpayers prove that this splendour did not grow
+like the lilies of the field.
+
+[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE OF AN ACCOUNT-BOOK XVTH CENTURY]
+
+Philip's treasury had many separate compartments. There were many
+quarters to which he could turn for his needed supplies, but there
+were times when his exchequer ran very threateningly low, and his
+financial stress led him to be very conciliatory towards the burghers
+with full purses.
+
+In 1445, Ghent had been honoured by the celebration of the feast of
+the Order of the Golden Fleece within her gates. Two years later,
+Philip appeared in person at a meeting of the _collace_, or municipal
+assembly, and delivered a harangue to the Ghentish magistrates and
+burghers, flattering them, moreover, by using their vernacular. The
+tenor of this speech was as follows[10]:
+
+    "My good and faithful friends, you know how I have been brought
+    up among you from my infancy. That is why I have always loved you
+    more than the inhabitants of all my other cities, and I have
+    proved this by acceding to all your requests. I believe then that
+    I am justified in hoping that you will not abandon me to-day when
+    I have need of your support. Doubtless you are not ignorant of the
+    condition of my father's treasury at the period of his death. The
+    majority of his possessions had been sold. His jewels were
+    in pawn. Nevertheless, the demands of a legitimate vengeance
+    compelled me to undertake a long and bloody war, during which the
+    defence of my fortresses and of my cities, and the pay of my
+    army have necessitated outlays so large that it is impossible to
+    estimate them. You know, too, that at the very moment when the war
+    on France was at its height, I was obliged, in order to assure the
+    protection of my country of Flanders, to take arms against the
+    English in Hainaut, in Zealand, and in Friesland, a proceeding
+    costing me more than 10,000 _saluts d'or,_ which I raised with
+    difficulty. Was I not equally obliged to proceed against Liege, in
+    behalf of my countship of Namur, which sprang from the bosom of
+    Flanders? It is not necessary to add to all these outlays those
+    which I assume daily for the cause of the Christians in Jerusalem,
+    and the maintenance of the Holy Sepulchre.
+
+    "It is true, however, that, yielding to the persuasions of the
+    pope and the Council, I have now consented to put an end to the
+    evils multiplied by war by forgetting my father's death, and by
+    reconciling myself with the king. Since the conclusion of this
+    treaty, I considered that while I had succeeded in preserving
+    to my subjects during the war the advantages of industry and of
+    peace, they had submitted to heavy burdens in taxes and in
+    voluntary contributions, and that it was my duty to re-establish
+    order and justice in the administration. But everything went on as
+    though the war had not ceased. All my frontiers have been menaced,
+    and I found myself obliged to make good my rights in Luxemburg, so
+    useful to the defence of my other lands, especially of Brabant and
+    Flanders.
+
+    "In this way, my expenses continued to increase; all my resources
+    are now exhausted, and the saddest part of it all is that the good
+    cities and communes of Flanders and especially the country folk
+    are at the very end of their sacrifices. With grief I see many of
+    my subjects unable to pay their taxes, and obliged to emigrate.
+    Nevertheless, my receipts are so scanty that I have little
+    advantage from them. Nor do I reap more from my hereditary lands,
+    for all are equally impoverished.
+
+    "A way must be found to ease the poor people, and at the same time
+    to protect Flanders from insult, Flanders for whose sake I would
+    risk my own person, although to arrive at this end, important
+    measures have become imperative."
+
+After this affectionate preamble, Philip finally states that, in order
+to raise the requisite revenues, no method seemed to him so good and
+so simple as a tax on salt, three sous on every measure for a term of
+twelve years. He promised to dispense with all other subsidies and to
+make his son swear to demand nothing further as long as the _gabelle_
+was imposed.
+
+    "Know [he added in conclusion] that even if you consent to it I
+    will renounce it if others prove of a different opinion, for I do
+    not desire that the communes of Flanders be more heavily weighted
+    than any other portion of my territory."
+
+The duke might have spared his trouble and his elaborate
+condescension. The answer to his conciliatory request was a flat
+refusal to consider the matter at all. Salt was a vital necessity to
+Flemish fisheries, and its cost could not be increased to the least
+degree without serious inconvenience. The Flemings were wroth at his
+imitating the worst custom of his French kinsmen.
+
+Philip departed from Ghent in great dudgeon. After a time he was
+persuaded that the indisposition of the town to meet his reasonable
+wishes was not due to the citizens at large, but to the machinations
+of a few unruly agitators among the magistrates. In 1449, therefore,
+he took a high-handed course of trying to direct the issue of the
+regular municipal elections, so as to ensure the choice of magistrates
+on whose obedience he could rely. The appearance of Burgundian troops
+in Ghent, before the election of mid-August, aroused the wrath of the
+community, who thought that their most cherished franchises were in
+jeopardy.
+
+This was the beginning of a bitter struggle between Ghent and Philip.
+The duke found it no light matter to coerce the independent burghers
+into remembering that they were simply part of the Burgundian state.
+"_Tantae molis erat liberam gentem in servitutem adigere_!" ejaculates
+Meyer in the midst of his chronicle of the details of fourteen months
+of active hostilities.[11] Matters were long in coming to an outbreak.
+Various points had been contended over, when Philip had endeavoured
+to change the seat of the great council, or to take divers measures
+tending to concentrate certain judicial or legislative functions for
+his own convenience, but in a manner prejudicial to the autonomy of
+Ghent. His centripetal policy was disliked, but when his policy went
+further, and he attempted to control purely civic offices, dislike
+grew into resentment and the Ghenters rose in open revolt.
+
+For a time, their opposition passed in Philip's estimation as mere
+insignificant unruliness. By 1452, however, the date of the tourney
+above described, it became evident that a vital issue was at stake.
+The Estates of Flanders endeavoured to mediate between overlord and
+town, but without success. Owing to Philip's interference in the
+elections, the results were declared void, and when a new election was
+appointed, the Burgundians accused the city of hastily augmenting its
+number of legal voters by over-facile naturalisation laws. The gilds,
+too, evinced a readiness to be very lenient in their scrutiny of
+candidates for admission to their cherished privileges, preferring,
+for the nonce, numbers to quality. Occupancy of furnished rooms was
+declared sufficient for enfranchisement, and there were cases where
+mere guests of a bourgeois were hastily recorded on the lists as
+full-fledged citizens.
+
+By these means the popular party waxed very strong numerically. The
+sheriffs found themselves quite unequal to holding the rampant spirit
+of democracy in check. The regular government was overthrown, and the
+demagogues succeeded in electing three captains _(hooftmans)_
+invested with arbitrary power for the time being. The decrees of
+the ex-sheriffs were suspended, and a mass of very radical measures
+promulgated and joyfully confirmed by the populace, assembled on the
+Friday market. It was to be the judgment of the town meeting that
+ruled, not deputed authority. One ordinance stipulated that at the
+sound of the bell every burgher must hasten to the market-place, to
+lend his voice to the deliberations.
+
+For a time various negotiations went on between Philip and envoys from
+Ghent. The latter took a high hand and insinuated in unmistakable
+terms that if the duke refused an accommodation with them, they would
+appeal to their suzerain, the King of France. No act of rebellion,
+overt or covert, exasperated Philip more than this suggestion. Charles
+VII. was only too ready to ignore those clauses in the treaty of
+Arras, releasing the duke from homage, and virtually acknowledging his
+complete independence in his French territories. The king accepted
+missives from his late vassal's city, without reprimanding the writers
+for their presumption in signing themselves "Seigneurs of Ghent."[12]
+His action, however, was confined to mild attempts at mediation.
+
+It was plain to the duke that his other towns would follow Ghent's
+resistance to his authority if there were hopes of her success.
+Therefore he threw aside all other interests for the time being, and
+exerted himself to levy a body of troops to crush Flemish pretensions.
+His counsellors advised him to sound the temper of other citizens and
+to ascertain whether their sympathies were with Ghent. Answers of
+feeble loyalty came back to him from the majority of the other towns.
+Undoubtedly they highly approved Ghent's efforts. They, too, could
+not afford to pay taxes fraught with danger to their commerce, nor to
+relinquish one jot of privileges dearly bought at successive crises
+throughout a long period of years. The only doubt in their minds was
+as to the ultimate success of the burghers to stem the course of
+Burgundian usurpation. Therefore, they first hedged, and then
+consented to aid the duke. This course was pursued by the Hollanders
+and the Zealanders, all alike short-sighted.
+
+The Ghenters succeeded in possessing themselves of the castle of
+Poucque by force, and of the village of Gaveren by stratagem, taking
+advantage in the latter case of the castellan's absence at church.
+
+When every part of his dominions had been canvassed for troops, and
+Philip was prepared for his first active campaign against Ghent, he
+was anxious to leave his heir under the protection of the duchess,
+conscious that the imminent contest would be bitter and deadly. A
+pretence was made that the young count's accoutrements were not ready,
+and that, therefore, he would have to remain in Brussels.
+
+    "But he whose ambitions waxed, hastened the completion of his
+    accoutrements, and swore by St. George, the greatest oath he ever
+    used, that he would rather go in his shirt than not accompany his
+    father to punish his impudent rebel subjects."[13]
+
+The approaching hostilities were watched by foreign merchants in dread
+of commercial disaster.
+
+    "On May 18th, the _nations_[14] of the merchants of Bruges
+    departed thence to go to Ghent to try to make peace between that
+    city and the Duke of Burgundy, and there were _nations_ of Spain,
+    Aragon, Portugal, and Scotland, besides the Venetians, Milanese,
+    Genoese, and Luccans."[15]
+
+But the men of Ghent were beyond the point where commercial arguments
+could stem their course. The very day that this company arrived in the
+city, the burghers sallied forth six or seven thousand strong, fully
+equipped for offensive warfare.
+
+Both the actual engagements and guerilla skirmishes that raged over
+a minute stretch of territory were characterised by an extraordinary
+ferocity. Around Oudenarde, which town Philip was determined to
+relieve, men were beheaded like sheep.
+
+In the first regular engagement in which Charles took part, he showed
+a brave front and learned the duties of a prince by rewarding others
+with the honour of knighthood. Among those slain in the course of the
+war, were Cornelius, Bastard of Burgundy, and the gallant Jacques
+de Lalaing. Philip grieved deeply over the death of the former, his
+favourite among his natural sons, and buried him with all honours in
+the Church of Ste-Gudule in Brussels. The title by which he was known,
+hardly a proud one it would seem, passed to his brother Anthony.
+Lalaing, too, was greatly mourned, thus prematurely cut down in his
+thirty-third year.
+
+There was so much fear lest the duke's sole legitimate heir might also
+perish in these conflicts where there was no mercy, that Charles was
+persuaded to go to visit his mother in the hope that she would keep
+him by her side. She made a feast in his honour, but, to the surprise
+of all, the duchess, who had wished to protect her son from the mild
+perils of a tourney, now encouraged him with brave words to return
+to fight in all earnest for his inheritance.[16] He himself was very
+indignant at the efforts to treat him as a child.
+
+The first truce and negotiations for peace, initiated in the summer of
+1452, were broken off because the conditions were unbearable to the
+Ghenters. Another year of warfare followed before the decisive battle
+of Gaveren, in July, 1453, forced them sadly to succumb. There was
+no other course open to them. Not only were they defeated but their
+numbers were decimated.[17] With full allowance for exaggeration, it
+is certain that the loss was very heavy. Terms scornfully rejected at
+an earlier date were, in 1453, accepted with every humiliating detail.
+More, the defeated rebels were bidden to be grateful that their kind
+sovereign had imposed nothing further to the conditions. As to abating
+the severity of the articles, he declared that he would not change an
+_a_ for a _b_.[18]
+
+The chief provisions were as follows: The deans of the gilds were
+deprived of participation in the election of sheriffs. The privileges
+of the naturalisation laws were considerably abridged. No sentence of
+banishment could be pronounced without the intervention of the duke's
+bailiff, whose authorisation, too, was required before the publication
+of edicts, ordinances, etc. The sheriffs were forbidden to place their
+names at the head of letters to the officers of the duke. The banners
+were to be delivered to the duke and placed under five locks, whose
+several keys should be deposited with as many different people,
+without whose consensus the banners could not be brought forth to lead
+the burghers to sedition. One gate was to be closed every Thursday in
+memory of the day when the citizens had marched through it to attack
+their liege lord, and another was to be barred up in perpetuity or
+at the pleasure of their sovereign. To reimburse the duke for his
+enforced outlay, a heavy indemnity was to be paid by the city.
+
+July 30th was the date appointed for the final act of submission, the
+_amende honorable_ of the unfortunate city. The scene was very similar
+to that played at Bruges in 1440. Two thousand citizens headed by the
+sheriffs, councillors, and captains of the burgher guard met the
+duke and his suite a league without the walls of Ghent. Bareheaded,
+barefooted, and divested of all their robes of office and of dignity,
+clad only in shirts and small clothes, these magistrates confessed
+that they had wronged their loving lord by unruly rebellion, and
+begged his pardon most humbly.
+
+The duke spent the night of July 29th at Gaveren, prepared to march
+out in the morning with his whole army in handsome array. Philip was
+magnificently apparelled, but he rode the same horse which he had used
+on the day of battle, with the various wounds received on that day
+ostentatiously plastered over to make a dramatic show of what the
+injured sovereign had suffered at the hands of his disloyal subjects.
+
+The civic procession was headed by the Abbot of St. Bavon and the
+Prior of the Carthusians. The burghers who followed the half-clad
+officials were fully dressed but they, too, were barefoot and
+ungirdled. All prostrated themselves in the dust and cried, "Mercy on
+the town of Ghent." While they were thus prostrate, the town spokesman
+of the council made an elaborate speech in French, assuring the
+duke that if, out of his benign grace. he would take his loving and
+repentant subjects again into his favour, they would never again give
+him cause for reproach.
+
+    "At the conclusion of this harangue, the duke and the Count of
+    Charolais, there present, pardoned the petitioners for their evil
+    deeds. The men of Ghent re-entered their town more happy and
+    rejoiced than can be expressed, and the duke departed for Lille,
+    having disbanded his army, that every one might return to their
+    several homes." [19]
+
+The joy experienced by the conquered, here described by La Marche, as
+he looked back at the event from the calm retirement of his old age,
+was not visible to all eye-witnesses. The progress of this war was
+watched eagerly from other parts of Philip's dominion. His army was
+full of men from both the Burgundies, who sent frequent reports to
+their own homes. Some passages from one of these reports by an unknown
+war correspondent run as follows:
+
+    "As to news from here, Monday after St. Magdalen's Day,
+    Monseigneur the duke got the better of the Ghenters near Gaveren
+    between ten and eleven o'clock. They attacked him near his
+    quarters.... The duke risked his own person in advance of his
+    company in the very worst of the slaughter, which lasted from the
+    said place up to Ghent, a distance of about two leagues. The slain
+    number three or four thousand, more or less, and those drowned in
+    the river of Quaux about two hundred.... This Tuesday, the date of
+    writing, the army departs from their quarters to advance on Ghent
+    to demand the conditions lately offered them, and the bearer of
+    this letter will tell you what is the result. M. the duke and
+    his army marched up to Ghent and I have seen the bearing of the
+    citizens. They are very bitter and despondent. M. the marshall has
+    been parleying. I hear that matters have been settled. I hear that
+    the Ghenters' loss is thirteen to fourteen thousand men. I
+    cannot write more for I have no time owing to the haste of the
+    messenger."
+
+This was written July 23d. There is another despatch of July 31st,
+giving the last news, which was "very joyous." The public apology had
+just been enacted--
+
+    "and afterwards, in token of being conquered and as a confession
+    that my said seigneur was victorious, those of Ghent have
+    delivered up all their banners to the number of eighty. And on
+    this day my said lord has created seven or eight knights and
+    heralds in honour of his triumph, which is inestimable."[20]
+
+The duke's victory was certainly "inestimable" in its value to him,
+yet, in spite of the rigour enforced on this defeated people, they
+were not as crushed as they might have been had they submitted in
+1445. Philip was clever enough to be more lenient than appeared at
+first. Ancient privileges were confirmed in a special compact, and the
+duke swore to maintain all former concessions in their entirety except
+in the points above specified. Liberty of person was guaranteed, and
+it was expressly stipulated that if the bailiff refused to sustain the
+sheriffs in their exercise of justice, or tried to arrogate to himself
+more than his due authority, he should forfeit his office. Lastly, and
+more important than all, the duke made no attempt to revive the demand
+for the _gabelle_--salt was left free and untaxed. As a matter of
+fact, too, the duke was not exigeant in the fulfilment of every item
+of the treaty and, two years later, he increased certain privileges.
+He had cut the lion's claws but he had no desire to pit his strength
+again with Flemish communes. He had taught the audacious rebels a
+lesson and that sufficed him.[21]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Blok, _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourg.
+Oostenrijksche Heerschappij,_ p. 84.]
+
+[Footnote 2: La Marche, ii., 79, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See also _Chronijcke van Nederlant,_ p. 76, and
+_Vlaamsche Kronijk,_ p. 203. Ed. C. Piot.]
+
+[Footnote 4: D'Escouchy, _Chronique_, i., 110.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The items of the funeral expenses can be found in
+Laborde, i., 380. There were 600 masses at two sous apiece.]
+
+[Footnote 6: In that same year, 1440, in which this gift is recorded,
+there is another item showing how Charles took his amusement not only
+on the harp but in planning some of the elaborate surprises regularly
+introduced between courses in the banquets. "To Barthelmy the painter,
+for making the cover of a pasty for the Count of Charolais to present
+to Monseigneur on the night of St. Martin in the previous year, v
+francs" (Laborde, i., 381).]
+
+[Footnote 7: La Marche, ii., 214.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard puts this tournament in Lent, 1452. Charles's
+outfit cost 360 livres.]
+
+[Footnote 9: La Marche, i., ch. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv. Kervyn quotes from
+the _Dagboek des gentsche collatie_, M. Schayes.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Meyer, xvi., 303.]
+
+[Footnote 12: They were charged with using this phrase. Gachard says
+that they placed at the top of their letter their titles of
+sheriffs and deans, as princes and lords take the title of their
+seignories.--(La Marche, ii., 221. _See also_ d'Escouchy, ii., 25.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: La Marche, ii., 230.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Associations of merchants in foreign cities.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, _OEuvres_, ii., 221.]
+
+[Footnote 16: La Marche, ii., 312. Chastellain, ii., 278. See also
+_Chronique d'Adrian de Budt_, p. 242, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Meyer, p. 313. La Marche, ii., 313. Lavisse, _Histoire
+de France_, accepts 13,000 as the number slain. Chastellain (ii., 375)
+puts the number at 22-30,000, including those drowned by the duke's
+order. Du Clercq lets a certain sympathy for the rebellious people
+escape his pen. Chastellain and La Marche treat the antagonism to
+taxes as unreasonable.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Chastellain, ii., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 19: La Marche, ii., 331. The Chastellain MS. is lacking for
+this event.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Revue des societes savantes des departements_, 7me.
+serie, 6, p. 209.
+
+These two reports were enclosed with brief notes dated July 31 and
+August 8, 1453, from the ducal attorney at Amont to the magistrates
+of Baume. The former was one of the highest officials in the
+Franche-Comte. The reporter might have been one of his secretaries.
+The two notes with their unsigned enclosures were discovered (1881)in
+the archives of the town of Baume-les-Dames.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn, _Histoire de Flandre_, iv., 494.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE PHEASANT
+
+1454
+
+
+After the fatigues of this contest with Ghent, followed a period of
+relaxation for the Burgundian nobles at Lille, where a notable
+round of gay festivities was enjoyed by the court. Adolph of Cleves
+inaugurated the series with an entertainment where, among other
+things, he delighted his friends by a representation of the tale of
+the miraculous swan,[1] famous in the annals of his house for bringing
+the opportune knight down the Rhine to wed the forlorn heiress.
+
+When his satisfied guests took their leave, Adolph placed a chaplet on
+the head of one of the gentlemen, thus designating him to devise a new
+amusement for the company; and under the invitation lurked a tacit
+challenge to make the coming occasion more brilliant than the first.
+Again and again was this process repeated. Entertainment followed
+entertainment, all a mixture of repasts and vaudeville shows in whose
+preparation the successive hosts vied with each other to attain
+perfection.
+
+The hard times, the stress of ready money, so eloquently painted when
+the merchants were implored to take pity on their poverty-stricken
+lord, were cast into utter oblivion. It was harvest tide for skilled
+craftsmen and artisans. Any one blessed with a clever or fantastic
+idea easily found a market for the product of his brain. He could see
+his poetic or quaint conception presented to an applauding public with
+a wealth of paraphernalia that a modern stage manager would not
+scorn. How much the nobles spent can only be inferred from the ducal
+accounts, which are eloquent with information about the creators of
+all this mimic pomp. About six sous a day was the wage earned by a
+painter, while the plumbers received eight. These latter were called
+upon to coax pliable lead into all sorts of shapes, often more
+grotesque than graceful.
+
+One fete followed another from the early autumn of 1453 to February,
+1454, when "The Feast of the Pheasant," as the ducal entertainment was
+called, crowned the series with an elaborate magnificence that has
+never been surpassed.
+
+Undoubtedly Philip possessed a genius for dramatic effect and it is
+more than possible that he instigated the progressive banquets for the
+express purpose of leading up to the occasion with which he intended
+to dazzle Europe.[2]
+
+[Illustration: COUNT OF ST. POL AND HIS JESTER]
+
+For the duke's thoughts were now turned from civic revolts to a great
+international movement which he hoped to see set in motion. Almost
+coincident with the capitulation of Ghent to Philip's will had been
+the capitulation of Constantinople to the Turks. The event long
+dreaded by pope and Christendom had happened at last (May 29, 1453).
+Again and again was the necessity for a united opposition to the
+inroads of the dangerous infidels urged by Rome. On the eve of St.
+Martin, 1453, a legate arrived in Lille bringing an official letter
+from the pope, setting forth the dire stress of the Christian Church,
+and imploring the mightiest duke of the Occident to be her saviour,
+and to assume the leadership of a crusade in her behalf against the
+encroaching Turk.[2]
+
+Philip was ready to give heed to the prayer. Whatever the exact
+sequence of his plans in relation to the court revels, the result was
+that his own banquet was utilised as a proper occasion for blazoning
+forth to the world with a flourish of trumpets his august intention of
+dislodging the invader from the ancient capital of the Eastern empire.
+
+The superintendence of the arrangements for this all-eclipsing fete
+was entrusted, as La Marche relates,
+
+    "to Messire Jehan, Seigneur de Lannoy, Knight of the Golden
+    Fleece, and a skilful ingenious gentleman, and to one Squire Jehan
+    Boudault, a notable and discreet man. And the duke honoured me so
+    far that he desired me to be consulted. Several councils were held
+    for the matter to which the chancellor and the first chamberlain
+    were invited. The latter had just returned from the war in
+    Luxemburg already described.
+
+    "These council meetings were very important and very private, and
+    after discussion it was decided what ceremonies and mysteries were
+    to be presented. The duke desired that I should personate the
+    character of Holy Church of which he wished to make use at this
+    assembly."
+
+As in many half amateur affairs the preparations took more time than
+was expected. At the first date set, all was not in readiness and the
+performance was postponed until February 17th. This entailed serious
+loss upon the provision merchants and they received compensation for
+the spoiled birds and other perishable edibles.[4]
+
+The gala-day opened with a tournament at which Adolph of Cleves again
+sported as Knight of the Swan to the applause of the onlookers. After
+the jousting, the guests adjourned to the banqueting hall, where fancy
+had indeed, run riot, to make ready for their admiring eyes and their
+sagacious palates. _Entremets_ is the term applied to the elaborate
+set pieces and side-shows provided to entertain the feasters between
+courses, and these were on an unprecedented scale.
+
+Three tables stood prepared respectively for the duke and his suite,
+for the Count of Charolais, his cousins, and their comrades, and for
+the knights and ladies. The first table was decorated with marvellous
+constructions, among which was a cruciform church whose mimic clock
+tower was capacious enough to hold a whole chorus of singers. The
+enormous pie in which twenty-eight musicians were discovered when the
+crust was cut may have been the original of that pasty whose opening
+revealed four-and-twenty blackbirds in a similar plight. Wild animals
+wandered gravely at a machinist's will through deep forests, but in
+the midst of the counterfeit brutes there was at least one live lion,
+for Gilles le Cat[5] received twenty shillings from the duke for the
+chain and locks he made to hold the savage beast fast "on the day of
+the said banquet."
+
+Again there was an anchored ship, manned with a full crew and rigged
+completely. "I hardly think," observes La Marche, "that the greatest
+ship in the world has a greater number of ropes and sails."
+
+Before the guests seated themselves they wandered around the hall
+and inspected the decorations one by one. Nor was their admiration
+exhausted when they turned to the discussion of the toothsome dainties
+provided for their delectation.
+
+During the progress of the banquet, the story of Jason was enacted.
+Time there certainly was for the play. La Marche estimated forty-eight
+dishes to every course, though he qualifies his statement by the
+admission that his memory might be inexact. These dishes were wheeled
+over the tables in little chariots before each person in turn.
+
+"Such were the mundane marvels that graced the fete," is the
+conclusion of La Marche's[6] exhaustive enumeration of the
+masterpieces from artists' workshops and ducal kitchen.
+
+    "I will leave them now to record a pity moving _entremets_ which
+    seemed to be more special than the others. Through the portal
+    whence the previous actors had made their entrance, came a giant
+    larger without artifice than any I had ever seen, clad in a long
+    green silk robe, a turban on his head like a Saracen in Granada.
+    His left hand held a great, old-fashioned two-bladed axe, his
+    right hand led an elephant covered with silk. On its back was a
+    castle wherein sat a lady looking like a nun, wearing a mantle of
+    black cloth and a white head-dress like a recluse.[7]
+
+    "Once within the hall and in sight of the noble company, like one
+    who had work before her, she said to the giant, her conductor:
+
+      "'Giant, prithee let me stay
+        For I spy a noble throng
+        To whom I wish to speak.'
+
+     "At these words her guide conducted his charge before the ducal
+    table and there she made a piteous appeal to all assembled to come
+    to rescue her, Holy Church, fallen into the hands of unbelieving
+    miscreants. As soon as she ceased speaking a body of officers
+    entered the hall, Toison d'Or, king-at-arms, bringing up the rear.
+    This last carried a live pheasant ornamented with a rich collar of
+    gold studded with jewels. Toison d'Or was followed by two maidens,
+    Mademoiselle Yolande, bastard daughter of the duke, and Isabelle
+    of Neufchatel, escorted by two gentlemen of the Order. They all
+    proceeded to the host. After greetings, Toison d'Or then said:
+
+    "'High and puissant prince and my redoubtable lord, here are
+    ladies who recommend themselves very humbly to you because it is,
+    and has been, the custom at great feasts and noble assemblies to
+    present to the lords and nobles a peacock or some other noble bird
+    whereon useful and valid vows may be made. I am sent hither with
+    these two demoiselles to present to you this noble pheasant,
+    praying you to remember them.'
+
+    "When these words were said, Monseigneur the duke, who knew for
+    what purpose he had given the banquet, looked at the personified
+    Church, and then, as though in pity for her stress, drew from his
+    bosom a document containing his vow to succour Christianity, as
+    will appear later. The Church manifested her joy, and seeing that
+    my said seigneur had given his vow to Toison d'Or, she again burst
+    forth forth into rhyme:
+
+      "'God be praised and highly served
+        By thee, my son, the foremost peer in France.
+        Thy sumptuous bearing have I close observed
+        Until it seemed thou wert reserved
+        To bring me my deliverance.
+        Near and far I seek alliance
+        And pray to God to grant thee grace
+        To work His pleasure in thy place.
+
+      "'0 every prince and noble, man and knight,
+        Ye see your master pledged to worthy deed.
+        Abandon ease, abjure delight,
+        Lift up your hand, each in his right,
+        Offer God the savings from thy greed.
+        I take my leave, imploring each, indeed,
+        To risk his life for Christian gain,
+        To serve his God and 'suage my pain.'
+
+    "At this the giant led off the elephant and departed by the same
+    way in which he had entered.
+
+    "When I had seen this _entremets_, that is, the Church and a
+    castle on the back of such a strange beast, I pondered as to
+    whether I could understand what it meant and could not make it out
+    otherwise except that she had brought this beast, rare among us,
+    in sign that she toiled and laboured in great adversity in the
+    region of Constantinople, whose trials we know, and the castle in
+    which she was signified Faith. Moreover, because this lady was
+    conducted by this mighty giant, armed, I inferred that she wished
+    to denote her dread of the Turkish arms which had chased her away
+    and sought her destruction.
+
+    "As soon as this play was played out, the noble gentlemen, moved
+    by pity and compassion, hastened to make vows, each in his own
+    fashion."
+
+    The vow of the Count of Charolais was as follows: "I swear to God
+    my creator, and to His glorious mother, to the ladies and to the
+    pheasant, that, if my very redoubtable lord and father embark on
+    this holy journey, and if it be his pleasure that I accompany him,
+    I will go and will serve him as well as I can and know how to do."
+
+Other vows were less simple: all kinds of fantastic conditions being
+appended according to individual fancy. One gentleman decided never to
+go to bed on a Saturday until his pledge were accomplished. Another
+that he would eat nothing on Fridays that had ever lived until he
+had had an opportunity of meeting the enemy hand to hand, and of
+attacking, at peril of his life, the banner of the Grand Turk.
+
+Philip Pot vowed never to sit at table on a Tuesday and to wear no
+protection on his right arm. This last the duke refused to permit.
+Hugues de Longueval vowed that when he had once turned his face to the
+East he would abstain from wine until he had plunged his sword in an
+infidel's blood, and that he would devote two years to the crusade
+even if he had to remain all alone, provided Constantinople were not
+recovered. Louis de Chevelast swore that no covering should protect
+his head until he had come to within four leagues of the infidels,
+and that he would fight a Turk on foot with nothing on his arm but a
+glove. There was the same emulation in the vows as in the banquets and
+many of the self-imposed penalties were as bizarre as the side-shows.
+
+There were so many chevaliers eager to bind themselves to the
+enterprise that the prolonged ceremony threatened to become tedious.
+The duke, therefore, declared that the morrow would be equally valid
+as the day.[8]
+
+The Count of St. Pol was the only knight present who made his going
+dependent on the consent of the King of France, a condition very
+displeasing to his liege lord of Burgundy.]
+
+    "To abridge my tale [continues La Marche], the banquet was
+    finished and the cloth removed and every one began to walk
+    around the room. To me it seemed like a dream, for, of all the
+    decorations, soon nothing remained but the crystal fountain.
+    When there was no further spectacle to distract me, then my
+    understanding began to work and various considerations touching
+    this business came into my mind. First, I pondered upon the
+    outrageous excess and great expense incurred in a brief space by
+    these banquets, for this fashion of progressive entertainments,
+    with the hosts designated by chaplets, had lasted a long time. All
+    had tried to outshine their predecessors, and all, especially my
+    said lord, had spent so much that I considered the whole thing
+    outrageous and without any justification for the expense, except
+    as regarded the _entremets_ of the Church and the vows. Even that
+    seemed to me too lightly treated for an important enterprise.
+
+    "Meditating thus I found myself by chance near a gentleman,
+    councillor and chamberlain, who was in my lord's confidence and
+    with whom I had some acquaintance. To him I imparted my thoughts
+    in the course of a friendly chat and his comment was as follows:
+
+    "'My friend, I know positively that these chaplet entertainments
+    would never have occurred except by the secret desire of the duke
+    to lead up to this very banquet where he hoped to achieve a holy
+    purpose and to resist the enemies of our faith. It is three years
+    now since the distress of our Church was presented to the Knights
+    of the Golden Fleece at Mons. My lord there dedicated his person
+    and his wealth to her service. Since then occurred the rebellion
+    of Ghent, which entailed upon him a loss of time and money. Thanks
+    be to God, he has attained there a good and honourable peace, as
+    every one knows. Now it has chanced that, during this very period,
+    the Turks have encroached on Christianity still further in their
+    capture of Constantinople. The need of succour is very pressing
+    and all that you have witnessed to-day is proof that the good duke
+    is intent on the weal of Christendom.'"
+
+During the progress of this conversation, a new company was ushered
+into the hall, preceded by musicians. Here came _Grace Dieu_, clad
+as a nun followed by twelve knights dressed in grey and black velvet
+ornamented with jewels. Not alone did they come. Each gentleman
+escorted a dame wearing a coat of satin cramoisy over a fur-edged
+round skirt _a la Portuguaise. Grace Dieu_ declared in rhyme that God
+had heard the pious resolution of Duke Philip of Burgundy. He had
+forthwith sent her with her twelve attendants to promise him a happy
+termination to his enterprise. Her ladies, Faith, Charity, Justice,
+Reason, Prudence, and their sisters, were then presented to him.
+_Grace Dieu_ departs alone and no sooner has she disappeared than
+Philip's new attributes begin to dance to add to the good cheer. Among
+the knights was Charles and one of his half-brothers; among the ladies
+was Margaret, Bastard of Burgundy, and the others were all of high
+birth. Not until two o'clock did the revels finally cease.
+
+It must be noted that La Marche's reflections upon the extravagance of
+the entertainment occur also in Escouchy's memoirs. Probably both
+drew their moralising from another author. It is stated by several
+reputable chroniclers that Olivier de la Marche himself represented
+the Church. That he merely wrote her lines is far more probable.
+Female performers certainly appeared freely in these as in other
+masques, and there was no reason for putting a handsome youth in this
+role of the captive Church. In mentioning the plans that La Marche
+claims to have heard discussed in the council meeting, he says plainly
+that he was to play the role of Holy Church, but as he makes no
+further allusion to the fact, it may be dismissed as one of his
+careless statements.
+
+This pompous announcement of big plans was the prelude to nothing! Yet
+it was by no means a farce when enacted. Philip fully intended to
+make this crusade the crowning event of his life, and his proceedings
+immediately after the great fete were all to further that end. To
+obtain allies abroad, to raise money at home, and to ensure a peaceful
+succession for his son in case of his own death in the East--such were
+the cares demanding the duke's attention.
+
+The twenty-year-old Count of Charolais was entrusted with the regency
+for the term of his father's sojourn abroad in quest of allies, and
+he hastened to Holland to assume the reins of government, but he was
+speedily recalled to Lille to submit once more to paternal authority
+before being left to his own devices and to maternal bias.
+
+For the ducal pair disagreed seriously on the subject of their son's
+second marriage. Isabella wished that a bride should be sought in
+England, and this wish was apparently echoed by Charles himself. The
+important topic was discussed with more or less freedom among the
+young courtiers, until the drift of the conversations, whose burden
+was wholly adverse to his own fixed purpose, came to Philip's ears,
+together with the information that one of his own children was among
+those who incited the count to independent desires about his future
+wife. Very stern was the duke in his reprimand to the two young men.
+He acknowledged that force of circumstances had once led him into
+friendly bonds with the foes of his own France, but never had he been
+"English at heart." Charles must accept his father's decision on pain
+of disinheritance. "As for this bastard," Philip added, turning to the
+other son, destitute of status in the eyes of the law, "if I find that
+he counsels you to oppose my will, I will have him tied up in a sack
+and thrown into the sea."[9]
+
+The bride selected for the heir was Isabella of Bourbon, daughter
+of the duke's sister, and the betrothal was hastily made. Even the
+approval of the bride's parents was dispensed with. This passed the
+more easily as the young lady herself was conveniently present in the
+Burgundian court under the guardianship of her aunt, the duchess,
+who had superintended her education. A papal dispensation was more
+necessary than paternal consent, but that, too, was waived as far as
+the betrothal was concerned. To that extent was Philip obeyed. Then
+Charles returned to Holland and his father proceeded to Germany to
+obtain imperial co-operation in his Eastern enterprise.
+
+The duke's departure from Lille was made very privately at five
+o'clock in the morning. He was off before his courtiers were aware of
+his last preparations. That was a surprise, but not the only one in
+store for those left behind. In order to save every penny for his
+journey, Philip ordered radical retrenchment in his household
+expenses. The luxurious repasts served to his retainers were abolished
+and all alike found themselves forced to restrict their appetites to
+the dainties they could purchase with the table allowance accorded
+them. "The court's leg is broken," said Michel, the rhetorician.[10]
+
+In his own outlay there was no stinting; the duke's progress was
+pompous and stately as was his wont. As he traversed Switzerland,
+Berne, Zurich, and Constance asked and obtained permission to show
+their friendship with ceremonious receptions. Loud were the cries of
+"_Vive Bourgogne_." Equally hospitable were the German cities. Game,
+wine, fodder, were offered for the traveller's use at every stage, as
+he and his suite rode to the imperial diet.
+
+At Ratisbon, disappointment greeted him. The emperor whom he had come
+so far to see in person failed to appear. Unwilling to accede to the
+plan of co-operation, afraid to give an open refusal, Frederic
+simply avoided hearing the request. Essentially lazy, he shrank from
+committing himself to a difficult enterprise, nor was his ambition
+tempted by possible glory. It had cost no pang to refuse the crown
+of Bohemia and Hungary. But even had he been personally ambitious
+he might still have been slow to lend his adherence to the duke's
+project, in the not unnatural dread lest the flashing renown of the
+greatest duke of the Occident might throw a poor emperor as ally
+into the shade. The very warmth of Philip's reception in Germany had
+chilled Frederic. From a retreat in Austria, he sent his secretary,
+AEneas Sylvius, to represent him at Ratisbon, a substitution far from
+pleasing to the visitor.
+
+There were other defections, too, from the diet. None of those present
+was in a position to aid Philip in furthering his schemes. The matter
+was brought forward and laid on the table to be discussed at the next
+diet, appointed to meet in November at Frankfort. But Philip would
+not wait for that. Germany did not agree with him. He was not well.
+Rumours there were of various kinds about his reasons for returning
+home. They do not seem to require much explanation, however. He had
+not been met half way in Germany and was highly displeased at the
+failure. Declining all further entertainment proffered by the cities,
+he travelled back to Besancon by way of Stuttgart and Basel. In the
+early autumn he was at Dijon.
+
+During this summer, negotiations about Charles's marriage had
+continued. The Duke of Bourbon was inclined to chaffer about the dowry
+demanded by Philip. One of the estates asked for was Chinon, and it
+was urged that it, a male fief, was not capable of alienation. Philip
+was not inclined to accept this reason as final and the negotiations
+hung fire, much to the distress of the Duchess of Bourbon, who feared
+a breach between her husband and brother. Naive are the phrases in one
+of her letters as quoted by Chastellain[11]:
+
+    "MY VERY DEAR SEIGNEUR AND BROTHER,
+
+    "I have heard all Boudault's message from you ... To be brief,
+    Monseigneur is content and ready to accede the points that you
+    demand. It seems to me that you ought to give him easy terms and
+    that you ought to put aside any grudge you may cherish against
+    him. Monseigneur, since I consider the thing as done, I beg you to
+    celebrate the nuptials as soon as possible although not without me
+    as you have promised me."[12]
+
+The king, too, was interested in the matter, and wrote as follows to
+Duke Philip:
+
+    "DEAR AND MUCH LOVED BROTHER:
+
+    "Some time ago my cousin of Bourbon informed me of the
+    negotiations for the marriage of my cousin of Charolais, your son,
+    to my cousin Isabella of Bourbon, his daughter, which marriage
+    has been deferred, as he writes me, because he does not wish to
+    alienate to his daughter the seignory of Chateau-Chinon. It is not
+    possible for him to do this on account of the marriage agreement
+    of our daughter Jeanne and my cousin of Clermont, his son, wherein
+    it was stipulated that Chateau-Chinon should go to them and their
+    heirs. Moreover, it cannot descend in the female line, and in
+    default of heirs male it must return to the crown as a true
+    appanage of France.
+
+    "Lest, peradventure, you may doubt the truth of this, and imagine
+    that the point is urged by our cousin of Bourbon simply as an
+    excuse for not ceding the estate, we assure you that it is true,
+    and was considered in arranging the alliance of our daughter so
+    that it is beyond the power of our cousin of Bourbon to make any
+    alienation or transfer of the territory at the marriage of his
+    daughter. We never would have permitted the marriage of our
+    daughter without this express settlement. With this consideration
+    it seems to me that you ought not to block the marriage in
+    question, especially as my cousin says he is offering you an
+    equivalent. He cannot do more as we have charged our councillor,
+    the bailiff of Berry, to explain to you in full. So pray do not
+    postpone the marriage for the above cause or for any cause, if
+    by the permission of the Church and of our Holy Father it can be
+    lawfully completed.
+
+    "Given at Romorantin, Oct. 17.
+
+    "CHARLES.[13]
+
+    CHALIGAUT."
+
+
+As the marriage was an event of importance, and the circumstances
+are simple historic facts, it is strange that there should be any
+uncertainty regarding the details of its solemnisation. But there is a
+certain vagueness about the narratives. One version is so amusing that
+it deserves a slight consideration.[14] The chronicler relates how
+Charles VII. felt some uneasiness at the delay in the negotiations.
+Conscious of the sentiments of the Duchess of Burgundy, he feared
+lest her well-known sympathies for England might prevail in the final
+decision.
+
+When Philip had returned to Dijon, the bailiff of Berry came as the
+king's special envoy to discuss some aspects of the subject with him.
+The mission was gladly undertaken as the messenger had never seen
+Philip nor his court and he was pleased at the chance of meeting a
+personage whose fame rang through Europe. Very graciously was he
+received by the duke, who read the king's letters attentively and
+replied to the envoy's messages in general terms of courteous
+recognition, without making his own intention manifest. The bailiff
+waited for an answer, finding, in the meanwhile, that his days passed
+very agreeably.
+
+As a matter of fact, before his arrival at Dijon Philip Pot had set
+out for the Netherlands, bearing the duke's orders to his son to
+celebrate his nuptials without further delay. The duke did not intend
+to be influenced by any one. It was his will that his son should
+accept the bride selected and that was all sufficient. The reason why
+the duke detained the king's messenger was that he "awaited news from
+Messire Philip de Pot, whom he had sent in all speed to his son to
+hasten the wedding."[15] The said gentleman found the count at Lille
+with the duchess, his mother, and he was so diligent in the discharge
+of his mission that he made all the arrangements himself and saw the
+wedding rites solemnised immediately. The bridegroom did not even know
+of the plan until the night preceding the important day. Then Philip
+Pot rode back to Dijon.
+
+When the duke was assured that the alliance was irrevocably sealed
+he was quite ready to answer the king's messenger, whom he at once
+invited to an audience. In a casual fashion Philip remarked:
+
+"Now bailiff, the king sent you hither about a matter which I am
+humbly grateful for his interest in. You know my opinion. I had no
+desire to dissemble. Here is a gentleman fresh from Flanders; ask him
+his news and note his reply."
+
+"What tidings, Monsieur, do you bring us?
+
+Prithee impart it" said the bailiff to the chevalier. And the
+gentleman, laughing, replied: "By my faith, Monsieur bailiff, the
+greatest news that I know is that Monseigneur de Charolais is
+married!"
+
+"Married! to whom?"
+
+"To whom?" responded the chevalier, "why, to his first cousin,
+Monseigneur's niece."
+
+Merry was the duke over the Frenchman's blank amazement. Again the
+latter had to be reassured of the truth of the statement. Philip Pot
+told him that it was so true that the wedded pair had spent the night
+together according to their lawful right.
+
+The bailiff did not know which way to turn. "So he acted out his
+two roles. Returning thanks to the duke in the king's name with all
+formality, he then joined in the general laugh over the unsuspected
+trick. He was a man of the world and knew how to take advantage of
+sense and of folly."
+
+It was on the morrow of this hasty tying of the wedding knot that the
+Countess of Charolais sent a messenger to announce the fact to her
+parents. They seem to have been perfectly satisfied, made no further
+objection to any point, and the mooted territory of Chinon made part
+of the dower in spite of the reasons urged against it.
+
+As to the bailiff, when he made his adieux at Dijon, Philip presented
+him with a round dozen stirrup cups, each worth three silver marks,
+and he went home a surprised and delighted man.
+
+    "About this time [says Alienor de Poictiers] Monsieur de Charolais
+    married Mademoiselle de Bourbon and he married her on the eve of
+    All Saints[16] at Lille, and there was no festival because Duke
+    Philip was then in Germany. Eight days after the nuptials the
+    duchess gave a splendid banquet where were all the ladies of
+    Lille, but they were seated all together, as is usually done at
+    an ordinary banquet, without mesdames holding state as would have
+    been proper for such an occasion."
+
+It is evident from all the stories that Charles protested against his
+father's orders as much as he dared and then obeyed simply because he
+could not help himself.
+
+Yet, strange to say, the unwilling bridegroom proved a faithful
+husband in a court where marital fidelity was a rare trait.
+
+Philip's plans for the international union against the Turk were less
+easily completed than those for the union of his son and his niece. In
+November, the diet met at Frankfort; the expedition was discussed and
+some resolutions were passed, but nothing further was achieved.
+
+Charles VII. would not even promise co-operation on paper. He had
+gradually extended his own domain in French-speaking territory and had
+dislodged the English from every stronghold except Guisnes and Calais.
+Under him France was regaining her prestige. Charles had much to lose,
+therefore, in joining the undertaking urged by Philip and he was
+wholly unwilling to risk it. From him Philip obtained only expressions
+of general interest in the repulse of the Turks, and more definite
+suggestions of the dangers that would menace Western Europe if all her
+natural defenders carried their arms and their fortunes to the East.
+
+When the anniversary of the great fete came round not a vow was yet
+fulfilled!
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A performance repeated in our modern Lohengrin.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The chroniclers are not at one on this point.]
+
+[Footnote 3: DuClercq, _Memoires_, ii., 159.]
+
+[Footnote 4: This banquet at Lille was the subject of several
+descriptions by spectators or at least contemporary authors.
+
+The Royal Library at the Hague possesses a manuscript copied from an
+older one which contains the order of proceedings together with the
+text of all vows. There is a minute description in Mathieu d'Escouchy,
+who claims to have been present, and in a manuscript coming from
+Baluze, whose anonymous author might also have been an eye-witness. Of
+the various versions, that of La Marche seems to be the most original.
+One record shows that "a clerk living at Dijon, called Dion du Cret,
+received, in 1455, a sum of five francs and a half for having, at the
+order of the accountants, copied and written in parchment the history
+of the banquet of my said seigneur, held at Lille, February 17, 1453,
+containing fifty-six leaves of parchment" (La Marche, ii., 340 note).
+It is possible that all the authors refreshed their memory with this
+account, which seems to have been merely a copy.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Laborde, i., 127.]
+
+[Footnote 6: II., 361.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The text says in the Burgundian or recluse fashion.
+_Beguine_ is probably the right reading.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Mathieu d'Escouchy (ii., 222) gives all the vows as
+though made then, and differs in many unessential points from La
+Marche's account.
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clerq, ii., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 10:'"Michel dit que le gigot de la cour etait rompu."--La
+Marche, i., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Chastellain, iii., 20, note.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "Toute fois que ce ne soit pas sans moy."]
+
+[Footnote 13: The original, signed, is in the _Archives de la
+Cote-d'Or,_ B. 200. _See_ Du Fresne de Beaucourt, _Histoire de Charles
+VII_., v. 470.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Chastellain, iii., 23, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 24]
+
+
+[Footnote 16: The chroniclers differ as to this date. Chastellain
+(iii., 25) says the first Sunday in Lent. D'Escouchy (ii., 270, ch.
+cxxii) the night of St. Martin. Alienor de Poictiers, Hallowe'en _(Les
+Honneurs de la Cour_, p. 187). The last was one of Isabella's ladies
+in waiting.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+BURGUNDY AND FRANCE
+
+1455-1456.
+
+
+The duke's journey failed in accomplishing its object, but it proved
+an important factor in the development of the character of Charles of
+Burgundy. The opportunity to administer the government in his father's
+absence changed him from a youth to a man, and the manner of man he
+was, was plain to see.
+
+His character was built on singularly simple lines. Vigorous of
+body, intense of purpose, inclined to melancholy, he was profoundly
+convinced of his own importance as heir to the greatest duke in
+Christendom, as future successor to an uncrowned potentate, who could
+afford to treat lightly the authority of both king and emperor whose
+nominal vassal he was.
+
+The Ghent episode, too, undoubtedly had an immense effect in enhancing
+the count's belief in his father's power, in causing him to forget
+that the communes of Flanders did not owe their existence to their
+overlord. As yet, Charles of Burgundy had not met a single check to
+his self-esteem, to his family pride. As a governor, he probably
+exercised his brief authority with the rigour of one new to the helm.
+
+    "And the Count of Charolais bore himself so well and so virtuously
+    in the task, that nothing deteriorated under his hand, and when
+    the good duke returned from his journey, he found his lands as
+    intact as before."
+
+Such, is La Marche's testimony.[1] Intact undoubtedly, but possibly
+the satisfaction was not quite perfect. Du Clercq[2] declares that
+Count Charles acquitted himself honourably of his charge and made
+himself respected as a magistrate. Above all, he insisted that justice
+should be dealt out to all alike. The only danger in his methods was
+that he acted on impulse without sufficiently informing himself of the
+matter in hand, or hearing both sides of a controversy. As a result,
+his decisions were not always impartial and the father was preferred
+to the strenuous and impetuous son. "Not that Philip was often
+inclined to recognise other law than his own will, but he was more
+tranquil, more gentle than his son, and more guided by reason," adds
+a later author.[2] There was an evident dread as to what might be the
+outcome of the count's untrained, youthful ardour.
+
+The duke's chief measures after his return in February, 1455, seemed
+hardly calculated to arouse any great personal devotion to himself or
+a profound trust that his first consideration was for the advantage of
+his Netherland subjects. His thoughts were still turned to the East,
+and his main interest in the individual countships was as sources of
+supply for his Holy War. Considerable sums flowed into his exchequer
+that were never used for their destined purpose, but the duke cannot
+be justly accused of actual bad faith in amassing them. His intention
+to make the Eastern campaign remained firm for some years.
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF CHARLES THE BOLD AT INNSBRUCK]
+
+In another matter, his despotic exercise of personal authority, far
+without the pale of his jurisdiction inherited or acquired, shows no
+shadow of excuse.
+
+In the bishropic of Utrecht the ecclesiastical head was also lay
+lord. Here the counts of Holland possessed no voice. They were near
+neighbours, that was all. Philip ardently desired to be more in this
+tiny independent state in the midst of territories acknowledging his
+sway.
+
+In 1455, the see of Utrecht became vacant and Philip was most anxious
+to have it filled by his son David, whom he had already made Bishop of
+Therouanne by somewhat questionable methods. The Duke of Guelders
+also had a neighbourly interest in Utrecht and he, too, had a pet
+candidate, Stephen of Bavaria, whose election he urged. The chapter
+resolutely ignored the wishes of both dukes and the canons were almost
+unanimous in their choice of Gijsbrecht of Brederode.[4]
+
+A very few votes were cast for Stephen of Bavaria, but not a single
+one for David of Burgundy.
+
+Brederode was already archdeacon of the cathedral and an eminently
+worthy choice, both for his attainments and for his character. He was
+proclaimed in the cathedral, installed in the palace, and confirmed,
+as regarded his temporal power, by the emperor.
+
+Philip, however, refused to accept the returns, although not a single
+suffrage had been cast by the qualified electors for his son. He
+despatched the Bishop of Arras to Rome to petition the new pope,
+Calixtus III., to refuse to ratify the late election and to confer
+the see upon David, out of hand. Philip's tender conscience found
+Gijsbrecht ineligible to an episcopal office because he had
+participated in the war against Ghent, certainly a weak plea in an age
+of militant bishops!
+
+The pope was afraid to offend the one man in Europe upon whose
+immediate aid he counted in the Turkish campaign. He accepted the gift
+of four thousand ducats offered by Gijsbrecht's envoys, the customary
+gift in asking papal confirmation for a bishop-elect, but secretly
+he delivered to Philip's ambassador letters patent creating David of
+Burgundy Bishop of Utrecht.[5]
+
+The Burgundian La Marche states euphemistically that David was elected
+to the see, and the Deventer people would not obey him, therefore
+Philip had to levy an army and come in person to support the new
+bishop.[6] Du Clercq puts a different colour on the story and
+d'Escouchy[7] implies that the whole trouble arose from party strife
+which had to be quelled in the interests of law and order.
+
+Apart from any question of insult to the Utrechters by imposing upon
+them a spiritual director of acknowledged base birth, the right of
+choice lay with them and the emperor had confirmed their choice as far
+as the lay office was concerned. While the issue was undecided, the
+Estates of Utrecht appointed Gijsbrecht guardian and defender of the
+see to assure him a legal status pending the papal ratification. The
+people were prepared to support their candidate with arms, a game that
+Philip did not refuse, and the force of thirty thousand men with which
+he invaded the bishopric proved the stronger argument of the two and
+able to carry David of Burgundy to the episcopal throne, upon which he
+was seated in his father's presence, October 16, 1455.
+
+Some of Philip's allies reaped certain advantages from the situation.
+Alkmaar and Kennemerland redeemed certain forfeited privileges by
+means of their contributions to the duke's army. The city of Utrecht
+preferred a compromise to the risk of war. The bishop-elect,
+Gijsbrecht, consented to withdraw his claim, being permitted to retain
+the humbler office of provost of Utrecht and an annuity of four
+thousand guilders out of the episcopal revenues.
+
+Deventer was the only place which was obstinate enough to persist in
+her rebellion and Philip was engaged in bringing her citizens to terms
+by a siege when news was brought to him that a visitor had arrived at
+Brussels under circumstances which imperatively demanded his personal
+attention.
+
+In the twenty years that had elapsed since the Treaty of Arras, there
+had been great changes in France in the character both of the realm
+and of the ruler. Little by little the latter had proved himself to
+be a very different person from the inert king of Bourges.[8] Old at
+twenty, Charles VII. seemed young and vigorous at forty. Bad advisers
+were replaced by others better chosen and his administration gradually
+became effective. Fortune favoured him in depriving England of the
+Duke of Bedford (1435), the one man who might have maintained English
+prestige abroad and peace at home during the youth of Henry VI. It was
+at a time of civil dissensions in England, that Charles VII. succeeded
+in assuming the offensive on the Continent and in wresting Normandy
+and Guienne from the late invader.
+
+But this territorial advantage was not all. Distinct progress had been
+made towards a national existence in France. The establishment of
+the nucleus of a regular army was an immense aid in curbing the
+depredations of the "_ecorcheurs_," the devastating, marauding
+bands which had harassed the provinces. There was new activity in
+agriculture and industry and commerce.[9] The revival of letters and
+art, never completely stifled, proved the real vitality of France in
+spite of the depression of the Hundred Years' War. Royal justice was
+reorganised, public finance was better administered. By 1456, misery
+had not, indeed, disappeared, but it was less dominant.
+
+The years of growing union between king and his kingdom were, however,
+years of discord between Charles and his son. The dauphin Louis had
+not enjoyed the pampered, petted life of his Burgundian cousin. Very
+poor and forlorn was his father at the time of the birth of his heir
+(1423).[10] There was nothing in the treasury to pay the chaplain who
+baptised the child or the woman who nourished him. The latter received
+no pension as was usual but a modest gratuity of fifteen pounds.
+The first allowance settled on the heir to his unconsecrated royal
+father's uncertain fortunes was ten crowns a month. Every feature of
+his infancy was a marked contrast to the early life of the Count of
+Charolais.
+
+From his seventeenth year Louis was in active opposition to the
+king, heading organised rebellion against him in the war called
+the _Praguerie_. Finally, Charles VII. entrusted to his charge the
+administration of Dauphine, thus practically banishing him honourably
+from the court where he was, evidently, a disturbing element. The only
+restrictions placed upon him in his provincial government were such
+as were necessary to preserve the ultimate authority of the crown. To
+these restrictions, however, Louis paid not the slightest heed. He
+assumed all the airs of an independent sovereign. He made wars and
+treaties with his neighbours and at last proceeded to arrange his own
+marriage.
+
+At this time Louis was already a widower, having been married at the
+age of thirteen to Margaret of Scotland, who led a mournful existence
+at the French court, where she felt herself a desolate alien. Her
+death at the age of twenty was possibly due to slander. "Fie upon
+life," she said on her deathbed, when urged to rouse herself to resist
+the languor into which she was sinking. "Talk to me no more of it."
+
+Her husband cared less for her life than did Margaret herself. He took
+no interest in the inquiry set on foot to ascertain the truth of the
+charges against the princess, and was more than ready to turn to a new
+alliance. At the date of his widowerhood he was in Dauphine and his
+own choice for a wife was Charlotte, daughter of the Duke of Savoy.
+After negotiations in his own behalf he informed his father of his
+matrimonial project. It did not meet the views of Charles VII., who
+ordered his son to abandon the idea immediately.
+
+A messenger was despatched post haste to Chambery to stop the
+dauphin's nuptials.[11] The duke evaded an interview and the envoy was
+forced to deliver his letter to the chancellor of Savoy. On the morrow
+of his arrival, he was taken to church, where the wedding ceremony was
+performed (March 10, 1451), but his seat was in such a remote place
+that he could barely catch a glimpse of the bridal procession, though
+he saw that Louis was clad in crimson velvet trimmed with ermine. Two
+days later the envoy carried a pleasant letter to the king, expressing
+regrets on the part of the Duke of Savoy that the alliance was made
+before the paternal prohibition arrived.
+
+Nine years were spent by Louis in Dauphine. He introduced many
+administrative and judicial reforms, excellent in themselves but not
+popular. There were various protests and when he dared to impose taxes
+without the consent of the Estates, an appeal was made to the king
+begging him to check his son in his illegal assumptions. Charles
+summoned his son to his presence. Instead of obeying this order in
+person, Louis sent envoys who were dismissed by his father with a curt
+response: "Let my son return to his duty and he shall be treated as a
+son. As to his fears, security to his person is pledged by my word,
+which my foes have never refused to accept."[12]
+
+Louis showed himself less compliant than his father's foes. As Charles
+approached Dauphine, and made his preparations to enforce obedience,
+Louis appealed to the mediation of the pope, of the Duke of Burgundy,
+and of the King of Castile, beside sending offerings to all the chief
+shrines in Christendom, imploring aid against parental wrath. Then
+his thoughts took a less peaceful turn. He called the nobles of his
+principality to arms and bade the fortified towns prepare for siege,
+while he loftily declared that he would not trouble his father to seek
+him. He would meet him at Lyons.
+
+Meanwhile, the Count of Dammartin was directed by the king to take
+military possession of Dauphine and to put the dauphin under arrest.
+As he was _en route_ to fulfil these orders, the count heard that
+a day had been set by Louis for a great hunt. That an excellent
+opportunity might be afforded for securing his quarry in the course
+of the chase, was the immediate thought of the king's lieutenant. So
+there might have been had not the wily hunter received timely warning
+of the project for making _him_ the game.
+
+At the hour appointed for the meet, the dauphin's suite rode to the
+rendezvous, but the prince turned his horse in the opposite direction
+and galloped away at full speed, attended by a few trusty followers.
+He hardly stopped even to take breath until he was out of his father's
+domain, and made no pause until he reached St. Claude, a small town
+in the Franche-Comte, where he threw himself on the kindness of the
+Prince of Orange.
+
+How gossip about this strange departure of the French heir fluttered
+here and there! Du Clercq[13] tells the story with some variation from
+the above outline, laying more stress on the popular appeal to the
+king for relief from Louis's transgressions as governor of Dauphine,
+and enlarging on the accusation that Louis was responsible for the
+death of _La belle Agnes_, "the first lady of the land possessing the
+king's perfect love." He adds that the dauphin was further displeased
+because the niece of this same Agnes, the Demoiselle de Villeclerc,
+was kept at court after her aunt's death. Wherever the king went he
+was followed by this lady, accompanied by a train of beauties. It was
+this conduct of his father that had forced the son to absent himself
+from court life for twelve years and more, during which time he
+received no allowance as was his rightful due, and thus he had been
+obliged to make his own requisitions from his seigniory.
+
+There were other reports that the king was quite ready to accord his
+son his full state; others, again, that Charles drove Louis into exile
+from mere dislike and intended to make his second son his heir and
+successor. At this point Du Clercq's manuscript is broken off abruptly
+and the remainder of his conjectures are lost to posterity. Where the
+text begins again, the author dismisses all this contradictory hearsay
+and says in his own character as veracious chronicler, "I concern
+myself only with what actually occurred. The dauphin gave a feast
+in the forest and then departed secretly to avoid being arrested by
+Dammartin."
+
+This flight was the not unnatural termination of a long series of
+misunderstandings between a father whose private conduct was not above
+criticism, and a son, clever, unscrupulous, destitute of respect for
+any person or thing except for the superstitious side of his religion.
+
+Charles VII. was a curious instance of a man whose mental development
+occurred during the later years of his life. When his son was under
+his personal influence his character was not one to instil filial
+deference, and Louis certainly cherished neither respect nor affection
+for the father whose inert years he remembered vividly.
+
+Whether, indeed, the dauphin had any part in Agnes Sorel's death which
+gave him especial reason to dread the king's anger, is uncertain, but
+of his action there is no doubt. To St. Claude he travelled as rapidly
+as his steed could go, and from that spot on Burgundian soil he
+despatched the following exemplary letter to his father:
+
+    "MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LORD:
+
+    "To your good grace I recommend myself as humbly as I can. Be
+    pleased to know, my very redoubtable lord, that because, as you
+    know, my uncle of Burgundy intends shortly to go on a crusade
+    against the Turk in defence of the Catholic Faith and because my
+    desire is to go, your good pleasure permitting, considering that
+    our Holy Father the Pope bade me so to do, and that I am standard
+    bearer of the Church, and that I took the oath by your command, I
+    am now on my way to join my uncle to learn his plans so that I can
+    take steps for the defence of the Catholic Faith.
+
+    "Also, I wish to implore him to find means of reinstating me in
+    your good grace, which is something that I desire most in the
+    world. My very redoubtable lord, I pray God to give you good life
+    and long.
+
+    "Written at St. Claude the last day of August.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient son,
+
+    "LOYS."[14]
+
+
+This letter hardly succeeded in carrying conviction to the king.
+He characterised the projected expedition to Turkey as a farce, a
+pretence, and a frivolous excuse.[15] Probably, too, he did not
+contradict his courtiers when they declared that the project had
+been in the wind a long time, and that the Duke of Burgundy would
+be prouder than ever to have the heir to France dependent on his
+protection.
+
+The epistle despatched, Louis continued his journey under the escort
+of the Seigneur de Blaumont, Marshal of Burgundy, at the head of
+thirty horse. Their pace was rapid to elude the pursuit of Tristan
+l'Hermite. The prince needed no spurs to make him flee. Even if his
+father did not intend to have him drowned in a sack his immediate
+liberty was certainly in jeopardy. "In truth this thing was a
+marvellous business. The Prince of Orange and the Marshal of Burgundy
+were the two men whom the dauphin hated more than any one else,
+but necessity, which knows no law, overcame the distaste of the
+dauphin."[16]
+
+Louvain was the next place where Louis felt safe enough to rest. Here
+he wrote to the Duke of Burgundy to announce his arrival within his
+territory. The letter found Philip in camp before Deventer. It is
+evident that he was entirely taken by surprise, and was prepared to be
+very cautious in his correspondence with the French king. He assured
+him that he was willing to receive and honour Louis as his suzerain's
+heir, but he implored that suzerain not to blame him, the duke, for
+that heir's flight to his protection.
+
+His envoy, Perrenet, was charged with many reassuring messages in
+addition to the epistle. Before he reached the French court, his
+news was no novelty. Rumour had preceded him. The messenger was very
+eloquent in his assurances to the king that Philip was wholly innocent
+in the affair and a good peer and true. Perrenet
+
+    "stayed at the French court until Epiphany and I do not know what
+    they discussed, but during that time news came that the king had
+    garrisoned Compiegne, Lyons, and places where his lands touched
+    the duke's territories. When the envoy returned to the duke, he
+    published a manifesto ordering all who could bear arms to be in
+    readiness."[17]
+
+Philip sent messages of welcome to Louis with apologies for his
+own inevitable absence, and the visitor was profuse in his return
+assurances to his uncle that he understood the delay and would not
+disturb his business for the world. "I have leisure enough to wait and
+it does not weary me. I am safe in a pleasant land and in a fine town
+which I have long wished to see." He showed his courtesy when the
+Count d'Etampes, Philip's nephew-in-law, presented his suite, by
+pronouncing each individual name and assuring its bearer that he had
+heard about him.[18]
+
+The count was commissioned to conduct the dauphin to Brussels and we
+have the story of an eye-witness of his reception by the ladies of the
+ducal family:
+
+    "I saw the King of France, father of the present King Charles,
+    chased away by his father Charles for some difference of which
+    they say that the fair Agnes was the cause, and on account of
+    which he took refuge with Duke Philip, for he had no means of
+    subsistence.[19]
+
+    "The said King Louis, being dauphin, came to Brussels accompanied
+    by about ten cavaliers and by the Marshal of Burgundy. At this
+    time Duke Philip was at Utrecht in war and there was no one to
+    receive the visitor but Madame the Duchess Isabella and Madame
+    de Charolais, her daughter-in-law, pregnant with Madame Mary of
+    Burgundy, since then Duchess of Austria.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin arrived at Brussels, where were the ladies,
+    at eight o'clock in the evening, about St. Martin's Day.[20] When
+    the ladies heard that he was in the city they hastened down to the
+    courtyard to await him. As soon as he saw them he dismounted and
+    saluted Madame the Duchess and Mme. de Charolais and Mme. de
+    Ravestein. All kneeled and then he kissed the other ladies of the
+    court."
+
+Alienor goes on to describe how a whole quarter of an hour was
+consumed by a friendly altercation between Isabella and her guest as
+to the exact way in which they should enter the door, the dauphin
+resolute in his refusal to take precedence and Isabella equally
+resolute not even to walk by the side of the future king. "Monsieur,
+it seems to me you desire to make me a laughing stock, for you wish
+me to do what befits me not." To this the dauphin replied that it was
+incumbent upon him to pay honour for there was none in the realm of
+France so poor as he, and that he would not have known whither to flee
+if not to his uncle Philip and to her.
+
+Louis prevailed in his argument, and hostess and guest finally
+proceeded hand in hand to the chamber prepared for the latter and
+Isabella then took leave on bended knee.
+
+When the duke returned to Brussels this contention as to the proper
+etiquette was renewed. Isabella tried to retain the dauphin in his own
+apartment so that the duke should greet him there as befitted their
+relative rank. She was greatly chagrined, therefore, when Louis
+rushed down to the courtyard on hearing the signs of arrival. This
+punctilious hostess actually held the prince back by his coat to
+prevent his advancing towards the duke.
+
+Throughout the visit the minor points of etiquette were observed with
+the utmost care. Both duchess and countess refrained from employing
+their train-bearers when they entered the dauphin's presence. When he
+insisted that his hostess should walk by his side, she managed her own
+train if possible. If she accepted any aid from her gentlemen she was
+very careful to keep her hand upon the dress, so that technically she
+was still her own train-bearer. Then, too, when the duchess ate in the
+dauphin's presence, there was no cover to her dish and nothing was
+tasted in her behalf.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy had to supply Louis with every requisite, but he,
+too, never forgot for a moment that this dependent visitor was future
+monarch of France. Without doors as within, every minor detail of
+etiquette was observed. The duke never so far forgot himself in the
+ardour of the chase as to permit his horse's head to advance beyond
+the tail of the prince's steed.
+
+In February, 1457, on St. Valentine's Eve, Mary of Burgundy was born.
+Our observant court lady describes in detail the ceremonial observed
+in the chamber of the Countess of Charolais and at the baptism.
+Brussels rang with joyful bells and blazed with torches, four hundred
+supplied by the city ahd two hundred by the young father. Each torch
+weighed four or five pounds.
+
+The Count of Charolais was his own messenger to announce the birth of
+his daughter to the dauphin and to ask him to stand god-father. Joyful
+was Louis to accept the invitation and to bestow his mother's name on
+the baby-girl. Ste. Gudule was so far from the palace that the Church
+of the Caudenberg was selected for the ceremony and richly adorned
+with Holland linen, velvet, and cloth of gold. The duchess carried her
+grandchild to the font,--a font draped with cramoisy velvet.
+
+    "Monsieur the dauphin stood on the right and I heard it said that
+    there was no one on the left because there was none his equal. On
+    that day, the duchess wore a round skirt _a la Portuguaise_, edged
+    with fur. There was no train of cloth nor of silk, so I cannot
+    state who carried it,"
+
+sagely remarks Alienor with incontrovertible logic.
+
+Later events made later chroniclers less enthusiastic about the honour
+paid to Mademoiselle[21] Mary by the dauphin. In a manuscript of La
+Marche's _Memoires_ at The Hague, the words "Lord! what a god-father!"
+appear in the margin of the page describing the baptism.[22] But in
+these early days of his five years' sojourn, Louis seems to have been
+a pleasant person and to have posed as the ruined poor relation,
+entirely free from pride at his high birth and delighted to repay
+hospitality by his general complaisance.
+
+Charles VII. received all the reports with somewhat cynical amusement.
+He had no great trust in his son. "Louis is fickle and changeable and
+I do not doubt that he will return here before long. I am not at all
+pleased with those who influence him," are his words as quoted by
+d'Escouchy.[23]
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI FROM THE ENGRAVING BY A. BOILLY, AFTER THE
+DRAWING BY J. BOILLY]
+
+Undoubtedly, though, the king was much surprised at his son's action.
+He had rather expected him to take refuge somewhere but he never
+thought that the Duke of Burgundy would be his protector--a strange
+choice to his mind. "My cousin of Burgundy nourishes a fox who will
+eat his chickens" is reported as another comment of this impartial
+father.[24] Like many a phrase, possibly the fruit of later harvests,
+this is an excellent epitome of the situation.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: I.,ch. xxxi.]
+
+[Footnote 2:II.,204.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Barante, vi.,50.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Some of the canons wrote their reasons after their
+recorded vote: "Because Duke Philip had made the candidate member
+of his council of Holland, Zealand, and Friesland, in which office
+Gijsbrecht had acquitted himself well." "Because all the Sticht nobles
+were his relations," etc.--(Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Historie,_ iv.,
+50.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: Du Clercq, ii., 210.]
+
+[Footnote 6: _Memoires_, i., ch. xxxiii.]
+
+[Footnote 7: II., 315.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 317.]
+
+[Footnote 9: For the effects of operations on a large scale see
+_Jacques Coeur and Charles VII_., by Pierre Clemart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Duclos_, "Hist. de Louis XI.," _OEuvres Completes_ v.,
+8.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Duclos, iii., 78.]
+
+[Footnote 12: See Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 292.]
+
+[Footnote 13: II.,223.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Lettres de Louis XI_., i., 77.
+
+According to the editor, Vaesen, the original of this letter shows
+that _September 2nd_ was written first and erased.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Chastellain, iii., 185.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Du Clercq, ii., 228.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Chastellain iii., 197.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See _Sejour de Louis XI. aux Pays-Bas;_ Reiffenberg:
+Nouveaux mem. de l'Acad. Royale, 1829.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Alienor de Poictiers, _Les Honneurs de la Cour_, ii.,
+208. It was early in October.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This date, November 11th, does not agree with the
+others.]
+
+[Footnote 21: "At that time they did not say Madame, for Monsieur was
+not the son of a sovereign."--La Marche, ii., 410, note.]
+
+[Footnote 22: La Marche, ii., 410: "Dieu quel parrain!"]
+
+[Footnote 23: II., 343.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iii., 185; Lavisse iv^{ii}., 299.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE COUNT AND THE DAUPHIN
+
+1456-1461
+
+
+The picture of the Burgundian court rejoicing in happy unison over the
+advent of an heiress to carry on the Burgundian traditions, with the
+dauphin participating in the family joy, shows the tranquil side of
+the first months of the long visit. Before Mary's birth, however, an
+incident had occurred, betraying the fact that the dauphin and Charles
+VII. were not the only father and son between whom relations were
+strained, and that a moment had arrived when the attitude of the Count
+of Charolais to the duke was no longer characterised by unquestioning
+filial obedience.
+
+Charles was on his way to Nuremberg[1] to fulfil a mission with
+certain German princes when the dauphin alighted in Brabant, like "a
+bird of ill omen," as he designated himself on one occasion. The count
+did not return to Brussels until January 12, 1457. Thus he took no
+part in the hearty welcome accorded to the visitor. It is more than
+possible that the heir of Burgundy was not wholly pleased with the
+state of affairs placidly existing by mid-winter.
+
+Instead of resuming the first position which he had enjoyed during his
+brief regency, or the honoured second that had been his after Philip
+came back, Charles was now relegated to a third place. Further,
+without having been consulted as to the policy, he found that he
+was forced into following his father's lead in treating a penniless
+refugee like an invited guest, whose visit was an honour and a joy. It
+is more than probable that Charles was already feeling somewhat hurt
+at the duke's warmth towards Louis when a serious breach occurred
+between father and son about another matter.
+
+It chanced that a chamberlain's post fell vacant in his own household,
+and the count assumed that the appointment of a successor was
+something that lay wholly within his jurisdiction. When the duke
+interfered in a peremptory fashion and insisted that the appointment
+should be made at his instance, the son refused to accept his
+authority, especially as his father's nominee was Philip de Croy, one
+of a family already over-dominant in the Burgundian court. At least,
+that was Charles's opinion. Therefore, when he obeyed his father's
+commands to bring his _ordonnance_, or household list, to the duke's
+oratory, he unhesitatingly carried the document which contained the
+name of Antoine Raulin, Sire d'Emeries, in place of Philip de Croy.
+
+The duke was very angry at this apparent contempt for his expressed
+wishes. Indignantly he threw the lists into the fire with the words,
+"Now look to your _ordonnances_ for you will need new ones[2]."
+
+There was evidently a succession of violent scenes in which the
+duchess tried to stand between her husband and son. But Philip was
+beside himself with wrath and refused to listen to a word from her or
+from the dauphin, who also endeavoured to mediate[2].
+
+Finally, the irate duke lost all control of himself, ordered a horse,
+and rode out alone into the forest of Soignies. When he became calmer
+it was dark and he found himself far from the beaten tracks, in the
+midst of underbrush through which he could not ride. He dismounted and
+wandered on foot for hours in the January night until smoke guided him
+to a charcoal burner, who conducted him to the more friendly shelter
+of a forester's hut. In the morning he made his way to Genappe.
+
+Meantime, in the palace, consternation reigned. Search parties seeking
+their sovereign were out all night. No one, however, was in such a
+state of dismay as the dauphin, who declared that he would be counted
+at fault when family dissensions followed so soon on his arrival.
+Delighted he was, therefore, to act as mediator between father and
+son after the duke was in a sufficiently pacified state to listen to
+reason. Charles betook himself to Dendermonde for a time until the
+duke was ready to see him[4]. His young wife made the most of her
+expectations to soften her father-in-law's resentment, and between
+her entreaties and those of the guest, proud to show his tact and his
+gratitude, the quarrel was at last smoothed over.
+
+There was one marked difference between this family dispute and the
+breach between the French king and the dauphin. In the latter case no
+feeling was involved. In the former, the son was really deeply wounded
+by what he deemed lack of parental affection for his interests. At the
+same time he was shocked by the bitter words and was, for the moment,
+so filled with contrition that he was eager to make any concession
+agreeable to the duke. He dismissed two of his servants[5], suspected
+by his father of fomenting trouble between them, and he showed himself
+in general very willing to placate paternal displeasure.
+
+Reconciliation between duke and duchess was more difficult. Isabella
+resented Philip's reproaches for her sympathy with Charles. She said
+she had stepped between the two men because she had feared lest the
+duke might injure his son in his wrath[6]. This was in answer to the
+Marshal of Burgundy when he was telling her of Philip's displeasure.
+She concluded her dignified defence with an expression of her utter
+loneliness. Stranger in a strange land she had no one belonging to her
+but her son.
+
+She was certainly present at the baptism of her grandchild, but
+shortly afterwards she retired to a convent of the Grey Sisters,
+founded by herself, and rarely returned to the world or took part in
+its ceremonies during the remainder of her life.
+
+The quarrel, too, left its scar upon Charles. It is not probable that
+he had much personal liking for the guest upon whom his father heaped
+courtesies and solicitous care. On one occasion, when the two young
+men were hunting they were separated by chance. When Charles returned
+alone to the palace, the duke was full of reproaches at his son's
+careless desertion of the guest in his charge. Again the court was
+organised into search parties and there was no rest until the dauphin
+was discovered some leagues from Brussels[7]. Here, also, it is an
+easy presumption that the Count of Charolais was a trifle sulky over
+his father's preoccupation in regard to the prince.
+
+The transient character of the dauphin's sojourn in his cousin's
+domains soon changed. In the summer of 1457, when news came that
+Dauphine had submitted to Charles VII., when the successive embassies
+despatched by Philip to the king had all proved fruitless in their
+conciliatory efforts, Philip proceeded to make more permanent
+arrangements for the fugitive's comfort.
+
+    "Now, Monseigneur, since the king has been pleased to deprive you
+    of Dauphine ... you are to-day lord and prince without land. But,
+    nevertheless, you shall not be without a country, for all that I
+    have is yours and I place it within your hand without reserving
+    aught except my life and that of my wife. Pray take heart. If God
+    does not abandon me I will never abandon you[8]."
+
+The duke made good his words by giving his guest the estate of
+Genappe, of which Louis took possession at the end of July. Then as a
+further step to make things pleasant for the exile, Philip sent for
+Charlotte of Savoy who had remained under her father's care ever since
+the formal marriage in 1451. She was now eighteen.
+
+It was an agreeable spot, this estate at Genappe. Louis's favourite
+amusement of the chase was easy of access. "The court is at present
+at Louvain," wrote a courtier[9] on July 1st, "and Monseigneur the
+Dauphin likes it very much, for there is good hunting and falconry and
+a great number of rabbits within and without the city." With killing
+of every kind at his service, what greater solace could a homeless
+prince expect?
+
+From Louvain to Genappe is no great distance, and the sum of 1200
+livres, furnished by Philip for the dauphin's journey to his new
+abode, seemed a large provision. The pension then settled on him was
+36,000 livres, and when the dauphiness arrived 1000 livres a month
+were provided for her private purse[10].
+
+Pleasant was existence in this chateau. There was no dearth of company
+to throng around the prince in exile, and the dauphin allowed no
+prejudice of mere likes and dislikes, no consideration of duty towards
+his host to hamper him in making useful friends. A word here and
+a word there, aptly thrown in at a time when Philip's anger had
+exasperated, when Charles had failed to conciliate, were very potent
+in intimating to many a Burgundian servant that there might come a
+time when a new king across the border might better appreciate their
+real value than their present or future sovereign.
+
+Hunting was a favourite amusement, but the dauphin did not confine his
+invitations to sportsmen. The easy accessibility of the little court
+attracted men of science and of letters as well as others capable of
+making the time pass agreeably. When there was nothing else on foot,
+it is said that the company amused themselves by telling stories,
+each in turn, and out of their tales grew the collection of the _Cent
+Nouvelles Nouvelles_[11], named in imitation of Boccaccio's _Cento
+Novelle_.
+
+The first printed edition of this collection was issued in Paris, in
+1486, by Antoine Verard, who thus admonishes the gentle reader: "Note
+that whenever _Monseigneur_ is referred to, Monseigneur the Dauphin
+must be understood, who has since succeeded to the crown and is King
+Louis. Then he was in the land of the Duke of Burgundy." Another
+editor asserts that _Monseigneur_ is evidently the Duke of Burgundy
+and not Louis, and later authorities decide that Anthony de la Sale
+wrote the whole collection in imitation of Boccaccio, and that the
+names of the narrators were as imaginative or rather as editorial as
+the rest of the volume.
+
+If this be true, it maybe inferred that the author would have given an
+appearance of verisimilitude to his fiction by mentioning the actual
+habitues of the dauphin's court. The name of the Count of Charolais
+does not appear at all. The duke tells three or more stories according
+to the interpretation given to _Monseigneur_. With three exceptions
+the tales are very coarse, nor does their wit atone for their
+licentiousness. Possibly Charles held himself aloof from the kind of
+talk they suggest. All reports make him rigid in standards of morality
+not observed by his fellows. That he had little to do with the court
+is certain, whatever his reason.
+
+Louis did not confine himself to the estate assigned him. There were
+various court visits to the Flemish towns where he was afforded
+excellent opportunities for seeing the wealth of the burghers and
+their status in the world of commerce.
+
+Ghent was very anxious to have the duke bring his guest within her
+gates and give her an opportunity of displaying her regret for the
+past unpleasantness. "In his goodness," Philip at last yielded to
+their entreaties to make them a visit himself, but he decided not to
+take the prince or the count with him.[12] He was either afraid for
+their safety or else he did not care to bring a future French king
+into relation with citizens who might find it convenient to remember
+his suzerainty in order to ignore the wishes of their sovereign
+duke.[13]
+
+Eastertide, 1458, was finally appointed for this state visit of
+reconciliation. The duke took the precaution to send scouts ahead to
+ascertain that the late rebels were sincere in their contrition, and
+that there was no danger of anarchist agitations. The report was
+brought back that all was calm and that joyful preparations were
+making to show appreciation of Philip's kindness.
+
+On April 22d, the duke slept at l'Ecluse, and on the 23d he was gaily
+escorted into the city by knights and gentlemen summoned from Holland,
+Hainaut, and Flanders, "but neither clerks nor priests were in his
+train." As a further assurance to him of their peaceful intention,
+the citizens actually lifted the city gates off their hinges so as to
+leave open exits.
+
+Once within the walls, the duke found the whole community, who had
+shown intelligent and sturdy determination not to endure arbitrary
+tyranny, ready to weave themselves into a frenzy of biblical and
+classical parable whose one purpose was to prove how evil had been
+their ways. A pompous procession sang _Te Deum_ as the duke rode in,
+and the first "mystery" that met his eyes within the gates was a
+wonderful representation of Abraham sacrificing Isaac, while the
+legend "All that the Lord commanded we will do," was meant not to
+refer to the Hebrew's fidelity to Jehovah, but to the Ghenters'
+perfect submission to Philip. A young girl stood ready to greet him
+with the words of Solomon, "I have found one my soul loves."[14]
+
+All the legends were in Latin. _Inveni quem diligit anima mea._]
+
+Farther on there were various emblems all designed to compare
+Philip now to Caesar, now to Pompey, now to Nebuchadnezzar. The most
+humiliating spectacle was that of a man dressed in a lion's skin,
+thus personifying the Lion of Flanders, leading Philip's horse by the
+bridle. "_Vive Bourgogne_ is now our cry," was symbolised in every
+vehicle which the rhetoricians could invent.
+
+Not altogether explicable is this extreme self-abnegation. Civic
+prosperity must have returned in four years or there would have been
+no money for the outlay. Apparently, Philip's countenance was worth
+more to them than their pride.
+
+The birth and death of two children at Genappe gave the duke new
+reasons for showering ostentatious favours on his guest, and furnished
+the dauphin with suitable occasion for addressing his own father, who
+answered him in kind.
+
+The following is one of the fair-phrased epistles[l5]:
+
+  _The King to the Dauphin_, 1459.
+    "VERY DEAR AND MUCH LOVED SON:
+
+    "We have received the letters that you wrote us making mention
+    that on July 27 our dear and much loved daughter, the dauphiness,
+    was delivered of a fine boy, for which we have been and are very
+    joyous, and it seems to me that the more God our Creator grants
+    you favour, by so much the more you ought to praise and thank
+    Him and refrain from angering Him, and in all things fulfil His
+    commandments.
+
+    "Given at Compiegne, Aug.7th.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+
+During these five years, Charles was more or less aloof from the
+courts of his father and of their guest. He spent part of the time in
+Holland and part at Le Quesnoy with his young wife. The Count of St.
+Pol was one of his intimate friends, and a friend who managed to
+make many insinuations about the duke's treatment of his son and
+infatuation about the Croys whom Charles hated with increasing
+fervency.
+
+There is a story that Charles went from Le Quesnoy to his father's
+court to demand a formal audience from the duke in order to lodge his
+protest against the Croys. Evidently relations were strained when such
+a degree of ceremony was needed between father and son.
+
+Gerard Ourre was commissioned to set forth the count's grievances, and
+he was in the midst of his carefully prepared statement when the duke
+interrupted him with the curt observation: "Have a care to say nothing
+but the truth and understand, it will be necessary to prove every
+assertion." The orator was discomfited, stammered on for a few
+moments, and then excused himself from completing his harangue.
+There were only a few nobles present and all were surprised at this
+embarrassment, as Gerard passed for a clever man. Then, seeing that
+his deputy was too much frightened to proceed, Charles took up the
+thread of his discourse. In a firm voice he continued the list of
+accusations against the Croys, only to be cut short in his turn.
+Peremptory was the duke in his command to his son to be silent and
+never again to refer to the subject. Then, turning to Croy, Philip
+added "see to it that my son is satisfied with you," and withdrew from
+the audience chamber.
+
+Croy addressed Charles and endeavoured to be conciliatory. "When you
+have repaired the ill you have wrought I will remember the good you
+have done," was the count's only reply. He took leave of his father
+with an outward show of love and respect and returned to his wife at
+Le Quesnoy, escorted, indeed, by Croy out of the gates of Brussels,
+but with no better understanding between them.
+
+St. Pol found good ground to work on. He inflamed the count's
+discontent and his distrust of the duke's favourite until Charles
+despatched him to Bourges on a confidential mission to ascertain what
+Charles VII. would do for the heir of Burgundy should he decide to
+take refuge in the French court.[16]
+
+At the first interview "I was not present," states the unknown
+reporter, but on succeeding occasions this man heard for himself that
+the king was ready to show hospitality to the Count of Charolais who
+"has no ill intentions against his father. All he wants to do is to
+separate him from the people who govern him badly."
+
+The conferences were held in the lodgings of Odet d'Aydie. Among those
+present was Dammartin and the matter was discussed in its various
+aspects. Jehan Bureau and the anonymous witness were charged with
+drawing up a report of the discussion. When this was presented to the
+king it did not seem to him good. He doubted the good faith of the
+count's message. He had been assured that it was all a fiction
+especially designed by the Sieur de Burgundy.
+
+Certain general promises were made in spite of this royal distrust,
+quite natural under the circumstances. If he decided to espouse the
+cause of Henry VI., the Count of Charolais should be given a command.
+It was evident that the count was by no means ready to go to all
+lengths, for St. Pol states in one of his conferences with the "late
+king" that Charles of Burgundy had assured him that for two realms
+such as his he would not do a deed of villainy.
+
+Nothing came of this talk. It would have been a singular state of
+affairs had the heirs of France and Burgundy thus changed places in
+their fathers' courts. Spying and counterspying there were between
+the courts to a great extent and rumours in number. A certain Italian
+writes to the Duke of Milan as follows, on March 23, 1461, after he
+had been at Genappe and at Brussels:[17]
+
+    "M. de Croy has given me clearly to understand that the
+    reconciliation of the dauphin with the King of France would not be
+    with the approval of the Duke of Burgundy. Nevertheless the prince
+    laments that since he received the dauphin into his states,
+    and treated him as his future sovereign, he has incurred the
+    implacable hatred of the king added to his ancient grievances. On
+    the other hand, the affairs of England, on whose issue depends war
+    or peace for the duke, being still in suspense, it did not seem to
+    him honest to make advances to the king at this moment.
+
+    "M. de Croy thinks that the dauphin does not seem to have carried
+    into this affair the circumspection and reflection befitting a
+    prince of his quality. He has maintained towards the duke the
+    most complete silence on the affair of Genoa, and the proposition
+    concerning Italy. Croy does not think there is anything in it,
+    but if the thing were so it ought not to be secret. He does not
+    believe that peace will be made between the dauphin and his
+    father, and mentioned that his brother was on the embassy from
+    duke to king, in order, I suppose, to probe the matter to the
+    bottom.
+
+    "The dauphin it seems has been out of humour with the Duke of
+    Burgundy on account of the luke-warmness shown for his interests
+    by the ambassador sent by this prince to the Duke of Savoy.
+
+    "The silent agreement which reigns between the dauphin and Monsg.
+    de Charolais is one of the causes which has chilled this great
+    love between the dauphin and the duke which existed at the
+    beginning.
+
+    "Moreover, the dauphin having spent largely, especially in
+    almsgiving without considering his purse finds himself very hard
+    pressed. He has only two thousand ducats a month from the Duke of
+    Burgundy and that seems to force him into peace with the king. The
+    duke expects nothing during the king's lifetime.
+
+    "Everything makes me want to wait here for the arrival of news
+    from England. It is expected daily, good or bad the last play must
+    be made. The duke fears a descent on Calais, and for this reason
+    is going to a town called St. Omer. Under pretext of celebrating
+    there the fete of the Toison d'Or he has ordered all his escort to
+    be armed."
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP THE GOOD AND CHARLES THE BOLD. FROM A
+CONTEMPORARY SKETCH IN MS.]
+
+For a long time before his final illness the death of Charles VII. was
+anticipated. When it came it was a dolorous end.[18] At Genappe, the
+dauphin had been making his preparations for the wished-for event in
+many ways, all in exact opposition to his father's policy. In Italy
+and in Spain he sided with the opponents of Charles VII. In England,
+his sympathies were all for the House of York because his father was
+favourable to Henry of Lancaster and Margaret of Anjou. He learned
+with satisfaction of the success of Edward IV., and was more than
+willing to see him invade France. With certain princes of Germany he
+entertained relations shrouded in mystery, while his father's own
+agents disclosed secrets to him from time to time.
+
+In his exile he kept reminding official bodies at Paris that he was
+heir to the throne. As dauphin he claimed the right to give orders to
+the _parlement_ at Grenoble. There is no actual proof that he had a
+hand in the conspiracies which troubled the last year of his father's
+reign, but it is certain that he managed to win to himself a party
+within the royal circle.
+
+Certain councillors, fearful of their own fate, did not hesitate to
+suggest that Louis should be disinherited and his brother Charles put
+in his stead, but this Charles VII. would not accept. He kept hoping
+for Louis's submission. The latter, however, had no idea of this. He
+was sure that his father would not live to grow old. A trouble in his
+leg threatened to be cancerous. In July, there was a growth in his
+mouth. He died July 22nd, convinced that his son had poisoned him.
+
+After July 17th constant bulletins from the king's bedside came to
+Louis. Genappe was too far and the anxious son moved to Avesnes
+in order to receive his messages more speedily. Our chronicler
+Chastellain[19] begins his story of Louis's accession as follows:
+
+    "Since I am not English but French, I who am neither Spanish nor
+    Italian but French, I have written of two Frenchmen, the one king,
+    the other duke. I have written of their works and their quarrels
+    and of the favour and glories which God has given them in their
+    time.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Kings die, reigns vanish but virtue alone and meritorious works
+    serve man on his bier and gain him eternal glory. O you Frenchmen,
+    see the cause and the end in my labours!"
+
+The guest who had displayed so much humility and thankfulness when he
+arrived, who had deprecated honours to his high birth and desired to
+offer all the courtesies, departed from the residence so generously
+given him for five years in a very cavalier manner.
+
+    "Now the king left the duke's territories without having taken
+    leave nor said adieu to the Countess of Charolais,[20] although he
+    was in her neighbourhood, and he left behind him the queen, his
+    wife. The said queen had neither hackneys nor vehicles with which
+    to follow her husband. Therefore, the king ordered her to borrow
+    the hackneys of the countess and chariots, too. Heartily did the
+    countess accede to this request in spite of the fact that the
+    thing seemed to her rather strange that a noble king, and one who
+    had received so much honour and service from the House of Burgundy
+    and had promised to recognise it when the hour came, should thus
+    depart thence without saying a word. However, in spite of all, the
+    countess would gladly have given the queen the hackneys as a gift
+    if they had been asked, and she sent them to her by one of her
+    equerries named Corneille de la Barre, together with chariots and
+    waggons. And thus the queen left the country just as her husband
+    had done without saying a word either to the duke or the countess,
+    and Corneille went with her on foot to bring back the hackneys
+    when the queen had arrived at the place of her desire."
+
+Philip had difficulty in persuading his quondam guest to show outward
+respect to his father's memory. The duke clad himself and his suite
+in deep mourning before setting out to join Louis at Avesnes, whither
+representatives from the University of Paris and from all parts of the
+realm had flocked to greet their new sovereign.
+
+It was a great concourse that marched from Avesnes as escort to the
+uncrowned king. Philip was magnificent in his appointments as he
+entered Rheims, and behind him came his son,
+
+    "the Count of Charolais who, equally with his noble company of
+    knights and squires, attracted hearts and eyes in admiration of
+    his rich array wherein cloth of gold and jewelry, velvet and
+    embroidery were lavishly displayed. And the count had ten pages
+    and twenty-six archers, and this whole company numbered three
+    hundred horse."[21]
+
+This was a Thursday after dinner. Louis had waited at St. Thierry. On
+the actual day of the coronation, preliminaries absorbed so much time
+that the long cavalcade did not enter Rheims until seven o'clock. The
+king passed his night in a very pious and prayerful manner, taking no
+repose until 5 A.M. While his suite were occupied at their toilets he
+slipped off alone to church.
+
+Finally all was ready for the grand ceremony. Very magnificent were
+the duke's robes and ermine when, as chief among the peers, he
+escorted his late guest to be consecrated king, and very devout and
+simple was Louis. After the consecration, the king and his friends
+listened to an address from the Bishop of Tournay, in which he
+described in Latin the dauphin's sojourn in the Netherlands.
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was the hero of the occasion. He felt that all
+future power was in his hands and that Louis XI. could never do enough
+to repay him for his wonderful hospitality. And for a time Louis was
+quite ready to foster this belief. When they entered Paris, the peer
+so far outshone the sovereign that there was general astonishment.[22]
+Moreover, whatever the latter did have was a gift. The very plate used
+on the royal table was a ducal present.[23]
+
+Louis took great pains to preserve an attitude of grateful humility.
+When he met the _parlement_ of Paris, he asked the duke's advice about
+its reformation. It was to Philip that all the petitioners flocked.
+But Louis was conscious, too, that there would be a morrow in
+Burgundy, and he took care to be friendly with the count even while he
+was flattering the duke. For this purpose he found Guillaume de Biche
+a very useful go-between.[24] This was one of the retainers dismissed
+in 1457 by Charles at his father's request. He had then passed into
+Louis's service. This man quickly insinuated himself into the king's
+graces, was admitted to his chamber at all hours, and walked arm in
+arm with the returned exile through Paris.
+
+The Burgundian exile had learned the mysteries of the city well in
+his four years' residence. Louis found him an amusing companion and
+skilfully managed to flatter the count by his favour towards the man
+whom he had liked.
+
+For six weeks Philip remained in the capital and astonished the
+Parisians with the fetes he offered. Equally astonished were they
+with their new monarch. Louis was thirty-eight and not attractive in
+person. His eyes were piercing but his visage was made plain by a
+disproportionate nose. His legs were thin and misshapen, his gait
+uncertain. He dressed very simply, wearing an old pilgrim's hat,
+ornamented by a leaden saint. As he rode into Abbeville in company
+with Philip, the simple folk who had never seen the king were greatly
+amazed at his appearance and said quite loud, "Benedicite! Is that a
+king of France, the greatest king in the world? All together his horse
+and dress are not worth twenty francs."[25]
+
+From the beginning of his reign, Louis XI. never lived very long in
+any one place. He did not like the Louvre as a dwelling and had
+the palace of the Tournelles arranged for him. Touraine became by
+preference his residence, where he lived alternately at Amboise and
+in his new chateau at Plessis-les-Tours. But his sojourns were always
+brief. He wanted to know everything, and he wandered everywhere to
+see France and to seek knowledge. His letters, his accounts, the
+chroniclers, the despatches of the Italian ambassador, show him on a
+perpetual journey.
+
+He would set out at break of day with five or six intimates dressed in
+grey cloth like pilgrims; archers and baggage followed at a distance.
+He would forbid any one to follow him, and often ordered the gates of
+the city he had left to be closed, or a bridge to be broken behind
+him. Ambassadors ordered to see him without fail, sometimes had to
+cross France to obtain an interview, at least if their object was
+something in which he was not much interested. Then he would often
+grant them an audience in some miserable little peasant hut.
+
+In the cities where he stopped he would lodge with a burgomaster or
+some functionary. To avoid harangues and receptions he would often
+arrive unannounced through a little alley. If forced to accept an
+_entree_ he stipulated that it should not be marked with magnificence.
+There never was a prince who so disliked ceremonies, balls, banquets,
+and tourneys. At his court young people were bored to death. He never
+ordered festivals except for some visitor; his pleasures were those
+of a simple private gentleman. He liked to dine out of his palace.
+Cagnola relates with surprise that he had seen the king dine after
+mass in a tavern on the market-place at Tours. He invited small nobles
+and bourgeois to dine with him. He was intimate, too, with bourgeois
+women, and indulged in gross pleasantries, speaking to and of women
+without reserve, sparing neither sister, mother, nor queen.
+
+Yet it was a sombre court. "Farewell dames, citizens, demoiselles,
+feasts, dances, jousts, and tournaments; farewell fair and gracious
+maids, mundane pleasures, joys, and games," says Martial d'Auvergne.
+Pompous magnificence may have reminded Louis unpleasantly of his visit
+to Burgundy.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: He had departed with Adolph de la Marck on November
+19th.--_Archives du Nord_. See Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 113. No
+mention of this seems to appear elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Chastellain (iii., 233) says that he heard the story from
+the clerk of the chapel, sole witness of this family quarrel. The duke
+was so angry that it was hideous to see him.]
+
+[Footnote 3: La Marche, ii., 418; Du Clercq, ii., 237; Chastellain,
+iii., 230, etc. In the last the narrative is more elaborate. The
+author dwells much on the danger to the young countess in her delicate
+state of health.]
+
+[Footnote 4: "Thus there was much coming and going: and it was ordered
+by Monseigneur le Dauphin that Monseigneur de Ravestein and the
+king-at-arms of the Toison d'Or should go to Dendermonde to learn the
+wishes of the Count of Charolais and his intentions, of which I am
+entitled to speak for I was despatched several times to Brussels in
+behalf of my said Seigneur of Charolais, to ask the advice of the
+Chancellor Raulin as to the best method of conducting the present
+affair"--(La Marche, ii., 419.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: La Marche, ii., 420. One of these, Guillaume Biche, went
+to France and La Marche says that he himself often went to him to
+obtain valuable information.]
+
+[Footnote 6: La Marche, ii., 418.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Du Clercq, ii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, iii., 308.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123. Thierry de Vebry to the
+Count de Vaudemart.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 123.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Les Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, ed. A.J.V. Le Roux. The
+stories are, as a rule, only retold tales.]
+
+[Footnote 12: "The spectacle was not witnessed by Count Charolais
+nor by Louis the Dauphin, nor by the Lord of Croy, whom for certain
+reasons he was unwilling to take with him." (Meyer, P.322.)]
+
+[Footnote 13: Kervyn, _Hist. de Flandre_, v., 23. At this time Philip
+was ignoring a peremptory summons to appear before the Parliament of
+Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Meyer, p. 321.
+
+[Footnote 15: Du Fresne de Beaucourt, vi., 267.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Report of an eye-witness. (Duclos, v., 195.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: Du Fresne de Beaucourt. vi., 326.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 321.]
+
+[Footnote 19: IV., 21.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Chastellain, iv., 45.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chastellain was not present, but he says of Philip's
+suite (iv., 47): "From what I have been told and what I have seen in
+writing, it was a wonderful thing and its like had never been seen in
+this kingdom."]
+
+[Footnote 22: "And I, myself, assert this for I was there and saw all
+the nobles" (Chastellain, iv., 52).]
+
+[Footnote 23: When return presents were distributed to the nobles
+Philip received a lion, Charles a pelican.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Chastellain, iv., 115.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Lavisse, iv^{ii}, 325.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THE WAR OF PUBLIC WEAL
+
+1464-1465
+
+
+The era of good feeling between Louis XI. and his Burgundian kinsmen
+was of short duration, and no wonder. The rich rewards confidently
+expected as fitting recompense for five years' kindness more than
+cousinly, towards a penniless refugee were not forthcoming.
+
+The king was lavish in fine words, and not chary in certain
+ostentatious recognition towards his late host, but the fairly
+munificent pension, together with the charge of Normandy settled upon
+the Count of Charolais, proved only a periodical reminder of promises
+as regularly unfulfilled on each recurring quarter day, while the post
+of confidential adviser to the inexperienced monarch, which Philip had
+intended to occupy, remained empty.
+
+Louis put perfect trust in no one but turned now to one counsellor,
+now to another, and used such fragments of advice as pleased his whim
+and paid no further heed to the giver.
+
+Not long after Louis's coronation there occurred that change in
+Philip's bodily constitution that comes to all active men sooner or
+later. His health began to give way, his energies relaxed, and matters
+that had been of paramount importance throughout his career were
+allowed to slip into the background of his desires. In the famous
+treaty of 1435, no article was rated at greater importance than that
+which placed the towns on the Somme in Philip's hands, subject to a
+redemption of two hundred thousand gold crowns. Whether Charles VII.
+had actually pledged himself that the mortgage should hold at least
+during Philip's life does not seem assured, but that any sum would be
+insufficient to induce the duke to release them unless his intellect
+were somewhat deadened, is clear.
+
+In 1462, when he recovered from a sharp attack, possibly the result
+of his indulgence in the pleasures of the table during the prolonged
+festivities at Paris, he did not regain his previous vigour. This was
+the time, by the way, when opportunity was afforded his courtiers to
+prove that devotion to their seigneur outweighed personal vanity. When
+his head was shaved by order of the court physician, more than five
+hundred nobles sacrificed their own locks so that their becoming curls
+might not remind their chief of his own bald head. The sacrifice was
+not always voluntary, adds an informant.[1] Philip forced compliance
+with this new fashion upon all who seemed reluctant to be
+unnecessarily shorn of what beauty was theirs by nature's gift. This
+servility may have consoled Philip for the deprivation of his hair. In
+his depressed condition any solace was acceptable.
+
+It was just when the duke was in this enfeebled state that Louis,
+through the mediation of the Croys, pushed forward his proposition to
+redeem the towns and Philip agreed, possibly relying upon the chance
+that it would be no easy matter for the French king to wring the
+required sum from his impoverished land. Philip's assent was, however,
+promptly clinched by a cash payment of half the amount[2]; the
+remainder followed.
+
+Amiens, Abbeville, and the other towns, valuable bulwarks for the
+Netherland provinces, fine nurseries for the human material requisite
+for Burgundian armies, rich tax payers as they were, all tumbled into
+the outstretched hands of the duke's wily rival.
+
+The transaction was hurried through and completed before a rumour of
+its progress came to the ear of the interested heir. Charles was in
+Holland sulking and indignant. He had expected good results from his
+tender devotion during his father's acute illness, a devotion shared
+by Isabella of Portugal who hastened to her husband's bedside from her
+convent seclusion when Philip was in need of her ministrations. But,
+in his convalescence, Philip renewed his friendship for the Croys
+whom Charles continued to distrust with bitterness that varied in its
+intensity, but which never vanished from his consciousness. The young
+man felt misjudged, misused, and ever suspicious that personal danger
+to himself lurked in the air of his father's court.
+
+The various rumours of plots against his life may not all have been
+baseless. At last, one of own cousins, the Count of Nevers, was
+accused of having recourse to diabolic means of doing away with the
+duke's legitimate heir.[2] Three little waxen images were found in his
+house, and it was alleged that he practised various magic arts withal
+in order to win the favour of the duke and of the French king, and
+still worse to cause Charles to waste away with a mysterious sickness.
+The accusations were sufficient to make Nevers resign all his offices
+in his kinsman's court and retire, post-haste, to France. Had he been
+wholly innocent he would have demanded trial at the hands of his peers
+of the Golden Fleece as behooved one of the order. But he withdrew
+undefended, and left his tattered reputation fluttering raggedly in
+the breeze of gossip.
+
+Charles stayed in Holland aloof from the ducal court until a fresh
+incident drove him thither to give vent to his indignation. Only three
+days had Philip de Commines been page to Duke Philip, then resident at
+Lille, when an embassy headed by Morvilliers, Chancellor of France,
+was given audience in the presence of the Burgundian court, including
+the Count of Charolais. The future historian,[4] then nineteen years
+old, was keenly alive to all that passed on that November fifth, 1464.
+Morvilliers used very bitter terms in his assertion that Charles had
+illegally stopped a little French ship of war and arrested a certain
+bastard of Rubempre on the false charge that his errand in Holland,
+where the incident occurred, was to seize and carry off Charles
+himself. Moreover, one knight of Burgundy, Sir Olivier de La Marche
+had caused this tale to be bruited everywhere,
+
+    "especially at Bruges whither strangers of all nations resort.
+    This had hurt Louis deeply, and he now demanded through his
+    chancellor that Duke Philip should send this same Sir Olivier de
+    La Marche prisoner to Paris, there to be punished as the case
+    required. Whereupon, Duke Philip answered that the said Sir
+    Olivier was steward of his house, born in the County of Burgundy
+    and in no respect subject to the Crown of France."
+
+Philip added that if his servant had wrought ill to the king's honour
+he, the duke, would see to his punishment. As to the bastard of
+Rubempre, true it was that he had been apprehended in Holland,[5] but
+there was adequate ground for his arrest as his behaviour had been
+strange, at least so thought the Count of Charolais. Philip added that
+if his son were suspicious
+
+    "he took it not of him for he was never so, but of his mother
+    who had been the most jealous lady that ever lived. But
+    notwithstanding" [quoth he] "that myself never were supicious, yet
+    if I had been in my son's place at the same time that this bastard
+    of Rubempre haunted those coasts I would surely have caused him to
+    be apprehended as my son did."
+
+In conclusion, Philip promised to deliver up Rubempre to the king were
+his innocence satisfactorily proven.
+
+Morvilliers then resumed his discourse, enlarging upon the treacherous
+designs of Francis, Duke of Brittany, with whom Charles had lately
+sworn brotherhood at the very moment when he was the honoured guest
+of King Louis at Tours. During this discussion the Count of Charolais
+became very restive. Finally he could no longer endure Morvilliers's
+indirect slurs, and
+
+    "made offer eftsoon to answer, being marvellously out of patience
+    to hear such reproachful speeches used of his friend and
+    confederate. But Morvilliers cut him off, saying: 'My Lord of
+    Charolais, I am not come of ambassage to you, but to my Lord your
+    father.' The said earl besought his father divers times to give
+    him leave to answer, who in the end said unto him: 'I have
+    answered for thee as methinketh the father should answer for the
+    son, notwithstanding if thou have so great desire to speak bethink
+    thyself to-day and to-morrow speak and spare not.'"
+
+Then Morvilliers to his former speech added that he could not imagine
+what had moved the earl to enter into the league with the Duke of
+Brittany unless it were because of a pension the king had once given
+him together with the government of Normandy and afterwards taken from
+him.
+
+In regard to Rubempre, Commines adds to his story Charles's own
+statement given on the morrow:
+
+"Notwithstanding, I think nothing was ever proved against him, though
+I confess the presumption to have been great. Five years after I
+myself saw him delivered out of prison." This from Commines. La Marche
+is less detailed in his record[6] of the Rubempre incident:
+
+    "The bastard was put in prison and the Count of Charolais sent me
+    to Hesdin to the duke to inform him of the arrest and its cause.
+    The good duke heard my report kindly like a wise prince. In truth
+    he at once suspected that the craft of the King of France lurked
+    at the bottom of the affair. Shortly afterwards the duke left
+    Hesdin and returned to his own land, which did not please the King
+    of France who despatched thither a great embassy with the Count
+    d'Eu at the head. Demands were made that I should be delivered to
+    him to be punished as he would, because he claimed that I had been
+    the cause of the arrest of the bastard of Rubempre and also of the
+    duke's departure from Hesdin without saying adieu to the King of
+    France, but the good duke, moderate in all his actions, replied
+    that I was his subject and his servitor, and that if the king or
+    any one else had a grievance against me he would investigate it.
+    The matter was finally smoothed over [adds La Marche], and Louis
+    evinced a readiness to conciliate his offended cousin."
+
+In spite of La Marche, the matter proved to be one not easily disposed
+of by soft phrases flung into the breach. Charles obeyed his father
+and prepared in advance his defence to the chancellor. When he had
+finished his own statement about Rubempre, he proceeded to the point
+of his friendship with the Duke of Brittany, declaring that it was
+right and proper and that if King Louis knew what was to the advantage
+of the French sovereign, he would be glad to see his nobles welded
+together as a bulwark to his throne. As to his pension, he had never
+received but one quarter, nine thousand francs. He had made no suit
+for the remainder nor for the government of Normandy. So long as he
+enjoyed the favour and good will of his father he had no need to crave
+favour of any man.
+
+"I think verily had it not been for the reverence he bore to his said
+father who was there present" continues the observant page, "and to
+whom he addressed his speech that he would have used much bitterer
+terms. In the end, Duke Philip very wisely and humbly besought the
+king not lightly to conceive an evil opinion of him or his son but to
+continue his favour towards them. Then the banquet was brought in and
+the ambassadors took their leave. As they passed out Charles stood
+apart from his father and said to the archbishop of Narbonne, who
+brought up the rear of the little company:
+
+"'Recommend me very humbly to the good grace of the king. Tell him he
+has had me scolded here by the chancellor but that he shall repent it
+before a year is past.'" His message was duly delivered and to this
+incident Commines attributes momentous results.
+
+Exasperated at the nonchalant manner in which Louis's ambassadors
+treated him, indignant at the injury to his heritage by the redemption
+of the towns on the Somme, and further, already alienated from his
+royal cousin through the long series of petty occasions where the
+different natures of the two young men clashed, in this year 1464,
+Charles was certainly more than ready to enter into an open contest
+with the French monarch. It was not long before the opportunity came
+for him to do so with a certain eclat.
+
+In the early years of his own freedom, before he learned wisdom, Louis
+XI. had planted many seeds of enmity which brought forth a plentiful
+crop, and the fruit was an open conspiracy among the nobles of the
+land.
+
+One of the causes of loosening feudal ties was the gradual growth of
+the body of standing troops instituted in 1439 by Charles VII. These,
+in the regular pay of the crown, gave the king a guarantee of support
+without the aid of his nobles. By the date of Louis's accession,
+certain ducal houses besides that of Burgundy had grown very
+independent within their own boundaries: Orleans, Anjou, Bourbon, not
+to speak of Brittany.[7] Now the efforts to curtail the prerogatives
+of these petty sovereigns, begun by Charles VII., were steady and
+persistent in the new reign. They had no longer the power of coining
+money, of levying troops, or of imposing taxes, while the judicial
+authority of the crown had been extended little by little over France.
+Then their privileges were further attacked by Louis's restrictions of
+the chase.
+
+It was the accumulation of these invasions of local authority, added
+to a real disbelief in the king's ability, that led to a formation of
+a league among the nobles, designed to check the centralisation policy
+of the monarch, a League of Public Weal to form a bulwark against the
+tyrannical encroachments of their liege lord.
+
+Not to follow the steps of the growth of this coalition, it is
+sufficient for the thread of this narrative to say that it comprised
+all the great French nobles, the princes of the blood as well as
+others. Men whom Louis had flattered as well as those whom he had
+slighted alike fell from his standards, distrustful of his ability to
+withstand organised opposition, and they threw in their lot with the
+protestors so as not to miss their share of the spoil.
+
+The Count of Charolais, as already mentioned, was in a mood when
+his ears were eagerly open to overtures from Louis's critics. The
+redemption of the towns on the Somme he was unable to prevent, but the
+affair left him very sore. Shortly after its completion, the count
+did, indeed, succeed in depriving the Croys of their ascendency over
+the Duke of Burgundy, but when that long desired victory was attained,
+the towns had one and all accepted their transfer and were under
+French sovereignty. When the count joined the league, the hope of
+ultimate restoration was undoubtedly prominent among the motives for
+his own course of action, though his intimacy with the chief leader of
+the revolt, the Duke of Brittany, might easily have led to the same
+result.
+
+Towards Francis of Brittany, Louis XI. had been especially wanting in
+tact during the first months of his reign. The king treated him as a
+vassal of France, while the duke held that he and his forbears owed
+simple homage to the crown, not dependence. Therefore, in order to
+resist being subordinated, the Duke of Brittany resolved not to leave
+his estates except in a suitable manner. His messages to the king
+were sent in all ceremony, he rendered proper homage, declared his
+readiness to serve him as a kinsman and as a vassal for certain
+territories, but demanded freedom to exercise his hereditary rights
+and to enjoy his hereditary dignities.[8]
+
+"Rude and strange" were the terms employed by the king in response to
+these statements, and then he proceeded to encroach still farther on
+the duke's seigniorial rights by attempts to dispose of the hands of
+Breton heiresses in unequal marriages, and to arrogate to himself
+other rights--all sufficient provocation to justify Francis of
+Brittany in becoming one of the chiefs in the league. Very delightful
+is Chastellain's colloquy with himself[9] as to the difficulty of
+maintaining perfect impartiality in discussing the cause of this
+Franco-Burgundian war, but unfortunately the result of his patient
+efforts is lost.
+
+Olivier de La Marche and Philip de Commines, however, were both
+present in the Burgundian army and their stories are preserved. La
+Marche had reason to remember the first actual engagement between the
+royal and invading forces at Montl'hery, "because on that day I was
+made knight." He does not say, as does Commines, that this battle was
+against the king's desire. Louis had hoped to avoid any use of arms
+and to coerce his rebellious nobles into quiescence by other methods.
+Not that they characterised themselves as rebellious, far from it.
+Clear and definite was their statement that in their obligation
+
+    "to give order to the estate, the police and the government of the
+    kingdom, the princes of the blood as chief supports of the crown,
+    by whose advice and not by that of others, the business of the
+    king and of the state ought to be directed, are ready to risk
+    their persons and their property, and in this laudable endeavour
+    all virtuous citizens ought to aid."[10]
+
+Thus wrote Charles to the citizens of Amiens, and the words were
+typical of similar appeals made in every quarter of the realm by the
+various feudal chiefs to their respective subjects. In truth this war,
+ostentatiously called that of the Public Weal, was but a struggle on
+the part of the great nobles for local sovereignty. The weal demanded
+was home rule for the feudal chiefs. The War of Public Weal was a
+fierce protest against monarchical authority, against concentration. A
+king indeed, but a king in leading strings was the ideal of the peers.
+
+Thus matters stood in June, 1465. Louis almost alone, deserted by his
+brother the Duke of Berry, and his nobles banded together in apparent
+unity, hedged in by their pompous and self-righteous assertions that
+all their thoughts were for the poor oppressed people whose burdens
+needed lightening. Of all the great vassals, Gaston de Foix was the
+single one loyal to the king.
+
+The part of the great duke fell entirely to the share of the Count of
+Charolais. A small force was levied for him within the Netherlands,
+and he started for Paris where he hoped to meet contingents from the
+two Burgundies and his brother peers of France with their own troops.
+His men were good individually but they had not been trained to act as
+one, and there was no coherence between the different companies.
+
+July, 1465, found Charles at St. Denis, the appointed rendezvous. He
+was first in the field. While he awaited his allies, his little army
+became restive at the situation in which they found themselves, fifty
+leagues from Burgundian territory with no stronghold as their base. It
+was urged again and again upon the count that his first consideration
+ought to be his men's safety. His allies had failed him. He should
+retreat. "I have crossed the Oise and the Marne and I will cross the
+Seine if I have but a single page to follow me," was the leader's firm
+reply to these demands.
+
+The leaguers were slow to keep their pledges, and Charles decided that
+it was his mission to prevent Louis from entering his capital, to
+which he was advancing with great rapidity from the south. To carry
+out this purpose Charles disregarded all protests, crossed the Seine
+at St. Cloud, and made his way to the little village of Longjumeau,
+whither he was preceded by the Count of St. Pol, commanding one
+division of the Burgundian army. Montl'hery was a village still
+farther to the south, and here it was that La Marche and other
+gentlemen were knighted. This ceremony was evidently part of the
+count's endeavour to encourage his followers--all unwilling to risk an
+engagement before the arrival of the allies.
+
+To the king it was of infinite advantage that no delay should occur.
+Nevertheless, it was Charles who opened active hostilities on July
+15th, with soldiers who had not broken their fast that day. Armed
+since early dawn, wearied by a forced march with a July sun beating
+down upon their heads, their movements hampered by standing wheat and
+rye, the men were at a tremendous disadvantage when they were led to
+the attack. It was a hot assault. No quarter was given, many fled.
+At length, Louis found himself abandoned by all save his body-guard.
+Pressed against the hill that bounded the grain fields, the king at
+last retreated up its slope into a castle on its summit.
+
+Charles rode impetuously after the retreating royalists. Separated
+from his men, he fell among the royal guard at the gate of the castle.
+There was a vehement assault resisted as vehemently by his meagre
+escort. Several fell and Charles himself received a sword wound on his
+neck where his armour had slipped. Recognised by the French, he might
+have been taken or slain in his resistance, when the Bastard of
+Burgundy rode in and rescued him. Very desperate seemed the count's
+condition. When night fell, no one knew where lay the advantage. The
+fugitives spread rumours that the king was dead and that Charles was
+in possession, others carried the reverse statements as they rode
+headlong to the nearest safety. It was a rout on both sides with no
+credit to either leader. But in the darkness of the night, the king
+managed to slip out of his retreat and march quietly towards the
+greater security of Paris.
+
+It was a very shadowy victory that Charles proudly claimed. All
+through the night of July 15th, the Burgundians were discussing
+whether to flee or to risk further fighting against the odds all
+recognised. Daybreak found the council in session when a peasant
+brought tidings that the foe had departed. The fires in sight only
+covered their retreat. To be sure that same foe had taken Burgundian
+baggage with them to Paris. But what of that? The Burgundians held the
+battlefield and they made the best of it.
+
+On July 16th, Louis supped with the military governor of Paris and
+"moved the company, nobles and ladies, to sympathetic tears by his
+touching description of the perils he had met and escaped." Charles,
+meanwhile, effected a junction with his belated allies, Francis of
+Brittany and Charles of France, the Duke of Berry, at Etampes. Thither
+too, came the dukes of Bourbon and of Lorraine, but none of these
+leaguers could claim any share in the battle of Montl'hery.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF MONTL'HERY, JULY 16, 1465 (COMINES, ED.
+LENGLET DU FRESNOY, 1.)]
+
+While these peers perfected their plans to force their chief into
+redressing the wrongs of the poor people, the king was showing a very
+pleasant side of his character to the Parisian citizens. In response
+to a petition that he should take advice on the conduct of his
+administration, he declared his perfect willingness to add to his
+council six burgesses, six members of _parlement_, and the same number
+from the university. Besides this concession, he relieved the weight
+of the imposts and hastened to restore certain financial franchises to
+the Church, to the university, and to various individuals. Three weeks
+were consumed in establishing friendly relations in this all important
+city, and then the king departed for Normandy to levy troops and to
+collect provisions for a siege.[11] There was need for this last for
+the allies had moved up to the immediate vicinity of Paris.
+
+Before the king's return to his capital on August 28th, a formidable
+array was encamped at Charenton and its neighbourhood. More
+formidable, however, they were in numbers than in strength. Like all
+confederated bodies there was inherent weakness, for there was no
+leader whom all would be willing to obey. The Duke of Berry, heir
+presumptive to the throne, was the only one among the peers whose
+birth might have commanded the needful authority, but he had not
+sufficient personal character to assert his position. So the
+confederates remained a loose aggregation of small armies. The longer
+they remained in camp the weaker they grew, the more disintegrated.
+A pitched battle might have been a great advantage to these gallant
+defenders of the Public Weal of France and that was the last desire of
+their antagonist.
+
+Many skirmishes took place between the Parisians and the leaguers, but
+no engagement. Once, indeed, there were hurried preparations on the
+part of the Burgundians to repulse an attack, of whose imminence they
+were warned by a page before break of day, one misty morning. Yes,
+there was no doubt. The pickets could see the erect spears and furled
+banners of the enemy all ready to advance upon the unwary camp. Quick
+were the preparations. There were no laggards. The Duke of Calabria
+was more quickly armed than even the Count of Charolais. He came to a
+spot where a number of Burgundians, the count's own household stood,
+by the standard. Among them was Commines[l2] and he heard the duke
+say: "We now have our desire, for the king is issued forth with his
+whole force and marches towards us as our scouts report. Wherefore let
+us determine to play the men. So soon as they be out of the town we
+will enter and measure with the long ell." By these words he meant
+that the soldiers would speedily have a chance to use their pikes as
+yard sticks to measure out their share of the booty. False prophet
+was the duke that time! When the daylight grew stronger, the upright
+spears and furled banners of the advancing foe proved to be a mass of
+thistles looming large in the magnifying morning mist! The princes
+took their disappointment philosophically, enjoyed early mass, and
+then had their breakfast.
+
+The young Commines is surprised that Paris and her environs were rich
+enough to feed so many men. Gradually the aspect of affairs changed.
+Negotiating back and forth became more frequent. The disintegration of
+the allies became more and more evident. Louis XI. bided his time and
+then took the extraordinary resolution to go in person to the camp at
+Charenton to visit his cousin of Burgundy. With a very few attendants,
+practically unguarded, he went down the Seine. His coming had been
+heralded and the Count of Charolais stood ready to receive him, with
+the Count of St. Pol at his side. "Brother, do you pledge me safety?"
+(for the count's first wife was sister of Louis) to which the count
+responded: "Yes, as one brother to another."[13]
+
+Nothing could have been more genial than was the king. He assured
+Charles that he loved a man who kept his word beyond anything.
+
+Veracity was his passion. Charles had kept the promise he had sent by
+the archbishop of Narbonne, and now he knew in very truth that he was
+a gentleman and true to the blood of France. Further, he disavowed the
+insolence of his chancellor towards Charles, and repeated that his
+cousin had been justified in resenting it. "You have kept your promise
+and that long before the day."[14]
+
+Then in a friendly promenade, Louis gave an opportunity to Charles and
+St. Pol to state, informally, the terms on which they would withdraw
+from their hostile footing, and count the weal restored to the
+oppressed public whose sorrows had moved them to a confederation.
+
+Distasteful as was every item to Louis, he accepted the requisition of
+those who felt that they were in a position to dictate, and after a
+little more parleying at later dates, the treaty of Conflans was duly
+arranged. It was none too soon for the allies. They could hardly have
+held together many days longer in the midst of the jealousies rife in
+their camps.
+
+The king paused at nothing. To his brother he gave Normandy, to
+Charles of Burgundy the towns on the Somme with guarantee of
+possession for his lifetime, while the Count of St. Pol was made
+Constable of France.
+
+[Illustration: LOUIS XI. WITH THE PRINCES AND SEIGNEURS OF THE WAR
+OF PUBLIC WEAL TAKEN FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF ST.
+GERMAIN DES PRES (COMINES-LENGLET, II., FRONTISPIECE)]
+
+Boulogne and Guienne, too, were ceded to Charles, lesser places and
+pensions to the other confederates. The contest ended with complete
+victory for the allies who were left with the proud consciousness
+that they had set a definite limit to royal pretensions, at least, on
+paper.
+
+After the treaty was signed, the king showed no resentment at his
+defeat but urged his cousin to amuse himself a while in Paris before
+returning home. Charles was rash, but he had not the temerity to trust
+himself so far. Pleading a promise to his father to enter no city gate
+until on paternal soil, he declined the invitation and soon returned
+to the Netherlands, where his own household had suffered change.
+During his absence, the Countess of Charolais had died and been buried
+at Antwerp. Charles is repeatedly lauded for his perfect faithfulness
+to his wife, but her death seems to have made singularly little ripple
+on the surface of his life. The chroniclers touch on the event very
+casually, laying more stress on the opportunity it gave Louis XI.
+to offer his daughter Anne as her successor, than on the event
+itself.[15]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: La Marche, ii., 227. Peter von Hagenbach was the
+chamberlain to enforce this.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The receipt for this half payment was signed October
+8, 1462. (Comines, _Memoires_, Lenglet du Fresnoy edition, ii.,
+392-403.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Du Clercq, iii., 236; Comines-Lenglet, ii., 393.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, _Memoires_ I., ch. i. In the above passages
+Dannett's translation is followed for the racy English.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Commines says at The Hague; Meyer makes it Gorcum.]
+
+[Footnote 6: III., 3.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Lavisse iv^{ii}., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Chastellain, v., i, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 9: V., II.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Letter of the Count of Charolais to the citizens of
+Amiens. (_Collection de Documents inedits sur l'histoire de France_.)
+"Melanges," ii., 317. In this collection taken from MS. in the Bibl.
+Nat. there are many letters private and public about these events.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Since its recovery from the English, there had been no
+duke in Normandy. It was thus the one province open to the king.]
+
+[Footnote 12: I., ch. xi. His vivacious story of the siege should be
+read in detail.]
+
+[Footnote 13: I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commines, I., ch. xii.]
+
+[Footnote 15: La Marche, iii., p. 27.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+LIEGE AND ITS FATE
+
+1465-1467
+
+
+"When we have finished here we shall make a fine beginning against
+those villains the Liegeois." Thus wrote the count's secretary on
+October 18th.[1] Charles had no desire to rest on the laurels won
+before Paris. To another city he now turned his attention, to Liege
+which owed nothing whatsoever to Burgundy.
+
+Before the days when the buried treasures of the soil filled the
+air with smoke, the valley where Liege lies was a lovely spot.[2]
+Tradition tells how, in the sixth century, Monulphe, Bishop of
+Tongres, as he made a progress through his diocese was attracted by
+the beauties of the site where a few hovels then clustered near the
+Meuse. After looking down from the heights to the river's banks for
+a brief space, the bishop turned to his followers and said, as if
+uttering a prophecy:
+
+"Here is a place created by God for the salvation of many faithful
+souls. One day a prosperous city shall flourish here. Here I will
+build a chapel." Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised chapel
+became a shrine which attracted many pilgrims who returned to their
+various homes with glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.
+Little by little others came who did not leave, and by the seventh
+century when Bishop Lambert sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a
+small town.
+
+An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert. He gave himself no
+rest but travelled continually from one church to another in his
+diocese to look after the needs of his flock. He was a fearless
+prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke to the Frankish
+Pepin for a lawless deed excited the wrath of a certain noble,
+accessory to the act. Trouble ensued and Lambert was slain as he knelt
+before the altar in Monulphe's chapel at Liege. Absorbed in prayer
+the pious man did not hear the servants' calls, "Holy Lambert, Holy
+Lambert come to our aid," words that later became a war-cry when the
+bishop was exalted into the patron saint of the town.
+
+Not until the thirteenth century, however, when the episcopal see was
+finally established at Liege, was Lambert's successor virtual lay
+overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege. Monulphe's little
+chapel had given way to a mighty church dedicated to the canonised
+Bishop Lambert. The ecclesiastical state became almost autonomous, the
+episcopal authority being restricted without the walls only by the
+distant emperor and still more distant pope. Within the walls, the
+same authority had by no means a perfectly free hand. There were
+certain features in the constitution of Liege which differentiated it
+from its sister towns in the Netherlands.
+
+Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly democratic manner.
+There was no distinction between the greater and lesser gilds, and,
+within these organisations, the franchise was given to the most
+ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple condition of
+attaining his fifteenth year. Moreover, the naturalisation laws were
+very easy. Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens and
+enjoyed eligibility to office as well as the franchise. The tenure of
+office being for one year only, there was opportunity for frequent
+participation in public affairs, an opportunity not neglected by the
+community.[2]
+
+The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic officers chosen by
+this liberal franchise. He was elected by the chapter of St. Lambert,
+subject to papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres of his
+jurisdiction. But in the exercise of his function there were many
+restrictions to his free administration, which papal and imperial
+sanction together were unable to remove.
+
+A bishop-prince of Liege could make no change in the laws without the
+consent of the estates, and he could administer justice only by means
+of the regular tribunals. Every edict had to be countersigned. When
+there was an issue between overlord and people, the question was
+submitted to the _schepens_ or superior judges who, before they gave
+their opinion, consulted the various charters which had been granted
+from time to time, and which were not allowed to become dead letters.
+A permanent committee of the three orders supervised the executive and
+the administration of the laws. These "twenty-two" received an appeal
+from the meanest citizen, and the Liege proverb "In his own home the
+poor man is king," was very near the possible truth.
+
+Yet the wheels of government were by no means perfect in their
+running. Many were the conflicts between the different members of the
+state, and broils, with the character of civil war in miniature, were
+of frequent occurrence. The submergence of the aristocratic element,
+the nobles, destroyed a natural balance of power between the
+bishop-prince and the people. The commons exerted power beyond their
+intelligence. Annual elections, party contests headed by rival
+demagogues kept the capital, and, to a lesser extent, the smaller
+towns of the little state in continuous commotion[4].
+
+The ecclesiastical origin of the community was evident at all points
+of daily life. The cathedral of St. Lambert was the pride of the city.
+Its chapter, consisting of sixty canons, took the place held by the
+aristocratic element in the other towns.
+
+In the cathedral, the holy standard of St. Lambert was suspended. At
+the outbreak of war this was taken down and carried to the door by the
+clergy in solemn procession. There it was unfurled and delivered to
+the commander of the civic militia mounted on a snow-white steed. When
+he received the precious charge he swore to defend it with his life.
+
+One object of popular veneration was this standard, another was the
+_perron_, an emblem of the civic organisation. This was a pillar of
+gilded bronze, its top representing a pineapple surmounted by a cross.
+This stood on a pedestal in the centre of the square where was the
+_violet_ or city hall. In front of the perron were proclaimed all the
+ordinances issued by the magistrates, or the decrees adopted by the
+people in general assembly. On these occasions the tocsin was rung,
+the deans of the gilds would hasten out with their banners and plant
+them near the perron as rallying points for the various gild members
+who poured out from forge, work-shop, and factory until the square was
+filled.
+
+There were two powerful weapons whereby the bishop-prince might
+enforce his will in opposition to that of his subjects did the latter
+become too obstreperous. He could suspend the court of the _schepens_,
+and he could pronounce an interdict of the Church which caused the
+cessation of all priestly functions. When this interdict was in
+action, civil suits between burghers could be adjudged by the
+municipal magistrates, but no criminals could be arrested or tried.
+The elementary principles of an organised society were thrown into
+confusion. Still worse confusion resulted from the bishop's last
+resort as prince of the Church. An interdict caused the church bells
+to be silent, the church doors to be closed. The celebration of the
+rites of baptism, of marriage, of burial ceased.[5] The fear of such
+cessation was potent in its restraint, unless the populace were too
+far enraged to be moved by any consideration.
+
+While the Burgundian dukes extended their sway over one portion of
+Netherland territory after another, this little dominion maintained
+its complete independence of them. The fact that its princes were
+elective protected it from lapsing through heritage to the duke who
+had been so neatly proven heir to his divers childless kinsfolk. It
+was a rich little vineyard without his pale.
+
+They were clever people those Liegeois. Their Walloon language is
+a species of French with many peculiarities showing Frankish
+admixture.[6] The race was probably a mixed one too, but its acquired
+characteristics made a very different person from a Hollander, a
+Frisian, or a Fleming, though there was a certain resemblance to the
+latter.
+
+In 1465, not yet exploited were the wonderful resources of coal and
+minerals which now glow above and below the furnace fires until, from
+a distance, Liege looks like a very Inferno. But the people were
+industrious and energetic in their crafts. It was a country of skilled
+workmen. The city of Liege is accredited with one hundred thousand
+inhabitants at this epoch, and the numbers reported slain in
+the various battles in which the town was involved run into the
+thousands.[7]
+
+In 1456, Philip of Burgundy, encouraged by his success in the diocese
+of Utrecht, obtained a certain ascendency over the affairs of Liege by
+interfering in the election of a bishop. There was no natural vacancy
+at the moment. John of Heinsberg was the incumbent, a very pleasant
+prelate with conciliatory ways. He loved amusement and gay society,
+pleasures more easily obtainable in Philip's court than in his own,
+and his agreeable host found means of persuading him to resign all the
+cares of his see. Then the enterprising duke proceeded to place his
+own nephew, Louis of Bourbon, upon the vacant episcopal throne.
+
+This nephew was an eighteen-year-old student at the University of
+Louvain, destitute of a single qualification for the office proposed.
+Nevertheless, all difficulties, technical and general were ignored,
+and a papal dispensation enabled the candidate even to dispense with
+the formality of taking orders. Attired in scarlet with a feathered
+Burgundian cap on his head, Louis made his entry into his future
+capital and was duly enthroned as bishop-prince in spite of his
+manifest unfitness for the place.
+
+Nor did he prove a pleasant surprise to his people, better than the
+promise of his youth, as some reckless princes have done. On the
+contrary, ignorant, sensuous, extortionate, he was soon at drawn
+swords with his subjects. After a time he withdrew to Huy where he
+indulged in gross pleasures while he attempted to check the rebellious
+citizens of his capital by trying some of the measures of coercion
+used by his predecessors as a last resort.
+
+Liege was lashed into a state of fury. Matters dragged on for a long
+time. The people appealed to Cologne, to the papal legate, to the
+pope, and to the "pope better informed," but no redress was given.
+Philip continued to protect the bishop, and none dared put themselves
+in opposition to him. Finally, the people turned to Louis XI. for aid.
+Their appeal was heard and the king's agent arrived in the city
+just as one of the bishop's interdicts was about to be enforced,
+an interdict, too, endorsed by a papal bull, threatening the usual
+anathema if the provisions were not obeyed.
+
+It was the moment for a demagogue and one appeared in the person of
+Raes de la Riviere, lord of Heers. On July 5, 1465, there was to be
+unbroken silence in all sacred edifices. Heers and his followers
+proclaimed that every priest who refused to chant should be thrown
+into the river. Mass was said under those unpeaceful and unspiritual
+conditions, and the presence of the French envoys gave new heart to
+the bishop's opponents. A treaty was signed between the Liegeois
+and Louis; wherein mutual pledges were made that no peace should be
+concluded with Burgundy in which both parties were not included. It
+was a solemn pledge but it did not hamper Louis when he signed the
+treaty of Conflans whose articles contained not a single reference to
+the Liegeois.
+
+Meanwhile, it chanced that the first report of the battle of
+Montl'hery reaching Liege gave the victory to Louis, a report that
+spurred on the Liegeois to carry their acts of open hostility to their
+neighbour, still farther afield. The other towns of the Church state
+were infected by an anti-Burgundian sentiment. In Dinant this feeling
+was high, and there was, moreover, a manifestation of special
+animosity against the Count of Charolais. A rabble marched out of the
+city to the walls of Bouvignes, a town of Namur, loyal to Burgundy,
+carrying a stuffed figure with a cow-bell round its neck. Certain
+well-known emblems of Burgundy on a tattered mantle showed that this
+represented Charles of Burgundy. With rude words the crowd declared
+that they were going to hang the effigy as his master, the King of
+France, had already hanged Count Charles in reality. Further, they
+said that he was no count at all, but the son of their old bishop,
+Heinsberg. They went so far as to suspend the effigy on a gallows and
+then riddled it with arrows and left it dangling like a scarecrow in
+sight of the citizens of Bouvignes.[8]
+
+The actual contents of the treaty made at Conflans did not reach Liege
+until messages from Louis had assured them that he had been mindful of
+their interests in making his own terms, assurances, however, coupled
+with advice to make peace with their good friend the duke. But there
+speedily came later information that the only mention of Liege in the
+new treaty was an apology that Louis had ever made friends in that
+city!
+
+The rebels lost heart at once. Without the king, they had no
+confidence in their own efforts. Envoys were despatched to Philip who
+refused to answer their humble requests for pardon until his son could
+decide what punishment the principality deserved. Nor was much delay
+to be anticipated before an answer would be forthcoming. Charles
+hastened to Liege direct from Paris, not pausing even to greet his
+father. By the third week of January, he was encamped between St.
+Trond and Tongres, where a fresh deputation from Liege found him.
+These envoys, between eighty and a hundred, were well armed chiefly
+because they feared attacks from their anti-peace fellow-citizens.[9]
+
+They found Charles flushed by his recent achievement of bringing King
+Louis to his way of thinking. His army, too, was a stronger body than
+when it left the Netherlands. The troops were more skilled from
+their experience and elated at what they counted their success; more
+capable, too, of acting as one body under the guidance of a resolute
+leader, now inclined to despise councils with free discussion. The
+count's quick temper had gained him weight but it had made him feared.
+The slightest breach of discipline brought a thunder-cloud on his
+face. If we may believe one authority,[10] he himself was often so
+lacking in discipline that he would strike an officer with a baton,
+and once at least, he killed a soldier with his own hand.
+
+His audience with the envoys resulted in a treaty, of which certain
+articles were so harsh that the messengers were insulted when the
+report was made in Liege. Only eleven out of thirty-two gilds voted to
+accept all the articles. A certain noble on pleasant terms with the
+count offered to carry the unpopular document back to him to ask for a
+modification of the harsh terms.
+
+By this time the weather was severe. Charles's troops were in need of
+repose, and it seemed prudent to avoid hostility if possible. Charles
+revoked the objectionable clauses in consideration of an increase of
+the war indemnity. With this change the treaty was accepted, and a
+Piteous Peace it was indeed for the proud folk of Liege. Instead
+of owing allegiance to emperor and to pope alone as free imperial
+citizens, they agreed to recognise the Burgundian dukes as hereditary
+protectors of Liege.
+
+When it was desired, Burgundian troops could march freely across the
+territory. Burgundian coins were declared valid at Burgundian values.
+No Liege fortresses were to menace Burgundian marches, and unqualified
+obedience was pledged to the new overlords. The same terms were
+conceded to all the rebel towns alike except to Dinant. The story of
+the personal insult to himself and his mother had reached the count's
+ears and he was not inclined to ignore the circumstance. His further
+action was, however, deferred.
+
+January 24, 1466, is the final date of the treaty[11] and, after its
+conclusion, Charles ordered a review of his forces, a review that
+almost culminated in a pitched battle between army and citizens of St.
+Trond, and then on January 31st, the count returned to Brussels where
+there was a great display of Burgundian etiquette before the duke
+embraced his victorious son.
+
+Piteous as was the peace for Liege and the province at large, still
+more piteous was the lot of Dinant which alone was excluded from the
+participation in the treaty. Her fate remained uncertain for months.
+Other affairs occupied the Count of Charolais until late in the summer
+of 1466. Time had quickly proven that Louis, well freed from the
+allies pressing up to the gates of Paris, was in very different temper
+from Louis ill at ease under their strenuous demands. Not only had
+he withdrawn his promises in regard to the duchy conferred on his
+brother, but he had begun taking other measures, ostensibly to prepare
+against a possible English invasion, which alarmed his cousin of
+Burgundy for the undisturbed possession of his recently recovered
+towns on the Somme.
+
+Excited by the rumours of Louis's purposes, Charles despatched the
+following letter from Namur:[12]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I recommend myself very humbly to your good grace and beg to
+    inform you, Monseigneur, that recently I have been advised of
+    something very surprising to me, Moreover, I am now put beyond
+    doubt considering the source of my information. It is with much
+    regret that I communicate it to you when I remember all the good
+    words you have given to me this year, orally and in writing.
+    Monseigneur, it is evident that there has been some agreement
+    between your people and the English, and that the matter has been
+    so well worked that you have consented, as I have heard, to yield
+    them the land of Caux, Rouen, and the connecting villages, and to
+    aid them in withholding Abbeville and the county of Ponthieu, and
+    further, to cement with them certain alliances against me and my
+    country in making them large offers greatly to my prejudice and,
+    in order to complete the whole, they are to come to Dieppe.
+
+    "Monseigneur, you may dispose of your own as you wish: but,
+    Monseigneur, in regard to what concerns me, it seems to me that
+    you would do better to leave my property in my hand than to be the
+    instrument of putting it into the hands of the English or of any
+    foreign nation. For this reason I entreat you, Monseigneur, that
+    if such overtures or greater ones have been opened by your people
+    that you will not commit yourself to them in any manner but will
+    insist on their cessation, and that you will do this in a way that
+    I may always have cause to remain your very humble servant as I
+    desire to do with all my heart. Above all, write to me your good
+    pleasure, and I implore you, Monseigneur, if there be any service
+    that I can render you, I am the one who would wish to employ all
+    that God has given me [to do it]. Written at Namur, August 16th.
+
+    "Your very humble and obedient subject,
+
+    "CHARLES."
+
+Then the count proceeded to Dinant to inflict the punishment that the
+culprits had, to his mind, too long escaped.
+
+Commines calls this a strong and rich town, superior even to
+Liege.[13] A comparison of the two sites shows, however, that this
+statement could hardly have been true at any time. Dinant lies in a
+narrow space between the Meuse and high land. A lofty rock at one
+end of the town dominating the river is crowned by a fortress most
+picturesque in appearance. It is difficult to estimate how many
+inhabitants there actually were in the place in 1466, but there is
+no doubt as to their energy and character. As mentioned before, the
+artisans had acquired a high degree of skill in their specialty, and
+their brass work was renowned far and wide. Pots and pans and other
+utensils were known as _Dinanderies_.
+
+The traffic in them was so important that Dinant had had her own
+commercial relations with England for a long period. Her merchants
+enjoyed the same privileges in London as the members of the Hanseatic
+League, and an English company was held in high respect at Dinant.[14]
+The brass-founders' gild ranked at Dinant as the drapers at Louvain,
+and the weavers at Ghent. As a "great gild they formed a middle class
+between the lower gilds and the _bourgeois_," the merchants and richer
+folk.[15] In municipal matters each of these three classes had a
+separate vote.
+
+As it happened, Dinant had not been very ready to open hostilities
+against the House of Burgundy though she was equally critical of Louis
+of Bourbon in his episcopal misrule. It was undoubtedly her rivalry
+with Bouvignes of Namur that brought her into the strife. That
+neighbour had taunted her rival to exasperation, and the fact that
+it was safe under the Duke of Burgundy and backed by him as Count of
+Namur, had brought a Burgundian element into the local contest.
+
+The incidents of the insult to Charles and the aspersion on his
+mother's reputation undoubtedly were due to an irresponsible rabble
+rather than to any action that could properly be attributed to the
+leading men. Further, it really seems probable that the weight
+attached to the insulting act never occurred to the respectable
+burghers until they heard of it from others, so insignificant were the
+participants in it.
+
+As soon as it was realised that serious consequences might result
+from reckless folly, the authorities were quite ready to separate
+themselves from the event, and to arrest the culprits as common
+malefactors. Once, indeed, the prisoners were temporarily rescued by
+their friends, and it seemed to Burgundian sympathisers a suspicious
+circumstance that this happened just at a moment when there was
+renewed hope for help from Louis XI. When convinced that such hopes
+were vain, the magistrates became seriously alarmed and ready to go
+to any lengths to avert Burgundian vengeance. Finally the following
+letter was despatched to the Duke of Burgundy:[16]
+
+    "The poor, humble and obedient servants and subjects of the most
+    reverend father in God, Louis of Bourbon, Bishop of Liege; and
+    your petty neighbours and borderers, the burgomaster's council and
+    folk of Dinant, humbly declare that it has come to their knowledge
+    that the wrath of your grace has been aroused against the town on
+    account of certain ill words spoken by some of the inhabitants
+    thereof, in contempt of your honourable person. The city is as
+    displeased about these words as it is possible to be, and far from
+    wishing to excuse the culprits has arrested as many as could be
+    found and now holds them in durance awaiting any punishment your
+    _grace_ may decree. As heartily and as lovingly as possible do
+    your petitioners beseech your grace to permit your anger to be
+    appeased, holding the people of Dinant exonerated, and resting
+    satisfied with the punishment of the guilty, inasmuch as the
+    people are bitterly grieved on account of the insults and have, as
+    before stated, arrested the culprits."
+
+With further apologies for any failure of duty towards the Duke of
+Burgundy, the petitioners humbly begged to be granted the same terms
+that Liege and the other towns had received. March 31st is the date
+of this humble document. Months of doubt followed before the terrible
+experience of August proved the futility of their pleas, to which the
+ducal family refused to listen, so deep was their sense of personal
+aggrievement. Long as it was since the duchess had taken part in
+public affairs, she, too, had a word to say here. And she, too, was
+implacable against the town where any citizen had dared accuse her of
+infidelity to her husband and to the Church whose interests were more
+to her than anything in the world except her son.[17]
+
+The petition was as unheeded as were all the representations of the
+would-be mediators. Again Dinant turned in desperation to Louis XI.
+and with assurances that after God his royal majesty was their only
+hope, besought him from mere charity and pity to persuade his cousin
+of Burgundy to forgive them. Apparently Louis took no notice of this
+appeal. Dinant's last hope was that her fellow-communes of Liege would
+refuse to ratify the treaty unless she, too, were included. The sole
+concession, obtained by their envoys to Charles in the winter, had
+been a short truce afterwards extended to May, 1466.
+
+During that summer the critical position of the little town was well
+known. Some sympathisers offered aid but it was aid that there was
+possible danger in accepting. Many of the outlaws from Liege, who had
+been expressly excluded from the terms of the peace, had joined the
+ranks of a certain free lance company called "The Companions of the
+Green Tent," as their only shelter was the interlaced branches of the
+forest. To Dinant came this band to aid in her defence.[18] At one
+time it seemed as though a peaceful accommodation might be reached but
+it fell through. Not yet were the citizens ready to surrender their
+charters--"Franchises,--to the rescue," was a frequent cry and no
+treaty was made.
+
+Philip, long inactive, resolved to assist at the reduction of this
+place in person. Too feeble to ride, he was carried to the Meuse in a
+litter, and arrived at Namur on August 14th. Then attended by a small
+escort only, he proceeded to Bouvignes, a splendid vantage point
+whence he could command a view of the scene of his son's intended
+operations. As the crisis became imminent there were a few further
+efforts to effect a reconciliation. When these failed, the town
+prepared to meet the worst.[19] Stories gravely related by Du
+Clercq[20] represent the people of Dinant goaded to actual fury of
+resistance.
+
+By August 7th, the Burgundian troops made their appearance, winding
+down to the river. Conspicuous among the standards--and nobles from
+all Philip's dominions were in evidence--was the banner of the Count
+of Charolais, displaying St. George slaying the dragon.
+
+On Tuesday, August 19th, Dinant was invested and the siege began.
+Within the walls the most turbulent element had gained complete
+control of affairs. All thought of prudence was thrown to the winds.
+From the walls they hurled words at the foe:
+
+"Is your old doll of a duke tired of life that you have brought him
+here to perish?[21] Your Count Charlotel is a green sprout. Bid him
+go fight the King of France at Montl'hery. If he waits for the noble
+Louis or the Liegeois he will have to take to his heels," etc.
+
+It was a heavy siege and the town was riddled with cannon-balls but
+there was no assault. By the sixth day the magistrates determined
+to send their keys to the Count of Charolais and beg for mercy. The
+captain of the great gild of coppersmiths, Jean de Guerin, tried to
+encourage the faint-hearted to protest openly against this procedure.
+Seizing the city colours he declared: "I will trust to no humane
+sentiment. I am ready to carry this flag to the breach and to live or
+die with you. If you surrender, I will quit the town before the foe
+enter it." It was too late, the capitulation was made.
+
+When the keys were brought to Charles he remembered that he was not
+yet duke and ordered them presented to his father in his stead, and to
+his half-brother Anthony was entrusted the task of formally accepting
+the surrender.
+
+It was late in the evening when the Bastard of Burgundy marched in. At
+first he held the incoming troops well under control, but the stores
+of wine were easy to reach, and by the morning there were wild scenes
+of disorder. When Charles arrived, however, on the morrow, Tuesday,
+just a week after the beginning of the siege, lawlessness was checked
+with a strong hand. Any ill treatment of women was peculiarly
+repugnant to him, and he did not hesitate to execute the sternest
+justice upon offenders.[22]
+
+[Illustration: ANTHONY OF BURGUNDY AFTER HANS MEMLING. DRESDEN
+GALLERY]
+
+His entry into the fallen town was made with all the wonted Burgundian
+pomp. Nothing in the proceedings occurred in a headlong or passionate
+manner. A council of war was held and the proceedings decided upon.
+The cruelty that was exercised was used in deliberate punishment,
+not in savage lawlessness. The personal insults to his mother and to
+himself rankled in the count's mind. As one author remarks[23] with
+undoubted reason, it is not likely that any of those responsible for
+the insult were among those punished. After the siege, "pitiable it
+was to see, for the innocent suffered and the guilty escaped."
+
+Certain rich citizens bought their lives with large sums, others _were
+sold as slaves,_[24] or were hanged or beheaded, or were thrown into
+the Meuse.[25] In the monasteries, life was conceded to the inmates
+but that was all. All their property was confiscated. The Count of St.
+Pol, now Constable of France, tried to intercede for the citizens with
+Philip who remained at Bouvignes, but to no result. It might have been
+chance or it might have been intentional that at last flames completed
+the work of destruction. The abode of Adolph of Cleves, at the corner
+of Notre Dame, was found to be on fire at about one o'clock in the
+morning of Thursday, August 28th.
+
+That Charles was responsible for this conflagration Du Clercq thinks
+is incredible.[26] He would certainly have saved all ecclesiastical
+property which was almost completely consumed. Indeed, Charles gave
+orders to extinguish the flames as soon as they were discovered, but
+every one was so occupied with saving his own portion of booty that
+nothing was accomplished and the town-hall caught fire and the church
+of Notre Dame. From the latter some ornaments and treasures were saved
+and the bones of Ste. Perpete, with other holy relics, were rescued by
+Charles himself at risk to his own life.
+
+    "It was never known how the fire originated. Some say it was
+    due to a defective flue. To my mind," [concludes the pious
+    historian],[27] "it was the Divine Will that Dinant should be
+    destroyed on account of the pride and ill deeds of the people. I
+    trust to God who knows all. The duke's people alone lost more than
+    a hundred thousand crowns' value."
+
+_Cy fust Dinant_, "Dinant was," is the sum of his description, four
+days after the conflagration.[28]
+
+On September 1st, Philip, who had remained at Bouvignes while all this
+passed under the direction of Charles, took boat and sailed down to
+Namur. It was almost a triumph,--that trip that proved one of the last
+ever made by the proud duke--and the procession on the river and the
+entry into Namur were closed by a humble embassy from Liege in regard
+to certain points of their peace.
+
+Du Clercq gravely relates, by the way, that the Count of St. Pol's men
+had had no part in the plunder of Dinant. This was hard on the
+poor fellows. Therefore, Philip turned over to their mercies, as a
+compensation for this deprivation, the little town of Tuin, which had
+been rebellious and then submitted. Tuin accepted its fate, submitted
+to St. Pol, and then compounded the right of pillage for a round sum
+of money. Moreover, they promised to lay low their gates and their
+walls and those of St. Trond. In this way, it is said that the
+constable made ten thousand Rhenish florins. Still both he and his men
+felt ill-compensated for the loss of the booty of Dinant.
+
+Charles continued a kind of harassing warfare on the various towns of
+Liege territory. The people of Liege themselves seem to have varied
+in their humour towards Charles, sometimes being very humble in their
+petitions for peace and again very insolent. As a rule, this conduct
+seems to be traceable to their hope of Louis's support. On September
+7th, there was one pitched battle where victory decided the final
+terms of the general peace, and after various skirmishes and
+submissions, Charles disbanded his troops for the winter and joined
+his father at Brussels.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Doc. inedits sur l'hist. de France_. "Melanges," ii.,
+398.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Polain, _Recits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liege_,
+I, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See Kirk, _Charles the Bold_, i., 329.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Jacques de Hemricourt suggested four chief points of
+difficulty in Liege government:
+
+1. The size of the council--two hundred, where twenty would do.
+
+2. The equal voice granted to all gilds without regard to size, when
+all were assembled by the council to vote on a matter.
+
+3. Extension of franchise to youths of fifteen.
+
+4. Facile naturalisation laws. (_See_ Kirk, i., 325.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: In many cases when the interdict was imposed, it is
+probable that it was only partially operative.]
+
+[Footnote 6: See Victor Hugo, _Le Rhin_, i. The Walloon dialect varies
+greatly between the towns. Here are a few words of the "Prodigal Son"
+as they are written in Liege, Huy, and Lille:
+
+LIEGE. Jesus lizi d'ha co: In homme aveut deux fis. Li pus jone derit
+a s'pere: pere dinnez-m'con qui m'dent riv' ni di vosse bin; et l'pere
+lezi partagea s'bin.
+
+HUY. Jesus l'zi d'ha co: Eun homme avut deux fis. Li peus jone derit a
+s'pere etc.
+
+LILLE. Jesus leu dit incore: un homme avot deux garchens. L'pus jeune
+dit a sin pere-mon pere donez me ch que j'dor recouvre d'vo bien; et
+l'pere leu-z-a done a chacun leu parchen.
+
+See also _Doc. inedits concernant l'hist. de la Belgique_, ii., 238,
+for comment on Scott's treatment of the language.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The numbers are probably exaggerated. To-day it contains
+about two hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Du Clercq, iv., 203.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Du Clercq, iv., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Du Clercq, iv., 239-262.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., ii., 285, 322. For letters and
+negotiations anterior to this peace see p. 197 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Duclos, v., 236.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Book ii., ch. i. To-day there are only about eight
+thousand inhabitants.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In addition to Commines and Du Clercq _see also_ Kirk,
+i., 385, for quotations from Borgnet and others.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 213, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. ined.,_ ii., 350.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Est falme commune que tres haute princesse la ducesse
+de Bourgogne, a cause desdictes injures at conclut telle hayne sur
+cestedite ville de Dinant qu'elle a jure comme on dist que s'il li
+devoit couster tout son vaellant, fera ruynner cestedite ville en
+mettant toutes personnes a l'espee. (Gachard, _Doc. ined_., ii.,
+222.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., ii., 337, _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Du Clercq, iv., 273.]
+
+[Footnote 20: He says messengers were put to death without regard to
+their sacred office, even a little child being torn limb from limb.
+Priests were thrown into the river for refusing to say mass, and the
+situation was strained to the last degree.]
+
+[Footnote 21: _Qui a mande ce vieil monnart vostre duc_, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Du Clercq, iv., 278.]
+
+[Footnote 23: De Ram, _Documents relatifs aux troubles du pays de
+Liege,_ "Henricus de Merica," p. 159.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Vel vendebantur in servos. See De Ram _et passim_ for
+documents.]
+
+[Footnote 25: It seems to be well attested that the prisoners were
+tied together and drowned.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Du Clercq, iv., 280.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _Ibid._, 281.]
+
+[Footnote 28: In 1472, a new church was erected "on the spot formerly
+called Dinant" and after that, little by little, the town came to
+life. (Gachard, _Analectes Belgiques_, 318, etc.).]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+THE NEW DUKE
+
+1467
+
+
+The Good Duke's journey to Bouvignes where he witnessed the manner in
+which his authority was vindicated was his last effort. In the early
+summer following, on Friday, June 10th, Philip, then at Bruges, was
+taken ill and died on the following Monday, June 13th, between nine
+and ten in the evening.[1] Charles was summoned on the Sunday, and it
+seemed as though his horse's hoofs hardly struck the pavement as he
+rode, so swift was his course on the way to Bruges.
+
+When he reached the house where his father lay dying, he was told that
+speech had already ceased, but that there was still life. The count
+threw himself on his knees by the bedside, weeping in all tenderness,
+and implored a paternal benediction and pardon for all wherein he had
+offended his father. Near the duke stood his confessor who begged the
+dying man to make a sign if he could still understand what was said
+to him. On this admonition and in reply to his son's prayers, Philip
+turned his eyes to Charles, looked at him and pressed the hand which
+was laid upon his own, but further token was beyond his strength. The
+count stayed by his side until he breathed his last.
+
+Thus ended the life of a man who had been a striking figure in Europe
+for forty years. His most fervent dream, indeed, had never been
+fulfilled. All his pompous vows to wrest the Holy Land from the
+invading Turks had proved vain. Many years had passed since he had
+had military success of any kind, and even in his earlier life his
+successes had been owing to diplomacy and to a happy conjunction
+of circumstances rather than to skilful generalship. He possessed
+pre-eminently the power of personality.
+
+When Duke John of Burgundy fell on the bridge at Montereau and Philip
+came into his heritage, Henry V. of England was in the full flush of
+his prosperity, standing triumphant over England and France, and in a
+position to make good his claim with three stalwart brothers to back
+him. All these young men had died prematurely. Their only descendant
+was Henry VI., and that meagre and wretched representative of the
+ambitious Henry V. had had no spark of the character of his father and
+uncles. The one vigorous element in his life was his wife, Margaret
+of Anjou, who diligently exerted herself to keep her husband on his
+throne. In vain were her efforts. By 1467, Edward of York was on that
+throne. Gone, too, was Charles VII., whose father's acts had clouded
+his early, whose son darkened his latter years.
+
+Out of his group of contemporaries, Duke Philip alone had marched
+steadily to every desired goal. His epitaph gave a fairly accurate
+list of his achievements in doggerel verses:
+
+  "John was born of Philip, child of good King John.
+  To that John, I, Philip, was born his eldest son.
+  Flanders, Artois, and Burgundy his will bequeathed to me
+  Therein to follow him and rule them legally.
+  With Holland, Zealand, Hainaut, my own realm greater grew.
+  Luxemburg, Brabant, Namur soon were added too.
+  The Liegeois and the German my lawful rights defied,
+  By force of right and arms they have been pacified.
+  At one single time against me were maintained
+  French, English, German forces,--nothing have they gained.
+  Against King Charles the Seventh, I warred in great array.
+  From me he begged a peace and king was from that day!
+  The mighty conflicts that I fought in all are numbered seven.
+  Not once was I defeated. To God the praise be given.
+  Time and time again Liege and Ghent revolted,
+  But I put them down. I would not be insulted.
+  In Barrois and Lorraine, King Rene warred upon me.
+  Of Sicily erst king, captivity soon won he.
+  Louis, son of Charles, depressed and refugee,
+  From me received his crown. Five years my guest was he.
+  Edward, Duke of York, fled, wretched, to my land;
+  That now he's England's king is due my aid and hand.
+  To defend the Church, which is the House Divine,
+  The Golden Fleece was founded, that great order mine.
+  Christian faith to succour in vigour and in strength,
+  My galleys sailed the sea in all its dreary length.
+  In later days I planned and most sincerely meant
+  To take the field myself, but Death did that prevent.
+  When Eugene the Pope by the council was disdained,
+  Through my control alone as Pope was he retained.
+  In 1467, Time my goal has set.
+  When I am seventy-one, I pay Dame Nature's debt.
+  With father and grandfather, I now lie buried here.
+  As in life I ever was their equal and their peer.
+  Good Jesu was my guide in every word and deed,
+  Beseech him every one that Heaven be my meed!"
+
+The territories thus named, that passed to the new duke, covered
+a goodly space of earth. Had Philip not slacked his ambition at a
+critical time, undoubtedly he could have left a royal rather than a
+ducal crown to his son. He did not so will it, and, moreover, in a
+way he had receded from his independence as he had accepted feudal
+obligations towards Louis XI. which he never had towards Charles VII.
+
+Lured by the hope of becoming prime adviser of the French king, he had
+emphasised his position as first peer of France. Thus it was as Duke
+of Burgundy _par excellence_ that Philip died, as the typical peer
+whose luxury and magnificence far surpassed the state possible to his
+acknowledged liege. To his son was bequeathed the task of attempting
+to turn that ducal state into state royal, and of establishing a realm
+which should hold the balance of power between France and Germany.
+
+There was no doubt in Charles's mind as to which was the greater, the
+cleverer, the more powerful of the two, Louis the king and Charles the
+duke. Had not the former been a beggarly suppliant at his father's
+gates, as dauphin? As king, had he not been forced to yield at the
+gates of his own capital to every demand made by Charles, standing as
+the conscientious representative of the public welfare of France?
+
+Had not Louis befriended the contumelious neighbour of Charles, only
+to learn that his Burgundian cousin could and would deal summarily
+with all protests against his authority among the lesser folk on
+Netherland territory?
+
+The Croys made an attempt to gain the new duke's friendship, as
+appears from this letter to Duke Charles:
+
+    "Our very excellent lord, we have heard that it has pleased Our
+    Lord to take to Himself and to withdraw from the world the good
+    Duke Philip, our beloved lord and father, prince of glorious
+    memory, august duke, most Christian champion of the faith, patron
+    and pattern of the virtues and honours of Christianity, and the
+    dread of infidel lands. By his valorous deeds, he has won an
+    immortal name among living men, and deserves to our mind to find
+    grace before the merciful bounty of God whom we implore to pardon
+    his faults.
+
+    "Alas! our most doughty seigneur, thus dolorous death shows what
+    is to be expected by all mortals. How many lands, how many nobles,
+    how many peoples, how many treasures, and how many powers would
+    have been ready to prevent what has come to pass, and how many
+    prayers would have risen to God could He have prevented this
+    death!...
+
+    "Death is inevitable, and the death of the good is the end of all
+    evils and the beginning of all benefits, but still your loss
+    and ours cannot pass without affliction. Nevertheless, our most
+    puissant lord, when we consider that we are not left orphans, and
+    that you, his only son, remain to fill his place, this is a cause
+    for comfort.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "We implore you to be pleased to count us your loyal subjects
+    and very humble servitors and to permit us to go to you, to thus
+    declare ourselves, etc.
+
+    "A. DE CROY, "J. DE CROY."
+
+At the time of the duke's death, Olivier de La Marche was in England,
+whither he had accompanied the Bastard of Burgundy on a mission to
+King Edward.[2] Right royally had the latter received the embassy.
+
+    "Clad in purple, the garter on his leg and a great baton in his
+    hand, he seemed, indeed, a personage worthy of being king, for he
+    was a fine prince with a grand manner. A count held the sword
+    in front of him, and around his throne were from twenty to
+    twenty-five old councillors, white-haired and looking like
+    senators gathered together to advise their master."
+
+Thus appeared Edward on the occasion of a tourney given in honour
+of the embassy which La Marche proceeds to describe in detail. The
+Bastard of Burgundy, wearing the Burgundian coat-of-arms with a bar
+sinister, made a fine record for himself.
+
+After the tournament he invited the ladies to a Sunday dinner,
+
+    "especially the Queen and her sisters and made great preparations
+    therefor and then we departed, Thomas de Loreille, Bailiff of
+    Caux, and I to go to Brittany to accomplish our embassy. We
+    arrived at Pleume and were obliged to await wind and boats to
+    go into Brittany. While there, came the news that the Duke of
+    Burgundy was dead. You may believe how great was the bastard's
+    mourning when he heard of his father's death, and how the nobility
+    who were with him mourned too. Their pleasures were melted into
+    tears and lamentations for he died like a prince in all valour.
+
+    "In his life he accomplished two things to the full. One was he
+    died as the richest prince of his time, for he left four hundred
+    thousand crowns of gold cash, seventy-two thousand marks of silver
+    plate, without counting rich tapestries, rings, gold dishes
+    garnished with precious stones, a large and well equipped library,
+    and rich furniture. For the second, he died as the most liberal
+    duke of his time. He married his nieces at his own expense; he
+    bore the whole cost of great wars several times. At his own
+    expense, he refitted the church and chapel at Jerusalem. He gave
+    ten thousand crowns to build the tower of Burgundy at Rhodes; ...
+    No one went from him who was not well recompensed. The state
+    he maintained was almost royal. For five years he supported
+    Monseigneur the Dauphin, and was a prince so renowned that all the
+    world spoke well of him."
+
+The Bastard of Burgundy took leave of the English court and hastened
+to Bruges to join his brother, the Count of Charolais, who received
+him warmly. "Henceforth," explains Olivier, "when I mention the said
+count I will call him the Duke of Burgundy as is reasonable."
+
+Solemnly was the prince's body carried into the church of St. Donat
+in Bruges, there to repose until it could be taken to Burgundy to be
+buried at Dijon with his ancestors. La Marche dismisses the funeral
+with a brief phrase as he was not himself present at Bruges, being
+busied in Brittany. There was a memorial service there, the finest
+he ever saw. The arms of Burgundy were inserted in the chapel
+decorations, not merely pinned on,[2] a fact that impressed the
+chronicler. No nobles, not even those from Flanders, were permitted to
+put on mourning. The Duke of Brittany declared that none but him was
+worthy of the honour for so high a prince.
+
+    "So he alone wore mourning. At the end of the service I went to
+    thank him for the reverence he had shown the House of Burgundy,
+    and he responded that he had only done his duty. Then I finished
+    my business as quickly as I could and crossed the sea again and
+    returned to my new master."
+
+In his treatise on the eminent deeds of the Duke of Burgundy,[4]
+Chastellain recounts, more at length than La Marche, all that his
+great master had accomplished. Then he proceeds to describe the duke
+as he knew him.
+
+    He was medium in height, rather slight but straight as a rush,
+    strong in hip and in arm, his figure well-knit. His neck was
+    admirably proportioned to his body, his hand and foot were
+    slender, he had more bone than flesh, but his veins were
+    full-blooded. Like all his ancestors, his face was long, as was
+    his nose, his forehead high. His complexion was brunette, his hair
+    brownish, soft, and straight, his beard and eye-brows the same
+    colour, but the former curly, the latter were bushy and inclined
+    to stand up like horns when he was angry. His mouth was
+    well-proportioned, his lips full and high-coloured; his eyes were
+    grey, sometimes arrogant but usually amiable in expression.
+    His personality corresponded perfectly to his appearance. His
+    countenance showed his character, and his character was a witness
+    to the truth of his physiognomy. Nothing was contradictory,
+    perfect was the harmony between the inner and the outer man,
+    between the nobility of thought and the simple dignity,
+    well-poised and graceful. Among the great ones of this earth, he
+    was like a star in heaven. Every line proclaimed "I am a prince
+    and a man unique."
+
+    It was for his bearing rather than his beauty that he commanded
+    universal admiration. In a stable he would have looked like an
+    image in a temple. In a hall he was the decoration. Whereever his
+    body was, there, too, was his spirit, ready for the demands of the
+    hour. He was singularly joyous and nicely tempered in speech with
+    so much personal magnetism that he could mollify any enemy if he
+    could only meet him face to face. His dress was always rich and
+    appropriate. He was skilful in horsemanship, in archery, and in
+    tennis, but his chief amusement was the chase. He liked to linger
+    at the table and demanded good serving but was really moderate in
+    his tastes, as often he neglected pheasant for a bit of Mayence
+    ham or salted beef. Oaths and abuse were never heard from him. To
+    all alike his speech was courteous even when there was nothing to
+    be gained.
+
+    "Never, I assert, did falsehood pass his lips, his mouth was equal
+    to his seal and his spoken word to his written. Loyal as fine gold
+    and whole as an egg." Chastellain repeats himself somewhat in
+    the profusion of his eulogy, but such are the main points of his
+    characterisation. Then he proceeds to some qualifications:
+
+    "In order to avoid the charge of flattery, I acknowledge that he
+    had faults. None is perfect except God. Often he was very careless
+    in administration, and he neglected questions of justice, of
+    finance, and of commerce in a way that may redound to the injury
+    of his house. The excuse urged is that it was his deputies who
+    were at fault. The answer to that is that he trusted too much to
+    deputies and should not be excused for his confidence. A ruler
+    ought to understand his business himself.
+
+    "Also he had the vices of the flesh. He pleased his heart at the
+    desire of his eyes. At the desire of his heart he multiplied his
+    pleasures. His wishes were easy to attain. What he wanted was
+    offered freely. He neglected the virtuous and holy lady his wife,
+    a Christian saint, chaste and charitable. For this I offer no
+    excuse. To God I leave the cause.
+
+    "Another fault was that he was not wise in his treatment of his
+    nobles. Especially in his old age he often preferred the less
+    worthy, the less capable advisers. The answer to this charge is
+    that, as his health failed, whoever was by his side obtained
+    ascendency over him and succeeded in keeping the others at a
+    distance. Ergo, theirs is the malice and the excuse is to the
+    princely invalid. In his solitude even valets used their power, as
+    is not wonderful.
+
+    "He went late to mass and often out of hours. Sometimes he had
+    it celebrated at two o'clock or even three, and in so doing he
+    exceeded all Christian observance. For this there is no excuse
+    that I dare allege. I leave it to the judgment of God. He had,
+    indeed, obtained dispensation from the pope for causes which he
+    explained, _and he only_ is responsible. God alone can judge about
+    him.
+
+    "It would be a dreadful shame if his soul suffered for this
+    neglect in lifetime. Earth would not suffice to deplore, nor the
+    nature of man to lament the perdition of such a soul and of such a
+    prince. Hell is not worthy of him nor good enough to lodge him. 0
+    God, who rescued Trajan from Hades for a single virtuous act, do
+    not suffer this man to descend therein!"
+
+Having thus tried his best to give a vivid description of the father's
+personality, while acknowledging that he is not sure of the fate of
+his soul, the chronicler decides that it would be an excellent moment
+to paint the son, too, for all time, in view of his mortality. "I will
+use the past tense so that my words may be good for always."
+
+Duke Charles was shorter and stouter than Duke Philip, but well
+formed, strong in arm and thigh. His shoulders were rather thick-set
+and a trifle stooping, but his body was well adapted to activity.
+The contour of his face was rounder than that of his father, his
+complexion brunette. His eyes were black and laughing, angelically
+clear. When he was sunk in thought it seemed as though his father
+looked out of them. Like his father's mouth was his, full and red. His
+nose was pronounced, his beard brown, and his hair black. His forehead
+was fine, his neck white and well set, though always bent as he
+walked. He certainly was not as straight as Philip, but nevertheless
+he was a fine prince with a fair outer man.
+
+When he began to speak he often found difficulty in expressing
+himself, but once started his speech became fluent, even eloquent.
+His voice was fine and clear, but he could not sing, although he had
+studied the technique and was fond of music. In conversation he was
+more logical than his father, but very tenacious of his own opinion
+and vehement in its expression, although, at the bottom, he was just
+to all men.
+
+In council he was keen, subtle, and ready. He listened to others'
+arguments judicially and gave them due weight before his own concluded
+the discussion. He was attentive to his own business to a fault, for
+he was rather more industrious than became a prince. Economical of his
+own time, he demanded conscience of his subordinates and worked them
+very hard. He was fond of his servants and fairly affable, though
+occasionally sharp in his words. His memory was long and his anger
+dangerous. As a rule, good sense swayed him, but being naturally
+impetuous there was often a struggle between impulse and reason.
+
+He was a God-fearing prince, was devoted to the Virgin Mary, rigid in
+his fasts, lavish in charity. He was determined to avoid death and
+to hold on to his own, tooth and nail, and was his father's peer in
+valour. Like his father, he dressed richly; unlike him, he cared more
+for silver than for jewels. He lived more chastely than is usual to
+princes and was always master of himself. He drank little wine, though
+he liked it, because he found that it engendered fever in him. His
+only beverage was water just coloured with wine. He was inclined to no
+indulgence or wantonness. "At the hour in which I write his taste for
+hard labour is excessive, but in other respects his good sense has
+dominated him, at least thus far. It is to be hoped that as his reign
+grows older he will curb his over-strenuous industry."
+
+As to the duke's sympathies, Chastellain regrets that circumstances
+have turned him towards England. Naturally he belonged to the French,
+and it was a pity that the machinations of the king, "whose crooked
+ways are well known to God, have forced him into self-defence. Yet on
+his forehead he wears the fleur-de-lys."
+
+Chastellain acknowledges that Charles is accused of avarice, but
+defends him on the ground that he has been driven into collecting
+a large army. "A penny in the chest is worth three in the purse of
+another." "To take precautions in advance is a way to save honour and
+property," prudently adds the historian, who evidently flourishes
+his maxims to strengthen his own appreciation of the duke's economy,
+which, quite as evidently, is not pleasing to him. "I have seen him
+the very opposite of miserly, open-handed and liberal, rejoicing in
+largesse. When he came into his seigniory his nature did not change."
+It was simply the exigencies of his critical position that forced him
+to restrain his natural propensities and thus to gain the undeserved
+reputation for parsimony.
+
+It was also said that he was a very hard taskmaster, but as a matter
+of fact he demanded nothing of his soldiers that he was not ready to
+undertake himself. Like a true duke, he was his own commander, drew up
+his own troops himself in battle array, and then passed from one end
+of the line to the other, encouraging the men individually with cheery
+words, promising them glory and profit, and pledging himself to share
+their dangers. In victory he was restrained and showed more mercy than
+cruelty.
+
+After expatiating on the points where Charles was like his
+father--conventional princely qualities --Chastellain adds: "In some
+respects they differed. The one was cold and the other boiling with
+ardour; the one slow and prone to delay, the other strenuous in his
+promptness; the elder negligent of his own concerns, the younger
+diligent and alert. They differed in the amount of time consumed at
+meals and in the number of guests whom they entertained. They differed
+more or less in their voluptuousness and in their expenditures and in
+the way in which they took solace and amusement." But in all other
+respects, "in life they marched side by side as equals and if it
+please God He will be their conductor in glory everlasting" is the
+final assurance of their eulogist.
+
+Yet, lavish as the Burgundian poet is in his adjectives about his
+patron, there is considerable discrimination between his summaries of
+the two dukes. It is very evident that from his accession Charles
+was less of a favourite than his father. While endeavouring to be
+as complimentary as possible, distrust of his capacities creeps out
+between the lines. Chastellain died in 1475, and thus never saw
+Charles's final disaster. But the violence of his character had
+inspired lack of confidence in his power of achievement, a violence
+that made people dislike him as Philip with all his faults was never
+disliked.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Du Clercq, iv., 302 _et seq_. Erasmus was born in this
+year, 1467.]
+
+[Footnote 2: II., 49.]
+
+[Footnote 3: "Non par armes attachees a espingles."]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Oeuvres_, vii., 213.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+THE UNJOYOUS ENTRY
+
+1467
+
+
+After the dauphin was crowned at Rheims, he was monarch over all his
+domains. Charles of Burgundy, on the other hand, had a series of
+ceremonies to perform before he was properly invested with the various
+titles worn by his father. Each duchy, countship, seigniory had to be
+taken in turn. Ghent was the first capital visited. Then he had
+to exchange pledges of fidelity with his Flemish subjects before
+receiving recognition as Count of Flanders.
+
+According to the custom of his predecessors, Charles stayed at the
+little village of Swynaerde, near Ghent, the night before he made his
+"joyous entry" into that city. It had chanced that the day selected by
+Charles for the event was St. Lievin's Day and a favourite holiday of
+the workers of Ghent. The saint's bones, enclosed conveniently in a
+portable shrine, rested in the cathedral church, whence they were
+carried once a year by the fifty-two gilds in solemn procession to
+the little village of Houthem, where the blessed saint had suffered
+martyrdom in the seventh century. All day and all night the saint's
+devotees, the Fools of St. Lievin, as they were called, remained at
+this spot. Merry did the festival become as the hours wore on, for
+good cheer was carried thither as well as the sacred shrine.
+
+Now the magistrates were a little apprehensive about the rival claims
+of the new count of Flanders and the old saint of Ghent. They knew
+that they could not cut short the time-honoured celebration for the
+sake of the sovereign's inauguration, so they decided to prolong the
+former, and directed that the saint should leave town on Saturday and
+not return until Monday. This left Sunday free for the young count's
+entry. It probably seemed a very convenient conjunction of events to
+the city fathers, because the more turbulent portion of the citizens
+was sure to follow the saint.
+
+Accordingly, Charles made a very quiet and dignified entrance,[1]
+having paused at the gates to listen to the fair words of Master
+Mathys de Groothuse as he extolled the virtues of the late Count of
+Flanders, and requested God to receive the present one, when he, too,
+was forced to leave earth, as graciously as Ghent was receiving him
+that day. All passed well; oaths of fealty were duly taken and given
+at the church of St. John the Baptist. Charles himself pulled the
+bell rope according to the ancient Flemish custom, and the Count of
+Flanders was in possession. This all took place in the morning of June
+28th. At the close of the ceremonies Charles withdrew to his hotel and
+the magistrates to their dwellings.
+
+The devotees of St. Lievin prolonged their holiday until Monday
+afternoon. It was five o'clock[2] when the revellers returned to
+Ghent. Many of the saint's followers were, by that time, more or less
+under the influence of the contents of the casks which had formed part
+of the outward-bound burden. The protracted holiday-making had its
+natural sequence. There was, however, too much method in the next
+proceedings for it to be attributed wholly to emotional inebriety.
+
+The procession passed through the city gate and entered a narrow
+street near the corn market, where stood a little house used as
+headquarters for the collection of the _cueillotte_, a tax on every
+article brought into the city for sale, and one particularly obnoxious
+to the people. Suddenly a cry was raised and echoed from rank to rank
+of St. Lievin's escort, "Down with the _cueillotte_."
+
+Then with the ingenious humour of a Celtic crowd, quick to take a
+fantastic advantage of a situation, a second cry was heard: "St.
+Lievin must go through the house. Lievin is a saint who never turns
+aside from his route."
+
+Delightful thought, followed by speedy action. Axes were produced and
+wielded to good effect.
+
+Down came the miniature customs-house in a flash. Little pieces of
+the ruin were elevated on sticks and carried by some of the rabble as
+standards with the cry "I have it--I have it." As they marched
+the procession was constantly augmented and the cries become more
+decidedly revolutionary: "Kill, kill these craven spoilers of God and
+of the world.[2] Where are they? Let us seek them out and slay them in
+their houses, those who have flourished at our pitiable expense."
+
+This was rank rebellion. Even under cover of St. Lievin's mantle,
+resistance to regularly instituted customs could hardly be described
+by any other name. Excited by their own temerity, the crowd now surged
+on to the great market-place in front of the Hotel de Ville, where the
+Friday market is held, instead of returning the saint promptly to his
+safe abiding-place as was meet.
+
+There the lawless deeds--lawless to the duke's mind certainly--became
+more audacious. Counterparts of the very banners whose prohibition
+had been part of the sentence in 1453 were unfurled,[4] and their
+possession alone proved insurrectionary premeditation on the part of
+the gild leaders. Ghent was in open revolt, and the young duke in
+their midst felt it was an open insult to him as sovereign count.
+
+His messenger failed to return from the market-place. His master
+became impatient and followed him to the scene of action with a small
+escort. As they drew near, the crowd thickened and hedged them in. The
+nobles became alarmed and urged the duke to return, but cries from
+the crowd promised safety to his person. To the steps of the Hotel de
+Ville rode the duke, his face dark, menacing with suppressed wrath.[5]
+
+As he dismounted, he turned towards a man whom he thought he saw
+egging on a disturbance and struck him with his riding whip, saying,
+"I know you." The man was quick enough to realise the value of the
+duke's violence at that moment and cried, "Strike again," but the
+Seigneur Groothuse, who had already tried to check Charles's anger and
+to curb the popular turbulence, exclaimed, "For the love of God do
+not strike again!" The wiser burgher at once understood the unstable
+temper of the mob, which had been fairly civil to the duke up to this
+moment. There were ugly murmurs to be heard that the blow would cost
+him dear.
+
+    "Indeed," says the courtly Chastellain, "the mischief was so
+    imminent that God alone averted it, and there was not an archer
+    or noble or man so full of assurance that he did not tremble with
+    fear, nor one who would not have preferred to be in India for his
+    own safety. Especially were they in terror for their young prince,
+    who, they thought, was exposed to a dolorous death."
+
+It was Groothuse alone who averted disaster:
+
+    "Do you not see that your life and ours hang on a silken thread?
+    Do you think you can coerce a rabble like this by threats and hard
+    words--a rabble who at this moment do not value you more than the
+    least of us? They are beside themselves, they have neither reason
+    nor understanding.[6]... If you are ready to die, I am not, except
+    in spite of myself. You must try quite a different method--appease
+    them by sweetness and save your house and your life.
+
+    "What could you do alone? How the gods would laugh! Your courage
+    is out of place here unless it enables you to calm yourself and
+    give an example to those poor sheep, wretched misled people whom
+    you must soothe. Go down in God's name. [They were within the town
+    hall.] Show yourself and you will make an impression by your good
+    sense and all will go well."
+
+To this eminently sound advice the young duke yielded. He appeared on
+a balcony or on the upper steps of the town hall and stood ready to
+harangue his unruly and turbulent subjects. A moment sufficed to still
+the turmoil and the silence showed a readiness to hear him speak.
+
+Charles was not perfectly at ease in Flemish, but he was wise enough
+to use that tongue. One trait of the Ghenters was respect for the
+person of their overlord. When that overlord showed any disposition to
+meet them half-way the response was usually immediate. So it was now.
+The crowd which had been attending to St. Lievin, and not to the
+duke's joyous entry, suddenly remembered that his welcome had been
+strangely ignored. Their grumblings changed to greetings. "Take heart,
+Monseigneur. Have no fear. For you we will live and die and none shall
+be so audacious as to harm you. If there be evil fellows with no bump
+of reverence, endure it for the moment. Later you shall be avenged. No
+time now for fear."
+
+This sounded better. Charles was sufficiently appeased to address the
+crowd as "My children," and to assure them that if they would but meet
+him in peaceful conference, their grievances should be redressed.
+"Welcome, welcome! we are indeed your children and recognise your
+goodness."
+
+Then Groothuse followed with a longer speech than was possible either
+to Charles's Flemish or to his mood. This address was equally
+well received, and matters were in train for the appointment of a
+conference between popular representatives and the new Count of
+Flanders, when suddenly a tall, rude fellow climbed up to the balcony
+from the square. Using an iron gauntlet as a gavel to strike on
+the wall, he commanded attention and turned gravely to address the
+audience as though he were on the accredited list of speakers:
+
+"My brothers, down there assembled to set your complaints before your
+prince, your first wish--is it not?--is to punish the ill governors of
+this town and those who have defrauded you and him alike."
+
+"Yes, yes," was the quick answer of the fickle crowd.--"You desire the
+suppression of the _cueillotte_, do you not?"--"Yes, yes."--"You
+want all your gates opened again, your banners restored, and your
+privileges reinforced as of yore?"--"Yes, yes." The self-appointed
+envoy turned calmly to Charles and said:
+
+"Monseigneur, this is what the citizens have come together to ask you.
+This is your task. I have said it in their behalf, and, as you hear,
+they make my words their own."
+
+Noteworthy is Chastellain's pious and horrified ejaculation over the
+extraordinary insolence of this big villain, who thus audaciously
+associated himself with his betters: "O glorious Majesty of God,
+think of such an outrageous and intolerable piece of villainy being
+committed before the eyes of a prince! For a low man to venture to
+come and stand side by side with such a gentleman as our seigneur, and
+to proffer words inimical to his authority--words the poorest noble in
+the world would hardly have endured! And yet it was necessary for this
+noble prince to endure and to tolerate it for the moment, and needful
+that he should let pass as a pleasantry what was enough to kill him
+with grief."
+
+Groothuse's answer to the man was mild. Evidently he did not think it
+was a safe moment to exasperate the mob: "'My friend, there was no
+necessity of your intruding up here, a place reserved for the prince
+and his nobles. From below, you could have been heard and Monseigneur
+could have answered you as well there as here. He requires no advocate
+to make him content his people. You are a strange master. Get down. Go
+down below and keep to your mates. Monseigneur will do right by every
+one.'
+
+"Off went the rascal and I do not know what became of him. The duke
+and his nobles were simply struck dumb by the scamp's outrage and his
+impudent daring."
+
+The sober report[7] is less detailed and elaborate, but the thread is
+the same. Monseigneur, having returned to his hotel, sent Monseigneur
+de la Groothuse, Jean Petitpas, and Richard Utenhove back to the
+market to invite the people to put their grievances in writing. A
+draft was made and carried to the duke. After he had examined it and
+discussed it with his council, he sent Monseigneur de la Groothuse
+back to the market-place to tell the people that he wanted to sleep
+on the proposition and would give his answer at an early hour on the
+morrow. All through the night the people remained in arms on the
+market-place. At about eight o'clock on June 30th Groothuse returned,
+thanked the people in the count's name for having kept such good
+watch, and was answered by cries of "_A bas la cueillotte_."
+
+Then he assured them that all was pardoned and that they should obtain
+what they had asked in the draft. Only he requested them to appoint a
+committee of six to present their demands to Monseigneur and then to
+go home. This they did. St. Lievin was restored to the church and his
+followers betook themselves to the gates specified in the treaty of
+Gaveren. These they broke down, and also destroyed another house where
+was a tax collector's office.
+
+"The report of these events carried to Monseigneur did not have a good
+effect upon his spirit. On the morrow Monseigneur quitted the city."
+The members of the corporation with the two deans and the popular
+committee of six having obtained audience before his departure,
+Groothuse acted as spokesman: "We implore you in all humility to
+pardon us for the insult you have suffered, and to sign the paper
+presented. The bad have had more authority than the good, which could
+not be prevented, but we know truly that if the draft is not signed
+they will kill us."
+
+It is evident in all this story that the municipal authorities were
+frightened to death and that Charles allowed himself to be restrained
+to an extraordinary extent considering the undoubted provocation. His
+reasons for conciliatory measures were two, and literally were his
+ducats and his daughter. He had with him all the portable treasure and
+ready money that his father had had at Bruges, a large treasure
+and one on which he counted for his immediate military
+operations--operations very important to the position as a European
+power which he ardently desired to attain.
+
+Still more important was the fact that his young daughter, Mary, now
+eleven years old, was living in Ghent, to a certain degree the ward of
+the city. If the unruly majority should realise their strength what
+easier for them than to seize the treasure and hold the daughter as
+hostage, until her father had acceded to every demand, and until
+democracy was triumphant not only in Ghent but in the neighbouring
+cities?
+
+Charles simply did not dare attempt further coercion of the democratic
+spirit until he was beyond the walls. It is evident that he was
+completely taken by surprise at Ghent's attitude towards him, as the
+city had always professed great personal attachment to him. But there
+was a difference between being heir and sovereign. The agreement was
+signed, with a mental reservation on the part of the Duke of Burgundy.
+He only intended to keep his pledge until he could see his way clear
+to make terms better to his liking.
+
+On Tuesday, June 30th, Charles left Ghent, taking his daughter and his
+treasure away, but a safe shelter for both was not easy to find.
+The duke's anticipations of the effect of Ghent's actions upon her
+neighbours were quickly proved to be no idle fears. There were revolts
+of more or less importance at Mechlin, at Antwerp, at Brussels, and
+other places. Moreover, there was serious discussion in the estates
+assembled at Louvain as to whether Charles should be acknowledged as
+Duke of Brabant, or whether the claims of his cousin, the Count of
+Nevers, should be considered as heir to Philip's predecessor, for the
+late duke's title had never been considered perfect.
+
+Louis XI. seized the opportunity to urge the pretensions of the
+latter, and there were many reasons to recommend him, in the
+estimation of the Brabanters, who saw advantage in having a sovereign
+exclusively their own, instead of one with the widespread geographical
+interests of the Burgundian family. The final decision was, however,
+for Charles; a notice of the resolution of the deputies was sent to
+him at Mechlin, and he made his formal "entry" into Louvain, where he
+received homage from the nobles, the good cities, and the university.
+
+The various insurgent manifestations were promptly quelled one after
+another, but, with a nature that neither forgot nor forgave, the duke
+was strongly impressed by them as personal insults. He blamed Ghent
+for their occurrence and deeply resented every one. Throughout
+Philip's whole career he remembered the localised tenure of his titles
+and the fact that they were not perfectly incontestable. For his own
+advantage he often found a conciliatory attitude the best policy.
+Charles considered all his rights heaven-born. Questioning his
+authority was rank rebellion. That he had accepted advice in regard
+to Ghent, and had been ruled by expediency for the nonce, did not
+mitigate his intense bitterness.
+
+In another town that gave him serious trouble at this time, nothing
+led him to curb the severity of his measures. Though only a
+"protector," not an overlord, when he suppressed a rebellion in Liege
+he rigorously exacted the most complete and humiliating penalties. The
+city charters were abrogated, all privileges were forfeited. As
+an unprotected village must Liege stand henceforth, walls and
+fortifications rased to the ground.
+
+    "The perron on the market-place of the said town shall be taken
+    down, and then Monseigneur the duke shall treat it according to
+    his pleasure. The city may not remake the said perron, nor replace
+    another like it in the market-place or elsewhere in the city. Nor
+    shall the said perron appear in the coat-of-arms of Liege."[8]
+
+This was a terrible indignity for the city and a clear proof of their
+fear of their bishop's friend.
+
+The episode impressed the citizens of Ghent with the duke's power, and
+made the more timorous anxious to erase the event of 1467 from his
+mind. The peace party finally prevailed in their arguments, but the
+scene of abnegation and self-humiliation crowning their apology was
+not enacted until eighteen months after the events apologised for,
+when the new duke had still further proven his metal.
+
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 210, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Some authorities make this five A.M., but the _Rapport_
+is probably correct.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Chastellain, v., 260 _et passim_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: So say some historians. But it seems probable that the
+drapery of St. Lievin's shrine was hastily used as a flag.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Chastellain, v., ch. 7, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 6: These are Chastellain's words to be sure, but the sober
+_Rapport_ is similar in purport.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 212. ]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gachard. _Doc. ined_., ii., 462, "_Instrument notarie_."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE DUKE'S MARRIAGE
+
+1468
+
+
+For many months before Philip's death there had been negotiations
+concerning Charles's marriage with Margaret of York. Always feeling a
+closer bond with his mother than with his father, Charles's sympathy
+had ever been towards the Lancastrian party in England, the family to
+whom Isabella of Portugal was closely related. Only the necessity for
+making a strong alliance against Louis XI. turned him to seek a bride
+from the House of York. It was on this business that La Marche and
+the great Bastard were engaged when Philip's death interrupted the
+discussion, which Charles did not immediately resume on his own
+behalf.
+
+Pending the final decision in regard to this important indication of
+his international policy, the duke busied himself with the adjustment
+of his court, there being many points in which he did not intend to
+follow his father's usage.[1] Philip's lavishness, without too close
+a query as to the disposition of every penny, was naturally very
+agreeable to his courtiers. There was a liberal air about his
+households. It was easy to come and go, and it was pleasant to have
+the handling of money and the giving of orders--orders which were
+fulfilled and richly paid without haggling. Charles had other notions.
+He was willing to pay, but he wanted to be sure of an adequate
+return. How he started in on his administration with reform ideas is
+delightfully told by Chastellain.[2]
+
+One of his first measures when he was finally established at Brussels
+was to secure more speedy execution of justice. He appointed a new
+provost, "a dangerous varlet of low estate, but excellently fitted to
+carry out perilous work." Then he determined to settle petty civil
+suits himself, as there were many which had dragged on for a long
+time. In order to do this and to receive complaints from poor people,
+he arranged to give audience three times a week, Monday, Wednesday,
+and Friday, after dinner. On these occasions he required the
+attendance of all his nobles, seated before him on benches, each
+according to his rank. Excuses were not pleasantly accepted, so that
+few places were empty. Charles himself was elevated on a high throne
+covered with cloth of gold, whence he pompously pronounced judgments
+and heard and answered petitions, a process that sometimes lasted two
+or three hours and was exceedingly tiresome to the onlookers.
+
+    "In outer appearance it seemed a magnificent course of action and
+    very praiseworthy. But in my time I have never heard of nor seen
+    like action taken by prince or king, nor any proceedings in the
+    least similar.
+
+    "When the duke went through the city from place to place and from
+    church to church, it was wonderful how much state and order was
+    maintained and what a grand escort he had. Never a knight so old
+    or so young who dared absent himself and never a squire was bold
+    enough to squeeze himself into the knights' places."
+
+At the levee, the same rigid ceremony was observed. Every one had
+to wait his turn in his proper room--the squires in the first, the
+knights in the second, and so on. All left the palace together to go
+to mass. As soon as the offering was made all the nobles were free
+to dine, but they were obliged to report themselves to the duke
+immediately after his repast. Any failure caused the forfeiture of the
+fee for the day. It was all very orderly and very dull.
+
+Thus Charles of Burgundy felt that he was law-giver, paternal guide,
+philosopher, and friend to his people. From time to time he delivered
+harangues to his court, veritable sermons. He obtained hearing, but
+certainly did not win popularity. The adulatory phrases used as mere
+conventionalities seemed to have actually turned his head. And those
+stock phrases were very grandiloquent. There is no doubt that such
+comparisons were used as Chastellain puts into the mouths of the first
+deputation from Ghent to ask pardon for the sins committed at the
+dolorous unjoyous entry into the Flemish capital.[2]
+
+    "My very excellent seigneur, when you who hold double place, place
+    of God and place of man, and have in yourself the double nature
+    by office and commission in divine estate, and as your noble
+    discretion knows and is cognisant, like God the Father, Creator,
+    of all offences committed against you, and who may be appeased
+    by tears and by weeping as He permits Himself to be softened by
+    contrition, entreaties, etc., and resumes His natural benignity by
+    forgetting things past [etc.].... Alas, what kindness did He use
+    toward Adam, His first offender, upon whom through his son Seth He
+    poured the oil of pity in five thousand future years, and then to
+    Cain the first born of mother He postponed vengeance for his crime
+    for ten generations etc. What did he do in Abraham's time, when He
+    sent word to Lot that if there were ten righteous men in Sodom and
+    Gomorrah He would remit the judgment on the two cities? In Ghent,"
+    etc.[4]
+
+In the chancellor's answer to this plea, the duke's consent to grant
+forgiveness to Ghent is again compared to God's own mercy. The divine
+attributes were referred to again and again, not only on the pages
+of contemporaneous chroniclers who may be accused of desiring ducal
+patronage, but also in sober state papers.
+
+There was one antidote to this homage universally offered to Charles
+wherever there was no rebellion against him. One of the rules of the
+Order of the Golden Fleece was that all alike should be subject to
+criticism by their fellows. In May, 1468, at Bruges, Charles held an
+assembly of the Order, the first over which he had presided. It was a
+fitting opportunity for the knights to express their sentiments. When
+it came to his turn to be reviewed, Charles listened quietly to the
+representations that his conduct fell short of the ideals of chivalry
+because he was too economical, too industrious, too strenuous, and not
+sufficiently cognisant of the merits of his faithful subjects of high
+degrees.[5]
+
+In these plaints, respectful as they are, there is perhaps a note of
+regret for the lavish and amusing good cheer of the late duke's times.
+Charles was undoubtedly husbanding his resources at this period. The
+vision of wide dominions was already in his dreams, and he was prudent
+enough to begin his preparations. And prudence is not a popular
+quality. Still his courtiers were not quite bereft of the gorgeous and
+spectacular entertainments to which the "good duke" had accustomed
+them. Soon after the assembly of the Order, the alliance between Duke
+Charles and Margaret of York was celebrated at Bruges. Our Burgundian
+Chastellain is not pleased with this marriage. That Charles inclined
+towards England at all was due to the French king, whom both he and
+his father had found untrustworthy. Again, had there been any other
+eligible _partie_ in England Charles would never have allied himself
+with King Edward when all his sympathies were with the blood of
+Lancaster. But when King Louis forsook his cousin Margaret of Anjou,
+whose woes should have commanded pity, simply for the purpose of
+undermining the Duke of Burgundy, the latter felt it wise to make
+Edward his friend.
+
+    "That it was sore against his inclination he confessed to one who
+    later revealed it to me, but he decided that it was better to
+    injure another rather than be down-trodden and injured himself.[6]
+
+    "For a long time there had been little love lost between him and
+    the king. The monarch feared the pride and haughtiness of his
+    subject, and the subject feared the strength and profound subtilty
+    of the king who wanted, he thought, to get him under the whip. And
+    all this, alas, was the result of that cursed War of Public Weal
+    cooked up by the French against their own king. When Charles was
+    deeply involved in it he was deserted by the others and the whole
+    weight of the burden fell on his shoulders, so that he alone was
+    blamed by the king, and he alone was forced to look to his own
+    safety and comfort. It is a pity when such things occur in a realm
+    and among kinsfolk."
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY, PRESIDING OVER A CHAPTER OF
+THE GOLDEN FLEECE
+
+FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE REPRODUCED IN LENGLET DU FRESNOY
+EDITION OF COMINES]
+
+
+Louis was busied with his own affairs in Touraine when news came to
+him that the marriage was to take place immediately. "If he mourned,
+it is not marvellous when I myself mourn it for the future result. But
+the king used all kinds of machinations to break off the alliance....
+God suffered two young proud princes to try their strength each at
+his will, often in ways that would have been incompatible in common
+affairs."
+
+The fullest account of the wedding is given by La Marche, an
+eyewitness of the event[7]:
+
+    "Gilles du Mas, maitre d'hotel du Duc de Bretagne--to you I
+    recommend myself. I have collected here roughly according to my
+    stupid understanding what I saw of the said festival, to send it
+    to you, beseeching you as earnestly as I can to advise me of the
+    noble states and high deeds in your quarter ... as becomes two
+    friends of one rank and calling in two fraternal, allied and
+    friendly houses.
+
+    "My lady and her company arrived at l'Ecluse on a Saturday, June
+    25th, and on the morrow Madame the Duchess of Burgundy, mother
+    of the duke, Mlle. of Burgundy and various other ladies and
+    demoiselles visited Madame Margaret[8] and only
+
+stayed till dinner. The duchess was greatly pleased with her
+prospective daughter-in-law and could not say enough of her character
+and her virtues. There remained with Dame Margaret, on the part of
+the duchess, the Charnys, Messire Jehan de Rubempre and various other
+ladies and gentlemen to act the hosts to the strange ladies and
+gentlemen who had crossed from England with the bride. The Count and
+Countess de Charny met Madame as she disembarked and never budged from
+her side until she had arrived at Bruges.
+
+"The day after the duchess's visit, Monseigneur of Burgundy made his
+way to l'Ecluse with a small escort and entered the chateau at the
+rear. After supper, accompanied only by six or seven knights of the
+Order, he went very secretly to the hotel of Dame Margaret, who had
+been warned of his intention, and was attended by the most important
+members of her suite, such as the Seigneur d'Escalles, the king's
+brother.
+
+    "At his arrival when they saw each other the greetings were very
+    ceremonious and then the two sat down on one bench and chatted
+    comfortably together for some time. After some conversation, the
+    Bishop of Salisbury, according to a prearranged plan of his own,
+    kneeled before the two and made complimentary speeches. He was
+    followed by M. de Charny, who spoke as follows:
+
+    "'Monseigneur, you have found what you desired and since God has
+    brought this noble lady to port in safety and to your desire, it
+    seems to me that you should not depart without proving the
+    affection  you bear her, and that you ought to be betrothed now
+    at this moment and give her your troth.'
+
+    "Monseigneur answered that it did not depend upon him. Then the
+    bishop spoke to Margaret and asked her what she thought. She
+    answered that it was just for this and nothing else that the king
+    of England had sent her over and she was quite ready to fulfil
+    the king's command. Whereupon the bishop took their hands and
+    betrothed them. Then Monseigneur departed and returned on the
+    morrow to Bruges.
+
+    "Dame Margaret remained at l'Ecluse until the following Saturday
+    and was again visited by Monseigneur. On Saturday the boats were
+    richly decorated to conduct my lady to Damme, where she was
+    received very honourably according to the capacity of that little
+    town. On the morrow, the 3rd of July, Monseigneur the duke set out
+    with a small escort between four and five o'clock in the morning,
+    and went to Damme, where he found Madame quite ready to receive
+    him as all had been prearranged, and Monseigneur wedded her as was
+    suitable, and the nuptial benediction was duly pronounced by the
+    Bishop of Salisbury. After the mass, Charles returned to his hotel
+    at Bruges, and you may believe that during the progress of the
+    other ceremonies he slept as if he were to be on watch on the
+    following night.
+
+    "Immediately after, Adolph of Cleves, John of Luxemburg, John of
+    Nassau, and others returned to Damme and paid their homage to the
+    new duchess, and then my lady entered a horse litter, beautifully
+    draped with cloth of gold. She was clad in white cloth of gold made
+    like a wedding garment as was proper. On her hair rested a crown
+    and her other jewels were appropriate and sumptuous. Her English
+    ladies followed her on thirteen hackneys, two close by her litter
+    and the others behind. Five chariots followed the thirteen
+    hackneys, the Duchess of Norfolk, the most beautiful woman in
+    England, being in the first. In this array Madame proceeded to
+    Bruges and entered at the gate called Ste. Croix."
+
+There were too many names to be enumerated, but La Marche cannot
+forbear mentioning a noble Zealander, Adrian of Borselen, Seigneur of
+Breda, who had six horses covered with cloth of gold, jewelry, and
+silk.
+
+    "I mention him for two reasons [he explains[9]]: first, that he
+    was the most brilliant in the procession, and the second is that
+    by the will of God he died on the Wednesday from a trouble in his
+    leg, which was a pity and much regretted by the nobility.
+
+    "The procession from Ste. Croix to the palace was magnificent,
+    with all the dignitaries in their order. So costly were the
+    dresses of the ducal household that Charles expended more than
+    forty thousand francs for cloth of silk and of wool alone.
+
+    "Prominent in this stately procession were the nations or foreign
+    merchants in this order: Venetians, Florentines--at the head of
+    the latter marched Thomas Portinari, banker and councillor of
+    the duke at the same time that he was chief of their nation and
+    therefore dressed in their garb; Spaniards; Genoese--these latter
+    showed a mystery, a beautiful girl on horseback guarded by
+    St. George from the dragon.--Then came the Osterlings, 108 on
+    horseback, followed by six pages, all clad in violet.
+
+    "Gay, too, was Bruges and the streets were all decorated with
+    cloth  of gold and silk and tapestries. As to the theatrical
+    representations I can remember at least ten. There were Adam and
+    Eve, Cleopatra married to King Alexander, and various others.
+
+    "The reception at the palace was very formal. The dowager duchess
+    herself received her daughter-in-law from the litter and escorted
+    her by the hand to her chamber, and for the present we will leave
+    the ladies and the knighthood and turn to the arrangement of the
+    hotel.
+
+    "In regard to the service, Mme. the new duchess was served
+    _d'eschancon et d'escuyer tranchant et de pannetier_. All English,
+    all knights and gentlemen of great houses, and the chief steward
+    cried 'Knights to table,' and then they went to the buffet to get
+    the food, and around the buffet marched all the relations of
+    Monseigneur, all the knights of the Order and of great houses. And
+    for that day Mme. the duchess the mother declined to be served _a
+    couvert_ but left the honour to her daughter-in-law as was right.
+
+    "After dinner the ladies retired to their rooms for a little rest
+    and there were some changes of dress. Then they all mounted their
+    chariots and hackneys and issued forth on the streets in great
+    triumph and wonderful were the jousts of the Tree of Gold. Several
+    days of festivity followed when the usual pantomimes and shows were
+    in evidence.
+
+    "Tuesday, the tenth and last day of the fete, the grand _salle_ was
+    arranged in the same state as on the wedding day itself, except the
+    grand buffet which stood in the middle of the hall. This banquet,
+    too, was a grand affair and concluded the festivities.
+
+    On the morrow, Wednesday, July 15th, Monseigneur departed for
+    Holland on a pressing piece of business, and he took leave of the
+    Duchess of Norfolk and the other lords and ladies of quality and
+    gave them gifts each according to his rank. Thus ends the story
+    of this noble festival, and for the present I know nothing worth
+    writing you except that I am yours."
+
+To this may be added the letter of one of the Paston family who was in
+Margaret's train.[10]
+
+    "John Paston the younger to Margaret Paston:
+
+    "To my ryght reverend and worchepfull Modyr Margaret Paston
+    dwelling at Caster, be thys delyveryed in hast.
+
+    "Ryth reverend & worchepfull Modyr, I recommend me on to you as
+    humbylly as I can thynk, desyryng most hertly to her of your
+    welfare & hertsese whyche I pray God send you as hastyly as my
+    hert can thynk. Ples yt you to wete that at the makyng of thys
+    byll my brodyr & I & all our felawshep wer in good helle, blyssyd
+    be God.
+
+    "As for the gydyn her in thys countre it is as worchepfull as all
+    the world can devyse it, & ther wer never Englyshe men had so good
+    cher owt of Inglong that ever I herd of.
+
+    "As for tydyngs her but if it be of the fest I can non send yow;
+    savyng my Lady Margaret was maryed on Sonday last past at a town
+    that is called Dame IIj myle owt of Brugge at v of the clok in the
+    morning; & sche was browt the same day to Bruggys to hyr dener;
+    & ther sche was receyvyd as worchepfully as all the world cowd
+    devyse as with presession with ladys and lordys best beseyn of eny
+    pepell that ever I sye or herd of. Many pagentys were pleyed in
+    hyr way to Brugys to hyr welcoming, the best that ever I sye.
+    And the same Sonday my Lord the Bastard took upon hym to answere
+    xxiiij knyts & gentylmen within viij dayis at jostys of pese &
+    when that they wer answered, they xxiiij & hymselve shold torney
+    with other xxv the next day after, whyche is on Monday next
+    comyng; & they that have jostyd with hym into thys day have been
+    as rychly beseyn, & hymselfe also, as clothe of gold & sylk &
+    sylvyr & goldsmith's werk might mak hem; for of syche ger & gold
+    & perle & stonys they of the dukys coort neyther gentylmen nor
+    gentylwomen they want non; for with owt that they have it by
+    wyshys, by my trowthe, I herd nevyr of so gret plente as ther is.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    And as for the Dwkys coort, as of lords & ladys & gentylwomen
+    knyts, sqwyers & gentylmen I hert never of non lyek to it
+    save King Artourys cort. And by my trowthe I have no wyt nor
+    remembrance to wryte to you half the worchep that is her; but that
+    lakyth as it comyth to mynd I shall tell you when I come home
+    whyche I trust to God shal not be long to; for we depart owt of
+    Brygge homward on Twysday next comyng & all folk that cam with my
+    lady of Burgoyn out of Ingland, except syche as shall abyd her
+    styll with hyr whyche I wot well shall be but fewe.
+
+    "We depart the sooner for the Dwk hathe word that the Frenshe king
+    is purposyd to mak wer upon hym hastyly & that he is with in IIIj
+    or v dayis jorney of Brugys & the Dwk rydeth on Twysday next
+    comyng forward to met with hym. God geve hym good sped & all hys;
+    for by my trowthe they are the goodlyest felawshep that ever I cam
+    among & best can behave themselves & most like gentlemen.
+
+    "Other tydyngs have we non her; but that the Duke of Somerset &
+    all hys band departyd well beseyn out of Brugys a day befor that
+    my Lady the Duchess cam thedyr & they sey her that he is to Queen
+    Margaret that was & shal no more come her agen nor be holpyn by
+    the Duke. No more; but I beseche you of your blessyng as lowly as
+    I can, wyche I beseche you forget not to geve me everday onys.
+    And, Modyr, I beseche you that ye wol be good mastras to my lytyll
+    man & to se that he go to scole.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    Wreten at Bruggys the Friday next after Seynt Thomas.
+
+    "Your sone & humbyll servaunt,
+
+    "J. PASTON THE YOUNGER."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Chastellain, v., 570.]
+
+[Footnote 2: V., 576.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This deputation was composed of representatives from "all
+the city in its entirety in three chief members--the bourgeois and
+nobles, the fifty-two _metiers_, and the weavers who possess twelve
+different places in the city entirely for themselves and in their
+control." The formal apology was made later. (Chastellain, v., 291.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Ibid_ 306. By letters patent given on July 28, 1467,
+Duke Charles pardoned the Ghenters and confirmed the privileges which
+he had conceded to them, but he exacted that a deputation from the
+three members [_Trois membres_] of the city should come to Brussels to
+beg pardon on their knees, bareheaded, ungirded, for all the disorder
+of St. Lievin. This act of submission took place probably not until
+January, 1469, though August 8, 1468, is also mentioned as the date.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Hist, de l'Ordre_, etc., p. 511.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Chastellain, V., 342.]
+
+[Footnote 7: III., 101. Evidently this was composed for a separate
+work and then incorporated into the memoirs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: There is a beautiful portrait of her in MS. 9275 in the
+Bibliotheque de Burgogne. _See_ also Wavrin, _Anchiennes Croniques
+d'Engleterre_, ii., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 9: III., 108.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _The Paston Letters_, ii., 317.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE MEETING AT PERONNE
+
+1468
+
+
+    "My brother, I beseech you in the name of our affection and of
+    our alliance, come to my aid, come as speedily as you can, come
+    without delay. Written by the own hand of your brother.
+
+    "FRANCIS."
+
+Such were the concluding sentences of a fervent appeal from the
+Duke of Brittany that followed Charles into Holland, whither he had
+hastened after the completion of the nuptial festivities.
+
+The titular Duke of Normandy found that his royal brother was in no
+wise inclined to fulfil the solemn pledges made at Conflans. His ally,
+Francis, Duke of Brittany, was plunged into terror lest the king
+should invade his duchy and punish him for his share in the
+proceedings that had led up to that compact.
+
+It is in this year that Louis XI. begins to show his real astuteness.
+Very clever are his methods of freeing himself from the distasteful
+obligations assumed towards his brother. They had been easy to make
+when a hostile army was encamped at the gates of Paris. Then Normandy
+weighed lightly when balanced by the desire to separate the allies.
+That separation accomplished, the point of view changed. Relinquish
+Normandy, restored by the hand of heaven to its natural liege lord
+after its long retention by the English kings? Louis's intention
+gradually became plain and he proved that he was no longer in the
+isolated position in which the War for Public Weal had found him. He
+had won to himself many adherents, while the general tone towards
+Charles of Burgundy had changed.[1]
+
+In April, 1468, the States-General of France assembled at Tours in
+response to royal writs issued in the preceding February.[2] The
+chancellor, Jouvencal, opened the session with a tedious, long-winded
+harangue calculated to weary rather than to illuminate the assembly.
+Then the king took the floor and delivered a telling speech. With
+trenchant and well chosen phrases he set forth the reasons why
+Normandy ought to be an intrinsic part of the French realm. The
+advantages of centralisation, the weakness of decentralisation, were
+skilfully drawn. The matter was one affecting the kingdom as a whole,
+in perpetuity; it was not for the temporal interests of the present
+incumbent of regal authority, who had only part therein for the brief
+space of his mortal journey. Louis's words are pathetic indeed, as
+he calls himself a sojourner in France, _en voyage_ through life,
+as though the fact itself of his likeness to the rest of ephemeral
+mankind was novel to his audience. He reiterated the statement that
+the interests involved were theirs, not his.
+
+It was a goodly body which listened to Louis. The greatest feudal
+lords, indeed, were not present, but many of the lesser nobility were,
+while sixty-four towns sent, all told, about 128 deputies. These
+hearers gave willing attention to the thesis that it was a burning
+shame for the French people to pay heavy taxes simply to restrain the
+insolent peers from rebelling against their sovereign--those noble
+scions of the royal stock whose bounden duty it was to protect the
+state and the head of the royal house.
+
+What was the reason for their selfish insubordination? The root of the
+evil lay in the past, when extensive territories had been carelessly
+alienated, and their petty over-lords permitted to acquire too much
+independence of the crown, so that the monarchy was threatened with
+disruption. There was more to the same purpose and then the deputies
+deliberated on the answer to make to this speech from the throne. It
+was an answer to Louis's mind, an answer that showed the value of
+suggestion. Charles the Wise had thought that an estate yielding an
+income of twelve thousand livres was all-sufficient for a prince of
+the blood. Louis XI. was more generous. He was ready to allow his
+brother Charles a pension of sixty thousand livres. But as to the
+government of Normandy--why! no king, either from fraternal affection
+or from fear of war, was justified in committing that province to
+other hands than his own.
+
+The States-General dissolved in perfect accord with the monarch, and a
+definite order was left in the king's hands, declaring that it was
+the judgment of the towns represented that concentration of power was
+necessary for the common welfare of France. Public opinion declared
+that national weakness would be inevitable if the feudatories were
+unbridled in their centrifugal tendencies. Above all, Normandy must be
+retained by the king. On no consideration should Louis leave it to his
+brother.[2]
+
+Before the dissolution of the assembly there was some discussion as to
+the probable attitude of the great nobles in regard to this platform
+of centralisation. Very timid were the comments on Charles of
+Burgundy. Would he not perhaps be an excellent mediator between the
+lesser dukes and the king? Would it not be better to suspend action
+until his opinion was known, etc? But at large there was less reserve.
+The statements were emphatic. Naught but mischief had ever come to
+France from Burgundy. The present duke's father and grandfather had
+wrought all the ill that lay in their power. As for Charles, his
+illimitable greed was notorious. Let him rest content with his
+paternal heritage. Ghent and Bruges were his. Did he want Paris too?
+Let the king recover the towns on the Somme. Rightfully they were
+French. Louis made no scruple in pleading the invalidity of the treaty
+of Conflans, because it had been wrested from him by undue influence.
+And this royal sentiment was repeated here and there with growing
+conviction of its justice.
+
+While Charles was occupied with the preparation for his wedding, Louis
+was engaged in levying troops and mobilising his forces, and these
+preparations continued throughout the summer of 1468. Naturally, news
+of this zeal directed against the dukes of Normandy and of Brittany
+followed the traveller in Holland.
+
+Charles was in high dudgeon and wrote at once to the king, reminding
+him that these seigneurs were his allies, and demanding that nothing
+should be wrought to their detriment. Conscious that his remonstrance
+might be futile, and urged on by appeals from the dukes, Charles
+hastened to cut short his stay in Holland so that he might move nearer
+to the scene of Louis's activities. His purpose in going to the north
+had been twofold--to receive homage as Count of Holland and Zealand,
+and to use his new dignity to obtain large sums of money for which he
+saw immediate need if he were to hold Louis to the terms wrested from
+him.
+
+In early July, Charles had crossed from Sluis in Flanders to
+Middelburg, and thence made his progress through the cities of
+Zealand, receiving homage as he went. Next he passed to The Hague,
+where the nobles and civic deputies of Holland met him and gave
+him their oaths of fealty on July 21st. Fifty-six towns[4] were
+represented and there were also deputies from eight bailiwicks and the
+islands of Texel and Wieringen. "It is noteworthy," comments a Dutch
+historian, "that the people's oath was given first. The older custom
+was that the count should give the first pledge while the people
+followed suit."
+
+As soon as he was thus legally invested with sovereign power, Charles
+demanded a large _aide_ from Holland and Zealand--480,000 crowns of
+fifteen stivers for himself; 32,000 crowns as pin money for his new
+consort; 16,000 crowns as donations for various servants, and 4800
+crowns towards his travelling expenses. The total sum was 532,800
+crowns. The share of Holland and West Friesland was 372,800 crowns,
+and of Zealand 16,000 crowns, to be paid within seven and a half
+years. In Holland, Haarlem paid the heaviest quota, 3549 crowns, and
+Schiedam the smallest, 350 crowns, while Dordrecht and the South
+Holland villages were assessed at 39,200 crowns, and the remainder was
+divided among the other cities and villages.
+
+There was considerable opposition to the assessments. In many cases
+the new imposts upon provisions pressed very heavily on the poor
+villagers. Having obtained promise of the grant, however, Charles left
+all further details in its regard to the local officials and returned
+to Brussels at the beginning of August to make his own preparation.
+For, by that time, Louis's intentions of evading the treaty of
+Conflans were plain, though there still fluttered a thin veil of
+friendship between the cousins. Gathering what forces he could
+mobilise, ordering them to meet him later, Charles moved westward and
+took up his quarters at Peronne on the river Somme.
+
+Louis had been bold in his utterance to the States-General as to his
+perfect right to ignore the treaty of Conflans, to dispossess his
+brother, and to bring the great feudatories to terms. In the summer
+of 1468 he made advances towards accomplishing the last-named
+desideratum. Brittany was invaded by royal troops, but his victory was
+diplomatic rather than military, as Duke Francis peaceably consented
+to renounce his close alliances with Burgundy and England, nominally
+at least. Further, he agreed to urge Charles of France to submit his
+claims to Normandy to the arbitration of Nicholas of Calabria and the
+Constable St. Pol.[5]
+
+Charles of Burgundy remained to be settled with on some different
+basis. And in regard to him Louis XI. took a resolve which terrified
+his friends and caused the world to wonder as to his sanity. All
+previous attempts at mediation having failed--St. Pol was among the
+many who tried--the king determined to be his own messenger to parley
+with his Burgundian cousin. It is curious how small was his measure
+of personal pride. He had been negligent of his personal safety at
+Conflans, but even then Charles had better reason to respect and
+protect him than in 1468, after Louis had manoeuvred for three years
+in every direction to harass and undermine the young duke's power,
+and when, too, the latter was aware of half of the machinations and
+suspicious of more.
+
+Yet Louis's famous visit to Peronne was no sudden hare-brained
+enterprise. There is much evidence that he nursed the project for many
+weeks without giving any intimation of his intentions. Nor was the
+situation as strange as it appears, looking backward.
+
+Charles had doubtless made all preparations to combat Louis if need
+were, and had chosen Peronne for his headquarters with the express
+purpose of being able to watch France, and, at the same time, he had
+published abroad that his military preparations were solely for
+the purpose of keeping his obligations to his allies. Now these
+obligations were momentarily removed by the action of those same
+allies. Francis of Brittany had entered into amicable relations with
+his sovereign, young Charles of France had accepted arbitration to
+settle the fraternal relations of the royal brothers, while the
+correspondence between Louis and Liege, was still unknown to the Duke
+of Burgundy. For the moment, the latter, therefore, had no definite
+quarrel with the French king. But he was not in the least anxious for
+an interview with him. Charles was as far as ever from understanding
+his cousin. Even without definite knowledge of Louis's efforts to
+make friends in the Netherlands, Charles suspected enough to turn his
+youthful distrust of the man's character into mature conviction that
+friendship between them was impossible. But he could not refuse the
+royal overtures. His letter of safe-conduct to his self-invited
+visitor bears the date of October 8th, and runs as follows:[6]
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR:
+
+    "I commend myself to your good graces. Sire, if it be your
+    desire to come to this city of Peronne in order that we may talk
+    together, I swear and I promise you by my faith and on my honour
+    that you may come, remain and return in safety to Chauny or Noyon,
+    according to your pleasure and as often as it shall please you,
+    freely and openly without any hindrance offered either to you or
+    to any of your people by me or by any other for any cause that now
+    exists or _that may hereafter arise_."
+
+Guillaume de Biche acted as confidential messenger between duke and
+king. He it was whom Charles had dismissed from his own service in
+1456 at his father's instance. From that time on the man had been in
+Louis's household, deep in his secrets it was said, and certainly
+admitted to his privacy to an extraordinary degree. This letter was
+written by Charles in the presence of Biche, through whose hand it
+passed directly to the king.
+
+By October, Louis was at Ham, prepared to move as soon as the
+safe-conduct arrived. No time was lost after its receipt. On Sunday,
+October 9th, the king started out, accompanied by the Bishop of
+Avranches, his confessor, by the Duke of Bourbon, Cardinal Balue,
+St. Pol, a few more nobles, and about eighty archers of the Scottish
+guard. As he rode towards Peronne, Philip of Crevecoeur, with two
+hundred lances, met him on the way to act as his escort to the
+presence of the duke, who awaited his guest on the banks of a stream a
+short distance out of Peronne.
+
+St. Pol was the first of the royal party to meet the duke as herald of
+Louis's approach. Then Charles rode forward to greet the traveller. As
+he came within sight of his cousin, he bowed low to his saddle and was
+about to dismount when Louis, his head bared, prevented his action.
+Fervent were the kisses pressed by the kingly lips upon the duke's
+cheeks, while Louis's arm rested lovingly about the latter's neck.
+Then he turned graciously to the by-standing nobles and greeted them
+by name. But his cousinly affection was not yet satisfied. Again he
+embraced Charles and held him half as long as before in his arms. How
+pleasant he was and how full of confidence towards this trusted cousin
+of his!
+
+The cavalcade fell into line again, with the two princes in the
+middle, and made a stately entry into Peronne at a little after
+mid-day.[7] The chief building then and the natural place to lodge
+a royal visitor was the castle. But it was in sorry repair, ill
+furnished, and affording less comfort than a neighbouring house
+belonging to a city official. Here rooms had been prepared for the
+king and a few of his suite, the others being quartered through the
+town. At the door Charles took his leave and Louis entered alone with
+Cardinal Balue and the attendants he had chosen to keep near him.
+These latter were nearly all of inferior birth, and were treated
+by their master with a familiarity very astonishing to the stately
+Burgundians.
+
+Louis entered the room assigned for his use, walked to the window,
+and looked out into the street. The sight that met his view was most
+disquieting. A party of cavaliers were on the point of entering the
+castle. They were gentlemen just arrived from Burgundy with their
+lances, in response to a summons issued long before the present visit
+was anticipated. As he looked down on the troops, Louis recognised
+several men who had no cause to love him or to cherish his memory.
+There was, for instance, the queen's brother Philip de Bresse[8] who
+had led a party against Louis's own sister Yolande of Savoy. At a
+time of parley this Philip had trusted the sincerity of his
+brother-in-law's profession and had visited him to obtain his
+mediation. The king had violated both the specified safe-conduct and
+ambassadorial equity alike, and had thrown De Bresse into the citadel
+of Loches, where he suffered a long confinement before he succeeded in
+making his escape. He was a Burgundian in sympathy as well as in race.
+But with him on that October day Louis noticed various Frenchmen who
+had fallen under royal displeasure from one cause or another and had
+saved their liberty by flight, renouncing their allegiance to him
+for ever. Four there were in all who wore the cross of St. Andrew.
+Approaching Peronne as they had from the south, these new-comers had
+ridden in at the southern gates without intimation of this royal
+visitation extraordinary until they were almost face to face with
+guest and host. Their arrival was "a half of a quarter of an hour
+later than that of the king."
+
+When Philip de Bresse and his friends learned what was going on, they
+hastened to the duke's chambers "to give him reverence." Monseigneur
+de Bresse was the spokesman in begging the duke that the three above
+named should be assured of their security notwithstanding the king's
+presence at Peronne,--of security such as he had pledged them in
+Burgundy and promised for the hour when they should arrive at his
+court. On their part they were ready to serve him towards all and
+against all. Which petition the duke granted orally. "The force
+conducted by the Marshal of Burgundy was encamped without the gates,
+and the said marshal spoke no ill of the king, nor did the others I
+have mentioned."[9]
+
+It was, however, a situation in which apprehension was not confined
+to the men of lower station. To Louis, looking down from his window,
+there seemed dire menace in the mere presence of these persons who had
+heavy grievances against him, and the unfortified private house seemed
+slight protection against their possible vengeance. Here, Charles
+might disavow injury to him as something happening quite without his
+knowledge. On ducal soil the safest place was assuredly under shelter
+patently ducal. There, there would be no doubt of responsibility did
+misfortune happen.
+
+Straightway the king sent a messenger to Charles asking for quarters
+within the castle. The request was granted and the uneasy guest passed
+through the massive portals between a double line of Burgundian
+men-at-arms. It was no cheerful, pleasant, palatial dwelling-place
+this little old castle of Peronne. So thick were the walls that vain
+had been all assaults against it.[10] Designed for a fortress rather
+than a residence, it had been repeatedly used as a prison, and the air
+of the whole was tainted by the dungeons under its walls, dungeons
+which had seen many unwilling lodgers. Five centuries earlier than
+this date, Charles the Simple had languished to death in one of the
+towers.
+
+This change of arrangement, or rather the disquieting reason for the
+change, undoubtedly clouded the peacefulness of the occasion. Yet
+outward calm was preserved. Commines asserts that the two princes
+directed their people to behave amicably to each other and that the
+commands were scrupulously obeyed. For two or three days the desired
+conferences took place between Charles and Louis. The king's wishes
+were perfectly plain. He wanted Charles to forsake all other alliances
+and to pledge himself to support his feudal chief, first and foremost,
+from all attacks of his enemies. The Duke of Brittany had submitted
+to his liege. If the Duke of Burgundy would only accept terms equally
+satisfactory in their way, the pernicious alliance between the two
+would vanish, to the weal of French unity.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIP DE COMMINES.]
+
+Apparently the first discussion was heard by none except the Cardinal
+Balue and Guillaume de Biche. Charles was willing to pledge allegiance
+and to promise aid to his feudal chief, but under limitations that
+weakened the value of his words. Nothing could induce him to renounce
+alliance with other princes for mutual aid, did they need it. There
+was a second interview on the following day. Charles held tenaciously
+to his position. Then there came a sudden alteration in the situation,
+a strange dramatic shifting of the duke's point of view.
+
+The city of Liege had submitted perforce to the behests of her
+imperious neighbour, but the citizens had never ceased to hope that
+his unwelcome "protection" might be dispensed with; that, by the aid
+of French troops, they might eventually wrest themselves free from
+the Burgundian incubus. In spite of all promises to Charles, secret
+negotiations between the anti-Burgundian party and Louis XI. had never
+ceased. The latter never refused to admit the importunate embassies to
+his presence. He was glad to keep in touch with the city even in
+its ruined condition. He sent envoys as well as received them, and
+Commines states definitely that, in making his plan to visit Peronne,
+the fact of a confidential commission recently despatched to Liege had
+wholly slipped the king's mind.
+
+In that town the duke's lieutenant, Humbercourt, had been left to
+supervise the humiliating changes ordered. And the work of demolition
+was the only industry. Other ordinary business was at a standstill.
+For a period there was a sullen silence in the streets and the church
+bells were at rest. In April, a special legate from the pope arrived
+to see whether ecclesiastical affairs could not be put on a better
+footing.
+
+It was about the same time that the States-General were meeting
+at Tours that, under the direction of this legate, Onofrio de
+Santa-Croce, the cathedral was purified with holy water, and Louis of
+Bourbon celebrated his very first mass, though he had been seated on
+the episcopal throne for twelve years. Then Onofrio tried to mediate
+between the city and the Duke of Burgundy. To Bruges he went to
+see Charles, and obtained permission to draft a project for the
+re-establishment of the civic government, to be submitted to the duke
+for approval.
+
+If Onofrio thought he had reformed the bishop by forcing him into
+performing his priestly rites he soon learned his mistake. That
+ecclesiastic speedily disgusted his flock by his ill-timed
+festivities, and then forsook the city and sailed away to Maestricht
+in a gaily painted barge, with gay companions to pass the summer in
+frivolous amusements suited to his dissolute tastes. Such was the
+state of affairs when the report of Louis's extensive military
+preparations encouraged the Liegeois to hope that he was to take the
+field openly against the duke.
+
+About the beginning of September, troops of forlorn and desperate
+exiles began to return to the city. They came, to be sure, with shouts
+of _Vive le Roi!_ but, as a matter of fact, they seemed willing to
+make any accommodation for the sake of being permitted to remain.
+"Better any fate at home than to live like wild beasts with the
+recollection that we had once been men."
+
+To make a long story short, Onofrio again endeavoured to rouse the
+bishop to a sense of his duty. Again he tried to make terms for the
+exiles and to re-establish a tenable condition. It was useless. Louis
+of Bourbon refused to approach nearer to Liege than Tongres, and
+declined to meet the advances of his despairing subjects. It was just
+at this moment that fresh emissaries arrived from Louis, despatched,
+as already stated, _before_ Charles had consented to prolong the
+truce.
+
+Excited by their presence the Liegeois once more roused themselves to
+action. A force of two thousand was gathered at Liege, and advanced by
+night upon Tongres--also without walls--surrounded the house where lay
+their bishop, and forced him to return to Liege. Violence there was
+and loss of life, but, as a matter of fact, the mob respected the
+person of their bishop and of Humbercourt the chief Burgundian
+official. This event happened on October 9th, the very day that Louis
+rode recklessly into Peronne.
+
+On Wednesday, October 11th, the news of the fray reached Peronne,
+but news greatly exaggerated by rumour. Bishop, papal legate, and
+Burgundian lieutenant all had been ruthlessly murdered in the very
+presence of Louis's own envoys, who had aided and abetted the hideous
+crime! To follow the story of an eyewitness:[11]
+
+    "Some said that everyone was dead, others asserted the contrary,
+    for such advertisments are never reported after one sort. At
+    length others came who had seen certain canons slain and supposed
+    the bishop[12] to be of the number, as well as the said seigneur
+    de Humbercourt and all the rest. Further, they said that they had
+    seen the king's ambassadors in the attacking company and mentioned
+    them by name. All this was repeated to the duke, who forthwith
+    believed it and fell into an extreme fury, saying that the king
+    had come thither to abuse him, and gave commands to shut the gates
+    of the castle and of the town, alleging a poor enough excuse,
+    namely, that he did this on account of the disappearance of a
+    little casket containing some good rings and money.
+
+    "The king finding himself confined in the castle, a small one at
+    that, and having seen a force of archers standing before the gate,
+    was terrified for his person--the more so that he was lodged in
+    the neighbourhood of a tower where a certain Count de Vermandois
+    had caused the death of one of his predecessors as king of
+    France.[13] At that time, I was still with the duke and served him
+    as chamberlain, and had free access to his chamber when I
+    would, for such was the usage in this household.
+
+    "The said duke, as soon as he saw the gates closed, ordered all to
+    leave his presence and said to a few of us that stayed with him
+    that the king had come on purpose to betray him, and that he
+    himself had tried to avoid his coming with all his strength, and
+    that the meeting had been against his taste. Then he proceeded to
+    recount the news from Liege, how the king had pulled all the wires
+    through his ambassadors, and how his people had been slain. He was
+    fearfully excited against the king. I veritably believe that if
+    at that hour he had found those to whom he could appeal ready to
+    sympathise with him and to advise him to work the king some
+    mischief, he would have done so, at the least he would have
+    imprisoned him in the great tower.
+
+    "None were present when the words fell from the duke but myself
+    and two grooms of the chamber, one of whom was named Charles de
+    Visen, a native of Dijon, an honest fellow, in good credit with
+    his master. We aggravated nothing, but sought to appease the duke
+    as much as in us lay. Soon he tried the same phrases on others,
+    and a report of them ran through the city and penetrated to the
+    very apartment of the king, who was greatly terrified, as was
+    everyone, because of the danger that they saw imminent, and
+    because of the great difficulty in soothing a quarrel when it
+    has commenced between such great princes. Assuredly they were
+    blameworthy in failing to notify their absent servants of this
+    projected meeting. Great inconveniences were bound to arise from
+    this negligence."
+
+Such is Commines's narrative. Eyewitness though he was, it must be
+remembered that when he wrote the account of this famous interview it
+was long after the event, and when his point of view was necessarily
+coloured by his service with Louis. Delightful, however, are the
+historian's own reflections that he intersperses with his plain
+narrative. To his mind the only period when it is safe for princes to
+meet is
+
+    "in their youth when their minds are bent on pleasure. Then they
+    may amuse themselves together. But after they are come to man's
+    estate and are desirous each of over-reaching the other, such
+    interviews do but increase their mutual hatred, even if they incur
+    no personal peril (which is well-nigh impossible). Far wiser is
+    it for them to adjust their differences through sage and good
+    servants as I have said at length elsewhere in these memoirs."
+
+Then our chronicler proceeds to give numerous instances of disastrous
+royal interviews before returning to his subject and to Peronne:
+
+    "I was moved [he adds again at the beginning of his new chapter]
+    to tell the princes my opinion of such meetings.[14] Thus the
+    gates were closed and guarded and two or three days passed by.
+    However, the Duke of Burgundy would not see the king, nor had
+    Louis's servants entry to the castle except a few, and those only
+    through the wicket. Nor did the duke see any of his people who had
+    influence over him.
+
+    "The first day there was consternation throughout the city. By the
+    second day the duke was a little calmed down. He held a council
+    meeting all day and the greater part of the night. The king
+    appealed to every one who could possibly aid him. He was lavish in
+    his promises and ordered fifteen thousand crowns to be given where
+    it might count, but the officer in charge of the disbursement of
+    this sum acquitted himself ill and retained a part, as the king
+    learned later.
+
+    "The king was especially afraid of his former servants who had
+    come with the army from Burgundy, as I mentioned above, men who
+    were now in the service of the Duke of Normandy.
+
+    "Diverse were the opinions in the above-mentioned council-meeting.
+    Some held that the safe-conduct accorded to the king protected
+    him, seeing that he fairly observed the peace as it had been
+    stated in writing. Others rudely urged his capture without further
+    ceremony, while others again advised sending for his brother, the
+    Duke of Normandy, and concluding with him a peace to the advantage
+    of all the princes of France. They who gave this advice thought
+    that in case it was adopted, the king should be restrained of his
+    liberty. Further, it was against all precedent to free so great a
+    seigneur when he had committed so grave an offence.
+
+    "This last argument so nearly prevailed that I saw a man booted
+    and spurred ready to depart with a packet of letters addressed to
+    Monseigneur of Normandy, being in Brittany, and stayed only for
+    the Duke of Burgundy's letter. However, this came to naught. The
+    king made overtures to leave as hostages the Duke of Bourbon, the
+    cardinal, his brother, and the constable with a dozen others while
+    he should be permitted to return to Compiegne after peace was
+    concluded. He promised that the Liegeois should repair their
+    mischief or he would declare himself their foe. The appointed
+    hostages were profuse in their offers to immolate themselves, at
+    least they were in public. I do not know whether they would have
+    said the same things in private. I rather suspect not. And in
+    truth, I believe that those who were left would never have
+    returned.
+
+    "On the third night after the arrival of the news, the duke never
+    undressed, but lay down two or three times on his bed, and
+    then rose and walked up and down. Such was his way when he was
+    troubled. I lay that night in his chamber and talked with him from
+    time to time. In the morning his fury was greater than ever, his
+    tone very menacing, and he seemed ready to go to any extreme.
+
+    "However, he finally brought himself to say that if the king would
+    swear the peace and would accompany him to Liege to help avenge
+    Monsgn. of Liege, his own kinsman, he would be satisfied. Then
+    he suddenly betook himself to the king's chamber and expressed
+    himself to that effect. The king had a friend[15] who warned him,
+    assuring him that he should suffer no ill if he would concede
+    these two points. Did he do otherwise he ran grave risk, graver
+    than he would ever incur again."
+
+    When the duke entered the royal presence his voice trembled, so
+    agitated was he and on the verge of breaking into a passion. He
+    assumed a reverential attitude, but rough were mien and word as he
+    demanded whether the king would keep the treaty of peace as it had
+    been drafted, and whether he was ready to swear to it. "Yes" was
+    the king's response. In truth, nothing had been added to the
+    agreement made before Paris, or at least little as far as the Duke
+    of Burgundy was concerned. As regarded the Duke of Normandy, it
+    was stipulated that if he would renounce that province he should
+    have Champagne and Brie besides other neighbouring territories for
+    his share.
+
+    Then the duke asked if the king would accompany him to avenge the
+    outrage committed upon his cousin the bishop.
+
+    "To which demand the king gave assent as soon as the peace was
+    sworn. He was quite satisfied to go to Liege and with a small or
+    large escort, just as the duke preferred. This answer pleased
+    the duke immensely. In was brought the treaty, out of the king's
+    coffer was taken the piece of the true cross, the very one carried
+    by Saint Charlemagne, called the Cross of Victory, and thereupon
+    the two swore the peace.
+
+    "This was now October 14th. In a minute the bells pealed out their
+    joy throughout Peronne and all men were glad. It hath pleased the
+    king since to attribute the credit of this pacification to me."
+
+There was undoubtedly an immense sense of relief in Peronne when this
+degree of accommodation was reached. The duke was unwilling, however,
+to have too much rejoicing in his domains until he had ascertained for
+himself the state of Liege. Among the letters despatched from Peronne
+this October 14th, was the following to the magistrates of Ypres:[16]
+
+    "Dear and well beloved friends, considering that we have to-day
+    made peace and convention with Monseigneur the king, and that for
+    this reason you might be inclined to let off fire-works and make
+    other manifestations of joy, we hasten to advise you that ... our
+    pleasure is you shall not permit fireworks or assemblies in our
+    town of Ypres on account of the said peace until we have subdued
+    the people of Liege, and avenged the said outrage [described
+    above]. This with God's aid we intend to do. We are on the point
+    of departure with all our forces for Liege. Beloved, may our Lord
+    protect you.
+
+    "Written in our castle of Peronne, October 14, 1468."
+
+A certain G. Ruple conveyed his own impressions to the magistrates of
+Ypres, possibly managing to slip them under the same cover.[17]
+
+    "To-day, at about 10 o'clock, peace was concluded between the king
+    and Monseigneur, and also between the king and the Duke of Berry.
+    Here, bells are ringing and the _Te Deum_ is sung. It is generally
+    believed that Monseigneur will depart to-morrow. God deserves
+    thanks for the result, for I assure you that last night the
+    outlook was not clear."[18]
+
+The king wrote as follows to his confidential lieutenant:
+
+    "PERONNE, October 14th.
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, you are already informed how there
+    has been discussion in my council and that of my brother-in-law of
+    Burgundy, as to the best manner of adjusting certain differences
+    between him and me. It went so far that in order to arrive at a
+    conclusion I came to this town of Peronne. Here we have busied
+    ourselves with the requisitions passing between us, so that to-day
+    we have, thanks to our Lord, in the presence of all the nobles
+    of the blood, prelates and other great and notable personages in
+    great numbers, both from my suite and from his, sworn peace
+    solemnly on the true cross, and promised to aid, defend and
+    succour each other for ever. Also on the same cross we have
+    ratified the treaty of Arras with its corrections and other points
+    which seemed productive of peace and amity.
+
+    "Immediately after this the Duke of Burgundy ordered thanksgivings
+    in the churches of his lands, and in this town he has already had
+    great solemnity. And because my brother of Burgundy has heard that
+    the Liegeois have taken prisoner my cousin the bishop of Liege,
+    whom he is determined to deliver as quickly as possible, he has
+    besought me as a favour to him, and also because the bishop is my
+    kinsman whom I ought to aid, to accompany him to Liege, not far
+    from here. This I have agreed to, and have chosen as my escort
+    a portion of the troops under monseigneur the constable, in the
+    hopes of a speedy return by the aid of God.
+
+    "And because it is for my weal and that of my subjects I write to
+    you at once, because _I am sure_ you will be pleased, and that
+    you will order like solemnities. Moreover, monseigneur the grand
+    master, as I lately wrote to you, pray as quickly as possible
+    disband my _arriere ban_ together with the free lances, and
+    do every possible thing for the mass of poor folks; appoint
+    well-to-do men as leaders in every bailiwick and district. Above
+    all, see to it that they do not indulge in any new and startling
+    conduct. That done, if you wish to come to Bohan, to be nearer
+    me, I would be glad, so as to be able to provide for any further
+    action that may arise. Written at Peronne October 14th.
+
+    "Loys MEURIN.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[19]
+
+Dammartin thought that this letter was phrased for the purpose of
+passing Charles's censorship. He took the liberty of disregarding his
+master's orders; the troops were not disbanded, and he held himself
+in readiness to go to fetch the errant monarch if he did not return
+speedily from the enemy's country. His letter to the king and the
+unwritten additions delivered by his confidential messengers terrified
+his liege lest too much zeal on his behalf in France might work him
+ill in Liege. A week later Louis writes again:
+
+    NAMUR, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR THE GRAND MASTER:
+
+    "I have received your letter by Sire du Bouchage. _Be assured that
+    I make this journey to Liege under no constraint, and that I never
+    took any journey with such good heart as I do this._ Since God and
+    Our Lady have given me grace to be friends with Monseigneur of
+    Burgundy, be sure that never shall our rabble over there take arms
+    against me. Monseigneur the grand master, my friend, you have
+    proved that you love me, and you have done me the greatest service
+    that you can, and there is another service that you can do. The
+    people of Monseigneur of Burgundy think that I mean to deceive
+    them, and people there [in France] think that I am a prisoner.
+    Distrust between the two would be my ruin.
+
+    "Monseigneur, as to the quarters of your men, you know what we
+    planned, you and I, touching the action of Armagnac. It seems
+    to me that you ought to send your people straight ahead in that
+    direction and I will furnish you four or five captains as soon as
+    I am out of this, and you can make what choice you will. M. the
+    grand master, my friend, come, I beg you, to Laon and await me
+    there. Send me a messenger the minute you arrive and I will let
+    you have frequent news. Be assured that as soon as the Liegeois
+    are subdued, on the morrow I will depart, for Monsg. of Burgundy
+    is resolved to urge me to go as soon as he has finished his work
+    at Liege, and he desires my return more than I do. Francois Dunois
+    will tell you what good cheer we are making. Adieu, monseigneur,
+    etc.
+
+    "Writ at Namur, Oct. 22nd.
+
+    "LOUIS "TOUSSAINT.
+
+    "To our dear and beloved cousin the Count of Dammartin, grand
+    master of France."[20]
+
+Letters of the same date to Rochefoucauld and others also declare that
+Louis goes most gladly with his dear brother of Burgundy and that the
+affair will not require much time. To Cardinal Balue he writes only a
+few words, telling him that the messenger will be more communicative.
+
+Between Peronne and Namur did the party turn aside to visit the
+young Duchess of Burgundy, either at Hesdin or at Aire? Such is the
+conjecture of a learned Belgian editor, and he carries his surmise
+further in suggesting that in this brief sojourn was performed
+Chastellain's mystery of "The Peace of Peronne."[21] Perhaps these
+verses, if put in the mouths of Louis and Charles, may have pleased
+the princely spectators of the dramatic poem. Mutual admiration was
+the key-note of these flowery speeches while the other _dramatis
+personae_ expressed unstinted admiration for the wonderful deed
+accomplished by these two pure souls who have sworn peace when they
+might have brought dire war on their innocent subjects.
+
+    "Never did David, nor Ogier, nor Roland, that proud knight,
+    nor the great Charlemagne, nor the proud Duke of Mayence, nor
+    Mongleive, the heir, from whom issued noble fruit, nor King
+    Arthur, nor Oliver, nor Rossillon, nor Charbonnier in their dozens
+    of victories approach or touch with hand or foot the work I treat
+    of."
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    [The king speaks.]
+
+    "Charles, be assured that Louis will be the re-establisher and
+    provider of all that touches your honour and peace between you
+    and him. That he will ever be appreciator of you and avenger, a
+    nourisher of joy and love in repairing all that my predecessor
+    did.
+
+    [The duke speaks.]
+
+    "And Charles, who loves his honour as much as his soul, wishes
+    nothing better than to serve you and this realm and to extol
+    your house. For I know that is the reason why I have glory and
+    reputation. Then if it please God and Our Lady, my body will keep
+    from blame."
+
+One stanza, indeed, uttered by Louis strikes a note of doubt:
+"Charles, so many debates may occur, so many incidents and accidents
+in our various actions, that a rupture may be dreaded."
+
+Vehemently did the duke repudiate the bare possibility of a new breach
+between him and his liege. The whole is a paean at a love feast. If the
+two together heard their counterfeits express such perfect fidelity,
+how Louis XI. must have laughed to himself behind his mask of forced
+courtesy! Charles, on the other hand, was quite capable of taking it
+all seriously, wholly unconscious that he had not cut the lion's claws
+for once and all.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}.,356.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The letters of convocation bear the date February 26,
+1467, o.s. Tournay elected four deputies. By April 30th, they had
+returned home, and on May 2d they made a report. The items of
+expenditure are very exact. So hard had they ridden that a fine horse
+costing eleven crowns was used up and was sold for four crowns. M. Van
+der Broeck, archivist of Tournay, extracted various items from the
+register of the Council. _See_ Kervyn's note. Chastellain, v., 387.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _See_ Lavisse iv^[ii]., 356.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Dordrecht was not among them. Her deputies held that
+it was illegal for them to go to The Hague. Some time later Charles
+received the oaths at Dordrecht. (Wagenaar, _Vaderlandsche Hist._,
+iv., 101.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Treaty of Ancenis, September 10, 1468. _See_ Lavisse,
+iv^[ii].] One of the results of the War of Public Weal was that St.
+Pol was appointed constable of France.]
+
+[Footnote 6: The original is in the Mss. de Baluze, Paris, Bibl. Nat.;
+Lenglet, iii., 19.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines and a letter to the magistrates of Ypres are the
+basis of this narrative. (Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 196.) There
+is, however, a mass of additional material both contemporaneous and
+commentating. _See also_ Michelet, Lavisse, Kirk, etc. Chastellain's
+MS. is lost.]
+
+[Footnote 8: _See_ Lavisse, iv^[ii]., 397.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Ludwig v. Diesbach, (_See_ Kirk, i., 559.) The author
+was a page in Louis's train, who afterwards played a part in Swiss
+affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 10: It was never captured until Wellington took it in 1814.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Commines, ii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The bishop did indeed meet his death at the hands of the
+mob, but it was many years later.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Le roi ... se voyait loge, rasibus d'une grosse tour ou
+un Comte de Vermandois fit mourir un sien predecesseur Roy de France_.
+(Commines, ii., ch. vii.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Memoires_, ii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Undoubtedly Commines wishes it to be inferred that this
+was he. The main narrative followed here is Commines, whose memoirs
+remain, as Ste.-Beuve says, the definitive history of the times. There
+are the errors inevitable to any contemporary statement. Meyer, to be
+sure, says, apropos of an incident incorrectly reported, _Falsus in
+hoc ut in pluribus historicus_. Kervyn de Lettenhove three centuries
+later is also severe. _See_, too, "L'autorite historique de Ph. de
+Commynes," Mandrot, _Rev. Hist_., 73.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 199.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Ibid._, 200.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Waer ic certiffiere dat het dezen nacht niet wel claer
+ghestaen heeft._]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Lettres de Louis XI_, iii., 289. The king apparently
+never resented the part played by Dammartin when he was dauphin. His
+letters to him are very intimate.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Lettres_, iii., 295. (Toussaint is probably Toustain.)]
+
+[Footnote 21: Kervyn ed., _Oeuvres de Chastellain_, vii., xviii. _See_
+poem, _ibid._, 423. The MS. in the Laurentian Library at Florence
+bears this line: "Here follows a mystery made because of the said
+peace of good intention in the thought that it would be observed by
+the parties." Hesdin is, however, a long way out of the route between
+Peronne and Namur, where the party was on October 14th. It would
+hardly seem possible for journey and visit in so brief a time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+AN EASY VICTORY
+
+1468
+
+
+It was in the midst of heavy rains that the journey was made to Namur
+and then on to the environs of Liege. Grim was the weather, befitting,
+in all probability, Charles's own mood. The king's escort was confined
+to very few besides the Scottish guard, but a body of three hundred
+troopers was permitted to follow him at a distance, while the faithful
+Dammartin across the border kept himself closely informed of every
+incident connected with the march that his scouts could gather, and
+in readiness to fall upon Burgundian possessions at a word of alarm,
+while he restrained his ardour for the moment in obedience to Louis's
+anxious command.
+
+By the fourth week of October the Franco-Burgundian party were settled
+close to Liege in straggling camps, separated from each other by hills
+and uneven ground. Long was the discussion in council meeting as to
+the best mode of procedure. Liege was absolutely helpless in the face
+of this coalition. Wide breaches made her walls useless. Moats she had
+never possessed, for digging was well-nigh impossible on her rocky
+site covered by mud and slime from the overflow of the Meuse. On
+account of this evident weakness, the king advised dismissing half the
+army as needless, advice that was not only rejected immediately but
+which excited Charles's doubts of the king's good faith. Over a week
+passed and feeble Liege continued obstinate, while each division of
+the army manoeuvred to be first in the assault for the sake of the
+plunder. But advance was very difficult, for the soldiers were
+impeded in their movements by the slime. Wild were some of the night
+skirmishes over the uneven, slippery ground and amidst the little
+sheltering hills.
+
+On one occasion, "a great many were hurt and among the rest the Prince
+of Orange (whom I had forgotten to name before), who behaved that day
+like a courageous gentleman, for he never moved foot off the place he
+first possessed.
+
+The duke, too, did not lack in courage but he failed sometimes
+in order giving, and to say the truth, he behaved himself not so
+advisedly as many wished because of the king's presence."[1]
+
+There is no doubt that Charles entertained increasingly sinister
+suspicions of his guest. He thought the king might either try to enter
+the city ahead of him and manage to placate his ancient allies by a
+specious explanation, or else he might succeed in effecting his escape
+without fulfilling his compact. At last Charles appointed Sunday,
+October 30th, for an assault. On the 29th, his own quarters were in
+a little suburb of mean, low houses, with rough ground and vineyards
+separating his camp from the city. Between his house and that of the
+king, both humble dwellings, was an old granary, occupied by a picked
+Burgundian force of three hundred men under special injunctions to
+keep close watch over the royal guest and see that he played no sudden
+trick. To further this purpose of espionage, they had made a breach in
+the walls with heavy blows of their picks.
+
+The men were wearied with all their marching and skirmishing, and in
+order to have them in fighting trim on the morrow, Charles had ordered
+all alike to turn in and refresh themselves. The exhausted troops
+gladly obeyed this injunction. Charles was disarmed and sleeping, so,
+too, were Philip de Commines and the few attendants that lay within
+the narrow ducal chamber. Only a dozen pickets mounted guard in the
+room over Charles's little apartment, and kept their tired eyes open
+by playing at dice.
+
+On that Saturday night when Charles was thus prudently gathering
+strength for the final tussle, the people of Liege also indulged in
+repose, counting on Sunday being a day of rest, that is, the major
+part of the burgher folk did within city limits. But another plan was
+on foot among some of the inhabitants of an outlying region. An attack
+on the Burgundian camp was planned by a band from Franchimont, a wild
+and wooded district, south of the episcopal see. The natives there had
+all the characteristics of mountaineers, although the heights of their
+rugged country reached only modest altitudes.[2]
+
+These invaders were fortunate in obtaining as guides the owners of
+the very houses requisitioned for the lodgings of the two princes.
+Straight to their goal they progressed through paths quite unknown to
+the foe, and therefore unwatched. The highlanders made a mistake
+in not rushing headlong to the royal lodgings, where in the first
+confusion they might have accomplished their design upon the lives of
+Louis and of Charles or at least have taken the two prisoners. But a
+pause at a French nobleman's tent created a disturbance which roused
+the archers in the granary. The latter sallied out, to meet with a
+fierce counter-attack. In order to confuse them the mountaineers
+echoed the Burgundian cries, _Vive Bourgogne, vive le roy et tuez,
+tuez_, and they were not always immediately identified by their harsh
+Liege accent.
+
+The highlanders were far outnumbered by the Burgundians, and it was
+only by dint of their desperate courage and by reason of the pitchy
+darkness and of the locality with its unknown roughness that the
+former inflicted the damage that they did.
+
+Commines and his fellows helped the duke into his cuirass, and stood
+by his person, while the king's bodyguard of Scottish archers "proved
+themselves good fellows, who never budged from their master's feet and
+shot arrow upon arrow out into the darkness, wounding more Burgundians
+than Liegeois." The first to fall was Charles's own host, the guide of
+the marauders to his own cottage door. There were many more victims
+and no mercy. It was, indeed, an encounter characterised by the
+passions of war and the conditions of a mere burglarious attack on
+private houses.
+
+Quaking with fear was the king. He thought that if the duke should now
+fail to make a complete conquest of Liege, his own fate would hang in
+the balance. At a hasty council meeting held that night, Charles
+was very doubtful as to the expediency of carrying out his proposed
+assault upon the city. Very distrustful of each other were the allies,
+a fact that caused Philip de Commines to comment,[3] "scarcely fifteen
+days had elapsed since these two had sworn a definitive peace and
+solemnly promised to support each other loyally. But confidence could
+not enter in any way."
+
+Charles gave Louis permission to retire to Namur and wait until the
+duke had reduced the recalcitrant burghers once for all. Louis thought
+it wiser to keep close to Charles's own person until they parted
+company for ever, and the morrow found him in the duke's company as he
+marched on to Liege.
+
+    "My opinion is, [says Commines], that he would have been wise to
+    depart that night. He could have done it for he had a hundred
+    archers of his guard, various gentlemen of his household, and,
+    near at hand, three hundred men-at-arms. Doubtless he was stayed
+    by considerations of honour. He did not wish to be accused of
+    cowardice."
+
+Olivier de la Marche, also present as the princely pair entered Liege,
+heard the king say: "March on, my brother, for you are the luckiest
+prince alive." As they entered the gates, Louis shouted lustily,
+"_Vive Bourgogne_," to the infinite dismay of his former friends, the
+burghers of Liege.
+
+The remainder of the history of that dire Sunday morning differs from
+that of other assaults only in harrowing details, and the extremity of
+the pitilessness and ferocity manifested by the conquerors. Charles
+had previously spared churches, and protected the helpless. Above
+all he had severely punished all ill treatment of respectable women.
+Little trace of this former restraint was to be seen on this occasion.
+The inhabitants were destroyed and banished by dozens. Those who fled
+from their homes leaving their untasted breakfasts to be eaten by the
+intruding soldiers, those who were scattered through the numerous
+churches, those who attempted to defend the breaches in the walls--all
+alike were treated without mercy.
+
+The Cathedral of St. Lambert, Charles did endeavour to protect. "The
+duke himself went thither, and one man I saw him kill with his own
+hand, whereupon all the company departed and that particular church
+was not pillaged, but at the end the men who had taken refuge there
+were captured as well as the wealth of the church."
+
+[Illustration: OLIVIER DE LA MARCHE
+
+(FROM MS. REPRODUCED IN MEM. COURONNES, ETC., PAR L'ACAD,
+
+ROYALE DE BELGIQUE VOL. XLIX.)]
+
+At about midday Charles joined Louis at the episcopal palace, where
+the latter had found apartments better suited to his rank than the
+rude huts that had sheltered him for the past few days. The king was
+in good spirits and enjoyed his dinner in spite of the unsavoury
+scenes that were still in progress about him. He manifested great joy
+in the successful assault, and was lavish in his praises of the duke's
+courage, taking care that his admiring phrases should be promptly
+reported to his cousin.[4] His one great preoccupation, however, was
+to return to his own realm.
+
+After dinner the duke and he made good cheer together. "If the king
+had praised his works behind his back, still more loud was he in
+his open admiration. And the duke was pleased." No telling sign of
+friendship for Charles had Louis spared that day, so terrified was he
+lest some testimony from his ancient proteges might prove his ruin.
+"Let the word be Burgundy," he had cried to his followers when the
+attack began. "_Tuez, tuez, vive Bourgogne_."
+
+There is another contemporaneous historian who somewhat apologetically
+relates the following incident of this interview.[5] In this friendly
+Sabbath day chat, Charles asked Louis how he ought to treat Liege when
+his soldiers had finished their work. No trace of kindliness towards
+his old friends was there in the king's answer.
+
+"Once my father had a high tree near his house, inhabited by crows
+who had built their nests thereon and disturbed his repose by their
+chatter. He had the nests removed but the crows returned and built
+anew. Several times was this repeated. Then he had the tree cut down
+at the roots. After that my father slept quietly."
+
+Four or five days passed before Louis dared press the question of his
+return home. The following note written in Italian, dated on the day
+of the assault, is significant of his state of mind:
+
+
+    LOUIS XI. TO THE COUNT DE FOIX
+
+    "Monseigneur the Prince:
+
+    "To-day my brother of Burgundy and I entered in great multitude
+    and with force into this city of Liege, and because I have great
+    desire to return, I advise you that on next Tuesday morning I will
+    depart hence, and I will not cease riding without making any stops
+    until I reach there.[6] I pray you to let me know what is to be
+    done.
+
+    "Writ at Liege, October 30th.
+
+    "LOYS
+
+    "DE LA LOERE."
+
+
+Punctilious was Louis in his assurances to his host that if he could
+be of any further aid he hoped his cousin would command him. If there
+were, indeed, nothing, he thought his best plan would be to go to
+Paris and have the late treaty duly recorded and published to insure
+its validity. Charles grumbled a little, but finally agreed to speed
+his parting guest after the treaty had been again read aloud to the
+king so that he might dissent from any one of its articles or ever
+after hold his peace.
+
+Quite ready was Louis to re-confirm everything sworn to at Peronne.
+Just as he was departing he put one more query: "'If perchance my
+brother now in Brittany should be dissatisfied with the share I accord
+him out of love to you, what do you want me to do?' The duke answered
+abruptly and without thought: 'If he does not wish to take it, but
+if you content him otherwise, I will trust to you two.' From this
+question and answer arose great things as you shall hear later. So
+the king departed at his pleasure, and Mons. de Cordes and d'Emeries,
+Grand Bailiff of Hainaut escorted him out of ducal territory."[7]
+
+    "O wonderful and memorable crime of this king of the French
+    [declares a contemporaneous Liege sympathiser.][8] Scarcely
+    anything so bad can be found in ancient annals or in modern
+    history. What could be more stupid or more perfidious, or a better
+    instance of infamy than for a king who had incited a people to
+    arms against the Burgundians to act thus for the sake of his own
+    safety? Not once but many times had he pledged them his faith,
+    offering them defence and assistance against the same Burgundians.
+    And now when they are overwhelmed and confounded by this
+    Burgundian duke, this king actually co-operates with their foe, to
+    their damage, wears that foe's insignia and dares to hide himself
+    behind those emblems, and assist to destroy those to whom he
+    himself had furnished aid and subsidies with pledges of good
+    faith! I am ashamed to commit this to writing, and to hand it down
+    to posterity, knowing that it will seem incredible to many. But
+    it is so notorious throughout France and is confirmed by so many
+    adequate witnesses who have seen and heard these things that no
+    room is left for doubt of their veracity except to one desiring to
+    ignore the truth."[9]
+
+November 2d is the date of Louis's departure. It needs no stretch
+of the imagination to believe the words of his little Swiss page,
+Diesbach, when he says that on reaching French soil Louis dismounted
+and kissed the ground in a paroxysm of joy that he was his own man
+again.[10] Devoutly, too, he gave thanks to God for helping him in his
+need. Still this joy was concealed under euphemistic phrases in his
+correspondence. On November 5th, he wrote again to the Duke of Milan
+from Beaumont:
+
+    "We went in person with the duke against the Liegeois, on account
+    of their rebellion and offence, and the city being reduced by
+    force to the power of the duke, we have left him in some part of
+    Liege as we were anxious to return to our kingdom of France."
+
+In January, 1469, Guillaume Toustain, the brother of the faithful
+secretary Aloysius Toustain, who had written several of Louis's
+letters from Liege, goes to Pavia to finish his studies, and Louis
+writes to the Duke of Milan asking him to assure his protege a
+pleasant reception in the university.
+
+The ratification of the treaty took place duly at Paris on Saturday,
+November 19th, and the king also sternly forbade the circulation of
+any "paintings, rondels, ballads, songs, or defamatory pamphlets"
+about Charles.[11] The same informant tells us that loquacious birds
+were put under a ban.
+
+    "And on the same day in behalf of the king, and by virtue of his
+    commission addressed to a young man of Paris named Henry Perdriel,
+    all the magpies, jays, and _chouettes_, caged or otherwise, were
+    taken in charge, and a record was made of all the places where the
+    said birds were taken and also all that they knew how to say, like
+    _larron, paillart_, etc., _va hors, va! Perrette donnes moi a
+    boire_, and various other phrases that they had been taught."
+
+Abbe le Grand thinks that "Perrette" was meant for Peronne instead of
+a mistress of Louis of that name. But this conjecture seems the only
+basis for the very deep-rooted tradition that _Peronne_ was a word
+Louis could not bear to have uttered.
+
+"In the way of justice there is nothing going on here, [wrote one
+Anthony de Loisey from Liege to the president of Burgundy], except
+every day they hang and draw such Liegeois as are found or have been
+taken prisoners and have no money to ransom themselves. The city is
+well plundered, nothing remains but rubbish. For example I have not
+been able to find a sheet of paper fit for writing to you, but with
+all my pains could get nothing but some leaves from an old book."[12]
+
+Charles decided that nothing should be left standing except churches
+and ecclesiastical buildings. On November 9th, before the final fires
+were lit, he departed from the wretched town and went down the left
+bank of the Meuse to an abbey on the river, where he paused for the
+night. Four leagues distant from the city was this place, and from it
+were plainly visible the flames of the burning buildings on that grim
+St. Hubert's Day--a day when Liege had been wont to give vent to
+merriment.
+
+"From all the dangers that had encompassed him, Charles escaped with
+his life, simply because his hour had not yet struck, and because
+he was God's chosen instrument to punish the sinning city," is the
+verdict of one chronicler who does not spare his fellow-Liegeois for
+their follies while he profoundly pities their fate.[13]
+
+Out of the many contemporaneous accounts a portion of a private letter
+from the duke's cup-bearer to his sister is added:[14]
+
+    "Very dear sister, with a very good heart I recommend myself to
+    you and to all my good friends, men and women in our parts, not
+    forgetting my _beaux-peres,_ Martin Stephen and Dan Gauthier. Pray
+    know that, thanks to God, I and all my people are safe and sound.
+    As to my horses, one was wounded and another is sick in the hands
+    of the marshals at Namur, and the others are thin enough and have
+    no grain to eat except hay. The weather, has, indeed, been enough
+    to strike a chill to the hearts of men and horses. Since we left
+    Burgundy there have not been three fine days in succession and we
+    are in a worse state than wolves.
+
+    "You already know how we passed through Lorraine and Ratellois
+    without troubling about Salesart or other French captains, nor the
+    other Lorrainers either, although they were under orders to
+    attack us, and were no more afraid of us than we of them. As we
+    approached the territory of Hainaut, M. the duke sent Messire
+    Pierre de Harquantbault[15] to us to show us what road to take.
+    He told us that the duke had made a treaty with the king, who had
+    visited him, news that filled us with astonishment....
+
+    After skirmishing for several days we reached the faubourgs of
+    Liege and remained there three of four days under arms, with no
+    sleep and little food, and our horses standing in the rain with no
+    shelter but the trees. While we were thus lodged, the king and
+    the duke with a fair escort arrived and took up their quarters in
+    certain houses near the faubourg. [... Constant firing was
+    interchanged for several days. Sallies were essayed and men were
+    slain.]
+
+    "Finally a direct attack was made on the king and Monseigneur
+    and there were more of their people than ours and that night
+    Monseigneur was in great danger. The following Sunday at 9 A.M. we
+    began the assault in three separate quarters. It was a fine thing
+    to see the men-at-arms march on the walls of the said city, some
+    climbing and others scaling them with ladders. The standards
+    of monseigneur the marshal and monsgn. de Renty who had been
+    stationed together in the faubourgs, were the first within the
+    said city which contained at that moment sixteen to eighteen
+    thousand combatants, who were surprised when they saw their walls
+    scaled.
+
+    "In a moment we entered crying 'Burgundy' and 'city gained.' Ever
+    so many of their people were slain and drowned in their flight. We
+    flew to reach the market-place and the church of St. Lambert where
+    a number of prisoners were taken and thrown into the water. Our
+    ensign stood in the midst of the fray on the market-place, in the
+    hopes that they would rally for a combat but they rallied only
+    to flee. While we held our position on the square several were
+    created knights.... All the churches--more than four hundred--were
+    pillaged and plundered. It is rumoured that they will be burnt
+    together with the rest of the city. Piteous it is to see what ill
+    is wrought.... [The king] stayed in the city with Monseigneur two
+    or three days. Then he departed, it is said for Brussels to await
+    my said lord. It is a great thing to have seen the puissance of my
+    master, _which is great enough to defeat an emperor_. I believe
+    the Burgundians will shortly return to Burgundy.
+
+    "I paid my respects to my said lord, who received me very well. At
+    present I am listed[16] among those whose term is almost expired
+    and I am ready to follow him wherever he wishes until my service
+    is out, which will be soon. I would have written before had I had
+    any one to send it by. Pray write me about yourself by the first
+    comer. Praying our Lord, beloved sister, to keep you. Written in
+    Liege, November 8, 1468.
+
+    "JEHAN DE MAZILLES."
+
+
+This sober letter and other accounts by reliable witnesses agree as to
+the terrible havoc wrought in the city by the assault on October 30th
+and by determined and systematic measures of destruction, both during
+Charles's ten days' sojourn for the express purpose of completing the
+punishment and after his departure. Yet the result assuredly fell
+short of the intention. The destruction was not complete as was that
+of Dinant. Vitality remained, apart from the ecclesiastical nucleus
+intentionally preserved by the duke.
+
+Having watched the tongues of flame lap the unfortunate city, Charles
+turned with his army towards Franchimont, that rugged hill country
+which had proved a nest of hardy and persistent antagonists to
+Burgundian pretensions. Jehan de Mazilles is in close attendance and
+gives further details of the pitiless fashion in which Charles carried
+out his purpose of leaving no seed of resistance to germinate. Four
+nights and three days they sojourned in a certain little village while
+there was a hard frost and where, without unarming, they "slept under
+the trees and drank water." Meantime a small party was despatched
+by the duke to attack the stronghold of Franchimont. The despairing
+Liegeois who had taken refuge there abandoned it, and it was taken by
+assault. A few more days and the duke was assured that Liege and her
+people were shorn of their strength. When the remnant of survivors
+began to creep back to the city and tried to recover what was left
+of their property, many were the questions to be settled. Lawsuits
+succeeded to turmoils and lingered on for years.
+
+In the lordly manner of conquerors Charles, too, demanded
+reimbursement for his trouble in bending these free citizens to
+his illegal will. The reinstated bishop wanted his rents and legal
+perquisites, all difficult to collect, and many were the ponderous
+documents that passed on the subject. How justly pained sounds
+Charles's remonstrance on the default of payment of taxes to his
+friend, the city's lord!
+
+"Therefore [he writes,] in consideration of these things, taking into
+account the terror of our departure to Brussels last January, we
+decide, my brother and I, that the payment of both _gabelle_ and poll
+tax must be forced, and that we cannot permit the retarding of such
+taxes under any colour or pretence. At the request of our brother and
+cousin we order the inhabitants of the said territories to pay both
+_gabelle_ and poll tax, all that is due from the time it was imposed
+and for the time to come, under penalty of the confiscation of their
+goods and their persons."
+
+It was the old story of bricks without straw--taxes and rents for
+property ruthlessly destroyed were so easy. To this extent of tyranny
+had Duke Philip never gone, and undoubtedly the treatment of Liege was
+a step towards Charles's final disaster. So much hatred was excited
+against him that his adherents fell off one by one when his luck began
+to fail him.
+
+No omen of misfortune was to be seen at this time, however. That month
+of November saw him master absolute wherever he was and he used his
+power autocratically. At Huy, he had a number of prisoners executed.
+At Louvain, at Brussels, he gave fresh examples of his relentlessness
+as an overlord.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, ii., ch. xi. It was not far from the place
+where another Prince of Orange tried to cross the Meuse exactly a
+hundred years later.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The story of the "men of Franchimont" is questioned.
+Commines is the only authority for it.]
+
+[Footnote 3: II., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Commines, ii., ch. xiii.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Oudenbosch, _Veterum scriptorum, etc. Amplissima
+Collectio_, ed. E. Martene, iv. Rerum Leodiensim. Opus Adriani de
+Veteri Busco, p. 1343. The writer acknowledges that the story is
+hearsay.]
+
+[Footnote 6: "_Non cessero di cavalchare senza fare demoia alcuna.
+Lettres,iii_., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Commines, ii., ch. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "_O proeclarum et memorabile facinus hujus regis
+Francorum_."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Basin, _Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI_., Quicherat ed., ii., 204. This also appears in _Excerpta ex
+Amelgardi. De gestis Ludovici XI_., cap. xxiii. Martene's _Amplissima
+Collectio,_ iv., 740 _et seq_.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Quoted in Kirk, i., 606, note.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Jean de Roye, _Chronique Scandaleuse_, ed. Mandrot, i.,
+220.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Comines-Lenglet, iii., 83.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Johannes de Los, _Chronicon_, p. 60. _Quia hora nendum
+venerat._ De Ram, "Troubles du pays de Liege."]
+
+[Footnote 14: Commynes-Dupont, _Preuves_, iii., 242. Letter of Jehan
+de Mazilles to his sister.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Hagenbach, later Governor of Alsace.]
+
+[Footnote 16: _Conte aux escros_. This word strictly applies to the
+prisoners on a jailer's list--evidently used in jest.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+A NEW ACQUISITION
+
+1469-1473
+
+
+This successful expedition against Liege carried Charles of Burgundy
+to the very crest of his prosperity. His self-esteem was moreover
+gratified by the regard shown to him at home and abroad. A man who
+could force a royal neighbour into playing the pitiful role enacted by
+Louis XI. at Peronne was assuredly a man to be respected if not loved.
+And messages of admiration and respect couched in various terms
+were despatched from many quarters to the duke as soon as he was at
+Brussels to receive them.
+
+Ghent had long since made apologies for the sorry reception accorded
+to their incoming Count of Flanders in 1467, but Charles had postponed
+the formal _amende_ until a convenient moment of leisure. January 15,
+1469, was finally appointed for this ceremony and the occasion was
+utilised to show the duke's grandeur, the city's humiliation, to as
+many people as possible who might spread the report far and wide.
+
+It was a Sunday. Out in the courtyard of the palace the snow was thick
+on the ground where a group of Ghent burghers cooled their heels for
+an hour and a half, awaiting a summons to the ducal presence. There,
+too, where every one could see those emblems of the artisans'
+corporate strength, fluttered fifty-two banners unfurled before the
+deans of the Ghentish _metiers_.[1]
+
+Within, the great hall of the palace showed a splendid setting for a
+brilliant assembly. The most famous Burgundian tapestries hung on the
+walls. Episodes from the careers of Alexander, of Hannibal, and of
+other notable ancients formed the background for the duke and his
+nobles, knights of the Golden Fleece, in festal array. As spectators,
+too, there were all the envoys and ambassadors then present in
+Brussels from "France, England, Hungary, Bohemia, Naples, Aragon,
+Sicily, Cyprus, Norway, Poland, Denmark, Russia, Livornia, Prussia,
+Austria, Milan, Lombardy, and other places."
+
+Charles himself was installed grandly on a kind of throne, and to his
+feet Olivier de la Marche conducted the civic procession of penitents.
+Before this pompous gathering, after a statement of the city's sin and
+sorrow, the precious charter called the Grand Privilege of Ghent
+was solemnly read aloud, and then cut up into little pieces with a
+pen-knife. Next followed a recitation of the penalties imposed upon,
+and accepted by, the citizens (closing of the gates, etc)., and then
+the paternal Count of Flanders, duly mollified, pronounced the fault
+forgiven with the benediction, "By virtue of this submission and by
+keeping your promises and being good children, you shall enjoy our
+grace and we will be a good prince." "May our Saviour Jesus Christ
+confirm and preserve this peace to the end of this century," is the
+pious ejaculation with which the _Relation_ closes.
+
+Among the witnesses of the above scene, when the independent citizens
+of Ghent meekly posed as the duke's children, were envoys from George
+Podiebrad, ex-king of Bohemia. Lately deposed by the pope, he was
+seeking some favourable ally who might help him to recover his realm.
+He had conceived a plan for a coalition between Bohemia, Poland,
+Austria, and Hungary to present a solid rampart against the Turks,
+and strong enough to dictate to emperor and pope. He was ready for
+intrigue with any power and had approached Louis XI. and Matthias
+Corvinus, King of Hungary, before turning to Charles of Burgundy.[2]
+
+Meantime, the Emperor Frederic tried to knit links with this same
+Matthias by suggesting that he might be the next emperor, assuring
+him that he could count on the support of the electors of Mayence, of
+Treves, and of Saxony. He himself was world-weary and was anxious to
+exchange his imperial cares for the repose of the Church could he
+only find a safe guardian for his son, Maximilian, and a desirable
+successor for himself. Would not Matthias consider the two offices?
+
+Potent arguments like these induced Matthias not only to turn his back
+on Podiebrad, but to accept that deposed monarch's crown which the
+Bohemian nobles offered him May 3, 1469. Then he proceeded to ally
+himself with Frederic, elector palatine, and with the elector of
+Bavaria. This was the moment when the ex-king of Bohemia made renewed
+offers of friendly alliance to Charles of Burgundy. In his name the
+Sire de Stein brought the draft of a treaty of amity to Charles which
+contained the provision that Podiebrad should support the election
+of Charles as King of the Romans, in consideration of the sum of two
+hundred thousand florins (Rhenish).[2]
+
+This modest sum was to secure not only Podiebrad's own vote but his
+"influence" with the Archbishop of Mayence, the Elector of Saxony
+and the Margrave of Brandenburg.[4] While Podiebrad thus dangled
+the ultimate hopes of the imperial crown before the duke's eyes, he
+over-estimated his credulity. As a matter of fact the royal exile had
+no "influence" at all with the first named elector, and the last, too,
+showed no disposition whatsoever to serve his unstable policy. Both
+were content to advise Emperor Frederic. The sole result of the empty
+overtures was to increase Charles's own sense of importance.
+
+Another negotiation which sought him unasked had, however, a material
+influence on the course of events, and must be touched on in some
+detail. Sigismund of Austria--first duke then archduke,--Count of
+Tyrol, cousin of the Emperor Frederic, was a member of the House of
+Habsburg. In 1449, he had married Eleanor of Scotland, and became
+brother-in-law of Louis during the term of the dauphin's first
+marriage. An indolent, extravagant prince, he was greatly dominated
+by his courtiers. His heritage as Count of Tyrol included certain
+territories lying far from his capital, Innsbruck. Certain portions
+of Upper Alsace, lands on both sides of the Rhine, Thurgau, Argau in
+Switzerland, Breisgau, and some other seigniories in the Black Forest
+were under his sway.
+
+These particular domains were so remote from Innsbruck that the
+authority of the hereditary overlord had long been eluded. The nobles
+pillaged the land near their castles very much at their own sweet
+will. The harassed burghers appealed to the Alsatian Decapole,[5] and
+again to the free Swiss cantons for protection, and sometimes obtained
+more than they wanted.
+
+Mulhouse was seriously affected by these lawless depredations. To her,
+Berne promised aid in a twenty-five years' alliance signed in 1466,
+and at Berne's insistance the cowardly nobles restrained their
+license. But when the city attempted to extend its authority Sigismund
+interfered. Having no army, however, he could not recover Waldshut,
+which the Swiss claimed a right to annex, except by offering ten
+thousand florins for the town's ransom. Poor in cash as he was in men,
+he had, however, no means to pay this ransom and begged aid in every
+direction. Moreover, he feared further aggressions from the cantons,
+which were growing more daring. What man in Europe was better able to
+teach them a lesson than Charles, the destroyer of Liege, the stern
+curber of undue liberty in Flanders? Was he not the very person to
+tame insolent Swiss cowherds?
+
+In the course of the year 1468, Sigismund made known to Charles his
+desire for a bargain, intimating that in case of the duke's refusal,
+he would carry his wares to Louis XI. At that moment, Charles was
+busied with Liege and showed no interest in Sigismund's proposition.
+The latter tried to see Louis XI. personally in accordance with his
+imperial cousin's advice that an interview might be more effective
+than a letter.
+
+It did not prove a propitious time, however; Louis was deeply engaged
+with Burgundy and he was not disposed to take any steps that might
+estrange the Swiss--and any espousal of Sigismund's interests might
+alienate them. He did not even permit an opening to be made, but
+stopped Sigismund's approach to him by a message that he would not for
+a moment entertain a suggestion inimical to those dear friends of his
+in the cantons--a sentiment that quickly found its way to Switzerland.
+
+Thus stayed in his effort to win Louis's ear, Sigismund decided that
+he would make another essay towards a Burgundian alliance, this time
+face to face with the duke. On to Flanders he journeyed and found
+Charles in the midst of the ostentatious magnificence already
+described. Ordinary affairs of life were conducted with a splendour
+hardly attained by the emperor in the most pompous functions of his
+court. Sigismund was absolutely dazzled by the evidence of easy
+prosperity. The fact that a maiden was the duke's sole heiress led
+the Austrian to conceive the not unnatural idea that this attractive
+Burgundian wealth might be turned into the impoverished imperial
+coffers by a marriage between Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian, the
+emperor's son.
+
+[Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY FROM CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE
+REPRODUCED IN BARANTE, "LES DUCS DE BOURGOGNE"]
+
+The visitor not only thought of this possibility, but he immediately
+broached it to Charles. The bait was swallowed. As to the main
+proposition which Sigismund had come expressly to make, that, too,
+was not rejected. The duke perceived that the transfer of the Rhenish
+lands to his jurisdiction might militate to his advantage. A passage
+would be opened towards the south for his troops without the need of
+demanding permission from any reluctant neighbour. The risk of trouble
+with the Swiss did not affect him when weighing the advantages of
+Sigismund's proffer, a proffer which he finally decided to accept.
+Probably he found his guest a pleasant party to a bargain, for not
+only did he broach the tempting alliance between Mary and Maximilian,
+but he, too, seems to have hinted that the title of "King of the
+Romans" might be added to the long list of appellations already signed
+by Charles.[6] As Sigismund was richer in kin, if not in coin, than
+the feeble Podiebrad, Charles gave serious heed to the suggestion
+which fell incidentally from his guest's lips, in the course of the
+long conversations held at Bruges.
+
+Certain precautions were taken to protect Charles from being dragged
+into Swiss complications against his will, and then in May, 1469,
+the treaty of St. Omer was signed,[7] wherein the Duke of Burgundy
+accorded his protection to Sigismund of Austria and received from him
+all his seigniorial rights within certain specified territories.
+
+The most important part of this cession comprised Upper Alsace and
+the county of Ferrette, but there were also many other fragments of
+territory and rights of seigniory involved, besides lordship over
+various Rhenish cities, such as Rheinfelden, Saeckingen, Lauffenburg,
+Waldshut and Brisac. This last named town commanded the route
+eastward, as Waldshut that to the southeast, and Thann the highway
+through the Vosges region.
+
+Fifty thousand florins was the price for the property and the claims
+transferred from Sigismund to Charles. Ten thousand were to be paid at
+once, in order to ransom Waldshut from the Swiss. The remainder was
+due on September 24th. On his part, Sigismund specifically recognised
+the duke's right to redeem all domains nominally his but mortgaged for
+the time being, certain estates or seignorial rights having been thus
+alienated for 150 years.
+
+This territorial transfer was not a sale. It was a mortgage, but a
+mortgage with possession to the mortgagee and further restricted by
+the provision that there could be no redemption unless the mortgager
+could repay at Besancon the whole loan plus all the outlay made by the
+mortgagee up to that date. Instalment payments were expressly ruled
+out. The entire sum intact was made obligatory. Therefore the danger
+of speedy redemption did not disquiet Charles. He knew the man he had
+to deal with. Sigismund's lack of foresight and his prodigality were
+notorious. There was faint chance that he could ever command the
+amount in question. Accordingly, Charles was fairly justified in
+counting the mortgaged territory as annexed to Burgundy in perpetuity.
+
+Sigismund pocketed his florins eagerly. Nothing could have been more
+welcome to him. But this relief from the pressure of his pecuniary
+embarrassment did not inspire him with love for the man who held his
+lost lands. His sentiments towards Charles were very similar to those
+of an heir towards a usurer who has helped him in a temporary strait
+by mulcting him of his natural rights.
+
+As for the emperor, when this transfer of territory was an
+accomplished fact, he began to take fright at the consequences. He did
+not like this intrusion of a powerful French peer into the imperial
+circle.[8] At the same time he was ready to make him share
+responsibility in any further difficulties that might arise between
+Sigismund and the Swiss.
+
+The least skilful of prophets could have foreseen difficulties for
+Charles on his own account, both foreign and domestic. His own
+relations with the Swiss had always been friendly enough, but he had
+never before been so near a neighbour, while, within the Rhine lands,
+it was an open question whether the bartered inhabitants were to
+enjoy or regret their new tie with Burgundy. The importance of their
+sentiments was a matter of as supreme indifference to Charles as was
+danger from the Confederation. Neither conciliation nor diplomacy
+was in his thoughts. He had no conception of the intricacies of the
+situation. He counted the landgraviate as definitely his by the treaty
+of St. Omer as Brabant by heritage or Liege by conquest.
+
+The need of a kindly policy towards the little valley towns--a policy
+that might have won their allegiance--never occurred to him. They were
+his property and Peter von Hagenbach was, in course of time, made
+lieutenant-governor in his behalf.
+
+Apart from all personal considerations of enmity and amity of natives
+and neighbours, the territory of Upper Alsace and the county of
+Ferrette, delivered from needy Austria to rich Burgundy, like a coat
+pawned by a poor student, was held under very complex and singular
+conditions.[9] The status of the bargain between Sigismund and Charles
+was in point of fact something between pawn and sale, according to the
+point of view. Sigismund fully intended to redeem it, while Charles
+did not admit that possibility as remotely contingent. Nor was that
+the only peculiarity. The itemised list of the ceded territories as
+given in the treaty was far from telling the facts of the possessions
+passing to Sigismund's proxy.
+
+In the first place the Austrian seigniories were not compact. They
+were scattered here and there in the midst of lands ruled by others,
+as the Bishop of Strasburg, the Abbe of St. Blaise in the Black
+Forest, the count Palatine, the citizens of Basel and of Mulhouse, and
+others.
+
+The existent variety in the extent and nature of Austrian title was
+extraordinary. Nearly every possible combination of dismembered
+prerogative and actual tenure had resulted from the long series of
+ducal compositions. In some localities a toll or a quit-rent was the
+sole cession, and again a toll or a prerogative was almost the only
+residue remaining to the ostensible overlord, while all his former
+property or transferable birthright privileges were lodged in
+various hands on divers tenures. There were cases in which the
+mortgagee--noble, burgher, or municipal corporation--had taken the
+exact place of the Austrian duke and in so doing had become the vassal
+of his debtor, stripped of all vested interest but his sovereignty.
+For in these bargains wherein elements of the Roman contract and
+feudal customs were curiously blended, two classes of rights had been
+invariably reserved by the ducal mortgagers:
+
+  (1) Monopolies, regal in nature, such as assured free circulation on
+the highways, the old Roman roads, all jurisdiction of passports and
+travellers' protection.
+
+  (2) The suzerainty. This comprised the power to confer fiefs, of
+requisition of military service, of requesting _aids_ and admission to
+strongholds, cities, or castles, _le droit de forteresse jurable et
+rendable_.
+
+In these regards the compact between Charles and Sigismund differed
+from all previous covenants not only in degree, but in kind. The Duke
+of Burgundy entered into the _sovereign_ as well as into the mangled,
+maimed, and curtailed proprietary rights of the hereditary over-lord.
+
+In his assumption of this involved and doubtful property, Charles laid
+heavy responsibilities on his shoulders. The actual price of fifty
+thousand gold florins paid to Sigismund was a mere fraction of the
+pecuniary obligations incurred, while the weight of care was difficult
+to gauge. He succeeded to princes weak, frivolous, prodigal, whose
+misrule had long been a curse to the land. The incursions of
+the Swiss, the repeated descents of the Rhine nobles from their
+crag-lodged strongholds to pillage and destroy, terrified merchants
+and plunged peaceful labourers into misery.
+
+Through hatred of the absentee Austrians, the neighbouring cities
+repeatedly became the accomplices of these brigands, affording them
+asylums for refitting and free passage when they were laden with
+evident booty.
+
+In all departments of finance and administration disorder prevailed.
+The chief officials, castellans and councillors, enjoyed high salaries
+for neglected duties. The castles were in wretched repair and there
+were insufficient troops to guard the roads. There was no dependence
+upon the receipts nominally to be expected. In the sub-mortgaged
+lands, the lords simply levied what they could, without the slightest
+responsibility for the order of the domain; they did not hesitate to
+charge their suzerain for repairs never made, confident that no one
+would verify their declaration.
+
+In the territories of the immediate domain, the Austrian dukes and
+their officials had no notion of the rigid system maintained in
+Burgundy. Only here and there can little memoranda be found and these
+are confused and obscure. There is a dearth of accurate records like
+those voluminous registers of outlays kept by Burgundian receivers,
+registers so rich in detail that they are more valuable for the
+historian than any chronicle.
+
+Exact appraisal of the resources of these _pays de par de la_ was very
+difficult. Between 1469 and 1473 there were three efforts to obtain
+reliable information by means of as many successive commissions
+despatched to the Rhine valley by the Duke of Burgundy.
+
+Envoys drew up minutes of their observations in addition to their
+official reports and all were preserved in the archives. As these were
+written from testimony gathered on the spot, such as the accounts of
+the receivers now lost, etc., there is real value in the documents.
+
+The first commission in behalf of Burgundy was composed of two Germans
+and three Walloons. One of the former was Peter von Hagenbach, who
+won no enviable reputation in the later exercise of his office as
+lieutenant-governor of the annexed region, to which he was shortly
+afterwards appointed. This first commission entered into formal
+possession in Charles's name and instituted some desired reforms
+immediately, such as policing the highways, etc.
+
+The second commission made its visit in 1471. It consisted of Jean
+Pellet, treasurer of Vesoul, and Jean Poinsot, procureur-general of
+Amont.
+
+The third commission (1473) was under the auspices of Monseigneur
+Coutault, master of accounts at Dijon. He carried with him the report
+of his predecessors and made his additions thereto.
+
+Charles's directions to Poinsot and Pellet (June 13, 1471) were vague
+and general. They were "to see the conduct of his affairs" _(voir la
+conduite de ses affaires_). The important point was to find out how
+much revenue could be obtained. As the duke's plan of expansion grew
+larger he had need of all his resources.
+
+The reports were eminently discouraging. Outlay was needed
+everywhere--income was small. As the chances of peculation diminished,
+the castellans deserted their posts and left the castles to decay.
+The Burgundian commission of 1471 found the difficulties of their
+exploration increased by two items. Charles had not advanced an
+allowance for their expenses and they were anxious to be back at
+Vesoul by Michaelmas, the date of the change in municipal offices and
+of appropriations for the year. It was in hopes of receiving advance
+moneys that they delayed in starting, but the approaching election and
+coming winter finally decided them to set out, pay their own expenses,
+and complete the business as rapidly as they could in a fortnight.
+
+The summary of this report of 1471 was that there was little present
+prospect that Charles would be able to reimburse himself for his
+necessary expenses. An undue portion of authority and of revenue was
+legally lodged in alien hands. Charles was possessed of germs of
+rights rather than of actual rights. The earlier creditors of Austria
+held all the best mortgages with their attendant emoluments. The
+immediate profits accruing to the Duke of Burgundy fell far short
+of the minimum necessary to disburse to keep his government, his
+strongholds, his highways in repair. Very disturbed were the good
+treasurer of Vesoul and the procureur-general of Amont at this state
+of affairs, and distressed at the prospect of the ampler receipts from
+Burgundy being required to relieve the pressing necessities of the
+poor territories _de par de la_.
+
+To avoid this contingency, the commissioners recommended the duke
+to redeem all the existing mortgages great and small. It would cost
+140,000 florins, but the revenue would at once increase with the new
+security which would immediately follow under firm Burgundian rule.
+Sole master, Charles could then enforce obedience from nobles and
+cities and better conditions would be inaugurated.
+
+Evidently this rational advice was not taken, for it is repeated by
+Coutault in 1473. Redemption of the mortgages, "if your affairs can
+afford it," is the counsel given by the chamber of accounts at Dijon,
+though this sage board adds that they were well aware that in the
+previous month Monseigneur could not put his hands on a hundred
+florins to redeem one wretched little _gagerie._ The native coffers of
+the region did not suffice to settle the salaries of the officers in
+charge.
+
+Such then was the new acquisition of Charles after four years of his
+administration. Peter von Hagenbach, his deputy in charge of this
+unremunerative territory, is a character painted in the darkest
+colours by all historians. It is more than probable that his unpopular
+efforts to make bricks without straw were largely responsible for his
+unenviable reputation. Ground between the upper and lower millstones
+of Charles's clamours for revenues and popular clamours that the
+people had nothing wherewith to pay, Hagenbach developed into a
+taskmaster of the hardest and most unpitying type, who made himself
+thoroughly hated by the people he was set to rule.
+
+It must be remembered that there was no cleft in nationality or in
+language between governor and governed. He was not a foreigner set
+over them. He was one of them raised to a high position. There was
+then no French element in Lower Alsace. It was then German pure and
+simple.
+
+[Illustration: UPPER ALSACE AND ADJACENT TERRITORY BY PERMISSION OF
+HACHETTE, 1902]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 204-209. "Relation de
+l'assemblee solennelle tenue a Bruxelles le 15 Jan., 1469."]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Toutey, _Charles le Temeraire et la ligue de
+Constance_, p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See the text given in Comines-Lenglet, iii., 116. Charles
+is characterised as _ducem strenuum in armis ac justitiae praecipium
+zelatorem_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See Toutey, p. 8; also Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Thus was named the assembly of ten Alsatian towns from
+Strasburg to Basel, organised into a half independent confederation by
+the Emperor Charles IV.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See "Fontes Rerum Austriacarum" Chmel, J., _Urkunden zur
+Geschichte von Osterreich_, etc., II^2, 223 _et passim_. One document,
+p. 229, has _Marz_ as a misprint for _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Charles was, to be sure, already within that circle for
+some of his Netherland provinces, but his feudal obligations there
+were very shadowy.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See Toutey, Lavisse, etc., and above all a valuable
+article by L. Stouff, entitled "Les Possessions Bourguignonnes dans la
+vallee du Rhin sous Charles le Temeraire," _Annales de l'Est,_ vol.
+18. This article, is the result of a careful examination of the
+reports made by Poinsot and Pellet, Charles's commissioners.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+ENGLISH AFFAIRS
+
+1470-1471
+
+
+In order to follow out the extension of Burgundian jurisdiction in
+one direction, the course of events in the duke's life has been
+anticipated a little. The thread of the story now returns to 1469,
+when Charles and Sigismund separated at St. Omer both well pleased
+with their bargain. Charles tarried for a time at Ghent and Bruges
+and then proceeded to Zealand and Holland, where his sojourn had been
+interrupted in 1468 by his alarm about French duplicity. In the glow
+caused by his past achievements, his present reputation, and future
+prospects, Charles of Burgundy was in a mood to prove to his subjects
+his excellence as a paternal ruler. Wherever he paused on his journey
+easy access was permitted to his presence and he was lavish in the
+time given to receiving petitions from the humblest plaintiff. The
+following gruesome incident is an illustration of the summary methods
+attributed to him.[1]
+
+Shortly before the ducal visit to Middelburg, the governor, a man
+of noble birth, a knight, fell in love with a married woman who
+indignantly repudiated his advances. In revenge the governor had the
+husband arrested on a charge of high treason. The wife, left without a
+protector, continued obdurate to the knight until the alternative of
+her husband's release or his death was offered her as the reward for
+accepting the governor's base suit or as the penalty of her refusal.
+She chose to redeem the prisoner. Having paid the price she went to
+the prison and was led to her husband truly, but he lay dead and in
+his coffin!
+
+When the Duke of Burgundy was once within the Zealand capital, this
+injured woman hastened to throw herself at his feet, a petitioner
+for justice. He heard her complaint and straightway summoned the
+ex-governor to his presence. The accused confessed that he had been
+carried away by his adoration for the woman, reminded Charles of
+his long and faithful devotion to the late duke and to himself, and
+offered any possible reparation for his crime. The duke ordered him to
+marry his victim. The widow was horrified at the suggestion, but was
+forced by her family to accept it. After the nuptial benediction, the
+knight again appeared before Charles to assure him that the plaintiff
+was satisfied. "She, yes," replied the duke coldly, "but not I." He
+remanded the bridegroom to prison, had him shriven and executed all
+within an hour. Then the bride was summoned and shown her second
+husband in his coffin as she had seen her first, and on the same spot.
+"It was a penalty that hit the innocent as well as the guilty, for the
+plaintiff died from the double shock."
+
+The duke, satisfied with his rigour, went on to Holland. Everywhere he
+evinced himself equally uncompromising towards the nobles, amiable and
+considerate towards the lower classes and humble folk. Various other
+stories related about him at this epoch are difficult to accept as
+authentic, for the main detail has appeared at other times under
+different guises. Wandering tales seem to alight, like birds of
+passage, on successive people in lands and epochs widely apart, mere
+hallmarks of certain characteristics re-embodied.
+
+The Hague was the duke's headquarters during two months, and there
+also he held open court and gave audience to many embassies in the
+midst of his administrative work pertaining to Holland and its nearest
+neighbours. He took measures to recover what he claimed had been
+usurped by Utrecht, and he initiated proceedings to make good the
+title of Lord of Friesland, that will-o'-the wisp to successive Counts
+of Holland and never acknowledged by the Frisians. In efforts to weld
+together the various provinces the months passed, until a new turn of
+foreign events began to absorb the duke's whole attention.
+
+The details of English politics with all the reasons for revolution
+and counter-revolution involved in the complicated civil disorders,
+the Wars of the Roses, affected Charles's policy but they can only
+be suggested in his biography. It must be remembered that the modern
+impression of English stability and French fickleness in political
+institutions, an impression casting reflections direct and indirect
+upon literature as well as history, is based on the changes in France
+from 1789 down to the fourth quarter of the nineteenth century. Quite
+the reverse is the earlier tradition based on the kaleidoscopic
+shifts familiar to several generations of observers in the fifteenth
+century[2]; stable and firm felt the French as they heard the tidings
+of the brief triumphs of belligerent factions across the Channel.
+
+Since 1461, Henry VI. of the House of Lancaster had been a passive
+prisoner, while Margaret of Anjou had exhausted herself in efforts
+to win adherents at home and abroad for her captive husband and her
+exiled son.[3] In 1463, she had received some aid, some encouragement
+from Philip of Burgundy, although he had recognised Edward IV. as king
+and although, too, his personal sympathies were Yorkish rather than
+Lancastrian.
+
+It was Charles who escorted the errant lady into Lille, but later the
+duke himself entertained her munificently. The poverty-stricken exile
+probably found the accompanying ducal gifts more to the immediate
+purpose than the ducal feasts. Two thousand gold crowns were bestowed
+upon herself, a hundred upon each of her ladies, while various
+Lancastrian nobles were tided over hard times by useful sums of money.
+
+Pleasant though the recognition was, however, the pecuniary assistance
+was quite insufficient to accomplish Margaret's purpose. For nine
+years Edward IV. sat on his throne and no serious efforts were made to
+dislodge him. As he never forgot his mother's lineage, the sympathies
+of Charles of Burgundy were with the exiles, and Queen Margaret may
+have counted confidently on that sympathy proving valuable for her son
+as soon as Charles himself had a free hand. But when he came into his
+heritage, his marriage with Margaret of York put a definite end to
+those hopes. The new duke thereby declared his acceptance of the king
+whom the Earl of Warwick had seated upon the English throne. Then
+came clashing of wills between that king and his too powerful
+subject-adviser.[4] To punish his unruly royal protege, Warwick turned
+his attention to the Duke of Clarence, brother and heir presumptive to
+Edward IV. A marriage was planned between this possible future monarch
+and the earl's eldest daughter and then quickly celebrated at Calais
+without the king's knowledge (July, 1469).
+
+In the same summer occurred a rising in Yorkshire, possibly instigated
+by Warwick.[5] The malcontents, sixty thousand strong, declared that
+the king was giving ear to base counsellors and must be coerced into
+better ways. An attempt to suppress this revolt by the royal troops
+resulted in a pitched battle where Earl Rivers, the father of
+Elizabeth Woodville, the young queen, was taken prisoner and beheaded.
+
+Edward, baffled, finally turned for aid to Warwick. Over the Channel
+hastened the earl and his new son-in-law, levied troops, met the king
+at Olney, and--Edward found himself if not exactly a prisoner, at
+least under restraint. Two sovereigns--both without power even over
+their own actions,--such was the situation in England at the end of
+1469, when Charles of Burgundy was self-complacently regarding Louis
+XI. as a foe convinced of his own inferiority.
+
+A menacing letter from this redoubtable ducal brother-in-law was
+probably the reason why Edward IV. was set at liberty, and why a
+reconciliation was patched up between him and his councillor, with
+full pardon for Warwick's adherents. But it was short-lived. A fresh
+outbreak in March, 1470, made another change. Warwick and Clarence
+sided with the rebels, the king was victorious, and his unfaithful
+friend and brother were again forced to flee under a shower of menaces
+hurled after them.
+
+    "But, and He [Clarence] or Richart Erle of Warrewyk our Rebell and
+    Traytour come into oure seid Land we woll ... that ye doo Hym
+    and Theym to be arrested ... He that Taketh and Bryngeth unto Us
+    either of theym, he shal have for his Reward C._l_ of Land in
+    Yerely Value to Hym and to his Heyres or Mil. _Lib_ in Redy money
+    at his election."[6]
+
+Such was the proclamation issued on March 22d by the king himself at
+York.
+
+Between Edward and Charles a new link had just been forged in the
+chain of friendship. The Order of the Garter is thus acknowledged by
+the duke:
+
+    "We have to-day received from our much honoured seigneur and
+    brother, the king of England, his Order of the Garter together
+    with the mantle and other ornaments and things appertaining to the
+    said Order and have ... taken the oath according to the statutes
+    of the Order.
+
+    "Done in our city of Ghent under our Grand Seal, February 4, 1469
+    [O.S.]."[7]
+
+Now it was in consideration of needs that might arise in the near
+future, following on the trail of these wide-reaching English
+convulsions, that Charles felt it necessary to make preparations for
+a strong military defence calculated to suit any emergency. Louis XI.
+had a permanent force at his command. He had made the beginning of the
+French standing army, the nucleus of one of those bodies that have
+ever since urged each other on to expensive growth from opposite sides
+of European frontiers. What one monarch possessed that must his near
+neighbour have.
+
+Feudal service, volunteer militia, paid mercenaries, were all alike
+unstable bulwarks for a nation. Nation as yet Charles had not, but
+he wanted to be betimes with his bulwarks. This was why he issued
+an ordinance for the levy of a thousand lances, amounting to five
+thousand combatants, to be paid with regular wages and kept ready at
+call under officers of his own appointment. The ducal treasury could
+not stand the whole expense. To meet the deficit, Charles asked from
+his Netherland Estates an annual subsidy of 120,000 crowns for three
+years. Power to impose taxes he had none. A request to each individual
+province was all the requisition that he could make.
+
+In this case, most of the provinces approached had acceded to the
+demand, when the Estates of Flanders convened at Lille. Here the
+Chancellor of Burgundy expounded to them the grounds of the demand,
+and then the session was changed to Bruges, where they debated on the
+merits of the request, urged on further by explanatory letters from
+Charles. Finally, a deputation was appointed by the Estates to go over
+to Ghent and present a _Remonstrance_ to their impatient sovereign
+beggar.
+
+Three points were set forth. The deputies objected to this grant being
+asked only from the lands _de par de ca_--the Netherlands and not from
+the Burgundies. Secondly, they wished a definite assessment imposed on
+each province. Thirdly, they desired a declaration that the fiefs and
+arriere-fiefs already bound to furnish troops should be exempt from
+share in this tax. The remonstrance was courtly in tone. Written
+in French, the concluding phrases were in Latin and suggested that
+nothing was more becoming a prince than clemency, especially towards
+his subjects.[8]
+
+Vigorous and emphatic was the prince's response.[9] How could Burgundy
+furnish money? It is a poor land. It takes after France.[10] But its
+men make a third of the army. They are the Burgundian contribution. As
+to an assessment, what is the use unless the tax is surely to be paid?
+Only out of malice is this idle point suggested.
+
+    "You act as you have always done--you Flemings. Neither to my
+    father nor to me have you ever been liberal. What you have
+    granted--sometimes more than our request--has always been given so
+    tardily as to prove the lack of good will. Your Flemish skulls
+    are hard and thick and you cling to your stubborn and perverse
+    opinions.... I am half of France and half of Portugal and I know
+    how to meet such heads as yours, ay and _will_ do it. You have
+    always either hated or despised your prince--if powerful you
+    hated, if weak you despised. I prefer your hatred to your
+    contempt. Not for your privileges or anything else will I permit
+    myself to be trampled on--and I have the power to prevent such
+    trampling."
+
+    Laying stress on the extreme modesty of his demand, whose purpose
+    mainly was for defence of Flanders, the duke proceeded to berate
+    his visitors soundly for their presumptuous haggling, declaring
+    that as to the fiefs and arriere-fiefs he would see to it that no
+    double burdens were borne.
+
+    "And when you shall have determined to accord my request,--which
+    you will assuredly do (and I do not mean to burden you further
+    unless I am forced to it),--send some of your deputies after me to
+    Lille or St. Omer, and there, with my chancellor and my council, I
+    will determine the apportionment and we will speak also of other
+    matters touching my province of Flanders."
+
+It was this vehement oratory--and this vehemence was repeated on many
+occasions--that did more to alienate Charles from his hereditary
+subjects than his actual demands. There is little doubt that his
+period of residence in their midst brought with it hatred rather
+than liking. No political error of his serves to explain the Flemish
+attitude towards the duke as does his method of address, the
+gratuitous contempt displayed towards burghers whose purses were
+needed for his game. The _aide_ was granted, indeed, but it was levied
+with sullen reluctance.
+
+What cause Charles had to make his preparations, what were the
+proceedings of the English exiles may be seen from the following
+letters to his mother and to the town of Ypres. The first is probably
+in answer to her questionings; the second is a specimen of the
+epistles showered upon the border towns.
+
+    "TO MY VERY REDOUBTABLE LADY AND MOTHER,
+
+    MADAME THE DUCHESS, AT AIRE:
+
+    "May it please you to know that in regard to what the Sgr. de
+    Crevecoeur has written you about the king's proclamations that he
+    intends to maintain his treaties and promises to me, etc., and has
+    no desire to sustain the Earl of Warwick, and wishes my subjects
+    to be reimbursed for the damages inflicted by him and his,
+    assuredly, my Lady and Mother, the contrary has been and is well
+    known before the said publications and after. The Earl of Warwick
+    is my foe and could not, according to the treaty existing between
+    the king and me, be received in Normandy or elsewhere in the realm
+    ... [complaints about the procedure have been sent to king and
+    parliament and councillors, without redress, etc.] What is more,
+    the Admiral of France has sent thither a spy under pretext of
+    carrying a letter to Sgr. de la Groothuse, which man was charged
+    to spy upon my ships and by means of a caravel named the
+    _Brunette_, sent for this purpose by the admiral, to cut the
+    cables to set them adrift and founder--or to capture certain ships
+    with such captains, knights, and gentlemen as he could find, and
+    myself, too, if they were able.
+
+    "Furthermore, the said spy was charged to spy on my towns, etc.,
+    and those of the caravel called the _Brunette_ were charged, if
+    they failed in taking my ships, or in cutting their cables, to
+    set fire to them--all in direct conflict with the terms of the
+    treaties, and procedures that the king would never have tolerated
+    had he had the slightest intention of maintaining his word ...
+    [Charles does not consider Groothuse to blame at all, etc.][11]
+
+
+_Letter from Charles of Burgundy to the Magistrates of Ypres, June 10,
+1470_
+
+    "DEAR FRIENDS:
+
+    "It has come to your knowledge how after the Duke of Clarence and
+    the Earl of Warwick were expelled from England on account of their
+    sedition and their ill deeds, they have declared themselves both
+    by words and deeds of aggression our enemies, and on _Vendredi
+    absolut_[12] went so far as to capture by fraud ships and property
+    belonging to our subjects, and have further done damage whenever
+    opportunity presented itself.
+
+    "In order to repel them we have ordered them to be attacked on
+    the sea. Moreover, at the same time we were advised that the same
+    Clarence and Warwick and their people, after they were routed at
+    sea by the troops of my honoured lord and brother, Edward, King of
+    England, retreated to the marches of Normandy and were honourably
+    received at Honfleur by the Admiral of France with all which they
+    had saved from the raid on our subjects after the defeat.
+
+    "All this was direct infringement of the treaties lately made
+    between Monseigneur the king and myself. Therefore, we wrote at
+    once to Monsgr. the king begging him not to favour or aid the said
+    Clarence and Warwick in his land of Normandy or elsewhere in his
+    realm, nor to permit them to sell or distribute the property of
+    our subjects, and to show his will by publishing such prohibitions
+    throughout Normandy and elsewhere where need is.
+
+    "Also we wrote to the court of parliament at Paris, and to the
+    council of my said seigneur at Rouen. The answer was that the king
+    meant to keep the treaty between him and us and had ordered his
+    subjects in Normandy not to retain the property belonging to our
+    subjects ... but we have since learned that, notwithstanding,
+    this same property has been distributed and ransoms have been
+    negotiated in the sight and knowledge of the Admiral of France and
+    his officers.
+
+    "Moreover, it is perfectly evident that by means of the aid
+    furnished by the king to the said Clarence and Warwick, the latter
+    are enabled to continue the war on our subjects and not on the
+    English, it being understood that they who were banished from
+    England are not strong enough to return by the force of arms but
+    must do so by friendship and favour.... On account of the above
+    and other depredations, we shall attack the said Warwick and
+    Clarence on the sea as pirates, and all who aid them as is needful
+    for the protection of our lands and subjects.
+
+    "Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."[13]
+
+    "Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist him to recover
+    England either with the help of Queen Margaret or by whatever
+    other means he may propose.... Only let him communicate his
+    desires in this respect as speedily as possible and the king will
+    lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of accomplishing it,"
+
+wrote the complaisant King of France in his directions to the
+confidential messenger sent to discuss matters with the English
+earl.[14]
+
+
+But that was not his language towards his cousin of Burgundy, whom he
+assured that there should be no infringement of their treaty, and that
+it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish property
+captured at sea in defiance of that treaty should be sold in French
+market-places. There is a hot correspondence,[15] that is, it is hot
+on the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are smoothly surprised
+at there being any cause for dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall
+be investigated, his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from the duke
+to two of Louis's council is emphatic in its expressions of doubt as
+to the good faith of these royal statements:
+
+    "ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:
+
+    "The vessels which you assure me are destined by the king for
+    an attack on England have attempted nothing except against my
+    subjects; but, by St. George, if some redress be not seen to, I
+    will take the matter into my own hands without waiting for your
+    motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."[16]
+
+
+Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent French merchants,
+coming peaceably to the fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of
+their private property, while the duke felt fully justified in
+stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to guard the Channel.
+Philip de Commines was one of the company who went at the duke's
+behest to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be faithful to King
+Edward, and to give no shelter to the rebellious earl and his protege
+Clarence.[17]
+
+Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an inconvenient moment. He
+temporised. To Warwick, he denied a personal interview, but at the
+same time he sent him a confidential emissary, Sr. du Plessis, to whom
+he wrote as follows:
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have for Warwick's
+    return to England, as well because I wish to see him get the
+    better of his enemies--or that at least through him the realm of
+    England may be embroiled--as to avoid the questions which have
+    arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you know that these Bretons
+    and Burgundians have no other aim than to find a pretext for
+    rupturing peace and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see
+    commenced under this colour.... Wherefore I pray you take pains,
+    you and others there, to induce Mons. de Warwick to depart by all
+    arguments possible. Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so
+    that he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything else
+    but his personal advantage."[18]
+
+
+To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment. The envoys
+sent by Louis to placate the duke's resentment at the incidents in
+connection with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that Louis meant
+well by him and his subjects, found Charles holding high state at St.
+Omer. When they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered
+sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above floor level, "higher than
+was the wont of king or emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head
+as the representatives of his feudal overlord bowed to him and he
+acknowledged their obeisance by a slight nod and a gesture permitting
+them to rise.
+
+Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered their address with
+a prosy speech. Burgundian officials revelled in grandiloquent
+phrases--which this time bored Charles, He cut short the harangue
+impatiently, took the floor himself, and made a statement of the
+injuries he had suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend, but he
+was aiding the foe of the duke's brother. The envoys repeated their
+sovereign's offers of redress. Charles declared that redress was
+impossible. Pained, very pained were the French envoys to think that
+a petty dispute could not be settled amicably. "The king desires to
+avoid friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress for every
+wrong. It will not be his fault if trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the
+king and you have a judge who is above you both."
+
+The insinuation that it was he who was ready to break the peace
+infuriated Charles. He started to his feet, his eyes flashing with
+fire. "Among us Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends
+become friends to our foes we send them to the hundred thousand devils
+of hell."[19] "A piece of bad taste to send by implication a king of
+France to a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave Chastellain,
+aghast at this impolite, emphatic, though indirect reference to Louis
+XI.
+
+Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers present at this occasion.
+After all, they, too, were French by nature. To wreck the new-made
+peace for the sake of the English alliance, which had never been
+really popular among them, that seemed an act of rash unwisdom.
+
+    "A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because their chief
+    thus implied contempt for the name of France to which the duke
+    belonged. Not going quite so far as to call himself English,
+    though that was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother,
+    ancient friend of England and enemy of France."
+
+
+There were, indeed, times when the duke was more emphatic in asserting
+his English blood. Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands
+which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates and citizens of
+Calais, whom he addresses, "O you my friends."[20] While reiterating
+that he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By St. George who
+knows me to be a better Englishman and more anxious for the weal of
+England than you other English ... [you] shall recognise that I am
+sprung from the blood of Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied
+with the circumstances.
+
+While he was so conscious of his own greatness, present and future,
+and of his own laudable intentions to do well by his subjects, it is
+quite possible, too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously
+by his failure to win popularity. For he was quite as unpopular with
+his courtiers as with his subjects. The former did not like the rigid
+court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting through audiences silent
+and stiff "as at a sermon," and exposed to personal reprimands from
+their chief if there were the slightest lapses from his standard of
+conduct. They did not know on what meat the duke was feeding his
+imagination, an imagination that already saw him as Caesar. Had he
+actually attained the loftier rank that he dreamed of, his premature
+arrogance might have been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible
+to the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his popularity during
+the years 1470-73.
+
+Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer, Louis had been relieved
+of anxiety in regard to the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers
+of an heir like his brother who might easily be used as a tool by some
+clever faction opposed to the ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was
+born to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant still
+were his words to his Burgundian cousin, but the moment was drawing
+near when his efforts to circumvent him were no longer secret.
+
+The embassy returned home. Possibly their report of the duke's
+passionate words goaded the king into discarding his mask of
+friendship. At any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in showing
+which side of the fresh English quarrel he meant to espouse. Margaret
+of Anjou hated the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had unseated
+her husband but because he had doubted her fidelity to that husband.
+Nevertheless, under Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her
+past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on fraternising with him on
+a basis of common hate for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed
+by the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the prince whose very
+legitimacy Warwick had questioned, with the earl's younger daughter.
+It was a singular union to be accepted by the parents, separated as
+they had been by the wall of insults interchanged during more than a
+decade of bitter enmity.
+
+Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession. She saw her
+seventeen-year-old son betrothed to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville,
+and later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick on a piece of
+the true cross in St. Mary's Church at Angers (August 4, 1470).
+
+    "Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July 25th], I have sent
+    you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick
+    in surety, and I order him to make such arrangements that the
+    people of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity until he
+    is there. To-day we have made the marriage of the Queen of England
+    and of him, and hope to-morrow to have all in readiness to
+    depart."[21]
+
+
+[Illustration: MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY (FROM BARANTE)]
+
+Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme towns, insinuating
+opposition to the duke, and reminding the citizens that they were
+French at heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the Burgundian
+court, saying many things in secret besides those they said in public.
+Plenty there were that wished for war, remarks the observant Commines.
+Nobles like St. Pol and others could not maintain the same state in
+peace as in war, and state they loved. In time of war four hundred
+lances attended the constable, and he had a large allowance to
+maintain them from which he reaped many a profitable commission
+besides the fees of his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover,"
+adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to say among themselves
+that if there were no battles without, there would be quarrels within
+the realm."
+
+The matter of the grants to Charles of France had been settled to his
+royal brother's liking, not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne
+and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were withdrawn and
+Guienne substituted. When Normandy had been exchanged for Champagne
+and Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of Burgundy approved
+the change as he thought it assured him an obedient friend as
+neighbour.[22] The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne and
+Brie, was quite a different thing.
+
+Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away from Burgundy. Naturally,
+Charles was not content. Then, too, it looked as though he had lost a
+useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new Duke of Guienne was
+formally reconciled to his brother and took oath that his fraternal
+devotion to his monarch should never again waver.
+
+Long before Charles was completely convinced that Louis was not going
+to maintain the humble attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he
+became very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against him. "He
+hastened to Hesdin where he entered into jealousy of his servants"
+says Commines. That he was assured that there were reasons for his
+apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated as an open letter,[23]
+to various cities, wherein he makes a detailed statement of the plots
+against his life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of Duke Philip.
+
+Sorry return was this from one recognised as Bastard of Burgundy and
+brought up in the ducal household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa,
+Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave of the duke's
+service and made his way to the king in his castle of Amboise, where
+he had been pleasantly received and promised rich reward when he had
+"executed his damnable designs against our person."
+
+Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in Charles's court at St.
+Omer were arrested as suspicious, and that circumstance frightened
+Baldwin and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his retinue, his
+horses, and his baggage behind. He dreaded lest he might be attainted
+and convicted of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the king.
+
+    "Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and clemency of God,
+    we inform you of the events so that you may render thanks
+    by public processions, solemn masses, sermons, and prayers,
+    beseeching Him devoutly and from the heart that He will always
+    guard and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and subjects
+    from such plots.
+
+    "May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in our castle of
+    Hesdin, December 13, 1470.
+
+    "CHARLES.
+
+    "LE GROS."
+
+
+It was not long before Charles had less reason to fear French
+"subtleties." At an assembly of notables[24] convened at Tours at the
+end of 1470, Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily for
+just two years, and made an open brief of his grievances against the
+duke.
+
+His case was cited with a luxury of detail more or less authentic. The
+interview at Peronne was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the Duke
+of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468, both obtained by undue
+pressure, had not been respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was
+obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.
+
+Even Commines shows that it is not surprising that there was
+unanimity[25] in the declaration that according to God and his
+conscience in all honour and justice the king was released from those
+treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion into Picardy as soon
+as possible.
+
+Charles's public accusations of plots against him did not go
+unanswered. Jehan de Chassa promptly issued a rejoinder:
+
+    "As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has sent to divers
+    places letters signed by himself and his secretary, Jehan le
+    Gros, written at Hesdin, December 13th, falsely charging me with
+    plotting against his life with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy,
+    and Jehan d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching my
+    honour, feel bound to reply.... By God and by my soul I declare
+    that these charges against me made by Charles of Burgundy are
+    false and disloyal lies"[26]
+
+Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation at the slur on his
+character, but he remained in the French court as did many others who
+had formerly served Charles.
+
+Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his daughter in the hands
+of Margaret of Anjou, openly aided by Louis, sailed back to England in
+September But there had been one further change of base of which the
+earl was still unconscious. His elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in
+the Warwick-Lancaster alliance. It brought young Prince Edward to the
+fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence--long ready to replace Edward of
+York--of any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined to accept
+offers of a reconciliation tendered him by King Edward.
+
+Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence sailed with Warwick and
+joined with him in the proclamations scattered over England, declaring
+that the exiles were returning to "set right and justice to their
+places, and to reduce and redeem for ever the realm from its
+thraldom." Never a mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI. Perhaps
+it was as convenient to see which way the wind blew and to put in a
+name accordingly.
+
+On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was raised as a cry. In
+Nottinghamshire, where Edward lay, not a word was heard for York.
+There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had turned against him
+and off he rode to Lyme with a small following, took ship, and made
+for Holland. It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns gave
+chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter at Alkmaar where De la
+Groothuse, Governor of Holland, welcomed him in the name of the
+duke.[27] Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with which to pay
+his fare across the Channel but a gown lined with marten's fur, and as
+for his train, never so poor a company was seen.
+
+Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all England and official
+business was transacted in the name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless
+on his throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow and pretence
+and what was done in his name was done without his will or knowledge.
+
+Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his unbidden guest. He
+would rather have heard that his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade
+Groothuse show him every courtesy and supply him with necessaries and
+five hundred crowns a month for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps
+informed by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind blowing over in
+England was but a fickle breeze, he consented to forget his hereditary
+sympathies.
+
+    "The same day that the duke received news of the king's arrival in
+    Holland, I was come from Calais to Boulogne (where the duke then
+    lay) ignorant of the event and of the king's flight.[28] The duke
+    was first advised that he was dead, which did not trouble him much
+    for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of York.
+    Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter and of Somerset and
+    divers others of King Henry's faction, by which means he thought
+    himself assured of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared
+    the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content him that was
+    to come to him, I mean King Edward, whose sister he had married
+    and who was also brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden
+    Fleece and the duke the Garter.
+
+    "Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais accompanied by
+    a gentleman or two of this new faction of Henry, and gave me
+    instructions how to deal with this new world, urging me to
+    go because it was important for him to be well served in the
+    matter.[29] I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes,
+    and then dared not proceed because I found people fleeing for fear
+    of the English who were devastating the country.... Never before
+    had I needed a safe-conduct for the English are very honourable.
+    All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen these
+    mutations in the world."
+
+Commines was uncertain as to what he had better do and wanted
+instructions. "The duke sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go
+forward with the promise that if I were taken prisoner he would redeem
+me." New surprises met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known
+faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate of my lodgings and
+the very door of my chamber were a hundred white crosses and rhymes
+signifying that the King of France and Earl of Warwick were one--all
+of which seemed strange to me." Well received was Commines and
+entertained at dinner. It was told at table how within a quarter of an
+hour after the arrival of news from England every man wore this livery
+(the ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden was the change.
+"This is the first time that I ever knew how little stable are these
+mundane affairs."
+
+    "In all communications that passed between them and me, I repeated
+    that King Edward was dead, of which fact I said I was well
+    assured, notwithstanding that I knew the contrary, adding further
+    that though it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke of
+    Burgundy and the king and realm of England such that this accident
+    could not infringe it--whomever they would acknowledge as king him
+    would we recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the league should
+    remain firm and inviolate between us and the king and realm of
+    England save that for Edward we named Henry."
+
+Commines explains further that the wool trade was what made amity with
+England necessary to Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal
+cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly for peace."
+
+Charles made vague promises to his uninvited guest, declaring
+ostentatiously that his blood was Lancastrian. Nevertheless he
+finally consented to an interview with him of York, in spite of the
+remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset and Exeter. "The duke
+could not tell whom to please and either party he feared to displease.
+But in the end, because sharp war was upon him face to face, he
+inclined to the English dukes, accepting their promises against the
+Earl of Warwick, their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who was on the
+spot and very ill at ease," was quieted by secret assurances that the
+duke was obliged to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep the
+king but that he was bound to return to England and fearing for divers
+considerations altogether to discontent him, Charles pretended that he
+could not aid the king and forbade his subjects to enter his service."
+Privately, however, he gave him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's
+cross, and had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand, a
+harbour where all nations were received. Besides this he secretly
+hired fourteen well appointed "ships of the Easterlings, which
+promised to serve him till he landed in England and for fifteen days
+after, "great aid considering the times."
+
+King Edward departed out of Flanders in the year 1471, when the
+Duke of Burgundy went to wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the
+king.[30] "The said duke thought now howsoever the world went in
+England he could not speed amiss because he had friends on both
+sides."[31]
+
+Edward's adventures in England proved that he had not lost his hold
+there. Warwick's extraordinary brief success was but a flash in the
+pan. London opened her gates and then the pitched battle at Barnet
+gave a final verdict between the rival Houses which England accepted.
+This battle was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and the like
+speech of the two bodies caused hopeless confusion. Many friends slew
+each other unwittingly, and among the slain was the indefatigable,
+energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with his royal puppets. Only
+forty-four was he and worthy of a better and more statesmanlike
+career.
+
+On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son landed at Weymouth.
+Hearing of Warwick's death, they tried to reach Wales but were
+intercepted and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here the young prince,
+too, met his death. To Edward's direct command is attributed the
+murder of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which happened at
+about the same time. The desolated Margaret of Anjou lingered five
+years under restraint in England before she was ransomed by King
+Louis.
+
+    "Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten at London the
+    Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.
+
+    "God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke Hym that made all
+    and can undoo agayn whare Hym lyst."[32]
+
+Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on his foresight. His
+brother of the two Orders was himself again.
+
+    "The very day on which this fight happened [says Commines] the
+    Duke of Burgundy, being before Amiens, received letters from
+    the duchess his wife, that the King of England was not at all
+    satisfied with him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if
+    for very little cause he would have deserted him. To speak plainly
+    there never was great friendship between them afterwards. Yet the
+    Duke of Burgundy seemed to be extremely pleased at this news and
+    published it everywhere."
+
+A transaction of his own of this time, the duke did not publish. It
+was a procedure perhaps justified by these wonderful "mutations in the
+world" which impressed Commines as strange and terrible. The Duke of
+Burgundy caused a legal document to be drawn up attesting his own
+heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the same in the Abbey of
+St. Bertin with all due formality. If there came more "mutations"
+in the world whose very existence was a new experience to Philip de
+Commines, Charles was ready to interpose his own plank in the new
+structure.
+
+In the archives of the House of Croy in the chateau of Beaumont, rests
+this document, which was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471,
+in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to the statement
+that no one was truer heir to the Lancaster House than Charles of
+Burgundy.[33] Two canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the
+witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.
+
+It was expressly stipulated that if there were any delay in the duke's
+entering upon his English inheritance--which devolved to him
+through his mother,--a delay caused by motives of public utility of
+Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, this should not prejudice
+his rights or those of his successors. A mere deferring of assuring
+the titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. His delay ended
+in his death and Edward IV. never had to combat this claim of the
+brother-in-law who had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his
+throne.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Meyer is the earliest historian to tell this story and it
+is vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice
+lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York and
+Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between Englishmen on
+English soil. Three out of four kings died by violence. Eighty persons
+connected with the blood royal were executed or assassinated.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Ramsay, _Lancaster and York_, ii., 232 _et seq._; Oman,
+_Hundred Years' War_ and _Warwick, the King-maker_, are followed here
+in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]
+
+[Footnote 4: That the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge
+or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again denied by
+various authorities.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See Oman's _Warwick_, p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Rymer, _Faedera_, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on
+for about a year.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid._, 651.]
+
+[Footnote 8: "Quia nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut
+clemencia et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Gachard, _Doc. ined._, i., 216. The editor thinks that
+the speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was
+delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _Il sent la France_.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Middleburg, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign manual"
+on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, _Histoire generale et
+particuliere de Bourgogne_, etc., iv., cclxxi).]
+
+[Footnote 12: Good Friday, April 20th.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 226.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Comines-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at
+Amboise, May, 12, 1470.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Plancher, iv., cclxi., etc.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Duke Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May
+29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Memoires_, iii., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Duclos "Preuves," v., 296.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Chastellain, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure,
+those of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance is
+that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis accepts it.
+(Lavisse, iv^{ii}., 363.)]
+
+[Footnote 20: _See_ Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Aujourd'hui avons fait le mariage de la reine
+d'Angleterre et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating the
+alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the King's
+accounts for December, 1470: "a maistre Jehan le prestre, la somme de
+xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or a lui donnee par le roy, pour le
+restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance d'icellui seigneur,
+il avait baillee du sien au vicaire de Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur
+en a fait don en faveur de ce qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de
+Galles a la fille du Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the
+actual marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation.
+(Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also _Lettres de Louis XI_.,
+iv., 131.)]
+
+[Footnote 22: A group of smaller seigniories was also involved,
+Quercy, Perigord, La Rochelle, etc. _See_ letter-patent,
+(Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 97.)]
+
+[Footnote 23: Duclos, "Preuves" v., 302.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, iv^{ii},
+364.]
+
+[Footnote 25: _See_ Lavisse iv^{ii}, 364. He states that the king
+named all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Duclos, "Preuves," v., 307.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Commines, iii., ch. v.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. vi.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _See_ instructions given to him for this mission,
+Wavrin-Dupont, iii., 271.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Commines, iii., ch. vii.]
+
+[Footnote 31: As soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles
+published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]
+
+[Footnote 32: _Letters_, iii., 4.]
+
+[Footnote 33: _See_ Gachard, _Etudes et Notices historiques concernant
+l'histoire des Pays-Bas,_ ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant toutes
+les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que plus grant
+foy soit adjoustee a tout ce que cy desus est escript, avant signe ce
+present instrument de nostre propre main et le fait sceller de nostre
+seau en signe de verite, l'an et jour desusdit. [This in French, the
+body in Latin.]
+
+"CHARLES."]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+NEGOTIATIONS AND TREACHERY
+
+1471
+
+
+All work had ceased at Paris for three days by the king's command,
+while praise was chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints male
+and female, for the victory won by Henry of Lancaster, in 1470, over
+the base usurper Edward de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made a
+special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at Poitiers to breathe in
+pious solitude his own prayers of thanksgiving for the happy event.
+The battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this abundant stream of
+gratitude, and there were other thanksgivings.[1]
+
+In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent letters from
+Canterbury to his good friends at Bruges,[2] acknowledging their
+valuable assistance to his brother Charles,[3] recognising his part in
+restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his throne. To his sister,
+the Duchess of Burgundy, the returned exile gave substantial proof
+of his gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture and
+trade.[4]
+
+Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss weather vane the King
+of England had swung out into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair
+weather over his head, while Louis was forced back into solitary
+impotence. He seemed singularly isolated. His English friends were
+gone, his nobles were again forming a hostile camp around Charles of
+France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten his late protestations
+of fraternal devotion, and there were many indications that the
+Anglo-Burgundian alliance might prove as serious a peril to France as
+it had in times gone by but not wholly forgotten.
+
+The two most important of the disputed towns on the Somme were,
+however, in Louis's possession, and Charles of Burgundy, ready to
+reduce Amiens by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his
+proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed in July. This
+afforded a valuable respite to the king, and he busied himself in
+energetic efforts to detach his brother from the group of malcontents.
+Various disquieting rumours about the prince's marriage projects
+caused his royal brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch a
+special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy Louis wrote as follows[5]:
+
+    "MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:
+
+    "Guiot du Chesney[6] has brought me despatches from Monsg. de
+    Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has, further, mentioned three
+    points to me: First, in behalf of Mme. de Savoy,[7] ... second, in
+    regard to M. d'Urse ... third, touching the mission of Mons. de
+    Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the daughter of Monsg. de
+    Foix.... The Urse matter I will leave to you, and will agree to
+    what you determine upon. On the spot you will be a better judge of
+    what I ought to say and what would be advantageous to me, than I
+    can here.
+
+    "In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage, you know what a
+    misfortune it would be to me. Use all your five senses to prevent
+    it. I am told that my brother does not really like the idea, and
+    it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has brought him to
+    consent in order to further the marriage of the duchess,[8] so
+    that in taking the sister, the duke will be relieved of this sum,
+    a condition that would please him greatly because he has nothing
+    to pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all the
+    accompanying claims and then be through with it. In effect, I beg
+    you make him agree to another [bride] before you leave, and do not
+    be in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair[9] can be
+    arranged you will place me in Paradise.
+
+    "_Item._ I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would not approve this
+    Aragon girl, because he himself has some hopes of the kingdom of
+    Aragon through his wife. If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of
+    this, I believe it would help along our case.
+
+    "_Item._ It seems to me that you have a splendid opportunity to be
+    very frank with my brother. For he has informed me through this
+    man that the duke [of Brittany] has paid no attention to the
+    representations made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray,
+    and since my brother himself confides this to me, you have an
+    opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and that I never
+    cherish him so highly as when he tells me the truth, and that I
+    now recognise that he does not desire to deceive me, since he
+    does not spare the duke [of Brittany] and that, since he sees him
+    opposed to me, he should return the seal that you know of and
+    refuse to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the
+    Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.
+
+    "If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as long as I live
+    I will harbour no misgiving of him and he shall be as puissant in
+    all the realm of France as I myself, as long as I live. In short,
+    Mons. du Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you will
+    place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until Monseigneur de
+    Lescun has arrived, and a good piece afterwards, even if you have
+    to play the invalid, and before you depart put our affair in
+    surety if you can, I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du
+    Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre Dame de Behuart
+    aid your negotiations. The women[10] of Mme. de Burgundy have
+    all been ill with the _mal chault,_ and it is reported that the
+    daughter is seriously afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is
+    already dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite certain of
+    the malady.
+
+    "Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.
+
+    "LOYS.
+
+    "TILHART."
+
+That the king's professed confidence in his brother did not remove all
+suspicions of that young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown
+by the following letter, written two days later than the above, to
+Lorenzo de' Medici:
+
+    "Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that our brother of
+    Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation from the oath he
+    swore to us, of which we send you a duplicate. Since you are a
+    great favourite with our Holy Father pray use your influence with
+    his Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation,
+    and that his messenger may not be able to do any negotiating. In
+    this you will do us a singular and agreeable pleasure which we
+    will recognise in the future as we have in the past on fitting
+    occasion....
+
+    "Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.
+
+    "LOYS."
+
+Louis does not seem to have taken his own doubts as to the very
+existence of Mary of Burgundy very seriously. While he was infinitely
+anxious to prevent her alliance with his brother, he made overtures to
+betroth her to his baby son, while he reminded her father in touching
+phrases that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and hence exactly
+the person to be her father-in-law.
+
+The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts to make terms between
+the king and the duke before the termination of the truce. The king
+was very hopeful of attaining this good result, and sweetly trustful
+of the duke's pacific and friendly intentions. He sternly refused to
+listen to suggestions that Charles meant to play him false and was
+very definite in his expressions of confidence. The following epistle
+to his envoys at the duke's court was an excellent document to fall by
+chance into Burgundian hands[11]:
+
+    "To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:
+
+    "My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received your letters
+    this evening at the hostelry of Montbazon where I came because I
+    have not yet dared to go to Amboise.[12] When I imparted to you
+    the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose of
+    delaying you in completing your business but only to advise you of
+    the dangers that were in the air. And to free you from all doubts
+    I assure you, that if Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to
+    confirm, by writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at
+    Orleans[13], I wish you to accept it and to clinch the matter and
+    I am quite determined to trust to it. As to your suspicion that
+    he may wish to make the chief promises in private letters without
+    putting it in a formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a
+    pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing I never withdraw
+    my decision.
+
+    "My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to it that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate assurance of the
+    letters that he is to issue. When I once have the letter such as
+    we agreed upon and he is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep
+    faith. If my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do
+    not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure you that my
+    greatest worldly desire is that the matter be finished, since he
+    has given verbal assurance that he wishes me well. You write that
+    the pronotary told you that I was negotiating in every direction.
+    By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by the words that
+    Monseigneur of Burgundy said to you you can easily solve the
+    question, for he has only offered you what he mentioned before
+    when the matters were discussed. It looks to me as though they
+    were not free from traitors since they have Abbe de Begars and
+    Master Ythier Marchant.[14]
+
+    "A herald of the King of England came here on his way to Monsg. of
+    Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct to send a messenger to me
+    for this truce. Since your departure the council thought I ought
+    not to give any pass for more than forty days except to merchants.
+    If it please God and Our Lady that you may conclude your mission,
+    I assure you that as long as I live I will have no embassy either
+    large or small without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy
+    and I will only answer as if through him. I assure you that until
+    I hear from you whether Monsg. of Burgundy decides to conclude
+    this treaty or not as we agreed together, I will make no agreement
+    with any creature in the world and of that you may assure him.
+
+    "Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).
+
+    "Loys."
+
+At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly intercourse with the
+towns he proposed to cede.
+
+    "To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king: "Dear and
+    beloved, we have heard reports at length from Amiens and we are
+    well content with you.... Give credence to all my messengers say.
+    We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies have done
+    in our cause."
+
+At the Burgundian court the duke's friends thought that he would play
+the part of wisdom did he keep an army within call, and refrain from
+implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was, moreover, an
+impression abroad that the latter was not in a position to be very
+formidable.
+
+    "Once [says Commines][15] I was present when the Seigneur d'Urse
+    [envoy from the Duke of Guienne] was talking in this wise and
+    urging the duke to mobilise his forces with all diligence. The
+    duke called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur d'Urse
+    urging me to make my army as big as possible, and tells me that we
+    would do well for the realm. Do you think that I should wage a war
+    of benefit if I should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered
+    that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I love the welfare
+    of France more than Mons. d' Urse imagines, for instead of the one
+    king that there is I would fain see six.'"
+
+The animus of this expression is clear. It implies a wish to see the
+duke's friends, the French nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head,
+until the titular monarch had no more power than half a dozen of his
+peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal terms that Charles's next
+moves were to disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard their
+alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis whose terms were wholly
+to his own advantage and implied complete desertion of the allied
+interest.
+
+    "This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and I was present[16]
+    and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon and the Chancellor of
+    France[17] in behalf of the king. When they departed they advised
+    the duke not to disband his army but to increase it, so that the
+    king their master might be the more inclined to cede promptly the
+    two places mentioned above. They took with them Simon de Quingey
+    to witness the king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors'
+    work. The king delayed this confirmation for several days.
+    Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother, the Duke of Guienne
+    ... shortly afterwards the said Simon returned, dismissed by the
+    king with very meagre phrases and without any oath being taken.
+    The duke felt mocked and insulted by this treatment and was very
+    indignant about it."[18]
+
+This story involves so serious a charge against Charles of Burgundy
+that the fact of his setting his signature to the treaty has been
+indignantly denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's
+truthfulness rather than accept the duke's betrayal of his friends. It
+is true that only a few months later than this negotiation, Commines
+himself forsook the duke's service for the king's, a change of base
+that might well throw suspicion on his estimate of his deserted
+master.
+
+Yet it must be remembered that he does not gloss over Louis's actions,
+even though he had an admiration for the success of his political
+methods, methods which Commines believed to be essential in dealing
+with national affairs. In many respects he gives more credit to the
+duke than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer chief. That
+there is no documentary evidence of such a treaty is mere negative
+evidence and of little importance.
+
+The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy was at a parting
+of the ways, in character as in action. His natural bent was to tell
+the truth and to adhere strictly to his given word. He felt that he
+owed it to his own dignity. He felt, too, that he was a person to
+command obedience to a promise whether pledged to him by king or
+commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe shocks had been dealt
+him. He had lost all faith in Louis, a faith that had really been
+founded on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction that the weak
+king must respect the redoubtable cousin of Burgundy.
+
+The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to make him adopt the
+tools used by his rival, or at least to attempt to do so. At the
+moment of the negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation
+was to regain the towns on the Somme. That accomplished, it is not
+probable that he would have abandoned his friends, the French
+peers, whom he desired to see become petty monarchs each in his own
+territory. There seems no doubt that words were used with singular
+disregard of their meaning. It is surprising that time was wasted in
+concocting elaborate phrases that dropped into nothingness at the
+slightest touch. In citing the above passage from Commines referring
+to the treaty, the close of the negotiations has been anticipated.
+Whether or not any draft of a treaty received the duke's signature,
+the king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when his brother's death
+freed him from the dread of dangerous alliance between Charles of
+France and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th, he was still
+uncertain as to the decree of fate and wrote as follows to the
+Governor of Rousillon[19]:
+
+    "Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the Duke of Burgundy
+    declares war against me, I will set out immediately for that
+    quarter [Brittany], and in a week we will finish the matter. On
+    the other hand, if peace be made we shall have everything without
+    a blow or without any risk of restoration. However, if you can get
+    hold of anything by negotiating and manoeuvring, why do it. As
+    to the artillery, it is close by you, and when it is time, and I
+    shall have heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."
+
+Ten days later he is more hopeful.[20]
+
+    "Since my last letter to you I have had news that Monsieur de
+    Guienne is dying and that there is no remedy for his case. One
+    of the most confidential persons about him has advised me by a
+    special messenger that he does not believe he will be alive a
+    fortnight hence.... The person who gave me this information is
+    the monk who repeated his Hours with M. de G[uienne.] I am much
+    abashed at this and have crossed myself from head to foot.
+
+    "Written at Moutils-les-Tours, May 18th."
+
+This prognostic was correct. In less than a fortnight the Duke of
+Guienne lay dead, and the heavy suspicion rested upon his royal
+brother of having done more than acquiesce in the decree of fate.
+Whether or not there was any truth in this charge the king was
+certainly not heartbroken by the loss. Indeed, the event interested
+him less than the question of making the best use of the remainder of
+his truce with Charles. The following letters to Dammartin and the
+Duke of Milan belong to this time.
+
+    "Thank you for the pains you have taken but pray, as speedily as
+    you can, come here to draw up your ordinance for we only have
+    a fortnight more of the truce. I have sent the artillery and
+    soldiers to Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's
+    forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the seneschal of
+    Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company. Then if there are
+    more at large, form them into a body and send them to me and I
+    will find them a captain and pay all those who are willing to
+    stay.
+
+    "As to him,[21] make him talk on the way and learn whether he
+    would like to enter into an agreement in his brother's name, and
+    work it so that the duke will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at
+    all points for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know how,
+    for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun left here for any
+    other reason than to attempt to make an arrangement of some kind.
+
+    "Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser than I and will
+    know how to act far better than I can instruct you, but, above
+    all, I implore you come in all haste for without you we cannot
+    make an ordinance.
+
+    "Written at Xaintes, May 28th.
+
+    "LOYS."[22]
+
+    "AMBOISE, June 7th.
+
+    "Loys, by the grace of God, King of France. Beloved brother and
+    cousin, we have received the letters you have written making
+    mention, as you have heard, that in the truce lately concluded
+    between us and the Duke of Burgundy up to April 1st next coming,
+    which will be the year 1473, the Duke of Burgundy has mentioned
+    you as his ally, which you do not like because you never asked the
+    Duke of Burgundy to do so, and you do not know whether he made
+    this statement on the advice of the Venetian ambassador who is
+    with him.
+
+    "Therefore, and because you do not mean to enter into alliance or
+    understanding with the Duke of Burgundy but wish to remain
+    our confederate and ally and have sworn to that effect before
+    notaries, and sealed your oath with your seal ... that you are no
+    ally of the Duke of Burgundy and that you renounce and repudiate
+    his nomination as such ... also you may be certain that on our
+    part we are determined to maintain all friendship between us and
+    you ... and if we make any treaty in the future we will expressly
+    include you in it and never will do otherwise."[23]
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the grand master, I am advised how while the truce is
+    still in being, the Duke of Burgundy has taken Nesle and slain all
+    whom he found within. I must be avenged for this. I wished you to
+    know so that if you can find means to do him a like injury in his
+    country you will do it there and anywhere that you can without
+    sparing anything. I have good hopes that God will aid in avenging
+    us, considering the murders for which he is responsible within the
+    church and elsewhere, and because by virtue of the terms of their
+    surrender [they thought] they had saved their lives.
+
+    "Done at Angers, June 19th.
+
+    "P.S.--If the said place had been destroyed and rased as I ordered
+    this never would have happened. Therefore, see to it that all such
+    places be rased to the ground, for if this be not done the people
+    will be ruined and there will be an increase of dishonour and
+    damage to me."[24]
+
+One fact stated by Louis in this letter was true. Charles of Burgundy
+broke the truce when it had but two weeks to run, and thus put
+himself in the wrong. The death of Guienne made him wild with anger.
+Apparently he had not believed in the imminence of the danger,
+although he had been constantly informed of the progress of the
+prince's illness. But to his mind, it was the hand of Louis, not the
+judgment of God, that ended the life of the prince.
+
+    "On the morrow, which was about May 15, 1472, so far as I remember
+    [says Commines] came letters from Simon de Quingey, the duke's
+    ambassador to the king, announcing the death of the Duke of
+    Guienne and that the king had recovered the majority of his
+    places. Messages from various localities followed headlong one on
+    the other, and every one had a different story of the death.
+
+    "The duke being in despair at the death, at the instigation of
+    other people as much concerned as himself, wrote letters full of
+    bitter accusations against the king to several towns--an action
+    that profited little for nothing was done about it.[25]... In this
+    violent passion the duke proceeded towards Nesle in Vermandois,
+    and commenced a kind of warfare such as he had never used before,
+    burning and destroying wherever he passed."
+
+It is interesting to note how smoothly Commines sails by the capital
+charges against the king. He neither accepts nor denies the king's
+crime, while frankly admitting that Guienne's decease was an opportune
+circumstance for Louis. He apologises for mentioning any evil report
+of either king or duke, but urges his duty as historian to tell the
+truth without palliation.
+
+Nesle was a little place on a tributary of the Somme which refused
+the duke's summons to surrender, sent to it on June 10th. It seems
+possible that there was a misunderstanding between the citizens
+and the garrison which resulted in the slaughter of the Burgundian
+heralds. Whereupon, the exasperated soldiers rushed headlong upon the
+ill-defended burghers and wreaked a terrible vengeance on the town.
+
+When the duke arrived on the spot, the carnage was over, but he was
+unreproving as he inspected the gruesome result. Into the great church
+itself he rode, and his horse's hoofs sank through the blood lying
+inches deep on the floor. The desecrated building was full of
+dead--men, women, and children--but the duke's only comment as he
+looked about was, "Here is a fine sight. Verily I have good butchers
+with me," and he crossed himself piously.
+
+    "Those who were taken alive were hanged, except some few suffered
+    to escape by the compassionate common soldiers. Quite a number had
+    their hands chopped off. I dislike to mention this cruelty but I
+    was on the spot and needs must give some account of it."[26]
+
+The story of the duke's treatment of the innocent little town of Nesle
+is painted in colours quite as lurid as the king's murder of his
+brother. There is some ground for the denunciations of Charles,
+but the gravest accusation, that the duke promised clemency to the
+citizens on surrender and then basely broke his word, does not deserve
+credence. He was in a state of exasperation and the horrors were
+committed in passion, not in cold blood.[27]
+
+[Illustration: BURGUNDIAN STANDARD PRESERVED AT BEAUVAIS]
+
+It is delightful to note the king's virtuous indignation at his
+cousin's proceedings, coupled with his regrets that he himself had not
+destroyed the town.
+
+With the terrible report of the events at Nesle flying before his
+advance guard, Charles went on towards Normandy. Roye he gained
+easily, and then, passing by Compiegne where "Monseigneur the grand
+master" had intrenched himself, and Amiens with the good burghers whom
+Louis delighted to honour, he marched on until he reached Beauvais, an
+old town on the Therain. Some of the garrison from the fallen Roye had
+taken refuge there, but the place was weak in its defences, not even
+having its usual garrison or cannon, as it happened.
+
+Disappointed in his first expectation of picking the town like a
+cherry, Charles sat down before it. The siege that followed won
+a reputation beyond the warrant of its real importance from the
+extraordinary tenacity and energy of the people in their own defence.
+Every missile that the ingenuity of man or woman could imagine was
+used to drive back the besiegers when the town was finally invested.
+
+From June 27th to July 9th Charles waited, then an assault was
+ordered. Charles laughed at the idea of any serious resistance. "He
+asked some of his people whether they thought the citizens would wait
+for the assault. It was answered yes, considering their number even if
+they had nothing before them but a hedge."[28] He took this as a joke
+and said, "To-morrow you will not find a person." He thought that
+there would be a simple repetition of his experience at Dinant and
+Liege, and that the garrison would simply succumb in terror. When the
+Burgundians rushed at the walls their reception showed not only that
+every point had a defender, but also that those same defenders were
+provided with huge stones, pots of boiling water, burning torches--all
+most unpleasant things when thrown in the faces of men trying to scale
+a wall. Three hours were sufficient to prove to the assailants the
+difficulty of the task. Twelve hundred were slain and maimed, and the
+strength of the place was proven.
+
+Charles was not inclined to relinquish his scheme, but the weather
+came to the aid of the besieged. Heavy rains forced the troops to
+change camp. More men were lost in skirmishes and mimic assaults,
+losses that Charles could ill afford at the moment. Finally at the end
+of three fruitless weeks, the siege was raised and the Burgundians
+marched on to try to redeem their reputation in Normandy. Had Beauvais
+fallen, it would have been possible to relieve the Duke of Brittany,
+against whom Louis had marched with all his forces and whom he had
+enveloped as in a net. This reverse was the first serious rebuff that
+had happened to Charles, and it marked a turn in his fortunes.
+
+Louis fully appreciated the enormous advantage to himself, and was not
+stinting in his reward to the plucky little town. Privileges and a
+reduction of taxes were bestowed on Beauvais. An annual procession
+was inaugurated in which women were to have precedence as a special
+recognition of their services with boiling water and other irregular
+weapons, while a special gift was bestowed on one particular girl,
+Jeanne Laisne, who had wrested a Burgundian standard from a soldier
+just as he was about to plant it on the wall. Not only was she endowed
+from the royal purse, but she and her husband and their descendants
+were declared tax free for ever.[29]
+
+_Charles to the Duke of Brittany_
+
+    "My good brother, I recommend myself to you with good heart. I
+    rather hoped to be able to march through Rouen, but the whole
+    strength of the foe was on the frontier, where was the _grand
+    master, of whose loyalty I have not the least doubt_, so that the
+    project could not be effected. I do not know what will happen.
+    Realising this, I have given subject for thought elsewhere and
+    I have pitched my camp between Rouen and Neufchatel, intending,
+    however, to return speedily. If not I will exploit the war in
+    another quarter more injurious to the enemy, and I will exert
+    myself to keep them from your route. My Burgundians and
+    Luxemburgers have done bravely in Champagne. I know, too, that you
+    have done well on your part, for which I rejoice. I have burned
+    the territory of Caux in a fashion so that it will not injure you,
+    nor us, nor others, and I will not lay down arms without you, as
+    I am certain you will not without me. I will pursue the work
+    commenced by your advice at the pleasure of Our Lord, may He give
+    you good and long life with a fruitful victory.
+
+    "Written at my camp near Boscise, September 4th.
+
+    "Your loyal brother,
+
+    "CHARLES."[30]
+
+The duke's course was marked by waste and devastation from the
+walls of Rouen to those of Dieppe, but nothing was gained from this
+desolation. By September, keen anxiety about his territories led him
+to fear staying so far from his own boundaries, and he decided to
+return. Through Picardy he marched eastward burning and laying waste
+as before.
+
+Hardly had he turned towards the Netherlands, when Louis marched into
+Brittany against his weakest foe. There was no fighting, but Francis
+found it wise to accept a truce. Odet d'Aydie, who had ridden in hot
+haste to Brittany, scattering from his saddle dire accusations of
+fratricide against Louis--this same Odet became silenced and took
+service with the king.[31] When reconcilations were effected, most
+kind to the returning ally or servant did Louis always show himself.
+
+On November 3d, a truce was struck between Louis and Charles, which,
+later, was renewed for a year. But never again did the two men come
+into actual conflict with each other, though they were on the eve of
+doing so in 1475.
+
+The period of the great coalitions among the nobles was at an end.
+Charles of France was dead and so, too, were others who were strong
+enough to work the king ill. The Duke of Brittany showed no more
+energy. When again within his own territories, Charles of Burgundy
+became absorbed in other projects which he wished to perfect before he
+again measured steel with Louis.
+
+  "The Duke of Berry, he is dead,
+  Brittany doth nod his head,
+  Burgundy doth sulky sit,
+  While Louis works with every wit."[32]
+
+Such was the tenor of a doggerel verse sung in France, a verse that
+probably never came to Charles's ears--though Louis might have
+listened to it cheerfully.
+
+Infinitely disastrous were the events of that summer to Charles of
+Burgundy. Not only had he lost in allies, not only had he squandered
+life and money uselessly in his reckless expedition over the north of
+France, but his own retinue was diminished and weakened by the men
+whom Louis had succeeded in luring from his service. The loss that
+Charles suffered was not only for the time but for posterity. Among
+those convinced that there was more scope for men of talent in France
+than in Burgundy was that clever observer of humanity who had been at
+Charles's side for eight years. In August of 1472, Philip de Commines
+took French leave of his master and betook himself to Louis, who
+evidently was not surprised at his advent.
+
+The historian's own words in regard to this change of base are
+laconic: "About this time I entered the king's service (and it was
+the year 1472), who had received the majority of the servitors of his
+brother the Duke of Guienne. And he was then at Pont de Ce."[33] This
+passing from one lord to another happened on the night between the 7th
+and 8th of August, when the Burgundian army lay near Eu.
+
+The suddenness of the departure was probably due to the duke's
+discovery of his servant's intentions not yet wholly ripe, and those
+intentions had undoubtedly been formed at Orleans, in 1471, when
+Commines made a secret journey to the king. On his way back to
+Burgundy, he deposited a large sum of money at Tours. Evidently he
+did not dare put this under his own name, or claim it when it was
+confiscated as the property of a notorious adherent of Louis's
+foe.[34]
+
+When the fugitive reached the French court, however, he was amply
+recompensed for all his losses.[35] For, naturally, at his flight, all
+his Burgundian estates were abandoned.[36] It was at six o'clock on
+the morning of August 8th that the deed was signed whereby the duke
+transferred to the Seigneur de Quievrain all the rights appertaining
+to Philip de Commines, "which rights together with all the property of
+whatever kind have escheated to us by virtue of confiscation because
+he has to-day, the date of this document, departed from our obedience
+and gone as a fugitive to the party opposed to us."[37]
+
+There are various surmises as to the cause of this precipitate
+departure. Not improbable is the suggestion that Charles often
+overstepped the bounds of courtesy towards his followers. Once, so
+runs one story, he found the historian sleeping on his bed where he
+had flung himself while awaiting his master. Charles pulled off one of
+his boots "to give him more ease" and struck him in the face with it.
+In derision the courtiers called Commines _tete bottee_, and their
+mocking sank deep into his soul.
+
+Contemporary writers make little of the chronicler's defection.
+These crossings from the peer's to the king's camp were accepted
+occurrences. But by Charles they were not accepted. There is
+a vindictive look about the hour when he disposes of his late
+confidant's possessions, only explicable by intense indignation not
+itemised in the deed approved by the court of Mons.[38]
+
+More loyal was that other chronicler, Olivier de la Marche, though to
+him, also, came intimations that he would find a pleasant welcome at
+the French court. He, too, had opportunities galore to make links with
+Louis. The accounts teem with references to his secret missions
+here and there, and with mention of the rewards paid, all carefully
+itemised. So zealous was this messenger on his master's commissions,
+that his hackneys were ruined by his fast riding and had to be sold
+for petty sums. The keen eye of Louis XI. was not blind to the quality
+of La Marche's services, and he thought that they, too, might be
+diverted to his use.[39]
+
+    "Monsieur du Bouchage, Guillaume de Thouars has told me that
+    Messire Olivier de la Marche is willing to enter my service and
+    I am afraid that there may be some deception. However, there is
+    nothing that I would like better than to have the said Sieur
+    de Cimay, as you know. Therefore, pray find out how the matter
+    stands, and if you see that it is in good earnest work for it with
+    all diligence. Whatever you pledge I will hold to. Advise me of
+    everything.
+
+    "Written at Clery, October 16th [1472].
+
+    "To our beloved and faithful councillor and chancellor, Sire du
+    Bouchage."[40]
+
+But La Marche was not tempted, and was rewarded for his fidelity
+by high office in a duchy which, shortly after these events, was
+"annexed" to his master's domain.
+
+[Footnote 1: _Journal de Jean de Roye_, i., 258.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Commynes-Dupont, iii., 202.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Plancher, iv., cccvi., May 28th.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Rymer, _Foedera_, xi., 735. _Pro Ducissa Burgundiae super
+Lana claccanda_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: _Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 256.]
+
+[Footnote 6: One of Guienne's retinue who, later, passed to Louis's
+service.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Louis's sister Yolande.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Duke of Brittany had married the third daughter of
+the Count de Foix.]
+
+[Footnote 9: This was an allusion to a proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Jeanne, reputed daughter of Henry IV. of Castile. Vaesen
+cannot explain the use of Aragon. Various documents relating to this
+negotiation are given. (Comines-Lenglet, iii., 156.)]
+
+[Footnote 10: Vaesen gives _femmes_, Duclos _filles_. The king was
+above all afraid that his brother might marry Mary of Burgundy.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Lettres de Louis XI._., iv., 286.]
+
+[Footnote 12: There was a pestilence raging at Amboise.]
+
+[Footnote 13: At Orleans, in the last days of October and the first of
+November, there was a conference wherein the king apparently promised
+to restore St. Quentin and Amiens to Charles, if he would renounce his
+alliance with the dukes of Brittany and Guienne and would betroth his
+daughter to the dauphin.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Ythier Marchant negotiated the proposed marriage between
+Guienne and Mary of Burgundy. He had received "signed and sealed
+blanks" from the two princes in order to enable him to hasten matters.
+(_Lettres de Louis XI._, iv., 289.)]
+
+[Footnote 15: III., ch. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 16: "Cette paix jura le Due de Bourgogne et y estois
+present."]
+
+[Footnote 17: The king's envoys who had spent the winter in the
+Burgundian court. _See_ letter to them in December.]
+
+[Footnote 18: _See_ Kervyn, _Bulletin de l'Academie royale de
+Belgique_, p. 256. _Also_ Kirk, ii., 160; Commynes-Mandrot, i., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Louis to the Vicomte de la Belliere, _Lettres_, etc.,
+iv., 319.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Louis to Dammartin, _Ibid_., 325. _Mars_ was written
+first and then replaced by _Mai_.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Odet d'Aydie, younger brother of the Seigneur de
+Lescun.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres, XI_., iv., 328. Louis to Dammartin, 1472.]
+
+[Footnote 23: _Lettres_, iv., 331. Louis to the Duke of Milan.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Lettres_, etc., v., 4. Louis to Dammartin. _See also_
+Duclos, v., 331. There are slight discrepancies between the two texts,
+but the differences do not affect the narrative.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Odet d'Aydie, whom Louis had hoped to have converted to
+his cause, was the man to spread the charge against Louis broadcast
+over the land. The truth of the death is not proven. Frequent mentions
+of Guienne's condition occur through the letters of the winter '71-72.
+The story was that the poison, administered subtly by the king's
+orders, caused the illness of both the prince and his mistress, Mme.
+de Thouan. She died after two months of suffering, December 14th,
+while he resisted the poison longer, though his health was completely
+shattered and his months of longer life were unutterably wretched and
+painful, a constant torture until death mercifully released him in
+May. Accusations of poisoning are often repeated in history. In this
+case, there was certainly a wide-spread belief in Louis's guilt. In
+his manifestos, (Lenglet, ii., 198) Charles declares that the king's
+tools in compassing his brother's death were a friar, Jourdain Favre,
+and Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.
+
+The story told by Brantome _(OEuvres Completes_ de Pierre de
+Bourdeille, Seigneur de Brantome, ii., 329. "Grands Capitaines
+Francois." There is nothing too severe for Brantome to say about Louis
+XI.) is very detailed. A fool passed to Louis's service from that of
+the dead prince. While this man was attending his new master in the
+church of Notre Dame de Clery, he heard him make this prayer to the
+Virgin: "Ah! my good Lady, my little mistress, my great friend in whom
+I have always put my trust, I pray thee be a suppliant to God in my
+behalf, be my advocate with Him so that He may pardon me for the death
+of my brother whom I had poisoned by this wicked Abbe of St. John. I
+confess it to thee as to my good patron and mistress. But what was to
+be done? He was a torment to my realm. Get me pardoned and I know well
+what I will give thee."
+
+Brantome tells further that the fool, using the privilege of free
+speech accorded to his class, talked about Guienne's death at dinner
+in public and after that day was never seen again. On the other hand,
+the young duke's will was all to his brother's favour. Louis was
+made executor and legatee, "and if we have ever offended our beloved
+brother," dictated the dying man, "we implore him to pardon us as we
+with _debonnaire_ affection pardon him." Mandrot, editor of Commynes
+(1901), i., 230, considers the whole story a malicious fabrication of
+Odet d'Aydie, and other authorities refer the cause to disease. The
+very date of the death varies from May 12th to May 24th.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Commines, iii., ch. ix.]
+
+[Footnote 27: There is a curious document in existence (see _Bulletins
+de L'Hist. de France_, 1833-34) dated fifty years after the event. It
+is the deposition of several old people who had been just old enough
+to remember that awful experience of their youth. Fifty years of
+repetition gave time for the growth of the story.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Legend makes it that Jeanne Laisne, called _Fouquet_,
+chopped off the hands of the standard-bearer with a hatchet. Hence
+her name was changed to _La Hachette_, and she is represented with a
+hatchet.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Barante, vii., 333.]
+
+[Footnote 31: _See_ Lavisse, iv^{ii.}, 368.]
+
+[Footnote 32:
+
+  "Berri est mort,
+  Bretagne dort,
+  Bourgogne hongne,
+  Le Roy besogne."
+
+Le Roux de Lincy, _Chants historiques et populaires du temps de Louis
+XI_.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Commines also mentions here "the confessor of the Duke
+of Guienne and a knight to whom is imputed the death of the Duke of
+Guienne." (iii., ch. xi.)]
+
+[Footnote 34: Kirk (ii., 156) thinks that this confiscation was only
+Louis's way of prodding him up to act.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Dupont (Commynes, iii., xxxvi). The fugitive did not
+enter immediately into his new possessions. The king's gift of the
+principality of Talmont, dated October, 1472, was not registered in
+_Parlement_ until December 13, 1473, and in the court of records May
+2, 1474. Prince of Talmont did Commines become at last, and as such he
+married Helen de Chambes, January 27, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 36: It is strange that La Marche does not mention this
+defection.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See document quoted by Gachard, _Etudes et Notices_,
+etc. ii., 344. The original is in the Croy family archives preserved
+in the chateau of Beaumont.]
+
+[Footnote 38: _See also_ Comines-Lenglet, i., xcj., for discussion of
+this event. He asserts that the court of Burgundy was too corrupt for
+honest men to endure it.]
+
+[Footnote 39: _See_ Stein. _Etude_, etc., _sur Olivier de la _Marche_.
+(Mem. Couronnes) xlix.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Letter of Louis XI. in Bibl. Nat.: _Ibid._, p. 179.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+GUELDERS
+
+1473
+
+
+The affairs of the little duchy of Guelders were among the matters
+urgently demanding the attention of the Duke of Burgundy at the close
+of his campaign in France. The circumstances of the long-standing
+quarrel between Duke Arnold and his unscrupulous son Adolf were a
+scandal throughout Europe. In 1463, a seeming reconciliation of the
+parties had not only been effected but celebrated in the town of Grave
+by a pleasant family festival, from whose gaieties the elder duke,
+fatigued, retired at an early hour. Scarcely was he in bed, when he
+was aroused rudely, and carried off half clad to a dungeon in the
+castle of Buren, by the order of his son, who superintended the
+abduction in person and then became duke regnant. For over six years
+the old man languished in prison, actually taunted, from time to time,
+it is said, by Duke Adolf himself.
+
+Indignant remonstrances against this conduct were heard from various
+quarters, and were all alike unheeded by the young duke until Charles
+of Burgundy interfered and ordered him to bring his father to his
+presence, and to submit the dispute to his arbitration. Charles was
+too near and too powerful a neighbour to be disregarded, and his
+peremptory invitation was accepted. Pending the decision, the
+two dukes were forced to be guests in his court, under a strict
+surveillance which amounted to an arrest.
+
+The first suggestion made by Charles was for a compromise between
+father and son. "Let Duke Arnold retain the nominal sovereignty in
+Guelders, actual possession of one town, and a fair income, while
+to Adolf be ceded the full power of administration." The latter was
+emphatic in his refusal to consider the proposition. "Rather would I
+prefer to see my father thrown into a well and to follow him thither
+than to agree to such terms. He has been sovereign duke for forty-four
+years; it is my turn now to reign." Arnold thought it would be a
+simple feat to fight out the dispute. "I saw them both several times
+in the duke's apartment and in the council chamber when they pleaded,
+each his own cause. I saw the old man offer a gage of battle to his
+son."[1] The senior belonged to the disappearing age of chivalry. A
+trial of arms seemed to him an easy and knightly fashion of ending his
+differences with his importunate heir.
+
+No settlement was effected before the French expedition, but Charles
+was not disposed to let the matter slip from his control, and when
+he proceeded to Amiens, the two dukes, still under restraint, were
+obliged to follow in his train. At a leisure moment Charles intended
+to force them to accept his arbitration as final. Before that moment
+arrived, the more agile of the two plaintiffs, Adolf, succeeded in
+eluding surveillance and escaping from the camp at Wailly. He made his
+way successfully to Namur disguised as a Franciscan monk. Then, at
+the ferry, he gave a florin when a penny would have sufficed. The
+liberality, inconsistent with his assumed role, aroused suspicion and
+led to the detection of his rank and identity. He was stayed in his
+flight and imprisoned in the castle of Namur to await a decision on
+his case by his self-constituted judge. This was not pronounced until
+the summer of 1473.
+
+By that time, Charles was resolved on another course of action than
+that of adjusting a family dispute in the capacity of puissant,
+impartial, and friendly neighbour. Adolf's behaviour towards his
+father had been extraordinarily brutal and outrageous. Public comment
+had been excited to a wide degree. It was not an affair to be dealt
+with lightly by Duke Charles. The young Duchess of Guelders was
+Catharine of Bourbon, sister to the late Duchess of Burgundy, and
+Adolf himself was chevalier of the Golden Fleece. In consideration of
+these links of family and knightly brotherhood, Charles desired that
+the case should be tried with all formality.
+
+[Illustration: ARNOLD, DUKE OF GUELDERS (FROM THE ENGRAVING BY
+PINSSIO, AFTER THE DRAWING BY J. ROBERT)]
+
+On May 3, 1473, an assembly of the Order was held at Valenciennes,[2]
+and the knights were asked to pass upon the conduct of their
+delinquent fellow, who was permitted to present his own brief through
+an attorney, but was detained in his own person at Namur. The
+innocence or guilt of his prisoner was no longer the chief point of
+interest as far as the Duke of Burgundy was concerned. The latter had
+made an excellent bargain on his own behalf with the moribund Duke of
+Guelders, who had signed (December, 1472) a document wherein he sold
+to Charles all his administrative rights in Guelders and Zutphen for
+ninety-two thousand florins,[3] in consideration of Arnold's enjoying
+a life interest in half of the revenue of his ancient duchy. That
+clause soon lost its significance. The old man's life ceased in March,
+1473, and, by virtue of the contract, Charles proposed to enter into
+full possession of his estates, setting aside not only Adolf, whom he
+was ready to pronounce an outlawed criminal, quite beyond the pale of
+society, but that Adolf's innocent eight-year-old heir, Charles, whose
+hereditary claims had also been ignored by his grandfather.
+
+Before the knights of the Order as a final court, were rehearsed all
+the circumstances of the old family quarrel and of the late commercial
+transaction. Their verdict was the one desired by their chief. It was
+proven to their entire satisfaction that Arnold's sale of the duchy of
+Guelders and Zutphen was a legitimate proceeding, and that the deed
+executed by him was a perfect and valid instrument, whereby Charles of
+Burgundy was duly empowered to enjoy all the revenues of, and to exert
+authority in, his new duchy at his pleasure. As to Duke Adolf, he
+was condemned by this tribunal of his peers to life imprisonment as
+punishment for his unfilial and unjustifiable cruelty towards Arnold,
+late Duke of Guelders.
+
+Adolf's protests were stifled by his prison bars, but the people of
+Guelders were by no means disposed to accept unquestioned this deed
+of transfer, made when the two parties to the conveyance were in
+very unequal conditions of freedom. In order to convince them of the
+justice of his pretensions, Charles levied a force almost as efficient
+as his army of the preceding summer, and fell upon Guelders. A truce,
+a triple compact with France and England, had recently been renewed,
+so that for the moment his hands were free from complications, an
+event commented upon by Sir John Paston, as follows:
+
+    "April 16, 1473, CANTERBURY.
+
+    "As for tydings ther was a truce taken at Brusslys about the xxvi
+    day off March last, betwyn the Duke of Burgoyn and the Frense
+    Kings inbassators and Master William Atclyff ffor the king heer,
+    whiche is a pese be londe and be water tyll the ffyrst daye off
+    Apryll nowe next comyng betweyn Fraunce and Ingeland, and also the
+    Dukys londes. God holde it ffor ever."
+
+The writer had recently been in Charles's court. Writing from Calais
+in February, he says:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer ther bee but few saff that the Duke of
+    Burgoyen and my Lady hys wyffe fareth well. I was with them on
+    Thorysdaye last past at Gaunt."[4]
+
+The Duke of Burgundy was not the only pretender to the vacated
+sovereignty of Guelders. The Duke of Juliers was also inclined to
+urge his cause, were Adolf's family to be set aside. At the sight
+of Burgundian puissance, however, he was ready to be convinced, and
+accepted 24,000 florins for his acquiescence in the righteousness of
+the accession. Several of the cities manifested opposition to Charles,
+but yielded one after another. In Nimwegen--long hostile to Duke
+Arnold--there was a determined effort to support little Charles of
+Guelders who, with his sister, was in that city. The child made a
+pretty show on his little pony, and there were many declarations of
+devotion to his cause as he was put forward to excite sympathy. For
+three weeks, the town held out in his name. The resistance to the
+Burgundian troops was sturdy. When the gates gave way before their
+attacks the burghers defended the broken walls. Six hundred English
+archers were repulsed from an assault with such sudden energy that
+they left their banners sticking in the very breaches they thought
+they had won, fine prizes for the triumphant citizens. But the game
+was unequal, and the combatants, convinced that discretion was the
+better part of valour, at last accepted the Duke of Cleves as a
+mediator with their would-be sovereign.
+
+On July 19th, a long civic procession headed by the burgomasters,
+wearing neither hats nor shoes, marched to the Duke of Burgundy with a
+prayer for pardon on their lips. The leaders of the opposition to his
+accession were delivered over to the mercy of the victor. The garrison
+were accorded their lives and a tax was imposed on the city to
+indemnify the duke for his needless trouble, and Guelders was added
+_de facto_ to the list of Burgundian ducal titles. In the various
+state papers presently issued by the new ruler, the mention of the
+circumstance of his accession to the sovereignty was simple and
+straightforward, as in a certain document appointing Olivier de la
+Marche to be treasurer. The patent bears the date of August 18th and
+was one of the earliest issued by Charles in this new capacity.
+
+    "As by the death of the late Messire Arnold, in his life Duke of
+    Guelderland, these counties and duchy have lapsed to me, and by
+    the same token the offices of the land have escheated to our
+    disposition, and among others the office of master of the moneys
+    of those countships ... using the rights, etc., escheated to me,
+    and in consideration of the good and agreeable services already
+    rendered and continually rendered by our knight, etc., Olivier de
+    la Marche, having full confidence in his sense, loyalty, probity,
+    and good diligence--for these causes and others we entrust the
+    office of master and overseer of moneys of the land of Guelders
+    to him, with all the rights, duties, and privileges thereto
+    pertaining. In testimony of this we have set our seal to these
+    papers. Done in our city of Nimwegen, August 18, 1473. Thus signed
+    by M. le duc."
+
+On the back of this document was written:
+
+    "To-day, November 3, 1473, Messire Olivier de la Marche ... took
+    the oath of office of master and overseer of the land and duchy of
+    Guelders."[5]
+
+The charge of the ducal children, Charles and Philippa, was entrusted
+to the duke who, in his turn, deputed Margaret of York to supervise
+their education. In a comparatively brief time agitation in behalf
+of the disinherited heir ceased, and imperial ratification alone was
+required to stamp the territory as a legal fraction of the Burgundian
+domains. Under the circumstances the minor heirs were the emperor's
+wards, and it was his express duty to look to their interests, but
+Frederic III. showed no disposition to assert himself as their
+champion. On the contrary, the embassy that arrived from his court on
+August 14th was charged with felicitations to his dear friend, Charles
+of Burgundy, for his acquisition, and with assurances that the
+requisite investiture into his dignities should be given by his
+imperial hand at the duke's pleasure.[6]
+
+Communication between Frederic and Charles had been intermittently
+frequent during the past three years, and one subject of their letters
+was probably a reason why Charles had been willing to abandon a losing
+game in France to give another bias to his thoughts. He was lured
+on by the bait of certain prospects, varying in their definite form
+indeed, but full of promise that he might be enabled, eventually, to
+confer with Louis XI. from a better vantage ground than his position
+as first peer of France. The story of these hopes now becomes the
+story of Charles of Burgundy.
+
+When Sigismund of Austria completed his mortgage, in 1469, at St.
+Omer, and returned home, as already stated, he was fired with zeal to
+divert some of the dazzling Burgundian wealth into the empty imperial
+coffers. An alliance between Mary of Burgundy and the young Archduke
+Maximilian seemed to him the most advantageous matrimonial bargain
+possible for the emperor's heir. He urged it upon his cousin with
+all the eloquence he possessed, and was lavish in his offers to be
+mediator between him and his new friend Charles.
+
+Frederic was impressed by Sigismund's enthusiastic exposition of the
+advantages of the match, and little time elapsed before his ambassador
+brought formal proposals to Charles for the alliance. The duke
+received the advances complacently and returned propositions
+significant of his personal ambitions. As early as May, 1470, his
+instructions to certain envoys sent to the intermediary, Sigismund,
+are plain. In unequivocal terms, his daughter's hand is made
+contingent on his own election as King of the Romans, that shadowy
+royalty which veiled the approach to the imperial throne.
+
+    "_Item_--And in regard to the said marriage, the ambassadors shall
+    inform Monseigneur of Austria that, since his departure from
+    Hesdin, certain people have talked to Monseigneur about this
+    marriage and mentioned that, in return, the emperor would be
+    willing to grant to Monseigneur the crown and the government of
+    the Kingdom of the Romans, with the stipulation that Monseigneur,
+    _arrived at the empire by the good pleasure of the emperor_ or
+    by his death, would, in his turn, procure the said crown of the
+    Romans for his son-in-law. The result will be that the empire
+    will be continued in the person of the emperor's son and his
+    descendants.
+
+    "_Item_--They shall tell him about a meeting between the imperial
+    and ducal ambassadors, at which meeting there was some talk of
+    making a kingdom out of certain lands of Monseigneur and
+    joining these to an _imperial_ vicariate of all the lands and
+    principalities lying along the Rhine."
+
+In the following paragraphs of this instruction,[7] Charles directs
+his envoys to make it clear to Monseigneur of Austria (Sigismund)
+that the duke's interest in the plan does not spring from avarice or
+ambition. He is purely actuated by a yearning to employ his time and
+his strength for God's service and for the defence of the Faith, while
+still in his prime.
+
+Should the emperor refuse to approve the duke's nomination as King of
+the Romans, the ambassadors are instructed to say that they are not
+empowered to proceed with the marriage negotiations without first
+referring to their chief. They must ask leave to return with their
+report. If Sigismund should take it on himself to sound the emperor
+again about his sentiments, the envoys might await the result of his
+investigations. He was to be assured that while Charles was resolved
+to hold back until he was fully satisfied on this point, if it were
+once ceded, he would interpose no further delay in the celebration of
+the nuptials. He must know, however, just what power and revenue the
+emperor would attach to the proposed title. He was not willing to
+accept it without emoluments. His present financial burdens were
+already heavy, etc. The concluding items of the instructions had
+reference to the marriage settlements.
+
+A kingdom of his own was not the duke's dream at this stage of
+Burgundo-Austrian negotiations. The title that Charles desired
+primarily was King of the Romans, one empty of substantial sovereign
+power, but rich with promise of the all-embracing imperial dignity.
+Significant is the intimation that after this preliminary title was
+conferred, its wearer would be glad to have Frederic step aside
+voluntarily. A resignation would be as efficient as death in making
+room for his appointed successor.
+
+Frederic III. had, indeed, intimated occasionally that a life of
+meditation would suit his tastes better than the imperial throne, but
+he seems in no wise to have been tempted by the offer made by Charles
+to relieve him of his onerous duties, and then to pass on the office
+to his son. At any rate, the emperor rejected the opportunity to enjoy
+an irresponsible ease. His answer to the duke was that he did not
+exercise sufficient influence over his electors to ensure their
+accepting his nominee as successor to the _imperium_.
+
+There was, however, one honour that lay wholly within his gift. If
+Charles desired higher rank, the emperor would be quite willing to
+erect his territories into a realm and to create him monarch of
+his own agglomerated possessions, welded into a new unity. This
+proposition wounded Charles keenly. He assured Sigismund[8] (January
+15, 1471) that his nomination as King of the Romans would never have
+occurred to him spontaneously. He had been assured that it was a
+darling project of the emperor, and he had simply been willing
+to please him, etc. As to a kingdom of his own, he refused the
+proposition with actual disdain.
+
+Then various suitors for the hand of Mary of Burgundy appeared on
+the scene successively. To Nicholas of Calabria, Duke of Lorraine,
+grandson of old King Rene of Anjou, she was formally betrothed.[9]
+
+"My cousin, since it is the pleasure of my very redoubtable seigneur
+and father, I promise you that, you being alive, I will take none
+other than you and I promise to take you when God permits it." So
+wrote Mary with her own hand on June 13, 1472, at Mons. On December
+3d, she declared all such pledges revoked as though they never had
+been made, and Nicholas, too, formally renounced his pretensions to
+her hand.
+
+There were several moments when Charles of France had appeared to be
+very near acceptance as Mary's husband, and several other princes
+seemed eligible suitors. Doubtless her father found his daughter very
+valuable as a means of attracting friendship. Doubtless, too, as
+Commines says, he was not anxious to introduce any son-in-law into his
+family. His fortieth year was only completed in 1473, and he was by no
+means ready to range himself as an ancestor.
+
+At successive times the negotiations between Charles and Frederic were
+ruptured only to be renewed on some slightly different basis. Threaded
+together they made a story fraught with interest for Louis XI., and
+one that, very probably, he had an opportunity to hear. Up to August,
+1472, it is a safe inference that Philip de Commines was fully
+cognisant of the propositions and counter-propositions, the
+understandings and misunderstandings, the private letters of, as well
+as the interviews with, the accredited Austrian envoys that appeared
+at one Burgundian camp after another. Probably there was nothing more]
+valuable in the store of learning carried by the astute historian from
+his first patron to his second than all this fund of confidential
+miscellany.
+
+It seems a fair surmise that Louis XI. enjoyed immensely the
+delightful private view into his rival's dreams, the disappointments
+and rehabilitation of his shattered visions. The relation would have
+made him not only fully aware of the reasons why Charles was diverted
+from his hot pursuit of the Somme towns, but thoroughly informed as to
+the great obstacles lying in the path which the duke hoped to travel.
+Naturally, the king was quite willing to rest assured that ruin was
+inevitable. If his rival were disposed to wreck himself rashly on
+German shoals, the king was equally disposed to be an acquiescent
+onlooker and to spare his own powder.
+
+On his part, Charles was wholly unconscious of the extent of his loss
+of prestige within the French realm in 1472. There had been other
+periods when the king had appeared triumphant over his aspiring nobles
+only to be again checked by their alliance. In the radical change
+undergone by the feudatories after Guienne's death and Brittany's
+reconciliation, there was, however, no opening left for the Duke
+of Burgundy's re-entry as a French political leader. It was this
+definitive cessation of his importance that Charles failed to
+recognise. Confident that his star was rising in the east he did
+not note the significance of its setting in the west. Thereupon the
+situation was,--Charles, believing that his plans were his own
+secret, _versus_ Louis, fully advised of those plans and alert to all
+incidents of the past, present, and future in a fashion impossible to
+the duke in his absorbed contemplation of his own prospects, blocking
+the scope of his view.
+
+With the emperor's congratulations at the duke's accession to
+Guelders, and his offers to invest him with the title, were coupled
+intimations that it was an opportune moment to resume consideration of
+an alliance between the Archduke Maximilian and Mary of Burgundy. The
+duke accepted the new overtures, and Rudolf de Soulz and Peter
+von Hagenbach proceeded to the Burgundian and Austrian courts
+respectively, as confidential envoys to discuss the marriage.[10]
+
+Charles was far more gracious to De Soulz than he had been to the
+last imperial messenger, the Abbe de Casanova, who had restricted his
+proposals to Mary's fortunes and ignored her father's. The duke had no
+intention of permitting any conference to proceed on that line. He was
+explicit as to his requisitions. De Soulz was surprised by a gift of
+ten thousand florins, explained by the phrase, "because Monseigneur
+recognised the love and affection borne him by the said count." That
+was a simple retainer. Other benefits, offices, and estates were
+conferred, to take effect on the day when Monseigneur was named King
+of the Romans.
+
+The instructions to Hagenbach were definite, covering the ground
+of those previously mentioned, issued in 1470. He was, however,
+especially enjoined to assure Frederic that the duke did not require
+his abdication. He would be content to step into the shoes naturally
+vacated by his death.
+
+The final suggestion resulting from these parleyings was that an
+interview between the two principals would be far more satisfactory
+than any further interchange of messages. It was not only a propitious
+time for a conference, but it was necessary. The ceremony of
+investiture of the duke into his latest acquired fief made it
+evidently imperative that he should visit the emperor. And to
+preparations for that event, Charles turned his attention, now
+absolutely confident that the outcome must be to his satisfaction. He
+had as little comprehension of the character of the man with whom he
+was to deal as he had of Louis XI. The choice of a place caused some
+difficulty, each prince preferring a locality near his own frontier.
+Metz was selected and abandoned on account of an epidemic. Finally
+Treves was appointed for the important occasion, and Frederic sent
+official invitations to the princes of the empire to follow him
+thither in October.
+
+Illustration: MARY OF BURGUNDY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY C. LAPLANTE)]
+
+Before Charles arrived at the rendezvous, another event had occurred
+that had an important bearing on his fortunes. Nicholas, Duke of
+Lorraine, died (July 27th), leaving no direct heir. He had been
+relinquished as a son-in-law, but the geographical position of his
+duchy made the question of its sovereignty all important to Charles of
+Burgundy. If it could be under his own control, how convenient for
+the passage of his troops from Luxemburg to the south! The taste for
+duchies like many another can grow by what it feeds upon.
+
+Prepared to set out for his journey to Treves, Charles hastened his
+movements and proceeded to Metz with an escort so large that it had a
+formidable aspect to the city fathers. Whether they feared that their
+free city was too tempting a base for attack on Lorraine or not, the
+magistrates yet found it expedient to keep the Burgundian thousands
+without their walls. The emperor, too, was on his way to Treves. Many
+of his suite were occupying quarters in Metz. Room might be found for
+Charles and his immediate retainers, indeed, but the troops must make
+themselves as comfortable as possible outside the gates. So said the
+burgomaster, and Charles was forced to yield and he made a splendid
+entry into the town under the prescribed conditions.
+
+His own paraphernalia had been forwarded from Antwerp, so that
+there should be an abundance of plate, tapestry, etc., to grace his
+temporary quarters, and the forests of Luxemburg had been scoured to
+secure game for the banquets.
+
+It was all very fine, but Charles was not in a humour to be pleased.
+He was annoyed about his troops; very probably he had intended leaving
+a portion at Metz, ready to be available in Lorraine if occasion
+offered. He cut short his stay in the town and marched on with his
+imposing escort to Treves, whence he hoped to march out again a
+greater personage than any Duke of Burgundy had ever been.[11]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Commines, iv., ch. i.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Hist. de l'Ordre,_ etc., p. 64. One of the places to be
+filled at this session was that of Frank van Borselen, the widower
+of Jacqueline, Countess of Holland. Thus the last faint trace of the
+ancient family disappeared. It is expressly stated in the minutes of
+the session that Adolf of Guelders was asked to nominate candidates
+from his prison, but he would not do it. Striking is Charles's remark
+on the nomination of the son of the King of Naples. Considering that
+the Order was already decorated and honoured by four kings, very
+excellent, he judged it more _a propos_ to distribute the five empty
+collars within his own states. Nevertheless the infant was elected, as
+was also Engelbert of Nassau.
+
+Various members are criticised as permitted by the rules of the Order.
+There was reproach for Anthony the Bastard for taking a gift of 20,000
+crowns from Louis XI. Payable as it was in terms, it savoured of a
+pension. Had Henry van Borselen done all he could to prevent Warwick's
+landing in England? etc.
+
+Among the minor pieces of business discussed was the disposition of
+the scarlet mantles now discarded by the chevaliers. It was decided
+after deliberation that they should be sold and the proceeds applied
+to the purchase of tapestries for the chapel of Dijon, and the
+treasurer was deputed to see about it. Perhaps it was in this
+connection that the discussion turned on the wide-spread use, or
+rather abuse of gold and velvet. It tended to depreciate the Order and
+the state of chivalry. But the sovereign thought it best to defer this
+point until his return from his proposed journey to Guelders. Lengthy,
+too, were the discussions upon the exact usage in respect to wearing
+the collar and insignia of the Order.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The first sum named was three hundred thousand.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _The Paston Letters, iii., 79._.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See _Memoires Couronnes_, xlix., 180.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Toutey, p. 42; Lenglet, ii., 207. August 14th the Duke
+of Burgundy crossed the Rhine and made his way to Nimwegen where the
+ambassador of the emperor visited him.]
+
+[Footnote 7: This instruction, printed by Lenglet (iii., 238) from the
+Godefroy edition of Commines, has no date and has been referred to
+1472. From internal evidence it seems fair to conclude that it belongs
+rather to 1470. The question of the marriage comes in at the end of
+the paper, the first part being devoted to Swiss affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Lenglet, iii., 192.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Toutey, p. 44; Chmel, _Monumenta Habsburgica, I, 3._]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey, p. 46.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+THE MEETING AT TREVES
+
+1473
+
+
+On Wednesday, September 28th, Emperor Frederic made his entry into the
+old Roman city on the dancing Moselle. Two days later, the Duke of
+Burgundy arrived and was welcomed most pompously outside of Treves, by
+his suzerain.
+
+After the first greetings, ensued an argument about the etiquette
+proper for the occasion, an argument similar to those which had
+absorbed the punctilious in the Burgundian court, when the dauphin
+made his famous visit to Duke Philip. For thirty minutes, the emperor
+argued with his guest before feudal scruples were overcome and the
+vassal was induced to ride by his chief's side into the city.
+
+The entry was a grand sight, and crowds thronged the streets, more
+curious about the duke than about the emperor. Charles was then in the
+very prime of life. His personality commanded attention, but there
+were some among the onlookers who found it more striking than
+attractive. One bystander thought that the very splendour of his
+dress, wherein cloth of gold and pearls played a part, only brought
+into high relief the severity of his features. His great black eyes,
+his proud and determined air failed to cast into oblivion a certain
+effect of insignificance given by his square figure, broad shoulders,
+excessively stout limbs, and legs rather bowed from continuous
+riding.[l]
+
+There is, however, another word portrait of the duke as he looked in
+the year 1473, whose trend is more sympathetic.[2] "His stature was
+small and nervous, his complexion pale, hair dark chestnut, eyes black
+and brilliant, his presence majestic but stern. He was high-spirited,
+magnanimous, courageous, intrepid, and impetuous. Capable of action,
+he lacked nothing but prudence to attain success."
+
+From the two descriptions emerges a fairly clear picture of an
+energetic man, somewhat undersized, and sometimes inclined to assert
+his dignity in a fashion that did not quite comport with his physical
+characteristics. The conviction that he was a very important personage
+with greater importance awaiting him, and his total lack of a sense of
+humour, combined with his inability to feel the pulse of a situation,
+undoubtedly affected his bearing and made it seem more pompous.
+
+[Illustration: CHARLES THE BOLD IDEALISED BY RUBENS. IN THE IMPERIAL
+GALLERY AT VIENNA BY PERMISSION OF J.J. LOWY, VIENNA]
+
+The emperor was not an heroic figure in appearance any more than he
+was in the records of his reign, distinguished for being the feeblest
+as well as the longest in the annals of the empire. He was indolent,
+timid, irresolute, and incapable. His features and manners were
+vulgar, his intellect sluggish. Peasant-like in his petty economies,
+he was shrewder at a bargain than in wielding his imperial sceptre.
+At Treves he was accompanied by his son, the Archduke Maximilian, a
+fairly intelligent youth of eighteen, very ready to be fascinated by
+his proposed father-in-law, who was a striking contrast to his own
+languid and irresolute father, in energy and strenuous love of action.
+
+As the two princes rode together into the city, Charles's
+accoutrements attracted all eyes. The polished steel of his armour
+shone like silver. Over it hung a short mantle actually embroidered
+with diamonds and other precious stones to the value of two hundred
+thousand gold crowns. His velvet hat, graciously held in his hand out
+of compliment to the emperor, was ornamented with a diamond whose
+price no man could tell. Before him walked a page carrying his helmet
+studded with gems, while his magnificent black steed was heavily
+weighted down with its rich caparisons.
+
+Frederic III., very simple in his ordinary dress, had exerted himself
+to appear well to his great vassal. His robe of cloth of gold
+was fine, though it may have looked something like a luxurious
+dressing-gown, as it was made after the Turkish fashion and bordered
+with pearls. The emperor was lame in one foot, injured, so ran the
+tradition, by his habit of kicking, not his servants, but innocent
+doors that chanced to impede his way.
+
+The Archduke Maximilian, gay in crimson and silver, walked by the side
+of an Ottoman prince, prisoner of war, and converted to Christianity
+by the pope himself. And then there was a host of nobles, great and
+small. Among them were Engelbert of Nassau[3] and the representative
+of the House of Orange-Chalons, whose titles were destined to be
+united in one person within the next half-century.
+
+The magnificence remained unrivalled in the history of royal
+conferences. The very troopers wore habits of cloth of gold over their
+steel, while their embroidered saddle-cloths were fringed with silver
+bells. Surpassing all others, were the heralds-at-arms of the various
+individual states which acknowledged Charles as their sovereign,
+seigneur, count, or duke as the case might be. They preceded their
+liege lord, clad in their distinctive armorial coats, ablaze with
+colour. Before them were the trumpeters in white and blue, their very
+instruments silvered, while first of all rode one hundred golden
+haired boys, "an angel throng."
+
+It was so difficult to decide as to the requisite etiquette of escort,
+that the emperor and duke agreed to separate on the fairly neutral
+ground of the market-place. Each proceeded with his own suite to his
+lodgings, Frederic to the archbishop's palace, and Charles to
+the abbey of St. Maximin, which had conferred on him, some years
+previously, the honorary title of "Protector." His army was quartered
+within and without the city. Two days for repose and then the first
+official interview took place, which is described as follows, by an
+unknown correspondent, evidently in the ducal suite:[4]
+
+    "Yesterday, which was Sunday, Monseigneur waited upon the emperor
+    and escorted him to his own lodging which is in the abbey of St.
+    Maximin. My said lord was clad in ducal array except for his hat.
+    The emperor wore a rich robe of cloth of gold of cramoisy, and his
+    son was in a robe of green damask. As to their people, both suites
+    were very brave, jewelry and cloth of gold being as common as
+    satin or taffeta. Monseigneur received the emperor in a little
+    chamber decorated with hangings from Holland that many recognised.
+
+    "The emperor made the Bishop of Mayence his mouthpiece to describe
+    the stress of Christianity and to urge Charles to lend his
+    assistance. Having listened to this address, Monseigneur requested
+    the emperor to please come into a larger place where more people
+    could hear his answer. Accordingly they entered a hall decorated
+    with the tapestry of Alexander, while the very ceiling was covered
+    with cloth of gold. There was a dais whereon stood a double row of
+    seats. Benches and steps were spread over with tapestry wrought
+    with my lord's arms. Thither came the emperor and mounted the dais
+    with difficulty.... Mons., the chancellor, clad in velvet over
+    velvet cramoisy, first pronounced a discourse in beautiful Latin
+    as a response to what had been said by the seigneur of Mayence.
+    Then, showing how the affairs of my said lord were affected by
+    the king, he began with an account of the king's reception by
+    Monseigneur, whom God absolve [evidently the late duke], in his
+    own residence, and he continued down to the present day, dilating
+    upon the great benefits, services, and honour by him [Louis]
+    received in the domains of Burgundy, and the extortions he had
+    made since and desires to make. Never a word was forgotten, but
+    all was well stated, especially the case of M. de Guienne.[5]
+    Finally, Monseigneur declared that if his lands were in security,
+    there was nothing he would like better than to give aid to
+    Christianity.
+
+    "After this statement, which was marvellously honest, the emperor
+    arose from the throne, wine and spices were brought, and then
+    Monseigneur escorted the emperor to his quarters with grand
+    display of torches. This is the outline of what happened on
+    October 4th, in the said year lxxiii. And as to the future, next
+    Thursday the emperor will dine where Monseigneur lodges, _et la
+    fera les grants du roy_,[6] and there will be novelties. In regard
+    to the fashion of the said emperor and his estate, he is a very
+    fine prince and attractive, very robust, very human, and benign.
+    I do not know with whom to compare his figure better than
+    Monseigneur de Croy, as he was eight or ten years ago, except that
+    his flesh is whiter than that of the Sr. de Croy. The emperor has
+    seven or eight hundred horse as an escort, but the major part
+    of the nobles present come from this locality. In regard to
+    Monseigneur's departure, there is no news, and they make great
+    cheer--this is all for this time."
+
+    The German scholars in the imperial party listened most
+    attentively to the style of the Netherlander's speech as well as
+    to his subject-matter. "More abundant in vocabulary than elegant
+    in Latinity," was their comment, a fault they considered marking
+    all French Latin. The audience found time to note the style for
+    the subject of the address did not interest them greatly. The
+    least observant onlooker knew that the main purpose of this
+    interview was not the plan of a Turkish campaign, though Frederic
+    appointed a committee to discuss that, whose members, Burgundian
+    and German in equal numbers, were instructed to study the Eastern
+    question while emperor and duke were absorbed in other matters.[7]
+    In their very first session, this committee decided that the
+    chief obstacle to a Turkish expedition was the Franco-Burgundian
+    quarrel. This point was also raised by Charles in his first
+    conference with Frederic. No campaign was feasible until the
+    European powers were ready to act in concert. Louis XI. was aiding
+    and abetting the heathen by being a disturbing element which
+    rendered this desired unity impossible. So Frederic appointed a
+    fresh commission to discuss European peace. And this insolvable
+    problem was a convenient blind for other discussions.
+
+    On October 5th, a Burgundian fete gave new occasion for a display
+    of wealth; "vulgar ostentation," sneered the less opulent German
+    nobles who tried to show that their pride was not wounded by the
+    sharp contrasts between imperial habits and those of a mere duke.
+    On their side, the Burgundians remarked that it was a pity to
+    waste good things on boors so little accustomed to elegantly
+    equipped apartments that they used silken bedspreads to polish up
+    their boots!
+
+    A running commentary of international criticism, fine feasts,
+    ostensible negotiations about projects that probably no one
+    expected would come to pass, and an undercurrent, persistent
+    and mandatory, of demands emphatically made on one side, feebly
+    accepted by the other while the two principals were together, and
+    petulantly disliked by the emperor as soon as he was alone again
+    --such was the course of the conference.
+
+    Frederic III. had one simple desire--to marry his son to the
+    Burgundian heiress. Charles desired many things, some of which are
+    clear and others obscure. The very fact that the emperor did not
+    at once refuse his demands, gave him confidence that all were
+    obtainable. Very probably he hoped to overawe his feudal chief
+    by a display of his resources, and by showing the high esteem in
+    which he was held by all nations. There at Treves, embassies came
+    to him from England, from various Italian and German states, and
+    from Hungary.
+
+    On October 15th, a treaty was signed that made the new Duke of
+    Lorraine virtually a vassal to Charles, an important step towards
+    Burgundian expansion. There was time and to spare for these many
+    comings and goings during the eight weeks of the sojourn at
+    Treves, and the duke was not idle. That his own business hung
+    fire, he thought was due to the machinations of Louis XI. He had
+    no desire to prolong his visit, for he was well aware of the
+    risk involved in keeping his troops in Treves.[8] At first the
+    magnificence of his equipage had amused the quiet old town, but
+    little by little, in spite of the duke's strict discipline, the
+    presence of idle soldiers became very onerous. Charles did not
+    hesitate to hang on the nearest tree a man caught in an illicit
+    act, but much lawlessness passed without his knowledge. Provisions
+    became very dear; there was some danger of an epidemic due to the
+    unsanitary conditions of the place, ill fitted to harbour so many
+    strangers. The precautions instituted by the Roman founders in
+    regard to their water supply had long since fallen into disuse.
+
+    Weary of delays, the duke demanded a definite answer from the
+    emperor as to the proposed kingdom, the matrimonial alliance, and
+    his own status. Frederic appeared about to acquiesce, and then
+    substituted vague promises for present assent to the demands. But
+    when Charles, indignant, broke off negotiations on October 31st,
+    and began to prepare for immediate departure, Frederic became
+    anxious, renewed his overtures, and a new conference took place,
+    in which he consented to fulfil the duke's wishes, with the
+    proviso the sanction of his election should be obtained.
+
+    Charles promised to go against the Turk in person, and to place
+    a thousand men at Frederic's disposal, so soon as all points at
+    issue between him and Louis XI. were settled, and provided that
+    his estates were erected into a kingdom, which should also
+    comprise the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Toul, Verdun, and the
+    duchies of Lorraine, Savoy, and Cleves. This realm was to be
+    a fief of the empire like Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, and
+    transmissible by heredity in the male and female line--a necessary
+    recognition of a woman's right, approved by both parties, for Mary
+    of Burgundy was to marry Maximilian.
+
+    Electoral confirmation alone was wanting, and in regard to that
+    there was much voluminous correspondence and much shuffling of
+    responsibility. The electors of Mayence and of Treves were the
+    only ones present to speak for themselves, and they declared
+    that the matter ought to be referred to a full conclave of the
+    electoral college.[9] Let the candidate for royalty await the
+    decision of the next diet, appointed for November at Augsburg.
+
+    Never loth to delay, the emperor proposed this solution to
+    Charles, who replied haughtily that if his request were not
+    complied with he would join Louis XI. in a league hostile to the
+    empire. This was on November 6th. The Archbishop of Treves then
+    suggested that if the question could not wait for a diet, at
+    least the electors should be summoned, especially the elector of
+    Brandenburg, whom he knew to be influential with the emperor, and
+    who was a leader in the anti-Burgundian and anti-Bohemian German
+    party. This seemed fair, but the emperor suddenly put on a show of
+    authority and declared, with an injured air, that he was perfectly
+    free to act on his own initiative without confirmation. In the
+    interests of Christianity and of the empire he would appoint
+    Charles of Burgundy chief of the crusade, and he would crown him
+    king.
+
+    The organised opposition to his plan came to the duke's ears and
+    made him very angry. Yet, at the same time, he had no desire
+    to dispense with electoral consent. Possibly he felt that the
+    imperial staff alone was too feeble to conjure his kingdom into
+    permanent existence. It was finally decided that Frederic III.
+    should display his power to the extent of investing Charles
+    at once with the duchy of Guelders, while the more important
+    investiture should be postponed.
+
+    Very imposing was the ceremony enacted in the market-place.
+    Frederic was exalted upon a high platform ascended by a flight
+    of steps. Charles, clad in complete steel but bareheaded and
+    unattended, rode slowly around the platform three times, "which
+    they say was the custom in such solemnities of investiture," adds
+    an eyewitness,[10] as though he considered the ceremony somewhat
+    archaic. Then the candidate dismounted, received the mantle of the
+    empire from an attendant, and slowly ascended the steps to the
+    emperor's feet, while a new escutcheon, displaying the insignia of
+    the freshly acquired fiefs, quartered on the Burgundian arms, was
+    carried before him. Kneeling at the emperor's feet, the duke laid
+    two fingers on his sword hilt and repeated the oath of fealty and
+    service in low but distinct tones. Other rites followed, and then
+    Charles was proclaimed Duke of Guelders.
+
+    [Illustration: MAXIMILIAN OF AUSTRIA, MEDAL]
+
+    Thus one object of the conference was attained, and all the
+    world thought it was only a question of time when the greater
+    investiture would be celebrated. Charles's star was in the
+    ascendant. There seemed no limit to the power he had acquired
+    over his suzerain, who apparently graciously nodded assent to his
+    requests, while the duke, too, withdrawing from his alliance with
+    the King of Hungary, appeared very conciliatory in all doubtful
+    issues. At the same time, his confidence in Frederic was by no
+    means perfect.
+
+    "The emperor is acting with perfect imperial authority and thinks
+    that no one has a right to dispute it, nevertheless the duke
+    yearns for the sanction of the electors and is set upon obtaining
+    it."[11] The tone taken by Charles was that of humble ignorance.
+    "Little instructed as I am in imperial German law, I am anxious to
+    have your opinion on the legal ability of the emperor to erect a
+    kingdom." On November 8th, in the evening, the electors present in
+    Treves declared that they were not exactly sure about the imperial
+    authority, but they were sure that it was not their duty to
+    discuss the legal attributes of imperial puissance.
+
+    Under these circumstances what remained to hinder the attainment
+    of Charles's desire? The emperor consented, and the only people
+    who could have stayed his consent expressly stated that his was
+    the final word, not theirs. It was easy for onlookers to conclude
+    not only that the coronation was certain but that it was done.
+
+    "Know that our lord the emperor has made the Duke of Burgundy a
+    king of the lands hereafter mentioned and has assured the royal
+    title to him and his heirs, male and female; all the territories
+    that he holds from the empire together with Guelderland lately
+    conquered, and the land of Lorraine, lately lapsed to the empire
+    in fief, besides the duchy of Burgundy that formerly was held from
+    the crown of France; also the bishoprics of Liege, Utrecht, Dolen,
+    and others belonging to the empire, besides a few seigniories,
+    also imperial fiefs. All this, royalty and principalities, he
+    receives from a Roman emperor."
+
+So wrote Albert of Brandenburg on November 13th, trusting to the
+word of an envoy who had left matters in so advanced a state when he
+departed from Treves that he felt safe in concluding that achievement
+had been reached.[12]
+
+Various letters from the citizens of Berne, too, were filled with
+rumours from Treves. Most extraordinary is one of November 29th,
+intended to go the rounds of the Swiss confederacy, containing _exact
+details of the coronation of Charles as it had taken place five days
+previously_. The boundaries of the new kingdom were specified.[13]
+Venice, in hot haste to please the monarch, had instantly shown
+exceptional honour to the Burgundian resident. How exact it all
+sounded! Yet there was no truth in it.
+
+The vacillating emperor was affected by the attitude of his suite, and
+by their varying representations. There is no actual proof of French
+interference, but French agents had been seen in the city, and might
+have had private audiences with the emperor. Gradually, relations
+changed between Charles and Frederic. There was a cloud, not
+dissipated by a three days' fete given by the duke (November
+19th-22d), evidently in farewell. Was Charles too exigeant with his
+demands, too chary of his daughter? Probably.
+
+On November 23d, instead of a definitive treaty a simple convention
+was signed, postponing the coronation until February. Emperor and
+regal candidate were to meet again at Besancon, Cologne, or Basel. In
+the interval, Charles was to come to a satisfactory understanding with
+the electors and obtain their official endorsement for the imperial
+grant.
+
+November 25th was appointed, _not_ for the regal investiture, but for
+Frederic's departure. On the evening of the 24th, he gave audience to
+his councillors and princes. The electors present were urged by the
+Burgundians to give their own conditional approval at least, and to
+consent to a reduction of the military obligations to be incurred
+by Charles. It was a crisis, however, where nobody wished to pledge
+anything definitely. There was an evident disposition to await some
+further issue before final action.
+
+The leave-taking between the bargain makers was expected to be as
+pompous as had been the entry into Treves. It was far into the night
+of November 24th when the audience broke up. Little rest was there for
+the imperial suite, for when the tardy November sun arose above the
+eastern horizon, its rays met Frederic sailing down the Moselle. Not
+only had no imperial adieux been uttered, but no imperial debts had
+been settled. This was the news that was awaiting Charles when he
+awoke. Baffled he was, but not in his hope of being a king that day.
+No, only in his expectation of a stately pageant.[14] In all haste he
+sent Peter von Hagenbach to ride more swiftly along the bank than the
+boat could sail, so as to overtake the traveller and urge him to wait
+for a few more words on divers topics. In one account it is reported
+that Frederic, though annoyed at the interruption, still assented to
+Hagenbach's request. No sooner was the latter away, however, than he
+changed his mind and continued his course.
+
+Rumour was busy, in regard to this strange exit of the emperor from
+the scene. The general belief among contemporaries was that it was on
+the eve of the intended coronation that Frederic turned his back on
+the scene. Take first the words of Thomas Basin, whose statement that
+he was in the very midst of the events can hardly be doubted:[15]
+
+    "But alas how easily and instantly human desires change, and how
+    fragile are the alliances and friendships of men, especially of
+    princes, which are not joined and confirmed by the glue of Christ
+    ... as the sacred Psalm sings, 'Put not your trust in princes
+    nor in the sons of men in whom there is no safety.' Suddenly,
+    forsooth, when they were thought to be harmonious in charity,
+    benevolence, and friendship, when they offered each other such
+    splendid entertainment, when they feasted together in regal luxury
+    in all unity and friendship, when all things, as has been said,
+    needed for the magnificence of such a great honour were made
+    ready and prepared, so that on the third day should occur the
+    celebration of that regal dignity _[fastigii],_ and the
+    _[provectio]_ promotion of a new king and the erection of a new
+    kingdom or the restoration and renovation of an ancient one,
+    now obsolete from antiquity, were expected by all with great
+    attention;--something occurred. I do not know what; hesitation or
+    suspicion, fancied or justified, unexpectedly affected the emperor
+    ... and embarking on his ship in the very early morning he sailed
+    down the river Moselle to the Rhine. And thus was frustrated the
+    hope of the duke and of all the Burgundians who believed that
+    he was to be elevated to a king. In a moment this hope was
+    extinguished like a candle.
+
+    "We were present there in the city of Treves, attached to the
+    suite of neither prince, not serving or pretending to serve either
+    of them. But we ascertained nothing either then or later, although
+    we made many inquiries, about the cause of this sudden departure
+    and we are still ignorant of the truth. When the day broke after
+    the emperor's departure, and the duke was informed of the fact, he
+    was also assured that the vessel in which the emperor sailed was
+    opposite the monastery of St. Mary Blessed to the Martyrs. So he
+    sent messengers hastily to beg the emperor to stay for a very
+    brief interview with the duke, assuring him that the very least
+    delay possible should occur if he did the favour. But no attention
+    was paid to the signals from the shore and the course was
+    continued."
+
+The bishop wrote these words some time after the event. There are
+other accounts preserved, actual letters written within a few days or
+weeks of November 25th, wherein is evinced similar ignorance of what
+had actually passed. The following gives several suggestions of
+difficulties not mentioned elsewhere. A certain Balthasar Cesner,
+secretary, writes to Master Johannes Gelthauss and others in
+Frankfort, from Cologne, on December 6th.[16] He was attached to
+the imperial service, and possibly was one of the few attendants on
+Frederic in the hasty journey from Treves. After touching on Cologne
+affairs he proceeds:
+
+    "I must inform your excellencies how the Duke of Burgundy came
+    with all pomp for his coronation as king of the kingdom of
+    Burgundy and Friesland with twenty-six standards besides a
+    magnificent sceptre and crown. He also wished to take his duchy
+    and territories in Savoy[17] and Guelders and others in fief from
+    him [the emperor] and not from the empire.[18] This and other
+    extraordinary demands his imperial grace did not wish to grant,
+    and on that account he has broken off the interview and gone away.
+    Everything was prepared for the coronation, the chair for the
+    taking.[19] It is said that he is to be crowned in Aix. It may be
+    hoped not [_non speratur_]. You can understand me as well as your
+    faithful servant.
+
+    "Dear Master Hans I hope that you will not laugh at me. I can
+    please my gracious lord and be worthy of praise if you will only
+    trust me.
+
+    "Despatched from Cologne on St. Nicholas Day itself.
+
+    "To the Jurisconsult Master Johannes Gelthauss, Distinguished
+    advocate, master, preceptor of the city of Frankfort."
+
+The two kingdoms are also mentioned by Snoy:
+
+    "Two realms, namely Burgundy and Frisia; in the second, Holland,
+    Zealand, Guelders, Brabant, Limburg, Namur, Hainaut, and the
+    dioceses of Liege, Cambray, and Utrecht; in the first, Burgundy,
+    Luxemburg, Artois, Flanders, and three bishoprics."
+
+The chronicler adds that this plan was discussed in secret
+conference.[20]
+
+Again the rumour that the final straw that broke the emperor's
+resolution was the duke's desire to take Savoy and Guelders from
+his hand alone, is suggestive. On the duke's part, this wish might
+indicate an attempt to separate a portion of territory from the empire
+in a way to deceive his contemporaries into thinking that his kingdom
+was an imperial fief, while, in reality, it was an independent realm,
+as he or his successors could declare at a convenient moment. But this
+seems at variance with his attested desire for electoral support.
+
+It was a curious tangle and never fully unravelled. Yet, considering
+the emperor's personal characteristics, his last action does not
+seem inexplicable. As his visitor showed the intensity of his will,
+Frederic became restive. Phlegmatic, obstinate, yet conscious of his
+own weakness, personal conflicts with a nature equally obstinate and
+much more vigorous were exceedingly unpleasant. The collision made him
+writhe uneasily and prefer to slip out of his embarrassment as quietly
+as he could.
+
+The proposed leave-taking was to be very magnificent, and the
+magnificence again was significant of Burgundian wealth. Whether the
+duke would surely keep his pledge of sharing that wealth with the
+archduke if the emperor went so far that he could not draw back, was a
+consideration that undoubtedly may have affected Frederic. Had Mary of
+Burgundy accompanied her father, had the wedding of the daughter and
+investiture of the new king been planned for the same day, had the
+promises been exchanged simultaneously, the leave-taking might have
+passed, indeed, as a third ceremonial in all stateliness.
+
+If Frederic doubted the surety of his bargain, it is not surprising.
+It was notorious how the duke had played fast and loose with his
+daughter's hand, withdrawing it from the grasp of a suitor as the
+greater advantages of another alliance were presented to him, or as
+the mere disadvantage of any marriage at all became unpleasantly near.
+Vigorous man of forty that he was, Charles had no personal desire to
+see a son-in-law, _in propria persona_, waiting for his shoes--a fact
+perfectly patent to the emperor, as it was to the rest of the world.
+
+The task of making the imperial adieux was entrusted to the imperial
+chamberlain, Ulrich von Montfort, who duly presented his master's
+formal excuses to the duke, on the morning of November 25th.
+"Important and urgent affairs had necessitated his presence elsewhere.
+The arrangement discussed between them was not broken but simply
+postponed until a more convenient occasion rendered its execution
+possible," etc.
+
+The Strasburg chronicles report that Charles was in a towering rage on
+receiving this communication. He clinched his fists, ground his teeth,
+and kicked the furniture about the room in which he had locked himself
+up.[21] But by the time these words were penned, these authors
+were better informed than Charles about the ultimate result of the
+emperor's intentions. The duke may have been angry, but he certainly
+controlled himself sufficiently to give several audiences in the
+course of the day--to envoys from Lorraine among others--and was ready
+to take his own departure by evening, not doubting that the crown and
+sceptre, carefully packed with the mountain of his valuable treasure,
+would assuredly fulfil their destiny in the near future. Treves was
+left to its pristine repose, and Charles was the last man to realise
+that in its silence were entombed for ever his chances of wearing the
+prematurely prepared insignia.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: This comment of the Strasburg chronicler, Trausch, is
+quoted by De Bussiere in his _Histoire de la Ligue contre Charles le
+Temeraire_, p. 64. Kirk (ii., 222) points out that this contemporary
+had a peculiar hostility towards Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Guillaume Faret or Farrel. His _Hist. de Rene II._ is
+lost. This citation from it is found in _La Guerre de Rene II. contre
+Charles le Hardi_, by P. Aubert Roland.]
+
+[Footnote 3: He had been made knight of the Golden Fleece at the
+May meeting. From this time on some member of the Nassau family was
+prominent in Burgundian affairs.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Gachard, _Doc. inedits_, i., 232. Letter from Treves,
+October 4, 1473.]
+
+[Footnote 5: About this time Louis XI. made strenuous efforts to
+unravel the mystery of his brother's death. (Letter to the chancellor
+of Brittany, _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 190.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gachard could not explain this phrase. It might easily
+refer to the desired investiture.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, _Mon. Habs_., i., lxxvii., 50, 51: Toutey, p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Toutey, p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey bases this statement on three letters (October
+30, 31, and November 7, 1473) written by the envoys of the elector of
+Brandenburg, Ludwig von Eyb and Hertnid von Stein.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Basin, _Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de Louis
+XI._, ii., 323. Between Nov. 6th and this ceremony there had been
+new ruptures. Hugonet had gone back and forth many times between the
+chiefs and "all the world had wondered."]
+
+[Footnote 11: Albert of Brandenburg to the Duke of Saxony. (Muller,
+_Reichstag Theatrum_, p. 598.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 57.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Toutey, p. 60, note.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In this account, differing from the current
+tradition, Toutey has followed Bachmann's conclusions (_Deutsche
+Reichsgeschichte,_ ii., 435).]
+
+[Footnote 15: Basin, ii., 325.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Preserved in the municipal archives in Frankfort (nr.
+5808 or ch. lit. clausa c. sig in verso impr.). This is published by
+Karl Schellhass in _Deutsche Zeitschrift fuer Geschichtewissenschaft,_
+(1891) pp. 80-85. The language is a queer mixture of German and
+Latin.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Charles asked on October 23d, through his chancellor,
+for investiture into Savoy. (Note by Schellhass.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Under this head is meant Lorraine, which he alleged had
+lapsed to the emperor at the death of Nicholas of Calabria.]
+
+[Footnote 19: This means the throne from which Charles was to step
+down to receive the fief.]
+
+[Footnote 20: "Loquitur etiam ferunt de regnis Frisiae et Burgundiae
+sibi constituendes quae audissimis auribus accepta visus non tam negare
+imperator quam dissimulare.
+
+"Nam et ad eam [majestatem regiam] aspirare et ditiones suas velle
+in duo regna partiri visue Burgundiae et Frisiae: in hoc Hollandia,
+Zelandia, Gelria, Brabantia, Limburgum, Namureum, Hannonia et dioceses
+Leodiensis, Cameracensis et Trajectina: altero Burgundia, Luxemburgum,
+Arthesia, Flandria, ecclesaeque cathedrales Sadunensis, Tullensis
+Verdunensis essent." (P. 1131.)
+
+Renier Snoy was born the year of Charles's death, so that his
+statement is tradition but founded on what he might have heard from
+eye-witnesses.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Chmel, i., 49-51; Toutey, p. 59.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+COLOGNE, LORRAINE, AND ALSACE
+
+1473-1474
+
+
+Late as it was in November, the weather was still very mild, and as
+the emperor and duke travelled in opposite directions, neither the
+former as he went down to Cologne, nor the latter as he passed up
+the valley of the Moselle to that of the Ell, was hindered by autumn
+storms. The summer of 1473 had been marked by unprecedented heat and
+a prolonged drouth.[1] Forest fires raged unchecked on account of the
+dearth of water and, for the same reason, the mills stood still.
+The grape crops, indeed, were prodigious, but the vintage was not
+profitable because the wine had a tendency to sour. Gentle rains
+in September prepared the ground for an untimely fertility. Trees
+blossomed and, though some fruits withered prematurely, cherries
+actually ripened. Thus the Rhinelands presented a pleasant appearance
+as Charles rode to Lorraine.
+
+His first pause was at Thionville in Luxemburg, where he stayed about
+a fortnight and received ambassadors from Hungary, Poland, Venice,
+England, Denmark, Brittany, Ferrara, the Palatinate, and Cologne.[2]
+The result of his conference with the last named was a declaration
+on the duke's part which seriously affected his later career. The
+condition of Cologne must be touched on as an essential part of this
+narrative.
+
+The late Duke of Burgundy had attempted to pursue a line of policy in
+regard to the ecclesiastical elections in the diocese of Cologne that
+had succeeded in Liege and in Utrecht. In 1463, he had tried to force
+the chapter to elect his candidate. They had refused to follow
+his leading, but their own choice, Robert, brother of the
+elector-palatine, did not prove a congenial chief, and the new prelate
+turned to Philip for aid when he found his chapter disposed to
+restrict both his revenues and his temporal authority. Later, in 1467,
+as the audacity of his opponents increased, the archbishop appealed to
+his brother, the elector, and to Charles of Burgundy. The latter
+was busy in France, but he wrote a sententious letter to Cologne,
+exhorting both chapter and city to be obedient to their chosen
+spiritual and lay lord. This intervention was resented. The breach
+widened between Robert and his people, culminating in actual
+hostilities. The chapter took possession of the town of Neuss,
+accepted Hermann of Hesse as their protector, and sent an embassy to
+Rome to state their grievances. The elector aided his brother and the
+belligerent parties grew in strength.
+
+The city of Cologne wavered for a space, undecided which cause to
+espouse, and finally chose the chapter's side, signing a five years'
+alliance with that body, which had officially renounced allegiance to
+Robert, pending the judgment of pope and emperor on the dissension.
+Such was the state of affairs when Charles entered into possession of
+Guelders and manifested a disposition to interest himself in Cologne.
+He informed the chapter that he was greatly displeased with their
+contumely. To Cologne he said, "Be neutral," but the burghers showed
+so little inclination to heed his neighbourly advice that he tried
+harsher measures and permitted Cologne merchants to be molested in his
+domains.
+
+In 1473, all hostilities were suspended in the hopes of imperial
+intervention.[3] While Charles was still in Guelders, Robert paid
+him a visit, held long conferences with him, and probably received
+promises of future aid, for he had an air of arrogance when he
+returned from the interview. During the sojourn of duke and emperor at
+Treves, a papal legate, the Bishop of Fossombrone, arrived from Rome
+with plenary powers to settle Cologne affairs, and his measures were
+endorsed by Charles in a letter from Treves.
+
+For a time Frederic III. seemed inclined to refrain from interference,
+then something influenced him in another direction. When he arrived
+at Cologne in November, he received a warm welcome and costly gifts,
+which he repaid by conferring a mass of privileges on his "good
+city,"--cheap and easy benefits,--but he did not prove an efficient
+arbitrator, simply postponing any decision from day to day, though he
+was begged to settle all difficulties before Charles should attempt to
+relieve him of the trouble.
+
+True, Charles was detained elsewhere. But he no longer felt the need
+of conciliating the emperor, and at Thionville, on December 11, 1473,
+he issued a manifesto declaring that his friend Robert was entirely in
+the right, his opponents in the wrong.[4] As these latter defied papal
+legate and arbitrator duly authorised to settle the points of dispute,
+he, Charles of Burgundy, would constitute himself defender of the
+insulted archbishop. At the same time, he despatched Etienne de Lavin
+to check the encroachments of the insolent rebels. The declaration
+emboldened Robert to defy the emperor's summons to meet him and the
+papal legate. They both declared that they would take measures to
+bring him to obedience, but Frederic did not wish to tarry longer at
+Cologne. In January he took his departure, having directed Hermann of
+Hesse to protect that see against all aggression.
+
+Apparently, at that time, in spite of the manifesto, there was no
+formal treaty between Charles and Robert, but there are two drafts for
+such a treaty in existence,[5] wherein the former pledged himself to
+force chapter, nobles, and city to submission, in consideration of the
+sum of 200,000 florins, while the archbishop gave permission to his
+ally to garrison all strongholds, including Cologne. Pending his
+autumn sojourn in the upper Rhinelands, Charles had, therefore, plans
+regarding Cologne definitely in mind.
+
+
+
+_Lorraine_
+
+This duchy was even more interesting to Charles than Cologne, and
+there were many matters in its regard which demanded his urgent
+attention in 1473. It, too, was a pleasant territory, and conveniently
+adjacent to Burgundian lands. A natural means of annexation had been
+considered by Charles in the proposed marriage between Nicholas, Duke
+of Lorraine, and Mary of Burgundy. When that project was abandoned to
+suit Charles's pleasure, he retained the friendship of his rejected
+son-in-law until the latter's death in the spring of 1473. So
+unexpected was this event, that there was the usual suspicion of
+poisoning, and this crime, too, was charged to the account of Louis
+XI., apparently without foundation. Certainly that monarch reaped
+no immediate advantage from the death, for the family to whom the
+succession passed was more friendly to Burgundy than to France.
+
+The heir to the childless Nicholas was his aunt Yolande of Anjou,
+daughter of old King Rene of Anjou, sister to the unfortunate
+Margaret, late Queen of England, and widow of the Duke of Vaudemont.
+The council of Lorraine lost no time in acknowledging Yolande as their
+duchess. She hastened to Nancy, the capital, with her son Rene, aged
+twenty-two, where they were received hospitably, and then Yolande
+formally abdicated in favour of the young man, who was duly accepted
+as Duke of Lorraine.
+
+Now there was a large party of Burgundian sympathisers in Nancy, and
+it was probably owing to their pressure that very strong links were at
+once forged between Charles and the new sovereign of the duchy. The
+apprehension lest the former should protect the land as he had the
+heritage of his namesake, little Charles of Guelders, was expressed by
+the timorous, but their counsels were overweighted, and, on October
+15th, Rene accepted a treaty whose terms were very favourable to
+Burgundy. In exchange for being "protector,"--an office that the
+emperor had already been asked to change into suzerainty,--Rene
+cemented an alliance, offensive and defensive, with Charles, giving
+the latter full permission to march his forces across Lorraine.
+Further, he pledged himself to appoint as officials in all important
+places on the route "men bound by oath to the Duke of Burgundy." Yes,
+more, these were discharged from fidelity to Rene in case he abandoned
+Burgundian interests.
+
+Yolande of Vaudemont endorsed these articles by adding her signature
+to that of her son. Charles feared, however, that the provisions
+might not be adhered to by the Lorrainers--so humiliating were the
+terms--and exacted in addition the signatures of the chief nobles. On
+November 18th, seventy-four of these gentlemen attested their
+approval of an act that practically delivered their land to a
+stranger,--evidence that they doubted the ability of their hereditary
+chief, and preferred Burgundy to France.
+
+There is a story that Charles tried other methods than diplomacy,
+before he got the better of the young duke in this bargain, that he
+actually had him stolen away from the castle of Joinville where he was
+staying with his mother.[6] Louis promptly came forward and arrested a
+nephew of the emperor, a student in the University of Paris, and kept
+him as a hostage until the release of Rene. Rumour, too, asserts that
+there was a treaty of Joinville, wherein Rene asserted his friendship
+with Louis, which was intermitted by his relations with Charles, to be
+resumed later. That also seems to be improbable. The formal alliance
+with Louis did not come then, though the king took immediate care
+to build up a party in his behalf in Lorraine, and to keep himself
+informed of the progress of the new regime.
+
+From Thionville, Charles journeyed on to Nancy, where he was welcomed
+by his protege, outside the city walls, and the two rode in together
+as the duke and the emperor had entered Treves. Charles had been so
+long keeping up a show of obsequiousness which he did not feel that,
+undoubtedly, he enjoyed again being the first personage.[7] He
+refused, however, to accept the young man's hospitality, and spent the
+two days of his sojourn in the house of a certain Malhortie, where
+he felt more at ease in his conferences with Lorrainers willing to
+proceed further to the disadvantage of their new sovereign.
+
+The ally certainly became more exigeant. In various towns on the
+Moselle, Epinal, Charmes, Dompaire, etc., the Lorraine soldiers were
+replaced by Burgundians. This immediate and arrogant use of the rights
+he had wrested from the Duke of Lorraine alienated many who had been
+warm for Burgundy. Rene himself admired Charles as Maximilian had
+done. The strong man exercised a fascination over both youths, but
+the duke did not turn this admiration into real friendship,
+underestimating the character of his protege. His measures, too, were
+taken without the slightest consideration for local feeling. Garrison
+after garrison was installed and commanded to obey his officers alone,
+while the soldiers were allowed to levy their own rations, equivalent
+to raids on a friendly country. As always, the agglomeration of
+mercenary companies was difficult to control. The duke did not succeed
+in having those remote from his jurisdiction kept in due restraint.
+Complaints began to pour into his headquarters. Public sentiment
+shifted day by day. The Burgundian became the personification of a
+public foe. Before Charles proceeded on his way to Alsace, Rene had
+begun to lose his admiration and it was not long before he impatiently
+awaited an opportunity to break with his too doughty protector.
+
+
+
+_Alsace_
+
+During the four years that Charles had delayed in coming to look at
+the result of the bargain of 1469 in the Rhine valley, his lieutenant,
+Peter von Hagenbach, had given the inhabitants reason to regret
+the easy-going absentee Austrian seigneurs. Much had been done,
+undoubtedly, in restraining the lawlessness of the robber barons. The
+roads were well policed, and safety was assured to travellers. "I
+spy," was the motto blazoned on the livery of the forces led by
+Hagenbach up and down the land, until he had unearthed lurking
+vagabonds. It was acknowledged that gold and silver could be carried
+openly from place to place, and that night journeys were as safe as
+day. Still, this advantageous change had not won popularity for the
+man who wrought it. Perhaps the people thought it less burdensome to
+make their own little bargains with highwaymen or petty nobles,[8] a
+law unto themselves, than to meet the rigorous requisitions of the
+Burgundian tax collector.
+
+It was the country that had profited most by the new administration.
+The small towns had long enjoyed great independence, and had shown
+ability in managing their own affairs. They wanted no interference.
+Not liked by those whom he had really protected, Hagenbach was
+absolutely hated by the burghers who felt his iron hand, without
+acknowledging that its pressure had more good than evil in it.
+
+Then there were the neighbours to be considered. The Swiss had hated
+Sigismund and all Austrians, and had been prepared to prefer Burgundy
+as a power in the Rhinelands. But Hagenbach took no pains to win their
+friendship. His insolent fashion of referring to them as "fellows" or
+"rascals," added to acts of aggression, unchecked if not condoned by
+him, aroused bitter dislike to him in the confederated cantons,[9] and
+in their allies, Berne, Mulhouse, etc. By 1473, there was a growing
+sentiment in Helvetia that they would be happier if Austria had her
+own again, while the uneasiness in the cities that stood alone had
+greatly increased.
+
+Within Hagenbach's immediate jurisdiction, the opposition to his
+measures took a definite form long before the duke's arrival there.
+The various commissioners sent by Charles to inspect the quality of
+his bargain had all agreed in an urgent recommendation to the duke to
+redeem, at the earliest possible moment, all the troublesome mortgages
+honeycombing his authority. Hagenbach, too, was fully convinced of the
+necessity for this measure, but he was not provided with sufficient
+money to accomplish it.
+
+In the spring of 1473, therefore, he resolved to lay a new tax on
+wine. This impost, called the "Bad Penny," was bitterly resented for
+two reasons. The burden was oppressive to the vintners and it was an
+illegal measure, as no sanction had been given by the local estates.
+Three towns, Thann, Ensisheim, and Brisac, declared that they were
+determined to refuse payment.
+
+Hagenbach marched a force into the Engelburg, a stronghold dominating
+Thann, bombarded the town, and took it easily. Thirty citizens were
+condemned to death as leaders in an iniquitous rebellion against the
+just orders of their lawful governor. Some of these, indeed, were
+pardoned, though their estates were confiscated, but five or six
+were publicly executed, and their bodies hung exposed to view on the
+market-place, as a hideous object-lesson of the cost of resisting
+Burgundian orders.
+
+One execution sufficed to render Ensisheim submissive, but Brisac
+proved more obstinate. The magistrates there did not resort to force.
+They declared there was no need, for they were fully protected by the
+article in the treaty of St. Omer, which forbade arbitrary imposition
+of any tax on the part of the suzerain. Their determined refusal made
+the lieutenant consent to refer the question to the Duke of Burgundy,
+and messengers were despatched to Treves to represent the respective
+grievances of governor and governed. The collection of the tax was
+postponed until Charles could examine the situation.
+
+A determined effort to bring the independent town of Mulhouse under
+Burgundian sway was another act of 1473, fanning opposition to a white
+heat that forged organised resistance to any extension of Burgundian
+authority. For three years, Hagenbach had endeavoured to convince the
+burghers of that imperial city that they would be wise to accept the
+duke's protection and have their debts paid. The latter were, indeed,
+oppressive, but there was fear lest "protection" might be more so, and
+conference after conference failed to produce the acquiescence desired
+by Hagenbach.
+
+In 1473, that zealous servant of Burgundy declared that if the
+burghers persisted in their refusal he would resort to force. Their
+reply was that Mulhouse could not take such an important step without
+consulting her friends, the Swiss. "Are the cantons going to help you
+pay your debts?" was the sneering comment of Hagenbach. "Mulhouse is
+a bad weed in a rose garden, a plant that must be extirpated. Its
+submission would make a charming pleasure ground out of the Sundgau,
+Alsace, and Breisgau. The duke knew no city which he would prefer to
+Mulhouse for a sojourn," were his further statements.[10]
+
+Two days were given to the town council for an answer. Hagenbach
+remarked that it was useless to think that time could be gained until
+the mortgaged territories should return to Austria. "Far from planning
+redemption, Duke Sigismund is now preparing to cede to _Charles le
+temeraire_ as much again of his domain and vassals." Still Mulhouse
+was not convinced that the only course open to her was to let Charles
+pay her debts and receive her homage. No answer was forthcoming in the
+two days, but ready scribes had prepared many copies of Hagenbach's
+letter, which were sent to all who might be interested in checking
+these proposals of Burgundy.
+
+On February 24, 1473, a Swiss diet met at Lausanne and there the
+matter was weighed. Hagenbach's letter was shown to those who had
+not seen it, and methods of rescuing Mulhouse from her dilemma were
+carefully considered. Years ago a union had existed between the forest
+cantons and the Alsatian cities. There were propositions to renew
+this alliance so as to present a strong front to their Burgundian
+neighbour. The cantons had enough to do with their own affairs, but
+the result of the discussion was that, on March 14th, a ten-year
+Alsatian confederation was formed in imitation of the Swiss.
+
+The chief members were Basel, Colmar, Mulhouse, Schlestadt, and two
+dioceses, and it is referred to as the _Basse-Union_ or the Lower
+Union, the purposes being to guarantee mutually the rights of the
+contracting parties, to meet for discussion on various questions, and,
+specifically, to help Mulhouse pay her debts. A few days later, March
+19th, there was a fresh proposition to make an alliance between
+this _Basse-Union_ and the Swiss confederation. This required a
+_referendum_. Each Swiss delegate received a copy of the articles to
+take back to his constituents for their consideration. No bond between
+the confederation and the union was, however, in existence at the time
+when Charles was approaching Alsace. Various conciliatory measures
+on his part had somewhat lessened immediate opposition to him, but,
+nevertheless, there were frequent conferences about affairs. Diets
+were almost continuous and there were strenuous efforts to raise money
+to free Mulhouse from her hampering financial embarrassments.
+
+Hagenbach had not followed up his threats of immediate war measures,
+but it was known that he had obtained imperial authorisation to
+assume the jurisdiction of Mulhouse, a step which her allies hoped to
+forestall by settling her debts. Strasburg offered to contribute six
+hundred florins, Berne and Soleure seven hundred, Basel four hundred,
+while Colmar, Schlestadt, Obernai, and Kaisersberg together hoped to
+raise another four hundred. A diet was called at Basel for December
+11th, and Zuerich and Lucerne were expected to enter into the union.
+The tidings of the duke's approach were undoubtedly a stimulus to
+these renewed efforts to make the league strong enough to withstand
+him. The sentiment expressed by the pious Knebel, "May God protect us
+from his mighty hand," voiced probably a wide-spread dread.
+
+When Charles entered Alsace, his escort was large enough to
+inspire fear, but there was no opposition to his advance, though
+consultations, now at one city, now at another, were frequent. The
+duke paid little heed to their deliberations, under-estimating their
+importance, while he was gracious to any words of welcome offered to
+him. Strasburg sent him greetings while he rested at Chatenois, and so
+did Colmar. The latter town expressed her willingness to receive him
+and an escort of one or two hundred, but was firm in her refusal to
+admit a larger force within her walls. By this precaution, Charles was
+baffled in his plot to gain possession of the town, and so passed on
+his way.
+
+On Christmas eve, the traveller made a formal entry into Brisac, where
+a temporary court was established, and where audience was given to
+various embassies with the customary Burgundian pomp. Meanwhile the
+troops, forced to camp without the walls, were a burden to the land,
+and seem to have been more odious than usual to their unwilling hosts.
+
+The citizens of Brisac offered homage on their knees and had their
+hopes raised high by their suzerain's pleasant greeting, but they
+failed to obtain the hoped for assurance that the treaty of St. Omer
+should be observed in all respects. Among the envoys were many who
+undertook to remonstrate in a friendly fashion about the imposition
+of the "Bad Penny" tax on the Alsatians, and the over-severity of
+Hagenbach's administration. The cause of Mulhouse, too, was urged,
+notably by Berne. The representations of these last envoys were
+received most courteously. The duke rather thought that the city could
+be detached from the league, and therefore gave himself some trouble
+to establish friendly relations.
+
+To Mulhouse, too, his tone was conciliatory. He wrote a pleasant
+letter to the town and despatched a councillor thither, who would, he
+assured them, arrange matters to their satisfaction. But an abortive
+_coup d'etat_ on the part of the Burgundians, which would have given
+them possession of Basel, destroyed the effect of these reassuring
+phrases. The burghers were warned in time, looked to their defences,
+and banished from their midst every individual suspected of Burgundian
+sympathies. Every newcomer was carefully scrutinised before he was
+admitted within the walls, and the Rhine was guarded most rigidly. The
+propriety of these precautions was soon proven.
+
+Charles ordered a review at Ensisheim, the official capital of the
+landgraviate. Thither marched his troops from every quarter. Those
+from Saeckingen, Lauffen, and Waldshut found their shortest route over
+the bridge at Basel, and there they appeared and begged to be allowed
+to cross. Their sincerity was doubted, and the least foothold on the
+city's territory was sternly refused then and a week later, when the
+request was renewed. The method of introducing friendly troops into a
+town and then seizing it by a sudden _coup de main_ was what Charles
+had been suspected of plotting for Metz, and later for Colmar, and
+there seems to be no doubt that a third essay of this rather stupid
+stratagem was planned, only to fail again, and this time to be
+peculiarly disastrous in its reflex action.
+
+The review took place and the strength of the Burgundian mercenaries
+was duly displayed to the Alsatians, but no satisfactory assurances
+were given to Brisac and the other towns that their suzerain
+would restrict his measures of taxation and administration to the
+stipulations of the contract of St. Omer. On the contrary, when
+Charles passed on to Burgundy it was plain to all that he had _not_
+restricted the powers of his lieutenant in any respect, but rather had
+endorsed his general method of procedure.
+
+One night was spent at Thann[11] and then the duke took his leave of
+the annexed region whose people had hoped so much from his visit to
+them. In mid-January he arrived at Besancon, his winter journeying
+being wonderfully easy in the unprecedentedly mild weather.
+
+Hagenbach lost no time in proceeding to the levying of the impost now
+approved by the duke, who had at the same time expressly ordered that
+the people were to be treated mildly, and that summary punishment
+was to check all excesses on the part of the eight hundred Picards
+employed by Hagenbach to aid the tax collector. The governor, however,
+saw no further need for gentle treatment or for respect to privileges.
+In Brisac, municipal elections were arbitrarily set aside, and
+officers appointed by the governor. The corporation was curtailed
+of power, and the burghers were forced to prepare to march against
+Mulhouse.
+
+Having accomplished his duty to his own satisfaction, Hagenbach
+proceeded to give himself some relaxation. His own marriage took place
+on January 24th, and he celebrated the occasion with great fetes. It
+is of this period in Hagenbach's life that the stories of gross excess
+are told.[12] It seems as though, having once abandoned restraint
+towards the city, his personal passions, too, were permitted to run
+riot, and he spared no wife nor maid to whom he took a fancy.
+
+As he had succeeded in impressing the "Bad Penny" on the little
+independent landowners, he tried to extend it to the territory of the
+Bishop of Basel. Vehement was the opposition which was reported to the
+duke, who promptly ordered his lieutenant to restore the prisoners he
+had taken and to cease his aggressions. Charles was not ready to
+meet the Swiss, and was willing to defer an issue, but he was wholly
+ignorant of the real strength of the confederation. Hagenbach then
+proceeded to make a stronghold of Brisac and waited for further
+action.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: De Roye, p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 2: He also issued administrative orders. It was at this time
+that he instituted a high court of justice and a chamber of accounts
+at Mechlin, both designed to serve for all the Netherland provinces.
+This measure was bitterly resented by the local authorities.
+(Fredericq. _Le role politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_, p.
+183.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Letters are preserved in the Cologne archives. (Toutey,
+p. 64.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: Toutey, p. 66. This document is in the Cologne archives.]
+
+[Footnote 5:_See_ Toutey, p. 66. These are printed in Lacomblet,
+_Urkunden_, iv., 468, 470.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Jean de Roye is the only contemporary to tell this story.
+Both Toutey and Kirk reject it. (_See_ Toutey, p. 76; Kirk, ii.,
+271.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: Toutey's suggestion.]
+
+[Footnote 8: All sons inherited their father's title, so that there
+were many landless lords.]
+
+[Footnote 9: At this period there were eight in the confederation,
+which was a loose structure in which each member preserved her
+individuality.]
+
+[Footnote 10: _See_ Toutey, p. 82, who quotes from the _Cartulaire de
+Mulhouse_, iv., _et passim_. This last furnishes the details for these
+passages.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In this account Toutey's conclusions are accepted. There
+are discrepancies as to dates among the various chroniclers. The
+duke's itinerary as given in Comines-Lenglet (ii., 211) does not agree
+with that of Knebel and others. But the facts of the narrative are
+little affected by the variations. The following is the itinerary
+accepted by Toutey:
+
+Dep. from Ensisheim                    Jan.  8
+Stay at Thann                           "    9-10
+Dep. from Belfort                       "   11
+Besancon                                "   17
+Auxonne, slept                          "   18
+Dijon, a                                "   23
+Dijon, d                               Feb.  19, 1474
+Auxonne, slept                          "   20
+Dole                                    "  21-March 8
+(Invested with the Franche Comte of Burgundy.)
+Besancon                              March 12 or 15
+Vesoul and Luxeuil                    March   23-28
+Lorraine                                "     28
+Luxemburg                              Apr.  4-June 9
+Easter fetes                            "   10
+Fete of the Order of the Garter         "   23
+Brussels                               June 27]
+
+[Footnote 12: Kirk considers that they are well founded and too
+indecent to repeat.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE FIRST REVERSES
+
+1474-1475
+
+
+"Who is this that cometh, this that is glorious in his apparel,
+travelling in the greatness of his strength?" These words in Latin,
+on scrolls fluttering from the hands of living angels, met the eyes
+of Charles of Burgundy at his retarded arrival in Dijon. And the
+confident duke had no wish to disclaim the subtle flattery of the
+implied comparison between him and the subject of the words of the
+prophet.[1]
+
+The traveller had slept at Perigny, about a league from the capital
+of Burgundy, so as to make the last stage of his journey thither in
+leisurely state. Unpropitious weather on Saturday, January 22d, the
+appointed day, made postponement of the ducal parade necessary, out
+of consideration for the precious hangings and costly ecclesiastical
+robes that were to grace the ceremonies of reception and investiture.
+Fortunately, Sunday, January 23d, dawned fair, and heralds rode
+through the city streets at an early hour, proclaiming the duke's
+gracious intention to make his entry on that day. Immediately,
+tapestries were spread and every one was alert with the last
+preparations.
+
+[Illustration: A FORTIFIED CHURCH IN BURGUNDY - XVth Century]
+
+Lavish was the display of biblical phrases, like that cited, which
+were planted along the ducal way and on a succession of stagings
+erected for various exhibits. On the great city square, the platform
+was capacious and many actors played out divers roles. Here stood the
+scroll-bearing angels on either side of a living representation of
+Christ. In the background clustered three separate groups of people
+representing, respectively, the three Estates. Above their heads more
+inscriptions were to be read.[2] "All the nations desire to see the
+face of Solomon," "Behold him desired by all races," "Master, look on
+us, thy people," were among the legends.
+
+The stately pageant, in which dignitaries, lay and ecclesiastical,
+from other parts of the duke's domains participated, proceeded past
+all these soothing insinuations that Charles of Burgundy resembled
+Solomon in more ways than one, to the church of St. Benigne. Here
+pledges of mutual fidelity were exchanged between the Burgundians and
+their ruler. The Abbe of Citeaux placed the ducal ring solemnly
+upon Charles's finger as a symbol, and he was invested with all the
+prerogatives of his predecessors.
+
+From the church, the train wound its way to the Ste. Chapelle, past
+more stages decorated with more flowers of scriptural phrase such as
+"A lion which is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any,"
+"The lion hath roared, who will not fear?" "The righteous are as bold
+as a lion," etc.
+
+Two days later, the concluding ceremonies of investiture were
+performed, and followed by a banquet. Charles was arrayed in royal
+robes, and his hat was in truth a crown, gorgeous with gold, pearls,
+and precious stones. After a repast, prelates, nobles, and civic
+deputies were convened in a room adjoining the dining-hall, where
+first they listened to a speech from the chancellor. When he had
+finished, the duke himself delivered an harangue wherein he expatiated
+on the splendours of the ancient kingdom of Burgundy. Wrongfully
+usurped by the French kings, it had been belittled into a duchy, a
+measure much to be regretted by the Burgundians. Then the speaker
+broke off abruptly with an ambiguous intimation "that he had in
+reserve certain things that none might know but himself."[3]
+
+What was the significance of these veiled allusions? It could not have
+been the simple scheme to erect a kingdom, because that was certainly
+known to many. Charles had, doubtless, an ostrich-like quality of
+mind which made him oblivious to the world's vision but even he could
+hardly have ignored the prevalence of the rumours regarding the
+interview of Treves, rumours flying north, east, south, and west.
+Might not this suggestion of secrets yet untold have had reference to
+the ripening intentions of Edward IV. and himself to divide France
+between them?
+
+When his own induction into his heritage was accomplished, Charles was
+ready to pay the last earthly tribute to his parents. A cortege had
+been coming slowly from Bruges bearing the bodies of Philip and
+Isabella to their final resting-place in the tomb at Dijon, to which
+they were at last consigned.[4]
+
+A few weeks more Charles tarried in the city of his birth, and then
+went to Dole where he was invested with the sovereignty of the
+Franche-Comte and confirmed the privileges. Thus after seven years of
+possession _de facto_, he first actually completed the formalities
+needful for the legal acquisition of his paternal heritage. The
+expansion of that heritage had been steady for over half a century.
+Every inch of territory that had come under the shadow of the family's
+administration had remained there, quickly losing its ephemeral
+character, so that temporary holdings were regarded in the same light
+as the estates actually inherited. At least, Charles, sovereign duke,
+count, overlord, mortgagee, made no distinction in the natures of his
+tenures. But just as the last link was legally riveted in his own
+chain of lands, he was to learn that there were other points of view.
+
+The statement is made and repeated, that the report of the duke's
+after-dinner speech at Dijon was a fresh factor in alarming the people
+in Alsace and Switzerland about his intentions, and making them hasten
+to shake off every tie that connected them with Charles and his
+ambitious projects of territorial expansion.[5] As a matter of fact,
+there had been for months constant agitation in the councils of the
+Swiss Confederation and the Lower Union as to the next action.
+
+Opposition to Sigismund had been long existent, antipathy to Austria
+was so deeply rooted that the idea of restoring that suzerainty in the
+Rhine valley was slow to gain adherents. Probably the arguments that
+came from France were what carried conviction. It was a time when
+Louis spared no expense to attain the end he desired, while he posed
+as a benevolent neutral.[6] His servants worked underground. Their
+open work was very cautious. It was French envoys, however, who
+announced to the Swiss Diet, convened at Lucerne, that Sigismund was
+quite ready to come to an understanding in regard to an alliance and
+the redemption of his mortgaged lands.
+
+That was on January 21, 1474, the very day when the mortgagee was
+preparing to ride into Dijon and read the agreeable assurances of his
+wisdom, strength, and puissance. Yet a month and Sigismund's envoys
+were seated on the official benches at the Basel diet, ranking with
+the delegates from the cantons and the emissaries from France. On
+March 27th, the diet met at Constance, and for three days a debate
+went on which resulted in the drafting of the _Ewige Richtung_,
+the _Reglement definitif_, a document which contained a definite
+resolution that the mortgaged lands were to be completely withdrawn
+from Burgundy, and all financial claims settled. This resolution was
+subscribed to by Sigismund and the Swiss cantons. Further, it was
+decided to ignore one or two of the stipulations made at St. Omer and
+to offer payment to Charles at Basel instead of Besancon.
+
+Meantime that creditor, perfectly convinced in his own mind that
+the legends of his birthplace were correct in their rating of his
+character and his qualities, again crossed Lorraine and entered
+Luxemburg, where he celebrated Easter. It was shortly after that
+festival, on April 17th, that a letter from Sigismund was delivered to
+him announcing in rather casual and off-hand terms that he was now in
+a position to repay the loan of 1469, made on the security of those
+Rhinelands. Therefore the Austrian would hand over at Basel 80,000
+florins, 40,000 the sum received by him, 10,000 paid in his behalf to
+the Swiss, and 30,000 which he understood that Charles had expended
+during his temporary incumbency,[7] and he, Sigismund, would resume
+the sovereignty in Alsace.
+
+It was all very simple, at least Sigismund's wish was. The expressions
+employed in the paper were, however, so ambiguous, the language so
+involved, that Charles expended severe criticism on his cousin's style
+before he proceeded to answer his subject-matter. To that he replied
+that the bargain between him and Sigismund was none of his seeking.
+The latter had implored his protection from the Swiss, had begged
+relief in his financial straits. Touched by his petitions, Charles
+had acceded to his prayers and the lands had enjoyed security under
+Burgundian protection as they never had under Austrian. Charles had
+duly acquitted himself of his obligations, he had done nothing to
+forfeit his title. The conditions of redemption offered by Sigismund
+were not those expressly stipulated. If a commission were sent to
+Besancon, the duke would see to it that the merits of the case were
+properly examined.
+
+"If, on the contrary, you shall adhere to the purpose you have
+declared, in violation of the terms of the contract and of your
+princely word, we shall make resistance, trusting with God's help that
+our ability in defence shall not prove inferior to what we have used
+to repulse the attacks of the Swiss--those attacks from which you
+sought and received our protection."
+
+Before this letter reached its destination, the duke's deputy in the
+mortgaged lands had already found his resources wholly inadequate to
+maintain his master's authority. After Charles departed from Alsace,
+Hagenbach's increased insolence and abandonment of all the restraint
+that he had shown while awaiting the duke's visit soon became
+unbearable. The deliberations in Switzerland concerning their return
+to Austrian domination also naturally affected the Alsatians and made
+them bolder in resenting Hagenbach's aggressions.
+
+Thann and Ensisheim were both firm in refusing admission to his
+garrisons. Brisac was in his hands already, and her fortifications
+held by mercenaries, but an order to the citizens to work, one and
+all, upon the defences, produced a sudden disturbance with very
+serious results. It was at Eastertide, and the command to desecrate a
+hallowed festival, one especially cherished in the Rhinelands, proved
+the final provocation to rebellion.
+
+There is a black story in the Strasburg chronicle, moreover, that this
+misuse of Easter Day was not Hagenbach's real crime. He simply
+wished to get all combatants out of the city before butchering the
+inhabitants and his purpose was discovered in time. That charge does
+not, however, seem substantiated by other evidence. But there is no
+doubt that the citizens lashed themselves into a state of fury, fell
+upon the mercenaries, and killed many of them in spite of their own
+unarmed condition. Hagenbach, driven back into his lodgings, appeared
+at the window and offered various concessions, being actually humbled
+and intimidated by the unexpected turning of the submissive folk
+against him.
+
+But the revolutionary spirit raged beyond the reach of conciliatory
+words. Some of the more intelligent burghers endeavoured to give a
+show of propriety to events, by promptly re-establishing their own
+ancient council, arbitrarily abolished by Hagenbach, while taking a
+new oath to the Duke of Burgundy, according to the formula of 1469.
+They also despatched envoys to the duke with explanations of their
+proceedings, stating further that it was Hagenbach's misrule alone to
+which protest was made; that they were not in revolt against Charles.
+The latter answered, "Send Hagenbach to me," but the provisional
+government, by the time they received this order, felt strong enough
+to disregard it and to continue to act on their own initiative.
+
+Hagenbach was cast not only into prison but into irons. All fear of
+and respect for his authority was thrown to the winds, his offer of
+fourteen thousand florins as ransom being sternly refused.
+
+Deputations came from the confederation to congratulate the officials
+_de facto_ and to promise aid. The next step gave the lie direct to
+the message sent to Charles upholding his authority while protesting
+against his lieutenant. Sigismund was urged to return to his own
+without further delay for legal formalities with his creditor. He
+assented. On April 30th, accordingly, the Austrian duke arrived in
+Brisac and picked up the reins of authority which he had joyfully
+dropped four years previously.
+
+The rabble welcomed his coming with effusion, singing a ready parody
+of an Easter hymn:[8]
+
+  "Christ is arisen, the _landvogt_ is in prison,
+  Let us all rejoice, Sigismund is our choice.
+  Kyrie Eleison!
+  Had he not been snared, evil had it fared,
+  But now that he is ta'en, his craft is all in vain.
+  Kyrie Eleison!"
+
+Thus it was under Sigismund's auspices that the late governor was
+brought to trial. Instruments of torture sent from Basel were employed
+to make Hagenbach confess his crimes. But there was nothing to
+confess. As a matter of fact the charges against him were for
+well-known deeds the character of which depended on the point of view.
+What the Alsatians declared were infringements of their rights, the
+duke's deputy stoutly asserted were acts justified by the terms of the
+treaty. In regard to his private career the prisoner persisted in
+his statement that he was no worse than other men and that all his
+so-called victims had been willing and well rewarded for their
+submission to him.
+
+On May 9th, the preliminaries were declared over and the trial began
+before a tribunal whose composition is not perfectly well known,
+but which certainly included delegates from the chief cities of the
+landgraviate, and from Strasburg, Basel, and Berne.[9]
+
+The trial was practically lynch law in spite of the cloak of legality
+thrown over it. Charles alone was Hagenbach's principal and he alone
+was responsible for his lieutenant's acts. The intrinsic incompetence
+of the court was hotly urged by Jean Irma of Basel, Hagenbach's
+self-appointed advocate, but his defence was rejected. Public opinion
+insisted upon extreme measures, and the sentence of capital punishment
+was promptly followed by execution.
+
+Petitions from the prisoner that he might die by the sword and be
+permitted to bequeath a portion of his property to the church of
+St. Etienne at Brisac were granted. The remainder of his wealth was
+confiscated by Sigismund, who had withdrawn to Fribourg during the
+progress of the trial. Even Hagenbach's bitterest foes acknowledged
+that the late governor made a dignified and Christian exit from the
+life he had not graced.
+
+Charles is said to have beaten well the messenger who brought him the
+news of this trial and execution, in the very presence of Sigismund
+who had not yet bought back his rights in the landgraviate, where he
+had appointed Oswald von Thierstein as governor, and where he was thus
+presuming to use sovereign power. This was not sufficient, however,
+to make the duke change his own plans. Stephen von Hagenbach was
+entrusted with the commission of punishing the Alsatians for his
+brother's ignominious deposition, and he did his task grimly.
+According to the Strasburg chronicler, this Hagenbach, at the north,
+and his colleague, the Count of Blamont, at the south, did not have
+more than six or eight thousand men apiece, but they left Hun-like
+reputations behind them. Devastation, slaughter, pillage in houses and
+churches, all in the name of the duke, contributed to the zeal with
+which the Austrian's return was ratified by popular acclamation, and
+with which the contingents sent to Alsace by the confederates were
+received.
+
+Sigismund's letter to Charles is casual in tone and obscure in
+phraseology. A statement presented somewhat later to the emperor by
+the _Basse Union_ is more precise in the justification offered for the
+events and in the grievances rehearsed.[10] That is, Sigismund treats
+the transaction as a purely financial one, naturally completed between
+him and his creditor by the offer to liquidate his debt. The plea made
+by the Alsatians and their friends is, that Charles had failed to keep
+his solemn engagements and that his appointed lieutenant had been
+peculiarly odious and had broken the laws of God and man, and that the
+mercenaries employed by him, the Burgundians, Lombardians, and their
+fellows, had pitilessly ravaged the county of Ferrette, the Sundgau,
+and the diocese of Basel. The charges are itemised.[11]
+
+    "All this, well-known to the Duke of Burgundy, has neither been
+    checked nor punished by him. In consequence, our gracious Seigneur
+    of Austria has been obliged to restore the land and people to his
+    sovereignty and that of the House of Austria, which he has done
+    with God's aid to prevent the complete annihilation and total
+    destruction of land and people."
+
+Charles did not hasten to Alsace to settle matters in person, but
+pursued his intention of reducing Cologne to the archbishop's control,
+undoubtedly thinking that the base which would then be open to the
+archbishop's protector on the lower Rhine would facilitate his
+operations in the upper valleys. Meanwhile the Emperor Frederic had
+emphatically declared that he alone was the Defender of the Diocese,
+and that the unholy alliance between Robert and Charles was a menace
+to the empire. His letters to Charles exhorted him to abandon the
+enterprise and to accept mediation; those to the electors, princes,
+and cities of the empire urged them to defend Cologne against Burgundy
+until he himself arrived on the scene. There was a hot correspondence
+between all parties concerned, from which nothing resulted. Charles
+had various reasons for delay. There was trouble in other quarters of
+his domain. Flanders was in a state of ferment at his requisitions
+for money, and the Franche-Comte was on the point of making active
+resistance to the imposition of the _gabelle_.
+
+In view of all these complications, Charles decided to prolong his
+truce with Louis XI., to May 1, 1475. That monarch was well pleased
+to continue to pursue his own plans under cover of neutrality. The
+determination of the anti-Burgundian coalition in Germany to keep
+Charles within the limits of his own estates was a pleasant sight to
+the French king, and he felt that he could afford to wait.
+
+In June an edict was sent forth from Luxemburg, forbidding all owing
+allegiance to the Duke of Burgundy to have any commercial relations
+with the rebels of Cologne, or of Alsace, or with the cities of the
+_Basse Union_, and declaring the duke's intention to take the field
+at once, to reinstate the archbishop in his rightful see. This was a
+declaration of war and was speedily followed by the duke's advance
+to Maestricht, where he spent a few days in July, collecting a force
+which finally amounted to about twenty thousand men.
+
+On the 29th he sat down before Neuss, which had again emphatically
+refused entry to him and his troops. Three days the duke gave himself
+for the reduction of the town, but there he remained encamped for
+nearly a whole year! Neuss was resolved to resist to the last
+extremity, while Bonn, Andernach, and Cologne contributed their
+assistance by worrying and harassing the besiegers to the best of
+their ability. It was a period when Charles seemed to have only one
+sure ally, and that was Edward of England, whose own plans were
+forming for a mighty enterprise--no less than a new invasion of
+France.
+
+On July 25th, the very day that Charles was on his march up to Neuss,
+his envoys signed at London a treaty wherein the duke promised Edward
+six thousand men to aid him to "reconquer his realm of France."
+Nothing loth to dispose of his future chickens, Edward, in his turn,
+pledged himself to cede to Charles and his heirs, without any lien
+of vassalage, the duchy of Bar, the countships of Champagne, Nevers,
+Rethel, Eu, and Guise, all the towns on the Somme, and all the estates
+of the Count of St. Pol. Other territories of Charles were to be
+exempt from homage. Yes, and by June 1, 1475, Edward would land in
+France and set about his conquests. Nor were commercial interests
+forgotten; "to the duchess his sister (to the Flemings) is accorded
+permission, to take from England wool, woollen goods, brass, lead, and
+to carry thither foreign merchandise."
+
+The year when Charles was waiting before the gates of Neuss was full
+of many abortive diplomatic efforts on the part of both the duke and
+Louis XI, and it was the latter who managed to save something even
+from broken bargains. The Swiss not only counted on his friendship,
+but were constantly encouraged by his money, which emboldened them to
+send a letter of open defiance to Charles: "We declare to your most
+serene highness and to all of your people, in behalf of ourselves
+and our friends, an honourable and an open war." To the herald who
+delivered this document Charles answered: "O Berne, Berne!"[12] He
+felt that he had been betrayed.
+
+This was on October 26th. The defiance was followed by a descent of
+the mountaineers upon Alsace, which Charles had not yet released
+from his grasp. Stephen von Hagenbach prepared to defend Burgundian
+interests at Hericourt, a good strategic position on the tiny Luzine.
+Here, the Swiss were about to besiege him, when the Count of Blamont
+arrived with two bodies of Italian mercenaries, aggregating more than
+twelve thousand men, and attempted to draw off the besieging force.
+His plan failed--the tables were turned. It was the Burgundians who
+were fiercely attacked and who lost the day. Hagenbach was forced to
+surrender, obtaining honourable terms, however, and Sigismund put a
+garrison into Hericourt on November 16th.
+
+This was a tremendous surprise to Charles. That cowherds could repulse
+his well-trained troops was a thought as bitter as it was unexpected.
+But he put aside all idea of punishing them for the moment, and
+continued to "reduce Neuss to the obedience of the good archbishop,"
+and Hermann of Hesse continued to aid the town in its determined
+resistance.
+
+The opprobrious names applied to the would-be and baffled conqueror at
+this time are curiously similar to the epithets hurled at Napoleon
+a few centuries later. He was compared to Anti-Christ himself, with
+demoniac attributes added, when Alexander was felt to be too mild a
+comparison. There was still a terrible fear of the duke's ambition,
+even though, in the face of all Europe, the Swiss had repulsed his
+men, and Neuss obstinately refused to open her gates, while the world
+wondered at the duke's obstinacy displayed in the wrong place. The
+belief expressed several times by Commines that God troubled Charles's
+understanding out of very pity for France, was a current rumour.
+
+At the end of April an English embassy arrived at the camp, which was
+kept in a marvellous state of luxury, even though disease was not
+successfully curbed in the ranks. The urgent entreaty of the embassy
+was that Charles should raise this useless siege, fruitless as it
+promised to be, owing to the difficulty of cutting off the town's
+supplies. Edward IV was almost ready to despatch his invading army.
+He implored his dear brother to send him transports and to prepare to
+receive him when he landed. A letter from John Paston gives a glimpse
+into the situation[13]:
+
+    "For ffor tydyngs here ther be but ffewe saffe that the assege
+    lastyth stylle by the Duke off Burgoyn affoor Nuse, and the
+    Emperor hath besyged also not fferr from there a castill and
+    another town in lykewyse wherin the Duke's men ben. And also, the
+    Frenshe Kynge, men seye, is comen right to the water off Somme
+    with 4000 spers; and sum men have that he woll, at the daye off
+    brekyng off trewse, or else beffoor, sette uppon the Duks contreys
+    heer. When I heer moor, I shall sende yowe moor tydyngs.
+
+    "The Kyngs imbassators, Sir Thomas Mongomere and the Master off
+    the Rolls be comyng homwards ffrom Nuse; and as ffor me, I thynke
+    I sholde be sek but iff I see it....
+
+    "For it is so that to morrow I purpose to ryde in to Flaundyrs
+    to purveye me off horse and herneys and percase I shall see the
+    essege at Nwse er I come ageyn."
+
+There was more reason for Charles to be heartsick at the sight than
+for John Paston, and he did grow weary of the further waiting and
+anxious, for his truce with Louis was drawing to a close. On May 22d,
+there was a skirmish between his troops and the imperial forces,
+wherein Charles claimed the victory. In reality, there was none on
+either side, but the semblance was sufficient to soothe his _amour
+propre_, and to convince him that an accommodation with Frederic would
+not detract from his dignity.
+
+A large fleet of Dutch flatboats had been despatched to help convey
+the English army, thirsting for conquest, across the sea. Six thousand
+men in the duke's pay, too, were to be ready to meet Edward IV., and
+swell his escort as he marched to Rheims for his coronation. Other
+matters also demanded Charles's personal attention. Months had elapsed
+and Hericourt was unpunished--Berne had not been reproved.
+
+Rene of Lorraine was formally admitted to the League of Constance on
+April 18, 1475, and was now ready openly to abjure the "protection" he
+had once accepted from Burgundy. There was a touch of old King Rene's
+theatrical taste in his grandson's method of despatching the herald
+who rode up to the duke's gorgeous tent of red velvet on May 10th. The
+man was, however, so overcome at the first view of _le Temeraire_ that
+he hastily delivered up his letter, and threw down the blood-stained
+gauntlet, which he carried as a gage of war, without uttering a word.
+Then he fell on his knees, imploring the duke's pardon.[14] Charles
+was so little displeased at the signs of the impression his presence
+made that, instead of being angry with the man, he gave him twelve
+florins for his good news. The terms of the declaration of war carried
+by the herald were as follows:
+
+    "To thee, Charles of Burgundy, in behalf of the very high, etc.,
+    Duke of Lorraine, my seigneur, I announce defiance with fire and
+    blood against thee, thy countries, thy subjects, thy allies, and
+    other charge further have I not."[15]
+
+The reply was straightforward:
+
+    "Herald, I have heard the exposition of thy charge, whereby thou
+    hast given me subject for joy, and, to show you how matters are,
+    thou shalt wear my robe with this gift, and shalt tell thy master
+    that I will find myself briefly in his land, and my greatest fear
+    is that I may not find him. In order that thou mayst not be afraid
+    to return, I desire my marshal and the king-at-arms of the Toison
+    d'Or to convoy thee in perfect safety, for I should be sorry if
+    thou didst not make thy report to thy master as befits a good and
+    loyal officer."
+
+Thus was Charles pressed from the south and lured to the north.
+Excellent reason for obeying the order of the pope's legate that duke
+and emperor must lay down arms under pain of excommunication did
+either belligerent refuse! The armistice accepted on May 28th was
+followed by a nine months' truce signed on June 12th. It was a truce
+strictly to the advantage of Frederic and Charles. The Rhine cities,
+Louis XI., Rene of Lorraine, were alike ignored and disappointed in
+the expectations they had based on Frederic.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Plancher, _Histoire generale et particuliere de
+Bourgogne, avec des notes et des preuves justificatives_, iv.,
+cccxxviii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Preparations for the duke's visit to Dijon had been set
+on foot almost immediately after Philip's death in 1467. One Frere
+Gilles had devoted many hours to searching the Scriptures for
+appropriate texts to figure in the reception. Every phrase indicating
+leonine strength was noted down. The good brother died before the
+anticipated event came to pass but the result of his patient labour
+was preserved.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Dit qu'il avoit en soi des choses qui n'appartenoient de
+scavoir a nuls que a lui_ (Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii.).]
+
+[Footnote 4: Plancher, _Preuves_, iv., cccxxxiii. The document
+describing this ceremony gives February 28th as the date, but that is
+evidently an error and not accepted.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Toutey, p. 117.]
+
+[Footnote 6: There are many records in the_Bibl. nat._. of the sums
+paid out to the Swiss at this time.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Chmel, i., 92 et seq.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Kirk, ii., 488.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Toutey, p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Text given by Toutey, _Pieces justificatives_, p. 442.]
+
+[Footnote 11: The details are very brutal and untranslatable.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 182.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Paston Letters_, iii., 122.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 244.]
+
+[Footnote 15: _Bulletin de l'acad. royale de Belgique_, 1887.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1475
+
+
+    "Monseigneur the chancellor, I do not know what to write to you of
+    the English, for thus far they have done nothing but dance at St.
+    Omer and we are not sure whether the King of England has landed.
+    If he has, it must be with so small a force that it makes no
+    noise, nor do the prisoners captured at Abbeville know anything,
+    nor do they believe that there will be any English here in XL
+    days. Tell the news to Monsg. de Comminge, and recommend my
+    interests to him as I have confidence in him, and in Mons. de
+    Thierry and Mons. the vice-admiral."[1]
+
+Thus wrote Louis XI in June. Two days later and he has heard of the
+truce. He seizes the occasion to express to the Privy Council of Berne
+his real opinion of the emperor: "So Frederic has deserted us all!"[2]
+Well, it was not the first time! Thirty years previous, when Louis was
+dauphin, the emperor had tried to turn the Swiss against him. Had not
+God, knowing the hearts of men, inspired the brave mountaineers, Louis
+would have been a victim of execrable treachery. The outcome had been
+wonderful, for an eternal friendship had sprung up between him and the
+Swiss which must be preserved.
+
+Meantime, Charles has made his own definite plan of the campaign which
+was to introduce Edward into Rheims for the coronation. The following
+letter from him to Edward IV. bears no date, but it was evidently
+written at about the time of the truce[3]:
+
+    "Honoured seigneur and brother, I recommend myself to you. I have
+    listened carefully to your declaration through the pronotary, and
+    understand that you do not wish to land without my advice, for
+    which I thank you. I understand that some of your counsellors
+    think you had better land in Guienne, others in Normandy, others
+    again at Calais. If you choose Guienne you will be far from my
+    assistance but my brother of Brittany could help you. Still it
+    would be a long time before we could meet before Paris. As to
+    Calais, you could not get enough provisions for your people nor I
+    for mine. Nor could the two forces make juncture without attack,
+    and my brother of Brittany would be very far from both. To my
+    mind, your best landing is Normandy, either at the mouth of the
+    Seine or at La Hogue. I do not doubt that you will soon gain
+    possession of cities and places, and you will be at the right hand
+    of my brother of Brittany and of me. Tell me how many ships you
+    want and where you wish me to send them and I will do it."
+
+On hearing further rumours of the actual arrival of the English, Louis
+hastened to Normandy to inspect the situation for himself. There he
+learned that his own naval forces stationed in the Channel to ward off
+the invaders had landed on the very day before his arrival, abandoning
+the task.
+
+    "When I heard that we took no action, I decided that my best plan
+    would be to turn my people loose in Picardy and let them lay
+    waste the country whence they [the English] expected to get their
+    supplies."[4]
+
+At the same time, the rumour that was permitted to be current in
+France was, that Charles of Burgundy had been utterly defeated at
+Neuss, and that there was nothing whatsoever to apprehend from him.
+He, meanwhile, was continuing his own preparations by strenuous
+endeavours to levy more troops and to obtain fresh supplies. After
+the signing of the convention with the emperor, the duke proceeded to
+Bruges to meet the Estates of Flanders. The answer to his demand for
+subsidies was a respectful refusal to furnish funds, on the plea that
+his expansion policy was ruining his lands. Counter reproaches burst
+from Charles. He accused the deputies of leaving him in the lurch and
+thus causing his failure at Neuss. Neither money, nor provisions, nor
+soldiers had they sent him as loyal subjects should.
+
+[Illustration: KING RUHMREICH AND HIS DAUGHTER EHRENREICH
+
+CHARACTERS REPRESENTING CHARLES AND MARY OF BURGUNDY IN WOODCUT IN
+EARLY EDITION OF TEMDANK. POEM BY MAXIMILIAN I.]
+
+    "For whom does your prince labour? Is it for himself or for you,
+    for your defence? You slumber, he watches. You nestle in warmth,
+    he is cold. You are snug in your houses while he is beaten by the
+    wind and rain. He fasts, you gorge at your ease.... Henceforth you
+    shall be nothing more than subjects under a sovereign. I am and I
+    will be master, bearding those who oppose me."[5]
+
+Then turning to the prelates he continued: "Do you obey diligently and
+without poor excuses or your temporal goods shall be confiscated."
+To the nobles: "Obey or you shall lose your heads and your fiefs."
+Finally, he addressed the deputies of the third estate in a tone full
+of bitterness: "And you, you eaters of good cities, if you do not obey
+my orders literally as my chancellor will explain them to you, you
+shall forfeit privileges, property, and life."
+
+All the fervency of this adjuration failed to convince the deputies of
+their duty, as conceived by the orator. They declared that they had
+levied troops and would levy more, for defence, but that the four
+members of Flanders were agreed that they would contribute nothing to
+offensive measures. Charles must accept their decision as his sainted
+father had done. The details of all the aid they had given him, 2500
+men for Neuss and many other contributions, were recapitulated.
+Flanders had been generous indeed. The concluding phrases of their
+answer were as follows:
+
+    "As to your last letters, requiring that within fifteen days every
+    man capable of bearing arms report at Ath, these were orders
+    impossible of execution, and unprofitable for you yourself. Your
+    subjects are merchants, artisans, labourers, unfitted for arms.
+    Strangers would quit the land. Commerce, in which your noble
+    ancestors have for four hundred years maintained the land,
+    commerce, most redoubtable seigneur, is irreconcilable with war."
+
+This answer gave the true key to the situation. The Estates of
+Flanders were determined to be bled no further for schemes in which
+they did not sympathise. When this memorial was presented to Charles
+he broke out into fresh invective about the base ingratitude of the
+Flemish: "Take back your paper," were his last words. "Make your own
+answer. _Talk_ as you wish, but _do_ your duty." This was on July
+12th. Charles had no further time to waste in argument. He was still
+convinced that the burghers would, in the end, yield to his demands.
+
+With a small escort Charles left Bruges, and reached Calais on July
+14th, where he had been preceded by the duchess, eager to greet her
+brother, who had actually landed on July 4th, with the best equipped
+army--about twenty-four thousand men--that had ever left the shores of
+England, and the latest inventions in besieging engines.
+
+The expedition proved a wretched failure--a miserable disappointment
+to the English at home, who had been lavish in their contributions.
+Charles seems to have been put out by the place of landing. His own
+plan is clear from the letter quoted. He wished the two armies of
+Edward and himself to sweep a large stretch of territory as they
+marched toward each other. The one thing that he objected to was a
+consolidation of the two forces. Incapacity to turn an unexpected or
+an unwelcome situation to account was one of the duke's most
+deeply ingrained characteristics. He showed no inventiveness or
+resourcefulness. He held his own army at a distance from the English,
+much to the invader's chagrin, who was forced to march unaided over
+regions rendered inhospitable by Louis's stern orders, and outside
+of cities ready to hold him at bay. "If you do not put yourself in a
+state of security, it will be necessary to destroy the city, to our
+regret," was the king's message to Rheims, and the most skilful of
+French engineers was fully prepared to make good the words.
+
+Open hostilities were avoided. Edward camped on the field of
+Agincourt, where perhaps he dreamed of his ancestor's success, but
+no fresh blaze of old English glory illumined his path. He did not
+proceed to Paris, there was no coronation at Rheims, no comfortable
+reception within any gates at all, for Charles was as chary as Louis
+himself of giving the English a foothold, though he advised Edward to
+accept an invitation from St. Pol to visit St. Quentin. This, however,
+proved another disappointment. Just as Edward was ready to enter,
+the gates opened to let out a troop which effectually repulsed the
+advancing foreigners. The Count of St. Pol had changed his mind.
+
+"It is a miserable existence this of ours when we take toil and
+trouble enough to shorten our life, writing and saying things exactly
+opposite to our thoughts," writes the keenest observer of this
+elaborate network of pompous falsehoods[6] wherein every action was
+entangled. Louis XI trusted no one but himself, while he played
+with the trust of all, and his game was the safest. His fear of the
+invaders was soon allayed. "These English are of different metal from
+those whom you used to know. They keep close, they attempt nothing,"
+he wrote to the veteran Dammartin.
+
+It was, indeed, a patent fact that Edward was not a foe to be feared.
+Baffled and discouraged, he readily opened his ears to his French
+brother, and Louis heaped grateful recognition on every Englishman who
+helped incline his sovereign to peaceful negotiations. Velvet and
+coin did their work. Edward was easily led into the path of least
+resistance, and an interview between the rival kings was appointed
+for August 29th. Great preparations were made for their meeting on a
+bridge at Picquigny, across which a grating was erected. Like Pyramus
+and Thisbe, the two princes kissed each other through the barriers,
+and exchanged assurances of friendship. Edward was, indeed, so easy to
+convince that Louis was in absolute terror lest his English brother
+would accept his invitation to show him Paris before his return. No
+wonder Edward was deceived, for Louis was definite in his hospitable
+offers, suggesting that he would provide a confessor willing to give
+absolution for pleasant sins.
+
+The duke was duly forewarned of this colloquy. On August 18th, he was
+staying at Peronne, whence he paid a visit to the English camp. It was
+ended without any intimation of Edward's change of heart towards the
+French king whom he had come to depose, though his plan was then ripe.
+On the 20th, Charles received a written communication with the news
+which Edward had disliked broaching orally, and was officially
+informed that the king had yielded to the wishes of his army, and was
+considering a treaty with Louis XI., wherein Edward's dear brother of
+Burgundy should receive honourable mention did he desire it.
+
+On hearing these most unwelcome tidings, Charles set off for the
+English camp in hot haste, attended by a small escort, and nursing
+his wrath as he rode.[7] King Edward was rather alarmed at the duke's
+aspect when the latter appeared, and asked whether he would not like a
+private interview. Charles disregarded his question. "Is it true? Have
+you made peace?" he demanded. Edward's attempt at smooth explanations
+was blocked by a flood of invectives poured out by Charles, who
+remembered himself sufficiently to speak in English so that the
+bystanders might have the full benefit of his passionate reproaches.
+He spared nothing, comparing the lazy, sensual, pleasure-loving
+monarch, whose easeful ways were rapidly increasing his weight of
+flesh, with the heroism of other English Edwards with whom he was
+proud to claim kin. As to the offers to remember his interests in
+the perfidious peace that perfidious Albion was about to swear
+with equally perfidious France, his rejection was scornful indeed.
+"Negotiate for _me_! Arbitrate for _me_! Is it I who wanted the French
+crown? Leave _me_ to make my own truce. I will wait until you have
+been three months over sea." Among those who witnessed the scene were
+several Englishmen who sympathised with Charles--if we may believe
+Commines. "The Duke of Burgundy has said the truth," declared the Duke
+of Gloucester, and many agreed with him." Having given vent to his
+sentiments, Charles hurried away from his disappointing ally and
+reached Namur on the 22d, where he spent the night.
+
+Edward troubled himself little about his brother-in-law's summary of
+his character. He was tired of camp hardships, and both he and his men
+found it very refreshing to have Amiens open her gates to them at the
+order of Louis XI. Food and wine were lavished upon all alike. It
+was a delightful experience for the English soldiers to see tables
+groaning with good things spread in the very streets, and to be bidden
+to order what they would at the taverns with no consideration for the
+reckoning. They enjoyed good French fare, free of charge, until their
+host intimated to King Edward that his men were very intoxicated and
+that there were limits in all things. But Louis did not spare his
+money or his pains until he was sure that a bloodless victory had been
+won. He fully realised the importance of extravagant expenditure in
+order to reach the goal he had set himself.
+
+    "We must have the whole sum at Amiens before Friday evening,
+    besides what will be wanted for private gratifications to my Lord
+    Howard, and others who have had part in the arrangement.... Do not
+    fail in this that there may be no pretext for a rupture of what
+    has been already settled."
+
+Though they had now no rood of land, the English returned richer than
+they came, and they eased their _amour propre_ by calling the sums
+that had changed hands, "tribute money."[8]
+
+    "Ryght reverend and my most tender and kynd Moodre, I recommende
+    me to youw. Pleas it yow to weete that blessyd be God, this vyage
+    of the kynges is fynnysshyd for thys tyme and alle the kynges ost
+    is comen to Caleys as on Mondaye last past, that is to seye the
+    iiij daye of Septembre, and at thys daye many of hys host be
+    passyd the see in to Ingland ageyn, and in especiall my Lorde off
+    Norfolk, and my bretheryn ....I also mysselyke somewhat the heyr
+    heer; for by my trowte I was in goode heele whan I come hyddre and
+    all hooll and to my wetyng I hadde never a better stomake in my
+    lyffe and now in viij dayes I am crasyd ageyn."[9]
+
+Thus wrote one Englishman from Calais and doubtless many others found
+the air more wholesome at home.
+
+Charles of Burgundy was now ready to consider the affairs of Lorraine.
+He advised Rene of his intentions, in a manifesto which reached him
+on September 5th. The preamble contained a long list of the manifold
+benefits conferred upon Lorraine by the House of Burgundy. Then Rene
+was admonished to observe in every particular the terms of his own
+treaty with Charles, which he, Rene, had signed voluntarily, or the
+former would "make him know the difference between his friendship and
+his enmity."
+
+This menace was ominous to the poor Duke of Lorraine. For on September
+13th, his friend Louis XI. had signed a fresh treaty with Charles
+of Burgundy at Soleure, and Campobasso was marching mercenaries in
+Burgundian pay towards the unfortunate duchy. In other words, the
+French king abandoned the young protege whom he had spared no pains
+to alienate from Burgundian protection. It was a moment when his one
+interest apparently was to settle accounts with the Count of St.
+Pol, who had been equally treacherous in his dealings with England,
+Burgundy, and France.[10]
+
+Having rested during the summer, the Burgundian troops were in fine
+trim when Charles marched to Nancy, taking towns on the way, and sat
+down before the capital in the last week of October. From his camp he
+wrote to the Duke of Milan:
+
+    "Very dear brother, I recommend myself to you. I have just
+    accepted a truce with the king for nine years to come, in the form
+    and manner contained at length in the copy of the articles which
+    I have given to your ambassador, resident with me . . . . And be
+    sure, _fratello mio_, that nothing would have induced me to accept
+    the truce, had you not been comprised therein. And, similarly, you
+    must be satisfied in all the pacts between the king and myself,
+    just as you were comprised in the convention lately made at Neuss.
+
+    "For the rest, I have heard from your ambassador about the troops
+    that can be furnished me, for which I am well content, praying you
+    to continue to serve me in accordance with the promises of your
+    ambassador. As to the coming of your brother to me [Sforza, Duc de
+    Bari], I should be very glad. He has no reason now for delay as he
+    can travel in Lorraine as safely as in Lombardy, as I have said
+    to your ambassador. Pray the Lord to give you the desires of your
+    heart.
+
+
+    "Written in my camp at Nancy the penultimate day of October, 1475.
+
+    "CHARLES."[11]
+
+
+Some trifling assistance was offered to Rene by Strasburg and other
+foes to Burgundy, but it was wholly insufficient to rescue him from
+his difficulties, and he was finally obliged to order the capitulation
+of Nancy on November 19th. The magistrates desired to hold out, but
+were forced by the populace to submit, and on November 30, 1475,
+Charles of Burgundy marched triumphantly through the gate of Craffe
+into the capital of Lorraine where he was received as the sovereign
+duke.[12]
+
+This time Charles acted the role of a merciful and diplomatic
+conqueror. There was no cruelty permitted, and every evidence of
+conciliation was shown. The majority of the Lorrainers accepted the
+new order of things without further protest. At the end of December,
+Charles convened the Estates of Lorraine in the ducal palace,
+addressed them as his subjects of Burgundy, promised to be a good
+prince, demanded their attachment, confided his plans of expansion,
+and announced his intention of making Nancy the capital of his states.
+Again the duke's star rose. This acquisition seemed a sign of the
+reality of his dreams. Even before the fall of Nancy, his approaching
+success bore fruit, inasmuch as the emperor changed the late
+convention into a firmer treaty signed on November 17th. Indeed had
+Charles died at that moment, there would have been little doubt that
+his dreamed-of kingdom had been simply prevented by a mere accident.
+
+The detailed story of all that had happened in the Swiss Confederation
+and the Lower Union, since their formal declaration of war against
+Charles, is too complicated to relate. At the begining of 1476, the
+situation was, briefly, that Sigismund held the debated mortgaged
+lands, while the Swiss allies, with Berne as the most militant member
+of the league, had continued to carry on offensive operations against
+the duke and his allies, notably the Duchess of Savoy. The conquest
+of Lorraine caused a panic, especially in the face of the fresh
+agreements between the duke and the emperor and the king.
+
+There was a short period of hesitation, marked by a truce till January
+1, 1476, between Charles and the confederates, a period when the timid
+among the allies urged their counsel of reconciliation at all hazards.
+Charles, too, seems to have desired an accord rather than hostilities,
+even though he still bore the Swiss a bitter grudge for Hericourt. It
+was probably appeals from Yolande of Savoy that decided him to open a
+campaign in midwinter.
+
+    "The prince has been so busy for a week past [wrote the Milanese
+    ambassador] in the reorganisation of his army according to new
+    ordinances, and in the regulation of his receipts and outlays that
+    he has scarcely given himself time to eat once in twenty-four
+    hours. He is importuned by the Duchess of Savoy and the Count of
+    Romont for aid against the Swiss who respect no treaty, and do
+    not cease increasing their forces. In consequence, Duke Charles
+    intends leaving Nancy in six days to go towards the Jura. He
+    expects to take with him 2300 lances and 10,000 ordnance, which,
+    joined to the feudal militia of Burgundy and Savoy, will swell his
+    army to the number of 25,000 combatants. His operations are so
+    planned that he will have more to gain than to lose."[13]
+
+
+When Charles left Nancy on January 11th, he issued one of his
+grandiloquent manifestoes declaring that he was acting in behalf of
+all princes and seigneurs who had suffered wrong at the hands of the
+Swiss, and that he was ready to punish all who had provoked his just
+wrath by ravaging his province of Burgundy. It was rather a curious
+act on his part, to let his chief mercenary captain go off to make a
+pilgrimage just as he was on the eve of a campaign, but so he did,
+granting Campobasso leave of absence to visit the shrine of St. James
+at Compostella, a leave possibly utilised by the Italian to further
+the understanding with Louis XI., at which he arrived later.
+
+On across the Jura marched the Burgundian army, while the Swiss diet
+came to a slow and confused decision to prepare to meet him. He did
+not take the route generally expected, directly towards Berne, his
+chief antagonist, but turned aside and attacked the little fortress of
+Granson. The castle was not over strong. Efforts to provision it by
+water failed, and, finally, on February 28th, after a brief siege, the
+captain of the garrison, Hans Wyler, capitulated to the duke's German
+forces, who represented to them that Charles was as generous as he was
+magnificent.
+
+If the Milan ambassador can be trusted, the surrender was
+unconditional. Charles was soon on the spot. The four hundred and
+twelve soldiers, who had succeeded in holding the Burgundian army at
+bay for ten whole days, were made to march past his tent with bowed
+heads. Then he ordered one and all to be hanged, reserving two to
+help in the executions. Four hours were occupied in fulfilling these
+pitiless orders. Panigarola arrived at the camp on the 29th,--it was
+leap year, 1476,--and found this accomplished and saw the bodies
+hanging on the trees, but he asserts that no word was broken.[14]
+Charles was now absolutely confident of complete success. "_Bellorum
+eventus dubii sunt_," remarked the prudent Milanese, however, and he
+was proved right.
+
+When the allied forces of the mountaineers finally arrived in the
+duke's neighbourhood a hot pitched battle ensued. The Burgundians,
+led by the duke in person, were thrown into utter confusion. The
+mercenaries, terrified by the uncouth yells and battle-cries of Uri
+and Unterwalden, simply lost their heads and did nothing. Charles was
+pushed on as far as Jougne. It was not only a defeat, but a complete
+rout. When the Swiss came in sight of the late garrison hanged to
+the trees, their rage knew no bounds. In their turn they massacred,
+hanged, and drowned every one in Burgundian pay whom they could lay
+hands upon. The Burgundians saved their lives when they could, but
+their valuable artillery and their baggage, the mass of riches that
+Charles carried with him were ruthlessly sacrificed, and gathered
+up contemptuously as booty by the Swiss, who cared little for the
+tapestries and jewels though they prized the gold. Such was the battle
+of Granson, on the 2nd of March.
+
+The fatal mistake committed by Charles was that he despised his enemy
+and underestimated his quality as well as his strength. Just before
+engaging in battle, the whole Swiss army fell upon their knees in
+prayer that the issue might be successful. This action deceived
+Charles into thinking that they were cowardly and his opinion was
+shared by his men. A contemptuous laugh broke out from the Burgundian
+ranks.[15]
+
+Olivier de la Marche ends a meagre account of Granson with the
+following rather barren words[16]:
+
+    "In short the Duke of Burgundy lost the day and was pushed back as
+    far as Jougne, where he stopped, and it is meet that I tell how
+    the duke's bodyguard saved themselves ... and reached Salins where
+    I saw them arrive for I was not present at the battle on account
+    of a malady I suffered. From Jougne the duke went to Noseret, and
+    you can understand that he was very sad and melancholy at having
+    lost the battle, where his rich baggage was stolen and his army
+    shattered."
+
+On March 21, 1476, Sir John Paston writes to Margaret Paston from
+Calais:
+
+    "As ffor tydyngs heer we her ffrom alle the worlde. ... Item, the
+    Duke of Burgoyne hath conqueryd Lorreyn and Queen Margreet shall
+    nott nowe be lykelyhod have it; wherffer the Frenshe kynge
+    cheryssheth hyr butt easelye; but afftr thys conquest off Loreyn
+    the Duke toke grete corage to goo upon the londe off the Swechys
+    [Swiss] to conquer them butt the berded hym att an onsett place
+    and hathe dystrussyd hym and hathe slayne the most part of his
+    vanwarde and wonne all hys ordynnaunce and artylrye and mor ovyr
+    all stuffe thatt he hade in hys ost with hym; exceppte men and
+    horse ffledde nott but they roode that nyght xx myle; and so the
+    ryche saletts, heulmetts garters, nowchys[17] gelt and all is
+    goone with tente pavylons and all and soo men deme hys pryde is
+    abatyd. Men tolde hym that they were ffrowarde karlys butte he
+    wolde nott beleve it and yitt men seye that he woll to them ageyn.
+    Gode spede them bothe."
+
+Many of the rumours that were current represented Charles as
+completely prostrated by his disaster. This was only half true.
+His efforts to retrieve himself were immediate but, physically, he
+certainly showed the effects of this campaign. He was attacked by a
+low fever, his stomach rejected food, insomnia afflicted his nights,
+and dropsical swellings appeared on his legs. This condition was
+attributed to his fatigues and exposure in a hard climate, and to his
+habit of drinking warm barley-water in the morning. He was urged to
+use a soft feather-bed instead of his hard couch, while Yolande's own
+physician and one Angelo Catto watched anxiously over him. The latter
+claimed the credit of saving his life. Charles was not, however, fully
+recovered when he resumed his activities and held a review on May 9th.
+With all his efforts exerted in every quarter likely to yield results,
+the whole number of troops was but twenty thousand men. Every onlooker
+felt that the duke was now trying to accomplish something quite beyond
+his resources.
+
+    "Illustrious prince [wrote the King of Hungary[18]], we cannot
+    sufficiently wonder that you should have been so gravely deceived
+    and that, after having once found that you were lured into loss
+    and disgrace, again you let yourself be snared in a labyrinth from
+    which you will either never escape, or escape only with damage and
+    shame.... Without risk to himself [your foe] has precipitated you
+    into an abyss and tied you where you are exposed to the loss of
+    your possessions and your life.... We exhort you to pause before
+    incurring heavier losses and greater dangers. If fortune smiles
+    upon you in your attack on that people, you will have the whole
+    empire against you. In the opposite event--which God avert--it
+    will be turned into a common tale how a mighty prince was overcome
+    by rustics whom there would have been no honour in conquering,
+    while to be conquered by them would be an eternal disgrace."
+
+This plain-spoken epistle failed to reach its destination until after
+the prophecy had been fulfilled. Its warning would probably have been
+futile had Charles read it before he marched on towards Berne, on June
+8th. On the road that he chose lay the town of Morat, which had made
+ready for his approach. A few days to reduce it, and then on to Berne
+was his plan. His force succeeded in holding the ground and cutting
+off communication with Berne for three days. On the 14th, a messenger
+made his way through from the beleaguered city to Berne, and all the
+allies were then urged to do their best. The result was encouraging.
+"There are three times as many as at Granson, but let no one be
+dismayed, with God's help we will kill them all," wrote a leader of
+Berne.
+
+The encounter came on June 23d. The force was really a formidable one.
+Rene of Lorraine was among the commanders on the side of the Swiss.
+It was a tremendous fight, brief as it was savage; at two o'clock the
+assault was made and within an hour Charles was repulsed. Almost all
+the infantry perished. The slain is estimated variously from ten
+to twenty-two thousand. Charles did not keep his vow to perish if
+defeated. To his assured allies he clung closely, and none had more
+reason to be faithful to him than Yolande of Savoy. After Granson he
+hastened to give the duchess his own view of the disaster:
+
+    "It has given me a singular pleasure to hear of your calmness and
+    constancy of soul; for the thought of your affliction weighed more
+    heavily upon me than what has befallen me ... every day diminishes
+    the inconvenience and proves that the loss in men is less than we
+    thought. _Such as it is it came from a mere skirmish_. The bulk
+    of the armies did not engage, to my great displeasure. Had they
+    fought the victory would have been mine. There has been none on
+    either side. God, I trust, reserves it for you and for me ... the
+    hope you have placed in me shall not be vain."
+
+Thus he wrote on March 7th to encourage his anxious protegee.
+
+[Illustration: A PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF MORAT]
+
+After the second defeat it was to her that the duke turned again. In
+the very early morning after the battle of Morat, Charles paused at
+Morges on the Lake of Geneva, having ridden hard through the night.
+There he heard mass, breakfasted, rested awhile, and then rode on,
+reaching the castle of Gex at six o'clock in the evening, where
+Yolande of Savoy was awaiting his coming in full knowledge of the
+second disaster he had suffered.
+
+At the foot of the staircase, attended by her ladies, Yolande was
+waiting to greet her disappointed friend. Charles dismounted and
+kissed each member of the family in order of precedence, the little
+duke, his brother, then the duchess, her daughter, and the ladies
+in waiting. Yolande had had time to move out of her own suite of
+apartments and have them prepared for her guest's use, and there the
+two talked together confidentially, while their attendants waited
+patiently just out of earshot.
+
+Then Charles formally escorted his hostess to her son's room,
+returning to his own, showing signs of extreme fatigue. Panigarola
+was absent, but another Milanese was among her suite, and he pressed
+forward as the duke re-entered the apartment, offering to carry any
+message to the Duke of Milan, to be cut short with, "It is well. That
+is enough." Shortly afterwards, Olivier de la Marche and the Sire de
+Givry, commander of the Burgundians dedicated to Yolande's service,
+were summoned and had a long conference with Charles.
+
+Yolande was, apparently, more communicative to the Milanese Appiano
+than to Charles, but he saw that she was not frank with him. "She must
+throw herself on the protection of France or of Milan," he wrote to
+his master.[20] She was, however, clear in her own mind that she would
+not accept Sforza's protection any more than that of Charles. She
+absolutely refused to identify her fortunes with the latter. She was
+determined to go to Geneva, but no farther. The duke remained at Gex
+until the 27th, and renewed his arguments to persuade her to cross
+the Jura with him. She was firm in adhering to her own plan. The
+two parties set out from the castle together, their roads lying in
+opposite directions, but Charles escorted his hostess about half-way
+to Geneva, riding beside her carriage, and continuing his persuasions
+in a low voice. At last he drew up his rein, gave her a farewell kiss,
+and rode off. He was much displeased at her determination, and he
+speedily resolved upon other methods of making sure of her fidelity to
+him. La Marche thus relates the story:[21]
+
+    "After the duke had been discomfited the second time by the Swiss
+    before Morat, believing that he could do the thing secretly, he
+    made a plan to kidnap Mme. of Savoy and her children and take them
+    to Burgundy, and he ordered me, I being at Geneva, on my head to
+    capture Mme. of Savoy and her children and bring them to him. In
+    order to obey my prince and master I did his behest quite against
+    my heart, and I took madame and her children near the gate of
+    Geneva. But the Duke of Savoy was stolen away from me (for it was
+    two o'clock in the night) by the means of some of our own company
+    who were subjects of the Duke of Savoy, and, assuredly, they did
+    no more than their duty. What I did was simply to save my life,
+    for the duke, my master, was the kind that insisted on having his
+    will done under penalty of losing one's head. So I took my way,
+    and carried Mme. of Savoy behind me, and her two daughters
+    followed and two or three of her maids, and we took the road over
+    the mountain to reach St. Claude. I was well assured of the second
+    son, and had him carried by a gentleman. I thought I was assured
+    of the Duke of Savoy, but he was stolen from me as I said. As
+    soon as we were at a distance, the people of the duchess, and
+    especially the seigneur de Manton, had torches brought and took
+    the duke back to Geneva, in which they had great joy. And I with
+    Mme. of Savoy and the little boy (who was not the duke), crossed
+    the mountain in the black night and came to a place called Mijoux,
+    and thence to St. Claude.
+
+    "You must know that the duke gave very bad cheer to the company,
+    and chiefly to me. I was in danger of my life because I had not
+    brought the Duke of Savoy. Then the duke went on to Salins without
+    speaking to me or giving me any orders. However, I escorted Mme.
+    of Savoy after him, and he ordered me to take her to the castle of
+    Rochefort. Thence she was taken to Rouvre in Burgundy. After that
+    I had nothing more to do with her or her affairs."
+
+This queer story is undoubtedly true, and the tone in which La Marche
+relates it indicates that he, too, was alienated by the duke's manner,
+and might have been more willing to lend an ear to Louis's suggestions
+than he had been five years previously.
+
+It is not evident that he played his master false or that he was
+cognisant of the recapture of the little duke, but he says himself
+that he thought the attendants were absolutely justified in it.
+
+It is after this incident that the astute Panigarola returns and joins
+the duke's suite at Salins. He finds Charles a changed man, indulging
+in strange fits of hilarity, expressing the wish that a couple of
+thousand more of his troops had been killed, "French at heart" as they
+were. He refused to see Yolande, after thus forcibly obtaining the
+means of so doing, and sent her to the castle of the Sire of Rochefort
+for safe-keeping. Abstemious as he had been all his life, never taking
+wine without water, the strong Burgundy in which he now suddenly
+indulged went to his head.
+
+Rumours went abroad that his mental balance was shaken. That does
+not seem to have been true to the extent of insanity. He was only
+infinitely chagrined but he certainly put on a brave front and
+retained his self-confidence and declared
+
+    "They are wrong if they believe me defeated. Providence has
+    provided me with so many people and estates with such abundant
+    resources, that many such defeats would be needed to ruin them. At
+    the moment when the world imagines that I am annihilated, I will
+    reopen the campaign with an army of 150,000 men."[22]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Lettres de Louis XI_., v., 368.]
+
+[Footnote 2: _Nos omnes relinquens, Ibid_., 371.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Commynes-Dupont, i., 336.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _Lettres_, v., 363. Louis to Dammartin.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Gachard, _Doc. ined_., i., 249.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Commines, iv., ch. vi.]
+[Footnote 7: Commines, iv., ch. viii.: Comines-Lenglet, ii., 217.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The terms of the treaty provided for a seven years'
+truce, with international free trade and mutual assistance in civil
+or foreign wars of either monarch. Louis's complaisance went so far
+that he did not insist on Edward's renouncing the title of King of
+England and France.]
+
+[Footnote 9: _The Paston Letters_. Sir John Paston to his mother,
+Sept. 11, 1475.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The story must be omitted here. The constable was
+finally apprehended, tried, and executed at Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 11: _Depeches Milanaises_, i., 253. The copy only is at
+Milan and there is no seal.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Toutey, p. 380.]
+
+[Footnote 13: _Dep. Milan_., i., 266.]
+
+[Footnote 14: _Dep. Milan_., i., 300.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Jomini lays the defeat to a tactical error. "Charles had
+committed the fault of encamping with one wing of his army resting on
+the lake, the other ill-secured at the foot of a wooded mountain.
+Nothing is more dangerous for an army than to have one of its wings
+resting on an unbridged stream, on a lake, or on the sea." Charles
+explained to Europe that he had been surprised, and his defeat was a
+mere bagatelle.]
+
+[Footnote 16: III., 216.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Embossed ornaments.]
+
+[Footnote l8: _Dep. Milan._, ii., 126.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Dep. Milan._, ii., 335.]
+
+[Footnote 20: _Dep. Milan_., ii., 295.]
+
+[Footnote 21: III., 234.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Dep. Milan_, ii., 339.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+THE BATTLE OF NANCY
+
+1477
+
+
+It was manifestly impossible for Charles to attempt to retrieve his
+fortunes without having large sums of ready money at his command.
+He therefore proceeded to appeal to the guardians of each and every
+treasury in his various states. Flanders and Burgundy were, however,
+the only quarters whence succour was in the least probable. The
+Estates of the latter duchy met, deliberated, and resolved to make no
+pretence nor to "yield anything contrary to the duty which every one
+owes to his country."[1] A certain Sieur de Jarville, accompanied
+by other true Burgundians, undertook to report the proceedings to
+Charles,--a duty usually falling to the share of the presiding officer
+of the ecclesiastical chamber. The message which he carried was
+laconic but sturdy:
+
+"Tell Monsieur that we are humble and brave subjects and servitors,
+but as to what is asked in his behalf, it never has been done, it
+cannot be done, it never will be done."
+
+"Small people would never dare use such language," is the comment
+of the Burgundian chronicler, proud of the temerity of his fellow
+countrymen.
+
+In the Netherlands, the individual Estates were equally emphatic in
+their refusal to meet the duke's wishes. Charles, therefore, resolved
+to call together a general assembly of deputies in the hope of finding
+them, collectively, more amenable. Writs of summons were issued very
+widely and a "States-general" was formally convened at Ghent on
+Friday, April 26, 1476.[2] At the last assembly of this nature, in
+1473, the duke had expressly promised, in consideration of an annual
+grant of 500,000 crowns for six years then accorded to him, to refrain
+from further demands, and there was a spirit of sullen resentment in
+the air when this session, whose purpose was plain, was opened by
+Chancellor Hugonet. He set forth three points for consideration.
+Monseigneur wished his daughter Mary, "that most precious jewel," to
+join him in Burgundy. A suitable escort was necessary to ensure her
+safe journey and that the duke requested the States to provide.
+Secondly he desired the States to endorse a levy of fresh troops to
+meet his immediate requirements. Further, he requested each town to
+equip a specified number of horses at its own expense; he demanded the
+service of his tenants, fief and arriere-fief; and, in addition, he
+required that all other men, no matter what their condition, able to
+bear arms, should enlist or provide a substitute. A portion of the
+troops should be set to guard the frontier, and the rest should be
+sent to the duke in Burgundy.
+
+It was a demand pure and simple for a universal call to arms, a
+national levy. The duke's paternal desire to see his daughter was the
+flimsiest of excuses that deceived no one for a moment.
+
+After the chancellor's exposition there was probably adjournment for
+discussion. The pensionary of Brussels, Gort Roelants, then acted as
+spokesman to present the following report, as the result of their
+deliberations, to the duchess-regent.
+
+As for Mlle. of Burgundy, the deputies would ascertain the wishes
+of their principals, but the second request did not call for a
+referendum. The representatives were fully capable of settling the
+matter at once. Considering the heavy burdens laid on the people, and
+taking into account the promises made to them in 1473, that no
+further demands should be made on the public purse, the three Estates
+concurred in humbly petitioning Monseigneur to excuse them from
+granting his request.
+
+It was on a Sunday after dinner (April 28th) when this decision was
+communicated to the duchess in her own hotel. After a private colloquy
+between her and Hugonet, the chancellor told the messenger that it was
+quite right for the deputies to consult their principals before the
+heiress was permitted to leave the guardianship of her faithful
+subjects. That was a grave matter, but surely there was no reason why
+her "escort" could not be determined upon at once. In regard to the
+levies, Madame was not empowered to take any excuse. It was beyond her
+province. Since the opening of the assembly, fresh letters had
+arrived from the duke urging the speedy execution of his previous
+instructions. The chancellor then appointed a committee to meet a
+committee from the States at 8 A.M. on the morrow at the convent of
+the Augustines.
+
+This was not satisfactory. Hugonet was speedily notified that the
+States did not feel empowered to appoint a committee. The most they
+could do was to resolve themselves into a committee of the whole. The
+objection to this was that a small conference was far better suited
+to free discussion. It was easy for unqualified persons to enter the
+session of a large body. The States, however, were tenacious in their
+opinion that their writs did not qualify them to appoint committees.
+Every point must be threshed out in the presence of every deputy.
+_Potestas delegata non deleganda est_.
+
+[Illustration: PHILIBERT, DUKE OF SAVOY (AFTER THE DESIGN BY MATHEY)]
+
+There was further negotiation, and it was not until Monday afternoon
+that Hugonet's commissioner brought a conciliatory message that if the
+gentlemen were so bent on it, he would, in spite of the difficulty of
+discussion in an open meeting, talk over both points with them in
+full assembly. Again the States objected. They had no instructions
+whatsoever in regard to Mademoiselle, and could not discuss her
+movements either in public or in private session. As to levies, they
+repeated in detail all previous arguments, and expressed a fervent
+hope that Monseigneur would withdraw the request. It would, in the
+end, be more to Monseigneur's advantage, etc. Back and forth travelled
+the commissioner between States and duchess. The latter simply
+reiterated her dictum that Mary must certainly set forth to visit her
+father in May, with an adequate escort, in whose ranks must appear
+three prelates, three or four barons, fifty knights, and notable men
+from the "good towns," well armed.
+
+The States were then resolved into a committee of the whole, for a
+private deliberation, an action that probably enabled them to exclude
+the embarrassing spectators. In preparation for this, the diligent
+commissioner called apart one deputy from each contingent, and
+expatiated on the duke's need of proof of sturdy loyalty. Seven to
+eight thousand combatants, besides Mademoiselle's escort and the fiefs
+and arriere-fiefs, Monseigneur could manage to make suffice for the
+present, and these must be provided. These confidences were at once
+reported to the assembly, which then adjourned to think over the
+matter during the night.[3]
+
+When they met again on April 30th, the chancellor was ready with a new
+message from Madame: "Go home now, consult your principals, and return
+on May 15th." On the motion of some deputy, this date was changed to
+May 24th. Precautions were taken to prevent any binding action in the
+interim. Moreover, the exact phrasing of the reports to the separate
+groups of constituents was also agreed upon by the majority of the
+deputies. In this, Hainaut refused to participate, as in that province
+there was a reluctance to deny the obligations of the fiefs.
+
+When the deputies reassembled a month later, Hugonet tried to weaken
+the effect of their answer by a suggestion that it had better not
+be considered the final decision, but a mere informal expression of
+opinion. "There were so many strangers present," etc. The States
+determinedly refused to be trifled with. "Madame must not be
+displeased if they gave the result of their deliberations in the
+presence of the whole assembly, not by way of opinion, but as a formal
+and conclusive report." Their charge was restricted to this manner
+of procedure. The chancellor, interrupting them, asked, since their
+charge was thus restricted, whether they had also been limited in the
+number of times they might drink on their way.[4] The answer was:
+"Chancellor, come now, say what you wish. The answer shall be given as
+it was meant to be given."
+
+[Illustration: PLAN OF BATTLE OF NANCY. REPRODUCED FROM KIRK'S
+"CHARLES THE BOLD," BY PERMISSION OF J.B. LIPPINCOTT CO.]
+
+The communication was so long that its delivery took from 3 to 8
+P.M. It was nothing more than a detailed apology for refusing the
+sovereign's demands. Several days more were consumed in unsuccessful
+efforts to cajole or browbeat the deputies into a more genial mood.
+The only concessions offered were insignificant, and to their
+resolution the deputies held firmly. "According to current rumour
+[concludes Gort Roelants's story] the ducal council would gladly have
+accepted a notable sum in lieu of the service of towns and of the
+fiefholders, but the States made no such offer."
+
+There was evidently a hope that better results might be obtained from
+a new assembly,[5] but none was held and the most earnest endeavours
+of the duke's wife and daughter failed to arouse enthusiasm for his
+plans. Moreover, when there seemed a prospect that the Netherlands
+might be attacked from France, the sympathy of even the duchess and
+council for offensive operations was chilled. Not only did Margaret
+fail to send her husband the extra supplies demanded, but she decided
+to appropriate the three months' subsidy, the chief item of regular
+ducal revenue, for protection of the Flemish frontier--an action that
+made Charles very angry. Defences at home! Yes, indeed, they were
+necessary, but the people must provide them. The subsidy was lawfully
+his and he needed every penny of it. His army had not been destroyed.
+He was simply obliged to strengthen it. Burgundy was helping him.
+Flanders must do her part. They were deaf to this appeal, although a
+generous message was sent saying that if he were hard pressed they
+would go in person to rescue him from danger.
+
+The story of the assembly of the Estates of the two Burgundies is
+equally interesting as a picture of the clash between sovereign will
+and popular unreadiness to open the carefully guarded money-boxes.[6]
+The deputies convened at Salins on July 8th, in the presence of the
+duke himself. The session was opened by Jean de Grey, the president
+of the _parlement_ of the duchy, with a brief statement of the
+sovereign's needs. Then Charles took the floor, and delivered a
+tremendous harangue with a marvellous command of language. Panigarola
+declared that his allusions to parallel crises in ancient times were
+so apt and so fluent that it seemed as though the book of history lay
+opened before him and that he read from its pages.[7] The impression
+he made was plain to see.
+
+[Illustration: BATTLE OF NANCY CONTEMPORANEOUS MINIATURE IN ABBEY OF
+ST. GERMAIN DES PRES (COMINES-LENGLET, III.)]
+
+His demands for aid to retrieve the Swiss disasters were open and
+aboveboard this time. There was no such pretence put forward as the
+escort of Mary. The argument was that any ruler, backed by his people
+unanimous in their willingness to give their last jewel for public
+purposes, must inevitably succeed in his righteous wars, etc.
+
+His learned and able discourse was well received, according to other
+reporters besides the Milanese, but there was no hearty yielding to
+sentiment in the reply. Four days were consumed in deliberation before
+that was ready on July 12th. They had certainly considered that the
+grant of 100,000 florins annually for six years, accorded two years
+previously, was their share. But in view of the duke's appeal, they
+would endeavour to aid him. Let him stipulate which cities he wished
+fortified and they would assume charge of the work. Two favours they
+begged--that Charles should not rashly expose his person "for he was
+the sole prince of his glorious House," and that he should be ready
+to receive overtures of peace. "We will give life and property for
+defence, but we implore you to take no offensive step." Charles did
+not, perhaps, feel the distrust of his military skill and of his
+judgment that these words implied.
+
+Financial stress was not the duke's only difficulty in 1476. The
+defection of his allies continued, Yolande--that former good friend of
+his--was now a fervent suppliant to Louis XI., begging him to restore
+her to freedom and to her son's estates. Not that her restraint was
+in itself hard to bear. At Rouvre, whither she had been removed from
+Rochefort, she was free to do what she wished, except to depart.
+Couriers, too, were at her service apparently, who carried uninspected
+letters to Milan, Geneva, Nice, Turin, and to Louis XI. Commines
+says that she hesitated to take refuge with the last lest he should
+promptly return her to Burgundian "protection." Yet her brother's
+hatred to Charles seemed a fairly strong assurance against such
+action. Louis XI. was never so genial as when hearing some ill of
+Charles. "From what I have learned, I believe his Turk, his devil
+in this world, the person he loathes most intensely, is the Duke of
+Burgundy, with whom he can never live in amity." These words were sent
+by Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan,[8] who was also turning slowly,
+with some periods of hesitation, to an alliance with Louis, now
+engaged in "following the hare with a cart."[9]
+
+On his side the king declared that he had no intention of troubling
+further about his obligations to the Duke of Burgundy. "He has himself
+broken the truce repeatedly. I can begin a war when I please. But I
+have thought it best to temporise."
+
+[Illustration: COLUMN COMMEMORATING CHARLES AT NANCY AFTER THE DRAWING
+BY PERNOT]
+
+In the succeeding weeks Louis plunged deeper and deeper into
+negotiations with any and every one whom he could turn against
+Charles. In October, Sire de Chamont, governor of Champagne, --the
+territory that Edward IV. had failed to consign to the duke's
+sovereignty,--made a descent on Rouvre and rescued Yolande of Savoy.
+There was no attempt to stay her departure, and she was scrupulous, so
+it is said, in leaving money behind to pay for the Burgundian property
+carried off in her train--though it were nothing but an old crossbow.
+"Welcome, Madame the Burgundian," was the fraternal salutation which
+she received on her arrival at her brother's court. She replied that
+she was a good French woman and quite ready to obey his majesty's
+commands.[10]
+
+During the summer, Charles remained at La Riviere exerting every
+effort to levy an army. It was no easy task, and the review held on
+July 27th showed a meagre return for his exertions. But he did not
+slacken his efforts. Lists were immediately drawn up showing the
+vacancies in each company, and his money stress did not prevent
+his offering increased pay as an extra inducement to recruits. "An
+excellent means of encouragement," comments Panigarola.
+
+The necessity for his preparations was evident. An opportune legacy
+inherited by Rene of Lorraine enabled that dispossessed prince to work
+to better advantage than he had been able to do since Charles had
+convened the Estates of Lorraine at Nancy. Moreover, on the very day
+of the review of the deficient Burgundian troops, a Swiss diet at
+Fribourg adopted resolutions regarding, a closer alliance with
+Rene.[11] Louis XI. ostensibly maintained his truce with Charles but
+he had intimated that a French army would wait in Dauphine ready "to
+help adjust the affairs of Savoy," and, at about the same time when
+Yolande was at court, he gave a gracious reception to a Swiss embassy,
+so that Rene did not feel himself without support as he advanced to
+recover his city.
+
+The mercenaries left by Charles at Nancy were weak and indifferent--a
+brief siege, and the capital of Lorraine capitulated to Duke Rene.
+Charles was too late to prevent this mortifying loss. His forces, too,
+were a mere shadow. Three to four thousand men rallied round him in
+the Franche-Comte, a few hundred joined him in Burgundy, and as he
+skirted the frontier of Champagne he received slight reinforcements
+from Luxemburg. Then came Campobasso and his mercenary troops, and
+the Count of Chimay with such Flemish fiefs as had, individually,
+respected the duke's appeal. In all, the forces at Charles's
+disposition amounted to about ten thousand, far fewer than those at
+Neuss or at Granson.
+
+At a diet of October 17th, the compact between Rene and the Swiss was
+confirmed, and the former was assured of efficient aid to help him
+repulse Charles in his advance into Lorraine. There was need. The city
+of Toul refused admission to both dukes, but furnished provision for
+Charles's troops, so that for the moment he was the better off of the
+two. Rene then proceeded to provision Nancy and to prepare it for a
+siege, while he himself proceeded to Pont-a-Mousson, and for several
+days the two adversaries were only separated by the Moselle. Charles's
+army was augmented daily by slight accessions from Flanders, and
+England, and by fragments of the garrisons of the towns in Lorraine
+that had yielded to Rene and the latter fell back, little by little.
+Charles in his turn held Pont-a-Mousson, and proceeded along the road
+to Nancy, not deterred by the Lorrainers.
+
+It was on October 22nd, that Charles of Burgundy laid siege for the
+second time to Nancy. In thus entering into active hostilities, he was
+ignoring the advice of his councillors who were unanimous in begging
+him to devote the winter months to refitting his army in Luxemburg or
+Flanders. His position was really very dangerous. He had no base on
+which to rest as he had recovered no towns except Pont-a-Mousson. But
+he ignored the patent obstacles and tried assault after assault upon
+Nancy--all most valiantly repulsed. Within the walls, there was an
+amazing display of courage, energy, and good humour. As a matter of
+fact, the duke's reputation had waned, while the fear of his cruelty
+emboldened the burghers to hold out to the last ditch. Any fate would
+be better than falling into his hands, was the general opinion.
+
+Throughout Lorraine, the captains of the garrisons seized every
+occasion to harry the Burgundians. Familiar with the lay of the land,
+with every cross-road and by-path, they were able to lie in wait for
+the foragers and to do much damage. Four hundred cavaliers, coming
+up from Burgundy, were attacked by one Malhortie de Roziere, and
+literally cut to pieces, while their horses changed sides with ease.
+Only a few escaped to report the fate of the others to Charles. Not
+long after, Malhortie, encouraged by this success, crept up to the
+Burgundian camp, fell upon the sleepers, and captured a goodly number
+of horses.
+
+The troops on which Charles counted most confidently were
+Campobasso's. Several attempts were made to warn him that treachery
+was possible in that quarter if the commander were too much
+exasperated by delays in payment, too much tried by the ill-temper of
+his employer. But the duke persisted in being oblivious to what was
+passing under his eyes. Thus, while awaiting the moment for his final
+defection, the Italian found it possible to enter into communication
+with Rene and to retard the operations of the siege so as to give time
+for the advance of the army of relief.
+
+The weather of this year was a marked contrast to the mild season of
+1473. The winter set in early and the cold became very severe, almost
+at once. Their sufferings made the burghers very impatient for the
+relief of whose coming they could get no certain assurance. The
+Burgundian lines were held so rigidly that the interchange of messages
+between the city and her friends was rendered very difficult.[12] One
+Suffren de Baschi tried to slip through to Nancy, to tell the besieged
+that Rene was levying troops in Switzerland and would soon be with
+them. Baschi fell into the duke's hands and was immediately hanged.
+One story says that Campobasso was among the interceders for his life
+and received a box on the ear for his pains, an insult that proved the
+last straw in his allegiance to Charles. Commines, however, declares
+that the Italian urged the death of the captive, fearful of the
+premature betrayal of his own intended treachery.
+
+This execution was one of those arbitrary acts condemned by public
+opinion as contrary to the code of warfare. Intense indignation among
+the Lorrainers and the Swiss forced Rene to retaliatory measures, and
+he ordered the execution of all the Burgundian prisoners. One hundred
+and twenty bodies hung on the gibbets, each bearing an inscription
+to the effect that their death was the work of _le temeraire_. The
+rancour of the proceedings became terrible. No quarter was given in
+any engagements. Slaughter was the only thought on either side.
+
+Towards the end of December, one Thierry, a draper of Mirecourt,
+proved more successful than Baschi in reaching Nancy. His information,
+that Rene's army would leave Basel on December 26th, put heart into
+the beseiged and the bells rang out joyfully.
+
+Just at this epoch, there was an attempt at mediation between the
+combatants. The King of Portugal,[13] nephew of Isabella, appeared at
+his cousin's camp and implored him to put an end to the carnage, and
+in the name of humanity to stop a war that was horrible to all the
+world. In spite of his own stress, Charles managed to give his kinsman
+a splendid reception, but he waved aside his petition, and simply
+invited him to join him in his campaign.
+
+A week sufficed for the Swiss contingent to march from Basel to Nancy,
+across the plains of Alsace. Meantime Rene had rallied about four
+thousand men under Lorraine captains, and to this was added an
+Alsatian force which had joined him by way of St.-Nicolas-du-Port.
+They were a rude, pitiless crowd, as they soon evinced by routing
+a few Burgundians out of the houses where they had hidden, and
+massacring them publicly. A reconnaissance, sent out by Charles, was
+easily put to flight.
+
+On January 4th, Charles learned that fresh troops had reached St.
+Nicolas. He showed assurance, arrogance, and negligence. His belief in
+his star was fully restored. He actually did not take the trouble to
+try once more to ascertain the exact strength of the enemy. He had
+commissioned the Bishop of Forli to negotiate for him at Basel, and
+refused to credit the statement that the Swiss were throwing in their
+fortunes with Rene. He thought that "the Child," as he contemptuously
+termed his adversary, had simply gone right and left to hire
+mercenaries, and he rather ridiculed the idea of taking such
+_canaille_ seriously, saying that it was a host unworthy of a
+gentleman. Still he resolved to meet and finish them once for all.[14]
+
+It is a fact that the Swiss reinforcements were a different and far
+less efficient body than the volunteers of Granson and Morat had been.
+French gold, scattered freely, had done its work in exciting the
+cupidity of every man who could bear arms. There were some staunch
+leaders, like Waldemar of Zurich and Rudolph de Stein, but their kind
+was in the minority. Berne aided with money rather than with men, but
+she was not a generous ally as she insisted on having hostages to
+ensure her repayment. A venal spirit was evident in every quarter. As
+the troops made their way over the Jura their behaviour showed that
+the late splendid booty had affected them. Plunder was their aim. When
+Rene reviewed these fresh arrivals from Basel, one of his attending
+officers was Oswald von Thierstein, late governor of Alsace.[15]
+Disgraced by Sigismund he had passed over to the Duke of Lorraine, who
+appointed him marshal.
+
+On that January 4th, a Saturday, Charles held a council meeting. The
+opinion of the wisest, already given on previous occasions, was urged
+again:
+
+    "Do not risk battle. Rene is poor. If there are no immediate
+    engagements, his mercenaries will abandon him for lack of pay.
+    Raise the siege and depart for Flanders and Luxemburg. The army
+    can rest and be increased. Then at the approach of spring it will
+    be easy to fall upon Rene deprived of his troops."
+
+Charles was absolutely deaf to these arguments. He was determined on
+facing the issue at once. Leaving a small force to sustain the siege,
+he ordered the camp to be broken on the evening of the 4th and a
+movement made towards St.-Nicolas. He selected a ground favourable
+for the manipulation of a large body, and placed his artillery on a
+plateau situated between Jarville and Neuville. It was not a good
+position, being hedged in on the right and in front by woods which
+could conceal the movements of a foe without impeding them. Only one
+way of retreat was open--towards Metz, whose bishop was Charles's
+last ally. But to reach Metz, it was necessary to cross several small
+streams and deceptive marshes, half frozen as they were, besides the
+river Meurthe, a serious obstacle with the garrison of Nancy on the
+flank. In short, there was ample reason to dread surprise, while
+in case of defeat a terrible catastrophe was more than possible.
+Curiously, the precise kind of difficulties which beset the field of
+Morat were repeated here--proof that Charles had not the qualities of
+a general who could learn by experience.[16]
+
+The exact force at his disposal on this occasion has been variously
+estimated. Considering the ravages of the sanguinary skirmishes during
+the siege, and of the cold, it is probable that the actual combatants
+did not number more than ten thousand, all told. And only half of
+these were of any value--two thousand men under Galeotto, and
+three thousand Burgundians commanded by Charles and his immediate
+lieutenants. The remainder were unreliable mercenaries and the still
+more unreliable troops of Campobasso already pledged to the foe. La
+Marche estimates Rene's force at twelve thousand and adds: "The Duke
+of Burgundy was far behind, for, on my conscience, he had not two
+thousand fighting men."[17]
+
+The allies adopted a plan of battle proposed by a Lorrainer, Vautrin
+Wuisse. The first manoeuvre was to divert the foe and turn him towards
+the woods, and then to attack his centre, which would at the same
+time be pressed at the front by the Lorraine forces, headed by Rene
+himself. The plan succeeded in every point. Surprised that they dared
+take the offensive, Charles was alert to the harsh cries of the "bull"
+of Uri and the "cow" of Unterwalden, which were heard across the
+woods. A sudden presentiment saddened him. Putting on his helmet, he
+accidentally knocked off the lion bearing the legend _Hoc est signum
+Dei_. He replaced it and plunged into the melee.
+
+The onslaught was terrific. Galeotto's troops and the duke's were the
+only ones to make sturdy resistance. The right wing of the army gave
+way under the fierce assault of the Swiss. The cry, "_Sauve qui
+pent_!" raised possibly by Campobasso's traitors, produced a terrible
+rout. Three quarters of the troops were in flight, while the duke
+still fought on with superhuman ferocity.
+
+Galeotto, seeing that the day was lost, protected his own mercenaries
+as best he could, while Campobasso completed the treason that he had
+plotted with Rene, which had been partially accomplished four days
+previously, and calmly took up his position on the bridge of Bouxieres
+on the Meurthe, to make prisoners for the sake of ransom. Then the
+besieged made a sudden sortie which increased the disorder. The battle
+proper was of short duration, with little bloodshed, but the pursuit
+was sanguinary in the extreme, because the Burgundian army had left no
+loophole open for retreat.
+
+The Swiss pursued the fugitives hotly as far as Bouxieres and
+inflicted carnage right and left on the route. It was easy work. The
+morasses were traps and the Burgundians, encumbered with their arms,
+found it impossible to free themselves, when they once were entangled.
+They fell like flies before the fury of the mountaineers. The
+Lorrainers and Alsatians were more humane or more mercenary, for they
+took prisoners instead of killing indiscriminately. Charles fought
+desperately to the very end. There is no doubt that he plunged into
+the thick of the fight and risked his life in a reckless manner,
+but there is absolute uncertainty as to how he met his death. It is
+generally accepted that the last person to see him alive was one
+Baptista Colonna, a page in the service of a Neapolitan captain. This
+lad, with an extra helmet swung over his shoulder, found himself
+close to the duke. He saw him surrounded by troops, noticed his horse
+stumble, was sure that the rider fell. The next moment, Colonna's
+attention was diverted to himself. He was taken prisoner and knew no
+more of the day's events. The figure of Charles of Burgundy disappears
+from the view of man. A curtain woven of vague rumour hides the
+closing scenes of his life.
+
+At seven o'clock the victorious Duke of Lorraine rode into the rescued
+city and re-entered his palace. At the gates was heaped up a ghastly
+memorial of the steadfastness of the burghers in their devotion to
+his cause. This was a pile of the bones of the foul animals they had
+consumed when other food was exhausted, rather than capitulate to
+their liege's foe. To ascertain the fate of that foe now became Rene's
+chief anxiety, and he despatched messengers to Metz and elsewhere
+to find out where Charles had taken refuge. The reports were all
+negative. The first positive assurance that the duke was dead came
+from young Baptista Colonna, whom Campobasso himself introduced into
+Rene's presence on Monday evening. The page told his tale and declared
+that he could point out the precise place where he had seen the Duke
+of Burgundy fall. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, January 7th, a
+party went forth from Nancy to the desolate battlefield and were
+guided by Colonna to the edge of a pool which he asserted confidently
+was the very spot where he had seen Charles. Circumstantial evidence
+went to give corroboration to his word, for the dozen or more bodies
+that lay strewn along the ground in the immediate vicinity of the pool
+were close friends and followers of the duke, men who would, in all
+probability, have stayed faithfully by their master's person, a
+volunteer bodyguard as long as they drew breath. These bodies were all
+stripped naked. Harpies had already gathered what plunder they could
+find, and no apparel or accoutrements were left to show the difference
+in rank between noble and page. But the faces were recognisable and
+they were identified as well-known nobles of the Burgundian court.
+Separated from this group by a little space at the very edge of the
+pool, was another naked body in still more doleful plight. The face
+was disfigured beyond all semblance of what it might have been in
+life. One cheek was bitten by wolves, one was imbedded in the frozen
+slime. Yet there was evidence on the poor forsaken remains that
+convinced the searchers that this was indeed the mortal part of the
+great duke. Two wounds from a pick and a blow above the ear--inflicted
+by "one named Humbert"--showed how death had been caused. The missing
+teeth corresponded to those lost by Charles, there was a scar just
+where he had received his wound at Montl'hery, the finger nails were
+long like his, a wound on the shoulder, a fistula on the groin, and an
+ingrowing nail were additional marks of identification,--six definite
+proofs in all. Among those who gazed at this wretched sight, on that
+January morning, were men intimately acquainted with the duke's
+person.
+
+    "There were his physician, a Portuguese named Mathieu, and his
+    valets, besides Olivier de la Marche[18] and Denys his chaplain
+    who were taken thither and there was no doubt that he was dead. It
+    has not yet been decided where he will be buried, and to know it
+    better it [the body] has been bathed in warm water and good wine
+    and cleansed. In that state it was recognisable by all who
+    had previously seen and known him. The page who had given the
+    information was taken to the king. Had it not been for him it
+    would never have been known what had become of him considering the
+    state and the place where he was found."[19]
+
+Before the body could be freed from the ice in which it was imbedded,
+implements had to be brought from Nancy. Four Lorraine nobles hastened
+to the spot, when they heard the tidings, to show honour to the man
+who had been their accepted lord for a brief period, and they acted
+as escort as the burden was carried into the town and placed in a
+suitable chamber in the home of one George Marquiez. There seems to
+have been no insult offered to the fallen man, no lack of deference in
+the proceedings. The very spot where the bier rested for a moment was
+marked with a little black cross.
+
+As the corpse was bathed, three wounds became evident--a deep cut
+from a halberd in the head, spear thrusts through the thighs and
+abdomen--proofs of the closeness of the last struggle. When all the
+dignity possible had been given to the miserable human fragment and
+the chamber hung with conventional mourning, Rene came thither clad
+in black garments. Kneeling by the bier, he said: "Would to God, fair
+cousin, that your misfortunes and mine had not reduced you to the
+condition in which I see you."
+
+For five days the body lay in state before the high altar of the
+church of St. George, and the obsequies that followed were attended by
+Rene and his nobles, and the coffin was honourably placed among the
+ducal dead.
+
+Yet doubt of the man's existence was not buried with the bones to
+which his name was given. When the Swiss turned their way homeward,
+their farewell words to Rene were: "If the Duke of Burgundy has
+escaped and should reopen war, tell us." "If he has assured his
+safety," Rene answered, "we will fight again when summer comes." There
+was no delay, however, in the division of the spoils. The Burgundian
+treasure was distributed among Rene's allies, and the ignorant
+soldiers received articles worth many times their pay, which they, in
+many cases, disposed of for an infinitesimal part of their value.
+
+As late as January 28th, Margaret of York and Mary of Burgundy wrote
+to Louis XI. from Ghent:
+
+"We are still hoping that Monseigneur is alive in the hands of his
+enemies." Other rumours continued to be current, not only for weeks
+but for years. In 1482, it was gravely recounted that the vanished
+duke had retired to Brucsal in Swabia, where he led an austere life,
+_genus vitae horridum atque asperum_. Bets were made, too, on the
+chances of his return.[20]
+
+Louis XI. was a very pleasant person when news was brought him that he
+liked to hear. Commines and Bouchage together had told him about the
+defeat of Morat and had each received two hundred silver marks. It was
+a Seigneur de Lude who had the good luck to bring him letters from
+Craon recounting the battle of Nancy. It was "really difficult for the
+king to keep his countenance so surprised was he with joy."[21] His
+letter to Craon was written on January 9th and ran as follows.[22]
+
+    "M. the Count, my friend, I have received your letter and heard
+    the good news that you impart to me, for which I thank you as much
+    as I can. Now is the time to use all your five natural senses to
+    deliver the duchy and county of Burgundy into my hands. If the
+    duke be dead, do you and the governor of Champagne take your
+    troops and put yourselves within the land, and, if you love me,
+    keep as good order among your men as if you were in Paris, and
+    prove that I mean to treat them [the Burgundians] better than any
+    one in my realm."
+
+The "five natural senses" of the king's lieutenant were employed most
+loyally to his master's service. The duchy of Burgundy returned to the
+French crown. Before Easter, the Estates were convened by Louis XI,
+and there was no longer any duke in Burgundy to be an over powerful
+peer in France.
+
+With the exception of Guelders the lands acquired by Charles fell
+away, but the remainder as inherited by him passed under the rule of
+his daughter Mary, who carried her heritage into the House of Austria,
+through which it passed finally to the King of Spain.
+
+On that fatal fifth of January, Charles of Burgundy had only just
+passed middle life. He was forty-four years, one month, and twenty-six
+days old, an age when a man has the right to look forward to new
+achievements. Every circumstance of the dreary and premature death was
+in glaring contrast to his prospects at his birth in 1433, in insolent
+contradiction to his own estimation of the obligations assumed by Fate
+in his behalf. In certain details of the catastrophe there are, of
+course, accidents. No one could have predicted that the duke whose
+chief title was a synonym for magnificence, that this cherished heir
+to his House, who had been bathed in all the luxury known to his
+epoch, should have thus lain in death, many hours long, unattended and
+uncared-for, naked and frozen on a bed of congealed mud, with a winter
+sky as canopy. The actual adversity as it overwhelmed him was too
+appalling for any foresight. But the great dream of the man's life
+that vanished with his vitality owed its annihilation to no mere
+chance of warfare. Had it not been rudely ended by the battle of
+Nancy, other means of destruction, inevitable and sure, would have
+appeared. The projected erection of a solidified kingdom stretching
+from the North Sea to Switzerland and possibly to the Mediterranean,
+one that could hold the balance of power between France and Germany,
+contained elements of disintegration, latent at its foundation. It is
+clear, from a consideration of the Duke of Burgundy and his position
+in the Europe of his time, that the materials which he expected to
+mould into a realm were a collection of sentient units. Each separate
+one was instinct with individual life, individual desires, conscious
+of its own minute past, capable of directing its own contracted
+future. That the hereditary title of overlord to each political unity
+had lodged upon a head already dignified by a plurality of similar
+titles, was a mere chance and viewed by the burghers in a wholly
+different light from that in which this same overlord regarded it. The
+fishers in Holland, the manufacturers in Brabant, the merchants in
+Flanders, the vintners in Burgundy, cared nothing for being the wings
+of an imperial idea. They wanted safe fishing grounds, unmolested
+highways of commerce, vineyards free from the tramp of armies. And
+with their desires fixed on these as needful, their attitude towards
+the political centralisation planned by their common ruler, often
+betrayed both ignorance and inconsistency. At various epochs some
+degree of imperialism for the Netherland group had been quite to
+popular taste. In Holland, Zealand and Hainaut, it had been conceded
+that Jacqueline of Bavaria was less efficient to maintain desirable
+conditions than her cousin of Burgundy, and the exchange of sovereigns
+had been effected in spite of the manifest injustice involved in the
+transaction. But while there was willingness to accept any advantages
+that might accrue to a people from the reputation of a local overlord,
+it was never forgotten for an instant that his relation to his
+subjects was as their own count and strictly limited by conditions
+that had long existed within each petty territory. While Charles
+seemed to be on the straight road towards his goal, the people within
+each body politic of his inherited states were profoundly preoccupied
+with their own local concerns, and only alive to his schemes when they
+feared demands upon their internal revenues for external purposes.
+
+It does not seem probable, however, that the abstract question of the
+projected kingdom was ever taken very seriously among those to be
+directly affected by the proposed change. The bars interposed by his
+own subjects in the duke's progress towards royalty were obstructions
+to his successive steps rather than to his theory. Indeed, strenuous
+opposition to details was allied to a vague and passive acceptance of
+the whole. Moreover when the idea was phrased it was distinctly as
+a revival, not as a novelty. The previous existence of a kingdom of
+Burgundy was undoubtedly a potent factor in the degree of progress
+made by Charles towards conjuring into new life a reincarnation of
+that ancient realm. Yet it was a factor clothed with a shadow rather
+than with the substance of truth. Geographically there was very little
+in common between the dominion projected more or less definitely in
+1473 and any one of the kingdoms of Burgundy as they had successively
+existed. That of Charles corresponded very nearly to the ancient
+kingdom of Lorraine. Franche-Comte was the only ground common to the
+territories actually held by the duke and to the latest kingdom of
+Burgundy. His possessions in Picardy and Alsace lay wholly beyond the
+limits of either Burgundy or Lorraine. But the old name survived in
+his ducal title, and it was that name that lent a semblance of reality
+to this fifteenth-century dream of a middle kingdom as outlined in the
+duke's mind more or less definitely or as bounded by his ambition.
+
+In retrospect it is clear that more was requisite for the realisation
+of the vision of the wished-for nation, than imperial investiture of
+a crowned monarch with sovereignty over a group of lands. A modern
+writer has pointed out how infinitely subtle is the vital principle
+of a nation, one not even to be created by common interests. A
+_Zollverein_ is no _patria_. An element of sentiment is needful, and
+an element of growth.[23] The nation like the individual is the result
+of what has gone before. An heroic past, great men, glory that can
+command respect at home and abroad--that is the capital on which
+is based a national idea. To have wrought in common, to wish to
+accomplish more in the future, are essential conditions to be a
+people. "The existence of a nation is a plebiscite of every day, just
+as the existence of the individual is a perpetual affirmation of
+life."
+
+Now it is evident, in summing up the salient features of this failure,
+that a vital principle was not germinating in the inchoate mass.
+Charles himself never attained the rank of a national hero. More than
+that, with all his individual states, he never had any nation, great
+or small, at his back. Personally he was a man without a country. His
+father, Philip, was French, pure and simple, quite as French as his
+grandfather, Philip the Hardy, the first Duke of Burgundy out of the
+House of Valois, even though Philip the Good had extended his sway
+to many non-French-speaking peoples and was able to use the Flemish
+speech if it suited his whim. But that was as a condescension and as
+something extraneous. The chief of French peers remained his proudest
+title; his ability to influence French affairs, the task he liked
+best.
+
+His son was quite different in his attitude towards France. He
+minimised his degree of French blood royal. More than once he boasted
+of his kinship with Portuguese, with English stock. He had certain
+characteristics of an immigrant, who has abandoned family traditions
+and is proudly confident that his bequest to posterity is to outshine
+what he has inherited. Charles was not exactly a stupid man, but he
+certainly was dazzled by his early surroundings into an overestimate
+of himself, into a conceit that was a tremendous stumbling-block in
+his path. He had not the kind of intelligence that would have enabled
+him to take at their worth the rhetorical phrases of adulation heaped
+upon him on festal occasions. Yet this same conceit, this very
+self-confidence, gave him a high conception of his duties. At his
+accession, he showed a sense of his responsibilities, a definite
+theory of conduct which he fully intended to act upon. His very belief
+in his own powers gave him an intrinsic honesty of purpose. He was
+convinced that he could maintain law, order, justice in his domain,
+and he fully intended to do so in a paternal way, but he left out of
+consideration the rights of the people, rights older than his dynasty.
+In his military career, too, at the outset, he evinced the strongest
+bent towards preserving the best conditions possible amid the
+brutalities of warfare. He curbed the soldiers' passions, he protected
+women, and was as relentless towards miscreants in his ranks as
+towards his foe. In civil matters he exerted himself to secure
+impartial equity for all alike. When he gave a promise, he fully
+intended to make his words good. It was only in the face of repeated
+deceptions of the cleverer and more unscrupulous Louis XI. that
+Charles changed for the worse. Exasperated by the knowledge that the
+king's solemn pledges were given repeatedly with no intention of
+fulfilment, he attempted to adopt a similar policy and was singularly
+infelicitous in his imitation. His political methods degenerated into
+mere barefaced lying, softened by no graces, illumined by no clever
+intuition of where to draw the line. From 1472 on, the duke's word was
+worth no more than the king's, and words were assuredly at a discount
+just then. A perusal of the international correspondence of the period
+leaves the reader marvelling why time was wasted in covering paper,
+with flimsy, insincere phrases, mendacious sign-posts which gave no
+true indication of the road to be travelled. There are, however,
+differences in the art of dissimulation and Charles never attained a
+mastery of the science.
+
+The adjective which has attached itself to his name in English in an
+inaccurate rendering of _le temeraire_ which belongs to him in French.
+There were other terms too applied to Charles at different periods of
+his career. He was Charles the Hardy in his early youth, Charles the
+Terrible in those last months when he tried to fortify himself with
+wine unsuited to his constitution, but at all times he might have been
+called Charles the self-absorbed, Charles the solitary. There have
+been many men more passionate, more uncontrolled, than Charles of
+Burgundy, whose personal magnetism yet enabled them to win friends and
+to keep them, as the duke was powerless to do. The failure to command
+personal devotion, unquestioning loyalty, was one of his chief
+personal misfortunes. Philip, magnificent, lavish, debonair, found
+many lenient apologists for his crimes, while his son received
+criticism for his faults even from the faithful among his servitors.
+How a reflection of his bearing glows out from the mirror turned
+casually upon him by Commines' skilful hand! Take the glimpse of Louis
+XI. as he lures on St. Pol's messenger to imitate Charles. The Sire
+de Creville inspired by the royal interest in his narration about an
+incident at the court of Burgundy, puffs out his cheeks, stamps his
+feet in a dictatorial manner, and swears by St. George as he quotes
+the duke's words. Behind a screen are hidden Commines, and a
+Burgundian envoy aghast at hearing his liege lord so mocked. It is
+a time when St. Pol is trying to ride three horses at once and
+the French king takes this method to have Charles informed of his
+duplicity. "Speak louder" he says, "I grow a little deaf," and the
+flattered envoy repeats his dramatic performance in a way to engrave
+it on the memory of the duke's retainer.
+
+[Illustration: THE TOMB OF CHARLES OF BURGUNDY]
+
+In thus touching on the traits of his former master, Commines does not
+show malice or even a dislike for the duke. He is much more severe
+about Louis--only he found the latter easier to serve.
+
+In his family life, too, Charles does not seem to have found any
+companionship that affected his life. He is lauded as a faithful
+husband to Isabella of Bourbon but her death seemed to make little
+difference. Neither she nor Margaret of York had the actual
+significance enjoyed by Isabella of Portugal as consort to Philip the
+Good with his notoriously roving fancy.
+
+Thus at home as well as abroad the last Duke of Burgundy tried to
+stand alone. Perhaps his chief happiness in life was that he never
+knew how insufficient for his desired task he was and how the new art
+of printing, the birth of Erasmus of Rotterdam, were the really great
+events of his brief decade of sovereignty. It was his good fortune
+that he never knew that no splendid achievement gave significance to
+his device: "I have undertaken it"--_Je lay emprins_.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: _Mem. de la soc. bourg. de geog. et d' hist_. Article by
+A. Cornereau, vi., 229.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Les etats de Gand en 1476. (Gachard, _Etudes et notices
+hist,. des Pays-Bas_, i., I.)
+
+This is a study of the report made by Gort Roelants, pensionary of
+Brussels, one of the deputies to the assembly of 1476. This so-called
+"States-general" was by no means a legislative assembly. When Philip
+the Good convened deputies from the various states at Bruges in 1463,
+it was to save himself the trouble of going to the separate capitals
+to ask for _aides_. Assemblies of similar nature occurred several
+times before 1477, when Mary of Burgundy granted the privilege of
+self-convention and when a constitutional role was assured to the
+body; though not used for many years (_See_ Pirenne, ii., 379.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Pour y penser la nuit jusques aw lendemain_.]
+
+[Footnote 4: _S'ils n'avaient point charge limitee quantefois ils
+devaient boire en chemin_.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Compte-rendu par Antoine Rolin, Sr. d' Aymeries, Oct. 1,
+1475-Sept. 30, 1476. In the archives of Hainaut there are proofs that
+another assembly was confidently expected.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gingins la Sarra, ii., 354.]
+
+[Footnote 7: _Ibid_., 359. Scorende queste cose come avesse il libro
+avanti, parse ad ogniuno imprimesse bene questo suo intento.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Petrasanta to the Duke of Milan Aug. 12th. Quoted in
+Kirk, iii., 487.]
+
+[Footnote 9: An Italian phrase signifying to run down his game
+slowly.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Commines, v., ch. iv.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Toutey calls the diet at Fribourg a veritable congress
+of central Europe, the first of international congresses.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Huguenin Jeune, _Hist. de la guerre de Lorraine_, p.
+217.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This monarch, Alphonse V., called the African, asking
+Louis XI. for assistance against Ferdinand of Castile, was refused on
+the score that Charles the Bold was menacing the safety of the French
+frontier. Alphonse's prayer for peace might have been instigated by
+thoughts of his own needs as well as those of humanity. (Toutey, p.
+386.)]
+
+[Footnote 14: Toutey, p. 387.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Scott's _Anne of Geierstein_. This is the man whom
+the author makes the appointed instrument of the _Vehmgericht_ to slay
+Charles.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Toutey, p. 388.]
+
+[Footnote 17: _Memoires_, iii., 239.]
+
+[Footnote 18: It is strange that La Marche does not make more of
+this scene if he were really there. His sole statement is: "The duke
+remained dead on the field of battle, stretched out like the poorest
+man in the world and I was taken and others." iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 19: _La deconfiture de Monseigneur de Bourgogne faite par
+Monseigneur de Lorraine_. Comines-Lenglet, iii., 493.
+
+This brief account was drawn up evidently before the duke's burial was
+known by the writer. It may have been written solely to please Louis
+XI. Still there is a simplicity about it that holds the attention,
+in spite of the fact that the story is not accepted by critical
+historians.]
+
+[Footnote 20: La Marche, iii., 240.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Comines v., ch. x.]
+
+[Footnote 22: _Lettres_ vi., p. 111.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Renan, _Qu'est ce qu'une nation_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+BIBLIOGRAPHY
+
+
+There is an enormous mass of literature bearing upon the later years
+of Philip of Burgundy and the brief career of Charles the Bold. Fairly
+adequate bibliographies can be found in Pirenne and Molinier (see
+list). The following list contains the full titles of the chief works
+to which direct reference is made in the text but falls far short of a
+complete description of the matter, contemporaneous or critical, which
+has coloured the treatment of the subject.
+
+When extracts have been taken from matter quoted by other writers the
+reference is to the later books only.
+
+_Archives curieuses de l'histoire de France_. Vol. i. (Paris, 1834.)
+Contains _Le cabinet du roy Louis XI.; Discours du siege de Beauvais,
+en_ 1472, etc.
+
+BARANTE, M. DE. _Histoire des ducs de Bourgogne de la maison de
+Valois. Avec des remarques par le baron de Reiffenberg._ 6th ed. 10
+vols. (Brussels, 1835.)
+
+BASIN, THOMAS, 1412-1491. _Histoire des regnes de Charles VII. et de
+Louis XI._ (Latin text). Ed. J.E.J. Quicherat. 2 vols. (Paris, 1855.)
+
+BEAUCOURT, G. DU FRESNE, MARQUIS DE. _Histoire de Charles VII_ . 6
+vols. (Paris, 1890.)
+
+BLOK, P.J. _Eene Hollandsche stad onder de Bourgondisch-Oostenrijksche
+Heerschappij._ (The Hague, 1884.)
+
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+
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+
+BUSSIERE, BARON MARIE-THEODORE DE. _Histoire de la ligue formee contre
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+
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+originaux, etc., par A.J.V. Le Roux de Lincy. (Paris, 1841.)
+
+CHABEUF, H. _Deux portraits bourguignons du XV^{e} siecle_. (Dijon,
+1893.) (Memoires de la societe bourguignonne de geographie et
+d'histoire. Vol. ix.)
+
+CHASTELLAIN, GEORGES, 1404-1475. _OEuvres._ (Ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove.)
+8 vols. (Brussels, 1863-66.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Geschichte Kaiser Friedrichs IV._ 2 vols. (Hamburg,
+1843.)
+
+CHMEL, JOSEPH. _Urkunden zur Geschichte von Oesterreich, Steiermark,_
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+
+CLEMART, PIERRE. _Jacques Coeur et Charles VII_. (Paris, 1873.)
+
+_Collection de documents inedits sur l'histoire de France_.
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+
+COMMINES, PHILIP DE. _The Historie of_, Englished by Thomas Dannett.
+Anno 1596. With an introduction by Charles Whibley. (London, 1897.)
+
+_Memoires de Philippe de Comines,_ 1447-1511. Nouvelle edition par
+Messieurs Godefroy, augmentee par M. l'Abbe Lenglet du Fresnoy. 4
+vols. Ref. (Comines-Lenglet.) (Paris, 1747.)
+
+This edition contains many letters, documents, etc., collected by
+M. Lenglet du Fresnoy. Their accuracy has been impugned in many
+instances. Those cited have been taken with a view to the later
+criticism upon them.
+
+_Memoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle edition publiee avec
+une introduction et des notes par Bernard de Mandrot. 2 vols. Ref.
+(Commynes-Mandrot.) (Paris, 1901.)
+
+_Memoires de Philippe de Commynes_. Nouvelle edition, revue sur les
+manuscrits de la bibliotheque royale, etc., par Mlle. Dupont. 3 vols.
+Ref. (Commynes-Dupont.) (Paris, 1840.)
+
+CORNEREAU, A. _Le palais des etats de Bourgogne a Dijon_. (Dijon,
+1890.) (Memoires de la soc. bourguignonne de geog. et d'hist., v.)
+
+COURTEPEE, M. _Description, generale et particuliere du duche de
+Bourgogne_. 4 vols. (Dijon, 1847.)
+
+DESCHAMPS, EUSTACHE. _Oeuvres completes_. (Paris, 1878- 1904.) (Soc.
+des anciens textes francais.) 11 vols.
+
+DES MAREZ, G. _L'organisation du travail a Bruxelles au XV^{e}
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+
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+gouvernement des ducs et des comtes, pour servir de complement a
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+
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+
+DUCLOS, CHARLES P. _(Oeuvres completes de_. Nouvelle edition. 9 vols.
+(Paris, 1820.)
+
+ESCOUCHY, MATHIEU D'(DE COUCY). _Chronique_. (1420?-1482 +.) (Ed. G.
+du Fresne de Beaucourt.) 3 vols. (Paris, 1863.) (Soc. de l'hist. de
+France.)
+
+FREDERICQ, PAUL. _Le role politique et social des ducs de Bourgogne_.
+(Brussels, 1875.)
+
+FREEMAN, EDWARD A. _The Historical Geography of Europe._ 2 vols. 3d
+edition, edited by G. B. Berry. (London, 1903.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Analectes belgiques ou recueil de pieces inedites,_
+etc. Vol. i. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Collection des voyages des souverains des
+Pays-Bas._ 4 vols. (Brussels, 1830.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P., Ed. _Documents inedits concernant l'histoire de la
+Belgique_. 3 vols. (Brussels, 1833.)
+
+GACHARD, L. P. _Etudes et notices historiques concernant l'histoire
+des Pays-Bas._ 3 vols. (Brussels, 1890.)
+
+_Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium_. (Martene Coll. Vol. iv.) (Paris,
+1729.).
+
+GINGINS LA SARRA, LE BARON DE FREDERIC DE, Ed. _Depeches des
+ambassadeurs milanais sur les campagnes de Charles le Hardi_,
+1474-1477. 2 vols. (Paris, 1858.)
+
+GOLLUT, M. LOYS. _Les memoires historiques de la republique sequanoise
+et des princes de la Franche-Comte de Bourgogne._ (Arbois, 1846.)
+
+JEUNE, HUGUENIN. _Histoire de la guerre de Lorraine et du siege de
+Nancy, par Charles le Temeraire, duc de Bourgogne,_ 1473-1477. (Metz,
+1837.)
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE, LE BARON. [Ed. of works of Chastellain, Budt,
+etc.]; see article in _Bulletin de l'academie royale de Belgique_,
+1887, etc.
+
+KERVYN DE LETTENHOVE. _Histoire de Flandre_. 5 vols. (Brussels,
+1853-54.)
+
+KIRK, JOHN FOSTER. _History of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy_. 3
+vols. (Philadelphia, 1864-1868.)
+
+LABORDE (L.E.S.J.), COMTE DE. _Les ducs de Bourgogne: Etudes sur les
+lettres, les arts et l'industrie pendant le XV^{e} siecle_, etc.
+"Preuves." 3 vols. (Paris, 1849-52.)
+
+LACOMBLET, TH. J. _Urkundenbuch fuer die Geschichte des Niederrheins._
+4 vols. (Duesseldorf, 1848.)
+
+LA MARCHE, OLIVIER DE, 1422-1502. _Memoires._ (1435-1488.) Paris,
+1883-84. (Ed. Beaune et d'Arbaumont.) 3 vols.
+
+LAVISSE, ERNEST. _Histoire de France depuis les origines jusqu'a la
+revolution_. Publiee avec la collaboration de MM. Bayet, Block, Carre,
+Kleinclausz, Langlois, Lemonnier, Luchaire, Mariejol, Petit-Dutaillis,
+etc. (Paris, 1893-.)
+
+The volume covering periods of Charles VII. and Louis XI. is written
+by Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Professor at the University of Lille.
+(Reference used, Lavisse, IV^{11}.) (Paris, 1902.)
+
+LE FEVRE, JEAN, SEIGNEUR DE ST. REMY. (_Toison d'or._) (1395-1463.)
+_Chronique._ 2 vols. (Paris, 1876.)
+
+LE ROUX DE LINCY, A.J.V. _Chants historiques sur les regnes de Charles
+VII. et de Louis XI_.
+
+_Lettres de Louis XI_. (Paris, 1883-.) (Eds., Joseph Vaesen, et
+Etienne Charavay,
+
+LOOMIS, LOUISE ROPES. _Medieval Hellenism_. (Columbia University,
+1906.)
+
+MARTENE, EDMUND. _Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum, Historicorum,
+Dogmaticorum, Moralium, Amplissium Collectio_. Vol. iv. (Paris, 1729.)
+
+_Memoires et documents publies par la societe d'histoire de la suisse
+romande_. Vol. viii. "Melanges." (Lausanne, 1849.)
+
+MEYER, J. _Commentarii sive annales rerum Flandricarum_. (Antwerp,
+1561.)
+
+MOLINET, JEAN. _Chronique_ (1474-1506.) (Paris, 1824-29.)
+
+This is a continuation of Chastellain and is interesting especially
+for the siege of Neuss.
+
+MONSTRELET, ENGUERRAND DE (d. 1453). _La Chronique_. (Paris, 1861.)
+
+MOLINIER, AUGUSTE. _Les sources de l'histoire de France des origines
+aux guerres d'Italie_. Vols. iv., v., 1461-1494. (Paris, 1904.)
+
+_Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft fuer aeltere deutsche Geschichtskunde_.
+Vol. xxv. (Leipzig, 1900.)
+
+OMAN, CHARLES W.C. _Warwick the Kingmaker_. 1890. ONUFRIUS DE SANCTA
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+(Ed., S. Bormans.) (Brussels, 1885.)
+
+OUDENBOSCH. _Veterum scriptorum et monumentorum, historicorum_, etc.
+_Rerum Leodiensius. Opus Adriani de vetere Buseo_, 1343. See Martene.
+
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+Mem. couronnes par 1'acad. royale de Belgique, vol. xvi.
+
+PIOT, G.J.C., Ed. _Chronycke van Nederlandt_--1565. _Vlaamsche
+Kronijk_--1598. _Collection des chroniques belges_. (Brussels, 1836-.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Histoire de Belgique_. 2 vols. (Brussels, 1903.)
+
+PIRENNE, HENRI. _Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique: catalogue
+methodique et chronologique des sources et des ouvrages principaux
+relatifs a l'histoire de tous les Pays-Bas jusqu' en 1598_. (Brussels,
+1902.)
+
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+
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+1781.)
+
+POLAIN, M.L. _Recits historiques sur l'ancien pays de Liege._ 4th ed.
+(Brussels, 1866.)
+
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+
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+
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+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Essai sur les enfants naturels de
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+
+REIFFENBERG, BARON F.A. DE. _Histoire de l'Ordre de la Toison d'Or_.
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+
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+(Paris, 1899.)
+
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+(Paris, 1903.)
+
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+1902.)
+
+VANDER MAELEN, PH. _Dictionnaire geographique de la province de
+Liege_. (Brussels, 1831.)
+
+WAGENAAR, JAN. _Vaderlandsche Historie_. 21 vols. (Amsterdam,
+1749-1759.)
+
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+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+A
+
+Abbeville
+Agincourt
+Aire
+Aix
+Alkmaar
+Alsace
+Alsace
+Amboise
+Amiens
+Amont
+Andernach
+Angers
+Anjou
+Anjou, Margaret of, Queen of England
+Anjou, Rene, King of
+Anjou, Yolande of, _see_ Vaudemont
+Antwerp
+Appiano, Antoine d' (Antonius de Aplano), Milanese ambassador
+Aragon
+Argau
+Armagnac
+Arras, Bishop of
+Arras, treaty
+Arson, Jehan d
+Arthur, King
+Artois
+Artois, Bonne of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Atclyff, William
+Ath
+Augsburg, Diet of
+Austria
+Austria, House of
+Austria, Maximilian, Archduke of, _see_ Maximilian
+Austria, Sigismund of (Count of Tyrol;
+  mortgages lands to Charles of Burgundy;
+  resumes sovereignty of mortgaged lands;
+Auvergne, Marshal d'
+Auxonne
+Auxy, Jehan, Seigneur d
+Avesnes
+Avranches, Bishop of
+Aydie, Odet d'
+
+
+
+B
+
+"Bad Penny," the, tax
+Balue, Cardinal
+Bar, duchy of
+Barante, cited
+Bari, Duc de (Sforza)
+Barnet, battle of
+Barre, Corneille de la
+Barrois
+Baschi, Suffren de
+Basel
+Basel, Bishop of
+Basin, Thomas, cited
+_Basse-Union_
+Baume-les-Dames
+Bavaria, elector of
+Bavaria, Stephen of
+Beaujeu, Lord of
+Beaumont, chateau of
+Beauvais, siege of
+Bedford, John, Duke of, death of
+Begars, Abbe de
+Belfort
+Belliere, Vicomte de la
+Berne
+Berry, Bailiff of
+Berry, Charles of France, Duke of (Normandy and Guienne),
+  heads League of Public Weal;
+  character of;
+  Normandy given to;
+  won over by Louis;
+  Guienne given to;
+  proposed marriage of;
+  suspicious death of
+Besancon
+Biche, Guillaume de
+Biscay, Bay of
+Black Forest
+Bladet
+Blamont, Count of
+Blaumont, Seigneur de, Marshal of Burgundy
+Boccaccio
+Bohemia
+Bonn
+Borselen, Adrian van, Seigneur of Breda
+Borselen, Frank van (Count of Ostrevant;
+  death of
+Borselen, Henry van
+Boscise
+Bouchage, Monseigneur du
+Boudault, Jehan
+Boulogne
+Bourbon, Catharine of, _see_ Guelders
+Bourbon, Duchess of
+Bourbon, duchy of
+Bourbon, Duke of
+Bourbon, Isabella of (Countess of Charolais), _see_ Charolais
+Bourbon, Louis of, Bishop of Liege
+Bourges
+Bouvignes
+Bouxieres
+Brabant, Anthony, Duke of
+Brabant, duchy of
+Brabant, Duke of
+Brandenburg, Albert, elector of
+Brandenburg, Margrave of
+Brantome, Pierre de Bourdeille, Seigneur de, cited
+Breda
+Brederode, Gijsbrecht of
+Breisgau
+Bresse, Philip de
+Brie
+Brisac (Breisach)
+Brittany, Duchess of
+Brittany, duchy of
+Brittany, Francis, Duke of,
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  ally of Charles of Burgundy;
+  is reconciled to Louis XI.
+Broeck, M. van der
+Bruchsal
+Bruges
+_Brunette_
+Brussels
+Bureau, Jehan
+Buren, castle of
+Burgundy, duchy of;
+  Estates of
+Burgundy, Franche-Comte of
+Burgundy, Anthony, Grand Bastard of
+Burgundy, Baldwin, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Charles the Bold, (Count of Charolais), Duke of;
+  birth of;
+  elected knight of the Golden Fleece;
+  description of;
+  ancestry of;
+  imperial ambitions of;
+  education of;
+  weds Catherine of France;
+  takes official part in public affairs;
+  character of;
+  first campaign of;
+  entrusted with regency of Holland;
+  English sympathies of;
+  weds Isabella of Bourbon;
+  judicial methods of;
+  rejoices over birth of daughter;
+  strained relations with his father;
+  enmity between Louis and ;
+  at coronation of Louis XI;
+  fears plots against his life;
+  joins League of Public Weal;
+  allies of;
+  letters of, to cities;
+  to Louis;
+  to Duchess Isabella;
+  to French council;
+  to Duke of Brittany;
+  to Sigismund;
+  to Edward IV.;
+  to Duke of Milan;
+  at battle of Montl'hery;
+  armies of;
+  dictates terms of treaty of Conflans;
+  marches against Liege;
+  destroys Dinant;
+  underestimates character and strength of enemies;
+  accedes to the dukedom;
+  invested with titles;
+  unpopularity of;
+  punishes Ghent;
+  reforms of;
+  weds Margaret of York;
+  ducal state of;
+  demands _aides_;
+  receives Louis at Peronne;
+  crushes revolt of Liege;
+  makes treaty of Peronne;
+  proposed sons-in-law for;
+  signs treaty of St. Omer;
+  takes lands from Sigismund;
+  relations of, with Swiss;
+  invested with Order of the Garter;
+  _Remonstrance_ presented to;
+  embassies to;
+  truces of, with Louis XI;
+  besieges Beauvais;
+  reverses of;
+  acquires duchy of Guelders;
+  negotiations between Emperor Frederic and;
+  interview of, with emperor at Treves;
+  becomes "protector" of Lorraine;
+  interferes in Cologne affairs;
+  visits Alsace;
+  troubles with Alsace;
+  besieges Neuss;
+  war declared against;
+  makes truce with Frederic;
+  defeated at Hericourt;
+  besieges Nancy;
+  allies desert;
+  defeated at Granson;
+  at Morat;
+  convenes states-general;
+  last battle of;
+  death and burial of
+Burgundy, Cornelius, Bastard of
+Burgundy, David of, Bishop of Utrecht
+Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of;
+  ancestry of;
+  English sympathies of;
+  retires to convent;
+  burial of
+Burgundy, John the Fearless, Duke of;
+  death of
+Burgundy, Margaret, Bastard of
+Burgundy, Margaret of York, Duchess of
+Burgundy, Mary of (Duchess of Austria;
+  godfather of;
+  proposed marriages for
+Burgundy, Philip the Good, Duke of, marriages of;
+  institutes Order of Golden Fleece;
+  children of;
+  alliance of;
+  signs treaty of Arras;
+  territories acquired by;
+  suppresses revolt in Bruges;
+  wealth and magnificence of;
+  crushes rebellion of Ghent;
+  gives Feast of the Pheasant;
+  plans crusade;
+  chooses second wife for Charles;
+  character of;
+  interferes in affairs of Utrecht, of Liege, and of Cologne;
+  hospitality of, to dauphin;
+  influenced by the Croys;
+  attends coronation of Louis XI;
+  illnesses of;
+  witnesses punishment of Dinant;
+  death and burial of;
+  epitaph of;
+  description of;
+  popularity of
+Burgundy, Philip the Hardy, Duke of
+Burgundy, Yolande, Bastard of
+
+
+
+C
+
+Cagnola
+Calabria, Duke of, _see_ Lorraine
+Calais
+Calixtus III.
+Cambray
+Campobasso, Antonello de, mercenary captain;
+  treachery of
+Canterbury
+Casanova
+Castile
+Castile, Henry IV., King of
+Castile, Jeanne of
+Cat, Gilles le
+Catto, Angelo
+Caux;
+  Bailiff of
+_Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles, les_
+_Cento Novelle_, by Boccaccio
+Cesner, Balthasar
+Chambery
+Chambes, Helen de
+Chamont, Sire de
+Champagne
+Channel
+Charenton
+Charlemagne
+Charles IV.
+Charles (V.) the Wise, King of France
+Charles VII., King of France,
+  reconciliation of, with Philip of Burgundy;
+  character of;
+  letters of;
+  refuses to join crusade;
+  breach between dauphin and;
+  illness and death of;
+  institutes standing army
+Charles VIII., King of France
+Charles the Simple, King of France
+Charmes
+Charny, Count de
+Charny, Countess de
+Charolais, Catherine of France, Countess of;
+  death and burial of
+Charolais, Count of, _see_ Charles of Burgundy
+Charolais, Isabella of Bourbon, Countess of;
+  death of
+Chassa, Jehan de
+Chastellain, cited;
+  death of
+Chateau-Chinon
+Chatenois
+Chauny,
+Chesny, Guiot du
+Chevelast, Louis de
+Chimay, Count of
+Citeaux, Abbe of
+Clarence, Duke of
+Clery
+Cleves, Adolph, Duke of
+Cleves, duchy of
+Cleves, Marie of, Duchess of Orleans
+Cods, the (party name)
+Colmar
+Cologne
+Cologne, Robert, Archbishop of
+Colonna, Baptista
+Commines (Commynes, Comines), Philip de,
+  enters service of Duke of Burgundy;
+  defection of;
+  cited
+Compiegne
+Compostella
+Conflans, treaty of
+Constance;
+  League of
+Constantinople
+Cordes, Monsieur de
+Corguilleray
+Cornwallis, Lord
+Corvinus, Matthias, King of Hungary
+Cosmo
+Court, Jehan de la
+Coutault, Monsieur
+Craon, Seigneur de
+Cret, Dion du
+Crevecoeur, Philip of
+Crevecoeur, Seigneur of
+Creville, Sire de
+Croy, A. de
+Croy, J. de
+Croy, Philip de
+Croy family, the
+_Cueillotte_, the (tax)
+Cyprus
+
+
+
+D
+
+Damian
+Dammartin, Count of
+  letters of Louis to
+Damme
+Dauphine
+Dauxonne, Jacquemin
+De Bussiere, cited
+Decapole, Alsatian, the
+De la Loere, secretary
+Dendermonde
+Denmark
+Denys, Chaplain
+Deschamps, Eustache, _Lay de Vaillance_ by
+Deventer
+Dieppe
+Diesbach, Ludwig von
+Dijon
+Dinant;
+  destruction of
+Dole
+Dombourc
+Dompaire
+Dordrecht
+Du Clercq, cited
+Duclos, cited
+Dunois, Count
+Dunois, Francois
+Du Plessis, Seigneur
+
+
+
+E
+
+Easterlings
+l'Ecluse
+Edward IV., King of England;
+  aided by Charles of Burgundy;
+  plans conquest of France;
+  character of;
+  makes peace with Louis XI.
+Edward of Lancaster, Prince of Wales;
+  death of
+Emeries, Antoine Raulin, Sire d' (Aymeries)
+Engelburg
+England alliance of,
+  with Burgundy;
+  with France;
+  French possessions of;
+  commercial relations of;
+  wars of the Roses in
+Ensisheim
+Epinal
+Erasmus
+Escalles, Seigneur d'
+Escouchy, Mathieu d,'
+  cited
+Estampes, Count d'
+Etampes
+Eu
+Eu, Count d'
+_Ewige Richtung_
+Exeter, Duke of
+Eyb, Ludwig von
+
+
+
+F
+
+Faret (or Farrel), Guillaume
+Favre, Jourdain
+Ferrara
+Ferrette, county of
+Flanders;
+  Estates of;
+  commerce of
+Flanders, Count of
+Florence
+Foix, Count de
+Foix, Eleanor de
+Foix, Gaston de
+Forli, Bishop of
+Fossombrone, Bishop of
+Fou, Ivon du
+France, alliance of, with Burgundy;
+  waning power of England in;
+  changed conditions in;
+  assembly of states-general of;
+  invasion of
+France, Admiral of, the
+France, Catherine, Daughter of, _see_ Charolais
+France, Charles of, Duke of Berry, _see_ Berry
+France, Jeanne of
+France, Michelle of, _see_ Burgundy
+Franche-Comte
+Franchimont
+Frankfort
+Frederic, elector palatine
+Frederic III., Emperor;
+  character of;
+  negotiations of, with Charles of Burgundy;
+  meets Charles at Treves;
+  description of;
+  signs treaty with Charles
+Fribourg
+Friesland;
+  title of Lord of
+Friesland, West
+
+
+
+G
+
+_Gabelle_
+Gachard, cited
+Galeotto
+Garter, Order of the
+Gauthier, Dan
+Gautier, cited
+Gaveren;
+  battle of;
+  treaty of
+Gelthauss, Johannes
+Genappe
+Geneva
+Geneva
+Genoa
+Gex
+Ghent;
+  rebellion of;
+  submission of;
+  insurrection in;
+  humiliation of
+Gilles, Frere
+Givry, Sire de
+Gloucester, Duke of
+Gloucester, Humphrey, Duke of
+Golden Fleece, Order of the, instituted;
+  assemblies of;
+  knights of
+Gorcum
+Goerlitz, Elizabeth of
+Granson, battle of
+Grave
+Grenoble
+Grey, Jean de
+Groothuse, Louis de la
+Groothuse, Mathys de la
+Guelders, Adolf, Duke of;
+  imprisonment of
+Guelders, Arnold, Duke of;
+  death of
+Guelders, Catharine of Bourbon, Duchess of
+Guelders, Charles of
+Guelders, duchy of
+Guelders, Philippa of
+Guerin, Jean de
+Guienne, Charles of France,  Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Guienne, duchy of
+Guise
+Guisnes
+
+
+
+H
+
+Haarlem
+Hagenbach, Peter von;
+  Governor of  Alsace;
+  trial and execution of
+Hagenbach, Stephen von
+Hague, The
+Hainaut
+Ham
+Hanseatic League
+Heers, Raes de la Riviere, Lord of
+Heinsberg, John of, Bishop of Liege
+Hemricourt, Jacques de
+Henry IV., of Castile
+Henry V., King of England
+Henry VI., King of England;
+  character of;
+  death of
+Henry VII., King of England
+Hericourt
+Hermite, Tristan l'
+Hesdin
+Hesse, Hermann of
+Holland;
+  title of Count of
+Holland, Jacqueline of Bavaria, Countess of
+Holland, South
+Holland, William VI., Count of
+Honfleur
+Hooks, the (party name)
+Houthem
+Howard, Lord
+Hugonet, Chancellor
+Humbercourt, Seigneur de
+Hungary;
+  King of
+Huy
+
+
+
+I
+
+Innsbruck
+Irma, Jean
+Isabella of Portugal, Duchess  of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+
+
+
+J
+
+Jarville
+Jarville, Sieur de
+Jerusalem
+Joan of Arc
+Joinville, castle  of;
+  treaty of
+Jomini
+Jougne
+Jouvencal
+Juliers, Duke of
+Jura, the
+
+
+
+K
+
+Kaisersberg
+Kennemerland
+Kervyn de Lettenhove, Baron, cited
+Knebel, Johannes R.
+
+
+
+L
+
+La Hogue
+Laisne, Jeanne (Fouquet), _La Hachette_
+Lalaing, Jacques de, prowess of;
+  death of
+La Marche, Olivier de, cited;
+  knighted;
+  loyalty and zeal  of
+Lambert, Bishop of Tongres
+Lancaster, House of
+Lannoy, Jehan, Seigneur de
+Lanternier, Jehan
+Laon
+La Riviere
+La Rochelle
+Lauffen
+Lauffenberg
+Laurentian Library, the
+Lausanne
+Lavin, Etienne de
+League of Constance
+League of Public Weal
+Le Grand, Abbe
+Le Gros, Jehan
+Le Quesnoy
+Lescun, Seigneur de
+Liege, description of;
+  government of;
+  bishop-princes of;
+  rebellion of;
+  aided by Louis XI.;
+  punishment of
+Liege, bishopric of
+Lille
+Limbourg
+Livornia
+Loches
+Loisey, Anthony de
+Lombardy
+London
+Longjumeau
+Longueval, Hugues de
+Loreille, Thomas de
+Lorraine, duchy of
+Lorraine, Estates of
+Lorraine, Duke of
+Lorraine, Nicholas of Anjou,  Duke of (Calabria);
+  death  of
+Lorraine, Rene, Duke of,  accepts Burgundian protection;
+  joins league  against Charles
+Louis XI., King of France;
+  rebels against Charles  VII.;
+  marries Charlotte of Savoy;
+  letters of, to Charles VII.;
+    to Dammartin;
+    to envoys;
+    to Count de Foix;
+    to Lorenzo de' Medici;
+    to Duke of Milan;
+    to Amiens;
+    to chancellor;
+  flees to Duke of Burgundy;
+  generosity of Duke Philip to;
+  is godfather of Mary of Burgundy;
+  tastes of;
+  duplicity of;
+  accession of;
+  ingratitude of;
+  character of;
+  enmity between Charles and;
+  nobles in league against;
+  policy of;
+  signs treaty of Conflans;
+  incites opposition to Charles of Burgundy;
+  breaks treaties;
+  makes visit to Peronne;
+  signs treaty at Peronne;
+  ally of the Swiss;
+  makes nucleus of standing army;
+  aids Earl of Warwick and Margaret of Anjou;
+  birth of son of;
+  makes truce with Charles;
+  suspected of death of brother;
+  rewards Beauvais;
+  wins over Edward IV.;
+  rejoices in death of Charles
+Louvain;
+  University of
+Lower Union, the, _see_ Basse-Union
+Lucerne
+Lude, Seigneur de
+Luxemburg, duchy of
+Luxemburg, John of
+Luxeuil
+Luzine River, the
+Lyme
+Lyons
+
+
+
+M
+
+Maestricht
+Maine
+Malhortie
+Mandrot, Bernard Edouard,
+  editor of Commynes' _Memoires, Jean de Roye_, etc.,
+  cited
+Manton, Seigneur de
+Marchant, Ythier
+Marck, Adolph de la
+Marne River, the
+Marquiez, George
+Mas, Gilles du
+Mathieu
+Maximilian, Archduke of Austria;
+  proposed marriage of
+Mayence
+Mayence, Archbishop of
+Mayence, Duke of
+Mazilles, Jehan de
+Mechlin
+Medici, Lorenzo de'
+Metz
+Metz
+Meurin, secretary to Louis XI.
+Meurthe River, the
+Meuse River, the
+Meyer, J., cited
+Michel, the Rhetorician, cited
+Middelburg
+Milan
+Milan
+Mirecourt
+Mongleive
+Mons
+Montbazon
+Montereau, bridge of
+Montfort, Ulrich von
+Montgomery, Sir Thomas  (Mongomere)
+Montl'hery, battle of
+Monulphe, Bishop of Tongres
+Morat, battle of
+Morges
+Morvilliers, Chancellor
+Moselle River, the
+Moutils-les-Tours
+Mulhouse
+
+
+
+N
+
+Namur
+Namur
+Nancy;
+  sieges of;
+  battle of
+Naples
+Naples, King of
+Napoleon
+Narbonne, Archbishop of
+Nassau, Engelbert of
+Nassau, John of
+_Nations_, the
+Nesle
+Netherlands, the;
+  states-general  of
+Neufchatel
+Neufchatel, Isabelle of
+Neuss
+Neuville
+Nevers
+Nevers, Charles, Count of
+Neville, Anne
+Nice
+Nimwegen
+Norfolk, Duchess of
+Normandy, Charles of France, Duke of, _see_ Berry
+Normandy, duchy of
+Norway
+Noseret
+Noyon
+Nuremberg
+
+
+
+O
+
+Obernai
+Oise River, the
+Onofrio de Santa Croce
+Orange, Prince of
+Oriole, Pierre d'
+Orleans
+Orleans, duchy of
+Orleans, Duke of
+Osterlings, the
+Ostrevant, Count of, _see_ Borselen
+Oudenarde
+Ourre, Gerard
+Oxford
+
+
+
+P
+
+Palatinate, the
+Palatine, Count;
+  the elector;
+  Frederic, elector
+Panigarola, Johannes Petrus,
+  Milanese ambassador, cited
+Paris
+Paris, University of
+Paston, Sir John, letters of
+Paston, John, the younger
+  (brother of above), letter of
+Paston, Margaret
+Pavia
+Pellet, Jean
+Pepin
+Perdriel, Henry
+Perigny
+Perigord
+Peronne, interview of Louis XI. and Charles at;
+  treaty of
+"Peronne, the Peace of"
+Perrenet
+Petit-Dutaillis, Ch., author of Vol. IV^{II}, Lavisse,
+    _Hist. de France, see_ Lavisse.
+Petitpas
+Petrasanta, Franciscus, Milanese ambassador
+Pheasant, Feast of the
+Picardy
+Picquigny
+Plessis-les-Tours
+Pleume
+Podiebrad, George, ex-king of Bohemia
+Poictiers, Alienor de
+Poinsot, Jean
+Poitiers
+Poland
+Pont-a-Mousson
+Pont de Ce
+Porcupine, Order of the
+Portinari, Thomas
+Portugal
+Portugal, Alphonse V., King of
+Portugal, Isabella of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Pot, Philip de
+Poucque, castle of
+Prussia
+Public Weal, War of, _see_ League
+
+
+
+Q
+
+Quaux River, the
+Quercy
+Quievrain, Seigneur de
+Quingey, Simon de
+
+
+
+R
+
+Rampart, Jean
+Ratellois
+Ratisbon
+Ravestein, Madame de
+Ravestein, Monseigneur de
+Renty, Monseigneur de
+Rethel
+Rheims
+Rheims, Archbishop of
+Rheinfelden
+Rhine, the;
+  Valley
+Rhinelands, the
+Rhodes
+Rivers, Earl
+Roche, Henri de la
+Rochefort
+Rochefort, Sire of
+Rochefoucauld
+Roelants, Gort
+Romans, King of the
+Rome
+Romont, Count of
+Romorantin
+Roses, Wars of the
+Rossillon
+Rottelin, Marquise Hugues de
+Rotterdam
+Rouen
+Rousillon
+Rouvre
+Roye
+Roziere, Malhortie de
+Rubempre, the bastard of
+Rubempre, Jehan de
+Ruple, G.
+Russia
+
+
+
+S
+
+Saeckingen
+St. Bavon, Abbot of
+Ste. Beuve, cited
+St. Blaise, Abbe of
+St. Claude
+St. Cloud
+St. Denis
+St. Lievin, feast of
+St. Michel-sur-Loire
+St. Nicolas-du-Port
+St. Omer;
+  treaty of
+St. Pol, Count of
+  made constable of France;
+  treachery of;
+  execution of
+St. Quentin
+St. Remy, Jean le Fevre, Seigneur de
+St. Thierry
+St. Trond
+Sale, Anthony de la
+Salesart
+Salins
+Salisbury, Bishop of
+Savoy, Charlotte of, marries the dauphin
+Savoy, duchy of
+Savoy, dukes of
+Savoy, Yolande, Duchess of;
+  ally of Charles the Bold;
+  kidnapped;
+  rescued
+Saxony, Duke of
+Saxony, elector of
+Schellhass, Karl
+Schiedam
+Schlestadt
+Scotland, Eleanor of, wife of Sigismund of Austria
+Scotland, Margaret of, wife of Louis, the dauphin
+Seine River, the
+Sforza, Galeazzo-Maria, Duke of Milan
+Sicily
+Sigismund, Archduke of Austria, _see_ Austria
+Sigismund, Emperor
+Sluis
+Snoy, Renier, cited
+Soleure
+Somerset, Duke of
+Somme, towns on the river,
+  ceded to Duke of Burgundy;
+  redemption of towns on the
+Sorel, Agnes
+Soulz, Rudolf de
+Spain
+Spain, King of
+Stein, Hertnid von
+Stein, Rudolph de
+Stephen, Martin
+Strasburg
+Strasburg, Bishop of
+Stuttgart
+Sundgau, the
+Swabia
+Swiss, the, valour of;
+  victories of;
+  allies of Louis XI.
+Swiss Cantons, the;
+  declare war against Charles the Bold
+Swynaerde
+Sylvius, AEneas
+
+
+
+T
+
+Talmont, Prince of
+Tewkesbury, battle of
+Texel, island of
+Thann
+Therain, the
+Therouanne, Bishop of
+Thierry
+Thierry, Monsieur de
+Thierstein, Oswald von
+Thionville
+Thouan, Mme. de
+Thouars, Guillaume de
+Thurgau
+Tilhart, secretary to Louis XI.
+Tongres;
+  bishops of
+Tonnerre, Count of
+Toul
+Touraine
+Tournay
+Tournay, Bishop of
+Tournehem
+Tours
+Toustain, Aloysius (Toussaint)
+Toustain, Guillaume
+Toutey, E., cited
+Trausch, cited
+Tree of Gold, jousts of the
+Tremoille, Jehan de la
+Treves
+Treves, Archbishop of
+Tuin
+Turin
+Turks, the, capture Constantinople;
+  proposed  crusade against
+
+
+
+U
+
+Unterwalden
+Uri
+Urse, Seigneur d'
+Utenhove, Richard
+Utrecht
+
+
+
+V
+
+Vaesen, Joseph Frederic Louis (editor of _Lettres de Louis XI_.)
+Valenciennes
+Valois, House of
+Vaudemont, Yolande of Anjou,  Duchess of
+Vendome, Count of
+Venice
+Verard, Antoine
+Verdun
+Vere
+Vermandois
+Vermandois, Count de
+Vesoul
+Villeclerc, Demoiselle de
+Virnenbourg, Count of
+Visen, Charles de
+Vosges, the
+
+
+
+W
+
+Wailly
+Waldemar of Zuerich
+Waldshut
+Walloon language, the
+Warwick, Earl of;
+  death of
+Wavrin, Philip de
+Wellington, Duke of
+Wenlock, governor of Calais
+Weymouth
+Wieringen, island of
+Woodville, Elizabeth
+Wuisse, Vautrin
+Wyler, Hans
+
+
+
+X
+
+Xaintes
+
+
+
+Y
+
+York, House of
+York, Margaret of, Duchess of Burgundy, _see_ Burgundy
+Ypres
+
+
+Z
+
+Zealand
+Zuerich
+Zutphen
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Charles the Bold, by Ruth Putnam
+
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