1468.]

ILLITERATE AND NEGLIGENT PRINCES.

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they are persons of honour and probity, so they are as
dangerous if they prove otherwise), who have always some
law or precedent in their mouths, which they wrest and
pervert as they please: but a wise prince, and one that has
read history, will never be deluded; nor will any courtier be so
audacious as to tell a lie in his presence. Believe me, God
never designed the office of a king to be executed by beasts,
or such as glory and pride themselves in giving such answers
as these, "I am no scholar, I refer business wholly to my
council, and commit all things to their management," and
then devote themselves entirely to their pleasures, without
further reason or expostulation. Had they been better
educated in their youth, they would have been wiser, and
have earnestly desired that their person and their virtues
might have been valued and esteemed by all good men. I
do not say all princes employ such ill-conditioned people,
but most of those whom I had ever the honour to converse
with, had always abundance of them. I have known indeed,
upon an exigence of affairs, some wise princes that under-
stood how to cull and select their ministers, and employ
them frankly and without complaint; but of this sort I✓
knew none comparable to the king my master, than whom no
prince better understood the merit of brave and learned
persons, nor more readily advanced such to the highest posts
of honour and advantage. He was not unlearned himself;
he delighted much in asking questions; and would know a
little of everything: his judgment and natural parts were
excellent, which is better and more preferable than all that
we can learn in this world; for all the books that ever were
written, are only so many helps and assistances to our
memory by the recapitulation of passages of old. For this
reason a man has a greater insight into affairs by reading
one single book in three months' time, than can be observed
or understood by the age or experience of twenty men living
successively one after another. So that, to finish this digres-
sion, I am of opinion that God cannot send a greater curse
or affliction upon any nation than an unlearned and incon-
siderate prince; for from hence all other misfortunes and
miseries arise, and in the first place wars and division, by
his committing to other persons his own peculiar authority
(of which he ought to be more tender than of anything

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besides); and from this division famine and mortality arise. and all the dreadful consequences attending upon war; by which one may perceive how much all good subjects have reason to lament when they see the education of their young princes so miserably neglected, and left wholly in the power and management of persons of no qualifications nor desert.

CHAP. VII.

The Occasion of the King's being seized and secured in the Castle of Peronne by the Duke of Burgundy. -1468.

I HAVE already given an account of the arrival of this Burgundian army at Peronne, almost at the same instant with the king; for being in Champagne long before this interview was determined, the Duke of Burgundy had no time to countermand the orders he had given them, and their coming was a great check and impediment, by reason of certain jealousies and suspicions which were entertained on both sides. However, these two princes deputed some of their ministers of state to meet and negotiate their affairs in the most amicable way that could be thought on. But whilst the treaty was in a fair way of accommodation, and three or four days had been already spent in bringing it to a conclusion, news arrived of a strange turn of affairs at Liege, of which I shall give the following relation.

The king at his coming to Peronne had quite forgot his sending of two ambassadors to Liege to stir them up to a rebellion against the duke, and they had managed the affair with such diligence, that they had got together such a considerable number, that the Liegeois went privately to Tongres (where the Bishop of Liege and the Lord of Humbercourt were quartered with more than 2000 men) with a design to surprise them. The bishop, the Lord of Humbercourt, and some of the bishop's servants, were taken, but the rest fled and left whatever they had behind them, as despairing to defend themselves. After which action the Liegeois marched back again to Liege, which is not far from Tongres; and the Lord of Humbercourt made an agreement

for his ransom with one Monsieur William de Ville *, called by the French Le Sauvage, a knight, who, suspecting the Liegeois would kill him in their fury, suffered the Lord of Humbercourt to escape, but was slain himself not long after. The people were exceedingly overjoyed at the taking of their bishop. There were also taken with him that day several canons of the church, whom the people equally hated, and killed five or six of them for their first repast; among the rest there was one Monsieur Robert †, an intimate friend of the bishop's, and a person I have often seen attending him armed at all points, for in Germany this is the custom of the prelates. They slew this Robert in the bishop's presence, cut him into small pieces, and in sport threw them at one another's heads. Before they had marched seven or eight leagues, which was their full journey, they killed about sixteen canons and other persons, the majority of whom were the bishop's servants; but they released some of the Burgundians, for they had been privately informed, that some overtures of peace had already been made, and they were forced to pretend that what they had done was only against their bishop, whom they brought prisoner along with them into their city. Those who fled (as I said before) gave the alarm to the whole country, and it was not long before the duke had the news of it. Some said all of them were put to the sword; others affirmed the contrary (for in things of that nature, one messenger seldom comes alone); but there were some who had seen the habits of the canons who were slain, and supposing the bishop and the Lord of Humbercourt had been of the number, they positively averred that all that had not escaped were killed, and that they had seen the king's ambassadors among the Liegeois, and they mentioned their very names. All this being related to the duke, he gave credit to it immediately; and falling into a violent passion against the king, he charged him with a design of deluding him by his coming thither; ordered the gates both of the town and castle to be suddenly shut up, and gave out, by way of pretence, that it was done for the

Or rather, Jehan de Wilde. Oliver de la Marche says that he was killed at the assault of Liege by the Burgundians. He is said by some authorities to have been Provost of Liege and Lord of Hautpeene. + Robert de Morialmé, Archdeacon of the Cathedral of Liege.

discovery of a certain casket which was lost, and in which there were money and jewels to a very considerable value. When the king saw himself shut up in the castle, and guards posted at the gates, and especially when he found himself lodged near a certain tower* in which a Count of Vermandois † had caused his predecessor, one of the Kings of France, to be put to death, he was in great apprehension. I was at that time waiting upon the Duke of Burgundy in the quality of chamberlain, and (when I pleased) I lay in his chamber, as was the custom of that family. When he saw the gates were shut, he ordered the room to be cleared, and told us who remained, that the king was come thither to circumvent him; that he himself had never approved of the interview, but had complied purely to gratify the king; then he gave us a relation of the passages at Liege, how the king had behaved himself by his ambassadors, and that all his forces were killed. He was much incensed, and threatened his majesty exceedingly; and I am of opinion, that if he had then had such persons about him as would have fomented his passion, and encouraged him to any violence upon the king's person, he would certainly have done it, or at least committed him to the tower. None were present at the speaking of these words but myself and two grooms of his chamber, one of whom was called Charles de Visen ‡, born at Dijon, a man of honour, and highly esteemed by his master. We did not exasperate, but soothed his temper as much as possibly we could. Some time after he used the same expressions to other people; and the news being carried about the town, it came at last to the king's ear, who was in great consternation; and indeed so was everybody else, foreseeing a great deal of mischief, and reflecting on the variety of things which were to be managed for the reconciling of a difference

* A portion of this tower still remains incorporated in the existing Castle of Peronne.

† Herbert II., Count of Vermandois, having traitorously seized upon the person of Charles the Simple, imprisoned him in the Castle of Peronne, where the unfortunate king terminated his life in 929, after six years' captivity. Herbert died in 943, and was buried at Saint-Quentin.

Esquire, valet de chambre, and keeper of the jewels to Duke Charles of Burgundy. He was appointed Captain of the Castle of Châtillon, by letters patent granted by the duke at Lille, on the 15th of April, 1470.

between two such puissant princes, and the errors of which both of them were guilty, in not giving timely notice to their ministers employed in their remote affairs, which must of necessity produce some extraordinary and surprising result.

CHAP. VIII.

A Digression, demonstrating that when two great Princes meet in order to adjust their Differences, such Interviews are generally more prejudicial than profitable.

It is the highest act of imprudence for two great princes, provided there is any equality in their power, to admit of an interview, unless it be in their youth, when their minds are wholly engaged and taken up with entertainments of mirth and pleasure; but when they are come to years of emulation, though their persons should be in no danger (which is almost impossible), yet their heart-burnings and animosities will certainly augment. It were better, therefore, that they accommodated their differences by the mediation of wise and faithful ministers, as I have sufficiently instanced already in these my Memoirs; however, I will give some examples of the like nature, which I have seen and known myself in my own time.

Not many years after the coronation of our king, and just before the confederacy called the Public Good, there was an interview between the Kings of France and Castile*, princes of the nearest alliance in Christendom, for the kings are akin, their kingdoms almost contiguous, and their subjects bound by oaths and execrations to preserve it inviolable. To this interview Henry, King of Castile, came to Fontarabia, very splendidly attended, and the King of France came to St. Jean de Luz (about four leagues' distance), and each of them was upon the very borders of his kingdom. I was not present myself, but I had my relation from the

* Henry IV., King of Castile, son of John II. and Marie of Arragon, was born on the 6th of January, 1425, and died on the 12th of December, 1474. He married 1. in 1440, Blanche of Navarre, from whom he was divorced in 1453; and 2. Juana, Infanta of Portugal. The interview between Louis XI. and Henry took place at Andaia, near Fuentarabia, in April, 1463.

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