and with it a rich diamond as a present. These promises were made with all these princes in less than three years' time; and sure I am none of them would ever have been accomplished while he lived, at least by his consent; but Duke Maximilian (since King of the Romans) made his advantage of that promise, as I shall declare hereafter. I do not mention this with any design to reflect upon the Duke of Burgundy, or any other person I have spoken of, but only to describe things as to my own certain knowledge they hap pened; for I do not suppose that block heads and inferior persons will give themselves the trouble of reading these Memoirs, but princes and other great statesmen may do it,/ it, and find some information to reward their pains.

Whilst this marriage was in agitation, new enterprises were still contriving against the king. In the behalf of the Duke of Guienne, there were resident at the Duke of Burgundy's court, the Lord d'Urfé, Poncet de Rivière, and several other officers of less note. On the Duke of Bretagne's part, there was the Abbé de Begar* (since Bishop of Leon), who acquainted the Duke of Burgundy that the king was endeavouring to corrupt the servants of the Duke of Guienne, and was in a fair way of bringing them over to his party, either by love or force; that he had already caused a castle † belonging to Monsieur d'Estissac (one of the duke's servants) to be demolished; and that he had begun several other things against him, and inveigled several of his domestics; from whence it might be reasonably concluded, that as the king had formerly dispossessed him of Normandy, after he had given it him by way of appanage, so now he would disseize him of Guienne.

The Duke of Burgundy sent several embassies to the king about these affairs, who replied, that his brother the Duke of Guienne was in fault, who by endeavouring to

* Vincent de Kerleau, Abbé de Begar, Chancellor of Bretagne, and councillor of Duke Francis II., was appointed Bishop of Leon in 1473, and made his solemn entry into his church on the 10th of June in that year. He died in 1476.

†The Castle of Coulonges, between Toulouse and Lectoure.

Jean, Lord of L'Esparre, Baron of Estissac, was the son of Lancelot, Lord of L'Esparre, and Jeanne, Lady of Estissac. His son Geoffroi d'Estissac, Bishop of Maillezais, was one of the patrons of the celebrated Rabelais.

extend his territories, gave occasion to all those disputes; and without that, he would not meddle with his appanage in the least. But here one may observe by the by, how great the troubles and distractions of a kingdom are, when they happen in a time of confusion and discord, how difficult and uneasy they are to be managed, and how far from a conclusion, when once they are begun; for though at first the quarrel be only between two or three princes, or persons of lower condition, before two years be expired, the whole neighbourhood will be concerned and invited to the feast. However, in the beginning of an affair, every man presumes there will be a speedy end, but it is very uncertain, as you will plainly perceive by what follows.

At the time above mentioned, the Duke of Guienne (or his ministers) and the Duke of Bretagne, solicited the Duke of Burgundy not to employ the English, who were enemies to the crown, in any of his wars upon any account whatsoever; and since their own pretences were only for the ease and advantage of the kingdom of France, they did not doubt but that if his forces were in readiness, they should be strong enough of themselves, by reason of the great intelligence which they had with many officers and governors of towns. I was present one day when the Lord d'Urfé pressed the Duke of Burgundy to assemble his army with all possible diligence; the duke called me aside to a window, and said, "Do you see this Lord d'Urfé? he presses me very earnestly to raise what forces I can, and tells me we shall do great matters for the advantage of the kingdom. Do you believe, if I enter France with my army, I shall do them any good?" I replied (smiling) that I thought not he answered again in these very words, "I love the kingdom of France better than the Lord d'Urfé believes, for whereas they have but one king, I wish they had six."

Whilst this treaty of marriage was on foot, Edward, King of England (being deceived as well as the King of France, in supposing it real), used his utmost endeavours with the Duke of Burgundy to break it off; remonstrating to him, that as the King of France had no son*, if he died, the crown would devolve upon the Duke of Guienne, so that all EngThis is an error; for Charles VIII. was born on the 30th of June

land would be in danger of being utterly ruined by the consummation of that marriage, which would annex so many lordships to that crown; and he took this matter marvel lously to heart, and so did his whole council (though with. out any cause); nor could all the Duke of Burgundy's excuses induce the English to believe him. However (for all the solicitation of the agent of the Dukes of Guienne and Bretagne to the contrary), the Duke of Burgundy had a mind the English should be concerned in the war; but it was to be done privately, as if he had known nothing of it; but the English were so far from embracing this opportunity, that they would at that time rather have assisted the King of France, so fearful were they, lest by this marriage the territories of the house of Burgundy should be annexed to! the crown of France.

You see here (according to my design) these great princes thoroughly employed and surrounded with men of such wisdom and foresight, that their lives were not sufficient to accomplish half what they foresaw; and it proved so afterwards, for one after another, all of them died in a short space of time, in the midst of their anxieties and hurry, every one rejoicing and triumphing at the death of his companion, as a thing which he most passionately desired. Not long after, their masters followed them, and left their successors deeply involved in wars and troubles, excepting only our present king*, who found his kingdom at peace both abroad and at home; his father having provided better for him than he ever could or would have done for himself, for in my time he was never out of war till a little before his death.

About this time the Duke of Guienne fell sick; some were of opinion he was in great danger, others said he would soon recover of his illness. His agents in the meanwhile pressed the Duke of Burgundy (seeing the season was opportune) to take the field, and open the campaign, for the King of France had already assembled his army about St. Jean d'Angely or Saintes; and they prevailed so far,

* Charles VIII., son of Louis XI. and Charlotte of Savoy, was consecrated at Rheims on the 30th of May, 1484. On the 13th of December, 1491, he married Anne of Bretagne; and he died on the 7th of April, 1498.

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that the Duke of Burgundy ordered his forces to rendezvous about Arras*, and then marched towards Peronne, Roye, and Montdidier. His army was very numerous, and in better order than it ever was before; for it consisted of 1200 standing lances, who to every man-at-arms had three archers, all of them well armed, and well mounted; besides, in every company he had ten supernumerary men-at-arms, without reckoning the lieutenants or cornets. The nobles of the country were likewise in complete order; for they were well paid (the country being at that time very rich), and commanded by notable knights and esquires.

CH. IX.-How the final Peace which was negotiating between the King and the Duke of Burgundy, was broken off by the Duke of Guienne's Death and how those two great Princes laboured to circumvent one another.-1472.

As the Duke of Burgundy was setting out from Arras, two couriers arrived, one of them with news, that Nicholas, Duke of Calabria and Lorraine, heir to the house of Anjou, and son to John, Duke of Calabria, was upon his journey to his court, in order to marry his daughter. The duke received him very honourably, and gave him great hopes of success. The next day, which (if I mistake not) was the 15th of Mayt, 1472, letters arrived from Simon de Quingy (who was the duke's ambassador at the king's court), importing that the Duke of Guienne was dead, and the king already in possession of great part of his country. Not long after, we heard the news from several parts, but all gave a different account of his death.

The Duke of Burgundy, being highly concerned at the death of the Duke of Guienne, at the instigation of other people as much concerned as himself, wrote letters † full of

* The duke was at Arras on May 16. 1472; at Peronne, June 9.; at Roye, June 14.; and on the 25th of the same month, he encamped outside Maisnil, near Montdidier.

†The duke died on the 28th of May.

In these letters, dated from the camp before Beauvais, July 16. 14:2, the duke accuses the king of having poisoned his brother by means

bitter reflections upon the king to several of the Duke of Guienne's towns, but to no purpose; yet I am of opinion, that if the duke had not been dead, the king would have found work enough, for the Bretons were up in arms, and had a stronger party in the kingdom than ever they had before; but his death put a stop to all. In this violent passion the Duke of Burgundy took the field, marched towards Nesle, in Vermandois*, and began a more cruel and barbarous war than ever before, burning and destroying all wherever he marched. His van besieged Nesle, in which there was a small garrison of frankarchers, but otherwise the town was of no great strength. The duke himself had his quarters three leagues off. A herald, coming to them with a summons, was slain by the inhabitants of the town. The governort would fain have excused it, and having obtained a passport, came out to that purpose, but could not agree upon the matter. As he returned into the town, the garrison stood exposed upon the walls, but there being a truce whilst the governor was abroad, nobody fired upon the townsmen; however, they killed two more of the besiegers. Upon which the truce was broken, and word was sent in to Madame de Nesle, to tell her, that if she pleased, she and her servants might have the liberty of coming out, and bringing all her moveables with her; which she had no sooner done, but the town was attacked, taken, and most of the garrison put to the sword. Those who were taken alive were hanged, except some few whom the common soldiers in mere compassion suffered to escape; some of them had their hands cut off, a cruelty which gives me concern to mention; but having been upon the spot, I thought myself obliged to give some account of it. It must be granted that the Duke of Burgundy was highly enraged to be guilty of so barbarous an action, or that there must have been some extraordinary cause that provoked him to it. Two were alleged; one was, the strange report of the manner of the of a friar named Jourdain Favre, and of Henri de la Roche, esquire of his kitchen.

* On Thursday, June 11. 1472. "Named Le Petit Picard, who was captain of 50C frank-archers, from the Isle of France, who were in that town." Lenglet, ii. 94.