that town and the town of St. Valery*, he destroyed with fire and sword the whole country to the very walls of Dieppe. He also took Neufchastel, and burnt it, with the whole country of Caux, or at least the greatest part of it, to the very walls of Rouen, to which city he marched in person. In this expedition he lost several of his foragers, and his army was mightily distressed for want of provisions; so that, winter drawing on, he retired. His back was no sooner turned, but the king's forces retook Eu and St. Valery+, by which seven or eight of the townsmen were left prisoners at discretion.

CH. XI.-How the King concluded a Peace with the Duke of Bretagne, and a Truce with the Duke of Burgundy; and how the Count of St. Paul very narrowly escaped a Plot, that was laid for him by these two great Princes.-1472-4.

ABOUT this time (which was in the year 1472), I came into the King of France's service, who had also entertained most of the Duke of Guienne's servants: the king was then at Pont de Cé, having assembled all his forces against the Duke of Bretagne, with whom he was at war. At this place arrived certain ambassadors from the Duke of Bretagne, and others were sent in return to his court. Among those who came in an embassy to the king, there was Philip des Essars, a servant of the duke's, and William de SoubsPlainville §, a servant of the Lord of Lescut, who, when he

* On the 30th of August, 1472.

Eu and St. Valery surrendered to the king on composition. It was stipulated by the first town, that the knights should have liberty to depart, “each or a little nag; and all the other Burgundians, who were in number more than 100, departed each with a stick in his hand, and left all their clothes, property, and horses; and payed 10,000 crowns." The second town surrendered on the same terms, and paid 6000 crowns. Lenglet, ii. 100.

Philippe des Essars, Lord of Thieux, son of Antoine des Essars, was steward to the king in 1464, and afterwards filled the same office in the household of the Duke of Bretagne. He died in 1478.

§ Guillaume de Soupplainville was steward to Francis, Duke of Bretagne, Vice-admiral of Guienne, Bailiff of Montargis, and Lorá of Soupplainville and Villemandeur,

saw his master, the Duke of Guienne, past all hopes of recovery, embarked at Bourdeaux for Bretagne, whither he retired, fearing lest he might fall into the hands of the king, wherefore he made his escape early. And he brought with him the Duke of Guienne's confessor, and one of the equerries of his stable, who were suspected to have had a' hand in the duke's death, and were kept prisoners for it in Bretagne for several years after. These embassies forward and backward continued not long, before the king determined to have peace on that side, and to behave himself so handsomely to the Lord of Lescut, as to bring him back again into his service, and make him forget his oid animosity; for the Duke of Bretagne had neither courage nor conduct but what he derived from him; yet so powerful a prince, with so cunning and wise a statesman, was not to be despised. The Bretons themselves (while he was with him) would willingly have accepted of a peace; and certainly the generality of them desired nothing more, for there are constantly many of them in the kingdom of France in great posts and reputation, and not without cause, for heretofore they have done his majesty signal service. Some persons (whose judgment in state affairs was not so good as the king's) condemned this accommodation; but in my opinion I think his majesty acted very prudently. He had a great value for the person of this Lord of Lescut, saying, that he could commit any affair to his management without danger, for he knew him to be a person of honour and integrity, and one who in all the late troubles would never hold any correspondence with the English, nor consent that any towns in Normandy should be put into their hands, but still advised to the contrary, which was the chief reason of his preferment afterwards.

For these reasons he desired Monsieur Soubs- Plainville to set down in writing what the Lord of Lescut his master's demands were, both for the Duke of Bretagne and himself. Soubs-Plainville did so, and they were these: For the Duke of Bretagne, a pension of 80,000 francs: for the Lord of Lescut, a pension of 6000 francs, half of Guienne, the two

* Friar Jourdain Favre, surnamed De Vercors, and Henri de la Rocha, asquire of the kitchen.

seneschalships of Lannes and Bordelois, the command of one of the castles of Bourdeaux, the captainships of Blaye, and. of the two castles of Bayonne, of Dax and St. Sever, 24,000. crowns in ready money, the king's order of St. Michael, ard the countship of Comminges. All was granted and made good; only the duke's pension was retrenched to half the sum, and that paid but two years. Besides, the king gave Monsieur Soubs-Plainville 6000 crowns; but he did not pay the ready money which I have mentioned both for his master and himself, till four years after the agreement. Besides which sum, Soubs-Plainville had an annual pension of 1200 francs, the mayoralty of Bayonne, the bailiwick of Montargis, and some other little offices in Guienne; all which were enjoyed both by him and his master during the king's life. Philip des Essars was made Bailiff of Meaux, and master of the waters and forests of France, with a present of 4000 crowns and a pension of 1200 francs. From that time to the death of our master, they enjoyed these places; and the Count of Comminges acquitted himself like a loyal and faithful subject.

After the king had settled his affairs in Bretagne, he marched towards Picardy. It was always the custom of the king and Duke of Burgundy, as soon as winter drew on, to make a cessation of arms for six or twelve months, and sometimes longer. According to that custom, a new one was proposed, and the Chancellor of Burgundy, with ambassadors, came to negotiate it. The king showed the chancellor the final peace which had been concluded between him and the Duke of Bretagne, by which the said duke renounced his alliance with the English † and the Duke of Burgundy; wherefore the king insisted that the Duke of Burgundy's ambassadors should not name the Duke of Bretagne among their allies; but the ambassadors would not agree to it, but urged that it might be left to his own choice to declare himself for the king or their master as he pleased, provided he

This truce was concluded on the 3rd of November, 1472; it was to last for five months, from the 3rd of November to the 1st of April following.

†The treaty of alliance between the Duke of Bretagne and the King of England had been concluded at Chateauguion on the 11th of September,

did it in the usual time. They remonstrated, likewise, that the duke had formerly abandoned them under letters of his hand, and yet not departed from their amity; adding, that they did look, indeed, upon the Duke of Bretagne as a prince who was guided more by other men's judgments than his own: yet, in the conclusion, they observed, he always recollected who was most necessary to him. And all this happened in the year 1473.

Whilst this treaty was on foot, both sides murmured loudly against the Count of St. Paul, Constable of France. The king, and those who were nearest about him, had conceived great hatred against him, and the Duke of Burgundy a greater, with better reason, for I have heard the true causes on both sides. It was impossible for him to forget that the Count of St. Paul had been the occasion of the taking of Amiens and St. Quentin; and he shrewdly suspected that he was the true cause and fomenter of the war between him and the king; for during the cessation of hostilities he gave him the best words in the world, but as soon as war began again, he showed himself to be his mortal enemy; besides, the count would have forced him to have married his daughter, as you have heard. The duke had also another quarrel against him, and that was, that during the time the duke lay before Amiens, the constable made an inroad into Hainault, and, among the rest of his actions, burned a castle called Solre, which belonged to a certain knight called Baudouin de Lannoy.* At that time it was not usual to burn any places on either side: but, to retaliate upon the constable, the Duke of Burgundy fired all that summer wherever he came; so that, to be revenged of the constable, both sides began to conspire against him. In discourse between some of the king's party and certain of the Duke of Burgundy's courtiers, whom they knew to be the constable's enemies, they happened to mention him; and all of thein agreeing that he was the occasion of the war, they began to open themselves more freely, and discover all his expressions

*Baudoin de Lannoy, surnamed the Stutterer, Lord of Molembais, Knight of the Golden Fleece, and Governor of Lille, was the son Gilbert de Lannoy, and Catherine, Lady of Molembais. He died in

on both sides, and, by degrees, they unanimously resolved to contrive his ruin.

But some persons may hereafter, perhaps, demand, whether the king was not able to have ruined him alone? I answer, No; for his territories lay just between the king and the Duke of Burgundy; he had St. Quentin, a large and strong town in Vermandois; he had Han and Bohain, and other considerable places not far from St. Quentin, which he might always garrison with what troops, and of whatever country, he pleased. He had 400 of the king's men-at-arms, well paid, of whom he was commissary himself, and he made his own musters, by which means he gained much money, for he never kept up his full complement. He had likewise a salary of 45,000 francs, and exacted a crown upon every pipe of wine that passed into Hainault or Flanders through any of his dominions; and, besides all this, he had great lordships and possessions of his own, a great interest in France, and also in Burgundy, upon account of his relations.

The truce lasted a whole year, and during that time this plot was contriving against the Constable of France. The king's agents applied themselves to one of the Duke of Burgundy's knights, called the Lord of Humbercourt, who for a long time had hated the constable, but more particularly of late, upon the following occasion: In a convention at Roye, where the constable and others were met on the king's part, with the Chancellor of Burgundy, the Lord of Humbercourt, and others in behalf of the duke, in the heat of their argument, the constable in a passion gave the Lord of Humbercourt the lie. The Lord of Humbercourt made no other reply, but that he would not expect satisfaction from him, but from the king, upon whose security he was come thither, under the character of an ambassador; for the affront was not so much to him as to his master, whose person he represented, and to whom he would give an account. This single piece of insolence, which was so suddenly committed, was the occasion afterwards not only of the constable's death, but also of the ruin of his family, as the sequel of this history will inform you. For this reason, persons in great authority, and princes themselves, ought to be careful of their language, and consider to whom it is they speak; for the greater the person is, the greater is the injury, and it lies heavier upon.