companion that had taken refuge in the tree, having seen the whole mystery, came down with all speed, ran and hallooed after him, desiring him to stop; so he turned back very civilly, and stayed till he came up. When he who had been on the tree had overtaken him, he asked his companion, upon oath, what counsel it was which the bear was so long in whispering into his ear. His comrade replied, "she charged me never for the future to sell the bear's skin till the beast was dead." And with this story the king's ambassador was despatched, for the emperor gave him no other answer in public; the meaning of which was, "That if the king came according to his promise, they would take the duke if they could; and when he was taken, they would talk of dividing his dominions."

CH. IV.- How the Constable fell again under the Suspicion both of the King and of the Duke of Burgundy.-1475.

You have already heard that Monsieur James de St. Paul and other officers were taken prisoners in the action before A.28, which was an accident very unpleasing to the constable, for James was his favourite brother. But this misfortune came not alone; for almost at the same time* his son, the Count of Roussy (Governor of Burgundy for the duke) was taken prisoner likewise; and not long after died the constable's wifet, an excellent lady, and sister to the Queen of France, upon which account he found much favour and support; for the combination (which, as you have heard, was for some time interrupted at Bouvines) was still carried on against him; and the constable never thought himself safe afterwards, but was held in perpetual suspicion by both sides, but more especially by the king, for he was sensible

*On the 20th of June, 1475. See note, p. 150.

† Marie de Savoie, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy, and Anne of Cyprus, married Louis, Constable of St. Paul, on the 1st of August, 1466. She died in 1475.

his majesty repented of having withdrawn his articles at Bouvines.

The Count of Dammartin, with others, was quartered with his men-at-arms in the neighbourhood of St. Quentin; and the constable was afraid of them, as if they had been enemies, and threw 300 of his own troops into that town, and stayed amongst them himself, for he had no confidence in the king's forces, but lived in continual anxiety and disquiet of mind. The king sent several messages with orders to him to take the field and march into Hainault, and besiege Avennes at the same time that the admiral with his detachment made an incursion into Artois, which he did, but with incredible fear. He had not lain many days before the town, with a strong guard about his person, before he retired to St. Quentin again, and sent the king word (which message, by the king's order, was delivered to me) that he had raised the siege upon certain information that there were two persons in the army employed by the king to assassinate him; and he told so many circumstances to confirm it, that most people began to believe it, and one of the persons was suspected of having revealed something to him, that he ought to have kept secret. I will not name the persons, nor make any further mention of this matter.

The constable sent frequently into the Duke of Burgundy's quarters (and I think his object was to divert him from this foolish expedition); and upon the return of his agents, he always sent some news or other to the king, which he imagined would greatly please his majesty, and withal acquainted him with his design in sending so often to the duke, by which artifice he thought to amuse and cajole the king. Sometimes, also, he sent to let the king know that the Duke of Burgundy's affairs were in a very prosperous condition; but it was only to frighten him; and so fearful was he of being surprised, that he begged the Duke of Burgundy to send to him his brother James de St. Paul (before his capture), the Lord of Fiennes, and other of his relations (who were then with the duke at the siege of Nuz), and that he would allow him to put them and their

* Jacques de Luxembourg, Lord of Fiennes, was the son of Thibaud de Luxembourg, and Philippa de Melun; and he died in 1487.

troops into St. Quentin (but without the cross of St. Andrew, which is the badge and cognisance of the house of Burgundy); and he promised to keep St. Quentin for the duke, and in a little time to deliver up the town entirely to him; and for better security offered to promise this under his hand. The Duke of Burgundy granted his request; but when his brother James, the Lord of Fiennes, and the rest of his relations, came twice within a league or two of St. Quentin, and were ready to enter, his fear vanished, he repented, and sent them back from whence they came; and on a third occasion he did so again; such was his desire to carry his affairs swimmingly between both parties, and preserve himself in the position he was in, for he exceedingly feared them both.

These passages I learned from several persons, and particularly from the mouth of Monsieur James de St. Paul, who, when he was prisoner, told them to the king, when nobody was present but myself, and the sincerity of his answers was very serviceable to him. The king demanded of him what number of troops he designed to have put into the town. He told his majesty that, on the third occasion, he had 3000. Then the king asked him if he had succeeded, and entered the town, for whom he would have kept it? whether for him or for the constable? Monsieur James de St. Paul replied, that on the first two occasions he came only to encourage his brother; but the third time, having observed that his brother had twice before deceived both his master and his majesty, if he had found his party the strongest, he would have kept it for his master, but without any violence or detriment to his brother; only if he had commanded him to evacuate the town, he would have disobeyed his orders. Not long after this private conference, the king released Monsieur James, gave him men-at-arms and a large estate, and employed him afterwards in several affairs as long as he lived; and all because of the freedom and sincerity of his answers.

Since I began to speak of Nuz, I have intermingled several occurrences, which, however, were coincident; for the siege continued a year*, and they happened during that time.

* The Duke of Burgundy lay before Nuz from the 30th of July, 1474, to the 27th of June, 1475.

There were two things which mightily tempted the Duke of Burgundy to raise the siege: one was the war which the King of France had begun against him in Picardy, in which he had burnt three pretty little towns*, and wasted a good part of the flat country in Artois and Ponthieu; the other was the great army which, at his request and solicitation, the King of England had raised; for he had been importuning him all his life long to invade France, and could never effect it till now. The King of England and all his nobility were highly discontented at the Duke of Burgundy's delays, and added threats to their entreaties; as they had reason, for they had been at a prodigious expense in raising an army, and the best part of the season was almost spent. The Duke of Burgundy thought it highly for his honour that so puissant an army as the emperor's (consisting of the forces of so many princes, prelates, and states), which amounted to a greater number than had been assembled together since the memory of man, and for a long time previously, were not able to force him to raise the siege. But he paid dearly for his vanity; for the man who makes profit by a war, bears away all the honour of it. However, the legate I mentioned before continued his good offices on both sides so long, that at length a peacef was concluded between the Emperor and the Duke of Burgundy, and Nuz was delivered into the hands of the Pope's legate, to be disposed of as his Holiness should direct. But to what extremity must the Duke of Burgundy have been reduced, to see himself pressed so hard by the French forces on one side, and the English menaces on the other; especially at a time when Nuz was reduced to such a miserable condition, that in fifteen days they must have surrendered unconditionally, or starved? Nay, I was told by a captain who was then in the town, and whom the king afterwards took into his service, that it could not have held out ten days longer; and yet for these urgent reasons the Duke of Burgundy was forced to raise the siege in 1475.

*Montdidier, Roye, and Corbie.

This peace was confirmed on the 17th of November, 1475.

CH. V.-How the King of England passed the Sea with a powerful Army to assist his Ally, the Duke of Burgundy, against the King of France, to whom he sent a Defiance by one of his Heralds-at-arms. -1475.

BUT to proceed. The King of England, in order to embark for Calais, had marched down to Dover with an army; the most numerous, the best disciplined, the best mounted, and the best armed, that ever any king of that nation invaded France withal. He was attended by the flower of the English nobility, consisting of 1500 men-at-arms, richly accoutred after the French fashion, well mounted, and most of them barded, and every one of them had several persons on horseback in his retinue. His, archers were 15,000, on horseback, with their bows and arrows, besides a great number of foot soldiers, and others to pitch his tents and pavilions, take care of the artillery, and enclose his camp; and there was not one page in the whole army; besides which, there was a body of 3000 men who were to be landed in Bretagne. I have already mentioned this before, but however, it is not impertinent to do it again, if it were for no other reason but to show, that, if the providence of God had not, by peculiar mercy to this kingdom (which He has preserved more graciously than any other in the world), infatuated the Duke of Burgundy's understanding, no one I could ever have believed that he would be so blind to his own interest as to invest, and obstinately to carry on the siege of, a town so strongly fortified and so bravely defended as Nuz was; and especially at that juncture, when he had at last prevailed upon the English, after many importunities, to pass the seas, and invade France in conjunction with him; a thing that he had been labouring at all his life-time, but could never effect till now. Besides, he knew that the troops of that nation were at present of little importance in his wars with France, and if he expected any real assistance from them afterwards, it was necessary he should have made one campaign with them at least, to have acquainted and

"And about midsummer, in the year 1475, King Edward brought his army to Calais in great pomp and triumph. It consisted of about 22,000 men; but the archers were badly mounted, and unused to riding on horseback." Molinet, i. 139. 141.