14. The decisions of the conservators are to be obeyed, without any appeals whatsoever.

15. The allies on both sides are comprehended in this truce, if they have a mind to it, and if they intimate the same in due time; but if any of the king's allies shall, for themselves, or in favour of him, make war on the said Duke of Burgundy, he is free to oppose them with his arms, and the king is to give them no manner of assistance, without making an infraction of the truce: and the king is in the same position in respect to the allies of the Duke of Burgundy.

16. The king shall declare himself in favour of the Duke of Burgundy against the Emperor of the Romans, the citizens of Cologne, and all that shall assist them; and he promises to give them no manner of aid against the duke and his territories.

17. Seeing this treaty has been on foot since the month of May, 1474, all the places the king has taken since that time from the duke shall be restored.

18. Narcy and Gerondenelles shall be demolished, if that be not already done, and the lands remain in the possession of the rightful owners.

19. The king, in consideration of this truce, and in order to a perpetual peace, will deliver up the town and bailiwick of St. Quentin to the duke or his commissaries, only the king is to take away the artillery he brought thither, but not to meddle with the artillery of the town, nor any other that was in it before the Duke of Burgundy lost the possession of it; and the duke may appoint persons to make an inspection hereof; but is obliged to maintain the inhabitants in their rights and privileges, and to treat them as good subjects.

20. As to all other things and places, not expressly mentioned, they are to remain in their present state during the truce.

21. Lastly, if the king does not deliver up St. Quentin as aforesaid, the duke is not obliged to the observance of the nine years' truce any longer than to the 1st of May, 1476.

CH. XII.-How the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy swore the Death of the Constable, who, retiring into the Duke's Country, was, by his Command, delivered to the King, and publicly executed.-1475.

IMMEDIATELY upon the conclusion of the truce, they proceeded in their designs against the constable; and, to shorten the process, they began where they left off at Bouvines, and the agreement in writing was renewed on both sides. For the duke's concurrence in this affair, it was stipulated that he should enjoy St. Quentin, Ham, Bohain, and whatever else the constable held under the said duke, besides all the constable's moveable goods, wherever they could be found.* In the next place, they arranged how he was to be besieged in Ham, where at that time he was; and it was resolved, that whoever of the two should have the fortune to take him first, should see justice executed upon him within eight days, or surrender him to the other. Everybody began immediately to have some suspicion of this confederacy, and the constable's chief servants began to forsake him, as for instance, Monsieur de Genly, and several others of his principal companions. The constable having received information that the King of England had delivered his letters, and discovered all his secret practices, and knowing they were his enemies who had promoted the truce, grew extremely fearful about his condition, and sent a message to the Duke of Burgundy that, if he would please to give him a safe-conduct, he would wait on his highness, and impart several things to him of great importance concerning his own affairs. The duke hesitated at first, but at last he sent him one.

In the meantime, this great man was irresolute and wavering in his mind, and could not tell whither he should fly for security: for he had received information from all hands of his intended ruin, and had seen copies of the agreement signed against him at Bouvines. Sometimes he consulted his Lorraine servants, and then he resolved to go with them into Germany, and (there being no danger of travelling that

*This arrangement was made by letters dated September 13. 1475. "The king said that his cousin of Burgundy had treated the constable as huntsmen treat a fox; for like a wise man, he had taken the skin, and left him only the carcase, which was worth nothing." Molinet, i. 181.

way) to carry such a sum of money with him as would pur. chase some place upon the Rhine, where he might live securely till he could make his peace either with the king or the Duke of Burgundy. Another time, he was for staying in the fine Castle of Ham, which he had been at vast expense in fortifying, on purpose to defend himself in such a case of necessity; and indeed it was as well provided with ammunition and provision as any castle that I ever knew; but he had no soldiers that he could depend on, for all his garrison were subjects either of the king or of the Duke of Burgundy; and perhaps his fear was so great, he durst not discover his condition to them; for I verily believe if he had, he would have been deserted only by a very few; nor would it have been so dangerous for him to have been besieged by both princes at once as by one, for it would have been impossible for their two armies to have agreed. At last he resolved to put himself into the Duke of Burgundy's hands, upon the strength of his safe-conduct; and accordingly, attended only by fifteen or twenty horse, he went* directly to Mons, in Hainault, of which the Lord of Aimeries, who was his parti cular friend, was governor. He stayed with him till he could hear further from the Duke of Burgundy, who had begun a war against the Duke of Lorraine, for sending him a defiance as he lay in his trenches before Nuz, and for the ravages and devastations he had committed in the province of Luxembourg.

The king having received information of the constable's departure, resolved to attempt some action that might prevent his reconciliation with the Duke of Burgundy; wherefore he marched with all expedition towards St. Quentin †,

* It was currently believed in the Netherlands that the constable went to Mons by order of the king. The registers of Ypres state: "The king and the duke agreed on an expedient to obtain possession of the constable's person, The king proposed to him to go on an embassy to the duke, who was then at Luxembourg about certain matters; which he undertook. The duke sent orders at the same time that his person should be secured as soon as he appeared in any town in his dominions. Accordingly, when the constable arrived at Mons, the gates of the town were shut upon him, and he was kept there a month, after which he was conducted, under a strong escort, to Peronne, and delivered to the officers of the King of France." Gachard, i. 277.

"The King of France, being informed that the constable was treating

with a detachment of 700 or 800 men-at-arms, whom he had assembled on a sudden, being privately advised of what number of troops the garrison consisted. Upon the king's approach, some of the citizens came out to meet his majesty, and submitted themselves to him. The king commanded me to enter the town, and order the garrison to evacuate their quarters, which I did; and our men-at-arms having entered, the king himself followed, and was well received by the inhabitants; upon which some of the constable's party fled after him into Hainault. As soon as the king was in possession of St. Quentin, he immediately despatched a courier with the news of it to the Duke of Burgundy, to let him understand that all hope of recovering it by the constable's interest was now entirely lost. Upon receiving this news, the Duke of Burgundy sent his commands to the Lord of Aimeries (his grand bailiff in Hainault) to keep such guards in Mons that the constable might not escape, and in the meantime to confine him to his house. The bailiff durst not disobey the duke's orders, yet his guards were not so strict but the constable might have escaped if he had pleased.

What account can we give of Fortune in this place? This person was seated between the territories of these rival princes; he was possessed of several strong castles, had 400 men-at-arms well paid, and all his own creatures, under his control, and had had the command of them a dozen years he was a person of great wisdom and valour, was very rich, and had great experience; and yet none of all these powerful advantages could, in the time of danger and distress, either afford him relief, or inspire him with courage enough to attempt his escape. One may say (and not without reason) that deceitful Fortune had assumed another air, and begun to regard him with a frowning aspect but alas! Fortune is nothing but a poetical fiction; such surprising mysteries as these are far above her power to effect; and, when I reflect upon what has already been said, and what may farther be urged, I cannot help thinking but that

for the surrender of St. Quentin to the Duke of Burgundy, marched with 20,000 men to prevent it, and entered the town at about six o'clock in the evening of the 14th September." Molinet, i. 179.

God had forsaken him; and if it were no offence in any man to judge (which it would be, and especially for me), I should maintain that the most probable cause of all his misfortunes, was his restless endeavours and designs to foment and continue the war between the king and the Duke of Burgundy, upon which alone his authority and power depended; nor indeed was this very difficult to accomplish, upon account of their humours and dispositions, which were naturally in themselves so vastly different.

That person would indeed be guilty of the greatest ignorance, who should believe Fortune or Chance had such an influence over human affairs as to force a man of his .experience in the world, to incur the simultaneous displeasure of two such mighty princes, who in their lives never agreed in any one point but his ruin and destruction; and it would be more astonishing still, that she should have created an enmity between him and the King of England, who had married his niece*, and had a great value and respect for all his wife's relations, and particularly for those of the house of St. Paul. To speak impartially (neither can it be otherwise), God had withdrawn His grace from him, or else he would never have incensed these three powerful princes, and have managed his affairs so ill as not to have one friend left that would give him a night's entertainment in his distress; so that God Himself was the Fortune that did this and as it has happened formerly, so it will happen to many hereafter, who, after a long continuance of ease and prosperity, must expect to fall into great misfortunes and adversity.

As soon as the king was informed of the constable's being arrested in Hainault by the Duke of Burgundy's order, he sent to require the duke either to deliver him up to him, or perform their agreement. The duke promised he would, and accordingly he caused the constable to be removed to Peronne, and placed a strong guard upon him. The Duke of Burgundy had made himself master of several places in Lorraine and Barrois, and had formally invested Nancyt, which made a

* Queen Elizabeth Woodville's mother was Jacquetta of Luxembourg, daughter of Pierre de Luxembourg, the constable's father.

† He encamped before that town on the 24th of October, 1475 Lenglet, ii. 218.