"Written at Middelburg in Zealand, June 20, 1470."13
"Tell Monsieur de Warwick that the king will assist him to recover England either with the help of Queen Margaret or by whatever other means he may propose.... Only let him communicate his desires in this respect as speedily as possible and the king will lay aside all other affairs for the purpose of accomplishing it,"
wrote the complaisant King of France in his directions to the confidential messenger sent to discuss matters with the English earl.14
But that was not his language towards his cousin of Burgundy, whom he assured that there should be no infringement of their treaty, and that it was greatly to his royal displeasure that Flemish property captured at sea in defiance of that treaty should be sold in French market-places. There is a hot correspondence,15 that is, it is hot on the side of Charles, while Louis's phrases are smoothly surprised at there being any cause for dissatisfaction. The circumstances shall be investigated, his cousin satisfied, etc. One letter from the duke to two of Louis's council is emphatic in its expressions of doubt as to the good faith of these royal statements:
"ARCHBISHOP AND YOU ADMIRAL:
"The vessels which you assure me are destined by the king for an attack on England have attempted nothing except against my subjects; but, by St. George, if some redress be not seen to, I will take the matter into my own hands without waiting for your motions, tardy and dilatory as they are."16
Reprisals were made accordingly, and the innocent French merchants, coming peaceably to the fair at Antwerp, suffered confiscation of their private property, while the duke felt fully justified in stationing his fleet off the coast of Normandy to guard the Channel. Philip de Commines was one of the company who went at the duke's behest to Calais to urge the governor, Wenlock, to be faithful to King Edward, and to give no shelter to the rebellious earl and his protégé Clarence.17
Louis feared an outbreak of hostilities at an inconvenient moment. He temporised. To Warwick, he denied a personal interview, but at the same time he sent him a confidential emissary, Sr. du Plessis, to whom he wrote as follows:
"Monsieur du Plessis, you know the desire I have for Warwick's return to England, as well because I wish to see him get the better of his enemies—or that at least through him the realm of England may be embroiled—as to avoid the questions which have arisen out of his sojourn here.... For you know that these Bretons and Burgundians have no other aim than to find a pretext for rupturing peace and reopening the war, which I do not wish to see commenced under this colour.... Wherefore I pray you take pains, you and others there, to induce Mons. de Warwick to depart by all arguments possible. Pray use the sweetest methods that you can, so that he shall not suspect that we are thinking of anything else but his personal advantage."18
To gain time was Louis's ardent wish at that moment. The envoys sent by Louis to placate the duke's resentment at the incidents in connection with the Warwick affair, and to assure him that Louis meant well by him and his subjects, found Charles holding high state at St. Omer. When they were admitted to audience, the duke was discovered sitting on a lofty throne, five feet above floor level, "higher than was the wont of king or emperor to sit." His hat remained on his head as the representatives of his feudal overlord bowed to him and he acknowledged their obeisance by a slight nod and a gesture permitting them to rise.
Hugonet, a member of the ducal council, answered their address with a prosy speech. Burgundian officials revelled in grandiloquent phrases—which this time bored Charles, He cut short the harangue impatiently, took the floor himself, and made a statement of the injuries he had suffered. Louis had promised to be his friend, but he was aiding the foe of the duke's brother. The envoys repeated their sovereign's offers of redress. Charles declared that redress was impossible. Pained, very pained were the French envoys to think that a petty dispute could not be settled amicably. "The king desires to avoid friction. He offers you friendship, peace, and redress for every wrong. It will not be his fault if trouble ensue. Monseigneur, the king and you have a judge who is above you both."
The insinuation that it was he who was ready to break the peace infuriated Charles. He started to his feet, his eyes flashing with fire. "Among us Portuguese there is a custom that when our friends become friends to our foes we send them to the hundred thousand devils of hell."19 "A piece of bad taste to send by implication a king of France to a hundred thousand devils," comments the suave Chastellain, aghast at this impolite, emphatic, though indirect reference to Louis XI.
Equally aghast were the Burgundian courtiers present at this occasion. After all, they, too, were French by nature. To wreck the new-made peace for the sake of the English alliance, which had never been really popular among them, that seemed an act of rash unwisdom.
"A murmur went the rounds of the ducal suite because their chief thus implied contempt for the name of France to which the duke belonged. Not going quite so far as to call himself English, though that was what his heart was, he boasted of his mother, ancient friend of England and enemy of France."
There were, indeed, times when the duke was more emphatic in asserting his English blood. Plancher cites a scrap of writing in his own hands which probably belonged to a letter to the magistrates and citizens of Calais, whom he addresses, "O you my friends."20 While reiterating that he simply must defend his own state he adds, "By St. George who knows me to be a better Englishman and more anxious for the weal of England than you other English ... [you] shall recognise that I am sprung from the blood of Lancaster," etc. His claims of kinship varied with the circumstances.
While he was so conscious of his own greatness, present and future, and of his own laudable intentions to do well by his subjects, it is quite possible, too, that Charles was puzzled more or less consciously by his failure to win popularity. For he was quite as unpopular with his courtiers as with his subjects. The former did not like the rigid court rules. There was no pleasure in sitting through audiences silent and stiff "as at a sermon," and exposed to personal reprimands from their chief if there were the slightest lapses from his standard of conduct. They did not know on what meat the duke was feeding his imagination, an imagination that already saw him as Cæsar. Had he actually attained the loftier rank that he dreamed of, his premature arrogance might have been forgotten, but his pride of glory invisible to the world about him was undoubtedly a bar to his popularity during the years 1470-73.
Before this pompous scene passed at St. Omer, Louis had been relieved of anxiety in regard to the stability of his kingdom, and the dangers of an heir like his brother who might easily be used as a tool by some clever faction opposed to the ruling monarch. On June 10th, a son was born to him, afterwards Charles VIII. of France. Complaisant still were his words to his Burgundian cousin, but the moment was drawing near when his efforts to circumvent him were no longer secret.
The embassy returned home. Possibly their report of the duke's passionate words goaded the king into discarding his mask of friendship. At any rate, his next steps were unequivocal in showing which side of the fresh English quarrel he meant to espouse. Margaret of Anjou hated the Earl of Warwick, not only because he had unseated her husband but because he had doubted her fidelity to that husband. Nevertheless, under Louis's persuasions, she consented to forget her past wrongs and to stake her future hopes on fraternising with him on a basis of common hate for Edward IV. The alliance was to be sealed by the marriage of young Edward of Lancaster, the prince whose very legitimacy Warwick had questioned, with the earl's younger daughter. It was a singular union to be accepted by the parents, separated as they had been by the wall of insults interchanged during more than a decade of bitter enmity.
Louis brought his cousin to this step of concession. She saw her seventeen-year-old son betrothed to the sixteen-year-old Anne Neville, and later she herself swore reconciliation to Warwick on a piece of the true cross in St. Mary's Church at Angers (August 4, 1470).
"Monsieur du Plessis [wrote Louis XI. on July 25th], I have sent you Messire Ivon du Fou, to put the affairs of Monsieur de Warwick in surety, and I order him to make such arrangements that the people of the said M. de Warwick will suffer no necessity until he is there. To-day we have made the marriage of the Queen of England and of him, and hope to-morrow to have all in readiness to depart."21
MEDAL OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BURGUNDY
Meanwhile, the king kept agents in all the Somme towns, insinuating opposition to the duke, and reminding the citizens that they were French at heart. His ambassadors passed in and out of the Burgundian court, saying many things in secret besides those they said in public. Plenty there were that wished for war, remarks the observant Commines. Nobles like St. Pol and others could not maintain the same state in peace as in war, and state they loved. In time of war four hundred lances attended the constable, and he had a large allowance to maintain them from which he reaped many a profitable commission besides the fees of his office and his other emoluments. "Moreover," adds Commines, "the nobles were accustomed to say among themselves that if there were no battles without, there would be quarrels within the realm."
The matter of the grants to Charles of France had been settled to his royal brother's liking, not to that of his Burgundian ally. Champagne and Brie, so cheerfully promised at Peronne, were withdrawn and Guienne substituted. When Normandy had been exchanged for Champagne and Brie, as it was arranged at Peronne, Charles of Burgundy approved the change as he thought it assured him an obedient friend as neighbour.22 The second change, Guienne instead of Champagne and Brie, was quite a different thing.
Guienne bordered the Bay of Biscay far away from Burgundy. Naturally, Charles was not content. Then, too, it looked as though he had lost a useful friend as well as a neighbour, for the new Duke of Guienne was formally reconciled to his brother and took oath that his fraternal devotion to his monarch should never again waver.
Long before Charles was completely convinced that Louis was not going to maintain the humble attitude assumed at Peronne and Liege, he became very suspicious that intrigues were on foot against him. "He hastened to Hesdin where he entered into jealousy of his servants" says Commines. That he was assured that there were reasons for his apprehensions appears in an epistle circulated as an open letter,23 to various cities, wherein he makes a detailed statement of the plots against his life by one Jehan d'Arson and Baldwin, son of Duke Philip.
Sorry return was this from one recognised as Bastard of Burgundy and brought up in the ducal household. Further, one Jehan de Chassa, Charles's own chamberlain, had taken French leave of the duke's service and made his way to the king in his castle of Amboise, where he had been pleasantly received and promised rich reward when he had "executed his damnable designs against our person."
Messengers sent by this Chassa to Baldwin in Charles's court at St. Omer were arrested as suspicious, and that circumstance frightened Baldwin and caused him to take to his heels, leaving his retinue, his horses, and his baggage behind. He dreaded lest he might be attainted and convicted of treason, and therefore he took shelter with the king.
"Saved from this conspiracy by the goodness and clemency of God, we inform you of the events so that you may render thanks by public processions, solemn masses, sermons, and prayers, beseeching Him devoutly and from the heart that He will always guard and defend our person, our lands, seigniories, and subjects from such plots.
"May God protect you, dear subjects. Written in our castle of Hesdin, December 13, 1470.
"CHARLES.
"LE GROS."
It was not long before Charles had less reason to fear French "subtleties." At an assembly of notables24 convened at Tours at the end of 1470, Louis dropped the mask of friendship worn uneasily for just two years, and made an open brief of his grievances against the duke.
His case was cited with a luxury of detail more or less authentic. The interview at Peronne was a simple trap conceived by Balue and the Duke of Burgundy. The treaties of 1465 and 1468, both obtained by undue pressure, had not been respected by Charles, etc. The assembly was obedient to suggestion. It was a packed house.
Even Commines shows that it is not surprising that there was unanimity25 in the declaration that according to God and his conscience in all honour and justice the king was released from those treaties, and the way was paved for an invasion into Picardy as soon as possible.
Charles's public accusations of plots against him did not go unanswered. Jehan de Chassa promptly issued a rejoinder:
"As Charles, soi-disant Duke of Burgundy, has sent to divers places letters signed by himself and his secretary, Jehan le Gros, written at Hesdin, December 13th, falsely charging me with plotting against his life with Baldwin, Bastard of Burgundy, and Jehan d'Arson, I, considering that it is matter touching my honour, feel bound to reply.... By God and by my soul I declare that these charges against me made by Charles of Burgundy are false and disloyal lies." 26
Baldwin, too, expressed righteous indignation at the slur on his character, but he remained in the French court as did many others who had formerly served Charles.
Meanwhile, the Earl of Warwick, having left his daughter in the hands of Margaret of Anjou, openly aided by Louis, sailed back to England in September But there had been one further change of base of which the earl was still unconscious. His elder son-in-law had not rejoiced in the Warwick-Lancaster alliance. It brought young Prince Edward to the fore, and bereft the Duke of Clarence—long ready to replace Edward of York—of any immediate prospects. Therefore he was inclined to accept offers of a reconciliation tendered him by King Edward.
Despite his secret change of heart, Clarence sailed with Warwick and joined with him in the proclamations scattered over England, declaring that the exiles were returning to "set right and justice to their places, and to reduce and redeem for ever the realm from its thraldom." Never a mention of either Edward IV. or Henry VI. Perhaps it was as convenient to see which way the wind blew and to put in a name accordingly.
On landing, however, "King Henry VI." was raised as a cry. In Nottinghamshire, where Edward lay, not a word was heard for York. There was no conflict. Edward felt that Fate had turned against him and off he rode to Lyme with a small following, took ship, and made for Holland. It was stormy, pirates from the Hanseatic towns gave chase, and glad was Edward to take shelter at Alkmaar where De la Groothuse, Governor of Holland, welcomed him in the name of the duke.27 Edward was quite destitute. He had nothing with which to pay his fare across the Channel but a gown lined with marten's fur, and as for his train, never so poor a company was seen.
Eleven days later, Warwick was master of all England and official business was transacted in the name of Henry VI., "limp and helpless on his throne as a sack of wool." He was a mere shadow and pretence and what was done in his name was done without his will or knowledge.
Charles of Burgundy did not hasten to greet his unbidden guest. He would rather have heard that his brother-in-law were dead, but he bade Groothuse show him every courtesy and supply him with necessaries and five hundred crowns a month for luxuries. After a time, and perhaps informed by weather prophets that the Lancastrian wind blowing over in England was but a fickle breeze, he consented to forget his hereditary sympathies.
"The same day that the duke received news of the king's arrival in Holland, I was come from Calais to Boulogne (where the duke then lay) ignorant of the event and of the king's flight.28 The duke was first advised that he was dead, which did not trouble him much for he loved the Lancaster line far better than that of York. Besides he had with him the Dukes of Exeter and of Somerset and divers others of King Henry's faction, by which means he thought himself assured of peace with the line of Lancaster. But he feared the Earl of Warwick, neither knew he how to content him that was to come to him, I mean King Edward, whose sister he had married and who was also brother-in-arms, for the king wore the Golden Fleece and the duke the Garter.
"Straightway then the duke sent me back to Calais accompanied by a gentleman or two of this new faction of Henry, and gave me instructions how to deal with this new world, urging me to go because it was important for him to be well served in the matter.29 I went as far as Tournehem, a castle near to Guisnes, and then dared not proceed because I found people fleeing for fear of the English who were devastating the country.... Never before had I needed a safe-conduct for the English are very honourable. All this seemed very strange to me for I had never seen these mutations in the world."
Commines was uncertain as to what he had better do and wanted instructions. "The duke sent me a ring from his finger, bidding me go forward with the promise that if I were taken prisoner he would redeem me." New surprises met the envoy at Calais. None of the well-known faces were to be seen. "Further, upon the gate of my lodgings and the very door of my chamber were a hundred white crosses and rhymes signifying that the King of France and Earl of Warwick were one—all of which seemed strange to me." Well received was Commines and entertained at dinner. It was told at table how within a quarter of an hour after the arrival of news from England every man wore this livery (the ragged staff of Warwick), so speedy and sudden was the change. "This is the first time that I ever knew how little stable are these mundane affairs."
"In all communications that passed between them and me, I repeated that King Edward was dead, of which fact I said I was well assured, notwithstanding that I knew the contrary, adding further that though it were not so, yet was the league between the Duke of Burgundy and the king and realm of England such that this accident could not infringe it—whomever they would acknowledge as king him would we recognise.... Thus it was agreed that the league should remain firm and inviolate between us and the king and realm of England save that for Edward we named Henry."
Commines explains further that the wool trade was what made amity with England necessary to Flanders and Holland, "which is the principal cause that moved the merchants to labour earnestly for peace."
Charles made vague promises to his uninvited guest, declaring ostentatiously that his blood was Lancastrian. Nevertheless he finally consented to an interview with him of York, in spite of the remonstrances of the Lancastrians, Somerset and Exeter. "The duke could not tell whom to please and either party he feared to displease. But in the end, because sharp war was upon him face to face, he inclined to the English dukes, accepting their promises against the Earl of Warwick, their ancient enemy." King Edward, "who was on the spot and very ill at ease," was quieted by secret assurances that the duke was obliged to dissimulate. "Seeing that he could not keep the king but that he was bound to return to England and fearing for divers considerations altogether to discontent him, Charles pretended that he could not aid the king and forbade his subjects to enter his service." Privately, however, he gave him fifty thousand florins of St. Andrew's cross, and had two or three ships fitted out at Vere in Zealand, a harbour where all nations were received. Besides this he secretly hired fourteen well appointed "ships of the Easterlings, which promised to serve him till he landed in England and for fifteen days after, "great aid considering the times."
King Edward departed out of Flanders in the year 1471, when the Duke of Burgundy went to wrest Amiens and St. Quentin back from the king.30 "The said duke thought now howsoever the world went in England he could not speed amiss because he had friends on both sides."31
Edward's adventures in England proved that he had not lost his hold there. Warwick's extraordinary brief success was but a flash in the pan. London opened her gates and then the pitched battle at Barnet gave a final verdict between the rival Houses which England accepted. This battle was fought on April 14th, when the thick fog and the like speech of the two bodies caused hopeless confusion. Many friends slew each other unwittingly, and among the slain was the indefatigable, energetic Warwick who had hoped to play with his royal puppets. Only forty-four was he and worthy of a better and more statesmanlike career.
On that same day Margaret of Anjou and her son landed at Weymouth. Hearing of Warwick's death, they tried to reach Wales but were intercepted and forced to fight at Tewkesbury. Here the young prince, too, met his death. To Edward's direct command is attributed the murder of the unfortunate Henry VI. in the Tower, which happened at about the same time. The desolated Margaret of Anjou lingered five years under restraint in England before she was ransomed by King Louis.
"Sir John Paston to Margaret Paston. Wreten at London the Thorysdaye in Esterne weke, 1471.
"God hathe schewyd Hym selffe marvelouslye lyke Hym that made all and can undoo agayn whare Hym lyst."32
Charles of Burgundy could now pride himself on his foresight. His brother of the two Orders was himself again.
"The very day on which this fight happened [says Commines] the Duke of Burgundy, being before Amiens, received letters from the duchess his wife, that the King of England was not at all satisfied with him, that he had given his aid grudgingly and as if for very little cause he would have deserted him. To speak plainly there never was great friendship between them afterwards. Yet the Duke of Burgundy seemed to be extremely pleased at this news and published it everywhere."
A transaction of his own of this time, the duke did not publish. It was a procedure perhaps justified by these wonderful "mutations in the world" which impressed Commines as strange and terrible. The Duke of Burgundy caused a legal document to be drawn up attesting his own heirship to Henry VI. of England, and filed the same in the Abbey of St. Bertin with all due formality. If there came more "mutations" in the world whose very existence was a new experience to Philip de Commines, Charles was ready to interpose his own plank in the new structure.
In the archives of the House of Croy in the château of Beaumont, rests this document, which was duly signed by Charles on November 3, 1471, in his own hand "so that greater faith" be given to the statement that no one was truer heir to the Lancaster House than Charles of Burgundy.33 Two canons attested the instrument as notaries, and the witnesses were Hugonet, Humbercourt, and Bladet.
It was expressly stipulated that if there were any delay in the duke's entering upon his English inheritance—which devolved to him through his mother,—a delay caused by motives of public utility of Christendom, and of the House of Burgundy, this should not prejudice his rights or those of his successors. A mere deferring of assuring the titles, etc., brought no prejudice to his rights. His delay ended in his death and Edward IV. never had to combat this claim of the brother-in-law who had helped him, though grudgingly, to regain his throne.
[Footnote 1: Meyer is the earliest historian to tell this story and it is vouched for by no existing contemporary evidence.]
[Footnote 2: From Henry VI.-Henry VII. the English throne was twice lost and twice regained by each of the rival Houses of York and Lancaster. Thirteen pitched battles were fought between Englishmen on English soil. Three out of four kings died by violence. Eighty persons connected with the blood royal were executed or assassinated.]
[Footnote 3: Ramsay, Lancaster and York, ii., 232 et seq.; Oman, Hundred Years' War and Warwick, the King-maker, are followed here in addition to Kirk, Lavisse, etc.]
[Footnote 4: That the king chose his wife without the earl's knowledge or consent has been accepted as the chief cause, and again denied by various authorities.]
[Footnote 5: See Oman's Warwick, p. 185.]
[Footnote 6: Rymer, Fædera, xi., 654; negotiations had been going on for about a year.]
[Footnote 7: Ibid., 651.]
[Footnote 8: "Quia nihil est quod ita relucet in principe sicut clemencia et maxime circa domesticos et subditos."]
[Footnote 9: Gachard, Doc. inéd., i., 216. The editor thinks that the speech was preserved in the register of Ypres just as it was delivered, untouched by chroniclers.]
[Footnote 10: Il sent la France.]
[Footnote 11: Middleburg, the 3d of June, 1470. "Madame's sign manual" on the copy is dated June 6th. (Plancher, Histoire générale et particulière de Bourgogne, etc., iv., cclxxi).]
[Footnote 12: Good Friday, April 20th.]
[Footnote 13: Gachard, Doc. inéd., i., 226.]
[Footnote 14: Comines-Lenglet., "Preuves," iii., 124. Written at Amboise, May, 12, 1470.]
[Footnote 15: Plancher, iv., cclxi., etc.]
[Footnote 16: Duke Charles to the Council of the King at Rouen, May 29th. (Plancher, iv., cclxix.)]
[Footnote 17: Mémoires, iii., ch. iv.]
[Footnote 18: Duclos "Preuves," v., 296.]
[Footnote 19: Chastellain, v., 453. These phrases are, to be sure, those of our literary and imaginative chronicler, but the substance is that of attested words from Charles. M, Petit-Dutaillis accepts it. (Lavisse, ivii., 363.)]
[Footnote 20: See Plancher, iv., cclxxxix.]
[Footnote 21: Aujourd'hui avons fait le mariage de la reine d'Angleterre et de lui." Undoubtedly a half jocose way of stating the alliance of the children. The following item occurs in the King's accounts for December, 1470: "à maistre Jehan le prestre, la somme de xxvii l. x.s.t pour vingt escus d'or à lui donnée par le roy, pour le restituer de semblable somme que, par l'ordonnance d'icellui seigneur, il avait baillée du sien au vicaire de Bayeux auquel icellui seigneur en a fait don en faveur de ce qu' il estait venu espouser le prince de Galles a la fille du Comte de Warwick." This was a betrothal, not the actual marriage. In August, Louis was still asking for a dispensation. (Wavrin, Dupont ed., iii., 4I, note. See also Lettres de Louis XI., iv., 131.)]
[Footnote 22: A group of smaller seigniories was also involved, Quercy, Périgord, La Rochelle, etc. See letter-patent, (Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 97.)]
[Footnote 23: Duclos, "Preuves" v., 302.]
[Footnote 24: Comines-Lenglet, "Preuves," iii., 68; Lavisse, ivii., 364.]
[Footnote 25: See Lavisse ivii., 364. He states that the king named all the deputies that the towns were to appoint.]
[Footnote 26: Duclos, "Preuves," v., 307.]
[Footnote 27: Commines, iii., ch. v.]
[Footnote 28: Commines, iii., ch. vi.]
[Footnote 29: See instructions given to him for this mission, Wavrin-Dupont, iii., 271.]
[Footnote 30: Commines, iii., ch. vii.]
[Footnote 31: As soon as Edward and his English exiles sailed, Charles published a proclamation forbidding his subjects to aid him.]
[Footnote 32: Letters, iii., 4.]
[Footnote 33: See Gachard, Études et Notices historiques concernant l'histoire des Pays-Bas, ii., 343, en approuvant et emologant toutes les choses deseurdittes et chascune d'icelles et a fin que plus grant foy soit adjoustée à tout ce que cy desus est escript, avant signé ce présent instrument de nostre propre main et le fait sceller de nostre seau en signe de vérité, l'an et jour desusdit. [This in French, the body in Latin.]
"CHARLES."]
All work had ceased at Paris for three days by the king's command, while praise was chanted to God, to the Virgin, and to all saints male and female, for the victory won by Henry of Lancaster, in 1470, over the base usurper Edward de la Marche. From Amboise, Louis made a special pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Celles at Poitiers to breathe in pious solitude his own prayers of thanksgiving for the happy event. The battle of Tewkesbury stemmed the course of this abundant stream of gratitude, and there were other thanksgivings.1
In the spring of 1471, Edward IV. was dating complacent letters from Canterbury to his good friends at Bruges,2 acknowledging their valuable assistance to his brother Charles,3 recognising his part in restoring Britain's rightful sovereign to his throne. To his sister, the Duchess of Burgundy, the returned exile gave substantial proof of his gratitude in the shape of privileges in wool manufacture and trade.4
Like one of the alternating figures in a Swiss weather vane the King of England had swung out into the open, pointing triumphantly to fair weather over his head, while Louis was forced back into solitary impotence. He seemed singularly isolated. His English friends were gone, his nobles were again forming a hostile camp around Charles of France, now Duke of Guienne, who had forgotten his late protestations of fraternal devotion, and there were many indications that the Anglo-Burgundian alliance might prove as serious a peril to France as it had in times gone by but not wholly forgotten.
The two most important of the disputed towns on the Somme were, however, in Louis's possession, and Charles of Burgundy, ready to reduce Amiens by siege on March 10, 1471, consented to stay his proceedings by striking a truce which was renewed in July. This afforded a valuable respite to the king, and he busied himself in energetic efforts to detach his brother from the group of malcontents. Various disquieting rumours about the prince's marriage projects caused his royal brother deep anxiety, and induced him to despatch a special envoy to Guienne. To that envoy Louis wrote as follows:5
"MONSEIGNEUR DU BOUCHAGE:
"Guiot du Chesney6 has brought me despatches from Monsg. de Guienne and Mons. de Lescun and has, further, mentioned three points to me: First, in behalf of Mme. de Savoy,7 ... second, in regard to M. d'Ursé ... third, touching the mission of Mons. de Lescun to marry Monsg. of Guienne to the daughter of Monsg. de Foix.... The Ursé matter I will leave to you, and will agree to what you determine upon. On the spot you will be a better judge of what I ought to say and what would be advantageous to me, than I can here.
"In regard to the third point, the Foix marriage, you know what a misfortune it would be to me. Use all your five senses to prevent it. I am told that my brother does not really like the idea, and it has occurred to me that Mons. de Lescun has brought him to consent in order to further the marriage of the duchess,8 so that in taking the sister, the duke will be relieved of this sum, a condition that would please him greatly because he has nothing to pay it with. I would prefer to pay both it and all the accompanying claims and then be through with it. In effect, I beg you make him agree to another [bride] before you leave, and do not be in any hurry to come to me. If this Aragon affair9 can be arranged you will place me in Paradise.
"Item. I have thought that Monsg. de Foix would not approve this Aragon girl, because he himself has some hopes of the kingdom of Aragon through his wife. If Monsg. of Guienne were advised of this, I believe it would help along our case.
"Item. It seems to me that you have a splendid opportunity to be very frank with my brother. For he has informed me through this man that the duke [of Brittany] has paid no attention to the representations made him in my behalf, through Corguilleray, and since my brother himself confides this to me, you have an opportunity to assure him that I thank him, and that I never cherish him so highly as when he tells me the truth, and that I now recognise that he does not desire to deceive me, since he does not spare the duke [of Brittany] and that, since he sees him opposed to me, he should return the seal that you know of and refuse to take his sister [Eleanor de Foix, the sister of the Duchess of Brittany], or to enter into any other league.
"If he will choose a wife quite above suspicion, as long as I live I will harbour no misgiving of him and he shall be as puissant in all the realm of France as I myself, as long as I live. In short, Mons. du Bouchage my friend, if you can gain this point, you will place me in Paradise. Stay where you are until Monseigneur de Lescun has arrived, and a good piece afterwards, even if you have to play the invalid, and before you depart put our affair in surety if you can, I implore you. And may God, Monseigneur du Bouchage my friend, to whom I pray, and may Nostre Dame de Behuart aid your negotiations. The women10 of Mme. de Burgundy have all been ill with the mal chault, and it is reported that the daughter is seriously afflicted and bloated. Some say that she is already dead. I am not sure of the death but I am quite certain of the malady.
"Written at Lannoy, Aug. 18th.
"LOYS.
"TILHART."
That the king's professed confidence in his brother did not remove all suspicions of that young man's steadfastness from his mind is shown by the following letter, written two days later than the above, to Lorenzo de' Medici:
"Dear and beloved cousin, we have learned that our brother of Guienne has sent to Rome to ask a dispensation from the oath he swore to us, of which we send you a duplicate. Since you are a great favourite with our Holy Father pray use your influence with his Holiness so that our brother may not obtain his dispensation, and that his messenger may not be able to do any negotiating. In this you will do us a singular and agreeable pleasure which we will recognise in the future as we have in the past on fitting occasion....
"Written at St. Michel sur Loire, August 20th.
"LOYS."
Louis does not seem to have taken his own doubts as to the very existence of Mary of Burgundy very seriously. While he was infinitely anxious to prevent her alliance with his brother, he made overtures to betroth her to his baby son, while he reminded her father in touching phrases that he, Louis, was Mary's loving godfather and hence exactly the person to be her father-in-law.
The winter of 1471-72 was filled with attempts to make terms between the king and the duke before the termination of the truce. The king was very hopeful of attaining this good result, and sweetly trustful of the duke's pacific and friendly intentions. He sternly refused to listen to suggestions that Charles meant to play him false and was very definite in his expressions of confidence. The following epistle to his envoys at the duke's court was an excellent document to fall by chance into Burgundian hands:11
"To MONSIEUR DE CRAON AND PIERRE D'ORIOLE:
"My cousin and monseigneur the general, I received your letters this evening at the hostelry of Montbazon where I came because I have not yet dared to go to Amboise.12 When I imparted to you the doubts that I had heard, it was not with the purpose of delaying you in completing your business but only to advise you of the dangers that were in the air. And to free you from all doubts I assure you, that if Monseigneur of Burgundy is willing to confirm, by writing or verbally, the terms which we arranged at Orleans13, I wish you to accept it and to clinch the matter and I am quite determined to trust to it. As to your suspicion that he may wish to make the chief promises in private letters without putting it in a formal shape, you know that I agreed to it by a pronotary, and when I have once accepted a thing I never withdraw my decision.
"My cousin and you monseigneur the general, see to it that Monseigneur of Burgundy gives you adequate assurance of the letters that he is to issue. When I once have the letter such as we agreed upon and he is bound, I do not doubt that he will keep faith. If my life were at stake, I am resolved to trust him. Do not send me any more of your suspicions for I assure you that my greatest worldly desire is that the matter be finished, since he has given verbal assurance that he wishes me well. You write that the pronotary told you that I was negotiating in every direction. By my faith, I have no ambassador but you, and by the words that Monseigneur of Burgundy said to you you can easily solve the question, for he has only offered you what he mentioned before when the matters were discussed. It looks to me as though they were not free from traitors since they have Abbé de Begars and Master Ythier Marchant.14
"A herald of the King of England came here on his way to Monsg. of Burgundy, who asked for a safe conduct to send a messenger to me for this truce. Since your departure the council thought I ought not to give any pass for more than forty days except to merchants. If it please God and Our Lady that you may conclude your mission, I assure you that as long as I live I will have no embassy either large or small without immediately informing Monsg. of Burgundy and I will only answer as if through him. I assure you that until I hear from you whether Monsg. of Burgundy decides to conclude this treaty or not as we agreed together, I will make no agreement with any creature in the world and of that you may assure him.
"Written at Montbazon, December 11th (1471).
"Loys."
At the same time Louis did not neglect friendly intercourse with the towns he proposed to cede.
"To the inhabitants of Amiens in behalf of the king: "Dear and beloved, we have heard reports at length from Amiens and we are well content with you.... Give credence to all my messengers say. We thank you heartily for all that you and your deputies have done in our cause."
At the Burgundian court the duke's friends thought that he would play the part of wisdom did he keep an army within call, and refrain from implicitly trusting the king's promises. There was, moreover, an impression abroad that the latter was not in a position to be very formidable.
"Once [says Commines]15 I was present when the Seigneur d'Ursé [envoy from the Duke of Guienne] was talking in this wise and urging the duke to mobilise his forces with all diligence. The duke called me to a window and said, 'Here is the Seigneur d'Ursé urging me to make my army as big as possible, and tells me that we would do well for the realm. Do you think that I should wage a war of benefit if I should lead my troops thither?' Smiling I answered that I thought not and he uttered these words: 'I love the welfare of France more than Mons. d' Ursé imagines, for instead of the one king that there is I would fain see six.'"
The animus of this expression is clear. It implies a wish to see the duke's friends, the French nobles, exalted, Burgundy at the head, until the titular monarch had no more power than half a dozen of his peers. Yet Commines states in unequivocal terms that Charles's next moves were to disregard his friendship for the peers, to discard their alliance, and to sign a treaty with Louis whose terms were wholly to his own advantage and implied complete desertion of the allied interest.
"This peace did the Duke of Burgundy swear and I was present16 and to it swore the Seigneur de Craon and the Chancellor of France17 in behalf of the king. When they departed they advised the duke not to disband his army but to increase it, so that the king their master might be the more inclined to cede promptly the two places mentioned above. They took with them Simon de Quingey to witness the king's oath and confirmation of his ambassadors' work. The king delayed this confirmation for several days. Meanwhile occurred the death of his brother, the Duke of Guienne ... shortly afterwards the said Simon returned, dismissed by the king with very meagre phrases and without any oath being taken. The duke felt mocked and insulted by this treatment and was very indignant about it."18
This story involves so serious a charge against Charles of Burgundy that the fact of his setting his signature to the treaty has been indignantly denied. Certain authorities impugn the historian's truthfulness rather than accept the duke's betrayal of his friends. It is true that only a few months later than this negotiation, Commines himself forsook the duke's service for the king's, a change of base that might well throw suspicion on his estimate of his deserted master.
Yet it must be remembered that he does not gloss over Louis's actions, even though he had an admiration for the success of his political methods, methods which Commines believed to be essential in dealing with national affairs. In many respects he gives more credit to the duke than to the king even while he prefers the cleverer chief. That there is no documentary evidence of such a treaty is mere negative evidence and of little importance.
The fact seems fairly clear that Charles of Burgundy was at a parting of the ways, in character as in action. His natural bent was to tell the truth and to adhere strictly to his given word. He felt that he owed it to his own dignity. He felt, too, that he was a person to command obedience to a promise whether pledged to him by king or commoner. In the years 1469-1472 several severe shocks had been dealt him. He had lost all faith in Louis, a faith that had really been founded on the duke's own self-esteem, on a conviction that the weak king must respect the redoubtable cousin of Burgundy.
The effect on Charles of his suspicions was to make him adopt the tools used by his rival, or at least to attempt to do so. At the moment of the negotiation of 1471-1472, the duke's preoccupation was to regain the towns on the Somme. That accomplished, it is not probable that he would have abandoned his friends, the French peers, whom he desired to see become petty monarchs each in his own territory. There seems no doubt that words were used with singular disregard of their meaning. It is surprising that time was wasted in concocting elaborate phrases that dropped into nothingness at the slightest touch. In citing the above passage from Commines referring to the treaty, the close of the negotiations has been anticipated. Whether or not any draft of a treaty received the duke's signature, the king's yearning for peace ceased abruptly when his brother's death freed him from the dread of dangerous alliance between Charles of France and Charles of Burgundy. As late as May 8th, he was still uncertain as to the decree of fate and wrote as follows to the Governor of Rousillon:19
"Keep cool for the present I implore you. If the Duke of Burgundy declares war against me, I will set out immediately for that quarter [Brittany], and in a week we will finish the matter. On the other hand, if peace be made we shall have everything without a blow or without any risk of restoration. However, if you can get hold of anything by negotiating and manoeuvring, why do it. As to the artillery, it is close by you, and when it is time, and I shall have heard from my ambassador, you shall have it at once."
Ten days later he is more hopeful.20
"Since my last letter to you I have had news that Monsieur de Guienne is dying and that there is no remedy for his case. One of the most confidential persons about him has advised me by a special messenger that he does not believe he will be alive a fortnight hence.... The person who gave me this information is the monk who repeated his Hours with M. de G[uienne.] I am much abashed at this and have crossed myself from head to foot.
"Written at Moutils-lès-Tours, May 18th."
This prognostic was correct. In less than a fortnight the Duke of Guienne lay dead, and the heavy suspicion rested upon his royal brother of having done more than acquiesce in the decree of fate. Whether or not there was any truth in this charge the king was certainly not heartbroken by the loss. Indeed, the event interested him less than the question of making the best use of the remainder of his truce with Charles. The following letters to Dammartin and the Duke of Milan belong to this time.
"Thank you for the pains you have taken but pray, as speedily as you can, come here to draw up your ordinance for we only have a fortnight more of the truce. I have sent the artillery and soldiers to Angers. Monsg. the grand master, strengthen Odet's forces, do not let one man go, and see to it that the seneschal of Guienne enrols sufficient to fill his company. Then if there are more at large, form them into a body and send them to me and I will find them a captain and pay all those who are willing to stay.
"As to him,21 make him talk on the way and learn whether he would like to enter into an agreement in his brother's name, and work it so that the duke will leave the Burgundian in the lurch at all points for ever, and make a good treaty, as you will know how, for I do not believe that the Seigneur de Lescun left here for any other reason than to attempt to make an arrangement of some kind.
"Now monseigneur the grand master, you are wiser than I and will know how to act far better than I can instruct you, but, above all, I implore you come in all haste for without you we cannot make an ordinance.
"Written at Xaintes, May 28th.
"LOYS."22