they ordered a strong detachment to break down a sea-dyke, which being done, would drown the whole of that country; but the duke having timely notice of this, sent thither the court de St. Pol with a large body, who made such diligence that he came up with the enemy before they could effect their purpose, and discomfited them, with the loss of more than five hundred men: the rest saved themselves by flight; and what damage had been done to the dyke was repaired.

The count marched back to the duke, and found that the duke's nephew, John duke of Cleves, had arrived during his absence with a handsome body of German men-at-arms and cross-bows, at which the duke was exceedingly well pleased. Charles count de Charolois, legitimate son to the duke, had also arrived when he was absent on the last expedition.

CHAPTER XLIV. -THE BATTLE OF RUPELMONDE, WHERE THE GHENT MEN ARE DEFEATED BY THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY,

On the 6th day of June, in this same year 1452, the duke of Burgundy marched from Dendermonde with his whole army, to invade the country of Waes. He formed his army into three divisions: the van he gave to the count de St. Pol, who was accompanied by his two brothers, sir Corneille the bastard, the lord de Saveuses, sir James de Lalain, and others. The duke commanded the centre, having with him his son, the knights and esquires of his household, and a part of the Picards: the count d'Estampes and the duke of Cleves, his sonin-law, had the command of the rear division. This arrangement being made, he marched toward Rupelmonde, which the Ghent men had strongly fortified, and were there waiting his coming with plenty of artillery and warlike stores, to defend a bulwark they bad cast up in front of the place.

When the duke was near to Rupelmonde, he was fearful that if the Ghent men should discover his whole strength they would not issue out of their intrenchments; and to deceive them as to his numbers, he detached a considerable body to observe the countenance of the enemy, to skirmish with them, and to draw them out into the plain. In the meantime he advanced his whole army in three divisions, but in close order, for greater security, so that the Ghent men could not see more than the first division, or at least what appeared to be such. The Ghent men observing the detachment, and the van of the army, which was not far behind, not imagining there were any more, insolently issued forth from their intrenchments to attack them; but in pursuance of the duke's orders, his men immediately wheeled round and fled. The Ghent men pursued until they fell in with the duke's army, drawn up in battle-array, and the archers dismounted. The battle now raged, and the Ghent men made good use of their culverins; but they could not withstand the arrows of the Picards, and, turning about, fled. The men-at-arms followed, and the slaughter was dreadful. It happened in the pursuit, that sir Corneille, the bastard, was attacked by a Fleming, who thrust his pike into his throat, which unluckily was unguarded, and killed him on the spot: it was a great loss, from the promising expectations he had given of his future worth.

The Ghent men were defeated, and two thousand five hundred were left dead on the field: the rest retreated to a large village called Acre, which they had strongly fortified with trenches and ramparts. The duke, having collected his men together, began his march back, but not before he had his son, the bastard, raised from the ground, and sent off with many honours to Brussels, where he was interred in the church of St. Gudule.

CHAPTER XLV. -THE GHENT MEN WHO HAD FLED TO ACRE ABANDON THE PLACE: IT IS
BURNT BY THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY. THE KING OF FRANCE SENDS AMBASSADORS

TO THE DUKE IN FLANDERS, TO RESTORE PEACE TO THAT COUNTRY.

ON the morrow of the battle of Rupelmonde, the lord de la Vere, a Hollander, and knight-companion of the Golden Fleece, and the lord de Launoy, then governor of Holland, came to offer their services to the duke of Burgundy, bringing with them three thousand combatants, mostly cross-bowmen. The duke was well pleased with them; but remembering the death of his son the bastard, whom he greatly lamented, he commanded all the villages in the country of Waes to be set on fire, and, in consequence, very many villages were burned; but as several of them contained only poor people, the inhabitants came in great numbers to beseech their lord's mercy, barefooted, and in all humility. The good duke had pity on them, and ordered the fires to cease. The duke then marched to Acre, where the Ghent men were in great force; but they were afraid to wait his coming, and abandoned the place, on which the duke had it burned to the ground.

While these things were going forward, the king of France sent an embassy to the duke, and appointed the count de St. Pol, then with the duke, as the head of it, who went to meet the other members at Tournay, where they were grandly feasted. The count returned to the duke, to know when and where it would be agreeable for him to see them: he appointed Dendermonde, whither he went for the purpose, leaving his army in the country of Waes. The ambassadors remonstrated with the duke on his present conduct; and added, that the king was astonished that he could thus destroy Flanders, which was a dependence on his crown; for that the Ghent men, out of revenge, and through pride, might ally themselves with the English, and admit them into Ghent, to the great prejudice of his kingdom. They exhorted him to make peace with Ghent, if possible; and ordered him, in the king's name, to put an end to the war.

The duke made answer, in person, that he was no way afraid of the English being admitted into Ghent; and that for no man living would he make peace with his rebellious subjects until they had submitted themselves to his will; for by the aid of God and of his good friends, he would force them to submission, if they would not submit by fair means. The ambassadors, on hearing this answer, did not make any reply for the present; but they obtained from the duke, at their entreaties, and out of respect to the king, that he would consent to a truce for three days, and give passports to such of the Ghent men as might choose to come to him and treat of a peace.

This being done, the ambassadors, with the exception of the count de St. Pol, went to Ghent, where they were received most honourably. They informed the townsmen, assembled in numbers at the town-hall, of the commission they had been entrusted with by the king of France, and the remonstrances they had in consequence made to the duke of Burgundy, and his answer. The Ghent men, on hearing this, said, that indeed their lord was too hard and merciless to them; that he wanted to deprive them of their privileges, which they would never suffer to be done; and told the ambassadors, that if they had nothing more to say, they might leave the town instantly. They therefore immediately departed, and returned to the duke of Burgundy.

CHAPTER XLVI. THE CUTLER OF GHENT IS MADE PRISONER IN BATTLE. THE GHENT
MEN ARE DEFEATED. THEY ARE AGAIN DEFEATED AT HULST AND MOERBEKE.

THE French ambassadors had scarcely left Ghent, when upward of five thousand men in arms issued forth to combat the duke's army wherever they could meet it. They had chosen for their leader a cutler of Ghent, a large heavy man, who had boasted that he would overcome the duke; and his townsmen promised, that if he should succeed they would make him lord of Waes, and indeed of all Flanders. They marched for Hulst, a large village, in

which was Anthony, bastard of Burgundy* with a strong force of well-tried men-at-arms, thinking to surprise him ; but he had received intelligence of their coming, and advanced out to meet them. A sharp engagement took place, when they were defeated, with the loss of full three thousand men, and the cutler and several of the Ghent men were taken. The bastard sent them to his father the duke, who had them all hanged or strangled, because they would not ask his pardon; and such was their obstinate hatred to him, that although they were promised mercy if they would ask it, they refused. This was surely a wonderful sign of obstinacy!

Those who had escaped from this battle, to the amount of two thousand, fled to Moerbeke, wherein was a large company of their townsmen, then besieged by the Hollanders, ignorant of this defeat at Hulst. On seeing such numbers approach, the Hollanders drew up in battle-array, and attacked them with such effect with their cross-bows that many were slain. In the mean time the bastard, who had pursued them, now came up; and they were so severely handled that of the two thousand, few, if any, escaped death or being made prisoners. The garrison of Moerbeke, witnessing the discomfiture of their countrymen, abandoned the town and fled to Ghent; so that when sir Anthony de Bourgogne and the Hollanders were preparing to attack the intrenchments, they found them empty and entered the place without resistance, which they plundered of everything worth taking away, and then set the town on fire.

The duke of Burgundy was at this time at a large village called Hoiguemustre†, in the country of Waes. The French ambassadors found him there on their return from Ghent, and told him all they had seen and heard in that town; on which the duke swore that he would never make peace with them until they should submit unconditionally; and that if they would not do so by fair means he would force them to it, or die in the attempt. Without longer delay he departed for Axel, which he conquered, and the whole of the country of Waes, and thence he approached Ghent, and fixed his quarters at a place called Longpont, not far from the town. When those in Ghent saw this, they sent to the French ambassadors to request them to obtain passports from the duke, for a deputation to wait on him to propose articles for a peace.

The good duke, at the request of the ambassadors, and in compliment to the king of France, granted passports, but told the messengers from Ghent that he would never conclude any treaty with them until they had submitted themselves and their town to his will. While this was passing, the duke's army made daily excursions to the gates of Ghent, burning and destroying houses, mills, and farms around, without mercy. In addition to these miseries there raged in Ghent an epidemical disorder, which carried off such numbers that it was terrible to hear of it: insomuch that those who remained, fearful of worse happening to them, sent to solicit the ambassadors to return to their town, which they did,— and, having assembled in the market-place, displayed the passports from their lord, and desired that all who wished for peace would stand apart, and the others on the contrary side. This was done, and the party for peace amounted to only seven thousand, while those on the opposite side were upwards of twelve thousand. The ambassadors, observing so great a difference, desired them to assemble again on the morrow, when they would endeavour to bring about an agreement between them; but on the morrow only those who wished for peace appeared. They desired that the ambassadors would return to the duke with a deputation from them, to endeavour to mediate a peace by any possible means. The ambassadors so far prevailed that the duke consented to a truce of six weeks, on condition that the men of Ghent would deliver to him good and sufficient hostages (if during this term peace could not be effected), to indemnify him for the loss he should incur by disbanding his army and the expense of raising another, and for the due payment of the garrisons he should leave round Ghent, and in Courtray, Oudenarde, Alost, and Dendermonde, during these six weeks. It was also stipulated, that no provision should enter Ghent in the mean time, but that what long line of descendants. See the genealogical tables of Pontus Heuterus.

Anthony, second of the illegitimate sons of duke Philip, by Jolante de Presle, was lord of Beveren, and married Mary de Viefville, by whom he had two sons, the lords of Vere and of Chapelle, and from these followed a

+ Hoiguemustre. Q. Waesmustre?

was already therein must supply their wants; nor was anything to enter the principal towns of Flanders without leave first had at the gates.

It was agreed that the conferences for peace should be holden at Lille, and that the deputies from Ghent should not amount to more than fifty. These preliminaries being settled, the truce was proclaimed throughout the duke's army; and he then gave permission for his men-at-arms to return to the places they had come from, excepting such as he had left in garrison in the towns aforesaid. The duke went to Brussels, and his ministers to Lille. The ambassadors from France sent a herald to proclaim the truce in Ghent; but as his attendant was dressed in a surcoat of the arms of the duke, namely, the cross of St. Andrew, he was seized by the populace, as he was leading his horses to water, and instantly hanged, out of pique to the duke, and by way of revenge for the death of the cutler. The herald returned in safety, but very much frightened.

CHAPTER XLVII. - THE ARTICLES PROPOSED BY THE AMBASSADORS FROM

FRANCE AS THE GROUNDWORK FOR A TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN THE MEN OF GHENT AND THEIR LORD, BUT WHICH ARE NOT AGREED TO BY THOSE IN GHENT.

On the 22d day of July, in the year 1452, the men of Ghent sent a deputation of fifty commissioners to Lille to treat of a peace with the ministers of the duke of Burgundy and the ambassadors from France: they were also accompanied by master John de Poupincourt, advocate in the parliament. The duke refused at first to attend the conferences, and each party delivered in writing to the ambassadors their separate proposals; but at the entreaty of the ambassadors and his ministers the duke set out from Brussels, and arrived at Lillé on the 27th of August. When the deputies saw that the time for the expiration of the truce was near at hand, they were afraid to remain longer, and returned to Ghent, leaving behind only two heralds and an interpreter. Notwithstanding the departure of the deputies, the French ambassadors soon after gave judgment respecting their dissensions with the duke, and sentenced the men of Ghent to perform the following articles before they obtained peace. They were ordered, in the first place, to close up the gate by which they had marched out to besiege Oudenarde once every week, on the same day they passed it.—Item, the gate by which they had marched to the battle of Rupelmonde was to be shut up for ever.—Item, they were to lay aside their white hoods, as having been their badge of rebellion.-Item, foreign merchants should no longer be amenable to the bye-laws of Ghent, but only to those of the town and banlieue.-Item, no one should be in future banished the town without the cause being specified, which had not been done before.—Item, as to the new regulation of the laws, four noble persons, officers of the duke, and four of the municipality, shall be selected for this purpose; and whereas formerly four-and-twenty persons formed the municipality, twelve of whom were always chosen from the company of weavers,—this shall now be abolished.

:

Item, whereas, when any troubles existed in the town, the banners of the trades were displayed, and the populace assembled in the market-place it is ordained that such proceedings be abolished, and that the banners be placed in a coffer fastened with five locks,— one key shall be delivered to the bailiff of Ghent,-the first sheriff shall have another,—the high deacon of trades the third,—and the other two shall be given in charge to two discreet persons elected by the townsmen,-and there shall be no more assembling in the marketplace. Item, neither the sheriffs nor any gentleman in Ghent shall issue public mandates in their names.—Item, the whole of the municipality, the deacons, governors, and two thousand of the commonalty, shall advance half a league out of the town, clad only in their shirts, and humbly on their knees beg pardon of their lord, saying, that they had wickedly and wrongfully made war against him their lord, for which they crave his mercy.-Item, should any of the duke's officers henceforth misbehave, his offence was not to be cognizable by the municipality, but it must be referred to their lord and his council.

Item, whereas formerly the municipality of Ghent had usually extended their government over the country of Waes, Alost, Dendermonde, and Oudenarde,-it was ordered that the

VOL. II.

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said ambassadors should, within the year, make a reformation, either by new ordinances or by resigning their jurisdiction altogether.-Item, to satisfy their lord for his expenses in this war, they were to pay him two hundred and fifty thousand riddes *.

Such was the sentence of the ambassadors on those of Ghent,-who, however, notwithstanding their promises, refused absolutely to abide by it.

CHAPTER XLVIII. THE GHENT MEN RECOMMENCE THE WAR AGAINST THEIR LORD, AND BURN HULST.-A FRENCH HERALD ESCAPES FROM GHENT.

THE two heralds and their interpreter returned from Lille to Ghent, and the proposed articles for a peace with the duke of Burgundy were publicly read to the people. Great murmurings arose; and they said that their lord was too hard upon them, and that the conditions were not to be borne. They separated, however, without declaring positively against them, nor yet assenting to them, and in this state they remained for about a fortnight.

During this time, some of the most turbulent assembled in numbers, and chose for their captain a wicked fellow called the bastard of Blanc-Estain,—and they styled themselves Companions of the Verde Tente. Having well armed themselves, they sallied forth out of Ghent one night, and advanced to Hulst, a large village that had surrendered to the duke. On their arrival, they lighted torches and brands to deceive the inhabitants, and make them believe they intended to storm the place on that side, who indeed hastened thither in a body to defend themselves; but in the mean time these cunning rogues gained an entrance, without opposition, on the opposite side, and put to death all they met. They plundered the town completely, set it on fire, and returned with their booty to Ghent.

The ambassadors from the king of France were impatiently waiting at Lille, to know whether the Ghent men would abide by the articles of peace. Wondering they received no intelligence from Ghent, they sent thither a herald, with letters to the principal inhabitants, to learn their will. The herald, on coming to his lodgings, entreated his host to assist him in the delivering of his letters; but the host had compassion on him, and told him, if he valued his life, not to mention to any one the cause of his coming, for, were it known, he would infallibly be put to death. He would not suffer him to quit his chamber the whole day, and, on the morrow, gave him his servant to escort him to the gates, bidding him say to the porters, if any questions were asked him, that he was a French merchant returning to Antwerp; and, for better security, made him put on his coat the wrong side outward. The herald, very much alarmed, believed all his host had said, and set out very early, before the gates were opened. On coming to them, he was asked who he was, and replied, a French merchant returning to Antwerp. They asked for something to drink; and, as he was untying his purse, the gates were opened; on seeing this, he put spurs to his horse, and galloped through without paying anything, but he did not think himself safe until he was arrived at Lille. He related to the ambassadors all that had passed, who, finding that the Ghent men would not adhere to their promises, took leave of the duke and returned to king Charles, carrying with them six thousand golden riddes, which the noble duke Philip had presented to them for their trouble.

The duke was ignorant of the capture of Hulst, until the Ghent men had taken and burned Axel. They would have gained Alost, had not sir Anthony de Wissoc, the governor for the duke, made so gallant a defence that they were repulsed. On their return to Ghent, they burned all the villages that acknowledged the duke's government, and put men, women, and children to death without mercy.

* Riddes-worth 5s. in Flanders, 3s. in Gueldres.