duke's archers. When Coustain saw so many archers, he began to fear the consequences: nevertheless, they all rode together through the town of Brussels,-but when they came into the open country, the lord d'Auxi made John Coustain dismount from his war-horse, and mount a small hackney that he rode; which alarmed Coustain more than before, and instantly the lord d'Auxi put his hand on his shoulder and declared him prisoner to the duke, and then pushed forward, without any stopping, until they came to Rupelmonde. They were scarcely arrived before the count de Charolois came and took possession of the tower in which John Coustain was confined.

Shortly after, Anthony bastard of Burgundy, the bishop of Tournay, the lord de Croy, and the lord de Goux, came thither. No one spoke to John Coustain but the above, and in the hearing of the count de Charolois. When they were assembled, John d'Juy was ordered before them, and related, in the presence of John Coustain, how he had bargained with him to purchase poisons, which he had brought to him,-after which, he had refused to pay him the sum agreed on for so doing. To confirm what he had said, he produced, not one, but many letters to this purpose, written and signed by Coustain. Notwithstanding these proofs, Coustain denied the whole of the charge, and loaded d'Juy with many reproaches. At length, however, without being tortured, he acknowledged that all was true,—and added, that he himself had been twice in Piedmont since Christmas in the year 1461, to procure poisons, but without success. For that purpose, he had indeed bargained with John d'Juy, as he had said; but added, at first, that it was not to poison the count de Charolois, but in order that the count might have him in his good graces, and not deprive him of his place, or of anything appertaining to him, should the duke chance to die: at last, he owned that the poisons were intended for the count, and that he had proposed to give them at a banquet, which would take place about the middle of August,-which poisons being taken, he would not live longer than twelve months afterward.

When John Coustain had made this confession, he was taken, on the Friday following, to the highest tower of the castle to be beheaded; and while there, he earnestly begged that he might say a few words in private to the count, who, on being informed of it, consented,— ~ and he was some time in conversation with the prisoner alone. None of those present heard what was said; but they saw the count cross himself at almost every word Coustain told him, which caused it to be supposed that he was accusing others in the hope of lessening his own crimes. He entreated the count that his body might not be quartered, but buried in consecrated ground. After this conversation, he was immediately beheaded.

John d'Juy was then called; and the count asked him whether, if Coustain had kept his promise of payment, he would have informed against him. On his replying that he would not, the count ordered him to be beheaded also.

The fortune of the said Coustain, amounting to more than three hundred thousand francs in the whole, was declared confiscated to the duke, but he, out of his noble and benign nature, gave them back again to the widow and her children. It was afterward commonly reported, that this Coustain had poisoned the good lady of Ravenstein, because she had blamed his wife for her pomp and extravagance, which was equal to that of a princess.

CHAPTER CVI.-THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY CAUSES A NUMBER OF ROGUES AND VAGABONDS TO BE EXECUTED IN HIS COUNTRY OF ARTOIS. THE DEATH OF THE ABBOT OF ST. TAUNTING REPLIES MADE BY THE LORD DE

VAAST AT ARRAS. OTHER EVENTS.
CHIMAY TO THE KING OF FRANCE.

THE duke of Burgundy was at length informed of the mischiefs that were doing in his country of Artois by the dependants of different lords, whom the bailiffs, and other officers of the duke, were afraid to arrest or punish, lest they should be ill-treated themselves. In consequence of this, the bailiffs of Amiens, of the Cambresis and of Orchies, entered the town of Arras as secretly as they could, by two and three at a time, having with them about fifty horse of the body-guard of the count d'Estampes, governor of Picardy, and took possession of different inns. They showed their orders from the duke, which commanded

them to arrest and execute all those who had acted so criminally, to whatever lord they might belong, even were they dependants of those of his blood. It is, therefore, to be believed, that had the good prince earlier received information of their wickedness, he would sooner have provided a remedy; but he was surrounded by some who wished not that the truth should come to his ears. When the above-mentioned bailiffs were come to Arras, they sallied out in the night to the places where they expected to meet these rogues; some they arrested, but many fled and hid themselves. They then advanced into the country, and laid hands on several of bad fame, whom they hanged on the trees by the road-side, and this time performed a good exploit.

On the 15th day of September, in this year, died the abbot John du Clerc, abbot of St. Vaast in Arras, whose death was much bewailed by the poor; for he was exceedingly charitable, and had governed the abbey for thirty-four years more ably than any abbot had done for the two hundred preceding years, as was apparent from the church and different buildings which he had ornamented and restored in many parts, having, on his election, found them in ruins. Among many good deeds, he did one worthy of perpetual remembrance; namely, when corn was so dear in the year 1438, that wheat sold for ten francs the septier, or five francs the mencault of Arras, which prevented the poor from buying any, he opened the granaries of his abbey, that were full of corn, and ordered it to be sold to the poor only, at twenty-eight sols the mencault, and but two bushels to be delivered to any person at a time; so that, if the famine should continue, his corn might last longer. He built the entrance-gate to the abbey, and the nave of the church, and managed the revenues of his abbey better than any abbot had done, and added greatly to them. When he died, he was eighty-six years old. May God pardon and show mercy to his soul!

About this period the lord de Chimay returned from France, whither he had been sent by the duke of Burgundy, respecting some differences that had arisen between him and the king of France. The most important was, as it was said, that the king wanted to have it proclaimed through the territories of the duke that no one should afford aid or support, in any way whatever, to king Edward of England; which the duke would not allow to be done, considering that not only a truce existed between him and king Edward, but that he was favourably inclined towards him. King Louis wanted also to introduce the gabelle, or salt duty*, into Burgundy, which had not been done for a very long time; and this the duke likewise refused to permit to be done.

For these and other matters, the lord de Chimay had been sent to remonstrate with the king, and to entreat that, out of his love to him, he would desist from pursuing them further; but the lord de Chimay was long before he could obtain an audience, and would perhaps have waited longer, but one day he stood at the king's closet-door until he came out. On seeing the lord de Chimay, he said to him, "What kind of a man is this duke of Burgundy? is he of a different stamp † from the other princes and lords of my realm?" "Yes, sire," replied the lord de Chimay (who was of a bold and courageous character), "the duke of Burgundy is indeed of another sort of metal than the other princes of your realm, or of the adjoining realms; for he received and supported you against the will of king Charles, your father, whose soul may God pardon! and contrary to the will of others, whom this his conduct displeased,—and he did that which no other prince would have dared to do!"

On hearing these words, the king was silent, and, without making any reply, entered again into his closet. Some said that the count de Dunois then approached the lord of Chimay, and asked how he dared thus speak to the king: when he answered, “If I had been fifty leagues off, and had supposed that the king would have said to me what he has done respecting my lord and master, I would have instantly returned to make him the answer I did." He then set out for Brussels, to make his report to the duke of Burgundy.

* Heuterus adds, that it was the purpose of the king, with the profits of the gabelle to have redeemed the lands on both sides of the Somnie, which were assigned to the duke by the treaty of Arras.

The question, as stated by Heuterus, was, "Solidiori e materia boni ne corpus coagimentatum foret, quam ceterorum principum ?" To which Chimay is made to

answer, "Imo: nam nisi id ita foret, quomodo te patris iram fugientem recipere, &c. &c., ausus fuisset ?" The king was greatly confounded, and from this time said no more about the gabelle; but the duke of Burgundy, by the advice of the lords of the house of Croy, and to the great displeasure of his son, shortly after gave up the towns on the river Somme, as mentioned in chap. 110.

CHAPTER CVII.

THE DUCHESS OF BOURBON COMES TO RESIDE WITH HER BROTHER THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY. THE KING OF FRANCE GRANTS SUCCOURS TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND.-OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED IN DIVERS PARTS.

At this time the widowed duchess of Bourbon came to visit the noble duke of Burgundy, accompanied by three or four of her sons and two of her daughters; for she had had by her late husband six boys and five girls. The eldest son, John, succeeded his father in the dukedom; the second was married to a daughter of the king of Cyprus, but died of leprosy before he went thither; the third, Charles, was archbishop of Lyons, on the Rhône, and abbot of St. Vaast, at Arras; the fourth, named Louis, was bishop of Liege; the fifth was lord of Beaujeu, and married to a daughter of the duke of Orleans; the sixth, James, died when young.

Of the daughters, one was married to the duke of Calabria, by whom she had a fair son, but died shortly after the second married her cousin-german the count de Charolois, and had only a daughter, when the good lady died: the third espoused the duke of Gueldres, nephew to the duke of Burgundy: another was afterwards married to the lord d'Arquel † ; and another was then to be married; for the duke of Burgundy, their uncle, had always very earnestly promoted the advancement of his friends and relatives.

About this period the king of France sent two thousand combatants to England, to the aid of queen Margaret, under the command of the lord de Varennes, high seneschal of Normandy, who, under the late king's reign, had governed everything, and it was reported that king Louis had given him this command for the chance of his being slain : nevertheless, he bore himself well, and conquered several places, in the expectation of being joined by the duke of Somerset, who had promised to come to him with a large body of Scots and others; but he failed; for he had found means to make his peace with king Edward, who had restored to him his estates and honours. The French were now besieged in the places they had won

* Q. Peter, lord of Beaujeu, was married to Anne daughter of Louis XI. This might be a second marriage; but I do not find it so in the genealogical tables which I have consulted.

Here is a double mistake in the genealogy. Catherine, third daughter of the duke of Bourbon, married Adolphus, son of Arnold duke of Gueldres, who was himself duke of Gueldres after his father's death in 1473, and might, during his father's lifetime, have been sometimes styled the lord of Arckeln, which lordship came into his family

by the marriage of his grandfather John count of Egmond with the heiress of Arckeln and Gueldres. The connexion of the families of Gueldres and Cleves with each other and with the house of Burgundy will be better understood by the following table, which will also explain, at one view, the mode by which the duchy of Gueldres passed successively by marriages into the families of Juliers, Arckeln and Egmont, and the county of Cleves into that of Marck, and how the younger branch of Cleves came into possession of the county of Nevers.

John d. of
Burgundy.

Philip the
Bold, d. of
Burgundy.

Mary, one of
the daughters
of Burgundy.

Philip the
Good, d, of
Burgundy.

John d. of C. (married the heiress of Nevers.)

John II. &c.
(d. of Cleves.;

by the earl of Warwick, and were glad to return to France with their lives spared. All were not so fortunate, for many were slain or captured in the different skirmishes that had passed between them*.

The duke of Burgundy now sent one hundred men-at-arms and four hundred archers to the aid of the bishop of Mentz, who was engaged in a destructive warfare with one of the princes of Germany, insomuch that the extent of three or four days' journey of the flat country was burnt and totally ruined.

On the 21st day of November in this year, was an eclipse of the sun; and shortly after there were tiltings and other entertainments at Brussels, in honour of the arrival of the duchess of Bourbon, and of her children, whom she had brought with her. Το these feasts the duke of Burgundy came with great pomp, and most superbly dressed. About the same time the count de Charolois had three men and an apothecary imprisoned at Brussels; which three men had caused the apothecary to make three images of wax, of the form of men and women; three of each for some sort of sorcery, and even, as it was said, touching the said count de Charolois. This was found out from the apothecary telling some of the count's servants what he had made, and that those who had ordered them would do wonders with them; that they would make these images talk and walk, which would be miraculous in short, so much was said that it came at length to the ears of the count, who ordered the three men to be arrested, who belonged to the count d'Estampes. The apothecary was also arrested, but soon set at liberty, because he was ignorant for what purposes these images had been made. A gentleman of the household of the count d'Estampes fled, but was retaken and carried prisoner to Quesnoy-le-Comte in Hainault: his name was Charles de Noyers. It was rumoured that these four persons had been closely interrogated, and had confessed wonderful things; but they were kept so secret that few knew what to say about them. The prisoners, however, remained very long in confinement.

:

CHAPTER CVIII.-OF THE MANY DIFFERENT EVENTS THAT HAPPENED DURING THE COURSE OF THIS YEAR.-OF THE HARD FORTUNE OF MARGARET QUEEN OF ENGLAND.

[A. D. 1463.]

On the 19th of April this year, after Easter, died master Robert le Jeune, governor of Arras, aged ninety-two years. He began life as an advocate at Amiens, and was afterward retained of the council of king Henry V. of England, who made him a knight, and gave him great riches. After the death of king Henry, the duke of Burgundy made him bailiff of Amiens, in which office he governed so partially towards the duke and the English, that he put to death, by hanging, drowning, or beheading, upwards of nineteen hundred persons, and many more of the French party, called Armagnacs, than of the other; for which the populace of Amiens so much detested him that he dared not longer abide there, but went to Arras, of which place the duke of Burgundy made him governor! In whatever place he resided, he managed so well for his own interest that his two sons became great and rich lords. One of them was bishop of Amiens, and afterward bishop and cardinal of Therouenne, the richest of all the cardinals, but he died when only forty years old, and it was said that his death was hastened by poison. The other son was a knight-at-arins, and a considerable landholder, who had the greater share of the government of the duchess of Burgundy's household, and afterward of that of her son, the count de Charolois. The daughter of sir Robert le Jeune was nobly and richly married.

The 6th day of July the duke of Burgundy came from Bruges to Lille, where he had not been since his severe illness the preceding year. The townsmen received him with greater honours than at any former time; for a procession of upwards of four hundred of them went

*Henry says, that the French fleet appeared off Tinmouth; that many of their ships were driven on shore near Bamborough in a storm; that the French took shelter in Holy Island, where they were attacked and beaten by

VOL. II.

a superior force; that sir Pierre de Brézé, their commander, and the rest, saved themselves in Berwick.-Hist. of England, A.D. 1461.

U

out of the town to meet him, with lighted torches in their hands, not to mention the principal burghers, who went out in numbers The streets were all hung, and illuminated so brilliantly that it appeared like noon-day, and many pageants and mysteries were exhibited, although it was late, and the night very dark. In this state was the duke escorted to his hotel.

Duke Philip, ever anxious to fulfil the vow which he had made in the town of Lille, in 1454, to attack the Grand Turk, and drive him back to his own territories beyond the Straits of St. George, would most cheerfully have gone thither in person, had he not feared that, during his absence, the king of France would attack and perhaps conquer his country. For this reason, therefore, he sent a notable embassy to pope Pius, the principal of which were the bishop of Tournay, the lord de Montigny * and the lord de Forestel, knights, to learn the will of the pope respecting his vow, which, as has been said, he was unable to accomplish, making offer, in lieu thereof, to send six thousand good combatants at his own costs and charges against the Turk, in any way the pope might be pleased to order.

I must mention here a singular adventure which befel the queen of England. She, in company with the lord de Varennes and her son, having lost their way in a forest of Hainault, were met by some banditti, who robbed them of all they had. It is probable the banditti would have murdered them, had they not quarrelled about the division of the spoil, insomuch that from words they came to blows; and, while they were fighting, she caught her son in her arms and fled to the thickest part of the forest, where, weary with fatigue, she was forced to stop. At this moment she met another robber, to whom she instantly gave her son, and said; "Take him, friend, and save the son of a king." The robber received him willingly, and conducted them in safety toward the seashore, where they arrived at Sluys, and thence the queen and her son went to Bruges, where they were received most honourably. During this time, king Henry, her husband, had retired into the strongest parts of Wales.

The queen left prince Edward at Bruges, and went to the count de Charolois at Lille, who feasted her grandly, whence she set out for Bethune, to hold a conference with the duke of Burgundy. The duke, hearing that large reinforcements of English were landed at Calais, sent a body of his archers to escort her from Bethune to St. Pol, where he went to meet her, notwithstanding he knew well that she had never loved him; but, according to his noble nature, he received her with much honour, and made her rich presents. Some said that he gave her two thousand crowns of gold, and to the lord de Varennes one thousand, and to each of the ladies that attended on the queen one hundred crowns: he had her also escorted to the country of Bai, which appertained to her brother the duke of Calabria. The queen repented much, and thought herself unfortunate, that she had not sooner thrown herself on the protection of the noble duke of Burgundy, as her affairs would probably have prospered better!

CHAPTER CIX.-THE KING OF FRANCE GIVES THE COUNTY OF GUISNES TO THE LORD DE CROY. THE COUNT D'ESTAMPES QUITS HIS ATTACHMENT TO THE HOUSE OF BURGUNDY.OTHER EVENTS.

DURING this year of 1463, king Louis of France made a progress through his kingdom, to examine into the state of it. On his return to Paris, he caused proclamation to be made by sound of trumpet, that he had given to the lord de Croy the county and lordship of Guisnes, having before this made him grand-master of his household. The lord de Croy had at this time left the house of Burgundy and resided with the king, which seemed to many very strange,--for the lord de Croy had been brought up and educated by the duke and his family, and had been better provided for than any others, being first chamberlain and principal minister to the duke, and had acquired by his services from forty to fifty thousand francs of landed rent, besides the advancement of all his friends, so that there was none like to him in that whole country. If he had been in the good graces of the duke, he enjoyed

Simon de Lalain, lord of Montigny, who died in 1478, was the father of Jodocus, lord of Lalain and Mon

tigny, governor of Holland, who was killed at the siege of Utrecht in 1483.