THE DUKE OF MILAN IS MURDERED.--THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THE
BURGUNDIAN ARMY, AND DEATH OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY, BY THE VICTORIOUS
DUKE OF LORRAINE, BEFORE NANCY.--THE REDUCTION OF THE COUNTRIES AND
TOWNS THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY HAD USURPED FROM FRANCE, SUCH AS ARRAS,
HESDIN, &C.--SEVERAL BEHEADED IN ARRAS, CAMBRAY, AND IN OTHER TOWNS.
In the month of December, and during the feasts of Christmas, the
duke of Milan[68] was unfortunately assassinated by a gentleman of
that country. He had accosted him in the great church of Milan, under
pretence of speaking with him, while he was walking there with a
foreign ambassador, and had thrust his knife through the slashes of his
robe, three or four times, into his lower belly--so that he fell down
instantly dead, without saying a word. The cause of this action was,
that the gentleman, his relatives and friends had employed all their
money to purchase a vacant abbey for one of their kindred,--and the
duke had deprived him of it, to bestow it on another, and would not
suffer their relative by any means to enjoy it. The gentleman, having
made many fruitless requests to the duke on this business, determined
to put him to death, which he did as above related.
Had this gentleman failed, he had a companion bent on the same
business, who would have killed the duke of Milan, because he had
detained his wife as a mistress against her inclinations. By the judges
and nobles of Milan, it was resolved that the whole of the families of
these two persons, males and females, should be put to death, wherever
they should be found,--their habitations demolished, and razed to the
ground,--all their possessions destroyed,--and even their trees bearing
fruit should be pulled up by their roots; and this sentence was carried
into execution!
In the month of December, the lady Agnes of Bourbon departed this
life, at the castle of Moulins, in the Bourbonnois. She was the widow
of the late prince Charles duke of Bourbon and of Auvergne, by whom
he had a noble issue, as well males as females,--namely, the present
noble prince John duke of Bourbonnois and Auvergne, who married the
most excellent princess Jeanne of France, eldest daughter to the late
king Charles of France; Louis lord of Beaujeu, who died young; Charles
archbishop of Lyon, primate of France and cardinal of Bourbon; Pierre
lord of Beaujeu, married to the eldest daughter of the present king
of France; the prince bishop of Liege; the lord James who died at
Bruges; the lady Jeanne, married to the prince of Orange lord of Arlay;
the lady Margaret, married to Philip of Savoy lord of Bresse[69].
The defunct lady had long lived a holy life, and her loss was much
regretted and bewailed by her children, family and friends, and by all
the inhabitants of the Bourbonnois and Auvergne,--and may her soul be
blessed! Her remains were interred in the church of Souvigny.
The duke of Burgundy, as before related, had marched to besiege the
town of Nancy, and had reduced it to such distress, by famine, that
negotiations were opened for its capitulation. But on the eve of
Epiphany, the duke of Lorraine arrived with twelve or fourteen thousand
Swiss and Germans to raise the siege, combat the Burgundians, and
secure Nancy.
Four days before his arrival, which was on the 5th of January, the
count of Campo Basso, the lord Ange, and the lord de Montfort, quitted
the duke of Burgundy, and abandoned his camp,--and, prior to the
battle, the count of Campo Basso carried away with him full nine score
men at arms. On the Saturday following, the other two captains, before
named, took with them six score men at arms, who were all resolved
to turn to the french party,--but this was kept secret on account of
the existing truce; and it was ordered, by those to whom they had
addressed themselves, that, for the present, they should march into
Lorraine. This was done, with the exception of a party which remained
for the guard of Condé[70], on the Moselle, through which place all the
provisions for the Burgundian army passed, from the vale of Metz and
the country of Luxembourg.
The count of Campo Basso[71] joined the duke of Lorraine, and informed
him minutely of the exact state of the burgundian force. On this day,
the 4th of January, the duke of Lorraine arrived at St Nicholas de
Varangeville with his reinforcement of Swiss, who amounted, from an
account taken, to ten thousand five hundred. Of Germans, there were
also many, beside Lorrainers and other fighting men.
On Sunday, the 5th, the duke of Lorraine dislodged, about eight in
the morning, and marched the Swiss to Neuville, and beyond a pond,
when they formed their army in array. The Swiss were formed in two
divisions; the one commanded by the count d'Abstain and the governors
of Fribourg and Zurich,--the other, by the governors of Berne and
Lucerne. About midday, the whole began to advance,--one division along
the river side, and the other on the great road leading from Neuville
to Nancy.
The duke of Burgundy had already drawn up his army in battle-array
without his camp, having in front a rivulet that was by the hospital
called La Magonne, between two strong hedges, and between him and the
Swiss. On the great road by which the other division of the Swiss was
advancing, he had posted the main body of his artillery. Thus, as the
two divisions of the Swiss were advancing, the Burgundians fired on
them when within cross-bowshot, and did them some mischief; but that
division which had taken the main road, wheeling through a small wood,
fell on the duke of Burgundy's flank.
While this was passing, the duke ordered his archers, who were on foot,
to wheel and front the Swiss, and formed two wings of his men at arms
to give them battle,--one wing under the command of Jacques Galiot, an
italian captain, and the other under sir Josse de Lalain, high bailiff
of Flanders. When the Swiss found themselves on the duke's flank, and
on higher ground, they made as desperate a charge as ever men made,
discharging, on their advance, their portable culverins. This discharge
(which was not like a tax-gatherer's) threw the duke's army into
confusion, and was followed by their flight.
This division of Swiss now attacked the wing commanded by Jacques
Galiot, and defeated it instantly. The other wing, under sir Josse de
Lalain, had advanced on the Swiss, but were so courageously received
that the infantry were soon put to flight, and followed by the cavalry
as fast as spurs could make them. They made for the bridge of Bridores,
half a league from Nancy, and on the road to Thionville and Luxembourg.
But here their hopes of passing were destroyed by the treachery of
Campo Basso, who had barricaded the passage of this bridge with carts
and waggons, and was with his men drawn up under arms on the opposite
side; so that when the Burgundians were thus checked and overtaken
by the Lorrainers, who followed at their heels, they were forced to
attempt fording the river,--and there the slaughter was much more than
on the field of battle, for such as attempted to pass the river were
either killed by the Swiss or drowned: very few escaped death, or being
made prisoners.
Some, on noticing this ambuscade of Campo Basso, fled to the woods: but
they were pursued by the peasants,--and for four leagues round nothing
was to be seen but dead bodies. The pursuit after the Burgundians
lasted during two hours after nightfall; and the duke of Lorraine
inquired, on all sides, what was become of the duke of Burgundy;
whether he had fled, was slain, or made prisoner: but at that moment
no one could answer his questions. The duke of Lorraine, on this,
dispatched a confidential servant to John Dais, town-clerk of Metz, to
learn if the duke of Burgundy had passed through that town; and on the
morrow, John Dais sent for answer, that assuredly he had not passed
that way,--and that no one knew what was become of him, for he had not
taken the road to Luxembourg.
On the morrow, Epiphany-day, the count of Campo Basso brought to the
duke of Lorraine a page, who had been made prisoner, named Baptiste, a
native of Rome, and of the Colonna family, in the employ of the count
de Châlon a Neapolitan, who was with the duke of Burgundy. On being
interrogated, the page led a large company of Lorrainers to the place
where the duke of Burgundy lay dead[72], and naked, with fourteen
others in the same state, but at some distance from each other. The
duke had received a blow from a halbert on the side of his head,
above the ear, which had pierced to his jaw: a pike had been thrust
through his thighs, and another pike had passed through his fundament.
This body was known to be the duke's from six marks: the first, and
principal, was the loss of all his upper teeth, which had been caused
by a fall: the second, by the scar of a wound that he had received on
the right side of his throat at the battle of Montlehery; the third,
by his long nails, which he wore of a greater length than any other
person of his court: the fourth, by a scar of a carbuncle, which he
had formerly had on his shoulder; the fifth, by an ulcer at the lower
part of his belly, on the right groin,--and, sixthly, by a nail that
was wanting to one of his toes. By all these marks, he was acknowledged
to be the duke of Burgundy by his own physician, a Portuguese, named
Matthieu, and also by the grooms of his bed chamber, the great bastard
of Burgundy, sir Olivier de la Marche, his chaplain, and others of his
court, prisoners to the duke of Lorraine.
The body having been so clearly ascertained to be that of the duke
of Burgundy, it was carried into Nancy, washed and cleaned, and then
placed on a table, and dressed in a vesture of cloth from the neck to
the feet, with a pall of black velvet over the body, in a dark chamber
hung with black velvet. Under his head was a pillow of black velvet;
and at the four corners of the table were large lighted tapers, with
the crucifix and holy water at his feet.
While he lay in this state, the duke of Lorraine came to see him,
dressed in mourning, and wearing a large golden beard, that descended
to his girdle, in imitation of the ancient Preux, and in honour of the
victory he had gained over him. Having taken one of his hands from
under the pall, he said,--'May God receive your soul! You have done
us many and grievous injuries and vexations.' After-which, he took
some holy water and sprinkled it over the corpse. All who pleased
now entered to see him; and the duke of Lorraine had him handsomely
interred, and caused a solemn service to be said over him.
In consequence of the death and defeat of the duke of Burgundy and
his army, the duke of Lorraine and his captains held a council, and
determined instantly to enter the duchy and county of Burgundy, and
other parts under the dominion of the late duke, to reduce them to
the king's obedience, which was accomplished without any resistance.
Those of the country of Auxerre submitted also, and took the oaths of
allegiance to the king.--In this battle, the greater part of those who
had accompanied the duke were slain. The great bastard of Burgundy was
made prisoner, whom the duke of Lorraine afterwards carried to the king
of France in Picardy. The bastard Baldwin of Burgundy and several other
great lords were also taken prisoners.
The king of France being assured of the death of the duke of Burgundy,
and the events that had subsequently taken place, left Tours on a
pilgrimage of devotion. He returned by Chartres Villepreux[73] and
Aubervilliers[73], to Nôtre Dame de la Victoire, and thence to Noyon
and Compiégne. In this interval, very many of the places that had
been occupied by the duke of Burgundy, were surrendered to him; such
as Mondidier, Peronne, Abbeville, Montrieul sur mer, and others near
to Arras. But those in this last town, at first, refused to submit,
and fortified themselves with men at arms, provisions and artillery.
Many agents were sent by them to the king, who at last succeeded
in obtaining a truce; during which, the king made the greatest
preparations of gens d'armes, artillery, and of warlike stores, that
had been seen, waiting the determination of those in Arras--whether
they would submit peaceably, or renew the war. To defray the expenses
of so large an armament, the king borrowed great sums from Paris and
the other principal towns in his kingdom.
The king, however, found means of gaining possession of the city
of Arras[74], into which he made his entry on the 4th of May, and
fortified it more strongly against the town of Arres,--into which
a number of persons attached to the burgundian party had thrown
themselves, and even many from those towns that had lately submitted
to the king, who, though for the most part adventurers, and without
any leader of note had strengthened the fortifications, and uttered
daily blasphemies against the king. To these they added all manner
of insults,--such as erecting gibbets in the town and on the walls,
on which they hung his badge of the white cross, showing their naked
posteriors to him, and other indecencies.
During these insulting follies, some of the inhabitants of the town
waited on the king, to endeavour to obtain a pacification; and although
these adventurers had persevered over long in their impudence, the king
agreed to accept the submission of those in Arras, as offered to their
sovereign lord, for neglect of proper homage and of different dues;
and that the revenues of the said towns should be collected by his
commissioners, and in his name, until the princess of Burgundy should
have performed her homage by proxy. The king also promised not to send
any body of men at arms into the town of Arras without the consent of
the inhabitants.
These matters being settled, the king sent into the town the lord
cardinal of Bourbon, the lord chancellor, sir Guiot Pot bailiff of the
Vermandois, sir Philip de Crevecoeur lord Desquerdes, governor of the
said town, with other nobles, to receive the oaths of the inhabitants
of Arras; but while this was doing, some of the townsmen rebelled, and
came in arms to the abbey of St Waast, where the cardinal and the other
lords were at dinner, bawling out, 'Kill, kill them!' The commissioners
were more frightened than they had ever been in their lives,--but at
this time no mischief happened.
When they returned to the city of Arras, the king departed to
celebrate Easter at Therouenne. He thence went to Hêdin, when the
town surrendered: but some pillagers of the Burgundy-party seized on
the castle, against which the king ordered his artillery to play, and
a wide breach was soon made; but as the royalists were preparing to
enter it, those within surrendered on having their lives and fortunes
spared, and on being permitted to march away in safety.