Gaguin was sent on an embassy on this subject to England, in company
with the lord Francis de Luxembourg and Charles de Marigny[111].
However, after all, the french army, under their king, was victorious,
more especially at the battle of St Aubin[112], while the king was at
Laval, when the Bretons and English were totally routed, with very
great slaughter. The French gained the field of battle,--and for two
leagues around, nothing was to be seen but dead bodies. Near to where
the battle was fought was a wood in which the Bretons had lodged a
great deal of gunpowder; and thinking that the French would attempt
posting an ambuscade therein they played their artillery, which set
fire to this powder, and it blew up, to the great astonishment of the
French, who, by Divine Providence (the true Protector of the French
blood) had not entered this wood. The explosion alarmed a stag, who ran
out of the wood, with eyes full of tears, and made for the french army
as for a place of refuge.
It should be noticed, that prior to the engagement, large flecks of
pies and jays were seen to fight with such obstinacy in the air, at a
place called La Croix de Malere, that when victory declared for one
party, the roads and fields were covered with the vanquished, which
seemed to the French a very extraordinary circumstance.
After the battle of St Aubin, a pursuit took place, when many prisoners
were made, and others driven to seek shelter in some of their strong
places, to save their lives. The French in consequence of their
victory, conquered the greater part of Brittany.
The principal lords of Brittany now began to consider on the means
of establishing a lasting peace with the king of France; and as they
thought his projected union with the lady Margaret of Flanders was not
agreeable to him, since war with Maximilian her father had hitherto
been the only fruits of it, they proposed that he should marry the
duchess Anne of Brittany,--and by this means that duchy would be firmly
united to the crown of France, and would form an alliance of the utmost
utility to all parties.