692 F R A 
fidelity by a marriage with Mary of Savoy, the filter of 
his queen. 
The death of Philip duke of Burgundy, in 1467, de¬ 
volved his fpacious dominions on his fon Charles count 
of Charolois. That prince had reluCtantly fuffered the 
brother of the king to be difpoffeffed of the duchy of 
Normandy ; and had beheld, with a lively jealoufy of 
the growing power of Louis, the ineffectual efforts of the 
duke of Brittany to reftore him. With Francis he therefore 
entered into a fecret treaty ; but the king, dreading the 
confederacy, concluded an inftant peace, by contenting to 
allow his brother Charles duke of Normandy, but who 
was now (imply (tiled Monfieur, an income fufficient to 
maintain the dignity of his birth ; and defirous of availing 
himfelf of his fuperior addrefs in negociation, he deter¬ 
mined on a perfonal interview with the duke of Bur¬ 
gundy. Peronne, a town of Picardy, was appointed as the 
place of conference; and Louis, attended by a (lender 
train, entered the hoftile walls. Intent on deceiving his 
rival, and improvident of his own fecurity, he thus com¬ 
mitted himfelf to the faith of a prince whom he had in¬ 
variably endeavoured tb delude ; even common prudence 
i'eems for a moment to have deferted a mind which teemed 
with every wily ffratagem. The duke of Burgundy re¬ 
ceived the king with every mark of diftindtion ; but the 
concourfe of Burgundian knights, and other avowed ene¬ 
mies of Louis, who daily arrived, awaked too late the 
apprehenflons of the monarch ; his fears plunged him 
into an error hill more dangerous than that which his 
prefumption had fuggefted ; for his immediate fecurity, 
he requefted he might have apartments afligned him in 
the caftle ; and thus voluntarily delivered himfelf a pri- 
foner at the difcretion of his old competitor Charolois, 
now duke of Burgundy. 
Previous to the interview, the king, whofe grand cbjcdt 
w'as to keep the duke conftantly employed in domqftic 
wars, had lent agents privately to Liege, to induce the 
inhabitants to a revolt by his promife of protection. In¬ 
flamed by his arts, a confiderable number of the Liegeois 
aflembled privately at Tongres, where the bifliop of Liege 
and the lord d’Himbercourt, a Burgundian officer of high 
eltimation, were quartered with two thoufand men ; the 
confpirators fuddenly furprifed the town, captured the 
bi(hop and the governor, and maffiacred their train; and, 
after fatiating ihemfelves with (laughter, retired with 
their prifoners to Liege. The intelligence was quickly 
conveyed to the duke of Burgundy ; and the pafiions of 
Charles, always impetuous, were on this occalion height¬ 
ened to fury. In a tranfport of rage he reproached Louis 
with his breach of faith, commanded the gates of the 
caftle to be (hut and ftriCtly guarded, and denounced 
vengeance againft the perfidious monarch who had de¬ 
ceived him. Louis, now in the hands of his mortal ene¬ 
my, furrounded with people who detefted him, and flint 
lip in the very fort where the count of Verntandois had 
confined his anceftor Charles the Simple, underwent by 
anticipation all the horrors of an ignominious death. 
Yet in this perilous crifis his art never forfook him ; lie 
diftributed large funis of money among thofe officers 
whofe opinions were rood likely to influence the duke of 
Burgundy ; and endeavoured by Iplendid prefents and 
promifes to allay the refentment of his enemies. Three 
days he paffed in this date of painful fufpence, while 
Charles, without deigning to vilit him, maintained an in¬ 
dignant lilcnce. At length his rage abated ; and on the 
fourth morning he propofed to the king the conditions 
which he had fixed as the price of his freedom. 
The duke of Burgundy ftipulated for Charles, the bro¬ 
ther of the king, the counties of Champagne and Brie, 
in lieu of the duchy of Normandy of which lie had been 
defpoiled; and he inli(ted on the prefence of Lotiis, 
while he avenged the late maffiacre at Tongres, and chaf- 
tifed the revolt of the inhabitants of Liege. The two 
princes, in 1468, formed the fiege of that city ; the walls 
had been partly deftroyed in the afiault of the preceding 
N C E. 
year; but the breaches were heroically defended by the 
citizens. Hopelefs of pardon, they made a mod: daring 
fally, and penetrated to the very quarters of the king 
of France and the duke of Burgundy. For a moment 
the deftruCtion of both Louis and Charles appeared 
inevitable ; and it was not without the mod ftrenuous 
efforts of perfonal valour, that they at length repelled 
their enemies. Liege was carried by ftorm ; the city was 
devoted to the flames; and the citizens atoned by their 
blood for the cruelties which they had pradtifed at Ton¬ 
gres. Thus was Louis XI. compelled to contribute his 
afliftance to the reduction of the unhappy people whom 
he had excited to revolt, and to witnefs the puniftiment of 
a crime which he himfelf had fuggefted ! 
Louis was now permitted to return to Paris, where he 
had no fooner arrived, than he had recourfe to his former 
arts to extricate himfelf from every engagement lie had 
made. The fudden and myfterious death of Charles, the 
king’s brother, was an event fo defirable to Louis, as to 
occafion an univerfal fufpicion of his having haftened it 
by poifon. A variety of ftrong circumftances corrobo- 
rated the public opinion. The abbot of St. John d’An- 
geli, who was feized as the inftrument of this atrocious 
deed, was found, in the morning appointed for his trial, 
ftrangled, and lying dead in his cell ; and it was com¬ 
monly believed that the king had not hefitated to con¬ 
ceal the firft crime, by the perpetration of a fecond. 
With a conduCt equally dark and defigning, he procured 
documents tending to trace the authors of his brother’s 
fate to be brought before him ; he even appointed com- 
miftioners to enter upon their examination ; but this tri¬ 
bunal was not allowed to come to any decifion, although 
the members of it were rewarded by Louis, who eagerly 
feized Guienne, his brother’s domain; and, in 1471, 
united it to the crown of France. 
The indignation and refentment of the duke of Bur¬ 
gundy were aroufed by this wicked and deplorable facri- 
fice of his friend and ally. Fie entered into an immediate 
treaty with Edward IV. of England ; and they agreed to 
unite their arms in making a powerful invafion on France. 
A league was formed, in which Edward ftipulated to 
pafs the feas with an army exceeding ten thoufand men, 
and to invade the French territories ; Charles promifed 
to join him with all his forces. The king of England 
was to challenge the crown of France, and to obtain at 
lead the provinces of Normandy and Guienne ; the duke 
was to acquire Champagne, and Come adjacent diftriCts, 
and to free his dominions from homage; neither party 
was to make peace without the confent of the other. The 
intereft of the duke of Brittany they naturally concluded 
would induce him to join (heir ftandard ; and the count 
de St. Pol had fecrctly engaged to receive the Englifti 
into St. Quintin, and into the other towns which he oc¬ 
cupied on the Somme. The (ituation of Louis was at 
lead delicate, if not dangerous; and he was preferved 
from the ftorm equally by his own dexterity, and the in- 
diferetion of his adverfaries. The king of England, in 
1474, paffed over to Calais with an army of fifteen hun¬ 
dred men at arms, and fifteen thoufand archers ; but the 
impatient temper of the duke of Burgundy could ill 
brook the delay which attended the levying fo formidable 
a force. Enamoured of new defigns, he had engaged in 
a quarrel with the whole Germanic body, by laying fiege 
to the town of Nuiz on the Rhine ; and while he perti- 
nacioufiy adhered to this enterprife, he in vain endea¬ 
voured to excufe his breach of treaty, and to extort the 
approbation of his ally to a meafure fo fatal to their mu¬ 
tual interefls. Yet Edward advanced into Picardy, in ex¬ 
pectation that the conftabie would at lead have performed 
his promife, and delivered into his hands the town of 
St. Quin tin; but St. Pol, by a doutle treachery, de¬ 
ceived his allies, and enabled Louis to diffiolve a league, 
which if it had been (iriCtly maintained, might have re¬ 
newed the difaftrous events of Crecy and Agincourt. 
Louis, fenfible of his inability to oppofe this confede¬ 
racy 
