The excesses of the licentious followers of Potton de Xaintrailles and Lahire were worse than those of the English and Burgundians, spite of the four hundred and five livres which had been paid to men-at-arms and archers from the neighbouring garrisons, 'engaged by the city of Reims to guard the surrounding country, in order that the wine might be vintaged and brought into the said city and the vineyards dressed,'[50] and bitter were the complaints addressed in 1433 to the king on the falling off of the wine trade which had resulted therefrom. The ravages of the terrible 'Escorcheurs' led, in 1436, to fresh complaints and to an additional duty on each queue of 'wine of Beaune, of the Marne, and of other foreign districts' sold wholesale at Reims, the receipts to be spent in warlike preparations and on the fortifications. Some of this went to Lahire as a recompense for defending the district from 'the great routs and companies' that sought to invade it, he having, presumably on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief, been made Bailli of Vermandois. In troublous times like these it was necessary to secure the good will of men in power and authority, and hence the town records comprise numerous offerings of money, fine linen cloths, and wine given to various nobles 'out of grace and courtesy' for their good will and 'good and agreeable services, pleasures, and love.' Madame Katherine de France (the widow of Henry V.), the Chancellor of France, the Constable Richemont, Lahire (Bailli of Vermandois), the bastard Dunois, the Archbishop of Narbonne, the Count de Vendôme, and many other nobles and dignitaries, were in turn recipients of such gifts; and the visit of King Charles the Victorious, in 1440, was celebrated by their profuse distribution.[51] [Illustration: CULTIVATION OF THE VINE AND VINTAGING IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY (From a /MS./ of the Propriétaire des Choses).]