[Footnote 31: The parts of the castle marked red are those taken by the Burgundians; those marked black are still retained by the defenders. At _a_ is marked the breach in the barbican; at _b_ the filling up of the fosse and the first breach made in the curtain; at _c_ the second breach. At _o o_ are seen the Burgundian posts established on the night of the 6th and 7th of June; at _x_ the outline of the subterranean passage of the refuge postern of the donjon; at _z_ the quarry; at P the route traversed by Pierre Landry and Eleanor's escort; at R their place of concealment, and at S the point where they were got into the castle by means of a rope.] [Footnote 32: See Fig. 45.] [Footnote 33: See Fig. 45.] [Footnote 34: See Fig. 45.] [Footnote 35: See Fig. 45.] CHAPTER XI. _THE FIRST DEFENCES AGAINST FIRE ARTILLERY._ King John had possessed himself of the duchy of Burgundy and united it with the crown; he resigned it in favour of his son Philip, who, as is well known, had distinguished himself on the fatal day of Poictiers. From that epoch till the time of Charles the Bold, the duchy had remained in the hands of the descendants of King John; and although the dukes of Burgundy were very warlike, and had formed a league with the English against the crown of France, in consequence of the quarrel that arose in 1400 between Philip and the Duke Louis d'Orleans, brother of Charles VI., the duchy was relatively at peace, while the north of France, as far as the Loire, was in the power of foreigners. After the death of Charles the Bold before Nancy, King Louis XI. lost no time in despatching to the province of Burgundy La Trémoille, baron of Craon, who, acting in concert with the Prince of Orange, soon reduced the whole province into subjection to the king of France; this was in 1477.