in those parts was aggravated by a swarm of “Brabantines,” or foreign mercenaries,[55] probably brought in by Henry at an earlier time, and now roving about the land and preying on it wholly at their own will and pleasure. There was no one to control either Brabantines or barons, since Richard’s withdrawal and Eleanor’s imprisonment had left Aquitaine without any resident governor at all, till in the winter Richard went back to put himself single-handed at the head of affairs. We hear of him as far south as Bordeaux, where he was no doubt sure of a welcome from Archbishop William, and secured the support of another great churchman, the abbot of S. Cross, by confirming the privileges of the abbey.[56] He tried to win to his cause the rising town of La Rochelle; but in this he failed; the townsfolk shut their gates in his face.[57] He soon, however, had under his command a considerable force of knights which [Sidenote: 1174 c. _May 12_] at Whitsuntide 1174 seized the city of Saintes. Henry was then at Poitiers; at the head of a body of loyal Poitevins he marched upon Saintes and drove out the intruders,[58] and recovered possession of several other rebel fortresses.[59] The hopes of young Henry and Louis had broken down both in Aquitaine and in Normandy. In England they broke down still more completely; and the failure of the rebellion there led to the reopening of negotiations for peace. Some ten or fifteen years later a bitter enemy of Henry II described the characters of young Henry and of Richard both at once in the form of a comparison, or rather contrast, between them.[60] The contrast showed itself even in the ill-omened first stage of their political and military careers. Throughout the rebellion of 1173-4 the young king was a mere tool—and a very inefficient one—in the hands of Louis. At the instigation of Louis he had entered upon the war, and at the dictation of Louis he was ready to accept terms of peace. Geoffrey was apparently contented with a similar position; but not so Richard. Eleanor might have made a tool of her second son, but no one else could do so. It was not for love of either young Henry or Louis that he had sided with them, and not at their behest [Sidenote: 1174 _Sept. 8_] would he give up the struggle. On his seventeenth birthday the kings met at Gisors; but “they could not come to a settlement because of the absence of Count Richard, who at that time was in Poitou, making war on the castles and men of his father.” The conference ended in a truce till Michaelmas,[61] on the understanding that meanwhile Henry should subdue Richard by force without hindrance from Louis, young Henry, or their adherents. Richard was not yet hardened enough to contemplate fighting his father in person; “when King Henry was come into Poitou, his son Richard dared not await him, but fled from every place at his approach, abandoning all the fortresses that he had taken, not daring