At the Christmas feast, which he kept at Talmont—a favourite hunting seat of the Poitevin counts, on the coast near La Rochelle—Richard “showed himself lavish in the distribution of gifts.”[219] Some of these were probably rewards to vassals who had kept their allegiance during the recent war; others may have purchased the withdrawal from the country, or the permanent enlistment under the ducal banner, of some of the mercenary leaders whom it was needful to dispose of in one way or the other, if the ducal government was to be carried on at all. The various bands of Routiers, left suddenly without employers by the submission of Aimar of Limoges, the death of young Henry, and the collapse of the league, had scattered in all directions. Raymond “the Brown” seemingly went into the Angoumois; on August 10 (1183) he was slain at Châteauneuf.[220] One large body under Curbaran swept across Berry into the Orléanais, only to be almost destroyed at Châteaudun on July 30 by the “Peace-makers,” a sworn brotherhood formed among the country folk to resist the marauders and restore peace to the land.[221] Curbaran himself was among the prisoners, who were all hanged.[222] Sancho was still in the Limousin with his followers; and Curbaran’s place seems to have been taken by a man who in the “tongue of _oc_” bore the name of “Lo Bar,”[223] a name which, transmuted by northern speakers into “Louvrekaire” or “Lupicar,” was in later days to be closely associated with the last struggle of the Angevins to keep their hold on Normandy. The privilege of private warfare, which was [Sidenote: 1183-4] the most cherished birthright of the barons of Aquitaine, enabled Aimar of Limoges to supply Lobar and Sancho and “a countless host” with occupation which they supplemented by harrying monasteries from Yssandon to Orleans, and ravaging “the king of England’s lands” in the Limousin and La Marche. Richard evidently suspected, perhaps knew, that in this last matter the hand of Aimar was with them. It is at this juncture that the most famous of all the Routiers of the period, Mercadier, first appears in Richard’s service. “Under the protection of the duke Mercadier and his troop dashed across Aimar’s territory, and on the [Sidenote: 1184] first day of the second week of Lent (1184) cruelly ravaged the town of Excideuil and its suburbs” are almost the last words that have come down to us from the chronicler who thus far has been our chief authority for the history of Aquitaine under duke Richard.[224]