‘For this I am very thankful; and I most earnestly pray you, for your own honour, for that of the queen and of the duke of Acquitaine, as well as for the honour of your kingdom, that you would do good and fair justice, by causing these guilty persons to be arrested and punished, since they are equally your enemies as mine,--and that you would not longer admit to your presence and councils the partisans of the duke of Burgundy, but select in their places good, loyal, and able men, such as may be found in abundance in your kingdom. ‘When these things shall be done, I will then, under God’s pleasure, send you such answer, that you may clearly know my inmost thoughts, and which shall prove satisfactory to God, to yourself, and to the world. For the love of God, I pray you, my most redoubted lord, do not neglect doing this; otherwise I see plainly, that whatever supplications or requests I make to you will never be attended to, although they be conformable to reason and justice, and that you will be prevented from acting in the manner you have proposed, through your ambassadors to me, nor shall I be able to do what they have required from me on your part. ‘Therefore, my most redoubted lord, I beg you will not disappoint me; for what I have required is but just and reasonable, as will be apparent to any one. My very dear lord, may it please you to order me according to your good pleasure, and, with the will of God, I will obey you faithfully in all things.’ When the duke of Orleans had sent this letter to the king, he wrote others of the like tenour to the chancellor of France, and to such of the ministers as he knew were favourable to him, to entreat that they would earnestly exert themselves in pressing the king, queen, and duke of Acquitaine, to dismiss those of the council who governed under the name of the duke of Burgundy, and whose names have been already noticed,--and that he might obtain justice on the murderers of his late father. Notwithstanding the many attempts he made by repeated letters to the king and to others, he could not at that time, through the interposition before mentioned, obtain any answer which was satisfactory. CHAP. XXVI. THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF BAR.--THE KING OF FRANCE SENDS AN EMBASSY TO THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY,--AND OTHER MATTERS. In this year died that valiant and wise man Henry duke of Bar, and was succeeded by his eldest son Edward, marquis du Pont, in the duchy of Bar and castlewick of Cassel, excepting a part which he had bequeathed as an inheritance, after his decease, to Robert de Bar, son to the deceased Henry de Bar, his eldest son, and to the lady de Coucy, namely, Varneston, Bourbourg, Dunkirk and Rhodes[68]. In consequence of his death, Edward was styled Duke of Bar, and began his reign prosperously.