At this period, the king of France sent ambassadors to the duke of Burgundy, who, beside what they delivered to him in speech, gave him the letters which the duke of Orleans had written to the king, containing his charges against him and his accomplices. He was much displeased at this conduct, and made reply by these ambassadors, that the charges brought against him by the duke of Orleans were untrue. When he had received the ambassadors with every honour, he took leave of them, and went to his county of Flanders: and they returned to Paris without any satisfactory answer to the matters concerning which they had been sent. It was not long before the duke of Burgundy raised a large body of men at arms, whom he sent into the Cambresis, and toward St Quentin; but immediately after, by orders from the king and council, he dismissed them to the places whence they had come. On the 15th day of July, master John Petit, doctor of divinity, whom the duke of Orleans had intended to prosecute, before the university of Paris, for heresy, died in the town of Hesdin, in the hôtel of the hospital which the duke of Burgundy had given him, beside large pensions, and was buried in the church of the Friars Minors in the town of Hesdin. At this time, a tax was laid on the clergy of France and of Dauphiny, of half a tenth, by the pope, with the consent of the king, the princes, and the university of Paris, and the greater part of the prelates and cities, to be paid by two instalments; the first on Magdalen day, and the second at Whitsuntide following. It was so rigorously collected that the poorer clergy complained bitterly. During this transaction, and while the duke of Burgundy was resident in his town of Bruges, on Saturday the 10th of July, sir Amé de Sarrebrusse, sir Clugnet de Brabant, and other captains of the duke of Orleans, came, with a numerous body of men at arms, before Coucy, in the Vermandois, and Ham sur Somme. News of this was soon carried to the duke of Burgundy, who, suspecting they intended to invade and make war on his territories, gave commissions to several of his captains, namely, the lord de Heilly, Enguerrand de Bournouville, the lord de Ront, and some others, to march a body of men at arms towards Bapaume and Ham, to oppose the Armagnacs, should they attempt to penetrate further into the country. During this time, the duke of Orleans and his brothers continued their solicitations for justice, and again sent letters to the king, princes, cities, and prelates, to engage them to unite with them in obtaining the object of their petitions. The tenour of the letter they wrote to the king is as follows. CHAP. XXVII. THE DUKE OF ORLEANS AND HIS BROTHERS SEND LETTERS TO THE KING OF FRANCE, TO OTHER LORDS, AND TO SEVERAL OF THE PRINCIPAL TOWNS IN FRANCE, TO COMPLAIN OF THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.