During the siege, sir Hector, bastard of Bourbon, as prudent and valiant in arms as any of the king's party, while parleying with Enguerrand de Bournouville, was so grievously wounded in the face by an arrow that he died; and the duke of Bourbon, who much loved his brother, conceived, on account of this act, which he thought was treacherously done, so violent a hatred against Enguerrand, and some others of the besieged, that he prevailed on the king and council to have him beheaded, his head placed on a lance, and his body hung by the shoulders on a gibbet. Many princes and captains, notwithstanding Enguerrand had been their enemy, were greatly displeased at his death, and not without cause, for he was at that time renowned as the flower of the warriors of all France. With him were beheaded sir Pierre de Menau, one of the governors of the town,--and of the inhabitants, master Aussiel Bassuel, advocate, and four other gentlemen, whose heads were put on lances, and their bodies hung in the usual manner on the gibbet. Master John Titet, a wise and learned advocate, by whom all the business of the town had until then been managed, was carried with some others to Laon, and there examined: he was afterwards beheaded, and hung by the shoulders on a gallows. Fifty-one persons were sent to the Châtelet prison in Paris, several of whom were beheaded, such as Gilles du Plessis, knight, and others. Very many of the townsmen, english archers, and soldiers of the garrison were hung on a gibbet without Soissons: others escaped death by ransoming themselves, namely, the old lord de Menau, sir Colart de Phiennes, Lamon de Launoy, Guyot le Bouteiller, and great numbers of gentlemen. Those who had taken them allowed them their liberty, on their promising to send the amount of their ransoms by a certain day, so that the king's justice might not be inflicted upon them. After some days had passed, the king caused to be restored, by some of the pillagers, the bones of many bodies of saints, and divers relics; but all the gold and jewels that had adorned them were gone; and even in this state, many were forced to buy them back for large sums, when they were replaced in the churches from which they had been stolen. Thus was this grand and noble city of Soissons, strong from its situation, walls and towers, full of wealth, and embellished with fine churches and holy relics, totally ruined and destroyed by the army of king Charles and of the princes who accompanied him. The king, however, before his departure, gave orders for its rebuilding, and appointed new officers for the defence and support of it,--who, when the army had marched away, recalled as many as possible of the inhabitants who had fled before it was taken. The king also granted a total abolition of taxes, excepting, nevertheless, those who had been principally instrumental in admitting the Burgundians within their town. FOOTNOTES: