I had forgotten to say, that during the long siege of Metz many vigorous sallies were made by the garrison, but courageously repulsed by the besiegers. Several small castles were won by the king's troops without interrupting the business of the siege. One belonged to a gentleman called William Chance, governor of Harfleur. Two or three were held by the duke of Burgundy's men, but no attempts were made on them, because they had been given by the king of Sicily to the duke of Burgundy, as pledges for the payment of his ransom which was still owing to the duke. The governor of Metz was a very cruel man, called John Vitout, who, during the siege, rode a small courser, having at his tail a bell which made a great noise. He did this that all might hear and know when he was riding about the town. This governor was very severe on all women who left the town to ransom their husbands that had been made prisoners by the French; for on their return, he had them drowned, because they had supplied the enemy with money. He put to death, without mercy, all french prisoners, and would not hear of a ransom or exchange. Nevertheless, the king was so benign a prince that he wished not his death nor that of his accomplices, but granted them most handsome terms of surrender. The heavy articles of the capitulation were a handsome present of gilt plate, two hundred thousand crowns for the expenses of the siege, and the acquittance of one hundred thousand florins of gold which king Réné and his predecessors had borrowed from them. On these terms they preserved all their rights and privileges from any innovation; and their quarrel with the king of Sicily remained undetermined, nor were any further measures taken towards bringing it to a conclusion. When this matter had been settled, and during the stay of the king at Nancy, he ordered a general muster of all the troops who had marched into Germany, and of those who had served at the siege of Metz, from whom five[131] hundred of the best-appointed lances and four thousand archers were to be selected. The remainder of his army he disbanded and sent to their homes, at the same time breaking the greater part of their captains, retaining only fifteen of the most experienced,--to each of whom he gave the command of one hundred lances, and a proportionate number of archers. This was intended for a permanent establishment, to be quartered in different towns in the kingdom, and to be fed and paid in so ample a manner that for the future no soldier was to be suffered to plunder at his pleasure the country farmers or villages, as had formerly been done. When this ordinance had been carried into effect, the king and his court went to Châlons, and there remained some time.