About this time, the lord de l'Esparre was arrested, for having, contrary to his oath, gone to England, and induced king Henry to send over troops to reconquer the Bordelois. Although his treason had been manifest, nevertheless the king, at the last capture of Bordeaux, being alway full of mercy, had pardoned him, on condition of his being banished Guienne and the Bordelois. However, by the instigation of the devil in hell, he had attempted, under colour of a passport, to restore those countries to the English, as a more false and wicked traitor than before. But as the Scripture says, that every thing wicked, however secretly done, is at length discovered and punished, so this came to the king's knowledge, and, as I have said, he was arrested and carried prisoner to Poitiers, where, on being tortured, he confessed his guilt, and was judicially condemned. He was then delivered to the executioner, who smote off his head and quartered his body, which was hung up at different places, as is usual in such cases, to serve for an example to all others. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 183: There must be a mistake here: the duke of York did imprison Somerset, but Glocester was a Yorkist.] [Footnote 184: Pope Nicholas was said to have died of grief for the capture of Constantinople. He had reigned eight years nineteen days.] [Footnote 185: Alfonso Borgio, cardinal-bishop of Valencia in Spain, his native country. He took the title of Calixtus III.] CHAP. LX. THE MARRIAGE OF THE COUNT DE CHAROLOIS WITH THE LADY ISABELLA OF BOURBON.--THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY RETURNS FROM GERMANY, AND IS MOST HONOURABLY RECEIVED IN THE TOWNS OF LILLE AND ARRAS. On the last day of October, in this same year, and when the duke of Burgundy was returned from Germany, his son, the count de Charolois, espoused, in the town of Lille, his cousin-german the lady Isabella of Bourbon, by dispensations from the holy church, on account of their nearness of kindred. The duke, being in Burgundy, was not present at the wedding, but the duchess was. The marriage was so sudden that many said the count knew nothing of it until the preceding day: his father would have it so, and strictly ordered him to comply, which he did like a good and obedient son. Some said, that it was against his conscience to marry so near a relative; but others, that he would rather have married the daughter of the duke of York, and, by this alliance with England, have some claim to that crown. Whatever truth may be in these reports, he married to please his father, and behaved to his cousin in so honourable a manner that no married couple could behave better; and it was currently said, that after his marriage, he knew not any other woman. During the absence of his father in Germany, he had the regency of his states, and governed them with equity: he was only too prompt to believe the first reports that were made to him, which is a misfortune generally attached to great lords.