It was rumoured that this banquet would be free to all comers, like an open court, and that it would cost more than ten thousand crowns of gold. On the morrow, the managers of the feast dispatched purveyors nine leagues round Ghent, to collect every delicacy they could lay hands on, so that a small chicken was sold for two patars[239]. Toward the end of April, the king of France sent ambassadors to the duke of Burgundy, to signify to him that he intended to give judgement on the duke of Alençon on the 10th of the ensuing month of June, in the town of Montargis, and to summon him to attend at the above place and time with the peers of France, of whom he was one, and dean of the said peers, and also to consider on other matters touching the welfare of the realm. The duke instantly replied to these ambassadors,--'Although my lord the king, by the treaty of Arras, has no right to command me in any thing, and notwithstanding I am personally exempted from my dependance on him, nevertheless, I will, if it please God, be personally present at the time and place he has fixed on, to give sentence on the duke of Alençon, and respecting the matters touching the welfare of the kingdom of France.' When the ambassadors, on receiving this answer, were departed, the duke sent Golden Fleece, the king at arms of his order, to king Charles, to deliver a certain message he charged him with. He then had it proclaimed in all his great towns, that all who had been accustomed to bear arms, and by their fiefs and oaths were bounden to serve him, should prepare themselves to be in readiness to accompany him, the first day of June, on his journey to the king of France at Montargis, whither he had been by him summoned to attend; and it was his intention, if it pleased God, to appear there with the greatest possible force he could raise. On the other hand, the king of France had ordered the arriere ban of his realm to hold themselves in readiness the first of June,--which made many suppose that a renewal of war was about to take place; and it was currently reported in France that these preparations were made to oppose the English, who were intending to invade France. During this interval, those of Utrecht rebelled against their bishop, which caused the duke of Burgundy, his father, to send sir Anthony his bastard to Holland, with eight score lances, and from seven to eight hundred archers. But the rebels, hearing of this, made up their quarrel, and returned to their obedience to the bishop as before; and this armament marched back to the duke of Burgundy. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 239: Patart,--a low-country coin, worth about one penny English.----_Cotgrave._] END OF VOL. IX. H. Bryer, Printer, Bridge-street, Blackfriars, London. NOTES AND EMENDATIONS. Page 5. line 7. from the bottom. _Household._] Charles lord de Culant and Chateauneuf, elder brother of the marshal de Jaloignes, mentioned p. 335, was appointed grandmaster of France in 1449.