On the morrow of the battle of Rupelmonde, the lord de la Vere, a Hollander, and knight-companion of the Golden Fleece, and the lord de Launoy, then governor of Holland, came to offer their services to the duke of Burgundy, bringing with them three thousand combatants, mostly cross-bowmen. The duke was well pleased with them; but remembering the death of his son the bastard, whom he greatly lamented, he commanded all the villages in the country of Waes to be set on fire, and, in consequence, very many villages were burnt; but as several of them contained only poor people, the inhabitants came in great numbers to beseech their lord's mercy, barefooted, and in all humility. The good duke had pity on them, and ordered the fires to cease. The duke then marched to Acre, where the ghent men were in great force; but they were afraid to wait his coming, and abandoned the place, on which the duke had it burnt to the ground. While these things were going forward, the king of France sent an embassy to the duke, and appointed the count de St Pol, then with the duke, as the head of it, who went to meet the other members at Tournay, where they were grandly feasted. The count returned to the duke, to know when and where it would be agreeable for him to see them: he appointed Dendermonde, whither he went for the purpose, leaving his army in the country of Waes. The ambassadors remonstrated with the duke on his present conduct,--and added, that the king was astonished that he could thus destroy Flanders, which was a dependance on his crown, for that the ghent men out of revenge, and through pride, might ally themselves with the English, and admit them into Ghent, to the great prejudice of his kingdom. They exhorted him to make peace with Ghent, if possible, and ordered him, in the king's name, to put an end to the war. The duke made answer, in person, that he was no way afraid of the English being admitted into Ghent,--and that for no man living would he make peace with his rebellious subjects until they had submitted themselves to his will; for, by the aid of God and of his good friends, he would force them to submission, if they would not submit by fair means. The ambassadors, on hearing this answer, did not make any reply for the present; but they obtained from the duke, at their entreaties, and out of respect to the king, that he would consent to a truce for three days, and give passports to such of the ghent men as might choose to come to him and treat of a peace.