While the king and the duke were at the castle of Hêdin, a grand embassy arrived there from England,--the chief of which was a bishop[26], brother to the earl of Warwick, and from three to four hundred horsemen handsomely dressed and equipped. Before they departed from Hêdin, the duke had sent repeated messages to his son, the count de Charolois, then in Holland, for him to come and pay his respects to the king,--but he refused, saying, that so long as the count d'Estampes and the lord de Croy were with the king (as they then were), he would never appear before him. He knew in what great favour they were with the king; and it was currently reported, that it had been through the counsels of the lord de Croy that the duke had consented to the reimbursement for the towns on the Somme, which was contrary to the will of the count de Charolois, and very prejudicial to his future interests. It was also said, that the king, during his residence at the castle of Hêdin, had well considered its situation and strength, as the key of the county of Artois, and had demanded it from the duke, offering, in exchange, the towns of Tournay and Mortagne[27], with some other places; but the duke would not listen to it, thinking such offers were made more to his hurt than otherwise. When the king departed from Hêdin, on the 19th of October, the duke attended him to a considerable distance; and it was said, that the duke, on quitting him, made several requests, and, among others, entreated that he would not turn out his officers from the places to which he had appointed them, in the several towns that were now become the king's,--all of which the king granted, but did not fulfil; for he instantly removed some of the officers in Abbeville, and made the inhabitants and gentlemen in the neighbourhood renew their oaths to him, although many of them had served the duke of Burgundy from their youth; but the king made them swear to serve him against all other men whatever. He deprived the lord de Saveuses of his government of the cities and towns of Amiens, Arras, and Dourlens, and gave it to the lord de Launoy, nephew to the lord de Croy, who was then governor, for the duke of Burgundy, of Lille, Douay, and Orchies. The king also gave him the government of Mortagne, dismissing from it the lord de Hautbourdin, bastard de St Pol, and made him bailiff of Amiens, instead of the lord de Crevecoeur. In addition to all these places, the king settled on him a yearly pension of two thousand livres. All these favours heaped on the lord de Launoy astonished every one; for he had commenced his career of fortune under the house of Burgundy, and had never done any services to king Louis of France. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 26: A bishop. George Neville, bishop of Exeter, and afterwards archbishop of York.] [Footnote 27: Mortagne,--in Flanders, on the conflux of the Scarpe and Scheld, three leagues from Tournay.] CHAP. XXIV.