Four days before his arrival, which was on the 5th of January, the count of Campo Basso, the lord Ange, and the lord de Montfort, quitted the duke of Burgundy, and abandoned his camp,--and, prior to the battle, the count of Campo Basso carried away with him full nine score men at arms. On the Saturday following, the other two captains, before named, took with them six score men at arms, who were all resolved to turn to the french party,--but this was kept secret on account of the existing truce; and it was ordered, by those to whom they had addressed themselves, that, for the present, they should march into Lorraine. This was done, with the exception of a party which remained for the guard of Condé[70], on the Moselle, through which place all the provisions for the Burgundian army passed, from the vale of Metz and the country of Luxembourg. The count of Campo Basso[71] joined the duke of Lorraine, and informed him minutely of the exact state of the burgundian force. On this day, the 4th of January, the duke of Lorraine arrived at St Nicholas de Varangeville with his reinforcement of Swiss, who amounted, from an account taken, to ten thousand five hundred. Of Germans, there were also many, beside Lorrainers and other fighting men. On Sunday, the 5th, the duke of Lorraine dislodged, about eight in the morning, and marched the Swiss to Neuville, and beyond a pond, when they formed their army in array. The Swiss were formed in two divisions; the one commanded by the count d'Abstain and the governors of Fribourg and Zurich,--the other, by the governors of Berne and Lucerne. About midday, the whole began to advance,--one division along the river side, and the other on the great road leading from Neuville to Nancy. The duke of Burgundy had already drawn up his army in battle-array without his camp, having in front a rivulet that was by the hospital called La Magonne, between two strong hedges, and between him and the Swiss. On the great road by which the other division of the Swiss was advancing, he had posted the main body of his artillery. Thus, as the two divisions of the Swiss were advancing, the Burgundians fired on them when within cross-bowshot, and did them some mischief; but that division which had taken the main road, wheeling through a small wood, fell on the duke of Burgundy's flank. While this was passing, the duke ordered his archers, who were on foot, to wheel and front the Swiss, and formed two wings of his men at arms to give them battle,--one wing under the command of Jacques Galiot, an italian captain, and the other under sir Josse de Lalain, high bailiff of Flanders. When the Swiss found themselves on the duke's flank, and on higher ground, they made as desperate a charge as ever men made, discharging, on their advance, their portable culverins. This discharge (which was not like a tax-gatherer's) threw the duke's army into confusion, and was followed by their flight.