On the 3rd of February, in this year, there appeared, about six in the evening, great lights in the sky resembling candles, whence issued brilliant flashes, to the terror of many; but they did not last long. On the 7th of the same month, the bishop of Paris, son to monsieur de la Forest, made his entry, as bishop, into the city. After the service in the cathedral, he entertained, handsomely and abundantly, at dinner, the churchmen, the members of the university, of the parliament, chamber of accounts, masters of requests, secretaries, the provost, sheriffs, and principal inhabitants. During the siege of Lectoure, a serpentine was fired from the walls, which killed the king's commander of the artillery and four gunners. At this time, the duke of Alençon was made prisoner by sir Tristan de l'Hermite, provost of the marshals, and brought before the king, for having, as it was said quitted his country to sell and deliver up to the duke of Burgundy all his possessions in La Perche and Normandy, together with his duchy of Alençon. On the 5th of March following, the count d'Armagnac had negotiated a capitulation for the surrender of Lectoure with sir Yves du Fau, whom the king had sent thither on purpose,--and it was agreed that the count, his lady, family and attendants, should be allowed to depart in safety. But it happened otherwise,--for the count was murdered by the king's army who stormed the town. The cause was this: several of the royalists, under cover of the capitulation, had entered the town,--which when the count saw, he would have put them to death in spite of the treaty. The French, seeing this cried out to their companions for assistance, when the seneschal of Limousin, and great numbers, forced an entrance where the breach had been made, and killed the count d'Armagnac and so many of the inhabitants, that the countess of Armagnac with three women and three or four men were the only persons who escaped death. The town was pillaged,--and the lord de Beaujeu with the other lords and gentlemen whom the count had detained in his prisons, were set at liberty, and waited on the king. The first intelligence the king received of this event was brought by one of his post-expresses, called John d'Auvergne; and the king was so well pleased with his diligence that he appointed him his herald, and gave him one hundred crowns of gold. The cardinal of Arras[45] having behaved with great gallantry at the siege of Lectoure, entered the town, which was afterwards burnt, and the walls razed to the ground. When news of this conquest and of the death of the count d'Armagnac, reached the king of Arragon at Perpignan, he fled thence further into his own dominions, as well on this account as because he heard that Philip of Savoy was marching an army, from Dauphiny and Savoy, against him, to offer him battle, and to recover the town of Perpignan, which he had taken from the king of France.