On the 8th of August, as the king was coming out of the castle of Alençon, by accident a very large stone fell from the battlements on his sleeve: he narrowly escaped being killed by it, but was saved by his confidence in God, and the blessed Virgin Mary, in whom he put his whole trust. The commissioners from the king and the dukes of Burgundy and Brittany now left Senlis without having accomplished any of the points they had met on. In regard to the weather of this year, it was exceedingly hot from the month of June to December, more so than had been felt in the memory of any man living,--which caused the wines to be of such bad qualities that quantities were thrown away,--and there was not any frost until after Candlemas-day. As there were now reports, that the Burgundians were marching for Lorraine and the Barrois, the king sent thither five hundred lances, under the command of the lord de Craon, whom he made his lieutenant-general. He also ordered the nobles from the Isle of France and Normandy, with the franc-archers cantoned in divers parts of Champagne, to advance toward Lorraine, where they remained for more than two months, and then returned without having seen the enemy. The duke of Burgundy brought the emperor of Germany to Luxembourg, whence he went to the town of Metz, to exhort the inhabitants to admit the duke of Burgundy and his forces: but as they refused to comply, he returned to Luxembourg and thence into Germany. At this time, the duke of Burgundy sent to Venice to negotiate a loan, that he might subsidize, for three months, six hundred lances from that country. These troops passed through the duchy of Milan, and proceeded to the upper parts of Burgundy, to form a junction with the subjects of the said duke, whose army was not sufficiently strong to meet that of the king which lay upon his frontiers. The king now married his eldest daughter[46], whom he had promised to the late duke of Calabria, to the lord de Beaujeu, brother to the duke of Bourbon. The Burgundians, by treason and otherwise, suddenly invaded the country of the Nivernois, and took several towns belonging to the count de Nevers, such as La Roche, Châtillon, and others. The king's commissioners, who had before been at Senlis, now went to Compiégne, in expectation of meeting those from Burgundy, who had promised to come thither; but after waiting some time in vain, they returned to Paris, and went thither again on the 15th of January. It was now currently reported, that the duke of Burgundy, seeing he could not by open force destroy the kingdom of France, notwithstanding all the pains he had taken to accomplish it, had formed a conspiracy to poison the king; in which business he employed a person called master Ythier Marchant, who had been a servant to the late duke of Guienne, and another called John Hardy, servant to this Ythier, who, after the death of the duke of Guienne, had sought protection from the duke of Burgundy.