The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 08: The Later Renaissance: from Gutenberg to the Reformation
History
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 08: The Later Renaissance: from Gutenberg to the Reformation
World history
After receiving this assurance, Louis might fairly suppose that he had
nothing to fear. He had before trusted himself safely to Charles' honor.
Nor had he himself abused the chance which once delivered his rival into
his hands unprotected by promise or oath. He therefore set out at once
for Péronne, accompanied only by some eighty archers of his Scotch
guard and by his personal attendants. He was met at the frontier by
a Burgundian escort under Philip de Crèvecoeur, and he found Charles
himself waiting to receive him at the banks of a little river not far
from Péronne. The princes greeted each other with respect on the one
side, and with hearty affection on the other. They entered the town side
by side, the King's arm resting on his kinsman's shoulder. The castle of
Péronne was small and inconvenient; the King was therefore lodged in
the house of one of the richest citizens. He had scarcely reached his
quarters when the Marshal of Burgundy joined Charles' army with the
forces he commanded. With him came Philip of Savoy and two of his
brothers, Antony de Châteauneuf, and other men who had shared largely in
the King's favor, but who had fled from his resentment after betraying
his confidence. These his enemies might consider the occasion favorable
for a bold stroke. If they acted without the connivance of Charles he
might be grateful to those who satisfied his enmity without irretrievably
compromising his honor. Louis therefore asked to be allowed to move into
the castle, where his archers could at any rate defend him against a
surprise. On the next day the conference began; all that he could demand
was offered to Charles if only he would abandon the alliance of Brittany
and England. But he was determined not to give way, and was insensible to
the blandishments of his guest, who may have been tormented by painful
misgivings as he looked from his prison-like rooms at a gloomy tower in
which Charles the Simple had been confined, and, it was said, murdered by
a rebellious vassal.
At the first suggestion of the interview with the King, Charles had
objected that he could scarcely believe in his sincere desire for peace
while his envoys were encouraging rebels. Cardinal Balue replied that
when the people of Liège learned that the King and Duke had met, they
would not venture upon any hostile movement. But the French agents were
not informed of their master's intended visit to Péronne, and did not
attempt to discourage a premature attack. It is indeed doubtful whether
they could in any case have changed the course of events.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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